I wish it didn't happen the way it did. But reality is something I can't dispute.
As the ground shook, we all fell to the ground, unable to withstand the great tremors, unfortunately it hadn't even hit it's maximum yet.
Just as our district leader warned, powerlines were breaking tree's were catching fire. The smaller houses such as trailers were less affected, it was the bigger houses.
The mansions, the skyscrapers. One after another fell. Building crashed into building. I was terrified as I watched from the ground, all those tall buildings past the tree line of the elementary park. It was as if the entire landscape was being rewritten.
The obvious didn't need to be said aloud. We were all thinking it. How many people just died in that.
And then as if the earth it's self was giggling and said that this was just the prelude, a tremendous tremor shook the world. The truly deafening earth splitting crack sounded in the air. Right where the big city was, was now a mountain. A gigantic sheer cliff.
And then it was like nothing happened. Silence. A tribute to all of the lives taken in that huge sweep of terraforming.
Ring--Ring. "Hello, this is Elder Todd."
"Elder Todd I'm glad to hear you are safe, this is Elder Baker, your district leader, can I speak with Elder Pachu?"
I obediently handed over the phone.
"Elder Pachu, this is a directive from the president, we are having a merged phone call meeting right now, are you both okay and in a state of mind to join?"
Elder Pachu's face was serious. "Yes."
"Alright hold tight, I'm merging the calls."
A voice from the phone came "Hey, is that Elder Pachu who just joined!?"
"Hey! Yes its me, is this Elder Berry?"
"Yep!"
There was a chorus of voices welcoming Elder Pachu after he responded. I did kind of feel left out, but that's not because they ignored me, I was just fresh to the mission and not many people knew me yet.
A few things went through my head as a bunch of missionaries chatted over the phone, some voices were Sister missionaries, However I didn't recognize any of them except Elder Berry, he was the Zone Leader. Just like the District Leader, he was another normal missionary who was just assigned this transfer--a period of six weeks--for District Leaders to report to.
Another voice, one that I recognized spoke through the phone and everyone went silent. This voice belonged to one of the Assistants to The President for the transfer. One could say that the assistants were normal missionaries, but everyone secretly thought this was untrue, they were often the best missionaries, the ones that the Mission President trusted the most to be in charge of everything, the people that Zone Leaders report to, often they served as assistants for far longer than one transfer. "Alright guys, we have just a few more missionaries connecting and being added to the call by their district leaders, once everyone is in, the meeting will start, President Michaels has something important to say to everyone. Real quick, I just want to acknowledge the miracle that so far, everyone is okay. And another thing, I want to testify of how much of a blessing it is that the leaders of our church have access to God through prayer and with that, have foresight to keep us connected and safe. In case you didn't know, cell towers are down. Had our mission not upgraded to sattelite phones one year ago, we would all be unaware of eachother's status and just as in the dark as everyone else. Alright It sounds like everyone is connected, with that I turn the time over to President Michaels."
"Hello everyone. I am so relieved to hear that you are all safe. As you know, major disasters have just occurred. The Quorum of the Twelve apostles and our Prophet of the church have had an emergency meeting and reached out to every single mission in every country of the world, besides those specifically cut off area's like North Korea, the Middle East, and China. With this statement, there will be major changes to our mission, and before I read it, I do want to prepare you that this may shake your testimony, but I testify that our Prophet and Apostles are Seers and Revelators of God with authority to lead Christ's restored church. Without further ado, I will play the recording."
"Elder's and Sisters. Fear not. Although we sympathize with those of whom tragedy has befallen, Christ is with us. He is with them, and those who were righteous and in correct standing before him, yet perished he has received unto him. We invoke an apostolic blessing upon all of you, that you may find peace even in this turmoil of a time--"
One of the sisters on the phone-call burst into audible sobbing before they muted their phone.
"--We want to remind all of you, that although it is the responsibility of the Elders, and the brethren of the church to hold the priesthood of God, it is all of you, sister's included, who can wield the power of the priesthood of God."
It was at this point that I was wondering where they were going with this. There was so much going on. They were speaking words of comfort up till this point, but I had a gut feeling they were about to get to the meat of their message.
"What we are about to tell you, isn't something that just happened, but something that has been a long time in the preparation, but we had been commanded of Christ to withhold this from all except the Quorum of the twelve Apostles and the first Presidency of the Church until the time had come."
There was a silence in the message to let the words sink in.
"The time has come. Elders, listen closely. Sisters, listen to the instructions we are going to give to the Elders, and then seek them out. Elders, right now after this message. Take turns laying your hands on each other's head speaking the words which I will speak to you. 'By the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood receive the Holy Ghost. And be baptized by fire.' Yes, you may wonder what difference this is from when you were baptized and confirmed, because you may remember having heard the same words."
I was thinking those words exactly.
"Trust in God, then you will see. As soon as you confirm each other, you may feel the Holy Ghost more in your life than you ever have before. In fact. You will see the Holy Ghost, or a part of it. You will need this extra strength, listen to your leaders, obedience brings blessings, I say this in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ Amen."
The video must have ended because no more words were said.
There was almost an audible silence coming from every missionary on the merged phone-call meeting.
I looked at Elder Pachu. "You first?"
The Mission President spoke again through the phone. "Yes, everyone, follow their instructions. Sisters, meet up with the Elders to receive the confirmation. I love you all. The first presidency wants us all to meet up somewhere safe afterwards in our districts and review a document they have sent each one of us. The Assistants will organize that, they have instructions. I have some things I need to tend to. Goodbye."
With a boop, it was over. The Mission President, had left us to ourselves.
Quickly the Assistants took over the conversation and a place of meeting was discussed and each district would meet separately, and then the phone call ended.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
I looked at Elder Pachu.
Jonny looked at us both with intrigue.
Oh shoot, I had forgotten Jonny was here. The only thing I could think of at the moment was what we had been told over and over again in our missionary manual. Always be inviting those you teach to be baptized.
"Well. Jonny. Would you like to be baptized? We are holding a baptismal service--err, as soon as we can."
Jonny looked at us for some reason with tears in his eyes. "I read the Book of Mormon. And don't just want to be baptized, I want to be a missionary."
-
After getting over the shock of what Jonny said we sat down and taught him about the process to becoming a missionary, and that perhaps exceptions could be made, but first it was important to make sure that he was used to living the principles of the gospel, and could keep the commandments he promised to follow in baptism before receiving further light.
Jonny had no where to be, and his house, the trailer had entirely collapsed in that last huge tremor, so he just sat with us, watching as I knelt on my knees and Elder Pachu laid his hands upon my head.
It was there in the midst of the rubble of the empty elementary school, as it was a Saturday--and by the trailer park full of sobbing individuals pacing, frantically considering what they should do next now that all they owned was destroyed--that was when my baptism by fire began.
"Elder Todd. By the authority of the Melchizedek priesthood, I say unto you, Receive the Holy Ghost, and be baptized by fire."
Chills swept my body. Then when the chills were gone, a feeling of a warm fuzzy flood filled my pores. My mind was filled with wonderful uplifting thoughts, ones that weren't mine, but they were thoughts that could be mine if only I was a better person than I currently was.
When I opened my eyes There was a tablet right in front of me. I recoiled pulling my hands away from Elder Pachu's hands, then I realized the tablet followed my vision. Utterly shocked at what I was seeing, I read what was on the floating frameless tablet.
^The Holy Ghost^
Elder Todd - Level: 1
--Titles--
- Son of God -
- Disciple of Christ -
- Child of the Covenant -
- Tribe of Ephraim -
- Elder -
- Companion -
--Stats--
Faith : 5
Hope : 2
Charity and Love : 1
Virtue : 3
Knowledge : 4
Patience : 3
Humility : 0
Diligence : 1
^Obedience : 2^
Wow. I felt totally called out. I had no words to speak. These were the "Christ-like attributes" in our missionary manual titled "Preach My Gospel"
- Quest Received from Mission President Michaels
- Reach the rendezvous point.
"What is it Elder Todd?"
Just when I was about to answer Elder Pachu's question I grinned and said "Why don't you find out."
Secretly I was still grimacing about the humility zero score. That hurt my pride bad.
Elder Pachu sighed, and then knelt down so that I could lay my hands on his head.
"Elder Pachu, by the authority of the Melchizedek Priesthood which I hold, I lay my hands on your head. Receive the Holy Ghost..."
There was an awkward silence as I struggled to remember the words to speak.
Jonny was sniffling. I peaked and saw that his eyes were closed and he was wiping tears away.
I feel good but like not that good.
"And be baptized by fire." Came a whisper from below. It was Elder Pachu.
"And be baptized by fire." I said confidently.
Immediately Elder Pachu stood up and comprehended what was going on, meanwhile I was baffled by his quick ability to take in the new strange situation. I could see that he had a tablet in front of his face too. It only now just appeared. But apparently those who weren't confirmed were clueless, as Jonny showed no sign of noticing them.
I wanted to look at Elder Pachu's screen, but my screen wouldn't get out of my face. And then I noticed a tab that said "Companion." So I tapped on it.
^The Holy Ghost^
Elder Pachu - Level: 43
--Titles--
- Son of God -
- Disciple of Christ -
- Child of the Covenant -
- Tribe of Ephraim -
- Elder -
- Trainer -
- Companion -
--Stats--
Faith : 50
Hope : 49
Charity and Love : 87
Virtue : 63
Knowledge : 14
Patience : 6
Humility : 94
Diligence : 200
Obedience : 201
--Skills--
^Heal the Sick^
I was dumbstruck. First of all. He is level forty three. That isn't fair. I thought everyone would start at level 1. Secondly why does he have a skill? I don't have any!
His stats did all make sense. He was definitely a much better missionary than I was, and his obedience stat was on point as it was his highest only rivaled by diligence.
His titles were the same as mine, but his trainer title came from obviously being the missionary who trained me for my first transfer.
"Elder Todd, I've been waiting for this my whole life."
I looked at him, and he was absolutely beaming.
My frown was transformed into a smile as I caught his infectious smile, and remembered, I was just starting my mission. He had been out here for a year and a half, he was almost ready to finish his mission and go home.
"Alright, well, lets go complete our quest and meet up with the other missionaries in our district."
Elder Pachu spoke immediately "You don't get it do you? The quest is important yes. But look around you. See the suffering? What would Jesus do?"
I looked around and saw the people crying. I saw the terror in their eyes. I saw the wounded. I saw Jonny looking at us with a curious hope. And I realized that Elder Pachu was right. We are the light in the dark. We represent Christ.
We started by walking up together with Jonny and helping a man dig out his daughter from the wreckage.
As we helped out, I couldn't help but think over and over again about my display; What about these stats? What about these titles, and about these skills, why do we need them? Why are they so important? If it was about our salvation, well, we already knew about them and that we needed to work on them. IF so, then why would God specifically point them out to us? What is it father? That last part of my thought was more of a prayer, than a thought to myself.
I got a sick feeling that he was going to answer my short prayer right now. Over there, by the double trailer I watched in horror as a thin bipedal creature crawled from underneath the wreckage and emerge, behind it were more long and thin hands stretching up above the planks to pull themselves out.
"Elder, what is that."