President Anderson’s Letter – July 14, 2013 – Second Chances

“I can’t help but think of the second chance that the Lord gives all of us to repent and proclaim this Gospel to those that didn’t receive it the first time. Souls that have been praying to know the truth and to find peace. Those souls that we find every day. Alma had a second chance when he repented of his transgressions and served God: “Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste; that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost” (Alma 36:24).

Joseph Smith was given a second chance after losing the 116 translated pages of the Book of Mormon. The scriptures are full of examples of second chances. After we repent and learn from our experience, we trust in God by changing and He always gives us second chances.

I love your “second chance” (plan B)  diligence with opportunities when the first chance (plan A) falls through:

“We felt inspired to go and follow up again with a referral from a couple weeks ago for a woman they met in Wal-Mart. Sadly she was not home and we were about to leave but I felt like we were here for a reason so I looked around and said ‘ let’s knock on this door.’ So we did! They let us right in and we left a blessing with them – the Spirit was SO strong. We knew the Lord had sent us to them. They all immediately accepted baptism. The next day we returned to teach them – they are so amazing and are all getting baptized on the 21st! Then we went to see the referral again but she wasn’t home but her neighbor was right outside raking. We offered to help her and to leave a blessing on her home. She also immediately accepted baptism and was so grateful we came. When we came back the next day to see her she said ‘I know the Lord sent you because I have been so depressed and baptism is exactly what I need.’ Each time we came by we knocked on the referral’s door but she wasn’t home but on Saturday we tried again. She answered and again immediately let us in before we could even tell her who we were she said ‘I am so glad you came today!’ She had just had a big argument with her family and was praying as we knocked on her door. She also immediately accepted baptism and is getting work off on Sundays so she can repent and be baptized! The Lord is truly in this work. As we rely on the Spirit he guides us to those who are ready at exactly the right time!”

As we are diligent, the Lord will bless us with indirect blessings that will give others a “second chance”:

“When we got back to our area on transfer day, we knew we had 3 blessings, so we had to go out and harvest. Our goal was 5, we prayed about where to go, and then we decided on a spot. We went to that spot, and we got 6 blessings in an hour and a half! It was awesome! Half of the blessings said yes to baptism, and we were soo excited about starting off soo well. But the miracles didn’t stop there-we were just finishing harvesting when we got a referral from Mormon.org to go and see a lady. We decided to go and contact her immediately. We biked over there… and knocked on the door, and she opened and said ‘Elders, please come in!’ We went inside and sat down, and she introduced us to her husband, and two children. After talking a little bit, we found out that she used to be a very active member, and that her husband, was not a member. She has been less active for a number of years, but has such strong desires to come back to church! We left a harvest blessing, and then invited her husband to be baptized. He said yes, and accepted a date for the 14th! They came to church yesterday, and they were just like a part of the ward. I am soo excited for him to get baptized this Sunday.”

Giving our investigators a second chance with added boldness and love is sometimes what is needed to commit them to come to Christ:

“After transfers, I updated my companion on everybody we had and possibilities. As we counseled we decided on three people we should focus on, and two to go visit one more time before we took them out of the pool. We visited one on Saturday afternoon for one last time to discuss with her familiy the importance and truth of this gospel, we helped them feel the spirit and they remembered. Their spirits remembered. She was baptized yesterday and I have never felt a stronger spirit at a baptism.”



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