I came across a scripture this morning in the Book of Mormon that I had never really noticed before. We, in the Church, talk a lot about Ammon, Abinadi, and Alma as examples of missionary work in the Book of Mormon. Ammon is the example of a missionary who puts service and winning the hearts of the people first, and many thousands of people were converted through his instrumentality. Abinadi is the one who was faithful in his preaching in the most dangerous of circumstances, and even gave his life. Not only that, but he did so even when he saw absolutely no immediate success in the way of converts, but we know that Alma the Elder was converted by his preaching and went on to convert thousands and establish the Church of Christ among the Nephites. Alma the Younger served as High Priest of the Church and as Chief Judge over the Nephites, but he relinquished the judgment seat in order to go and preach to his people all throughout the land, much like Christ's original apostles who traveled all over to manage the affairs of the Church. He had his difficulties, like any other missionary, and even had to witness the murder of many of his converts, but, like Ammon, he was able to see much success.
When we talk about missionaries in the Book of Mormon, these three often come to mind first, but I think that we often forget about Ammon's brother, Aaron. I've recently reread Alma 17-24, and this morning I was reading in Alma 25. We don't get a whole lot about Aaron. We know that he went to a different part of the land than where Ammon went and had all of his success. Aaron didn't have as positive of an experience. We often attribute this -- I believe, erroneously -- to Aaron taking the wrong approach. We think he should have approached his preaching the way Ammon did, serving first. Aaron, however, had the Spirit and was faithful in serving the Lord. We should not overlook what it says in Alma 20:30: "And, as it happened, it was (Aaron's) lot to have fallen into the hands of a more hardened and a more stiff-necked people; therefore they would not hearken unto their words." Aaron had an experience more like Abinadi's; he and his brethren were beaten, cast out, and put in prison; "nevertheless they were patient in all their sufferings" (Alma 20:29), and the Lord eventually blessed them with success. Aaron had the opportunity to teach the highest Lamanite king, and he and all his household and many of his people were converted.
What I noticed this morning, however, was that there was concrete success that came from Aaron's seemingly failed preaching in his first area. Alma 25:6 tells us that many of those Lamanites who heard Aaron's words, at least months and maybe years later "began to be stirred up in remembrance of the words which Aaron and his brethren had preached to them in their land; therefore they began to disbelieve the traditions of their fathers, and to believe in the Lord...; and thus there were many of them converted...." This is yet another piece of encouragement for today's missionaries found in the most important book on the earth today. Lack of immediate success does not equate to failure. The Lord can use absolutely everything you do as a faithful missionary to further the work, even years after the fact. Aaron did his best and had (delayed) success among some of the most hard-hearted people on the earth. All we have to do is be faithful and patient, and in the Lord's time we will receive every blessing promised to us.
