"Wars Not Make One Great"

At a recent fast and testimony meeting, a friend of mine came up to the pulpit to speak and mentioned that because he had not served a mission, he felt that he did not stand much of a chance of ever finding a girl who would want to marry him.

To that friend, I quote the immortal words of Yoda: "Wars not make one great."

But Jon, what does that have to do with serving a mission? you ask? I will explain what I mean.

When young Jedi Luke Skywalker meets Jedi master Yoda for the first time in the swamps of Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back, he tells the little green Muppet - not knowing that he is already looking at Yoda - that he is looking for "a great warrior." Yoda replies, "Wars not make one great."


If we can apply that teaching to the real world, I would paraphrase Yoda's comments by saying that "missions not make one great."

Sure, missions help to build character, and they instill important principles that can guide you throughout the rest of your life - my mission, I feel, certainly did that for me. But just because someone served a mission, it does not automatically exalt that person nor make him Captain Moroni.

While I am on the subject, one of my mission companions comes to mind. He was an excellent teacher, a hard worker, and very dedicated at accomplishing the tasks he set out to perform. He also hated me.

There's no other word for it but hated. He criticized me constantly - often in front of other people or in public, he refused to talk to people he deemed "unworthy" of being taught, and he was otherwise mean, selfish, and a grade-A jerk. He was also openly rude to the members of our fledgling little branch. For 2½ months of serving with him, my life was a living hell. Needless to say, as a companionship we got very little accomplished during that time. The thing is, after serving with him for that length of time, I never did find out why he acted this way. Several months later, I came to find out that his behavior with every single one of his companions was essentially the same.

In a nutshell, some of the worst people I've ever known I encountered in the mission field. Conversely, some of the best people I've ever known did not serve missions.

I have often heard the saying that the "best two years" of one's life are spent in the mission field, but I do not believe that is true. I believe that perhaps the "best two years" of one's life may have been lived up to that point, but if we truly believe in eternal progression, then we should try to make the next year better, and the next, and so on.

Again, to my friend, I say, you're doing just fine.

Testimony Bingo, or: More Thoughts on the Straight and Narrow

To paraphrase the immortal Forrest Gump, life is like a Millstream Ward testimony meeting: You never know what you're gonna get.


I thoroughly enjoy fast and testimony Sundays at my ward, because there are certainly no dull moments to be had. For example, there was the time that a speaker came up to the pulpit and declared, to the horror of many people in the congregation, that - I kid you not - "90 percent of all sacrament meeting talks are worthless."

But I digress.

Recently, a friend introduced me to the concept of "testimony bingo." The idea behind testimony bingo is that you predict, prior to the meeting beginning, who's going to bear their testimonies, using a makeshift-bingo card (i.e. the back of the program) to keep track. Essentially, if you take into account the many people who seem to bear their testimonies each month, you might easily come out with a winning card.

At this past Sunday's monthly testimony meeting, I set out to give testimony bingo a try. But something funny happened: Many people who hadn't borne their testimonies in a long time found the courage - and it does take courage - to walk up to the pulpit and speak what was in their hearts. Further, I actually found myself paying attention and listening to them. And, as a result, I found myself enjoying the meeting very much.

The idea that was reemphasized to me through this experience was that you basically get out of the gospel whatever you put into it.

This brings me back to my post from a few weeks ago about enduring to the end and trying to stay on the straight and narrow path. I asked the questions: Is it enough to pray and read the scriptures every day and attend Sunday meetings? Or do we have to be even stronger than that?

Many of you posted comments on the matter or otherwise opined on the subject, and I am grateful to you for your thoughts and ideas. "All of the above" factor in, I think.

In addition, the answer I've come up with is: Yes. We do need to be even stronger than that. We can go through the motions of praying and reading our scriptures daily and attending meetings, and if our hearts and minds are not in the right place, it profits us very little. We need to strive to become converted on a daily basis. The little decisions do matter just as much, if not more, than the big decisions.

And that's all I have to say about that.