As young missionaries come to realize the importance of the message they are sent to deliver to the people of their assigned area, they are sometimes sorrowful when they are rejected or find people who are apathetic. So many of the missionaries feel, at least to some degree, as Alma expresses here (vv. 1–2). However, a great lesson is given to them and to all of us by Alma’s next words (vv. 3–5). We are all sent to the earth at this time and this place for a special reason. Whether we were sent to teach or to be taught, or just to obtain a body and gain earthly experience, all are assigned to a time and a place. The Apostle Paul recognized this doctrine when he said: “[God] hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (Acts 17:26). Elder Henry D. Moyle bore similar testimony to the Church members:
I believe that we, as fellow workers in the priesthood, might well take to heart the admonition of Alma and be content with that which God hath allotted us. We might well be assured that we had something to do with our ‘allotment’ in our pre-existent state. This would be an additional reason for us to accept our present condition and make the best of it. It is what we agreed to do, … We unquestionably knew before we elected to come to this earth the conditions under which we would here exist, and live, and work. So little wonder it is that Alma of old said we sin in the thought, or in the desire, or in the wish that we were someone other than ourselves. [Conference Report, Oct. 1952, 71]