Alma 9:16-17, Elena

On my mission, I taught a woman named Elena.  I described her like this in my mission journal: “We’re teaching a woman named Elena whom I love.  She lives alone, she’s about 50… She’s really dura de Corazon on a few things.”  This woman had been raised in a particular Christian church and had always counted that religion as a key part of her identity.  She had been especially close to her Mother, who was also an avid believer in that faith.  Elena had never married—she had cared for her mother until her death, and since then had been extremely lonely.

My companion, Lana Whipple, and I were the first people who had shown a lot of love and individual attention to Elena in years.  She loved studying and discussing the scriptures, and she was very curious about what we had to share.  Almost every day that we visited her, she would start off with a blunt statement that she didn’t believe in our message and we should probably stop wasting our time on her.  But then as we shared with her during the visit she would listen intently, ask questions, and agree with things we said.  She always seemed hungry for more.  As she absorbed more and more of the gospel message, she got happier and happier.  We developed a strong love for her and vice versa.  Lana and I talked about her all the time, about how wonderful and sincere and faithful she was, and how much we loved her.  Over the course of a couple of months we worked with her as she presented her questions to God and to us one at a time and worked through her doubts.  I remember the day when she stated that she had come to know that the Book of Mormon was true.  We were so excited for her—we just knew how joining the Church would turn her lonely life around and give her so much joy and purpose.

Until one day she gave up.  Since we met her, she’d been struggling with feelings of betrayal against her old church, and more specifically, against her mother and other family who had so firmly followed it together.  We tried to teach her that all of her family would eventually have the opportunity to learn the rest of the truth and accept it if they wished.  But that concept was too much for her to hope for.  She told us in tears that she knew our church was true but that she couldn’t accept it and betray her family, and she asked us not to come back.

This experience broke my heart.  I loved Elena so much, with the kind of pure, selfless love that can only come as a gift of God when He grants you a glimpse into what He sees in one of His sons or daughters.  I knew the depth of the opportunity she had passed up, and I knew that she had done so after receiving a divine answer that what we were offering her was real and of God.  I thought of many scriptures that describe people who are too stubborn to accept the truth when it is made manifest to them, and that state that such people cannot inherit the fullness of the Celestial Kingdom.  This life is our test, the scriptures make that clear.  Somehow, consciously or unconsciously, I passed judgment on Elena and determined that she would go to the Terrestrial Kingdom and miss out on Celestial blessings.

For over a year this bothered me.  With Elena and other people I met.  I never found my answer throughout my mission, nor for months afterwards.  Then one day as I was reading in the Book of Mormon, I came upon this scripture in Alma 9: 16-17:

16 For there are many promises which are extended to the Lamanites; for it is because of the traditions of their fathers that caused them to remain in their state of ignorance; therefore the Lord will be merciful unto them and prolong their existence in the land.

 17 And at some period of time they will be brought to believe in his word, and to know of the incorrectness of the traditions of their fathers; and many of them will be saved, for the Lord will be merciful unto all who call on his name.

For the first time in my life, I grasped the enormity of God’s mercy.  His plan for His children is perfect.  He knows each of us perfectly, and He loves Elena way more than I am capable of loving her.  He knows her heart.  I don’t have to tell Him how good she is.  He knows her life, her feelings, her loneliness, her family background and teaching.  And He knows exactly why she chose not to accept the Church.  Suddenly the Spirit rushed over me and gave me a warm, calm assurance that Elena would be fine.  I would see her some day in the Celestial Kingdom.

Since then, I’ve looked at people differently.  We all have our own, personalized test in this life, and we’re expected to do our very best with what is given to us.  I don’t worry anymore about who has or has not qualified for exaltation.  I try to see the best in those around me, believe in them, and trust that God’s plan is more perfect than anything I can wrap my head around.  I firmly believe that those who love God and want to be with Him will be.  I can’t wait to see so many good people I met on my mission—some who accepted the gospel and some who still haven’t—in the Celestial Kingdom someday.