Transitions in callings and service


 Today's reflection is a little more Church-related than many have been. I've been thinking about our mission time and the end of our service.

For the better part of the past year, while we served from home supporting the work in Argentina, we were extremely busy and very involved. The humanitarian donations from the Church to hospitals, communities, and organizations accelerated tremendously during 2020, due to the needs created by the pandemic. There were many more projects to coordinate, people to communicate with, proposals to track, and documentation to complete.
Bonnie and I had to work out our own system to keep track of all the details in spreadsheets and documents for scores of donations simultaneously, and to share the responsibilities between us of communication and coordination. We realized that even though we were working remotely and not able to be involved in the same way we had while we were actually living in Argentina, without our support they could not have completed a fraction of the donations.
And so as we approached the end of our mission, we were concerned about what would happen when we were finished. We were relieved to hear that another couple had been called, and that they already had experience in Argentina from a previous mission (of a different type). They started with general training in the MTC, and then we worked together with them for a couple of weeks helping orient them with information specific to our mission. It was a "brain dump" of whatever we could think of to share.
That couple has been able to go to Argentina and are now serving diligently. And we suspect, in ways that are different and probably better than we served! We rarely hear from them now, as they have assumed the role and are doing a great job.
It's easy for any of us to begin to think we're indispensible or unequaled at some task - whether a professional job, a hobby/personal activity, or a Church assignment. We may have developed new techniques or skills, improved processes, and done things in a way that is better than before. But that doesn't mean we have the only insight into needs, or even the best approach to solutions! Someone else approaching the problem with a different background, different skills, different insights - may change the nature of the task in unexpected ways.
In the Church setting, this takes on particular significance. In a bit of a paradox, we are not indispensible for a calling or assignment; but yet, for the time we are asked to serve in a calling, we ARE indispensible! No one else can serve in our specific assignment while we are doing it. So God DOES need us, badly, for that time! He needs our heart, our willing spirit, eager to do the best we can - until it's time for another person to take over. But when it's time for a missionary to be released (or a bishop, or a Relief Society president, or a teacher, or any calling), someone else will take their place, and with God's help, will fill the assignment equally well - or better! The miracle of ongoing service continues to play forward.
I #GiveThanks for the blessing of having a responsibility or a role; and for the blessing of sharing that role with others when the time comes.

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