Why I served a Mormon Mission Part V

As I stepped into President Clark's office so that I could talk to him about getting ordained to the higher priesthood I felt like I was climbing a ladder rung by rung. I knocked on the door to President Clark's office and he called for me to enter and we shook hands and he asked me to sit down. "Well JD, what can I do for you today?" he asked. "Well, President Clark I really want to get the Melchizedek Priesthood and Bishop Donaldson told me to come and talk to you about it." He then explained something to me that deflated me a little. "JD, what can you tell me about the Melchizedek Priesthood?" Well I really didn't know anything about it other than it was above the Arronic Priesthood and that's what I told him. "JD why do you want the Melchizedek Priesthood?" he asked. I felt like I had just been knocked off my ladder. "Well the only reason I really want it is so that I can do stuff in the temple, take the next step in the Gospel and it just seems so much better than something called the lesser priesthood." I told President Clark that and then he opened up to the Doctrine and Covenants and read me something about some oath and covenant of the priesthood. However as I listened to the words he read I started to get some understanding of just how serious this whole thing might be. He then gave me a homework assignment and told me to come back and talk to him about the verses and chapters he assigned me and to tell him what I thought and we would talk some more about the priesthood. Since Christmas break was coming up I decided I would have plenty of time to read these assigned chapters. Well I really don't remember to much about that Christmas other than I paid a little bit more attention to the reason for the season this year than I had in years before. As I read about the oath and covenant of the priesthood I was amazed by the promised blessings but didn't pay attention to what I had needed to do to obtain those blessings. Well when January finally arrived I started institute again and college and took the second part of the Book of Mormon Class from President Clark and also a Doctrine and Covenants class from Brother John Cardon and a New Testament class. I remember that first day of class with President Clark. He was teaching about accountability and he pointed to one of the young ladies in the room and asked if sister so and so committed X sin and so did JD who would be more accountable. Sister so and so (so and so because I don't remember her name) said she would because I was a new convert and she knew more than I did. President Clark then said something that has stuck with me to this day. He said, "While you may have been a member longer than JD and certainly know more about the Gospel than JD does he has the Arronic Priesthood and he is held to a higher standard." President Clark then went on to explain how as we progress in the gospel and as we gain more light and knowledge we become more accountable for our actions. He explained that when someone receives the Melchizedek Priesthood they become more accountable then someone who hold the Arronic Priesthood and someone who goes to the temple become even more accountable and receives even greater blessing but also receives greater condemnation if they fail to live up to their covenants. Well that got me thinking about if I really wanted to have the Melchizedek Priesthood. It didn't seem like a wise thing to put myself into a position where my chances of damnation only got higher. However as I thought about this class ended and as I walked out President Clark who always waited at the door leading out of the classroom so he could shake every ones hand( I still kinda thought the Mormon handshaking was a bit excessive and weird) as I shook his hand he asked if I had a few minutes to meet with him in his office. I told him I did and we walked over to his office which wasn't far from the classroom. Once in there he asked me how my Christmas break went. I told him my father gave me a hard time about joining the church and that he told me I was brainwashed and part of a cult. President Clark then explained to me that my father simply loved me and was watching out for me like any good father should and to love my father and not argue with him but at the same time stay strong in the faith(talk about a huge order). President Clark then asked me if I had read what he asked me to. I replied that I had but had some questions. We went over my questions and I don't really remember what they were but he answered them. He then asked me how I felt about receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood. I answered that honestly I was scared it seemed like something that required a lot of dedication. He smiled back at me and simply answered, "Well JD, it does. Do you know what the full name of the Melchizedek Priesthood is?" I responded, "No." He then told me to open my scriptures to D&C 107:3-4 and asked me to read what it said. I read, "Before his [Melchizedek's] day it was called the Holy Priesthood, after the Order of the Son of God. But out of respect or reverence to the name of the Supreme Being, to avoid the too frequent repetition of his name, they, the church, in ancient days, called that priesthood after Melchizedek, or the Melchizedek Priesthood." I then asked him what the responsibilities of the Melchizedek priesthood were and if he thought I could handle them (thinking about being more accountable for my actions had given me some humility). He explained what the Melchizedek Priesthood was by having me read some verses in the Doctrine and Covenants and then he told me something that made my heart swell with joy. He said if I did a good job at magnifying the Arronic priesthood that I now held and blessed or passed the sacrament every Sunday and did my home teaching that he saw no reason that I might not be able to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood at Stake Conference in the Spring. I was excited about this and even more so because once I received the Melchizedek priesthood I could help baptise people in the temple and do other things there as well or at least so I thought. Well weeks passed by and I continued to read my scriptures and go to church and institute. I blessed or passed the sacrament every Sunday and I found it very easy to do my home teaching because the people I was supposed to visit lived across the hallway from me and one of them was Sheena so I had no problem getting one visit in a month since I was there every day. However during these early Spring months I was saddened to learn that once you are baptized the Sisters stopped visiting you very often. However I still could go to institute and ask questions and I also took up a lot of Bishop Donaldson's time with my questions and concerns.