Monthly Archives: June 2014

President Anderson’s Letter – 22 June 2014

I am not sure if this will be the last or next to the last letter from President Anderson to the FFL missionaries but in either way I will miss reading his weekly letters that not only shared spiritual missionary experiences but also had great training messages. I did not always share the teaching because the training was aimed at the missionaries and their needs. However I felt the experiences really were important because they not only showed how the gospel changed people’s lives, but also how God led the missionaries to those He had prepared to listen and act…

“A miracle that we saw this week was right after zone training. We went to harvest excited to apply the things we were trained on. We said a specific prayer to find a YSA age person that would accept all of our invitations and for a family that we could pass to the other missionaries in that area. We knock the first door and a YSA age guy opens the door. He let us come in and share the harvest blessing with him and he felt the spirit. We invited him to act and he accepted all of our invitations. The third house we knocked on we prayed with a family from El Salvador. We invited them to act and they accepted all our invitations too! Then to finish off the harvest we found a Hatian family that accepted all our invitations to pass to the other missionaries. The Lord truly blessed us with miracles because we exercised our faith!”

Following the keys brings them from “finding” to “Baptism”:

“Miracle Transfer Day, and I was transferred to my new area.  My companion and I got home and we immediately set out to harvest since we needed all 8 blessings by the end of the day.  We [went to an area and]  picked a road.  We said a prayer to ask God to send us to a miracle who would be baptized.  In my entire mission I have never met anyone on transfer day who was baptized.  We walked down the street and were able to leave amazing blessings with people, one of which was a lady from Cuba!  She loved the prayer we left with her and said she would think about baptism.  That Sunday, she came to church with her friend.  We stopped by that Friday and invited her and her friend to baptism.  She told us she’d never been baptized before and if it would bring her closer to Christ, she would do it.  She came to church again.  As we taught her she was so willing to change her life to prepare to be baptized, she quit smoking and coffee in a day!  The next Friday we had her interview and she passed! She was baptized last Sunday!”

Following the keys will invoke the Spirit, even through doors:

“The member was running late so we decided to take advantage of the few minutes we had and went right to knocking some nearby doors.  The second door we knocked, a man spoke with us through the door saying that he could not open the door because he was blind.  We did not believe it and testified that Christ sent us to bless his home, but he insisted and told us that his heart was open to receive our blessing, so we believed him.  Midway during the prayer, he stepped out and told us that he felt our love and sincerity and knew he could trust us.  He knew we were sent from God.  He immediately accepted baptism and we started teaching him the day after. I learned from this the importance not wasting the Lord’s time.  Even if we only have one minute, we can change someone’s life.”

Sister Anderson and I look forward to the same feelings of Alma and Ammon when they reunited after 14 years of being separated (thankfully it won’t be that long). When we reunite with each of you we will feel these same emotions:



President Anderson’s Letter – 15 June 2014

I love to spend part of Monday morning reading President Anderson’s letter to the Florid Fort Lauderdale missionaries. I have noticed that as it grows closer to the time when the Andersons will be finishing their mission that his letters are getting longer. It reminds me of King Benjamin calling his people together to counsel them as he approached the end of his life. He wanted to make sure that he imparted all the knowledge and wisdom that he had accumulated over a lifetime of righteous service….

I will miss the words of wisdom and the great missionary experiences that he shares each week.

“Telling God what you are prepared to do for his blessing is evident of “I know I can, I knew I could, I will”:

 â€œWe took your invitation to create an if/then statement and take it to the Lord. Our statement was if we get 15 people committed to church by Saturday night, wilt thou bless us with 5 investigators at Sacrament! We went out this week and worked super hard. We saw a lot of miracles and were very blessed and by Saturday Night we had exactly 15 people committed to church. We went out Sunday Morning before church and did our round up and no one was answering! We continued to work hard. We went out with a member and went to pick up an investigator and her granddaughter who had both committed to come to church. When we knocked the door, the Grandma opened the door all dressed in her Sunday best and said that they were still getting ready and that we should wait for them. A minute later her Husband (who had never been interested in meeting with us) came out of the bedroom dressed in his Sunday best and following him were all their little grandchildren. All of them came to church and had an amazing experience! The fellowship from the ward was amazing! They felt the spirit and all of them are preparing to be baptized this weekend! What an amazing blessing! God blessed us so much after we did everything in our power that we could do!”

 Opening our mouths to everyone is evident of “I know I can, I knew I could, I will”:

 â€œSo we went to our harvesting spot and said a prayer agreeing we would talk to the first person we saw. We jump out of the car and head for a man walking along the street and he oyms us before we could say a word! We get to know him a bit and testify that Jesus Christ loved him. He got really surprised and said, ‘How did you know I love God!?’ He then opens up about a few struggles and challenges he had been facing in his life. We decided not to miss this amazing miracle and share a scripture about how we all must follow Christ and be baptized. He accepts and says, ‘I promise I’ll be there!’ Then he goes and grabs his beer and, while dumping it in the trash, says he will never drink again! The next day after overcoming a bunch of doubts he told us those famous words, ‘Tell me anything and I’ll believe all your words. I know you were sent from Jesus Christ.’” 

Following the promptings of God and answering prayers of others is evident of “I know I can, I knew I could, I will”:

 â€œ…  we knew that we were supposed to be on that certain street. We heard a noise come from a house and felt like we needed to be there. When we went to the house the door was open and 2 boys were playing a video game in the front room. We asked if they could get their mom or dad for us. In a couple of minutes a man came out. We introduced ourselves as ‘Representatives of Jesus Christ’ and stated that we were there to leave the Saviors peace and blessing with him and his family. He stared at us like we were from another planet! He immediately got his wife and asked if we knew each other and if we were playing a joke on him. I was pretty confused until they explained the situation. He did not believe there was a God. He actually told his wife (the day before) that when God sends him a sign, then he will believe in Him. His wife started fasting that day that God would give her husband a sign and we showed up the next day! They actually came to church on Sunday! He has changed so much in the week that we have known him. The gospel changes lives!”



Mary and Mary – Ikageng District Meeting

We have had a good couple of days since Transfer Meeting. One of our visits was to Mary Mothobi a sister who lives out in an extension. We had met her when the Knowles took us out to where she lives but this is the first time we had actually been in her home. Unfortunately she lives a long way from church and can not afford the cost of traveling in each Sunday. But she has a strong testimony.

June14 - Sis Mary's House - Mary June 14 - Sis Mary with GD

Mary is at the gate of the other Mary’s humble home. Mary takes care of her granddaughter while her daughter-in-law goes to school to learn computers.

June14 - 2 Marys June14 - Granddaughter

When I told Mary that sister Pier’s name was Mary she was very happy and so I took a picture of the two Marys and will have it printed for her. I never was able to get the little one to smile.

Another one of the blessings of being a senior couple is to attend district meeting with the young missionaries. Today was the first meeting of the new Ikageng district.

June14 - Elder Otieno June14 - Elder Msangi

Elder Otieno is from Kenya and is the new district leader. Elder Msangi is elder Kelem’s new companion.

June14 - Elders Msangi, KelemJune14 - Elder Larsen

This is the new Ikageng companionship. Elder Larsen is from California’s Clear Lake area. Clear lake is the largest natural lake in the US. He is elder Perkin’s new companion serving in the Klerksdorp area.

June 13, 2014 - The District June 13, 2014 - Pancake Den

 

The first Ikageng District picture…elders Kelem, Perkins, Larsen, Mdletshe, Otieno, and Msangi. After district meeting we went to the Pancake Den for lunch. Pancakes in South Africa are not like pancakes in the US. Basically they are what we would call crepes. The Pancake Den has been in business for 19 years and they make truly delicious crepes of all kinds.



10 June – Transfer Day…

We had some things we needed to do up in Joburg so we decided that we would combine them with being part of transfers. Transfer day is very special because missionaries from all over the mission come together for a few hours to either get new seasoned companions or become trainers for the new missionaries that have come into the mission. One thing that is convenient about the Johannesburg mission is that the MTC where most of their missionaries have been being trained is in the same building as the mission office. So all the new missionaries walk out one door and are immediately in their mission field.

The Assistants and the Office couples are busy for days getting ready for transfers. Of course so is President and Sister Omer. The new missionaries ‘arrive’ at 7:00 and spend three hours being trained by the couples on things like cars, phones, debit cards, and anything else that they need to know about being a Joburg missionary.

June14 - Trans - SM Elder Dummer teaching June14 - Trans - SM Sis Dummer notes

Elder Dummer tells the new missionaries the ins and outs of driving and how to use their finance cards. Sister Dummer took notes on the new companionships. She also took pictures of the new companionships which will be included in the package that goes out to the families of new missionaries.

June14 - Trans - SM Sis Taylor, Mary

 

Our good friend sister Taylor was kept busy making sure the new missionaries had all they needed to start their adventure. Mary and I were just along for the ride – we got to enjoy the excitement of transfer without having any responsibility.

While this is going on cars start arriving from all over the mission bringing those who are being transferred and those who are not being transferred but who are getting new companions. The parking lot becomes one big gathering place where missionaries meet and hug old companions and those they went through the MTC with.

June14 - Trans - Gathering June14 - Trans - Mis Day, Mukarti

The missionaries gather in the parking lot and greet old friends before finding out who will be their new companions. I did not make notes of how the elders knew each other so I will just share the pictures – Elders Day and Mukarti.

June14 - Trans - Mis Day, Olson June14 - Trans - Mis Massou, Mukarti

Elders Day and Olson and Elders Massou, Mukarti. Elder Massou is one of the elders chosen to train a new missionary.

June14 - Trans - Mis Pius, Cummings

 

Elders Pius, Cummings pose for my picture – we keep running into elder Cummings at different locations. He was in the MTC with elder Rogers.

 

June14 - Trans - Mis transfer list

The assistants post the transfer information on the walls in a cultural hall and missionaries flock in to find out where they are going or who will be their new companions. Then comes the sorting out as they find the companion they will spend at least the next 6 weeks with. Luggage and other things must be transferred from one car to another and journals need to be written in and signed. The meeting and greeting goes on for a long time before cars start to exit the lot for the trip home or to a new area.

While those who are being transferred are getting sorted out, the new missionaries are in a meeting with the trainers, the assistants, and President and sister Omer.  President Omer has spent the morning interviewing the new missionaries and seeking the spirit to know the first area they should serve/be born in and who should be their father/trainer. The new missionaries  are invited to share their testimony and then they are matched up with their trainer.June14 - Trans - NM  New missionaries and comps June14 - Trans - NM  Trainers - elder Compton

The 9 new missionaries occupy the front rows while their trainers sit behind them. However at this point no one except the president and the assistants knows who will train who!

June14 - Trans - NM - elder Hehir June14 - Trans - NM Adjin

I was out of the room when the new missionaries bore their testimonies and only got back in time to take single photos of elders Hehir and Anjin. But I did get companion pictures for all of them.

June14 - Trans - NM  Allen, Maraetefau June14 - Trans - NM  Huhes, Silvester…Hehir in back

Elder Allen will train elder Maraetefau who comes to the mission from the isles of French Polynesia while elder Hughes who comes from the island of England will be trained by Silvester.

June14 - Trans - NM  Kenyah, Andritiana June14 - Trans - NM  Massou, Adjin

Elder Kenyah if Uganda will be trained by Andritiana. Elder Massou will train elder Adjin who is also from Uganda.

June14 - Trans - NM  Mead. Hehir June14 - Trans - NM  Ndwanzwe - Packard

Elder Mead is training elder Hehir who comes from the UK. Elder Nkosingphile who is serving from Swaziland got a new purple tie from his trainer elder Packard.

June14 - Trans - NM  Rizk, Natwijuka June14 - Trans - NM  Widdison, Compton

Elder  Rizk will train his son elder Natwijuka who is from Uganda. Elder Widdison from the US  will be trained by our friend elder Compton who was our district leader when we first came into the mission.

June14 - Trans - NM Henton, Quigley

Elder Hentunen from Finland will be trained by elder Quigley.

They then gather up their luggage, get a new pillow and comforter – it is cold here at this time of the year – get everything loaded into a car and off they go to serve the best two years of their life.

One of the other reasons we enjoyed being at transfers is that we got to see and meet the new companions of the elders from our district. Elders Rogers and Harris were transferred out of the Ikageng district while elders Kelem, Mdletshe and Perkins stayed in their areas but got new companions.

June14 - Trans - ID  Rushton, Harris June14 - Trans - ID Hallamann, Rogers 2

Elder Rushton is elder Harris new companion and they will be serving in the Rabie Ridge area. We were sad to lose elder Harris but we know he will do well in his new area. Elder Hallman will be elder Roger’s third companion as he moves from Ikageng to Germistron area.

June14 - Trans - ID Otieno, Mdletshe June14 - Trans - ID Perkins, Larsen

Elder Otieno joins elder Mdletshe in Jouberton and Elder Perkins now has elder Larsen as his new companion in the Klerksdorp area. Some how I missed getting a picture of elder Kelem with his new companion elder Msangi who will serve with us in Ikageng.

 



President Anderson’s Letter – 8 June 2014

President Anderson has arranged so all the missionaries in the FFLM will go to the temple on June 20th. They will be in 4 sessions and after each one they will have a group picture taken in front of the temple. What a wonderful experience for the missionaries and President and Sister Anderson.

You are touching the heart of everyone that you declare with power and authority that we “represent Jesus Christ” and even when they don’t embrace it now, be optimistic that they will reflect and embrace it later:

“I got a call at the very end of personal study from a random number. I picked up and a lady in Spanish told me ‘Hi, you gave me a card to come to your church, but I don’t have a ride’. I told her we’d help her get there and asked if we could stop by to pray and share a scripture with her. She agreed and we went over later that day. Well when we got there, she opened up her purse to show us the card she had, and it was a chapel card, nicely folded with our number on it, but the names [missionaries from two years ago] were written on it! My companion and I were astounded that she’d been hanging onto the card for what must be almost 2 years now! The spirit finally prompted her to call, what a miracle! Turns out she used to go to church when she lived in Missouri… we will be teaching her and her 2 kids this week.”

Your power and authority will draw to the Church, and because of the kind of missionaries you are, you will continue to invite even after your release:

“Our most solid investigator came with his member friend, and then someone that we had harvested earlier that week walked into the chapel for Sacrament Meeting! We went up and started talking to him, and we asked him what made him come to church, and he said ‘Well, I told you guys I would come, didn’t I?’ It was awesome! And then the Sisters came to get us during Sunday School and said ‘There is an investigator who lives in your area who showed up to church today because a member invited her. She wants to be a member of the church.’ She attended the Ward yesterday, and we assigned her with a member friend. (Sister Jasmine Brown recent released FFLM). We were not able to stick with her during the Service, so we asked Sister Brown if she would invite our investigator to be baptized during church that day. She did, and our investigator accepted!!! Sister Brown told us over the phone that she had invited her to be baptized, and that she had already arranged to go and pick up our investigator for church the following Sunday. It sure is nice to have a Returned Missionary from your own mission to help you out. God truly blessed us yesterday.”

As we prepare diligently for the Temple, God will bless us tremendously:

“So after church and our miracle baptism, we went out to find our investigators who didn’t come to church and reset them with baptismal dates…. no one was home or picked up the phone. So it is 8:30 and we’re exhausted, but we know we have to give all of our diligence to the Lord to qualify for miracles and our revelatory temple experience on the 20th. So we pray and follow the feelings to an area we’ve never knocked. After getting rejected at a few doors, we knock into a man. He asks us if we can just pray outside because his little dog is inside. I’m not going to take that excuse, so I asked if he’d put the dog away and we could step in and bless his home. I’m so glad we were bold because it was one of the most powerful harvest blessings I’ve left in a long time! The spirit was so present and when we invited him to be baptized and he said  ‘I think so. Yes, I need to make that commitment to the Lord, because he’s changed my heart’. I was so glad that we chose to be diligent and that God answered our prayer that we said earlier that we would be blessed and be able to bless someone else’s life. I’m so excited to go teach him!”



Almost Back to Normal…

My double vision is almost gone so on Friday the 5th I was able to drive for the first time in a month without keeping one eye closed. But before that Mary was the designated driver as we made trips to Vanderbijlpark for apartment inspections on Tuesday, to Joburg for Zone Conference on Thursday, and to Klerksdorp for District Meeting on Friday. On Saturday we went around visiting members and then a normal Sunday. It is wonderful to be able to devote moer of our time serving the members of the branch The are truly great saints who always make us feel welcome.

June14 - Mary, Malapula, sikuku June14-ZC - Bodily, Davies

Inspecting the elder’s flats is one of the blessings that senior couples get to have once a transfer. For the most part they do a good job cleaning up for our inspections. However you really do not want to drop in unexpected very often. Unless the electricity goes off or something major happens they hardly ever complain. The story is told about some elders who called to say they were having a problem with their door and could someone come out and fix it when they have a chance. Since they did not say that it was urgent it was scheduled for the next time someone from the office was going that way. They called a couple of times more before they were asked just what was the problem. It turned out they could not open their front door so for three weeks or more they had been going in and out of their flat through a window!

Mary is with elders Malapula and Sikuku who are serving in the Sharpesville area. If I remember correctly elder Malapula is from the DRC and elder Sikuku is from Kenya and is a friend of elder Kelem who serves here in Ikageng. The picture on the right is the first one from the Zone Conference that was held in the very nice Sandton chapel. Elders Bodily and Davies are not companions but are good friends.

June14-ZC - Holmquist, Arthur, Chifokoyo, Mdletshe June14-ZC - Johnson, Harris, Browning

Elders Holmquist, Arthur, Chifokoyo, and our own elder Mdletshe. Our elder Harris in the middle has elder Johnson on his right – picture left and elder Browning on the other side.

June14-ZC - Pulley, Lyons, Beers June14-ZC - Rakotoarimanana,  Bird, Perkins, Rogers

Elders Pulley, Lyons, and Beers with an elder I am afraid I do not know. The picture on the left includes elder Rokotoarimanana who has the honor of having the longest name in the mission. If you enlarge the picture you may be able to see how they squeezed all that on his name tag. The other three are elders Bird, Perkins and Rogers. Elder Bird was here in Potch when we first came and is now serving as a zone leader in Soweto. He trained elder Rogers who will be leaving us this transfer.

June14-ZC - Roybal June14-ZC - Roybal, Richards, Rushton

Elder Roybal sitting in the boot of their car is my favorite one from the conference. He is even wearing the right color suit. Later he joined elders Richards and Rushton – the three R’s for another picture.

June14-ZC - Stapley, Carpenter, Cummings, Malapula 2June14-ZC - Stapley, Carpenter, Cummings, Malapula

Elders Stapley, Carpenter, Cummings and Malapula get two pictures because they could not seem to all look at the camera at the same time.

June14-ZC - Elders Eating 1June14-ZC - Elders Eating 2June14-ZC - Elders Eating 3June14-ZC - Elders Eating 4June14-ZC - Elders EatingJune14-ZC - Group Picture 2

I took a number of pictures of the elders enjoying their lunch. E/S Taylor, E/S Dummer and E/S Meldrum and sister Omer all pitched in and set up the tables and the decorations. Elder Taylor and I picked up the food from the most impressive super market I have ever been in. For about $4.50 per person they were able to get a salad, rolls, rice, sweet and sour chicken, and stir fried vegies. For dessert the sisters supplied Texas sheet cakes. I can assure you none of the elders went away hungry.

I am providing 3 pictures of the whole conference because there is no way to get 80 plus people to all look at the camera at the same time and I did not want any parents to miss their son’s smiling – or not smiling – face.

June14-ZC - Group Picture 3June14-ZC - Group PictureJune14-ZC - Omers - MayendeJune14-ZC - Omers - Pederson

After the group picture many of the elders wanted a last picture with the Omers who go home at the end of June. They lined up and gave me or one of their friends their cameras so I kept busy for a while recording these goodbye pictures…I took some with my camera when someone else was taking the picture. Notice how windy it was by looking at sister Omer’s hair!

June14-ZC - Elders cleaning upJune14 - District Meeting - Perkins, Harris, Mdletshe

While most of the elders were outside talking to friends or having their picture taken, a small group of elders went back into the cultural hall and put away the tables and chairs and cleaned up the floor. Other than elders Rogers and Johnson I can not identify these elders but i do salute them for their work. On Friday we went to the last Ikageng  District meeting of this transfer. It may look like elders Perkins, Harris and Mdletshe are singing but they actually are telling the rest of the district about their investigator and how they are doing.

June14 - District Meeting - Us Harris RogersJune14 - District Meeting - District 2

We took a picture with elders Harris and Rogers who we are pretty sure will be transferred next Tuesday. We have truly enjoyed getting to know these two fine elders and hope to see them again at some conference or perhaps the Christmas social.

June14 - District Meeting - District 2June14 - District Meeting - District Crazy

We kept up the tradition of taking some last district pictures which has to include one crazy one. They may be crazy but they are above all dedicated representatives of the Savior.

June 14 - Mary with Spiegelhoff babyJune 14 - Njabulo Zondi's Green Sock

 

On Saturday when we were visiting Mary got to hold sister Spiegelhoff’s one month old baby. i was not sure she was going to give her back to her mother. Sunday morning it was really cold here in Potchefstroom so we broke out all the heaters. Brother Njabulo Zondi took off his shoe and basically stuck his foot in the heater – he said it was frozen. I had to take a picture of his very bright chartreuse sock.



Fort Lauderdale Cornerstone Capsule…

While we were serving in the FFLM, President Anderson had each missionary write their name and a short message on cards which he told us would be put in the time capsule that was put in the capsule that would go into the cornerstone of the temple. Below are some pictures that show the capsule and the cornerstone. I wonder when it will be opened and what people who open it will think about what they find inside. Although we could not be there for the dedication, at least a small part of us did attend.

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President Anderson’s Letter – 1 June 2014

President and Sister Anderson have just one month left before being released and returning to El Paso so there will be only a few more inspiring letters coming from the President. I do not know if the new president will continue to send letters to those of us who have been released but if he does we will continue to post them until the last missionary who we served with comes home. Also below is a picture of the last group of missionaries that the Anderson’s will be sending back to their homes.

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President’s Letter ”

The inspiration of this statement is one that I extend to all of you, with the same pledge and effort, “Give us this Mountain, Give us these Challenges”. Accomplishing the purposes God has put us here to achieve, will bring about “promised blessings” that God has pledged to give. God is blessing you for the “Mountains” you are climbing and the people He trusts you with because of your obedience and diligence in opening your mouth:

“My companion saw a girl across the street that was sitting on the front porch of an apartment building. We went over to her and left a Harvest Blessing, and by the end she was crying. She said she had been going through a really rough time. She had just moved here from New York, got scammed out of a lot of money, is going through identity theft…and etc. Basically we were a huge answer to the prayers of her heart. After we invited her to be baptized, and before we committed her to a date she said, ‘so when is the soonest we can do the baptism?’ We told her June 1st and she was so excited. She came to church this past Sunday and basically became best friends with the whole branch. We found out that she smokes, but throughout all of the service she was expressing that she knew she needed to quit. Our member told her ‘I hope you know that you’re gonna be my new best friend?’ She agreed and then apologized for her bad habit of smoking that the member was going to have to deal with. Our member was baptized in January and told her ‘”Don’t worry,  I’m gonna help you quit! I used to have that same problem too.’ She was so happy and she was simply glowing all of Sunday and making friends left and right. A few minutes ago she called us and told us she is now planning to move out of her boyfriend’s house. We haven’t even taught her the law of chastity! She just wants to be right by God. I am so grateful for the blessings that are being rained down.”

Because of the “Mountains” you are climbing, you, as representatives of Christ, are bringing Salvation to many by the Spirit and Testimony you express. You are escalating their interests and desires, building up their hopes and faith; then inviting them to act:

“After teaching an investigator this week, we were heading back to our car when one of his neighbors that was out watering his lawn yells from a little bit of a distance ‘what do you have for me?’ We were a little confused and thought he was mad and he yells again ‘what are you selling?’  We answered ‘salvation’. We walked over to him with our member and we introduce ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ and offered to share a harvest blessing with him. He accepts and we ask him what it is that he needs. He says that all he needs is to stop drinking. He told us how his marriage of 30 years had just ended not too long ago because of his drinking problem and you could tell it was very hard for him… He goes and turns off the water and then invites us to come inside. We went in with him knelt down and offered the blessing. The spirit filled the room and after the prayer we all stayed on our knees for a minute, through his tears he says I knew you would come. I felt it as you walked down the street something told me I needed to talk to you guys and I knew I had to bring you over. We testified that God loves him and that he could be healed through the atonement. We invited him to be baptized and he said yes.”

We are helping others to climb their mountains:

“We had met her about two or so weeks ago at a Burger King. We gave her a card and invited her to church. We didn’t have church that week due to the dedication so she was standing outside the building and called us asking for an explanation. We were able to tell her that we didn’t have normal church that week and she was ok with it…  She had come to church before and said that she liked it…  on Wednesday we met with her and she explained to us that she had read over half way through in the Book of Mormon. We were shocked and praised her for it. We didn’t see her for some time then on Saturday night she called and said ‘What do I need to wear to my baptism tomorrow?’ She remembered the date we had set her with and was determined to be baptized. With the help of our wonderful Branch she was able to get into the font on Sunday. She is an example to me that the spirit speaks to all of us.”

President Eyring shared:

“My heart was stirred, knowing, as I did, some of the challenges and adversity he [President Kimball] had already faced. I felt a desire to be more like him, a valiant servant of God. So one night I prayed for a test to prove my courage. I can remember it vividly. In the evening I knelt in my bedroom with a faith that seemed almost to fill my heart to bursting. Within a day or two my prayer was answered. The hardest trial of my life surprised and humbled me. It provided me a twofold lesson. First, I had clear proof that God heard and answered my prayer of faith. But second, I began a tutorial that still goes on to learn about why I felt with such confidence that night that a great blessing could come from adversity to more than compensate for any cost. The adversity that hit me in that faraway day now seems tiny compared to what has come since—to me and to those I love.” ( President Henry B. Eyring, General Conference April 2011)

I know Missionaries that South Florida has no mountains at sea level, but we have many “Spiritual Mountains” to climb as we are “Exactly Obedient” and “Diligent” to what God has called us here to do. We can get 175!!! We have shown God already that we can get 168!!  Every companionship needs to contribute (Baptize) early this month for us to accomplish this.

Set your goals now on who and how many you will baptize this week, this month. Then set goals (specific) to achieve this goal. Then take it to the Lord “if we do this (specific) will thou bless us for our very best effort with these (specific) baptisms?” I know the Lord will bless you as you conquer your mountain!!!

What will we do to prepare for our opportunity to attend the Temple on the 20th of June? What are you prepared to do to have the greatest revelatory experience at the “House of The Lord”?