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| Elder Jablonski, Sister Larsen, Elder Larsen, Elder Hadfield |
Hello everyone for the last time from Poland! I want to
thank everyone for your support and prayers, this has been the adventure of a
lifetime. I have a lot of thoughts about my mission, but I’m afraid if I
started attempting to express them using my own words, they’d come out as
cliche phrases, like “it’s been the best two years”, or “I changed more than
anyone I ever taught”. So, I’m going to turn to the scriptures:
Alma 26
[...]My brothers and my brethren, behold I say unto you, how great
reason have we to rejoice; for could we have supposed when we started from the
land of Zarahemla that God would have granted unto us such great blessings? And
now, I ask, what great blessings has he bestowed upon us? Can ye tell?
Behold, I answer for you; for our brethren, the Lamanites, were in darkness
[...] but behold, how many of them are brought to behold the marvelous light of
God! And this is the blessing which hath been bestowed upon us, that we have
been made instruments in the hands of God to bring about this great work. [...]
Blessed be the name of our God; let us sing to his praise, yea, let us give
thanks to his holy name, for he doth work righteousness forever. For if
we had not come up out of the land of Zarahemla, these our dearly beloved brethren,
who have so dearly beloved us, would still [...] have been strangers to God.
[...]my joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my
God. Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I
will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can
do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land,
for which we will praise his name forever. Behold, how many [...] of our
brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing
redeeming love [...] therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?
[...]behold, he has brought them into his everlasting light, yea, into
everlasting salvation; and they are encircled about with the matchless bounty
of his love; yea, and we have been instruments in his hands of doing this great
and marvelous work. Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord;
yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever.
Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his
great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children
of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I
feel. Who could have supposed that our God would have been so merciful as
to have snatched us from our [...] sinful[...] state? [...]Behold, he [...] in
his great mercy hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery,
even to the salvation of our souls. [...]Now do ye remember, my brethren, that
we said unto our brethren in the land of Zarahemla, we go up to the land of
Nephi, to preach unto our brethren, the Lamanites, and they laughed us to
scorn? For they said unto us: Do ye suppose that ye can bring the Lamanites to
the knowledge of the truth? Do ye suppose that ye can convince the Lamanites of
the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers[...]? [...]But behold, my
beloved brethren, we came [...] with the intent that perhaps we might save some
few of their souls. Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about
to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren,
the Lamanites, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto
you success. And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we
have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea,
we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not
upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God. And we have
entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their
streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills[...] And we have
suffered [...] this, that perhaps we might be the
means of saving some soul;
and we supposed that our joy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of
saving some. Now behold, we can look forth and see the fruits of our
labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many[...] Now have we
not reason to rejoice? Yea, I say unto you, there never were men that had so
great reason to rejoice as we, since the world began; yea, and my joy is
carried away, even unto boasting in my God; for he has all power, all wisdom,
and all understanding; he comprehendeth all things, and he is a merciful Being,
even unto salvation, to those who will repent and believe on his name. Now if
this is boasting, even so will I boast; for this is my life and my light, my
joy and my salvation, and my redemption from everlasting wo. Yea, blessed is
the name of my God, who has been mindful of this people, [...] I say, blessed
be the name of my God, who has been mindful of us, wanderers in a strange land.
Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land
they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over
all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will
give thanks unto my God forever. Amen.
Mosiah 18:30
And now it came to pass that all this was done in [Poland], yea,
by the waters of [Poland], in the forest that was near the waters of [Poland];
yea, the place of [Poland], the waters of [Poland], the forest of [Poland], how
beautiful are they to the eyes of them who there came to the knowledge of their
Redeemer; yea, and how blessed are they, for they shall sing to his praise
forever.
Elder Jacob Hadfield
Poland Warsaw Mission
October 26, 2016 - November 20, 2018
