I, the Lord, Will Go With You

In Ohio in October 1831, William E. McLellin went to Joseph Smith seeking a revelation. The Prophet obliged and the Lord gave these instructions to William: “Behold, verily I say unto you, that it is my will that you should proclaim my gospel from land to land, and from city to city, yea, in those regions round about where it has not been proclaimed. Tarry not many days in this place; go not up unto the land of Zion as yet; but inasmuch as you can send, send; otherwise, think not of thy property. Go unto the eastern lands, bear testimony in every place, unto every people and in their synagogues, reasoning with the people. Let my servant Samuel H. Smith go with you, and forsake him not, and give him thine instructions; and he that is faithful shall be made strong in every place; and I, the Lord, will go with you” (Doctrine and Covenants 66:5-8). He had perhaps thought he would be called to go to Zion in Missouri to join others who had been asked to go there, but the Lord told him specifically not to go to Jackson County at that time. Instead, he was called to serve as a missionary in the other direction: to the east. I wonder if William was perhaps disappointed with his new assignment or at least surprised that he had not been called yet to go to Missouri to build up Zion. Why was he asked only to send money to Zion and not allowed to serve his mission there, while others like Edward Partridge and the Colesville Saints were preparing to build the New Jerusalem?    

                I understand what it feels like to be a little disappointed in a mission call. When I was a freshman at school, my roommate and I were both preparing to serve as a missionary. One day we went together to the temple to perform baptisms for the dead, and I had a strong impression that I was going to serve a mission in Poland. I continued to think and feel that, and I excitedly waited the confirmation with an official call. That call soon came, but I was going to France. I was excited but surprised that I wasn’t going where I had felt I would. Very soon after that my roommate got his call: he was going to Poland. I was confused and disappointed about my earlier impressions and troubled that maybe I wasn’t going to the right place. But my dad called me and reassured me that there was a reason I was going to serve where I was called. He told me that I needed to learn French and that it would affect my whole life. That proved true, and I am so grateful for the experiences I had as a missionary in France and the opportunities it has led to since then. So much of my life has been shaped in a good way by my mission there. I know that the Lord sent me where I was supposed to go, even if it wasn’t where I originally thought I would. If William McLellin did question his call, surely he found inspiration and comfort in these words of the Lord: “He that is faithful shall be made strong in every place.” The Lord promises to make us strong when we do His work and are trying to be faithful. And no matter where we serve Him, whether as missionaries or in our own wards and branches, He promises to be with us: “I, the Lord, will go with you.”