We have been traveling for the last couple of weeks so I am behind in posting President Anderson’s letters.  I will catch up before Saturday.

Today I was reading some Facebook postings and came across the weekly letter from Elder Keenan McMullin who is serving in the FFLM. His mother posts them each week and there is always a good spiritual story in them. This week’s was special for me because it showed the great power that having the right member present means to the missionary effort. Often times the testimony of an more mature member or couple makes the difference between a person accepting the gospel and not. So if you have missionaries in your area, please be sure to offer your services at least one night a week to go out with them if they need you…it is an experience you will not forget and you may help change another child of God life for eternity…

“This past week we took a really strong member out with us to visit the parent of a couple of our recent converts. The mother, Marie, used to be interested, but she kinda fell off during the teaching process. When we got there she said she was busy and couldn’t talk, so we just sat down and talked to her a little bit. After a couple minutes she came and sat down with us. Her and the member started talking after we had opened with a prayer, and she opened up and said all of her concerns! The member responded to each of her concerns, and bore solid testimony of the church. Marie then bore testimony of how she believes the church is true, because she has witnessed the great change in her children since their baptisms. She then committed herself to coming to church! The member continued to bear testimony, and the spirit was crazy strong. It was a huge miracle!!”

Here is some counsel from the President and the experiences that he shared this week.

“Truth is knowledge of things as they are, and as they were, and as they are to come. …And no man receiveth a fulness unless he keepeth [God’s] commandments. He that keepeth his commandments receiveth truth and light, until he is glorified in truth and knoweth all things” (D&C 93:24,27-28).

President Monson, who is a wonderful example of obedience, teaches this principle all the time:

“There is no need for you or me in this enlightened age, when the fullness of the gospel has been restored, to sail uncharted seas or travel unmarked roads in search of a ‘fountain of truth… For a living Heavenly Father has plotted our course and provided an unfailing map — obedience” (President Thomas S. Monson, Ensign, July 1996).

As we teach our members by example of being obedient, they will trust us and want to do what we do:

“She was found on Monday when we were running from one appt to the next (we had an investigator waiting for us at the church)  and we handed a card to her and invited her to church.  Thankfully, our member who was with us stopped and talked to her. As we were hurrying off, we heard him say, ‘You need to come to church and be baptized because God needs you in His church’.  Wow…I was impressed by how bold he was; for a missionary, that would be a usual greeting, but for a member?  He gave us her address when he caught up to us at the chapel 20 min later and we had the chance to follow up with her on Thursday night…  we took the time to harvest the whole building, and found her!  She was so excited when she saw it was us!  We blessed her and she accepted baptism and is so beyond amazing! She already has at least 5 generations of family history down, read at least to 1 nephi 10 in the first night of having the Book of Mormon, and taught us some really cool stuff about the 12 tribes of Israel, and knows the Bible soooo well!  She asked us on Saturday night what she needed to wear for her baptism!  God is great and He blesses us through ways we don’t expect!”

God blesses us as we are obedient to opening our mouths:

“We were biking to an appointment with an investigator and we saw a man and a group of people just hanging outside their house. We had passed this house many many times in the past, but this time we went over and opened our mouths. Turns out that he is a member that was baptized 2 years ago northwest of here, moved here and the records were never sent. That ‘group’ of people turned out to be his family..Mother, 19 year old son, 16 year old daughter, 14 year old daughter, 12 year old son, 11 year old daughter, and a 7 year old son…ALL NOT BAPTIZED. We asked if they had gone to church with their dad before and they said that they went EVERY Sunday. We invited them to be baptized and they all said yes and that they didn’t know why they weren’t baptized before. They are preparing to be baptized this weekend.”

Obedience in our responsibility in rescuing our “returning members” and bringing them back home:

“… We were trying to contact some former investigators [from the area book], which we had no success- but then as we were walking back to the car, I got the impression to knock the door across from them. The woman that opened the door looked at us skeptically and said, ‘Oh that’s nice what you’re doing, but I don’t need a building to feel God- bye!’ Just before she was about to shut the door, we testified that Christ sent us to share a special prayer with her because He loves her. She opened the door again and allowed us to share the prayer with her- and right after she opened her eyes- she was beaming! She told us how much she loved the prayer- and as we were about to leave- she told us “I got to tell you something! When I was younger, I was baptized Mormon. You know, I haven’t been to church in about 40 years- but I will definitely see you on Sunday!’  We visited her again Sunday morning to see if she needed anything else. She was wiped out, not feeling very well when we saw her- but as we listened, testified, and read from the Book of Mormon with her, she jumped up, eyes glowing and said ‘Alright- I’m taking a shower and I am coming! I’ll see you there!’ When she came to church, she immediately was welcomed in by members of the relief society- she felt welcome at once! She stayed all three hours and she left the building feeling so elated! We talked with one of the women from church who’d been guiding her around- and she told us that Teresa had said that we had been an answer to her prayers- and that she was so happy to be here!”

We will continue interviews this week Tuesday, September 10^th with Hialeah Zone; Wednesday, September 11^th with Palm Beach Zone; Thursday, September 12^th with Coral Springs and Miami Beach Zones; Friday, September 13^th with Miami and Homestead Zones. Your Zone Leaders will coordinate the times and places. Have your area books ready.

What an amazing opportunity we had to be taught at the feet of Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy on Saturday. I pray that all of you took good notes and will review them as you embrace the teachings he shared. Some of the things he shared with us:

·         The importance of being a part of “hastening the work of Salvation”

·         Steps to be called on a Mission starting from the pre-existence to our call from a Prophet of God

·         Our acceptance and promise to fulfill our purpose and abide by the standards of a “Representative of Jesus Christ”

·         What a “Representative of Jesus Christ” is

·         Follow the example of Jesus Christ who was always obedient to his Father

·         Missionary Handbook and Mission rules are not a book of suggestions, but a book of commandments

·         What we need to do to have the miracles the Brother of Jared had when he saw the finger of the Lord and touched the stones for light

·         Faith – Act – Spiritually create – Diligence

·         “The successful Missionary” page 10 of “Preach My Gospel”

·         Member work is crucial

·         Christ invited everyone to follow Him, Open your Mouths, Matthew 4:19

·         Don’t leave home with any blank spaces in your planner, Spiritually create for every hour

·         And of course the “Apostolic Blessing” he left on us, our mission, our areas and those we find and teach

I was touched when Elder Soares related the story while serving as a Mission President in Portugal, and one of his missionaries asked “President, have you ever seen Jesus Christ?” I loved his answer, “No, I have not personally seen Jesus Christ. But I see Jesus Christ when I look at you.”

This made me think about how each of you have Jesus Christ radiate from your countenance. When you are worthy and obedient to represent Jesus Christ, others will see Him when they look at you and are taught by you:

“And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?… I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?” (Alma 5:14,19)

Because all of you have “spiritually been born of God”, and experienced “this mighty change in your hearts” to represent Christ, His image “engraven upon your countenances”. What a blessing to know that we not only represent Jesus Christ, but others will see Jesus Christ in us as we invite them to come to Him. Elder Wirthlin tells us that this image and countenance will be the light that radiates from us as we share His Gospel and the light that will radiate from those who accept and follow Christ:

“We are the Savior’s disciples who ‘shall go forth.’ All of us are ‘called of him to [be missionaries to] declare his word among his people.’ …We should follow the counsel of President Spencer W. Kimball and ‘do it,’ and he added, ‘Do it right now.’… We all have the sacred obligation and joyful opportunity to throw open the windows of light and truth by proclaiming the blessings of everlasting life to a darkened world… We can experience no greater joy than to see the light of the gospel shine in the eyes and face of a newly baptized brother or sister who has ‘spiritually been born of God,’ who has ‘experienced [a] mighty change in [heart],’ and who has ‘the image of God engraven upon [his or her countenance!]’… If we are to fulfill the Lord’s command to open the windows of heaven to all of our brothers and sisters, we must prepare to teach the gospel. With study of the scriptures, fasting, and prayer, we fortify our testimonies. We cultivate Christlike attributes of ‘faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, [and] diligence’ (D&C 4:6) Through exemplary obedience, we can ‘let [our] light so shine before men, that they may see [our] good works, and glorify [our] Father which is in heaven.’ (Matthew 5:16) By keeping the commandments, we can light our gospel candle and put it ‘on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house’.”(Matthew 5:15) (Joseph B. Wirthlin, General Conference, October 1995)

An evidence that conversion has taken place to those we find and teach, are when we “see the light of the gospel shine in the eyes and face of a newly baptized brother or sister who has ‘spiritually been born of God,’ who has ‘experienced [a] mighty change in [heart],’ and who has ‘the image of God engraven upon [his or her countenance!]’.” How great indeed is our joy!!!

Many will see Christ in your countenance and want you to share it with those they love and care about:

“We got out of the car to look for a less active in this building, and at the foot of the staircase, there was a man who was smoking, had tattoos, and was yelling. We were going to pass him up. ‘Just give him a card’ I thought.  We gave him a card, and he opened up. ‘Hey, I’m looking for a church. Where’s your church at?’ We blessed him and he felt so peaceful. He accepted church, but didn’t feel ready for baptism. He then said ‘But my sister, Amy and John need a prayer. She lives up the stairs on the left and so does Chris and he lives…’ and he showed us where they lived without us even asking. We blessed his sister and she accepted baptism and when we left we saw another guy up the same staircase and blessed him and he wanted to come to church and his girlfriend accepted baptism as well. We finally went to the less actives door, and no one lived there. But if we had passed the first guy, knocked on the less actives door and left, nothing would have happened. I am so grateful we listened to the Spirit!”

Many will go to great lengths to feel and see the influence of Christ that you radiate:

“Probably to top the whole week off was what happened on Sunday. Our baptism fell through so we weren’t really expecting to have an incredible Sunday. Then one of the members in our ward came up to us and introduced us to this man who wanted to learn more about the gospel. Now get this; He lives about 10 miles away from the church. He has no car and decided to come to church because of a pass along card given to him from the Elders with the address for the church. He took two buses and walked all the way to the church on the faith of a pass along card! We invited him to be baptized yesterday and he said Yes!!! He is so amazing President! I love being a missionary!”

Many will recognize you as Christ’s representatives and show gratitude to the gift of Christ you deliver:

“She answers the door and we say we are representatives of Jesus Christ. She then starts getting emotional and says ‘I KNOW YOU, I KNOW YOU!!’ She then goes into the story of how she has come across many LDS people in her life but had never been able to meet with missionaries and how she was wondering where we disappeared too. She then told us how she grew up in the Muslim faith and when she was younger she had a dream Where Jesus Christ appeared to her and she was then converted to Christianity. She then told us that before she even met any missionaries or knew about our church she had an odd dream where she met a man in the 1800’s by the name of Joseph Smith who was carrying a book (The Book of Mormon). She then sadly related to us how she was not on talking terms with God and that she had a hard time believing that he existed. She had just barely muttered under her breath ‘God, where are you? I need you…’ And then we showed up and knocked on her door. We conversed with her about the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith, Jesus Christ, and BAPTISM. She accepted baptism and told us ‘ I know how important the words of the scriptures are, but what you just did for me means more to me than anything that you will find in the Scriptures. I did not believe in God but because of what you just did I know he is there’. .. we can inspire the hearts of the Children of God, this really is his work …he truly prepares his people!”

President Faust tells us that the image of Christ increases in us when our relationship with God and His Son Jesus Christ increases:

“Alma asks if we have received His image in our countenances. A sacred light comes to our eyes and countenances when we have a personal bond with our loving Heavenly Father and His Son, our Savior and Redeemer. With this bond our faces will mirror that “sublime assurance”that He lives. (President James E. Faust, Gen. Conf. October 2005)

President Uchtdorf teaches us that that image of Christ increases when our Christ like example increases for others:

“The most effective way to preach the gospel is through example. If we live according to our beliefs, people will notice. If the countenance of Jesus Christ shines in our lives, if we are joyful and at peace with the world, people will want to know why. One of the greatest sermons ever pronounced on missionary work is this simple thought attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: ‘Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words’.” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference, April 2011)

What better time to see the image and countenance of Christ, than in His servants, as we “Prepare for the Prophets”. This preparation and experience will increase the mirror image of Christ and amplify this great work in us.

Dear Missionaries,

We will begin interviews this week Monday, September 2^nd with Fort Lauderdale Zone, and Wednesday, September 4^th with Stuart Zone. Have your area books ready. We will also interview Tuesday, September 10^th with Hialeah Zone; Wednesday, September 11^th with Palm Beach Zone; Thursday, September 12^th with Coral Springs and Miami Beach Zones; Friday, September 13^th with Miami and Homestead Zones. Your Zone Leaders will coordinate the times and places.

We will also have the privilege of hearing from Elder Ulisses Soares Of the Presidency of the Seventy in a Mission Conference, Saturday Morning, September 7^th,  at the Plantation Chapel at 9:00 AM. Please be seated by 8:15 AM preparing for this conference. We should be finished with a Mission Picture by 11:00 AM. This will be a wonderful blessing for us, please prepare to be taught, trained and instructed.

I love the month of September because it is the month before General Conference, the month we “Prepare for the Prophets” and worthily receive God’s direction for us!!! There are wonderful examples in the scriptures when multitudes were taught and commitments were made. King Benjamin’s “General Conference” in the Book of Mosiah was one of those where the multitude was taught, invited to commit, and covenants were entered into. A great example of teaching to numerous people was when the Apostles were teaching a multitude on the “Day of Pentecost” in the book of Acts. The Apostles were instructing a whole host of members and investigators who were made up of different nationalities and cultures, but the people were amazed that they could understand what was being taught even though they didn’t know the language:

“Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilæans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” (Acts 2:6-8)

They were able to understand by the Spirit and the “Gift of Tongues” what was being taught. During this great conference, Peter spoke to them concerning Jesus Christ and His resurrection; His second coming; how to gain salvation; and the power of the Holy Ghost. The great miracle of this experience was the powerful Spirit they felt and the commitments that were made:

“Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. (Acts 2:37-38)

After the invitation to come to Christ, thousands were baptized:

 â€œThen they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.” (Acts 2:41)

I can’t help but think that the wonder of this experience was amplified because those that were there were prepared to initiate and receive this miracle. I believe the greatest miracles are reserved for those that make the greatest efforts in preparation of those blessings. Therefore, the more we “Prepare for the Prophets”, the greater experience we will have as God speaks to us through His servants. Throughout history we have seen how servants of God were prepared before the miracle was received. Enoch was prepared before he and the “City of Enoch” were translated. Moses and his people were prepared before they entered into the promised land of Israel. Nephi was prepared before he received the Brass Plates. The Brother of Jared was prepared before he led his people to the Americas.  Joseph Smith was prepared before he received the miracles of the Restoration. And of course Jesus Christ was prepared before he gave us all the miracle of His resurrection and Atonement. I could go on and on but understand that as we prepare this month with our diligence and offerings, God will give us the fullness of the blessings of His Servant’s instructions.

Zone Conference and other trainings will help prepare you personally and to help you find souls also preparing:

“I LOVED zone conference this week. I had a few questions going in and got them all answered. And it really paid off in our area. I think going into the conference, we only had 2 new investigators for the week and we ended up with 10! I think it was really due to applying the things that we learned about How To Begin Teaching. It helped me to really understand it better. It’s been something I’ve struggled with my whole mission.”

Opening your mouths to everyone will magnify your preparation and those that are preparing to receive the invitation:

“Remember the man I told you about last week. We met him at a stop sign. We rolled down our window and yelled across the street and asked him if we could give him a card. He biked over to our car and we asked him if we could go back to his house and leave a prayer with him. We showed up and said a prayer with him, then we just started teaching him a lesson and he started crying during the lesson. We invited him to be baptized, and he said yes. He came to church the next day. It was stake conference. We asked him how he felt and he started crying again, he said really good. We invited him to be baptized again. He said yes!  Eight days later he was baptized! It was an amazing Baptism. After his baptism he stood up and bore his testimony and told everyone how we found him. He told us that he ‘had been praying for guidance and God sent me 2 angels that saved my life!’ He quit smoking in 7 days! What an amazing example. I am pretty sure I learn more from my investigators then they learn from me. The lord has people for us, we just need to open our Mouths and act.”

Your preparation in sharing your testimony will change people right before your eyes and create a miracle:

“We were walking down the street Friday evening and saw a lady getting out of her car. We ran to her and asked if we could leave a blessing. She rejected the blessing and began giving excuses. As we testified of the power that prayer has she softened her heart and we were able to leave the blessing. She recognized the Spirit and she said she has family that are Mormons and that she had been to church 4 times in the past. She then eagerly exclaims, ‘I want to be a Mormon!’ We testified and invited her to be baptized on Sunday. She accepted and said she would come to church. We tried seeing her on Saturday for her interview and she wouldn’t answer the phone, Sunday morning , after sacrament, while sitting with our  investigators she comes up to us and said, ‘see I came and I loved it, I feel so full!’ It was a miracle.”

Transfer day miracles was a great springboard in preparing us for this month:

“This week truly was a miracle transfer week! We started off strong by following all the commitments given by our leaders and because of that we were able to get 2 people come unto Christ. And the amazing thing was that your promise was fulfilled! Right before our baptisms a member came to me and my companion with another man. He told me ‘this man is ready for baptism and you just need to teach him and in the coming weeks he will be baptized’. So when he left I started talking to him and found out that missionaries had taught him before and he has come to church many times! So we felt Impressed to go get the zone leaders and have him interviewed right then and there and he passed. After he witnessed the 2 baptisms he told everyone ‘ I am getting baptized next week’, so Transfer miracle week Is in fact real!! Well this week was truly the result of Miracle Transfer Day! The Man that said he was going to be baptized the coming week, WAS BAPTIZED!!”

Missionaries, as we “Prepare for the Prophets” God will bless us immeasurably and as Elder Ballard has taught, we will be guided in our work and we will not go astray:

“Now, my dear brothers and sisters, please pay attention to those things that the leaders of the Church have taught during this general conference. Apply the teachings that will help you and your family. Let all of us… bring into our homes the teachings of the prophets and the apostles to strengthen our relationships with each other and with our Father in Heaven and with the Lord Jesus Christ. I promise you in the name of the Lord that if you will listen not just with your ears but also with your heart, the Holy Ghost will manifest the truth unto you of the messages delivered by [The Prophet], his counselors, the Apostles, and other leaders of the Church. The Spirit will prompt you to know what you should do as individuals and as families in order to follow our counsel, that your testimonies might be strengthened and that you might have peace and joy…  Are we listening, brothers and sisters? Are we hearing the words of the prophet to us…? Or are we allowing ourselves… to be blinded by pride and stubbornness, which could prevent us from receiving the blessings that come from following the teachings of God’s prophet? Today I make you a promise. It’s a simple one, but it is true. If you will listen to the living prophet and the apostles and heed our counsel, you will not go astray.” (M. Russell Ballard, General Conference, April 2001)

For the last couple of years, we have “done what had not been done” the month before General Conference. We broke 100 baptisms for the first time in March 2012; we broke 140 baptisms in September 2012; we broke 160 baptisms March 2013. We have baptized more in those months than we had ever before up to that time. Now is the time Missionaries to “do what has not been done” and to achieve our vision of “175”.

 

President Anderson held Zone Conferences a couple of weeks ago and these are the pictures from those conferences…you should be able to find your missionary in one of them and if they happen to be one of the zone leaders you will get four views of them…

We just got back from a trip and so I am catching up with President Anderson’s letter of 8/25…enjoy

Dear Missionaries,

What an amazing week we had being with all of you in Zone Conferences. We learned so much and I pray that you are implementing the things we trained on: Dealing better with diet and stress, rescuing our less active recent converts, being caught up with our precious referrals (August 31^st), renewing our skills with “how to begin teaching”, and understanding our ordinances and covenants better. We will begin interviews on September 2^nd with Fort Lauderdale Zone, and September 4^th with Stuart Zone. Have your area books ready.

When Jesus Christ teaches the “Beatitudes” in the New Testament, he first addresses his counsel to his disciples and warns them that defending the Gospel will not be easy, but the reward will be “the kingdom of heaven”:

“And seeing the multitudes, he went up into a mountain: and when he was set, his disciples came unto him: And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying… Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Mathew 5:1-2,10-12)

After his warning and promised blessing, he tells them of their sacred call to be “the light of the world”:

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)

The Savior is helping His disciples to know that “for so persecuted the prophets before you” is an honor and privilege to be counted and numbered with those who have defended Christ through hardship, persecution, and adversity. That privilege is to represent Him and to teach of Him to all as we become “the light of the world”.

I recall as a young missionary having a marriage and baptism fall through one Saturday afternoon. We had half of the ward there and it all collapsed with our investigators backing out. We could have licked our wounds and went to our apartment to feel sorry for ourselves, but we decided that is not what the Savior would have us do. We made some impressive plans and goals and went out into the pouring rain to be “the light of the world” to all those who would hear our message of Jesus Christ. We had more doors slammed in our faces and more name calling that afternoon and evening then I can remember my whole mission. Coming home soaking wet, discouraged, and extremely humble, we barely managed to say prayers and go to bed. The next morning is when the miracle of our diligence occurred. The Bishop called us and informed me that he had an extended family member, which we had taught in the past, who he wanted me to baptize. The miracle of compensation and indirect blessings became ours because we did not give in to adversity!

Sometimes the “persecution” and being “reviled” can be extreme some days, perhaps even some weeks, but I also know that so experienced the great prophets and missionaries before us. In contrast, our adversity is only a drop in the bucket compared to what they or the Savior went through.

Sometimes our adversity is not just persecution or being reviled, but it can be personal tribulation or stress that we endure like Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” trials he had to bare; for our “strength is made perfect in weakness:

 â€œAnd lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10)

I love how you are all the light of World and your influence spreads beyond those you bless:

“The other day we had prayed to ask the Lord for a place to harvest. We went there and knocked doors and had some success. In one of the houses a man opened the door and we told him we were representatives of Jesus Christ. After some testifying, he let us pray with him. He wouldn’t let us come in because his mother was sleeping on the couch. After we had left we knocked a few more doors and we see a woman standing in front of the house of the man we had just blessed. It was his mother. She told us that she knew we were sent by God because she had been lying on the couch for a few days and couldn’t walk without extreme pain. She told us that she felt no pain now and was super happy that we had come to pray with her and her family. We invited her to be baptized and she cried and said yes.”

I love how you are the light of the world and indirect blessings fall upon you because of your obedience:

“It was Wednesday after transfer meeting and we had 0 blessings. We did not soon forget the 30 minutes or so that was spent talking about all the miracles that come after transfer meeting. So, we decided to put “the doctrine of doing” to the test and see what happened. We prayed where to go, went there, and started harvesting. About 5 blessings in, we received a random text message from a member. She asked if we could come over ‘right now’. I assumed that she had seen us because it just so happened that we were on the very same street as where she lived. We arrived about 5 minutes later to see what she needed. We came in and started talking with her and her boyfriend and they wanted to know if he could be baptized on Sunday! He’s been to church 3 times with her and really wants to follow Jesus Christ by getting baptized. There’s no doubt that transfer day is a miracle day!”

I love how you are the light of the world and are blessed because the gratitude you give God:

“So one day as we were following up with one of our families, we walked outside and gave a prayer of gratitude … Right after we did we looked up and there was this girl out walking her dog. We went right up to her and contacted her. We told her we were representative of Jesus Christ. We said God wants us to say a prayer with you. She didn’t hesitate to accept. During the prayer my companion, who just got here to the mission field 2 days earlier …was doing everything he could to calm the dog so that this lady could feel of the spirit. Well guess what… After the prayer we asked her how she felt. She said ‘I feel amazing, peaceful. I know that you guys were sent from God. Me and my husband have actually been visiting around to churches to find one that we want to join and this last Sunday we actually didn’t have one to go to.’ We then immediately testified of how we were sent from God and how he wanted her to come to church with us on Sunday and prepare to be baptized. She accepted and said ‘we will be at your church’. Well she and her husband and their 20 week old baby all showed up to church. They loved it. And it didn’t stop. One of the speakers in sacrament meeting was actually a guy that she knew from work. WHAT A MIRACLE RIGHT!!!!! It was so amazing to see God perform that miracle. We didn’t hesitate once again to offer up a prayer of gratitude.”

Interviewing Missionaries is a wonderful experience for me as I feel your Spirit and excitement for the work. Your excitement can be contagious and I feed on your enthusiasm. Many times you inspire me when you accomplish the impossible, things that others said you could not do. As I was interviewing one of our young zone leaders a couple of years ago, I observed that as he is reporting about his zone and the excitement for the many goals they are working for, I detected a twinge in his expression and a pain in his voice. I quickly was reminded of his severe painful medical condition that almost caused him to not even be on his mission. I was quickly reminded of the significant amount of medication that he took daily along with shots and physical therapy. I was quickly reminded of the years he waited after the age of 19 before the Doctors could get enough of a handle on his condition before he was allowed to go, years older than most missionaries. I then asked him pointedly, watching the quick surge of pain in his eyes “Tell me Elder, how are you doing?” He looked up at me quickly with watering eyes and a forced smile, “I’m doing great President, I love my Mission”. My eyes begin to water and I cannot speak because I see a young man who obtained the mission standards consistently every week, never complaining, always enduring, and going beyond what his body, mind and Doctors allow. A young man who consistently was amongst the great producers of the mission. I then with a trembling voice ask, “I know it is hard and painful sometimes for you, are you overdoing it?” He then responds with a similar trembling voice “No, there is so much to do, and so little time, God has blessed me”. All I could say was “yes he has Elder, and he has blessed me to know you”. What courage, what diligence, what faith.

God has blessed me to know you Missionaries. I know the trials, tribulation, adversity, reviling, and persecution you go through. I know the “thorns of the flesh” that many of you miraculously endure. I also know of the tremendous experiences, miracles, blessings, and life changes you are witnessing. I know as these blessings amplify, they will diminish the adversary’s efforts to cause us to fall because “behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth.” (Alma 56:46)

I enjoy reading and sharing these letters of inspiration each week. It helps me to remember to wear my missionary name tag on my heart…

“I ponder on the Scriptures at times when Jesus Christ performed miracles that not only increases our faith, but teaches us our responsibility as missionaries. I recall the miracle when He goes to the home of the ruler of the synagogue and raises his 12 year old daughter from the dead:

“And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying. And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment. And he charged them straightly that no man should know it; and commanded that something should be given her to eat.” (Mark 5:39-43)

When she was raised, he told the others to give her something to eat. It appears to me that this young girl was hungry that she had an appetite for food. We, as missionaries, go through understanding, and learning, even the glimpses of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and our appetite for wanting to know more becomes stronger. I think about this young girl who after being raised from the dead, to being alive, and how as missionaries, when we feel the power and the testimony of Jesus Christ, we become alive too. Our appetite for wanting to know more then becomes stronger. I was talking to the leaders of this mission and reminded them how before their missions they weren’t paying attention to the Gospel in Sunday School, Seminary, Young Men and Young Women as much as they should have. You were distracted with other things (world, friends, ourselves) and you really didn’t take advantage of learning the doctrines that were being taught.

Now we as missionaries have a much stronger hunger and desire to understand and to know more about these truths. The evidence of our conversion is our increased appetite to know more and to learn more concerning Jesus Christ, therefore our personal studies and companionship studies become more precious to us and more important to us and we can’t wait to get to them so we can find out even further “light and knowledge”. Our investigators are the same way. Once they receive and feel the power and testimony of Jesus Christ, their desire and appetite to know more becomes stronger, the evidence of that is obvious. They come from a type of spiritual death, compared to the girl that Jesus raised from the dead, to a new life and desire to understand more what Jesus Christ is about. They become hungry and we become the source of the food that will help satisfy their hunger.

When Christ taught his disciples “The Sermon on the Mount” He said:

“ Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

We are the agents called of Christ, His representatives, to help fill those who “hunger and thirst after righteousness”. Many are praying to find this spiritual food that we can provide:

“My companion and I knelt down and asked God to help us find someone who has been praying for us, someone who is ready for the gospel and needs to be baptized. And then we went to work. We harvested  different houses with little to no success. We were able to leave blessings in homes, but we knew that we were supposed to find someone else. By the end of our harvest, we were pretty discouraged because we didn’t find who we asked for. We got into the car and started to leave when we saw this woman walking her dog in the distance. We drove over to her immediately and asked if we could leave the prayer. She told us how surprised she was because she had just moved 3 days ago from another area and was very scared to be here. She said that she prays everyday but that day she prayed to receive peace somehow. This was when we showed up. She believes in God, but has never been baptized before. She told us that she wants to be baptized and she really wants to learn more. We are so excited to teach her and prepare her for baptism.”

Many are praying to be filled with “Light”:

“Another huge miracle we saw was with a lady that came to church on Sunday and is set with a hard baptismal date for this upcoming Sunday. It all came about yesterday as we were teaching her. A lady walked past and asked about us. We got her information and told her we would stop by later to pray for her because we were teaching our investigator with a baptismal date. But then our investigator jumped up and said, ‘Elders, we need to go pray for her now!’ She then led us down the stairs and we prayed for the lady. After we finished the prayer our investigator began to testify. She talked about how we are one of the greatest things God has sent to her. How she was in darkness, she prayed for God to send her someone, and then we came. She then began to testify of church and baptism and invited the lady to come to church. By the end of the lesson the lady was set with a date and for church, as well our investigator was even more solidified as she bore her testimony.”

Many are praying to be filled with the knowledge of God:

“We biked a ton and I was sweating like crazy. Prior … I was praying and asking the Lord to please give us a miracle to start off our day on the right foot. On our way out I saw a couple walking down the street heading towards us. We rode passed them. As we were a distance away I was prompted to go back and contact that couple. I looked back and were a good distance away from them. I stopped and called out to my companion, ‘Elder lets go back and contact that couple!’ So we did. We introduced ourselves as Representatives of Jesus Christ and the girl stopped us mid sentence and said, ‘Really? Because I’ve been praying to God to show me that He’s truly there. Now I know he’s real and that he lives!’ I then dropped the bomb immediately right off the bat with a solid invitation to be baptized, ‘So will the both of you show God your love and appreciation by following the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized?’ They replied ‘We will with all our hearts! Can we do it tomorrow?’”

In the New Testament, Jesus Christ is teaching the apostles and told them about his being hungry and naked and in prison. When they asked Christ “when did we see thee hungry and naked?” He teaches:

… Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. (Mathew 25:40)

We are spiritual providers for those who are hungry, those who have an appetite, those who are in need to be satisfied spiritually. We are the source of that food which will give them life, strength, sustenance, and purpose. We not only fill ourselves and them, but we fill the Savior as well. When Peter in the New Testament saw the lame man on the steps of the temple begging for alms, he realized that this man was more than just physically hungry:

“Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God.” (Acts 3:6-8)

Peter is sharing with this man food and riches, but not in a physical form, he was providing it in spiritual form based on faith, testimony, Spirit, power and authority. We in many ways are providing that same sustenance to our investigators. Things that they are hungry for, things that they are in need, that will fill them and give them eternal life. This food that we are sharing with others is the doctrines of salvation, it’s the truth of Jesus Christ, and it’s His Gospel. When we have received relief with His food, then we must help others to relieve their appetites with this food as well. There will be many times where we will be having a feast together with our investigators. That spiritual feast will fill both of us, and will give satisfaction spiritually of the appetite that we have that only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can satisfy.

The evidences of those that are still hungry for the world are those that do not repent, do not care to change, and do not want to hear and understand more of what God wants them to know. Those that are hungry and are truly showing forth evidences of repentance are those that are hungry for more inspiration, truth, teachings, and understanding of the Gospel. Evidence of those who truly want to repent will be those that are hungry for more truth and doctrines and want to change.

Thanks to Sister Boice I am able to post some pictures taken at the transfer meeting. It was a large transfer so only a portion of the new companionships are here, but for those of you who find your missionary, a big thanks should be given to Sister Boice for her diligence.

Elder and Sister Boice who are serving as Employment Specialists in the FFLM area. And of course sister Boice is the one who took all these pictures so we could share them. Sisters Aloi and Nimer are now companions serving in the Fort Lauderdale Zone.

Elder Barbosa is the new companion for elder Lee serving in the Coral Springs zone. It is good to see the smiling faces of sister Bean and sister Tuai as companions in Fort Lauderdale zone. Sister Bean is the one who bakes birthday cakes for missionaries in her district.

Sisters Biggs and Merrill are moving luggage from one car to another as new companions serving in threesome with sister Amiolemeh in the Palm Beach zone. I am sure sister Stegelmeier will miss her daughter who she trained. Elder Whitney is now the companion of our dear friend elder Thorne and they will serve together in Stuart Zone with elder Thorne as DL.

Two great sister missionaries – sisters Dougal and Johnson – will serve together as STLs in the Stuart zone. Elder Duncan strikes a pose with his companion elder Dean who will serve the next 6 weeks together the Fort Lauderdale zone where elder Dean will be a district leader with three awesome sister companionships in the district. That should be a powerful district. Sorry there is no picture of sister Stegelmeier who with her new companion sister Dunford will be in that district.

Elders Duncan, Harral, and Dean get together for a picture. However elder Harral’s new companion elder Woodward did not get his picture taken. Elders Harral and Woodward will serve in the Fort Lauderdale zone.  I notice that one of the APs, elder Jones is shown in the background and I am wondering if that tall missionary with his back to the camera is another AP elder Williams? Elders Flores and Richardson are new companions serving together in the Miami Zone.

Elder Krikava will be trained by elder Call way up in Stuart zone. Elders McMullin and Passey will serve in the Fort Lauderdale zone with elder McMullin as a district leader.

There will be the awesome threesome of sisters Merrill, Biggs and Amiolemeh serving together in the Palm Beach zone. Who is going to say no to hearing a message from those three smiling sisters? Elders Millett and Ovard will serve down in the Homestead zone with elder Ovard as a district leader.

Sisters Orton and Brown will be serving in the Palm Beach zone. In the background can be seen elder Pond who will continue as a Hialeah zone leader with a new companion elder Burgon. Also I notice that elder Thorne got in the picture as well as elder Fanika and elder Singleton who seems to have a rather surprise look on his face. Elders Orullian and Pingree are together in the Homestead zone.

Sister Pick-up will be the trainer for sister Monsuy while they serve in the Hialeah zone. It was nice that sister Sommerfeldt, the mission nurse, also got in the picture. Sister and Elder Sommerfeldt just got back in the mission for the second time. They had such an uplifting first 23 months that they immediately put in for a return engagement when they got back to Canada in the early part of the year. Elder Torres and Harris are together in the picture but not serving together. Elder Harris is one of the ZLs in the Coral Springs zone and elder Torres should be home by now.

Our old friend elder Wilson will serve as a district leader in the Hialeah zone with elder Chartrand as his companion.

Well once again it is catch up time for the President’s letters. Here are the last two.

We will be blessed with additional revelation and miracles when we prepare our members to help us “do” in teaching and making commitments:

“We had a family investigating and they were pretty cool. However, they did not come to church last week. We took a member with us to the last lesson before this Sunday. We trained her. We talked to her about what we were going to talk about with the family and what commitments we wanted to provide. We talked to her about her purpose and how she could fulfill her purpose in this lesson by providing testimony and invitations. We said a prayer and we were off. The lesson went great. We taught about the Restoration. The member provided wonderful testimony. And at the end of one of the testimonies, one of church, she invited the family to church. They said yes! But they didn’t have a car. Our member provided that as well. She even got their number and committed to call them Sunday morning to see if all was ready. And then the family came to church. We know for a surety that they came in the largest measure because of the friendship and support provided by our member.

We will be blessed with additional revelation and miracles when we show forth faith and round-up our investigators for Church:

“When we were going out to round up and pick up people for church we went to the apartment of a lady we met last week. I knocked on the door and a little girl answers and I ask ‘Is your Mother here?’ The little girl said ‘Yeah she’s coming, we’re all coming!’ I thought ‘Who’s all of you?!’ Then I see two more young men come out and then our investigator follow after! I was simply astonished at what the Lord had just done! We got them to church and after sacrament I asked them if they would all prepare for baptism? Our investigator said ‘I’ll think about it but I love this church I love how it makes me feel, it’s so wonderful.’ They all came to our baptism and it was an awesome experience! When our new member left to change, the meeting was opened to testimonies. After a few members, our investigator got up and began telling us about how she had a dream about the missionaries and how wonderful they would make her feel. Never had that before! It was powerful! After the closing prayer I asked her again about baptism this time she said ‘Yes, I’ll do it next week and I want my children to be baptized too.’ All four were baptized Sunday.”

God will lead and guide us with additional revelation and miracles as we go and do:

“Some of our appointments fell through…  so we decided to do some Harvesting. We weren’t anywhere near the place we’ve been working on so we weren’t sure where to go. My companion just smiled and said, ‘Follow the Spirit.’ We drove for about 2 minutes before a road caught my eye. As we drove down it we found a man who had been to church several times when I first got here but we hadn’t seen him in weeks! He would never tell us where he lived so we could go teach him and we had no way to contact him. As we saw him outside by the road we had a brief moment of panic and then a ton of excitement! We pulled over and got out to talk to him. We found out that he really wanted to be baptized! We had asked him before but he never felt ready. It’s amazing how the Lord puts us in the path of those who are prepared! He came to church and was baptized on Sunday! I’m so grateful for the promptings of the Spirit and being led to where we needed to be!”

Sometimes we get stuck in the rut of not doing those things that are priority and promote our purpose, instead we surround ourselves with menial and tedious things that distract from our purpose and cause us to be “found wanting” when it comes to bringing souls to Christ. Last week I received the following letter from one of our missionaries:

“This week was full of miracles! We had the opportunity to bring 8 souls unto Christ through baptism this Sunday! It was amazing! They came from 3 separate families and 3 different finding methods. One family came from a member referral, another came from street contacting his wife (who should be getting baptized this upcoming Sunday), and another family came from an inspired harvest. We only had time for one door so we prayed and both agreed on their house. The member referral we believe were indirect blessings for all of our hard work. Our OYM, we believe, were blessed with because we street contacted his wife immediately after, what we could have taken as, a discouraging experience, but instead of letting it get us down we contacted the first person we saw. And for our harvest family we became their friends and always helped them feel and recognize the spirit. With all of them the moment we found them we were sure to offer a prayer of gratitude. And because of the gratitude the Lord continued to bless us.”

I love the “balance” of finding that these missionaries were able to implement in their work. They were able to employ several ways to find and therefore “balance” out the power that comes by being faithful and diligent in finding. In Proverbs we read:

“A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.” (Proverbs 11:1)

A righteous, organized, and inspiring planned out balance of our work will always be a “delight” to God. Uninspired busy work, work without our Purpose, is an “abomination to the lord”. A good, even balance also shows our integrity to God as Job teaches:

“Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may know mine integrity.” (Job 31:6)

Elder Ballard teaches us:

“…  Maintain balance. Free and open doctrinal discussion is important in gospel scholarship, but remember that most things have been put into place by God and simply are not subject to change. The doctrines and principles of the Church are established only through revelation, not legislation. This is God’s plan; we do not have the prerogative to alter or tamper with it…Our task is to integrate the principles of the gospel into our lives so that our lives will be in balance. When our lives are in balance, before you realize it your life will be full of spiritual understanding that will confirm that your Heavenly Father loves you and that His plan is fair and true and we should strive to understand it and enjoy living it. (M. Russell Ballard, General Conference, October 1993)

Balancing our priorities with our member referrals to do “all” we can to help them keep commitments, even magnifying our “power and authority”:

“We showed up at the house of our investigator, a really elect member referral, but she does not look happy. We go in and find out that she slipped and yesterday and is in a lot of pain.  She is 75 and already has back problems so that was not good.  As we talked I was really worried about seeming insensitive by trying to still get her to come to church that day, she honestly wasn’t looking good at all.  Then the thought came to my head to give her a blessing.  I took out my oil, freshly blessed a few days before, and we gave her a blessing.  As we left the blessing the thought came to my head that, ‘You might not be able to change someone’s agency, but you can heal them.’ She came to church and stayed the entire time.  She is getting baptized next week.  I love this work!”

Helping our investigators balance out their commitments with our members, will give them the desire for more:

“Our amazing investigator got baptized yesterday! It was an amazing baptism! Last Sunday we taught him the word of wisdom knowing he had a problem with smoking, coffee and tea, our branch president was there which helped a lot too. He completely accepted it but didn’t know if he could do it. So we gave him a priesthood blessing. Then the next morning he got up to smoke, like always, not thinking about it and he said it made him sooo sick he almost threw up for a good 30 minutes. Then he crushed them and threw them away and took the trash out and hasn’t touched them since… He gave up tea and coffee in the next 3 days too. Boom! The priesthood is real! What a miracle! He also got a hold of the D&C and loves it. Especially loves the priesthood now… and also is doing his genealogy on family search, has made it pretty far already AND ordered the ensign…. is listening to Motab on Mormon channel all day… and the list goes on… He is amazing!!!!!!”

Balancing and following up with the commitments and priorities we have been taught and given, will guide us to those the Lord has prepared:

“Last week you challenged all of us to look up an old investigator from the Area Book and give them a second chance. We pulled two people out and the first one was in the Hospital. You also have been teaching us about the importance of leaving the “how” to the Lord. Well I’ve been struggling to do this without really realizing I was struggling with it until a few days ago. Yesterday my companion and I were able to fast. It’s so very true that fasting make us so much more receptive to the Spirit! I found myself being able to look past the “how” and knowing that if we gave our absolutely best effort and worked our hardest then the Lord would make up for the rest. As we walked back to our car,  my companion opened her mouth to a woman who was walking behind us. She told us her name and was very kind as we turned the corner to a quieter street and she accepted a prayer. After the prayer, tears rolled down her cheeks and she gave us both big hugs. We asked her to follow what she felt and be baptized; she then told us that she had met with missionaries before. My jaw almost dropped because then I realized that she was the 2nd name we had pulled out of the Area Book and hadn’t had a chance to go visit yet! God had helped us be obedient to the commandment He had given us through you as we left the ‘how’ to the Lord!”