How is it that the heavens weep? (My thoughts on the election)

To set this straight right off the bat, this is not about who won and who lost. This has nothing to do with how I feel about the outcome. In fact, I will say nothing about my personal views toward the outcome. That really doesn’t matter (and no matter what your views are, I’ll still be your friend). I also realize that any of my thoughts on the election don’t really matter overall either. But I keep thinking about these ideas, and when I keep thinking about them in a way that I would write them, I know I should just write them down.

In Moses 7, Enoch has a vision and sees God the Father, but he sees the Father doing something he didn’t expect: weeping. “And it came to pass that the God of heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept; and Enoch bore record of it, saying: How is it that the heavens weep, and shed forth their tears as the rain upon the mountains? And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity?” (Moses 7:28-29) In other words Enoch is asking, How can the God of heaven, who is perfect in every way and has absolutely everything, how can He weep? What is there for Him to be sad about? He has every reason to be filled with the most profound joy. I think many of us might have asked similar questions. When I picture my Heavenly Father I don’t often, if ever, picture Him weeping or experiencing sadness.

The response that God gives to Enoch is, for me, one of the most heart-wrenching replies in all of scripture. “The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood…. Wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” (vs. 32-33, 38) God created man, His very crowning creation, “that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25). He gave man everything necessary to achieve joy. He gave the ability to learn and have knowledge and understanding. He gave agency, the ability to make choices. But He didn’t just give the tools to achieve joy; He also told man exactly how to achieve joy: love one another and choose God (love God). Yet when He looks out over His beloved children He doesn’t see love, either for Him or for one another. He sees hate, without care or regard (affection) for one another. These children would not be able to experience the joy He intended for them. Instead, they were bringing suffering to themselves and to others. Any person who has witnessed a loved one make choices that would only bring them suffering can’t help but empathize with the Father. It’s an experience that breaks your heart, just as this sight of His children broke the Father’s heart and caused Him to weep.

Now I don’t know whether the Father is “weeping” over the outcome of this election, and again, the outcome isn’t the point here. But I do know that He is weeping over the way people are reacting to the outcome, over the hate that is abounding on all sides of the lines we’ve drawn. I recognize not everyone is being hateful. There are plenty of people who are dealing graciously with the results of being on the “winning” or “losing” sides. However, it’s no secret that there’s a lot of tension, frustration, and outright anger being thrown around. It’s everywhere. It’s in what we read. It’s in what we watch. And in some cases it’s in what we’re saying and doing to one another. Let me be clear: this is not ok. Many worry that our leaders are the ones tearing our nation apart, but we’re doing that ourselves. We draw the lines and then tear along them when we choose to see everyone who does not agree with our views as “bigots” or “ignorant” or just as “bad people”, and then attack and belittle them for those differences. Again, this is not ok.

I believe that the outcome itself is far less important in the effect it will have on our nation than our personal reactions to the outcome. The election has happened. It’s done. It’s in the past. We can’t change the results (not without some serious upheaval and far more suffering for everyone). But we have every power to change our own behavior going forward. We can be the kind of people we hope that our leaders would be, and that would have a more profound and lasting effect on our nation than anything one leader can do.

The Price of Joy

I’ve been wanting to write this for a long time now, but I wasn’t quite sure if I was ready to or what I should even write about. So I waited for it to come about on its own, in its own time and in its own way. Then, let’s be honest, I got distracted and lost all my spare time to work, and just plain forgot. But now that I’m approaching two years from having returned from my mission, I’ve started thinking about this again, and everything that I’ve learned, and I think it’s time to share it.

Going on a mission is hard. Anyone who has been on a mission can tell you that. But I think coming home from a mission is just as hard, if not more so, especially when you come home earlier than planned, for whatever reason. You worry about what others will say or how they will act around you. Will they be judgmental? Disappointed? Awkward? You worry that you’ll feel like a failure, or like you weren’t good enough or strong enough to serve the full 18 or 24 months. You wonder why you weren’t able to make it the whole time. What makes you different from every other happy RM that loved their mission, or any RM that was able to make it through the whole thing? You wonder if something is wrong with you or if you made the wrong decision to even come. Yep, I wondered all of those things.

When I made the choice to serve a mission, I was thrilled. I had never felt better about any decision. I knew it was just what the Lord wanted me to do at that time in my life. When I received my call, I was even more thrilled, and it confirmed to me that my decision was the right one. I was called to serve in the same mission my brother had been called to a year earlier. The next few months were really some of the happiest of my life. I savored every moment, knowing that my future was clear (at least for the next 18 months). I enjoyed preparing myself, serving, and being with people I loved.

Then came the MTC. There seem to be strong opinions about the MTC. People either loved it or could not wait to leave it. I was part of the former group. I had a great experience. My teachers, my district, my zone, my branch presidency were all phenomenal. I learned so much from them and I just had a lot of fun. I really wouldn’t have minded staying another few weeks. And for me, the MTC was a place full of light. I love light and the experience of feeling light, those moments when something clicks and you’re filled with understanding and can see a much bigger picture than you were seeing before. That’s one of my favorite feelings and I had a lot of those moments when I was there. There were challenges, but nothing I couldn’t get through, and they seemed so small to all the good that was happening.

Naturally, after having a great experience at the MTC, I thought the rest of my mission would follow suit. But it didn’t. I struggled with anxiety and a lot of fear and hopelessness, things that I had never experienced before, at least to the degree I was experiencing then. I started to hate being a missionary, and then I hated myself for feeling that way. Not such a great cycle to be in. My mission president tried everything he could think of to help me, from having me talk with the mission psychologist, to transferring me to the area the mission home was in, to letting me talk to my dad on the phone. Eventually I said enough and I wanted to go home. That decision was really easy to make, because I was so miserable. It wasn’t until after being home that I thought about all the questions above and struggled with those for a while.

Time though (or more specifically, the Atonement over time), as it always does, brings both healing and perspective, if you sincerely seek both, although not necessarily on your time line. I firmly believe that there is a lesson to be learned in all of life’s experiences, whether they are good or bad, and in the Lord’s time He taught me some valuable lessons that I now treasure:

1) Don’t spend your life trying to live up to everyone else’s expectations for you. God has His own expectations and plan for you. Seek those. It may not be the “normal” or “traditional” thing you had in mind. I’m not saying that “normal” or “traditional” is a bad thing. It works for the majority of people (hence “normal” and “traditional”). But if your path seems to be taking you down a not-so “normal” or “traditional” route (and you’re still seeking good, worthy things), don’t panic. Trust Him. In other words, have faith in Him who “knoweth all things from the beginning” (1 Nephi 9:6).

2) The Savior’s healing power is real. It is total and complete. It turns the bitter into sweet. It brings joy. I wouldn’t trade that knowledge for anything. It allows me to look back on every difficult, heart-breaking experience of my life and feel pure joy and the deepest of gratitude, because I know that He makes everything right again (and more often than not, better than what we hoped for in the first place). I’ve seen it and felt it. And that gives me hope going forward.

Going on a mission was the right thing to do. For whatever reason, God didn’t intend for me to stay the whole “traditional” time. He has another plan for me. I still don’t fully know why or what that plan is, although I’ve seen tiny glimpses, but I’m ok with that. What I do know is that what I’m doing now is what He wants me to be doing. He only needed me in Argentina for four months. During that time my testimony and conversion deepened. My understanding grew. I met some incredible people and I must have touched the lives He wanted me to touch. If He had needed me there longer, I believe He would have made me equal to my task. I no longer regret or wish my experience had been different. It was exactly what I needed and has now become sacred to me.

I recently read a talk by Elder Maxwell (Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds) that says, “One’s life… cannot be both faith-filled and stress free…. How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, ‘Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!’” The Savior didn’t become who He is in spite of the trials and challenges He faced. He became who He is because of those trials and challenges. They helped shape His perfect character, and they gave Him the ability to feel the joy He does now. I feel privileged to have been allowed a character-shaping experience. It wasn’t what I asked for. It certainly wasn’t what I wanted at the time. But God knows what He wants to make of me and He wants for me to share His joy. That joy is something I cannot comprehend without also having known grief, sorrow, pain, opposition, betrayal, and feeling forsaken. At the time it was hard. One of the most difficult things I’ve ever gone through in my life. But with perspective and the Savior’s help it seems now like a small price to pay for what I gained in return.

I guess the overall message is to have faith, trust in your Savior, and be hopeful! Life will never go exactly how you plan. It won’t be pain-free or stress-free. But joy awaits you after every valley of shadow. It is what He intends for you all along.

Why do I need the Savior?

Well hi there. I know, it’s been ages. I’m not really sure why. Maybe I just haven’t really known what to write about, but I have my institute class to thank for this one! Institute is legit now. I mean, it was legit before, but I LOVE what they’ve done with the program. You don’t just show up to class, put your name on the roll, take a nap, and get credit for it anymore. You have to go to class, do all the reading, and take a test or write a paper or something like that, and then you get credit. It gets you involved and I learned so much more this semester than I have before.

Anyway, one of the essay questions for my class (Christ and the Everlasting Gospel – amazing class all about the Savior and His eternal ministry) asked, “Why do I need the Savior?” I thought this was a particularly appropriate question as the Christmas season approaches and we’re reflecting on and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I invite everyone to ponder this question for yourself. Why do you need the Savior? Share your response in the comments if you want! Merry Christmas everyone!

Why do I need the Savior?

I honestly feel like I could never do this question justice, as my understanding of my need for the Savior has only just scratched the surface, I’m sure. As incomplete as my understanding is, I do have a strong testimony of the Savior’s essential role in our Heavenly Father’s plan for His children. I know that without a Savior the plan would not have worked or been possible. The only way for us to progress was to leave the presence of our Heavenly Parents and learn by our own experience the good from the evil. The only way for us to truly become like them and achieve immortality and eternal life was to come to earth, receive a body, and as Paul says “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). This ultimately meant we would make mistakes. Sometimes we would not choose the right or be obedient, and according to the laws of justice that disqualified us from returning to the presence of our Heavenly Parents. Thus we were stuck. The only way to progress was to learn for ourselves, which meant making mistakes, which meant we couldn’t return to our heavenly home. A Mediator, a Redeemer, a Savior, someone who could satisfy the demands of justice was absolutely essential (Alma 34:16; Mosiah 15:9).

I will forever be grateful to Adam and Eve for their courage and faith to take the step into mortality. While they could have enjoyed the peace and comfort of the Garden of Eden forever, they decided that having a family, passing through trials and eventually death, and gaining knowledge and experience were more important. After the fall Eve said, “Were it not for our transgression we never should have had seed, and never should have known good and evil, and the joy of our redemption, and the eternal life which God giveth unto all the obedient” (Moses 5:11).

And so we inherit the consequences that Adam and Eve faced. We receive a fallen, mortal body, subject to pain, weakness, temptation, and death. Yet we also inherit the same blessings as our first parents. We have the opportunity to use our agency to learn for ourselves the difference between good and evil, and how to control a physical body. We also have the gift of a Savior who makes it possible to overcome the pain, weakness, temptation, and death we all face. Because of the Savior’s “great and last sacrifice” all shall rise from the dead and receive immortality (Alma 34:9-16; Alma 40:5). This is a gift, free to all who come to the earth, that allows us to keep our bodies for eternity, which bodies are necessary to become like our Heavenly Father. But the Savior’s Atonement enables us to achieve much more than just immortality. It provides the necessary opportunity and power to learn, progress, and exchange our weaknesses for strengths. It allows us to “learn from [our] experience without being condemned by it” (Bruce C. Hafen, The Atonement: All for All, April 2004). It allows us to be cleansed for those mistakes that we have moved forward from and done all we can to correct. It gives us the opportunity to inherit eternal life.

My favorite talk on the Atonement is Brad Wilcox’s “His Grace Is Sufficient”. Truly, no matter how good we are in this life, no matter how righteous or obedient, we could never merit eternal life. It simply cannot be earned by our good works alone. Only the grace of Christ allows us to inherit eternal life. Yet, He still requires us to be righteous and obedient, have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end, meaning have faith, repent, take the Sacrament, receive and keep additional ordinances and covenants, and follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost for the rest of our mortal lives and I’m sure on to eternity. Why put forth so much effort, if in the end our effort doesn’t get us there anyway? Because eternal life is about so much more than us having done something while in mortality. It is entirely about us being something. Being godlike. “The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can live after we die but that we can live more abundantly (see John 10:10). The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and consoled but that we can be transformed (see Romans 8). Scriptures make it clear that no unclean thing can dwell with God (see Alma 40:26), but, brothers and sisters, no unchanged thing will even want to.... The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can go home but that—miraculously—we can feel at home there” (Brad Wilcox, His Grace Is Sufficient, July 2011).

Why do I need the Savior? Because I want to go home and I want to feel at home there. I want to be with my Heavenly Parents and my Savior and I want to be like them. I want to be changed. I want to bring them joy and experience that eternal joy as well. Without a Savior none of these dreams would be realized. I have made my share of mistakes and experienced my share of trials and disappointments, with many more to come I’m sure. Without a Savior I would be lost, hopeless, and without motivation to become more than I am. But because I have a Savior He has made those bitter moments sweet. He has helped me to learn from mistakes and overcome weaknesses, turning them into strengths.  He has comforted me and lifted me out of sorrow to the sweet peace only He can provide. He has given me hope, which hope maketh an anchor to my soul (Ether 12:4). And He will continue helping me to become all that He knows I can be.

Sketch by David Bowman.

Dog Eats Rat

Hola fam!

Holy calor. I´ve never sweat so much in my life! Which I´m sure you all wanted to know. ;) I hope you´re enjoying your pseudo-winter!! Enjoy it while you can!!!

The other night we woke up to the biggest lightning/rain/hail storm of my life. There was literally lightning every second, but you couldn´t hear the thunder because it sounded like our roof was being pelted with baseballs! I like the storms here. :)

So this week we have a new investigator named Nestor. He´s a reference of the familia Costa in our little branch and he is SO ready to receive the Gospel. We had a super good noche de hogar with him at the Costa´s on Saturday, and we didn´t even have to invite him to church - he told us he was coming! Missionary work is SO much more effective when we work with the members. Invite your friends to activities and to learn more!!

Alright, this week it was dog eats rat, haha. We were at Norma´s having a lesson and we look over and her dog is chewing on what is left of a rat! Hna Chesler starts screaming and puts her feet up on her chair. Norma is chasing the dog around trying to get the rat. And this time I´m the one laughing. Something funny with an animal is always bound to happen at Norma´s. :)

I´ve been thinking about HOPE lately and what that really means. Because of this Gospel, I have a PERFECT hope that I am going to live with my Heavenly Father, my Savior, and my family FOREVER. I have no doubt that if I continue to be faithful, that is going to happen. No matter what happens in my life, nothing can take that hope away, unless I choose to stop living the Gospel. That hope means EVERYTHING to me. I can´t imagine life without it. Life would have no purpose, no meaning. From that hope springs the most profound joy and peace, no matter what is happening. There are so many people living without that hope, but this Gospel is one of HOPE!! Share it! Learn more about it! The joy from doing so is indescribable.

¡¡¡OS AMO!!!

Hna Chipman

Cathedral in Bahía - makes me think of Spain!!

Yeah, we had ice cream delivered... :D

1 kilo of ice cream coming right up!

Amigas in church! Maria Paz normally isn´t that pale... haha :P

Dog eats rat :)

Dog Eats Bird

Happy Monday familia!!!

FELIZ CUMPLE DADDY-O!!! One year older, and maybe wiser too. ;) Chiste. You´re a pretty wise old man!! And now you´re twice my age!! Crazy! Love ya daddy-o. :D

We did some servicio this week!! We almost never get opportunities to serve here, so we were pretty stoked. We cleaned this little abuelita´s house. I have never been in a house so dirty, but she can´t really move around that well and all her family is in Buenos Aires, so she can´t really help it. Poor thing. I think her neighbors bring her things to eat. And now her house is squeaky clean! :) There´s actually a lot of people here like that. Lots of people work caring for abuelos whose family isn´t around. It´s sad. But we just keep visiting the little abuelitos to read and sing to them. They love it. Sometimes all people want is for someone else to notice them and listen for awhile.

So we saw a lot of random things this week... 

First, we were at lunch with a member and the husband busted out his accordian to play for us! SO tight. I loved it.

Second, cat fight (literally) of the year. Mariana and Macarena got new little kittens and they brought them out to show us. Well, they aren´t quite used to the dogs they have yet and they started freaking out. One was clinging to the front of me. Mariana has the other one, which is freaking out, and she´s trying to pull the one off of me while the dogs are barking and trying to sniff the cats. It was a scene straight from a movie. Hna Chesler and I were laughing so hard.

Third, just walking down the street and there is this dog chewing on an entire bird. Not on the ground or anything, just hanging from its mouth, wing flapping around. Gracias Argentina, haha. You´re welcome for not taking a photo of that one (only because I didn´t have my camera...). ;) The dogs here...

Also, we saw lots of little miracles this week, like finding investigators we´ve been looking all over for randomly in the streets, or knocking on just the right door and just the right time. Heavenly Father is guiding His work and making it all possible! He works miracles in your lives everyday. Pay attention to the little tender mercies He extends to you each day. I promise they are there! He is so anxious to bless you and He is doing it ALL the time!!!

I love you all!! Have a fantastic week!

Hna Chipman

´Murica! :)

Macarena y Mariana with their momma Norma, and the other little chica
that Mac wanted in every single picture, haha

Mariana y Macarena! They are so good

He just wants to come out and play! ;)
(and eat you!?)

Lunch with Hna Parreño! We´re all twins. Presh.

Bahía!

The new and improved trash can.

Does somebody need a hug??

LA FALDA

Hello there fam!!! I hope you all are just swell and loving life, cause life is pretty great. :)

Yesterday we had real traslados (transfers), buuuuuttt nothing happened. Hna Chelser and I are still in La Falda. Wooooo!!! I´m excited. La Falda is definitely different than MdP. Our area is a lot smaller and the branch here is teeny (although basically all the members just happen to be on vacation this month), but it´s great! We love it. And the people here are all wonderful. And eating lunch at President´s house every week is pretty cool too... ;)

This week the hot turned on. Like the real hot. We had the nice sea breeze in MdP. Yeah, not here haha. I´ve never been so sweaty in my life! Not even as a lifeguard!! But we love it. It´s more funny than anything else. We did have a nice downpour this week tho. We were in the middle of a lesson with an investigator named Angie when it started and she lent us her umbrella when we were leaving cause it was still going. Well, the umbrella was only kind of keeping us dry so we found shelter underneath a porch. Two minutes later the door opens and someone runs out and the guy that lives there invited us in to keep dry. His 7-year-old daughter then gave us a whole 30 minutes lesson on dinosaurs! Haha, that made my week. I could not believe how much she knew. She showed us ALL her dinosaur toys and explained every single kind to us. :)

Ok, the real highlight of the week tho were the two baptisms on Saturday!! The two daughters, Mariana and Macarena, in the little family got bapitzed. It was SO good. They just loved every bit of it and Norma was all teary. You could tell she really felt and understood how important this was for her family. We´re trying to prepare her for baptism next month. Haha, so we only had one, rather large, white dress for the baptism... We had the older one, Mariana, go first. It went all the way down to her ankles but fit ok. Then the little one, Macarena, had to put on this huge, soaking wet dress right after. Haha, she was such a good sport. We tried to roll the end of the dress up so she wouldn´t trip all over. Hna Chesler and I were trying not to laugh. Luckily, it all went ok, and the important thing is we could feel the Spirit. :)

These past couple weeks I´ve been studying about the Atonement/the Savior and my love for Him and for the people has grown immensely. His life and sacrifice for us are truly incredible. I invite you all to do the same! Take some time each day to study about Him and about what He has done for you. I promise your love will increase and your burdens will feel lighter!

Well fam, I sure do love you!! Keep smiling and saying your prayers! :)

Con mucho amor,
Hna Chipman

Haha, she´s trying to keep the papa gato from eating all the food.

View from our casa. Not too shabby. ;)

Yeah, it´s that hot...

Sorry for the lack of pics... the comp I´m using isn't letting me load some of them, like the pics of the baptism. :( I´ll try again next week!!

"Emergency" Transfers

Hoolaaaa de Bahía!!

No worries fam, there was no emergency. Just emergency transfers, which basically means they just need to do a transfer of a couple missionaries in the middle of one of our normal transfers. So I´m in La Falda now, a little branch in Bahía. We traveled here on Friday. Presidente lives in our area and we get to eat lunch with him every Wednesday. Oh yeah. :) I actually traded places with Hna Kroska, so now she is in Mar del Plata with Hna Saunders. It was good to see her for a little bit!

My new compy is Hna Chesler. She´s from West Virginia, but her fam just moved to Utah. She´s 22 and graduated from BYU-I just before she came here. She´s awesome. I love her already! We´re gonna have a blast. We´re the only missionaries in our area, which means we have the house to ourselves. It´s fun. She´s a really great missionary and I´m learning a lot from her!! :)

In other news, I actually have a washing machine now which means my clothes are finally really clean!! Haha, the simple things in life.

I´ve met a few of our investigators here. There´s a family of a mom and her two daughters that are SUPER solid. The daughters are set to get baptized this weekend and we´re praying for the mom too. Just a couple things to work out first. There´s also this 14 year old kid, Augustín, that they´ve been teaching. He hasn´t really seen the need to get baptized but yesterday we had a super good lesson with him and he´s going to really pray about it. He wants to find an answer. It was actually a miracle that we found him. They had been looking for him all week, coming by, calling. Nothing. So we decided to not go by for awhile. But yesterday his dad had seen us walking around and he rode up to us on his motorcycle and told us Augustín was home so we went by and found him!!!

The more I do this work, the more I realize it is impossible without God. You have to have His help or your will not get anywhere. We see little miracles happen all the time. We´re guided to the right place at the right time and hearts are touched, certainly not by what we say in broken Castellano, but by God Himself. I testify that this is His work. This is His truth and His Gospel in its fulness and everyone needs it. It is important for everyone because we are all God´s children and He wants us all to come home.

I love you all SO SO MUCH!!!! BESOS!!!

Hna Chipman

Linda Mar del Plata! Chao!!

Linda compy. She´s so good. Gonna miss her!

But my new compy is pretty great too. Isn´t our little rama cute? :)

Leaky roof! We had a MASSIVE rain storm yesterday. Like blizzard rain.
Luckily we made it back to our casa right before it hit.
And good thing we had some buckets!!

Meanwhile, this was happening outside. The roads just all turn to rivers in the rain.
Maybe we should invest in a raft. :P

The weekly dog picture. :)