“They are praying for us to find them and bring them access to the Atonement:

“We had the most miraculous experience harvesting. We saw a young woman with her head down through her kitchen window. She invited us in to pray for her, a young single mom struggling to find a job. After the prayer (before we even said anything!) she said, ‘I feel so good. I know God sent you to me. I was in my kitchen so sad, and I prayed to God. Then you knocked on my door and I feel so happy now!’ She will be baptized on the 18th!!”

As we declare our purpose and who we represent, God will confirm that power and authority to them that we can help them to the Atonement:

“At the beginning of this week we went to see our investigator, with the plan of following up on his commitment to keep the Word of Wisdom. When we got there it was evident that he was still struggling with it. My companion and I immediately began to teach doctrine, but he really wasn’t getting it. After several minutes a question came to my mind. I asked him ‘…  who are we?’ and he responded with, ‘ Some great friends that are trying to help me out. And missionaries too I guess.’ Then I saw where the spirit was going with the question I had asked. I responded with ‘Yes we are all those things. But we’re also something else,  we are Representatives of Jesus Christ.’ My awesome companion jumped in and testified to him that we were called by God to stand in Christ’s place. I then told him that when we ask him to do something, it is because Jesus Christ wants him to do that thing. I then told him that Christ wanted him to keep the Word of wisdom. And he said in a very firm voice, ‘It’s Done!’  We asked if he believed what we had said and he responded that he knew we were telling the truth. He said ‘ I understand now, and I will stop smoking. It’s done.’”

God will lead us to those who will recognize the truth and embrace the Atonement:

“On Monday, we decided on what place we wanted to go to harvest. As we arrived at the place, we decided on a street, and then started to lock up our bikes so that we could start to harvest. I felt the impression that we needed to walk down the entire street too, I told my companion about it, so we started walking. As we walked down the street, we did not see anyone that we could contact, but we knew that for some reason, we needed to be on that other street. At the very end of the street we were walking down, there was a guy sitting out on his front porch smoking a cigarette. The walk down the street took a solid 2 minutes, and he was watching us the entire time. It felt a little awkward, but we were supposed to be there! We contacted him after walking down the entire street towards him. We went inside and blessed him and his family, and they were very receptive. When we came back to teach them for the first time the next day, they said ‘We’ve been thinking about that baptism, and we’ve decided that we want to do it!’ We were soo excited. On Saturday, it was their 14 year old daughter’s  Birthday, so we bought cake and ice cream and then had a ‘birthday party’ chapel tour at the church with the Father and daughter. They loved it. While on the chapel tour, the mom called the Father because they were supposed to be at their house for the daughter’s birthday. The Father’s responded ‘We’ll be there in a little bit-we’re visiting the new church that we’re going to join.’”

Increase our faith and their faith, to help them make commitments, like coming to Church:

“One miracle that came was Sunday morning as we went to round up our investigator who has been having word of wisdom problems. We stopped at his home around an hour before church, and he and his wife answer the door saying they are both coming to church, so applying our training we said a prayer with them. Well, half hour later, they both show up to church, and they loved the service. The members, though barely able to speak Spanish, showed so much love for the two of them. After church, we showed them the baptismal font and talked about baptism of water and of fire. We brought up how they felt during church and reminded them of how they felt at the temple, and then we invited both of them to be baptized on the 11th of May. She looked at Enrique with a look of hope and said, ‘yes’.” Increase our faith and their faith as the

Lord compensates from our efforts and diligence:

“We did a very thorough round up and prayed like crazy. Well, the people that we planned for didn’t come, but the Lord compensated. One of our beautiful members brought their non-member mother. She cried throughout Sacrament Meeting and when we went to follow up with her that evening, she didn’t understand why she had been crying so much. We quickly told her what that feeling was that she was feeling. Then we explained that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. We explained to her how when we are baptized we are promised to have the Spirit always, if we keep the commandments. We invited her to be baptized, and she said ‘yes… I’m going to do it’… We invited her to pray. She did and the thing that touched my heart the most was that at the end we looked up, and her daughter was just crying and smiling at us and then back at her mother. She told us that she has been waiting for this for so long.”

Increase our faith and their faith with that “one more door” and “one more contact”:

“After church we needed to go and harvest. We prayed and God directed us to a street. We were so excited to meet new people. We knocked doors we prayed with people and all was great!! That’s when our time for harvesting was over and we looked at each other and said wait… one last door. We knocked on this house and this lady answers with a baby boy in her arms. We introduce ourselves and tell her we are representatives of Jesus Christ. She then stated ‘no way where did you guys come from?’ We told her that god directed us there to her house through his Holy Spirit. She then began to cry. She cried and cried and said, ‘This is going to sound funny but guys I was actually just barely in the back room praying with my baby boy asking God to get me outta the situation I’m in. Tell him that I needed his help!’ She continued telling us how… things just aren’t going well in her life. We were able to testify to her letting her know that God loves her and he will cause things to get better as she does her part. She agreed and we were able to say a prayer with her. She cried and thanked us. She knew god answered her prayer through us. SHE KNEW THAT WITHOUT A DOUBT! We invited her to accept that help from god by following Christ example and by being baptized. She said without even any hesitation, ‘Yes I will!!!!’ God is real. God hears our Prayers.

God knows us! God compensates our efforts!!” Elders and Sisters, now is the time to unleash the greater power that God has blessed us with. The greater power of magnifying our faith that God will help us bring these souls to him. Urgency is our “middle name” and we must magnify our responsibility, faith and purpose by finding, teaching, and inviting all who God places in our path. Let us do what has not been done this week!!! President Packard teaches it best: “Since baptism is essential there must be an urgent concern to carry the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people … We accept the responsibility to preach the gospel to every person on earth. And if the question is asked… You mean you are out to convert the entire world?’ the answer is, ‘Yes. We will try to reach every living soul.’ Some who measure that challenge quickly say, ‘Why that’s impossible! It cannot be done!’ To that we simply say, ‘Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway.’” (Boyd K. Packer Ensign, November 1975, p. 97)

After giving details about going to the dedication of the temple and instruction that they had received during the week from Elder Holland and other general authorities he shared these missionary experiences…

“No matter how busy we may be, obedience will always produce the miracles:

“We weren’t going to transfers, but we still knew miracles could happen. We made sure, even with other things going on, that we were going to get 8 blessings by Wednesday. We went to the temple, then harvested, and then we had a baptism! This family was unsure if they should be baptized, but as we took them to the open house the Friday before, they had an enormous confirmation that they needed to be baptized. And it happened on transfer day! It went amazingly and it was for our obedience and making sure we still had 8 blessings that it happened. And the best part to top it off, the wife turned to me as we went to say good bye and said, ‘You’re coming back in a year for our sealing, right?’”

Being obedient with our pure testimony of The Book of Mormon will always pierce their hearts:

“We went and taught [our investigator] and then we were walking out of the lesson and we heard a neighbor yell to us and asked us if we had any of our church literature that she could have. Of course we went over there and gave her a Book Of Mormon and taught her a short lesson about it. She was really excited to learn and to read about it. The next day we went by and she said that it wasn’t for her and gave us the book back. She was scared because it was different from the Bible. We testified to her for a few minutes and then she asked ‘can I actually have that book back?’ It was amazing and the next day she had read 10 chapters already and was talking about how she couldn’t wait to get baptized! She has continued to read and is excepting everything we teach her. When she gets tired of reading she gets on Mormon.organd talks with missionaries online! She is so elect. She came to stake conference yesterday and loved it and says that she has finally found the faith in which she belongs! She will be getting baptized this Sunday!!”

Even our investigators will recognize our obedience and trust us because of it:

“We had just finished harvesting for the day, and were riding back to be picked up at our apartment by our members. We noticed a man sitting down, smoking a cigarette behind his car. We stopped and offered to leave a blessing with him. He seemed very depressed and down, but he agreed. When we asked what he would like us to include in the prayer, the only thing he wanted was for God to help him get rid of cigarettes in his life. It was my turn to say the prayer, but before I started, he said, ‘Thanks for being obedient.’ I was confused at what he meant by that, but I said the prayer, we recognized the spirit, and invited him to be baptized. He agreed to a date on the 11th (mother’s day). Before we left, I asked him why he had said that before. He told me that we had been obedient to the spirit by coming to pray with him. He said that he believed that many times, the things we think we do by ourselves are actually prompted by the spirit, and we would not have stopped to pray with him if we hadn’t been obedient and willing to listen.”

President Anderson’s letter for the week continues to share experiences of how the temple open house is continuing to bless lives by helping investigators feel the spirit and want to be baptized..

As we shared with a family the pain of the death of a young son, I thought about how just a month ago this couple went to the temple and were sealed as an Eternal family. I reminded them of the promises that were given there and that they could have their son sealed to them in a year.

President Anderson…

“Thank you so much for initiating harvesting in our mission! It has changed my life and taught me that I can call down the blessings of heaven on others. In my setting apart my stake president blessed me that ‘you will become a great prayer; many will [come to the Gospel] and come back to the gospel because of your prayers’. If that isn’t a reference to harvesting I don’t know what is!”

This is someone who, with faith, has created circumstances with the wonderful tools and resources we have been trained on, and have access to. The Temple currently has been an amazing tool to increase desires and solidify conversion, and so many of you have “created circumstances” with it to progress those you teach:

“This past week we had the opportunity to go through the temple with 2 of our progressing investigators. First, we took one last Saturday, His reaction to the temple was unforgettable he said ‘it’s like a castle’ and “I want to come back as soon as possible”. After, we went to the welcome tent and invited Him to be baptized the following day. The temple completely solidified His baptism and He was baptized and confirmed the following day. His mom came to his baptism and I remember Him telling us ‘we need to get her to go see the temple’. The following Tuesday, we had the opportunity to take her through as well. When we asked her ‘what room was your favorite room?’ She said ‘the celestial one, I want to go back there someday!!’ as we all then felt the spirit of her response, we invited her to be baptized the following Sunday. SHE WAS BAPTIZED in between conference sessions! The temple has been such a blessing and the most amazing tool to have a 100% baptismal rate for all we take. Everyone we take to the temple, we will baptize!”

Help others “act upon their circumstances” and answer their own questions of truth:

“We had the opportunity to go to the temple this past week with one of our investigators. He had read a whole lot of Anti-LDS literature throughout his life and has had some serious trouble accepting truth now because of it.  We had him pray about the Book of Mormon earlier in the week and the next day he, indirectly, said it was true.  This wasn’t enough, so we had him pray about a question we wrote: ‘Should I be baptized this Sunday?’ and write out his feelings on the paper when he prayed.  The next day we stopped by and we asked how his prayer went.  He said it went ‘Okay’ and we asked him to bring the paper where he wrote his feelings.  He had only written one word to answer the question; ‘Yes’.  It was a miracle.  A member drove us up to the temple shortly after that day …  We were able to have a tour of just our group and it was amazing.  The spirit was so strong.  The spiritual impressions he received directly from God and from visiting his holy house sealed his conversion.  He was baptized yesterday President.”

Help others “act upon their circumstances” and experience the power of the Gospel:

“He came to church 3 weeks ago …  After church we tried committing him to a baptismal date for the following Sunday but he still felt as though he wasn’t ready. So that week we continued working with him… we were able to help him leave behind smoking, drinking, drugs, etc… He was amazing. He was such a repentant guy! The next Sunday … he came to church again. He loved it. We tried committing him to another baptismal date for the following Sunday but guess what…. ‘I’m not ready!’ is what he told us. Sad but even more motivated to help him at this point we pondered and thought on what was next. What could we do as the Lord’s representatives to help him get baptized this weekend? We decided… Well he’s living the commandments, he’s repented, he’s coming to church, what more does he need? He needs to have a spiritual experience at the Temple of God. This was on Wednesday  … we traveled with him over to the temple open house. Oh how beautiful it was. The spirit that connected … connected him with his Heavenly Father! … One stop on the tour of the temple was at the recommend desk. There the tour guide explained that after the dedication each person that enters will need a recommend. Well long story short we went through the entire temple feeling of the Spirit of God. That special connection that each of us has. Afterwards we encountered something that I will NEVER EVER forget. As we were looking back at the temple, this time from the outside in, we asked him a question, ‘how did you feel inside God’s house?’ his response was simply ‘I felt good. I need to prepare to get my little paper thingy (recommend) so I can come back!’  It was at that moment we told him that the first step of preparation that he was talking about was his baptism this Sunday … he looked at us with a smile on his face and he said ‘I know, I’m ready!’ He was baptized yesterday and what an experience it was! … Now he is currently working on getting his family there to the temple this week.”

We still do not have internet at home but this letter was so inspiring that I had to post it here for those who do not get a chance to read the President’s letters. The effect of the open house and temple on missionary work in the area is going to be great. It will also affect the members and less active members as well…

Dear Missionaries,

Missionaries, what a wonderful weekend to listen to the words of our “Prophets” and to feast on the instructions to get closer to our Savior. To reflect on His great sacrifice and to celebrate His resurrection; to know that He lives, and that we represent Him is truly an honor and a privilege. Now we have the obligation to live and apply what was taught. Elder Hales has taught us:

“The greatest blessings of general conference come to us after the conference is over. Remember the pattern recorded frequently in scripture: we gather to hear the words of the Lord, and we return to our homes to live them. We accept the Savior’s invitation when we ponder and pray to understand what we have been taught and then go forward and do His will.” (Elder Robert D. Hales, General Conference October 2013)

President Kimball couldn’t wait to start applying the principles of General Conference:

“I have made up my mind that when I go home from this [general] conference … there are many, many areas in my life that I can perfect. I have made a mental list of them, and I expect to go to work as soon as we get through.” (President Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference ,October 1975)

President Monson’s reiterated the importance of studying the talks:

“I encourage you to read the talks … and to ponder the messages contained therein. I have found in my own life that I gain even more from these inspired sermons when I study them in greater depth.” (President Thomas S. Monson, General Conference, October 2012)

We had a revelatory meeting with the leaders of the mission last Friday and I am excited for them to share the amazing things we counseled on, in particular, bringing our investigators to Church and to the Temple Open House.

We saw so many miracles this week with the Mission and the Temple and we are anxious to watch for continued miracles in your areas. Every missionary needs to get someone to the Temple. If you have been, then go again with a different investigator. If you can’t get a reservation, come anyway; you won’t need a reservation because the flow is working so efficiently. This will require that you plan well so that your areas don’t suffer. It will also require that we coordinate extremely well with investigators and members to get to the Temple. Some of the comments of the missionaries have been amazing:

“I knew the temple would be such a miracle for missionary work but just having the opportunity to serve at the temple open house, especially in the reception tent after everyone has gone through the tour, I never could’ve imagined everything that I’ve experienced or heard. People literally come up to us and ask ‘how can i become a member?’ Every single person I talked to felt the spirit in the temple and they cannot deny that. I approached these two ladies and asked how they liked the temple. One was a less active member and the other was a non-member. The non-member told me it was a miracle in itself that she was even here. She said she would never come and that every time the Elders came to her house to see her Sister, she would run them off and slam the door in their face; or if they were there she would never sit in the same room as them. Then she looked at me and said ‘After today, that will never happen again’. When she said that, the spirit was so strong and she went on about how she was going to always let them in and be a part of their lessons and then she added ‘I’m not a member now, but that will change.’ And I knew those words were true. The Temple is speaking for itself and I know that we will reach our goal … The Temple is the key!”  

The Temple is solidifying our investigators baptisms:

“… we had the unique opportunity to take her to the temple on Saturday.  It was so amazing to see the affect on her.  Once she had gone through, nothing (and I mean nothing) could have stopped her from being baptized the following day. She was even handed anti-material as we were leaving the temple, and when we told her that it was other people, speaking badly about the church, she folded it up (in a bit of an offended manner) and handed it to us saying she didn’t want it.”

People are pleading for more information:

“It was amazing to see people’s hearts so touched by the spirit. I am sure many of them did not plan on feeling that way, or expected to love it so much. The Lord truly softened so many hearts through the temple. Two women came up to me and began asking me questions, all sorts of questions. I answered everything the best I could. They were loving every minute of it. Then they asked about the Book of Mormon. So I told them about that; then one of the women revealed to me that she had three friends who were Mormons. I told her ‘Well if you would like to see the book you should ask your friends to show you.’ She said okay, but then she said ‘can’t you give me one?’ I told them I really can’t give them materials unless they ask for it. In unison they said ‘Can we have one?’ They were so excited.”

The Spirit of the Temple is piercing their hearts:

“We had so many people come up to us at the end of the tour and ask us, ‘What do we need to do to become members of your church?’ and ‘Can I have a Mormon Bible?’ The power of the temple is REAL. Everyone is feeling it and it’s so cool to see them at the end of the tour converted through the Spirit of the Temple. There was this man  who was one of these miracles. His really good friend woke him up Saturday morning, ‘Get up, We’re going to see the Mormon Temple.’ He hadn’t heard anything about Mormons or the temple at all before his friend invited him. He hadn’t even seen the temple before this time and at first he didn’t want to go but then decided to in the end. For the past couple of years he told me that he felt very lost, like he didn’t have a purpose in life. He’d been praying to God every single day to help him know where he needed to go, but he didn’t feel like God was leading him anywhere. As he went into the temple, he said that he felt like God was calling him to come to Him through this church. He told me, ‘I want to be baptized. What do I have to do?’ It was such an incredible testimony to me that the Temple is God’s House on earth and that he will call on His elect to receive His blessings.”

I have had the opportunity and privilege to go through with ministers from other religions and the positive feedback has been amazing. In fact, a Rabbi went through a few days ago and sent this message: “Thank you so much for hosting us earlier this week at the Temple. We are interested in learning more about the Mormon teachings.” I will be visiting with them this week.

Those that are going through the Temple are feeling the Spirit of Elijah, perhaps the influence of their own ancestors:

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”(Malachi 4:5-6)

They are being pulled towards the ordinance of baptism as they view the magnificent baptistery and feel the Lords command:

“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”(John 3:5)

They are feeling the power of binding families together for eternity as they enter the Celestial room and the sealing room:

“And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:19)

The Spirit is at the Temple, what an amazing opportunity to help our investigators to feel it’s tremendous power and influence. The Temple is a beacon to the world, and a beacon to South Florida. Have the faith to bring your investigators to the Temple Open House; organize with your members, and I know you will share in these miracles!!!

We were truly blessed today as we had a chance to speak in church and have about 40 FFLM RMs there to support us. For the closing song the RMS and us sang the first two verses of ‘We’ll bring the world his truth.” After the meeting most of the missionaries came over to our house and had a great time eating and talking. I think most of them had a better time talking than eating. However most of them managed to do both of them very well…

Sanctify yourselves to help others to the ordinances including the Temple:

“Such a miracle week! So, first, we received a media referral from this lady and left a message on her phone so she called back and set up a time for us to come see her on Friday. When we got there we started talking and asked her how she came to get on our website and why she wanted us to come over. She then told us her amazing experience. About a month ago she had this dream one night of a light cream colored building that was beautiful and had beautiful windows. She didn’t know where this building was until she was driving on the freeway and saw the temple! And she immediately knew that was the building in her dream and she kept thinking ‘Mormon.’ So she searched the temple out and found out about our church and asked us to come over! She wanted to know about Smith and the Book of Mormon and everything she could. And even invited herself to be baptized saying ‘they said I had to do something before I could get baptized?’ This Sunday she showed up for church early to meet people and get a good seat. The temple is a missionary tool that God is preparing his children for!”

Sanctify yourselves so that you may witness others sanctify themselves:

“She looks at me and asked ‘Do you see my face? I have changed, I am happy and so is my son and it’s because when you and your companion  knocked on my door that Friday; I can never thank you enough.’ She began to tell us how she received her patriarchal blessing and now she is preparing to go to the temple, her 8 year old son told us how much the Gospel has changed his and his mom’s life as well… I was SO happy to hear the blessings that have come to them and the pure joy they have felt from the gospel. The one thing that I pulled out from this experience was the importance of following the promptings of the Holy Ghost. Just like Elder Kopischke said that we HAVE to act on the promptings of the spirit and to never doubt them. My companion and I spent almost a whole month knocking this entire apartment complex and the reason why we kept going back was because we knew that someone in that complex needed the gospel and as hundreds of doors were shut and hundreds of no’s we knew that we needed to be there for this woman and her son.”

Sanctify yourselves so you can witness the sanctification process of others accepting the truth:

“It all started on Sunday when my companion and I felt prompted to invite a member to come out with us… we found him (new investigator) and he was living in a halfway house, no relationship with God and could care less about keeping the commandments… when we first saw him I didn’t see him progressing that much in the Gospel, but we got a return appointment for Tuesday…  As soon as he opened his door on Tuesday I immediately pictured him in white. And it was so easy to do so. As we taught with love, that night he was able to feel of God’s love. He told us that he hadn’t felt that for a really long time, and he was ready to change his life around so he could get back to heaven… On Wednesday we took a member out with us and again we had a power house lesson. We taught the Word of Wisdom, and he LOVED it! He even went into the house and gave us his box of cigarettes. And the member was incredible, supporting him every step of the way… Then on Thursday after the amazing training from Elder Kopischke, my companion and I talked about that we needed to HELP our investigators… When we got to his house on Thursday evening… you could see the light was gone from his eyes. We asked him what was wrong and he told us that he had messed up and smoked 2 cigarettes that day. We changed our lesson plan and decided to go through the steps of Repentance with him… we both felt prompted to have him pray right then and there with us. And as we helped him with the repentance process you could feel the spirit working on him. During his prayer, he was basically pleading with God to forgive him. After his prayer, we sat there for a few minutes. We finally asked how he felt and he said ‘I now know the difference between happiness and pure joy!’ And the light was back in his eyes! After church we asked if he believed he was at Christ’s church and he told us without a shadow of a doubt he KNEW he was. He said that for the first time in his life, he had family and true friends. Sunday he had some things come up and he took with him a bible, a Book of Mormon, a TON of pass-a-long cards, and all the pamphlets we have left with him. As of today, he no longer has his bible, (he gave it to someone who was depressed) his pamphlets have all been given away, and yesterday and today he asked for more pass-a-long cards, because he has given them all out! He is already doing missionary work and is sharing the love that he has felt these past week with everyone that he meets. [He was baptized yesterday]”

Missionaries, sanctify yourselves and cast off all distractions that would keep you from finding and “HELPING” God’s children come to Christ; yield your hearts to God:

“Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” (Helaman 3:35)

I am including the complete letter because it contains excellent counsel from a general authority…

“Dear Missionaries,

Sister Anderson and I have started interviews and apartment inspections this week. We will be At Miami and Homestead Zones on Wednesday, 2-19-14; Friday at Hialeah Zone 2-21-14; Palm Beach Zone, Wellington and Belle Glade on Tuesday, 2-25-14; the rest of Stuart Zone, Boca Raton and Coral Springs on Wednesday 2-26-14; rest of Coral Springs Zone and Miami Beach Zone on 2-28-14. We are excited to meet with you and feel your excitement for the great work we have been called to. Please be prepared to have your Area Books current. We are looking forward to see your spotless apartments and cars.

Elder Kopischke left an incredible mark on our hearts and Spirit this last week. He taught so much concerning our needs, and not so much our concerns. He is a master teacher when it comes to Doctrine, Principle, and Application. Some of the things he taught (and additional what inspired my spirit):

• Help our Investigators get answers to their questions through Church, The Book of Mormon, and Prayer. They will have all their questions answerd, if diligent in their efforts. Joseph Smith asked the greatest question in the world in the Sacred Grove.
• Teach and Testify in plainness and simplicity (2 Nephi 25:4; 7)
• Boldness is not shouting, it is teaching plainly, clearly, in a way that they can learn.
• A major part of our purpose is not to just â€œinvite”, but to â€œHelp”. Aaron invited and helped King Lamoni’s Father come to Christ, Alma 22:16
• Take him that is weak (members, other missionaries) and build and strengthen (D&C 84:106). Pray for them, help them see, bring them up through faith and example (3 Nephi 18:24-25). Bring together the slow wheel (members) and the fast wheel (missionaries). We can work together and bring unity.
• Three C’s to keep our investigators strong after baptism

1. Conversion -  don’t teach for Baptism, teach for conversion, Alma 23:4-7; Mathew 25:1-9 “oils of conversion”, “lamps of testimony”
2. Circumstances –Condition – Completion – Help them not fail in their progress, because you love them, Alma 4:10; Help them follow the example of you and the members, Alma 39:11; Greatest support for your investigator is when the whole family are members, not just one or two (completion).
3. Contribution/Service – Difference between “a calling” and “an assignment”. Assign them service opportunities; help fellowship your investigators, go teaching with you, reactivate others, serve others.

• Bring and invite investigators to witness the sacred ordinance of Baptism
• Strive to be â€œPure” not “Sterile”; Pure is sanctified, worthy, chaste, obedient, and intentions of the heart. Sterile is without the Spirit, without sincerity, and without understanding.
• The greatest missionaries get discouraged, Alma 8:10; God will bless us (compensate) if we continue faithful and obedient, Alma 8:15.
• “How can you help an investigator if you have never failed?”
• “You don’t take credit for your successes; don’t take the blame when others don’t listen” (agency).
• “Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment…” (PMG p.10)
• Follow Spiritual Promptings with obedience and exactness, D&C 82:3; if you don’t do what you know, following the promptings, the sin will be upon us, D&C 82:4. The promised blessings of being obedient and following God’s promptings, D&C 82:10.
• We are here to bring a change in us, D&C 4:4, “he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he parisheth not, but bring salvation to his soul.”
• “Why should I be baptized again?” When Adam was baptized he “became quickened in the inner man”, Moses 6:65-68. Since we are body and spirit, the inner man must be the spirit and a record was made for heaven and earth (vs 66). Then that “quickened inner man (spirit)” becomes one with God, “thou art one in me, a son of God, and thus may all become my sons.” (vs 68)
• We are not asking anyone to deny the good things they have learned in their previous church, but to add upon them, to give them the complete truth.
• “How can we be more motivated?” Another word for motivation is desire. In Lehi’s vision of the “Tree of Life”, Lehi prayed to overcome discouragement (darkness) and to increase his motivation (desire). He prayed sincerely and fervently for mercy and desire and he received it when he saw the tree. When he partook of the fruit, he wasn’t concerned about himself (his darkness) any more, but his desires were for others, his family (1 Nephi 8:7-16). Not everyone will partake, because of their agency. (1 Nephi 8:17-18)

The list goes on with the things we learned. Now is the time to apply it in our work, and work with the members:

“This week we worked with a 77-year old Cuban man.  We met him through a recent convert who met him running one morning and felt that this man “NECECITA SER BAUTIZADO!” (needs to be baptized). In a little over two weeks, he gave up coffee, started feasting upon the word, praying, and attending church.  Being a cyclist all his life and promising himself that he would never use a car after he retired, he insisted on riding his bicycle to church for his baptism.  So we chose to ride with him.  Sunday morning we met him outside his house waiting for us and we started the 8-mile journey to the chapel.  The whole time, the recent convert riding with us was practicing the baptismal prayer.  What a sight it must have been to the people witnessing this “baptismal parade”!  Hours later, he was baptized by this member friend and then bore a powerful testimony of the spirit he felt and of the truthfulness of this work.’”

Apply in our work with the Spirit:

“We went to visit an investigator who had a friend over. As soon as we walked in the gate of the home He said excited ‘wow… as soon as you walked through the gate I felt something. I was so mad and was about to stomp out but now I’m calm. What did you do? What is that?’ We started talking to him and reading from the Book of Mormon about the Holy Ghost, and that was what he was feeling. He listened and talked a lot about how he’d never felt anything like it. Throughout it he said ‘I don’t even want to do…(a certain sin)… anymore. That desire is gone… I’m a changed person.’  We invited him to be baptized, at first he said he had been but then when we testified that baptism is a commitment to God to keep his commandments He said ‘I got baptized for my mom, but I want to get baptized in the real church and that’s this one’, (we hadn’t even taught him the restoration. He just felt it.) He didn’t want us to leave. He really felt the spirit and it taught him.”

Apply in our work our member’s testimony:

“He still wanted to be baptized, but couldn’t promise to live the law of chastity, only try. This wasn’t good enough for God though, and he wasn’t able to be baptized. This week we saw him after many days of him probably avoiding us. He came out and immediately started throwing out these doubts about repentance and how God accepts everybody, and how our church was unfair. He told us that he didn’t need to be married and that he didn’t want to be married. We talked about Matt. 3:11 about confessing sins and then Corinthians where the scripture says it’s better to marry than to burn. After sharing these scriptures I was feeling like that might have been too harsh, and the member jumped right in and simply said, “if you want to be at peace with God, you need to be married.” Our investigator thought about this and we asked him if he loved his girlfriend. He said yes. We told him about how we can get him married… and make it a special ceremony that God can be proud of. He said hold on, opened the door and called his girl friend to come outside. We met her and then watched as the hand of God and the Spirit pushed him to propose. Looking at her he asked, ‘do you want to get married? With me?”  WOW!!!! We were in shock! She said yes and now we are planning a wedding and then a baptism! How incredible!!!”

President Uchtdorf taught the blessings we will receive as we unite in these principles of God and go forward in spite of adversity:

“Guided by the Holy Spirit, we will learn from our mistakes. If we stumble, we will rise. If we falter, we will go on. We will never waver; we will never give up. As a mighty [Mission] of God, we will stand together, shoulder to shoulder, focused on the principles of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and gratefully serving our God and fellowman with dedication and love… I testify to you this day that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, live. They are real! They are there! You are not alone. Your Father in Heaven cares about you and desires to bless and uphold you in righteousness. Be assured that God speaks to mankind in our time. He will speak to you!” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference, 2012)

We have heard and studied wonderful doctrine and principles this last week. Now is the time to apply it. “Men and brethren, what shall we do?”(Acts 2:37) We must act on that knowledge and learning; we must change our circumstances and not wait to be acted upon. Like our converts, we must fulfill our commitments and change towards Christ, now is the time. We are part of a historic moment in this mission. “Elders and Sisters, what shall we do?”

“[Missionaries] shall we not go on in so great a cause? Go forward and not backward. Courage, brethren; and on, on to the victory! Let your hearts rejoice, and be exceedingly glad. Let the earth break forth into singing. Let the dead speak forth anthems of eternal praise to the King Immanuel, who hath ordained, before the world was, that which would enable us to redeem them out of their prison; for the prisoners shall go free.” (D&C 128:22)

Douglas Milo Richardson, 63, and LuAnn Ebert Richardson, four children, Red Cliffs 8th Ward, St. George Utah Red Cliffs Stake: Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission, succeeding President Donald E. Anderson and Sister Janet Anderson.

Brother Richardson serves as a bishop and is a former high councilor, stake Young Men president, stake mission president, counselor in a bishopric and missionary in the Brazil North Mission. Director, Strategic Partner Alliance, Western Digital Corporation. Born in Arlington, Va., to Acel Wayne Richardson and Vivian Carol Lee.

Sister Richardson serves as a counselor in a special needs Young Women presidency and is a former ward Relief Society president, counselor in a ward Young Women presidency and Primary teacher. Born in Salt Lake City to Richard Wayne Ebert and Geraldine McCullough.

One of the very great blessings of going on senior missions is getting to know the young missionaries. By going to Fort Lauderdale and working in the office we got to know most of the missionaries. Some we got to know really well and got to know their families through this blog and after we got home.

On the 30th of January 9 of those amazing FFLM missionaries arrived home and were greeted by family and friends. We were blessed to be there and to get to know those families we had not met before and of course to join in welcoming the missionaries home.  Sisters Emily Bagley,  Emma Daines, Crishelle Stegelmeier, Elders Ryan Johnson, Nathan Lee, Landon Loucks, Joseph Pearce, Colton Pond and Erik Benitez all served honorable missions and helped many through the gate and down the path to Eternal Life.

Every family had one or more signs to welcome their missionary home.

They waited patiently for the plane to arrive and then for the missionaries to get down the escalators.

The Loucks family did one of their signs in Creole. I gave the prize for the best sign to the Lee family…who could ignore that beautiful child.

We got to meet Elder Pearce’s family – sister Pearce said she was a follower of this blog. The mothers lined up as the anticipated moment was about to arrive.

We got to meet the Bagley family and I thought this was a great sign. They said that is what friends called Sister Bagley.

We got to meet the Pearce family for the first time. Sister Pearce said she was a regular reader of this blog. Sister Stegelmeier got out in front when she thought she saw her very tall daughter.

She was rewarded by being the first mom to get a big hug. Sisters Daines and Bagley were close behind and soon got their hugs.

Then came the elders. From left to right Elders Benetiz, Pond – way in the back pulling the red suitcase, Lee with the blue tie, Johnson already being hugged by his mom, and elder Pearce who you can only see part of pulling the black suitcase. The last to arrive was elder Loucks who I think teased his mother by hanging back and then stopping before he got to her. But he soon got his big hug.

The sisters are all in the picture on the left. Elder Pearce gets a big hug from his mother.

I got to take some family pictures. Elder Pearce and Elder Lee’s families. We had the pleasure of having brother and sister Lee in our home a few months ago. We had a good talk about the mission and their missionary.

We got to meet the Benitez family. We had the honor of having the Stegelmeier family come to our homecoming. Sister Stegelmeier the younger got roses. I thought she should have worn her Florida dark glasses with the pink mustache.

We got to meet the elder Ryan Johnson family for the first time. Later as we were leaving I noticed that elder Johnson was getting the contact information from a man he had opened his mouth to – a real missionary to the end. The picture on the right is the Morgan Utah group – the Loucks family on the left and the Stegelmeier family on the right. Their two missionaries will be giving their reports on the same day in different wards and we will be able to be at both of them.