The Strategy

I don't know if this strategy actually works, and the strategy for it's own sake would miss the point.  However, I'm willing to keep going on the assumption that it does work to an extent.

Bear with me as I preface the strategy.  I'll start with an age-old philosopher's question: Why do bad things happen to good people?  Or, why do bad things happen to anybody?  Why does God allow it?

Firstly, because ultimately bad things happening to people don't interfere with God's plan.  That is, bad circumstances or events don't really harm them eternally.

In the classic passage of Moses 1:39, we read, "For behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." The immortality part has been taken care of via the resurrection.  We're covered there.  Eternal life is the part that remains.  Eternal life is more than endless living; it's life like that of the Eternal One, with all the glory of God.  It's exaltation.  We can receive it only through faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, continual reliance on the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and being true to our covenants.

No outside force can stop us from receiving eternal life.  Nothing short of our own choices can harm us eternally.  No illness, injury, or loss, or even death, can take away our exaltation.  Take Job for an example.  He lost his wealth, his home, his family, his credibility with his friends, and maybe even more though I don't remember the whole story, but he stayed strong in his faith.

Hard times are painful for us, and our loving Heavenly Father surely doesn't enjoy seeing us experience that pain, but they don't impede His plan.  (And frankly, no matter how rough the rough times are, they amount to little when viewed from an eternal perspective.)

Secondly, trials give us the opportunity to grow if we bear them well.  We can very effectively gain patience, humility, sympathy, wisdom, purification, and strength through faithfully enduring trials.  So, in addition to tribulations and trials not being really, eternally bad for us, they can be very good for us eternally if we handle them well.

So, to the strategy.  Consider humility.  That's a big one.  I have certainly been humbled more than once by my trials and difficulties, particularly when I recognized that my own mistakes or immaturity brought those trials to me.  Trials also bring purification, at least in the sense that they help us to filter out unimportant things from our life.  However, I have also found that service brings humility, and it also helps us to let go of our selfish pursuits.

Consider, for example, that we go to care for someone who is suffering from a disablingly painful disease.  As we do so, we realize that our own problems are relatively small, and that we have an easy life compared to the poor soul in the hospital bed. Instant and refreshing humility.  Also, by dedicating our time to serving others, we drop less necessary things from our life.  While attending to the sick person, we don't have time for watching sports, or playing online games, or even good and productive activities that are simply less important.

If I'm going to learn to be like God, as I've been commanded (Matthew 5:48), I need to learn humility and be willing to let go of selfish or unimportant pursuits.  My strategy then is to gain that humility and purification through service, rather than having God feel it necessary to give me these things through trials.

Of course, that's not really my reason for dedicating myself to serving others.  The real reason is charity, the pure love of Christ, and a desire to obey my God.  At the same time, though, if I can reduce my personal need for trials, well, I'm all for it.

Last thoughts for now:
I don't know if our dedication to service really causes God to give us fewer trials in life, and I'm sure it won't prevent all of them.  Perhaps, though, it's really a matter of changing the nature of some of our trials.  Service, after all, is still a challenge, and there is plenty of room for sorrow and exhaustion in service, but how much better to experience the difficulties because we're helping others rather than because we're being unwise?  Service to God and His children (Mosiah 2:17) brings us joy and helps us to forget our own problems, but it also helps us to become like Him.  I hope to learn this lesson more and more.

They Shouldn't Have Been Baptized

I've been a full-time missionary before, so I know how it feels. We set goals, we worked with people, we knew the truth of the Gospel and the Church and we wanted good things for others. Thus, we wanted people to be baptized. We taught them and invited them to be baptized, and they accepted and were baptized. Between those last two steps, there's an interview. The purpose of the interview is to ensure that the person is ready to make this vital covenant. Some people shouldn't make it past this interview but somehow slip through.

Maybe that doesn't sound like a problem to some people. Some missionaries don't see any baptisms during their entire mission, and even those who do still want to see more. Is it a bad thing if some people are baptized when they're not ready?

Absolutely.

In Moroni 7:39, Mormon makes it clear that some people should not be in the Church. "But behold, my beloved brethren, I judge better things of you, for I judge that ye have faith in Christ because of your meekness; for if ye have not faith in him then ye are not fit to be numbered among the people of his church."

That's not to say that the Gospel isn't right and true for everyone, because it is. It doesn't mean that Jesus didn't die for everyone or that God doesn't love everyone, because They did and do. But people should not join the Church until they have sufficient faith in Christ and have made changes in their lives.

Mormon himself addressed this issue in the previous chapter (Moroni 6:1-3):
"And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit meet that they were worthy of it.
Neither did they receive any unto baptism save they came forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and witnessed unto the church that they truly repented of all their sins.
And none were received unto baptism save they took upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end."

I've seen it too many times. Maybe it's because a missionary wants to get one more baptism before he leaves, or maybe it's just general over-zealousness. People get baptized without truly having received a testimony from God of Jesus Christ, the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Without that testimony, they don't have much reason to stay around. Sometimes they don't even last long enough to be confirmed.

Making and keeping covenants is the key to progressing toward eternal life. It's a tragedy for people to make serious covenants like baptism but not understand what they're doing. It's a tragedy for people to make serious covenants like baptism and then turn away from the truth.

Does that mean that kids shouldn't be baptized when they're eight years old? No. It means that parents need to teach their children well so that they'll be ready.

I don't think anyone fully understands how important their baptismal covenants are when they get baptized, but it is vital that we make covenants of our own free will, with knowledge of what we're doing, and with a real knowledge. When that isn't the case for some people, they're doing it for the wrong reasons and it hurts them.

Last thoughts for now:
The Gospel is for everyone. Baptism is for everyone. The Holy Ghost is for everyone. Temple ordinances are for everyone. The Atonement of Jesus Christ and covenants are for everyone, but we have to make ourselves ready.