Chasing Down Goals

Kiev, Ukraine

I got to spend a day recently with a dear friend whom I met while serving as a missionary for my church and we were reminiscing about our worst day on the mission.  It was the beginning of summer so it was hot and we had absolutely nothing on our schedule that day.  Usually the goal of  a missionary is to be teaching lessons all day long but that day we didn’t have a single teaching appointment, which meant we needed to find someone to teach.  We set the goal to have four discussions (or lessons where we share about our church) that day so we picked a building in our area and set off to find people willing to listen to our message.

I’m not sure what was up with this building but that day we met some of the strangest people that I encountered during my entire 16 months in Kiev.  It was an exhausting day just knocking on doors and being turned away.  We somehow managed to have lessons with three individuals but none of them went very well or looked very promising as people we would continue to teach.  We finished out the whole building and it was about 6:30pm.  We were both ready for dinner and for this horrible day to be over. However, our goal had been four discussions and we were one short. So, we decided to just walk down the street and talk to people on our way to the bus stop.  My companion saw a nice looking woman in her early 20s in front of us and said, “Let’s talk to her.” Unfortunately, this woman turned and took a different path leading into a building before we encountered her.  My faithful companion started running after her while I was thinking she was crazy, but I followed.  We introduced ourselves as missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, told her we had a message to share about Jesus Christ and asked if she would like to hear it, which she did.    

We stood out there in front of that building and had an amazing discussion with Marina.  Even when a member of a different church came by and started yelling at us, Marina kept listening and was excited to read the Book of Mormon and continue meeting with us to learn more.  She ended up being very ready to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ and she was baptized into the church and continues to be an active participant today with her husband and two children.  She was every missionary’s dream and teaching her was a privilege and one of the most amazing experiences of my mission.  

What blows my mind about this experience is how close we were to not meeting Marina.  She worked all day and usually stayed in at night so the only window of opportunity we had was that 10 minute walk she had from the bus to the room she was renting.  If we had given in after our horrible day and just gone home, like we so wanted to do, we wouldn’t have been on that street when we needed to be.  The only reason we stayed out was because of our goal.  We were determined to have four discussions that day.  We trusted that as we worked and did our best, God will help us meet our goals and He did, in a most wonderful way.

Sometimes I get frustrated with myself because I set a goal and then fall short.  A common one for me is to read the scriptures every day.  As soon as I miss a day, it is easy to feel discouraged and just give up on the goal altogether.  There is a quote I love from Sister Marjorie Hinckley, who was wife of the president of my church when I was a young adult.  In a letter to a family member she wrote, “I have a new project, one chapter a day from each of the standard works [New Testament, Old Testament, Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants].  I have been on it for four days and am only three days behind.  Better to have tried and failed than never to have tried.”  I love her optimism and appreciate the lesson she teaches in this statement.  If she hadn’t set that goal, she wouldn’t have read at all that one day and one day of reading scriptures is better than no days.  

Setting specific and attainable goals is the only way to move forward.  I recently set the goal to lose the 17 pounds leftover from having my third child.  I’ve lost 7 so far and already feel so much better about myself.  I haven’t reached my goal yet but every step forward is worth celebrating.  I weigh less than I did before and that is a start to being healthier and feeling better about myself.  Should I be frustrated that I haven’t met my goal yet?  I don’t think so.  I’m working on it and progressing and I think that is the point of having goals.  Reaching them is an achievement but so is every bit of progress we make along the way.  Even if we never reach our goal, we should recognize and appreciate that we are farther along than where we started.  That should give us hope to set a new goal and try again.

For someone like me who thrills in checking off items on a to-do list and likes to be 100% successful in whatever I set my mind out to do, it can be tough to just enjoy the journey and not be frustrated that I’m not yet at my destination.  It can also be a challenge to push myself when I’m tired, hungry, emotionally depleted and stick-a-fork-in-me done with my day.  That is when having a specific and attainable goal in mind helps me to pick up my feet and move another step forward.  That is when I keep my mouth shut instead of saying the sarcastic remark I really want to say and that is when I get on my elliptical machine even though it is 10pm and that is why I chased down an unsuspecting stranger on the streets of Kiev, Ukraine.