One of the things I look forward to each week is reading President Anderson’s letter to the missionaries. I am especially anxious to read the spiritual experiences from the missionaries that he shares..

You show your faith when you open your mouths invite them to keep commitments:

 â€œWe went to go see a less active/recent convert on Tuesday. He wasn’t home the first time we knocked so we went to Harvest around his home. We were able to meet some amazing people including the first door we knocked, who also is a member that we had been looking for, awesome. We were about to leave the area and head to our next appointment but then we saw a young man down the street. We OYM’d him and it was the less active we had been looking for! He was as happy to see us as we were to see him. As we talked WITH him we were able to gain his trust and he said, ‘Hey, I have a friend that I have been wanting to bring to church with me.’ He went in to get his phone to call his friend and when he came out of his house – his friend that he wanted to introduce us to – walked right up! We were able to have a really powerful lesson with both of them and left them with the Book of Mormon. When we invited him to be baptized he said, ‘I’m going to do everything in my power to be baptized on that day. That’s whats up – I need more faith.’ He came to church on Sunday – he loved it and is preparing to be baptized!”

You show your faith by teaching with power so that those we teach want to change:

“The first awesome blessing we saw this week was from a lady. She came to church last week and loved it. We taught the Word of Wisdom with such power and authority (the spirit.) After the services she suddenly disappeared, we couldn’t find her all of last week. We tried her house, we called her phone, passed by almost every day. It seemed as if Janice had dropped us. Something told us not to drop this daughter of god. Sunday rolled around, and the spirit prompted us to call and see if she was going to come to church. Miraculously she answered the phone. We were informed that after feeling the spirit testify to her of the Word of Wisdom, she checked herself in to a rehab center. She said she didn’t wait, but did it right after church. She had been addicted to drugs all her life and had tried to quit for many years. She had finally given up until she heard the message of hope that we bring. The perfect example of why Jesus Christ came to the earth to suffer was demonstrated to us as we listened to her story of restoration. The power of god is manifest in all our works, and it shines through us as his representatives.”

You show your faith by following the promptings that lead you to those who have prayed for you to find them: 

After… , we found a couple. They never open the door to people because of the things that have happened in the past to them. But they did this night. He was a bit apprehensive, but let us in anyways and asked us a series of questions about why we were there and who we represent. He is a big believer in God. As we spoke to him, he softened up more and more and began to tell us about his experiences. He use to attend the LDS church years ago and liked it a lot. But then apparently came across some anti information. After the prayer, we began to testify and invite… As I listened on, he shared a dream that he’d had a couple weeks prior to our visit about 2 young women that came to his door  and brought the word of God to him. He even dreamt that one of us would be wearing the same color that ny companion was indeed wearing. It was awesome. His wife even testified that he had shared his dream with her when he had it!!”

We had a great FFLM RM Party on Sunday…we had over 30 RMs, spouses and friends. I think everyone had a great time. I know we did. Thanks to all those who came and we hope those who did not make this one will be able to come in January…

Show gratitude when we experience miracles as we open our mouths:

“We were heading down a busy street when far in a distance we saw this man walking towards us and we were riding towards him and you know that feeling you get. Should I contact him or just go around him, maybe he thinks we’re weird or something. So before we passed him I stopped and talked to him. Well little did I know that he would later come to our thanksgiving dinner at the church, and come to church the next day to witness the sacrament and now has a baptismal date for this next Sunday. I’m [grateful] that we really are led to those that are seeking for his true Gospel.”

Show gratitude when others are led to us to open our mouths:

 â€œAs we were riding our bikes to an appointment, and on the way we passed a couple sitting on a bench. They each had a beer in their hands and didn’t look like the type of contact with the most potential, because of the influence of ‘spirits’. Just as we were about to pass them by the women jumped to her feet and said ‘wait stop, please say a prayer with us!’ So we, like good missionaries stopped and asked her what it was that she would like us to prayer for. She explained that she and her boyfriend were homeless and had nowhere to go. She wanted God’s help. She also explained that some time ago, two sister missionaries had knocked on her door, when she was living at her mother’s home, and had prayed with her and everything in her life had gotten better.  She wanted that same blessing now. So we shared a short but powerful prayer, and invited her to come to church and to be baptized. She accepted without hesitation. Right there we invited her to begin to repent by throwing away her beer, which was about half full. Again without hesitation she literally threw it to the ground. Yesterday they came to church and felt the Spirit, and as we invited them to be baptized after the Sacrament meeting, they both accepted without hesitation.”

Show gratitude in opening our mouths, the miracles will follow:

“I felt inspired to go see a man we had street contacted … he opened the door, and welcomed us right in, his wife and 3 girls had just moved here this week from Venezuela! They are an incredible family, already with light in their eyes. We invited them to church…and they walked there the next day! President, I thought that was the miracle this week. But it didn’t end there. As Sacrament meeting started, 2 people we had street contacted/ OYMd (we have a goal to OYM absolutely EVERYONE after Zone Conference!) that morning before church, walked in at different times. One of them was doing her laundry across the street, and ended up staying for all 3 hours, and the other was an incredible woman we ran after while she was crossing street. We scared her, but she came back to the curb with us and although she was just returning from a night shift she came too. All 3 hours. She had been getting mormon.org messages on her phone, tried to block them, but it didn’t work and they kept coming. Taking it as a sign, she called her kids in Honduras and told them to go to the Mormon Church because she liked their messages. She had stood at our Church doors multiple times and would think ‘and if I went in there?’ Well, she came too… After we gathered all 7 of them by the baptismal font (trying again to implement what you had taught us), taught them about the baptismal covenant, and invited them to be baptized. A couple members saw us and walked up to listen, and I invited them to share their testimonies of baptism. The spirit was immense and they all accepted baptism!”

I just read this experience on one of the FFL missionary’s blog and felt a need to share it..I think of all the people in the world who at this time are struggling due to natural and man-made disasters that have made their lives seem like God has forsaken them and hope they will endure and push through to the other side of the sand pit and water they are now experiencing.

“One huge miracle that we saw that I wanted to share with you happened Sunday after church. We took a back road to try and get in contact with a part-member family that fell off the map. But it has been raining an incredible amount and as we were biking we soon realized that we were in a sand pit and basically surrounded with water. So we had to endure and push through it to get to the other side. Eventually we did and made it to the part-member family and they were home! We had an amazing lesson and set the members two sons to be baptized on the 8th! Huge miracle. This is often times what happens in our individual lives, we go through a rough patch, or in our case a sand pit surrounded by water, but as we ENDURE then miracles from God will come!”

Teaching our investigators to “feel” the truth and not try to reason with their own limited knowledge will cause them to embrace the Gospel and be converted to our message of Jesus Christ. As President Packer teaches us:

“But if you learn by reason only, you will never understand the Spirit and how it works—regardless of how much you learn about other things… Your spirit learns in a different way than does your intellect… For ‘there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding,’[ Job 32:8.] and the Spirit of Christ “giveth light to every man that cometh into the world.”[D&C 84:46.] … We are told that ‘angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost.’[2 Ne. 32:3.] We are even told that when we speak by the power of the Holy Ghost, we ‘speak with the tongue [or in the same language] of angels.’[ 2 Ne. 31:13;  2 Ne. 32:2.].   The Holy Ghost speaks with a voice that you feel more than you hear. It is described as a ‘still small voice.’[D&C 85:6.] And while we speak of ‘listening’ to the whisperings of the Spirit, most often one describes a spiritual prompting by saying, ‘I had a feeling …’ Revelation comes as words we feel more than hear. Nephi told his wayward brothers, who were visited by an angel, ‘Ye were past feeling, that ye could not feel his words.’ [ 1 Ne. 17:45] (President Boyd K. Packer, October 1994, General Conference) 

As we follow the Spirit, God will put us in the path of those who need his Gospel:

“On our way out the door we prayed that the Lord would show us miracles and use us for His work. The miracles started 2 minutes after leaving our house. We bumped into one of our potential investigators that had been hesitant about giving us the address to his apartment. When he saw us, his face split with a smile, and he slammed on his brakes. We talked to him for a couple minutes about his day and where he works, and then scheduled an appointment with him for the next day after getting his address. 200 yards up the street we stopped and contacted a lady in front of an apartment complex. After sharing a powerful harvest blessing she explained to us that she had just barely left a friend’s house because she had felt prompted to walk towards home, and that she believed that this was why. We testified of our callings as representatives of Christ and our purpose to help everyone to come closer to Christ, and then invited her to be baptized. She said yes i have never been baptized because I came form Cuba just one month ago.” 

As we follow the Spirit, God will connect us with those searching for truth:

“We had been harvesting and weren’t seeing too much success. We stopped and we prayed to ask God where he would have us go and we both got the distinct impression that we needed to go to the street just over from where we were. We walked through an ally to get there and when we came out the other side we saw a house right in front of us. We looked at each other and without even saying anything both made our way to the house. We knocked the door and out came a woman! She was excited to see us and felt the spirit so strongly during the blessing. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted. As we began to teach her, throughout the next few weeks, she was so accepting of everything! She already knew most of the things we talked to her about!! She told us that the day that we knocked her house that she wasn’t going to open the door because she never opens the door for people like us, but when she saw us she said that something tugged at her soul, telling her she had to open the door! I will never forget the smile that was on her face as she came out of the waters of baptism yesterday, clean and on her path to living with God again.” 

When we follow the promptings of the Spirit, God is prompting others to receive us:

“We blessed a family, a single mother, and then people down the street began to be rude. But we didn’t let that stop us, we continued to stay steadfast and then as we were wrapping up our harvest, I felt a prompting to go one house more. We knocked, a woman opens the door and we introduce ourselves and then she stated she was busy cooking. We testified… and she accepted and gladly invited us into her home. We left a powerful blessing and she then told us ‘I told my husband after I was done cooking that I was going to go upstairs to pray, and then you both come knocking on the door’, She was just beyond amazed how God sent us to her at the specific time and day she needed us! The experience was so amazing to me because these past few weeks I’ve been praying specifically to know how to follow the spirit and as I did this woman’s experience became reality 

We invoke the Spirit when we testify who we are and who we represent. The Spirit then takes charge. If we allow it to, it will reveal truths to those we testify of Christ as Elder McConkie teaches:

“When men are quickened by the power of the Spirit, then the Lord can reveal his truths to them in whatever way he chooses.” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie, October 1978, General Conference)

Here are the spiritual experiences that the President shared this week…

“An incredible miracle we experienced this week was the opportunity to drop one of our most solid investigators.  She made it clear that it was time for us to focus on baptizing someone else and we had a delightful drop-talk with her.  But that wasn’t the miracle.  After that we left for our second lesson with a new investigator.  We met in the sacrament room and he had read 1 Nephi 1 and 2!  Then we taught him some clear and simple doctrine and asked him questions to help him to understand and internalize it.  He felt a desire to be baptized so he could serve others more closely to the way that Jesus Christ did.  We boldly invited him for a date and he accepted.  Immediately, we were compensated – in fact, the Lord seemed to have given us even more.  He came to Church and his baptism is next Sunday.”

The power of teaching people with our testimony of the Book of Mormon will produce miraculous conversion:

“The first door that my companion and I knocked was a guy named Nicholas. As he invited us into his home we both saw a Book of Mormon on the coffee table. So we immediately asked him if it belonged to him. He explained that it has been in his house for years and last week he found it and decided to read it. He opened the pages to show us and all of first Nephi was marked and he said he loved it. Then we asked him if he has ever been to church or talked to the missionaries, he said no but now he wants to. My companion did the best thing ever and invited him to be baptized right there. And of course Nicholas said yes! So we promised blessings, left a blessing, recognized the Holy Ghost and set up a return appointment. After we walked out of the house we just looked at each other and in shock asked each other what just happened! Ha the Book of Mormon is soo powerful. It is converting people before they even know what it actually is!”

Teaching them the “why” and how they can connect with doctrine is powerful:

“We were teaching an investigator who was a referral … He’s been back and forth [out of town] on business and it has been difficult to teach him. When we saw him on Wednesday he expressed doubts about being baptized so quickly. He felt like he needed to wait and learn more before he made this step. We were doing our best to listen to him and the Spirit and as we did, a prompting came to read Helaman 5:12. We had him read it and he loved it! He said it was the first time he really connected with the Book of Mormon. We explained to him why it was important to not put off this important step in his life. The spirit was very strong and he agreed wholeheartedly. He is now preparing to be baptized this Wednesday! We told him that baptism was just the first step and that the temple was the real goal. He is so excited to go to the temple and be a faithful member of this church!”

Dear Missionaries,

What a tremendous opportunity to hear and experience the testimony of an Apostle of God. Elder Oaks was very impressed with all of you and the amazing things we have accomplished in this Mission. I bragged about what wonderful, diligent, obedient, and hard working missionaries you all are. Some of the things he taught us:

·         Hardest thing to do is to meet the expectation of the members

Man is nothing unless we have the Lord to guide us

·         We can answer questions others cannot

·         No better remedy to emotional issues and depression than consistent physical exercise

·         The Temple and Eternity with our families is the ultimate goal

·         The Temple is where we are taught, we make covenants, and are promised blessings

·         Challenge and commit, if not, we are not keeping our covenants

·         The importance of our testimony

Elder Oaks also taught us that the Book of Mormon is the converting agent in bringing people to Christ. The best way to get others to read it is when we read it and increase our testimony of it. We can then testify and explain its precious teachings in a better and more prepared way.

I love the Book of Mormon!!! From the first time I read it as a young man, to recently it continues to change my life. I have increased my love, testimony, faith, knowledge, and relationship with God and our Savior from this wonderful volume of scripture. It gives me peace, comfort, inspiration, and direction as I consume the words of these amazing inspired prophets of God. It is so true what Joseph Smith said in the introduction to the Book of Mormon:

“I told the brethren that the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

Then the invitation to the World is given:

“We invite all men everywhere to read the Book of Mormon, to ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then to ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ if the book is true. Those who pursue this course and ask in faith will gain a testimony of its truth and divinity by the power of the Holy Ghost. (See Moroni 10:3–5.) Those who gain this divine witness from the Holy Spirit will also come to know by the same power that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, that Joseph Smith is His revelator and prophet in these last days, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the Lord’s kingdom once again established on the earth, preparatory to the Second Coming of the Messiah.” (Book of Mormon: Introduction)

The Book of Mormon references Jesus Christ 3,925 times. On average it mentions Jesus Christ every 1.7 verses. This focus on Jesus Christ is substantial in helping others to get close to Him and to come unto Him:

“The Book of Mormon is powerful evidence of the divinity of Christ. It is also proof of the Restoration through the Prophet Joseph Smith. An essential part of conversion is receiving a witness from the Holy Ghost that the Book of Mormon is true. As a missionary, you must first have a personal testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. This testimony can lead to a deep and abiding faith in the power of the Book of Mormon during the conversion process. Have confidence that the Holy Ghost will testify to anyone who reads and ponders the Book of Mormon and asks God if it is true with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ. This witness of the Holy Ghost should be a central focus of your teaching… The Book of Mormon, combined with the Spirit, is your most powerful resource in conversion. It is the most correct of any book on the earth. It teaches the doctrine of Christ plainly, especially in the lessons you teach investigators. Use it as your main source for teaching the restored gospel… A central purpose of the Book of Mormon is to convince all people that Jesus is the Christ. It testifies of Christ by affirming the reality of His life, mission, and power. It teaches true doctrine concerning the Atonement—the foundation for the plan of salvation… Those who know little or nothing about the Savior will come to know Him by reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon.” (PMG p. 103-105)

The Book of Mormon will solidify our investigators stronger in the Gospel as they prepare for baptism:

“One great experience happened with our investigator…  He had been really nervous about his baptism that was supposed to be this past Sunday. He kept asking questions about sinning after his baptism, and things like that. We have answered that question in many different ways before, but mainly from our own words. We took out a member that day who started teaching him the plan of salvation…  So our investigator kept asking questions about where we go after we die. We told him we’d answer all his questions next time because we had to go. We decided to give him Alma 40 to read. We came back later and asked him how his reading went. We were happy that he read. He taught back to us everything about the resurrection and spirit world. We asked him if he had any questions and he said they were all answered, and that he was ready to be baptized! I learned from that experience the importance of teaching doctrine especially from the Book of Mormon.”

The Book of Mormon is the very next “spiritual experience” after your blessing that will help them come to Christ:

“There was a car running on the side of the road, as … we got closer the driver jumps out and says, ‘You came by the other day and I said I was too busy, but now I’m not too busy for the prayer.’ I remembered this man and he wasn’t exactly the nicest when we stopped by before, so I was a little skeptical.  I see some more people get out of the car… it was his son and wife… he asks if we are just going to say it there in the parking lot… ‘No, we want to go to your house.’ So he runs and turns the car off and we go inside his home.  We leave the blessing and the spirit was so strong. They mention that their son was baptized last Sunday in their church, so we, naturally, invite them to do it again.  They accept and want us to come back.  The father of the family was even trying to persuade his wife to let them go to church the next day! Just as we are leaving the Dad surprises us again by asking if we have any special books… ‘Why yes we do!’ They loved the Book of Mormon. It was fantastic!”

Our investigators are looking for the truths that the Book of Mormon teaches. It is the one thing that no other religion can explain where it comes from. They are praying for it and even dreaming about it:

“We taught a family the restoration on our next visit and they ate it up as if they were starving for the truth. The husband was asking us during the lesson the same question that Joseph Smith had. We excitedly taught them and introduced the Book of Mormon to them, and the wife, who had been pretty quiet yet receptive, opened up to us and told us about a dream she had a few nights ago. It was about her neighbor, the one who referred the family, and she had offered her a bible but this one was different. She said she didn’t recognize the book until we pulled it out and gave it to her. She quickly said ‘that’s the book!!’”

President Benson taught the importance of this great Book:

“Perhaps there is nothing that testifies more clearly of the importance of this modern book of scripture than what the Lord Himself has said about it. By His own mouth He has borne witness (1) that it is true (D&C 17:6), (2) that it contains the truth and His words (D&C 19:26), (3) that it was translated by power from on high (D&C 20:8), (4) that it contains the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ (D&C 20:9, D&C 42:12), (5) that it was given by inspiration and confirmed by the ministering of angels (D&C 20:10), (6) that it gives evidence that the holy scriptures are true (D&C 20:11), and (7) that those who receive it in faith shall receive eternal life (D&C 20:14). A second powerful testimony to the importance of the Book of Mormon is to note where the Lord placed its coming forth in the timetable of the unfolding Restoration. The only thing that preceded it was the First Vision. In that marvelous manifestation, the Prophet Joseph Smith learned the true nature of God and that God had a work for him to do. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon was the next thing to follow. Think of that in terms of what it implies. The coming forth of the Book of Mormon preceded the restoration of the priesthood. It was published just a few days before the Church was organized. The Saints were given the Book of Mormon to read before they were given the revelations outlining such great doctrines as the three degrees of glory, celestial marriage, or work for the dead. It came before priesthood quorums and Church organization. Doesn’t this tell us something about how the Lord views this sacred work?” (President Ezra Taft Benson, October, 1986, General Conference)

Teaching and committing others to read and pray about the Book of Mormon will enhance our teaching and commitments to all those we invite to “Come unto Christ”. Let us strengthen our testimonies of this amazing Book. Let us help others to love and live it like we do.

I felt that this letter should be shared in full…

Dear Missionaries.

I know that as a Mission, we recognize the importance of “doing” as a principle of action. The principle of faith and action starts with us finding someone to teach, just as Preach My Gospel tells us “Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach” (p.156). The next principle of faith and action is getting them to make commitments. One of those important commitments is to get them to Church. We know that when we get them to Church, most of them get baptized. Setting goals to get our investigators to Church “Round-Up” (PMG p.148) will bring them closer to the Spirit and inspire them to make commitments and covenants that will bring them to Christ. When they experience the sacred ordinance of the Sacrament, they will feel the desire to make additional covenants… especially baptism.

After Alma baptized the converts at the “Waters of Mormon” he taught immediately the importance of keeping this commandment:

“And after this manner he did baptize every one that went forth to the place of Mormon; and they were in number about two hundred and four souls; yea, and they were baptized‍ in the waters of Mormon, and were filled with the grace‍ of God. And they were called the church of God, or the church‍ of Christ, from that time forward. And it came to pass that whosoever was baptized by the power and authority of God was added to his church. And he commanded them that they should observe the sabbath‍ day, and keep it holy, and also every day they should give thanks to the Lord their God.” (Alma 18:16-17, 23)

When Alma taught this important commandment, amongst other commandments, to “observe the Sabbath day”, he saw a tremendous growth in the Church. They went from 204 members (Mosiah 18:16) to more than doubling their success in a short time to 450 members (Mosiah 18:35).

Coming to Church not only increases their desires and leads them to baptism, it helps keep them on the path to eternal life, as Moroni teaches, “to keep them in the right way”:

“And after they had been received unto baptism, and were wrought upon and cleansed by the power of the Holy Ghost, they were numbered among the people of the church of Christ; and their names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way, to keep them continually watchful unto prayer, relying alone upon the merits of Christ, who was the author and the finisher of their faith. And the church‍ did meet together oft, to fast and to pray, and to speak one with another concerning the welfare of their souls. And they did meet‍ together oft to partake of bread and [water], in remembrance‍ of the Lord Jesus.” (Moroni 6:4-6)

At Church our investigators will feel the love and familiarity of the members as a place of worship:

“Several weeks ago we were on our way to the place that we had picked out to go harvesting when we pulled over the car to pray with this man. As we were talking to him his sister in law came out and we prayed with them together. We invited them both to be baptized and she said yes! She came to church and discovered that she already knew people in the congregation. She said that she wanted to be a member of this church, and she said ‘aint nothin gonna stop me from getting my baptism on!’ and she was true to her word because she came and got baptized…”

They will come to Church and increase their desires to “want to be baptized”:

“It was about 8:40, and we had 10 spare minutes before we needed to get home.  My companion and I decided that we needed to use the time wisely, so we would just knock a door with the porch light on.  We walked down the street to the only house with the porch light on, and met and blessed a woman.  When we followed up with her, she told us, ‘I don’t know what possessed me to turn that light on that night!  I have been making sure to keep it off to save on electricity, but that night, I remember consciously thinking that I needed to go turn the porch light on!’  I thought it was incredible how God used physical light to bring her the spiritual light that she needs!  She came to conference [Church], and basically begged us to let her be baptized the following week… of course you can!”

They will come to Church and it will increase their desires to change:

“While harvesting, we came across a guy! He was standing outside his house smoking a cigarette and we OYMed him! He was open to the prayer and accepted baptism right off! We had stopped by the following day and he was not home! We decided to leave a note on his door and he called us back! He was wanting us back! Well, we applied the tools of the how to begin teaching and asking inspired questions! He was so open and told us everything he wanted for baptism! He later revealed that he was outside that day thinking of calling his friends to get some drugs after being clean for 5.5 months! It was a real struggle and that’s when we showed up! We were able to invite him to General Conference and he came! He is now getting baptized this Sunday! What a huge miracle and power behind opening our mouths!”

Coming to Church will be an answer to both your prayers and their prayers. Church can give them the desire to be baptized immediately:

“We were driving past these apartments one day… when I felt that we should harvest there. So… as we were passing it again to go to the apartments that we have been working in, I felt like we should turn in so I did and we parked and said a prayer before starting. We walked right up to this apartment door without thinking too much about it and met this man who was open and inviting so he let us pray with him and really enjoyed the prayer. After, when we asked how he felt, he told us something that touched my heart. Three hours earlier, that afternoon, he had been praying to God that He would send someone to minister to him and then we knocked on his door that night. He couldn’t believe it! He was so excited that he started giving us his information before we could even get our planners out and asking when we were coming back! We quickly told him about conference this weekend and he’s been dying to go to church and was really excited to come, all he needed was a ride! Saturday comes around and he came all ready with his scriptures to the priesthood session and we gave him a tour of the church when he asked if he could get baptized that day! The members were so welcoming and he was fascinated with our church! Miracles truly happen… someone prayed and God led us to them. God answered my prayer that day too.”

Elder Oaks teaches us the “why” in keeping this commandment:

“This is a commandment with a promise. By participating weekly and appropriately in the ordinance of the sacrament we qualify for the promise that we will ‘always have his Spirit to be with [us]’ (D&C 20:77). That Spirit is the foundation of our testimony. It testifies of the Father and the Son, brings all things to our remembrance, and leads us into truth. It is the compass to guide us on our path… The ordinance of the sacrament makes the sacrament meeting the most sacred and important meeting in the Church. It is the only Sabbath meeting the entire family can attend together…. In his writings on the doctrines of salvation, President Joseph Fielding Smith teaches that we partake of the sacrament as our part of commemorating the Savior’s death and sufferings for the redemption of the world. This ordinance was introduced so that we can renew our covenants to serve Him, to obey Him, and to always remember Him. President Smith adds: ‘We cannot retain the Spirit of the Lord if we do not consistently comply with this commandment’ (Doctrines of Salvation, comp. Bruce R. McConkie, 3 vols. [1954–56], 2:341)…. How can we have the Spirit of the Lord to guide our choices so that we will remain ‘unspotted from the world’ (D&C 59:9) and on the safe path through mortality? We need to qualify for the cleansing power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We do this by keeping His commandment to come to Him with a broken heart and a contrite spirit and in that wonderful weekly meeting partake of the emblems of the sacrament and make the covenants that qualify us for the precious promise that we will always have His Spirit to be with us. (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, General Conference, October 2008)

Missionaries, we will be at the feet of this very Apostle this week. Let us prepare well and get a record number of souls to Church!!!

 

 

I love to read missionary blogs…both those of missionaries we know and those we do not know. I especially love to read them when I need a spiritual boost or kick start for the day.

While I could mention any number…some of them are are in my links…the one that I especially enjoy is that of Elder Colton Pond who we had the joy of serving with in the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission. His are always positive and spiritual. So any time you you feel a need for a spiritual lift, I suggest you read Elder Pond’s latest blog post at http://eldercoltonpond.blogspot.com!

Elders Free, Jones, Williams, and Smoot. Here are the current APs plus elder Jones who has since returned home. They are all amazing and above average missionaries…but that can be said true of all the FFLM missionaries.

Spiritual experiences from President Anderson’s letter..

“We put our trust in God by being obedient and having the faith He will bless us:

“So on Wednesday I entered the area and there wasn’t much work that had been done so far in the week, so there was a lot to do.  We got home and knew that we had to leave eight blessings by the end of the night in order to be obedient.    While looking around the neighborhood… I truly felt that this was the place we needed to be to find people to baptize.  I talked about it with my companion and he said he felt the same, so we locked up the bikes, said a prayer, and got to working.  Well as soon as we started we saw the miracles start to come.  We met a man…  who felt like he was at the end of his rope.  We testified that Christ had sent us there to pray for him at that time and as we prayed the Spirit was so strong.  He accepted the invitation to be baptized and when we went back later in the week to follow up with him he shared with us the fruits he had seen from the blessing.  He had been out of work for almost 5 months but he told us that the day after we left the prayer with him he had gotten a call from a friend about a job offer.  He was able to get that job and he truly does know that we were sent by God.  He said that he had seen the other missionaries pass by his house all the time and that he had always wanted to talk to them …  I know that Heavenly Father guided us to him and his family so that they could get that blessing and begin to progress towards making a covenant with Him.”

We put our trust in God that His Spirit will direct us:

“On Thursday, we felt that we should go harvest this [place] we hadn’t knocked before. The third door in, we knock and the door opens immediately. The lady gives us a somewhat suspicious look and we returned it with smiles and introduced ourselves as representatives of Christ. She said that she had just been debating whether or not to go to church, and then she prayed for the energy to go. Right as she was about to walk out we knocked on the door. We began to pray with her, and as we prayed, she began to cry. After the prayer … We testified to her that that peaceful feeling was the spirit, and when we invited her to be baptized, her jaw dropped and she said ‘Are you serious!?’ She couldn’t believe it, she told us that she had been thinking and pondering a lot about if she was ready for baptism and she had prayed and said to God ‘If you think I’m ready, send me something’. …  When we [returned] on Saturday, her friend just happened to be there. As we got the lesson going, we began to direct our teaching at both of them, and because of the inspired lesson we created, they both committed to baptism and church! He is as elect as she is and the Lord just dropped him right in our path. Miracle! They both came to church yesterday and loved it… and are getting baptized this weekend! Conference and two baptisms, how’s that for a transfer week miracle!?”

We put our trust in God as we endure and keep going:

“As we stood introspecting the Spirit was able to guide us, and my companion said, ‘We need to keep going with just this next floor.’ We continued and something amazing happened. The first door we knocked a nice younger lady opened the door. Immediately and without introduction this lady cried out, ‘I need a blessing from you guys! Thank you so much for coming!’ … we said the prayer and an amazing Spirit filled the air around us. She smiled the biggest smile. Then as soon as the prayer ended she exclaimed, ‘I feel so good right now! I’m feeling Gods spirit and you guys have no idea how much this means to me.’ A little taken back we invited her to be baptized to which she said, ‘Of course I will! I need to follow the Spirit!’ We were both amazed. Nellie came to church yesterday! She loved everything about it. When we followed up with her afterward as we taught her she would randomly exclaim things like, ‘You guys were sent from God!’ and ‘Why couldn’t God have sent you a week ago? I’ve needed this my entire life!’ and even, ‘I prayed that God would send me something and you angels showed up.’”