While serving as a missionary in California, I received a text message relaying that someone in my area of labor had requested a visit or had been recommended by a member of the Church living elsewhere.
Such messages contained the name of the channel that provided the referral, such as a Church website or a Church-owned visitors’ center. This one simply said,
“Russell M. Nelson.”
Through many failed attempts to find the person at home, my determination to locate and teach this person became very strong, as I felt a more pressing urgency to return and report my efforts in ministering to this relative of an Apostle of the Lord. I treated this referral like it was the only referral ever given, and a central purpose of my service in this area! My young missionary mind and heart were aflame with excitement!
The day finally came when we found someone at home. The house had a window near the front door, and a group was dining inside in some kind of gathering. When I began knocking, a man seated at the table looked out at us, then returned to his conversation as if he were ignoring us. We could hear the conversation by reason of the window.
His comments quickly turned to the type heard from what I lovingly refer to as a “local expert,” foolishly attempting to defame the church by explaining how Joseph Smith was a fraud.
I continued to knock, feeling surer of my duty to find this lady whose name we had received from Elder Nelson. Several minutes of continued knocking and pontification from our local expert ended with a rushed opening of the door and an obviously annoyed inquiry into our reason for stopping by.
I asked simply, “Is [she] here?” He tried to dissuade me from my purpose by telling me that I couldn't talk to her. I replied, "I didn't ask you that, I asked you if [she] is here." He again objected and said that he was not going to allow me to talk to her. I stood more firmly than ever and again said, "That is not what I asked you. I am here to talk to [her], not to you. Is [she] here?"
He finally denied that she was there, which I strongly doubted, of course, it being her home. I then handed him a card with our phone number and asked him to make sure our intended contact received it, because by his choice he would be held partially responsible for allowing or denying her access to our message that day. He took the card and we departed. That was the last we had to do with her, as we never made any real contact afterward.
This occurred early on in my service as a missionary. I remember it being a very important experience in my development as a minister of the Gospel. It is the first time I really stood up for what I was there to do and didn't allow someone to frighten me into retreating without clearly carrying out my duty. My service ever since has been affected by the strength I gained as I first held the Gospel in such a place of importance in my actions, at the expense of comfort, likability, and popularity. It taught me so much about the urgency in getting people an opportunity to receive or reject the Gospel, regardless of how I feel about it.
Looking back and recognizing this experience as a definitive "watershed" moment, where I learned what it means to put my hand to the plow and never look back, I remember the words of the Master Himself:
"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water."
John 7: 16-17, 38
