Sharron's Blog: Letter to: Elder Jake (A Mormon missionary) As written by Rebecca Wright Fagan
The following letter, dated January 18th, 2007, was written to a Mormon missionary we were closely associated with, by my daughter Rebecca Wright-Fagan, who asked several questions about her beliefs. After much prayer and contemplation regarding her response, this is her answer. I felt it was well worth sharing and am doing so with her permission.
Dear Elder Jake,
Well howdy! I wasn’t sure if this "Dear Elder.com" thing would get my messages to you but I’ll find out I guess. I’ve decided to type it because it will help me improve my typing scores in my timed writings in my class. This way I can write you and be studying all at the same time. I hope everything in your new area is going well, I’ve gotten your email which you may or may not know, I wrote you on Tuesday, but the mail is kind of slow so I don’t know if you will have received it when you get this one (that is if this thing still gives it to you). Nothing much going on here, still working on my New Year’s resolutions, and that is going well.
I’m mainly writing you this, to answer your question. I do get this kind of thing from missionaries (or Richard! Ha-ha) although I’ve not seen them recently due to Richard and Nicole moving out to the boonies. The exact question was “…what you [I] believe. Like what is the nature of God? What is the meaning of life? What is the role of families in God’s plan?” Then you asked “What gives you the strength to get up every morning? What do you want for your life? What are you going to do to get it?” Well I’ll try to answer this as well as I can.
I believe the Apostles Creed which is: I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; HE descended into hell.
On the third day he rose again; He ascended into heaven, He is seated at the right hand of the Father, and He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.
My mother once paid me to memorize that and I did it just to get the money and then forgot it, but a few years later I memorized it again, and this time for the right reason, because I really love it, and it really says what I believe and feel.
God’s nature is Love, he is Love. How else can you describe him better than that? A friend of mine in high school used to say he couldn’t see how God loved us, and I would tell him I couldn’t see how he couldn’t. I find it a bit hard to explain past that because love isn’t a physical thing you can see, but like a DC Talk song says “he’s like the wind, you can’t see the wind but you can see the effects of the wind” I find that a good description. The meaning of life for me is to serve the Father with all our mind, soul, heart, and strength, and to show his everlasting love to others and serve as a witness to all of His eternal love. The role of families is the same for me as the meaning of life, to serve him with all our being. The parents are to guide and teach their children about him and guide them along his glorious path. Whether in families or as individuals, we are to serve him as children of God.
What gives me strength to get up every morning? The Lord of course and my desire to do his will, and get closer to him than I was the last day. It is impossible to get to know every aspect of God, so I want to learn and build as close of a relationship with him as I possibly can. And this life is too short to waste even a day. He is the first one I talk to in the morning and the last one before I go to bed, He is who I see in all of nature; in trees, wind, the sea, waves, the sky, the grass, the flowers, in all his creations, including me. I see him when I look at the ceiling, when I look in the mirror and talk to him, and when I look inside myself. He is my father, my teacher, my professor, my almighty counselor, and my best closest friend. He is someone I want to be like, and I can never get enough of. In his own words he is I am that I am. What I want for my life is whatever God’s will is, I want his plans for my life, because my life is devoted to him. I want to worship Him and be a witness to as many as I can while I’m here. I also want a family of course, I want to be a mother that embodies the Proverbs Wife but the rest I’m currently working on figuring out. What do I want out of life? I want the fullness of God. What am I going to do to get it? I will pray and meditate on him, read his word (for the word was with God, and the word was God, in the beginning), continue to talk with him and follow the path that the lord sets before me.
I hope that I answered your questions, I’ve never written my responses before to someone and as I’m sure you’ve noticed on occasions I tend to ramble, even when I write, so I tried to stay on topic and not ramble too much.
I think I will leave it on that note and say adieu. Have a glorious day and I’ll talk to you later!
Sincerely,
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