Martez Dominic
Usually, I plant and take care of a garden filled with various vegetables every year. However, this year, I decided to try something new and grow watermelons in my garden. At first, the thought of attempting to plant something that I had never experienced before made me feel eager to learn as much as possible in order to get the best results. I researched how to grow, water, and prune watermelons correctly, and I even learned about the best soil conditions to grow watermelons.
As I began to see positive results within the first few weeks, I was greatly encouraged and hopeful that I would soon reap a good harvest. After about a month, the watermelons were beginning to sprout from the vines. When I saw that the watermelons were beginning to be produced, I knew that they were in a crucial stage of the growing process and I made every effort to take care of them. At the thought of the harvest, everything felt easy for me.
After nearly two months of watering, pulling weeds, and pruning, I began to harvest other vegetables in the garden while the watermelons still needed more time to grow. Without realizing it, I started to neglect the watermelons in the garden. I gradually went from watering the watermelons twice a day to once a day, and later I even skipped a couple of days of watering the watermelons. The week after I neglected to take care of the watermelons, they became ripe enough to harvest. While taking care of other fast-growing plants, I did not notice that the watermelons were almost ripe enough to harvest.
As I harvested the watermelons, I remembered the process of harvesting the fruits of the gospel. At the beginning of my life of faith, I was very eager to preach the gospel to my friends and family. Sometimes it felt like it took more time to lead my friends and family to the truth. That was why I focused on preaching to my contacts and acquaintances, neglecting to preach to my friends and family. It was as if I forgot the right time to harvest the watermelons that ripened slowly while focusing on other fast-growing vegetables in my garden.
Heavenly Mother opened up an opportunity to preach to my friends and family despite the current situation with the COVID-19 quarantine. Engraving on my heart Mother’s words, “Now our gospel will be different from before,” and Heavenly Father’s words, “In the time of the latter rain, Christians should ask the Lord of the harvest to increase their strength,” I will do my best to save one more soul and lead precious people into the arms of God at the right times. I now desire to repent all the more by practicing God’s words so that I may carry out the duty of a spiritual harvester until the end. Heavenly Father and Mother, please give us strength to bear beautiful fruits of the gospel among our precious friends and families.