By Small and Simple Things

Mosquitoes!! I hate them! Tonight I was playing frisbee, and as soon as I sat down to tie my laces on my cleats, there was  freaking swarm of mosquitoes around me. UGH! I got home and I had at least ten bites on each leg. How were they so fast they could catch me while I was running I will never know, but this I do know: Mosquitoes are small and quite simple, yet they bother the largest of humans (no that was not a fat joke about myself, though I guess it has potential to be).
If you haven't noticed yet I hate writing my introduction, sometimes it has nothing to do with what I am writing about... oh well, carry on:

By Small and Simple Things


The Lord has said, "By small and simple things shall great things come to pass." Can I just say that if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wasn't true, then our missionaries, all over the world, would be failing! FAILING! Whoever knew me when I was 19 years old or even knows me now would know that it is impossible for me to be complex. I can't say long, difficult words (in fact I had to use spell check to know how to spell mosquitoes, okay?) and I have problems speaking under pressure. This is all in English, my native language. Now add German to that, and I have a big problem.
German was so so so hard for me. When I was seven years old I lived in Waldenbuch, Germany (half hour south of Stuttgart), and I went to a German school. I was held back because I didn't speak any German after the first year. After that I started getting friends and talking to them, but it was very basic German. We moved back to the U.S., and the Lord decided that I needed to really learn German. Ten years later, I was called to the Frankfurt, Germany Mission. While I was in the Missionary Training Center, I thought I'd have an advantage on the other people in my district because I had already lived in Germany, but it was not so. I struggled greatly! I was so frustrated with myself, and I guess my teachers saw that. One day during class my teacher, Brother Thomas, took me aside and showed me Ether 12:27. I had memorized this scripture while in seminary, but he wanted to talk to me about it.

"And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness, I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them."- Ether 12:27

This was one of the turning points in my mission. After we had read this together, Brother Thomas looked straight into my tear filled eyes, as he started crying and saying, "Elder Scherbel, I see you in a year, talking to the German people like you talk to people in English." I don't know how he saw it, but I believed the Lord would help me. I kept at it, and I'd say I spoke in German just as well as I speak in English now, which again isn't amazingly, but well enough. I spoke with simplicity. I spoke as if I were a child talking to another child... Always. I don't know if that was effective, but I felt like whenever I was teaching anyone younger than 12 that I had a special bond with them.
Small and simple things will help us in our everyday life. It is by the small and simple things we will be able to progress and live with our Heavenly Father.

Reading the scriptures
Remembering Christ
Praying
Attending Church Services
Attending the Temple
Family Home Evening
Keeping the Word of Wisdom
Being Chaste
Keeping all the Commandments
etc...

We can all be a small and simple things. We can all be tools that are Father in Heaven can and will use. We can all be changed to fit the mold he needs us to fit as well. Keep keeping on!