Building Zion - Week 21

This week has been very busy in the religious operations office. It has been mentally exhausting, and I am so grateful for good people I work with who make these tasks more bearable. To be honest, I don’t enjoy the administrative tasks. I would rather just work with people, which is why I chose the counseling profession and chaplaincy in the first place. But I also know the administrative tasks are a necessary part of enabling the work. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. 

I enjoy the break from office work by continuing some ongoing counseling sessions with a few Soldiers as I mentioned last week. I am also grateful I get to video chat home most days to connect with my family, especially since this week was Chelsea’s 9th birthday. I read her a book called “The Invisible String” through the Bob Hope USO program and sent it to her, which is a story that reminds us that we are all connected in our hearts, no matter where we are.  

I have been studying this week about the City of Enoch called “Zion” and how we are called to build a Zion community in these latter days. When I reflect on the teachings of the scriptures and prophets about this topic, I think of ways I can improve. We all need to let go of contention, pride, and selfishness in order to be a Zion people and become “of one heart” as we all focus on Christ. But it starts with me, then in my own home and personal relationships, then in my Church and community. 

I think of ways I donate through the Church to help the poor and needy and am so grateful for organized religion, which empowers the ability to so much good in the world with organized efforts that we would never be able to do individually. My own family has benefited from these donations in my youth as I grew up the youngest of 6 children raised by a single mother. The people who were there for my struggling family helped us be a part of Zion. I try to recognize those opportunities to do the same for other families. 

Let’s face it, regardless of what is in our bank account, we all have needs, struggles, and sometimes suffering. As both a Chaplain and Counselor, I see the gifts the Lord has given me to sit with people in their suffering and help them find meaning and purpose through their challenges. I see them heal and grow through that suffering and it reminds me that I am using my gifts and talents to build Zion here and now. I continue to remind myself that in my way, I can “become one” with others as I meet them in their pain and challenges and from there help them grow closer to that which matters most to them. Hopefully that is God and Christ, because all true healing comes through them.

One of the ways I have felt inspired to help build Zion is by facilitating a course here on Sunday evenings with the curriculum of “Becoming a Self-Reliant and Resilient Family” which is an LDS Church manual for military families. We will start next week and I am sure I will have much to write about through that experience. Here is the link for those who are interested: Becoming a Self-Reliant and Resilient Family (churchofjesuschrist.org)

In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield

"Living On A Prayer" - Week 20

I have had this Bon Jovi song stuck in my head most of the week, mostly because I am nearly “halfway there” on this deployment, and I truly do feel like I am “living on a prayer.” Especially when I am on the other side of the world while my wife and children get COVID. Thankfully, their symptoms have not been too severe, but it means Dana gets to stay home with all four of them for an extra week (or more, we’ll see) and gets to struggle being a solo parent through all that this circumstance entails. 

Again, I am so very grateful for the ministering angels the Lord has sent my family this week to offer help and bring food. When I pray to the Lord to take care of my family during their challenges, He sends help through promptings to His servants. That’s why I try to pay attention to whenever I feel like I am getting one of those promptings because you never know how much your ministry can mean to others.

As I reflect on my week, I am getting back to work after being sick and continuing some regular sessions with a few people I have been counseling with lately, two of whom have been struggling with an addiction for many years and are trying to overcome it. I have had some experience in helping people build a relapse-prevention plan to overcome addiction and stay in recovery, and I have been working on this plan with these two service members for a few months. It has been a joyous part of the ministry to which I have been called to see their growth as they not only remain relapse-free but see how the principles we are working through help them in many areas of their life. 

It has been a joy to me because I get to do this treatment plan I have done at least 100 times with people over the years, but this time as a Chaplain I can bring in the religious and spiritual principles that bring true healing and growth. I feel inspired during every session to share gospel truths with these individuals above and beyond what I am allowed to share in a clinical setting. I love that feeling when I am learning as I am speaking, because I know it is coming from the Spirit and not me. I am grateful for those moments I have had this week.

In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield

"Men Are, That They Might Have Joy" - Week 19

I have literally been stuck in my room for most of the week due to mandatory COVID isolation requirements. Today marks 10 days since the initiation of my symptoms so I was able to go to church today, with a mask on of course. So most of my week has consisted of sleeping, talking to my family, and watching movies. I would like to say that I have been productive with my time, but anything requiring my brain to think was exhaustingly frustrating because it made my head hurt even more. 

I finally started to gain a deeper appreciation for clients I have worked with in the past who had experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury and had difficulty linking things together in their head that they used to be able to do with ease before their injury. Simple tasks often overwhelmed their brain to exhaustion requiring excessive amounts of rest. That’s what I have felt like this week. The lack of oxygen to my brain has created a lot of dizzy, lightheaded, headache symptoms on top of difficulty walking more than 100 yards without my heart rate spiking. Needless to say, it’s been a rough week full of misery, restlessness, and frustration. I am thankful to the ministering angels who brought me food, NyQuil, and cough drops.

So after all this whining, I have been trying to reflect on this week’s lesson on the Fall of Adam and Eve, which brought such imperfection, illness, and misery into the picture. To be fair, it’s all a necessary part of God’s Plan. I recently read the words of Lehi in 2 Nephi 2:23-25 in the Book of Mormon:  “Wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery… But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things. Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.” So if the misery I have experienced this week is the cost of knowing true joy, then it is worth it. 

What gives my life joy is my family, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, serving others, and the Holy Spirit that testifies of truth to my heart and soul and lifts me higher each time. Christ is the source of my joy and I am grateful to come to know Him through my misery. I know He has descended below it all to help me when I go through these things. So when I experience the misery and suffering common to the human experience, like I have this week, I rejoice in my Heavenly Father’s Plan that through Jesus Christ it will all be made right in the end and we can be exalted with Him, if we but endure well. I want to pass my test of mortality and keep my eyes fixed on Him, even in the midst of misery, that I may know a fullness of joy. That was and is the purpose of our creation, the Fall of Adam and Eve, and the Atonement of Jesus Christ.

In His Service,

Chaplain John Critchfield

The Priesthood of Aaron - Week 18

“Knock, knock,” “Who’s there?” “COVID!”
That’s right, it was finally my turn to take a ride on the COVID train this weekend! I recovered from a sinus infection last week and came back to my office to work hard at catching up from being gone for nearly 2 weeks (traveling and sick). Then, Thursday night I felt an extreme exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks. I hardly slept that night due to fever, chills, and severe aches. 

The next day I went to the COVID testing facility here on Post and they gave me one of those rapid tests and it came back negative, but I had a fever of 102. They advised me to go to the E.R. to get an advanced test because the one they gave me is known to give false negatives. But the E.R. doctor just told me to go home and rest for a couple days, take some meds, and come back Monday if I still felt bad. 

Well, it’s a good thing my neighbors are also Army doctors and encouraged me to go back to the E.R. after I described my symptoms to them. So, I just got back from getting the advanced test and it was COVID positive. I have heard people describe it as the worst flu they have ever had. My experience has been similar. Dana can attest that when I get sick, I’m kind of pathetic.

The best part of my week has to do with the Aaronic Priesthood. On Thursday night, our young Soldier here who was baptized in November got word that he was authorized to receive the Aaronic Priesthood through the local Bishop. So, I frantically arranged transportation and a leader memo to get off-post for him (and another one of our members here who he wanted to ordain him) to go to the local Ward an hour away. Church is held on Fridays here since that is the Islamic day of worship and everyone else in their culture gets the day off. 

Even though I was ridiculously sick, I made the sacrifice to make sure they got that memo and vehicle so he could get ordained as soon as possible. It was worth it after hearing about his experience. Another young man at the local Ward was also being ordained a Priest that day. Since our Soldier was ordained first, he was able to participate in the ordaining of the local young man. Today he blessed the sacrament for the first time and was so excited as he described his experience to me (since I was unable to attend Church today).
 
My other favorite experience this week was when I was able to speak to my son, Jacob, yesterday. He is turning 12 years old this year and is eligible to receive the Aaronic Priesthood now. The Bishop interviewed him and authorized him to be ordained at home this morning by my father-in-law, Craig Bartschi, so that I could see it over video call. 

During our conversation yesterday, we went through and discussed several scriptures describing the priesthood. I was able to teach him about the keys of the ministering of angels and the preparatory gospel, the oath and covenant of the priesthood, how the Abrahamic covenant that he was born into allows him to have this privilege, and what the Lord expects of him now as he receives it: to serve others and bless those around him. 

I shared some of my own experiences with the Aaronic Priesthood and how it blessed my life and helped me bless other’s lives too. He was obviously touched as I described to him how when he passes the sacrament today, he is acting in the place of Jesus, who started the sacrament ordinance as a way for us to remember Him, repent, and renew our covenants with Him. I was so proud of him as he agreed to take on that responsibility in reverence. 

I wish I could be there to see him pass the sacrament for the first time. I am so grateful for my son and that the Lord sent him to our family. He is a good boy, and I can see him growing to be a good husband and father one day. I hope I can fulfill my responsibility to him as his father.
 
In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield

Built Upon The Rock - Week 17

This week was mostly uneventful because I woke up sick on Monday morning and had to stay in my room for the next four days. I watched some movies and did some schoolwork for the online Staff Officer Course I am taking for the Army right now. By New Year’s Eve I was feeling better and was able to get out and see the big celebration they had here. I was on a video call with my family back home so they could see me countdown to midnight here when it was only 2:00 pm there.

The New Year brings some reflection of the past year and setting goals for the next one. Before I left for this deployment, Dana and I and each of our children made goals of things we all wanted to work on for our growth and development during this time of separation. We each made goals in the areas of intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social improvement because we want to follow Jesus’s example to “increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52). More importantly, those goals can help us come closer to Jesus in our relationship with Him and how we treat the body and family He gave us. I believe that when we set and work toward meaningful goals like that, we are building upon The Rock Himself. I have been reflecting on those goals and feeling pretty good about my progress in some areas and needing to work more at others.

Speaking of building upon The Rock, they told us that this desert did indeed have a “rainy season”, but we did not believe them. Well, the last few days, and especially today, “the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon [our] house” (Matthew 7:25). The water level rose all around the chapel tent we meet in for church on Sundays, and even threatened to flood the building itself, but fortunately we are built on a solid foundation!

When we build our lives on Christ, not just by believing in him but by the very way we live each day, and guide our choices with righteous goals, we will not fall to the adversary. We will “stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places… even until death” (Mosiah 18:9) and receive the joy that accompanies those who follow Him in this life, and eternal salvation with Him in the life to come.

May we each reflect on this past year with gratitude for the many blessings God has granted us, learn from the past, set righteous goals for the future that bring us closer to Christ, and then live in the present each day that we may more fully appreciate each moment we are given and increase the righteous use of our God-given agency to follow Him. (see President Thomas S. Monson April 2003 General Conference Address: In Search of Treasure)

 
In His Service,
Chaplain John Critchfield