Heading out on the first mission for the tiny church. ⁣

Heading west, with a strong end goal, but not sure how the details would play out. ⁣

They were going to share the Book of Mormon with the Native American tribes west of Missouri. ⁣

And the Lord told them He would be in their midst. ⁣

And that if they decided to let God prevail in their personal lives, that He would prevail against any obstacles they met. ⁣

And within a few months, they would return back home…⁣

WITHOUT converting a whole bunch of Native Americans to the restored gospel. ⁣

A failed mission. ⁣

So… where was God?⁣

Why had they failed if God said that He would prevail?⁣

Because their mission resulted in the doubling of church membership. ⁣

DOUBLE. ⁣

It wasn’t the Native Americans. ⁣

It was the people they visited in Ohio along the way. ⁣

It was Sidney Rigdon. It was Edward Partridge. It was countless other faithful new Saints who were converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ. ⁣

God most certainly prevailed. ⁣

Because not ONLY did church membership double, but the next location for all the Saints to travel to was established. ⁣

A place that would be home to numerous essential revelations. ⁣

A place that would house the first temple of the Lord in this dispensation. ⁣

A place where the Savior, Jesus Christ Himself, would visit. ⁣

The Lord most certainly prevailed on the sacred mission that these four men faithfully embarked on. ⁣

But we can’t define “prevailing” as accomplishing the end goal that we had in mind. ⁣

I mean, even the Lord told them that their mission was to the native tribes!⁣

But how else would He had gotten these four faithful men to His beloved children in Ohio who were ready to hear the gospel?⁣

It wasn’t a failure. Not by a long stretch.⁣

When we let God prevail in our personal lives, nothing will prevail over us.

“I myself will go with them and be in their midst… and nothing shall prevail against them.” (D&C 32:3)

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post The failed mission  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

I had just met a cute guy named Kyle, things were going well, but I still felt like I wanted to serve a mission. ⁣

I asked Heavenly Father over and over in prayer to point me in the right direction, and I finally heard a weighty answer:

“You can decide. Whatever you want to do.”⁣

I realized that I was going to have to make this decision and own it. ⁣

After a lot of deliberation, I solemnly but excitedly decided to forgo the mission. ⁣

I made Kyle promise me that we would serve a mission someday as a couple, because I didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to serve. ⁣

Now, I still totally want to serve a full-time mission when I’m older, but I’m also realizing that I kind of missed the point. ⁣

We are reminded by the Lord’s revelation to Joseph Smith Sr. that “if ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work”. (D&C 4:3)⁣

Desires = mission call. ⁣

Instead of packing up my entire life and moving across the world though, I get the crazy, scary, exciting, agency-packed honor of picking my mission.

Each of us with a desire to serve gets to create exactly how and when we serve!⁣

Maybe you have created your own custom mission call to lift up those who are having hard times around you. ⁣

Maybe you have created your own custom mission call to spread light to your coworkers every day. ⁣

Maybe your call is to teach the rising generation of the saints how to eat their vegetables and share toys and use the toilet. ⁣

Maybe your call is to organize service activities with precision and enthusiasm. ⁣

Maybe your call is to work on strengthening your own testimony for a bit before you have the opportunity to share it with other people. ⁣

The possibilities are endless, and constantly evolving, and extremely personal. ⁣

So what does your mission call look like today?⁣

How can you help build the kingdom?⁣

How can you help gather scattered Israel?⁣

What’s your custom mission call?

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Congrats on your call!  first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

She was called to serve a mission in Yekaterinburg, Russia 7 years ago. ⁣

When I was studying about Paul wanting so badly to return to the saints in Thessalonica in 1 Thessalonians 2:18, but not being allowed to because of a ban by local leaders, I immediately thought of her modern-day parallel. ⁣

In July 2016, while my sister was in the MTC, Russia passed a law that banned anyone from preaching their religion in the country.

No missionaries allowed in Russia.

I asked Maddie to write a bit about her experience becoming a “volunteer” in Russia:

“I was studying in the MTC about how to be a missionary in Russia when I first heard the news that a new law was passed banning missionaries in Russia. I felt uncertain to say the least. ⁣

Even when I flew into the country 10 days after the law went into effect, it felt like no one had answers.

My trainer had never been a ‘volunteer’.

My mission president had been there only a month longer than I had.

Even the local church lawyers didn’t really have answers.

It felt like a giant step backwards.

Certainly Satan was in this law, not God. ⁣

But, as missionaries do, we went to work anyway.

Over time we adapted, tried new things, made new habits.

We made goals to meet with members and make friends with people on buses and planned SO many game nights.

We just kept going and praying and working. ⁣

Instead of focusing on all the things we couldn’t do, we focused on the things we COULD do. ⁣

And guess what?

We actually found a lot of success!

We developed close relationships with members and learned how to legally find new investigators. ⁣

And I know baptisms aren’t a measure of missionary work, but the baptisms in our mission the year after the law passed were actually higher than the year before when they could proselyte!⁣

You would never think a law banning missionary work would help missionary efforts.

But it did.

My mission taught me that even things that seem like they could never be part of God’s plan can be used to further His cause.” – Maddie Hanson Johnson

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post A Volunteer in Russia first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Heading out on the first mission for the tiny church.

Heading west, with strong end goal, but not sure how the details would play out.

They were going to share the Book of Mormon with the Native American tribes west of Missouri.

And the Lord told them He would be in their midst.

And that if they decided to let God prevail in their personal lives, that He would prevail against any obstacles they met.

And within a few months, they would return back home…

WITHOUT converting a whole bunch of Native Americans to the restored gospel.

A failed mission.

So… where was God?

Why had they failed if God said that He would prevail?

Because their mission resulted in the doubling of church membership.

DOUBLE.

It wasn’t the Native Americans.

It was the people they visited in Ohio along the way.

It was Sidney Rigdon. It was Edward Partridge. It was countless other faithful new Saints who were converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

God most certainly prevailed.

Because not ONLY did church membership double, but the next location for all the Saints to travel to was established.

A place that would be home to numerous essential revelations.

A place that would house the first temple of the Lord in this dispensation.

A place where the Savior, Jesus Christ Himself, would visit.

The Lord most certainly prevailed on the sacred mission that these four men faithfully embarked on.

But we can’t define “prevailing” as accomplishing the end goal that we had in mind.

I mean, even the Lord told them that their mission was to the native tribes!

But how else would He had gotten these four faithful men to His beloved children in Ohio who were ready to hear the gospel?

It wasn’t a failure. Not by a long stretch.

When we let God prevail in our personal lives, nothing will prevail over us.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Did God really prevail? first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.