This week I am including the complete letter and not just the missionary experience because I think it teaches ideas that everyone can use in their callings.

Dear Missionaries,

This last week, our Son who served a Mission in Argentina wrote me and shared the following:

“I was reading towards the end of Mosiah the other day and came across a scripture that made me think of what you all are doing down there [with Harvesting]…  Mosiah 27:14 where the angel is speaking to Alma and says, 

‘… Behold, the Lord hath heard the prayers of his people, and also the prayers of his servant, Alma, who is thy father; for he has prayed with much faith concerning thee that thou mightest be brought to the knowledge of the truth; therefore, for this purpose have I come to convince thee of the power and authority of God, that the prayers of his servants might be answered according to their faith.’

… reading this I understood a little better how our prayers in behalf of other people can help them be brought to the knowledge of the truth, and sometimes angels intervene if our faith is great enough.”

I enjoyed his insight of how not just the Power and Authority of our calling is involved with Harvesting, but also, if our faith is great enough, angels can intervene in the conversion process.  As I was reading in the Doctrine and Covenants, I came across how our “power and authority” compares to angels “power and authority” in proclaiming this Gospel:

“ And ye shall go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God. And ye shall go forth baptizing with water, saying: Repent ye, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (D&C 42:6-7)

Immediately after Nephi instructs us of the importance of the “Doctrine of Christ” he teaches us by what power we can help others to understand and embrace this Doctrine, with “the tongue of angels”:

“And now, behold, my beloved brethren, I suppose that ye ponder somewhat in your hearts concerning that which ye should do after ye have entered in by the way. But, behold, why do ye ponder these things in your hearts? Do ye not remember that I said unto you that after ye had received the Holy Ghost ye could speak with the tongue of angels? And now, how could ye speak with the tongue of angels save it were by the Holy Ghost? Angels speak by the power of the Holy Ghost; wherefore, they speak the words of Christ. Wherefore, I said unto you, feast upon the words of Christ; for behold, the words of Christ will tell you all things what ye should do.” (2 Nephi 32:1-3)

Hence we speak the “words of Christ” with “the tongue of angels” because of the “power of the Holy Ghost” that we are able to invite all to come to Him. It is by our faith that we will receive the blessings and miracles of the ministering of angels, whether we see them or feel their presence and influence. Mormon taught his son Moroni this principle:

“And now, my beloved brethren, if this be the case that these things are true which I have spoken unto you, and God will show unto you, with power and great glory at the last day, that they are true, and if they are true has the day of miracles ceased? Or have angels ceased to appear unto the children of men? Or has he withheld the power of the Holy Ghost from them? Or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man upon the face thereof to be saved? Behold I say unto you, Nay; for it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain. For behold, they are subject unto him, to minister according to the word of his command, showing themselves unto them of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness.” (Moroni 7:35-37, 30; see vs. 25-29 also)

Knowing and understanding that angels will minister to you and those you teach, whether you see them or not, will be something you and they will feel. The “power of the Holy Ghost” in you and in them is an important factor for the miracle of “ministering angels” to occur, and it will only come to those “of strong faith and a firm mind in every form of godliness”.  According to your faith, ministering angels will lead you to those they have prepared:

“We found some amazing people, and one of the things we had struggled with, was opening our mouths, so I really went in with a huge focus on talking to everyone, well, because I raised my companion’s desires to talk to everyone, we saw miracles. Everyone I saw, I went up and talked to them, and in turn, by the end of the night, my companion had very high desires to do the same.  I saw a man, sitting on a curb, and ran up to him to give him a card of Jesus Christ, when I gave it to him, he said, ‘You are the ones who pray right?’  I in turn smiled and introduced the Harvest Blessing.  He told us that is what he needed and that he wanted very bad to be baptized.  It was a miracle to see that the Lord knew our desires, and he put certain people in our paths, knowing we would talk to them, and we found amazing people.”

Ministering angels will connect your faith to those you teach, and give you power and authority to commit them to everything that will give them the peace they seek:

“We visited a man who we had planned on teaching repentance. But when we got there I saw that he had cigarettes so we immediately decided to teach the word of wisdom as well. He has lost his family because of his addictions and kept saying over and over that he was ready to change. He said he’d keep the word of wisdom and when I asked him to hand over his lighter and cigarettes he did so with a smile on his face! He said how relieved and peaceful he felt! There were tears in his eyes as he told us that this was his time to change and to overcome his addictions. What a truly repentant man! He accepted baptism, church and was excitedly flipping through the pages of the Book of Mormon as we left his home.”

They will recognize that you truly are “ministering angels”, messengers sent from God, sent to them because of their prayers:

“We were harvesting, and were running short on time, but felt very strong that there was one more person that we needed to bless.  We stood in the middle of the road, and felt out which apartment was in need. We crossed and passed by a group of wild peacocks, to a little apartment building. We walked straight to the third door and knocked.  As we knocked, a woman got out of her car and called out to us in a southern drawl, ‘Yes? Can I help you?’ We explained who we are and asked for her name. ‘Why, I’m Miss Karen.’ She let us pray with her, and as we said amen, she started her own prayer and said, ‘Father God, thank you for these angels.  I saw them two hours ago talking to my neighbor, and by their countenances, I knew they were your messengers. I wanted to talk to them, but I didn’t dare. I prayed for them to come back and talk to me, and I thank you for answering my prayer.’  She finished, and we related to her how we were guided to her door.  Her eyes got all big and she said, ‘I was sitting in my car, getting ready to leave, when I had a quiet feeling to stay and wait a bit longer. I watched you walk out of that house, stand in the road, and then walk to my door.  I knew it was of God, and that I had to get out and talk to you.’  She’s going to be baptized, and it showed me how orchestrated every move of this work is.”

Elder Holland also teaches us the purpose of angels in this immense work:

“From the beginning down through the dispensations, God has used angels as His emissaries in conveying love and concern for His children. Time in this setting does not allow even a cursory examination of the scriptures or our own latter-day history, which are so filled with accounts of angels ministering to those on earth, but it is rich doctrine and rich history indeed. Usually such beings are not seen. Sometimes they are. But seen or unseen they are always near. Sometimes their assignments are very grand and have significance for the whole world. Sometimes the messages are more private. Occasionally the angelic purpose is to warn. But most often it is to comfort, to provide some form of merciful attention, guidance in difficult times.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, General Conference, October 2008)

Missionaries, I know we are surrounded by these “ministering angels” to give us power and authority to accomplish our purpose, God’s purpose, in bringing the souls of South Florida to Christ. They will manifest themselves according to your faith, diligence and authority as representatives of Jesus Christ. They will prepare the way and strengthen us through adversity. We are encircled, inspired and protected by these angels as we learn from one of President Monson’s favorite scriptures:

“And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” (D&C 84:88)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Once again I was spiritually lifted as I read the experiences that the president shared this week. A week that include transfers – sorry we were traveling and I completely forgot to ask anyone to take and share pictures of new companionships. I am checking to see if any of the couples did take pictures and will send them to me. But nothing slowed the great above missionaries of the Florida Fort Lauderdale mission down…they had 36 baptisms this week and that is a great way to start a month…

“I love the solutions you missionaries find, even when you search for souls to invite from the area book:

“We didn’t have anyone set with a baptismal date for Sunday, so we discussed some ways that we could work for a miracle baptism. The Area Book was discussed and there were miracles shared about how missionaries had been able to find amazing people by looking through old records. At first I didn’t really think about it too much and we continued training. The next day a couple seconds before we walked out the door for proselyting time, I decided to stop ignoring the nagging feeling to go look in the Area Book. So I opened it up…  until I found someone who had been to church. All I wrote down was her name and her address. Well an appointment we had later that day fell through and so we ventured over to the Sister from the Area Book. We were disappointed to see that she lived in a gated community but only for a moment when a car pulled up and we were able to follow them right in. She was home and after a Harvest blessing she accepted baptism. When we told her that we were having a baptismal service this weekend she seemed a little reluctant. But the Spirit was so strong! We testified and then asked her to say a prayer and ask God if He wanted her to be baptized this weekend. After the prayer the Spirit was even stronger! After she said Amen she didn’t move or open her eyes. She waited and listened! And on Sunday she was ‘baptized.’”

I love when the Lord blesses you because you had the inspiration to find others during “round-up”:

We went to go round-up our investigator for church, but he wasn’t answering. This was the 2nd investigator’s door we had knocked for church and we were having no success-super sad! So, we looked at our watches, had some times and decided to start harvesting at 9:30am before PEC at 10. We knocked one door 3 times with no answer and started walking away when the door opened and this super sleepy guy looked at us. I can only imagine what he was thinking as he tiredly squinted at us and yawned, looking rather dazed and confused. Nevertheless we introduced ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ, had a beautiful prayer and invited him to church. The story goes on with NONE of our investigators coming to church and as we sat down rather bewildered and discouraged, we realized we didn’t know who was sitting in front of us in a red polo. The man we harvested before church! He had come! We quickly got up and sat by him, and as we were talking, a member walked in and sat across from us. This man lit up as he recognized his close friend from work! The two got up and had the usual manly hand shake/hug combo thing you men do and he quickly felt comfortable, loved and happy to be there. Our member stayed with him in all the classes and at the end gave him a Book of Mormon with his testimony inside Coincidence? I think not! What an orchestration in the symphony of the Lord’s work! We felt honored and blessed to be a part of it. He is being baptized on Sunday.

I love when we use members to help in completing our solutions:

“Well, church came and went and we weren’t able to get anyone there. It was difficult, but we knew we put our best effort forth and that God would accept it. That afternoon, as we were still trying to get something going, we were having dinner with a few members and one said to us, ‘I was home teaching my family earlier today, a nice, older woman who has been a member of the church for many years. Her husband has come to church, but he never wants anything to do with the missionaries, but today he said he would like to hear a prayer from you Elders. Could you stop by today?’. We headed out with him right afterwards. After finding them home, we left the family with a blessing. We asked him how he felt. He said good. We invited him to baptism and he said yes. We asked him when was the last time he went to church and he told us recently. We were nervous, but exercised faith and asked him if he would prepare to be baptized that night. He said yes! We set everything up with the Bishop and Zone Leaders as my companion and members taught the commandments, restoration and gospel. He accepted everything. Three hours later he was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. His wife had been waiting for this day for 50 years. I have rarely seen anyone as happy as she was that night. I know God is truly a God of miracles.“

God will anxiously help us with the solution if we ask him, trust him, and act; Elder Scott teaches:

“Often when we pray for help with a significant matter, Heavenly Father will give us gentle promptings that require us to think, exercise faith, work, at times struggle, then act. It is a step-by-step process that enables us to discern inspired answers. I have discovered that what sometimes seems an impenetrable barrier to communication is a giant step to be taken in trust. Seldom will you receive a complete response all at once. It will come a piece at a time, in packets, so that you will grow in capacity. As each piece is followed in faith, you will be led to other portions until you have the whole answer. That pattern requires you to exercise faith in our Father’s capacity to respond. While sometimes it’s very hard, it results in significant personal growth. You are asked to look for an answer to your prayers.^ Obey the Master’s counsel to “study it out in your mind.”^ Often you will think of a solution; as you seek confirmation that your answer is right, help will come. It may be through your prayers, or as an impression of the Holy Ghost, and at times by the intervention of others.”^ (Richard G. Scott, General Conference April 2007)

We were traveling when this letter was sent and I did not get around to posting it until today. However as I read the great spiritual missionary experiences that the president shared, I was certain that everyone would feel that they were worth waiting for…

“We were working in a neighborhood following up with people. Everything had fallen through. And two dogs even chased us. I was a little frustrated, but I told my companion that I wanted to go another way because I didn’t want to see the dog again. We were walking and we saw this guy sitting outside smoking so I told my companion we needed to talk to him. We went up and he gladly excepted the prayer. He said he’s been here from Cuba for 8 years and hasn’t found a good job. So we prayed for him to find a job. He loved the prayer and felt the spirit. When we invited him to be baptized, he said, ‘yes, I’ve been waiting for this.’ It was such a great experience!! We gave him a Book of Mormon and he gladly accepted it as well. We left and were so excited! We forgot to give him our information so we went back, and he was already reading the Book of Mormon. It was cool. We were able to see him again, and he found a job the next day… he still wants the missionaries to help him be baptized. He said he knew God sent us to him! The Lord’s hand is truly in the work.”

I love the “mighty change” that occurs even months (and years) after we contact them and they know we are truly sent from God:

“Two months ago we said a prayer with a teenage girl at her door because the parents weren’t home. She said she didn’t think her parents would be interested. We decided to leave a card with our number on it. This week on Thursday (two months later) we saw how God is always preparing people and how we can receive indirect blessing from hard work. We received a call from a lady and had no idea who she was but she wanted help and wanted us to come over so we went over that night. We arrived and saw the daughter and I was really struck by how familiar she looked but had no idea from where I recognized her. Then it all came back to me, The Door Prayer! So we sat down and talked with the family. The mother was super awesome and she just wanted peace in her life. She had met with the missionaries a few years ago in another area and she couldn’t remember if she had been baptized or not, so we checked her records and it turns out she wasn’t. We then went back and explained how baptism would help her and invited her to be baptized the following day after church. She accepted, she came the next day with her daughter and that day at church another miracle happened. The family that had fellowshipped her all those years ago, (now living in California) were just visiting our ward Sunday. We found out that the daughter had also been to church before and minutes before the baptismal service of the mom we felt inspired to invite her to be baptized with her mom. And she accepted! … They got baptized together and the spirit was so strong and they were so solid with instant fellowship from the former fellow shippers. Yesterday was the most spiritual day of my mission and my life! As they excitedly came to shake our hands beaming after the broadcast that night, I was filled with so much joy! I couldn’t believe the happiness that was just radiating out of them!”

I love “the mighty change” that occurs to those who fall away and find their way back because the Lord directed us to them:

“As we were walking to one of our appointments, through the trees I could see some people sitting on the porch, but could tell they couldn’t see us. Either the automatic response to go talk to them because that is what always occurs when I see anyone or probably more so the subtle prompting of the spirit told me go talk to them. I must admit we first went to see if the appointment was home and then on the way back again I felt that same feeling as before. So we went and talked to them. After we gave this women a harvest blessing on her home and invited her to be baptized she said I was. (I’m thinking ok another person who has been baptized probably as a baby.) She said yes I was baptized into the Mormon Church almost 14 years ago, but with different challenges in my life and now I’m working on Sundays and I’m unable to come to Church. We testified that we knew God sent us to her because he cares about her and is going to provide a way so that she can come on Sundays. She has a 13 year old daughter who she wants to be involved with the church and wants her to get baptized. She came this week and rode with the YW president and is excited to come next week for her baptism.”

Repentance and change is not just for those we teach, but we need this constant change in our lives to always be better instruments in God’s hands. Change is never easy, but it is where we grow the most, where we receive the “most rewarding and profound experiences in life” as Elder Ashton teaches:

“We need not feel that we must forever be what we presently are. There is a tendency to think of change as the enemy. Many of us are suspect of change and will often fight and resist it before we have even discovered what the actual effects will be. When change is thought through carefully, it can produce the most rewarding and profound experiences in life. The changes we make must fit the Lord’s purposes and patterns…Yes, there is pain in change, but there is also great satisfaction in recognizing that progress is being achieved. Life is a series of hills and valleys and often the best growth comes in the valleys. Change is a meaningful part of repentance. Some are unable to repent because they are unwilling to change.” (Marvin J. Ashton, General Conference, October 1979)

God will give us the “power to change” as President Faust teaches:

“If we will turn to the Lord and believe on His name, we can change. He will give us the power to change our lives, the power to put away bad thoughts and feelings from our hearts. We can be taken from “the darkest abyss” to “behold the marvelous light of God” (Mosiah 27:29)). We can be forgiven. We can find peace… Each new day that dawns can be a new day for us to begin to change. We can change our environment. We can change our lives by substituting new habits for old. We can mold our character and future by purer thoughts and nobler actions. As someone once put it, ‘The possibility of change is always there, with its hidden promise of peace, happiness, and a better way of life.’”(President James E. Faust. General Conference, October 2007)

Sorry I was a little slow in getting these wonderful experiences into the blog. I would like to use the excuse that I was too busy, but the truth is that I forgot until just now.

“Your sacred calling as representatives of Jesus Christ will bless you with joy and many blessings as well as those you bare testimony to:

“Our recent convert  that just got baptized is so incredible. I pray that each of my converts are just like her. She is truly converted to this gospel. I have never seen someone be changed by the Gospel more in my life. She has a constant smile on her face and each time we see her she says how grateful she is for us and how she couldn’t imagine her life without the church. She said the other day ‘I know that I have to keep praying, reading my scriptures and going to church and increase my faith each day’ our mouths dropped! We thought ‘how much more amazing could this woman be??’ She then asked how it made us feel to be able to be a part of this change in people’s lives. I was a little shocked by the question and I couldn’t even put it into words. We both shared our testimonies with her and it was such a spiritual experience. There are no words to describe the joy that being here on a mission has brought to me.”

Magnifying your calling is the opportunity to show forth faith that God is in this work and will bless you for your diligence:

“On Thursday we had her interview. She was excited to be baptized. We then tried to see her Friday, but was unable to. Saturday comes and still nothing. We were planning on you (President Anderson) being there at 4, and then she called us at 1, saying ‘I don’t know about baptism’ (I knew that she was really nervous by the sound of her voice.) We then told her to just be there at 4 and she could talk to you. Well 4 comes around and it was only us. As we waited and waited and waited, she wasn’t  picking up the phone.  I didn’t know what to do, so that’s when we said that we would go get her. Right before we left the church, my companion and I knelt in prayer and offered up the desires of our hearts. We got in the car and started to drive. Within minutes we get a phone call, it is her. God does answer prayers! She said she was on her way and that she was running late. We went back to the church and while she was in the interview with you, we were talking about how we can show our faith. I looked at Elder Thompson and said, ‘Go get in white’ !! We then had a prayer … and within the Hour, Megan was baptized. I’m grateful for that opportunity that God gave me and that I was able to have patience in my afflictions. She came the next day and was confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Magnifying your calling gives them everything that the Gospel has to offer that they didn’t have before:

“Our investigator was baptized on Sunday! He is also a gift from Heavenly Father. I’ll admit, I was a little hesitant about him at the beginning, but as we were teaching him about Joseph Smith and his first vision, I pictured him in white, walking into the baptism font. It completely changed my attitude. He was so prepared to change his life. Then on Sunday, I was able to actually see him dressed in white, walking into the baptism font!! He was one hundred percent accepting to everything we taught him and was even excited to keep the commandments. He has shared so many experiences since we met him, and he is readily admitting that God’s hand has been in his life. The most amazing thing is the day we met him, he lost his job and exactly a week later, he landed a job on the temple site.  He is so excited for what is to come. His baptism brought a lot of ward unity. We really tried to involve different members for each aspect of the work concerning him and it is really neat to see how everyone steps up to the challenge of befriending these new members.”

An hour before this man was baptized, he was in Priesthood meeting. The lesson was on tithing and a member told me that this wonderful non-member raised his hand and said:

“A week ago I didn’t have a job. Now I have a job, the gospel and friends. Tithing is nothing compared to the blessings I have received. And this was just one week. Imagine all the blessings I will receive in a life time.”

Isn’t it amazing as we magnify our callings to represent Christ, we magnify the blessings to both us and those we invite, not just now, but for the eternities. President Eyring taught:

“You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands. His work is to bless His Father’s spirit children with the opportunity to choose eternal life. So, your calling is to bless lives. That will be true even in the most ordinary tasks you are assigned and in moments when you might be doing something not apparently connected to your call. Just the way you smile or the way you offer to help someone can build their faith. And should you forget who you are, just the way you speak and the way you behave can destroy faith. Your call has eternal consequences for others and for you. In the world to come, thousands may call your name blessed, even more than the people you serve here. They will be the ancestors and the descendants of those who chose eternal life because of something you said or did, or even what you were. If someone rejects the Savior’s invitation because you did not do all you could have done, their sorrow will be yours. You see, there are no small callings to represent the Lord. Your call carries grave responsibility. But you need not fear, because with your call come great promises.” (2002 October General Conference, Henry B. Eyring)

Elder Burt found time to send me a short email and this picture, We got to know elder Harral and Burt very well because they served with us for a number of transfers in Fort Lauderdale. We got to meet and talk with the other elders a few times – we were at the mission home when they arrived – but never really got to know them. Since they are serving with two very above average missionaries I am sure they are having some wonderful experiences. The four are serving Boca Raton ward in the Coral Springs zone.

We had the opportunity yesterday of hearing one of our beautiful granddaughters give her farewell talk. Tomorrow evening we will see her be set apart for her service in the Washington Seattle Mission – Spanish speaking. Her father served in Argentina and her brother is serving in Malaga Spain so after everyone gets home they will be able to talk to each other in Spanish. Who knows maybe our next mission will be Spanish speaking and somehow we will be able to learn it also.

Here are the experiences he shared this week… 

“We had parked the car and started walking and I saw a woman walking in the parking lot. The Spirit told me to contact her so I did fortunately. She told us she is going through cancer right now and is in a lot of pain. We included that in the prayer and after, you could just see a difference. She was smiling. She said she felt happiness and tranquility. She immediately accepted baptism. We went back a couple of days later and it turns out her brother was baptized a member and she was going to also but her dad didn’t let her. She was super excited when she found out we were ‘Mormons’. This experience gave me a lot of energy, hope and excitement. I learned even more the importance of following EVERY prompting we have.”

Opening our mouths with love and faith will help eliminate our fears and other’s fear for the future or the unknown:

“We were harvesting last night, and saw a couple people across the street.  We contacted them, and introduced ourselves as representatives of Jesus Christ.  The woman started to cry.  She told us that she works on a cruise ship, and it had just dropped her off in Fort Lauderdale because she found out that she has cancer.  Her whole family (husband, kids, parents) live in the Philippines, and she had to tell them over Skype about her cancer.  She’s completely alone in America, and is going into surgery on Wednesday.  We prayed for her and just cried.  It was amazing, I knew that God had sent us to her.  She was so sweet.  We invited her to be baptized, and her answer was, ‘Well, obviously yes, but I don’t know if I’ll be out of the hospital by then.’ It was one of the sweetest experiences of my mission.”

Opening our mouths with an increase of faith and love will eliminate our fears and other’s fear of trusting in God:

 â€œ… we ran into a couple and we asked them if we could pray with them and they said no because they were in a hurry to get to the hospital to go visit their new born granddaughter who is only 8 days old but she got put into the nicu Last night… But then we testified and told them that this prayer would help… she asked what church we were from, so we told her and she said ‘really?? okay hurry come in!’ … so we walked in and she said that her son who just had the baby was a member of our church and last week he gave them a copy of the book of Mormon, and they were reading it together as a couple. They were so fascinated and so excited that we were missionaries and they said ‘wow this is a sign from God’  … so we prayed with them and the lady was almost crying. She kept telling us how beautiful of a prayer that was and how much she felt the spirit! We talked about what we believe in and how people are baptized. They were so interested, so elect. It was so awesome! They told us that they want us to come back and they want to come to church.”

I love to start each week reading the great spiritual experiences that President Anderson shares in his weekly letter. Not only do I feel the spirit of these experiences but they also remind me of Elder Anderson’s direction to wear my missionary name tag on my heart

“Let us look forward to those whose hearts will be pierced with the Spirit: â€œI saw a couple across the complex and felt to walk over to them to bless them. As I started to walk over I felt really good about it. Then out of nowhere doubt and fear crept into my mind. I thought to myself, ‘that guy looks kinda angry and I’m not sure what he’s going to say to us.’ I stopped walking for a brief second and then cast out the fear and walked even faster towards the couple. As we got to them we identified ourselves and asked if we could leave them the Saviors peace and blessing. The man told us we could pray for him and their baby to be born soon. As I prayed I truly felt the spirit flowing through me, as if my words were not my own. After the blessing the man with tattoos who looked like a very tough guy began to cry. He wouldn’t stop thanking me and accepted baptism. We went back the next day and he again thanked me over and over. He said, ‘Those were the kindest and purest words anyone has ever said to me. My emotions overcame me and I was thinking about it all day. I almost called work to go home because I couldn’t stop thinking about it.’ I was so humbled. The Lord truly had used me as his funnel to bring the spirit to this man’s life. He again was on the verge of tears as he talked about the experience.”

Let us look forward to those who have been waiting so long for us to bring them Salvation: â€œI had gotten the impression that it looked like a good area before and that we needed to harvest it eventually. But yesterday I knew that we needed to harvest there then. So we rode down the street locked up and began knocking. We ran into a man and he excitedly let us in and asked for help for his health problems. We left a great Priesthood blessing and then invited him to be baptized. With a huge smile on his face he said ‘Of course!’ it was one of those times where they accept with so much enthusiasm you begin to wonder if they understand what you just asked them… but he understood! He then went on to tell us that he had attended church many times and took the lessons with his sister in Nicaragua when he was 18. His sister was baptized and then the Sunday for his baptism had arrived. That morning he was waiting at the bus stop for the Elders to pick him up to take him to church and to get baptized… but they never showed up… so he sadly went home and never heard of them again. It’s now 10 years later, he moved to Florida 1 week ago. He was sitting in his home on a Sunday afternoon and two Elders were led to his house again, blessed him with the Savior’s peace and blessing and invited to him to be baptized once again. President I know we were led straight to that door. The Lord really does have a hand in all things; it is such a blessing to be a tool he can use to create miracles.”

Let us help even our investigators to look forward to God’s will:  â€œThis week recent convert was confirmed and received the Aaronic Priesthood. We had a sweet member present lesson with him that was absolutely wonderful and prepared him for the responsibility and opportunities. After a lunch at his house, after church on Sunday, something quite humbling happened. He said to me, ‘I need to show you something, it’s pretty serious.’ As we were leaving, we went to his truck and he pulled out his Bible. ‘I have been troubled by this for 3 days now, thinking about what to do.’ He proceeded to show me legitimate looking I.D. cards… ‘When we come over, there are underground agencies that do these for a lot of money. They are fake. Now that I am on this road, I can’t have these because although you may not have known, God knows and I know. What do you suggest? Should I break them?’ I said, ‘what do you think?’ He then handed them to me and said, ‘now I am an honest man before God.’ What an experience! He is fearing God above man. What an example of integrity.”

Mission Leadership Council held on this last Friday…picture taken inside the mission home. What a powerful group of missionaries meeting in council…

Tuesday we had the opportunity to have a First Lunch…that is four FFLM returned missionaries came over for lunch. We had a great time talking about the mission and what we were doing since we got home. On Thursday night we met three of them at the temple for a session. It was so wonderful to be in the temple with these dedicated young people who love the Lord so much. What a blessing it is to get to serve with them in the mission field and then also get to be with them once we are home.

Today, we had a chance to visit with a missionary we served with in Indonesia…Michael Cheney. He came into the mission just one week after we did and we served with him until his first transfer. He and his wife – she is from Taiwan and they met at BYU Hawaii – live in Salt Lake and it was wonderful to talk about what they have been doing since we last saw him some 5 years ago.

President Anderson’s letter this week contained two wonderful experiences. I would be very surprised if you can read the second one without getting a little choke up…I couldn’t. I should know how the gospel can so quickly change lives but when I read conversion stories like this one, the power of restored gospel still amazes me.

“I love your endurance to those whose heart you change with your testimony and Spirit. To endure with faith that they will respond:

“… We knocked on one last door. This older gentleman walked out and we asked if we could pray with him. He bluntly told us that he didn’t pray. We explained that we wanted to leave a blessing with him and it was for anything he was in need of at this time. He smartly replied ‘money, we all need money’, we asked if there was anything else and he replied ‘well I could always use a new car’. My companion said the prayer it was very short, powerful and to the point. When we got done we asked him how he felt and you could just see the change that the whole thing (blessing) had made on him. He was a lot nicer and responded with saying he felt good and so we invited him to be baptized and he said yes as well as coming to church!!…we set up a time to go see him the next day. We took a member with us and the lesson was awesome. We found out he hasn’t been to church, any church in over 20 years and he hasn’t prayed for about that long either. We taught him about how church is a commandment and the blessing and importance of it and our member gave an incredible testimony on how much Church service has blessed his life. We then asked him if he would give the closing prayer…he was astonished and again told us he doesn’t pray and doesn’t remember how…so we explained how simple it was and he said he would give it a shot. he started to cry as he said the prayer and then during the prayer he promised God that he was coming to church with us on Sunday, then cried some more after the prayer. We then shared with him how amazing his prayer was and you should have seen the smile on his face…Sunday came and he showed up to church WITH his wife an hour early, and waited for it to start!! He loved sacrament and his wife even expressed during the sacrament how much she loved how it felt. We went to see them that night and taught the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon which he started reading before we even had left his house. He is preparing to be baptized next Sunday!!!”

I love how you endure with faith with all those you prepare to be baptized:

“My companion and I harvested (a wonderful couple) about 2 weeks ago- and after we shared the harvest blessing with them- we asked how they felt. He, slightly more reserved at first, quietly said he didn’t feel like he deserved it. She said she loved the peace of the prayer and she said that she’d been asking God for a chance to let Her Husband know that He (God) loves him. From there, it has been an incredible journey with this family. They have recently been considering getting divorced, she was on the verge of leaving- but she had been pleading with the Lord for direction- then next thing she knew, we were knocking at her door, offering to share a prayer. Throughout these amazing last 14 days, we have witnessed beautiful transformation within both of them! She said that she has been praying for years that her husband would soften his heart and make the decision to get baptized. It has been quite a long road for the both of them. Her husband made some choices in the past that he felt he would never be forgiven for- choices that directly affected his wife in one of the most heartbreaking ways possible. But as we taught about the power of the atonement of Christ- how through repentance, we are able to be forgiven for any and all of our mistakes, He started keeping the commitments we left with them. Before we met them, He had decided he wasn’t going to care about himself- he was at the point where he wanted to end his life- and he was smoking up to 2 packs of cigarettes a day. But he has been living the word of wisdom- completely cigarette free for over 8 days now! Their baptismal service was one of the most amazing, miraculous and tender experiences I have ever before seen. She went down into the font first, she’d been crying up until that point, and came back up so relieved, so refreshed- she had so much joy as she walked up to the steps. But the most amazing part was when her husband came up out of the water. He looked up at her with the most humble, hopeful, and pure of expressions. She walked to the edge of the font, again in tears, overflowing with joy, and as he came up, they embraced. I cannot do justice with words everything I felt in that moment. All the pain in the past, all the doubt, all the suffering- all of it had been washed away. They were both brand new. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life.”