FOLLOWING UP

Dear Missionary,

I can't believe it, but it has been a year since I finished serving my full-time mission in the Everett Washington Mission!  When I finished my mission, my sister Shelby and my Mom came and picked me up.  Haha I remember seeing them for the first time and thinking they were SO tall because I had gotten used to all my shorter Hispanic amigos :).  During that next week we went around visiting people that I had worked with throughout my mission which of course involved A LOT of great Mexican food (my Mom and Shelby almost threw up a few times from eating so much... haha!).  Apart from the great food and great company, that week of visits taught me the great importance of following up with the people that God puts in our lives.

If you haven't already noticed, I love analogies... I think its because I am still a little boy at heart and I just learn better through visuals and things that aren't hard to understand!  Imagine that you were given some delicious ingredients to make the most amazing cake in the world.  You put the ingredients together, spend time stirring them all together, pour the batter into a nice greased up pan and stick it in the oven.  Now imagine that you never gave that cake a second thought and didn't check in to see how it was doing.  Pretty soon your delicious cake would be a flaky mess of burnt ashes!

Just as in baking a cake, consistent and loving follow up is ESSENTIAL for success in missionary work, especially member missionary work!  About 6 months into my mission I had the opportunity of working with an older Mexican man named Florencio and his daughter Rocio.  Florencio and Rocio progressed quickly after coming to church because of a member who invited them.  After meeting with them for several weeks, they committed to be baptized!  Man, we were so excited for them!  Although Florencio continued to progress and prepare for baptism, Rocio unfortunately took a bit of a nose dive with some of her former addictions and stopped meeting with us.  Florencio was baptized by himself and we were super happy for him, but I couldn't help thinking that all was lost with Rocio!  However I didn't give up on helping her or her father.

Throughout the rest of my mission, I would periodically write Florencio and sometimes even get permission to give him a call.  Things didn't seem to be getting much better with his daughter Rocio... in fact they seemed to be getting worse!  She got deeper and deeper into her alcohol abuse... not comforting to hear right?!?  As I got home from my mission, I decided to stay in contact with Florencio about once a month to continue to be there for him and to help him continue forward in the gospel.  We would talk about Rocio often and I was happy to hear she decided to go to a rehab center.  I got some contact info for the rehab center and would call her periodically to see how she was doing.  

When she got out, she moved back in with her father and decided to meet with the missionaries again.  A month or so later she was baptized!  It was a sweet moment to get a call from Florencio and to hear his excitement as he told me about the change that has occurred in his daughter Rocio.   Rocio has been bearing her testimony and moving forward in faith since the day of her baptism :).  This experience has shown me that following up with those that the Lord puts in our lives is SO important.  We often think in terms of days and weeks, but I am convinced that the Lord thinks more in terms of years and decades with people's spiritual progress.  We must have the faith and patience to consistently follow up with love!

Even though I have been home from my mission for a whole year, I try to keep my mission alive by consistently following up with the Hispanic people I was privileged to work with during my mission.  I love my mission SO much and I could never imagine leaving it as a thing of the past.  During the last week in Washington with my Mom and my sister Shelby, I set a goal to contact each of the significant people I worked with during my mission at least once a month for the rest of my life!  I know its a lofty goal, but I have seen incredible miracles as I have called, Facebook messaged and texted people from my mission!  The Lord gave me a delicious "cake" of a mission and I won't let it go to waste!

Whether or not you have served a mission, you can follow up with the people that the Lord has put in your life.  I invite you, my dear friend, with all of my heart, to think and pray about who the Lord wants you to follow up with.  Just a simple call, text, or note of appreciation can help others feel of your love and support and can help spark the fire of the gospel in their hearts! In Alma we read, "Then... ye shall reap the rewards of your faith, and your diligence, and your patience, and your long-suffering..." (Alma 32:43)

As Elder Ballard has said "if we follow up, the Lord will not let us down".  

Remember who you are.  You are a Missionary.

-- Parker

P.s.    I was interviewed by Alex Ba when I got home from my mission and here is a short video about following up :)  Please share any comments you have about how we can better follow up with people!