Learning while Teaching

     One of the things that I truly enjoy as a member of the Church is going on rides with the Missionaries as they visit the various families that they keep an eye on and give lessons too.  Every chance I get, I volunteer to drive them on Splits and really look forward to the trips whenever I get to go.  Besides watching the Missionaries work so hard at helping people, I have my own personal reason for going along.  I guess it could even be considered a selfish reason and I hope Heavenly Father has it in his heart to forgive me this one small bit of greed.
     When I ride along with the Elders on their weekly trips to visit Investigators or Members of the Church who haven't been as active, I find the chance to reacquaint myself with my own newly rediscovered Faith and it helps me strengthen my beliefs and my faith by watching others find their way to the Church and to God. 
     It has only been about nine months since my Wife and I were Baptized and officially joined the Church.  Heck it was only a few short months before that when we first started investigating so my faith is still a very new thing.  Even now, there are sometimes I question the choices we have made and the steps we have taken along this Trek back home to God.  I guess I wouldn't be human if I didn't have the occasional doubts.
     When I watch the Elders working with people who are struggling with the same worries and doubts that I had/have and slowly lead them through all of that fear and darkness, I find my own Faith and Beliefs strengthened and renewed.  When I see the Investigators learning and understanding, I grow in my own understanding of the Church and its many gifts.  Every person we talk to and every person they teach helps me become a better Christian and a better person.
     I have come a very long way in a very short period of time and the peace and hope the Church and God have given me is something that not even the greatest words can ever describe.  I struggle everyday to be worthy of the gifts that have been given to me and some days I fail.  I fight every day with doubts and fears and some days I lose that fight.  No matter how hard my struggles are, I always find my way back to my faith and am renewed every single time.  The trips I make with our Missionaries and the people we meet help give me the strength to fight those battles and find my way back home again. 
     The Missionaries are always so grateful when I drive them on their visits as if I am giving them the greatest gift in the world, but sometimes I wonder if they realize that it is they who are giving me the great gift?  I hope they know this.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen