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<\/a><\/p>\nI have often thought about the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and the scene where God is reaching out to touch Adam’s finger and give him life. When I see the scene I see the gap between the fingers and that Adam has reached as far as he can – he is giving it his all. Now that he has God will fill the gap. I know it is the same in the things I do – it I will give my all or as it says in D&C 4 – serve with all my heart, might, mind and strength – that God will fill the gap.<\/p>\n
We have found that this is true with missionary work. When the missionaries are willing to give their all, be exactly obedient and have complete faith in Christ than they will see miracles as the stories from this week’s letter shows…Bill<\/p>\n
President Anderson…<\/strong><\/p>\n The Lord will bless us as we show forth \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153Power and Authority\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d and keep going even after the first miracle:<\/p>\n \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153A miracle we witnessed happened while harvesting last night. I kid you not President, We found 4 incredible families. Every single door we knocked, we ran into an incredible miracle. This first lady brought us in and told us she knew a member, we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted along with everything else. The next door we found a man who wasn’t too interested, we prayed and during the prayer a lady came out (but I didn’t stop saying the prayer) and she knelt down, and after the prayer was crying. It turns out that she had learned from the missionaries in Nicaragua. She believed Jos\u00c3\u0192\u00c2\u00a9 Smith to be a prophet and the Book of Mormon was true. We gave her another book, and the both of them accepted baptism. The next door we found a Latin party going on. We knocked (but were a little scared) but it turned out the spirit was right again. They accepted us, turned off everything, knelt down, and after the prayer the young mother had tears in her eyes. She and her grandparents all accepted baptism, and before we could invite them to do anything they wanted us to come back and to go to church next Sunday. After that we were walking and saw a man flying a remote control helicopter. We ran over and offered a blessing and he was super resistive. We started being more personable with him about his helicopter and soon he told us all about his family. His two daughters ran from the house and came and said the prayer with us. After they were all smiling and all accepted baptism after we shared the doctrine of eternal families.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d<\/i><\/p>\n \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153Power and Authority\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d will reveal itself as we are obedient and faithful:<\/p>\n \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153One miracle we saw was while we were harvesting on Friday. We saw that our harvest numbers were lacking a little bit so we made some plans on how to improve that. One of those plans was to harvest for an hour a day no matter what!! Even if we had appointments, we knew that God would provide a way.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Well as we were getting close to being done harvesting we had about 5 minutes left and knew we needed to finish strong. So we both picked a door that we really liked and decided to knock on it.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0Right away we knew it was going to be a miracle house.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 A woman answered and she looked a little shocked. When she asked us what church we were from she was even more shocked when she found out we were Mormons. Turns out she is from Idaho, and that she was a Mormon herself.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0We must’ve had a shocked look on our faces as well because she started singing Book of Mormon Stories to us. She looked us in the eyes and said \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcyou can’t fake that can you\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122, it made us all laugh. Then we were able to meet her 2 daughters who are not members!! Can we say MIRACLE!!\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d<\/i><\/p>\n We can inspire our members to exercise \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153Power and Authority\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d linked with our mantel as Representatives of Jesus Christ:<\/p>\n \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153We had an investigator who had been struggling with quitting smoking. We had prayed and fasted for her, but she didn’t believe she could do it until the end of this month. When we told her she could do it now, she became upset with us.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 She had unexpectedly gone out of town the Sunday before Christmas and wasn’t expected to get back till after the New Year. We got a phone call from her on Christmas telling us she was on her way back. We met with her the next day and brought over a member who had also quit smoking. The spirit was so strong as the member told her \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcwhy wait? You can quit smoking now.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122 Then she reached out her hand and asked for her lighter. Our investigator gave her the lighter and then said, \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcwait the Holy Spirit told me I need to do something.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 She reached in her purse and gave her the last cigarette, and she broke it in four!!! We were so proud of her. She told us. \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcIt’s over, I know it is. Jesus took the cigarettes from me.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122 As we left she threw her ash tray away. When her neighbors asked her for cigarettes she told them \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u02dcI don’t have any, I quit smoking. I’m done. Jesus took it from me.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122 This Sunday she was baptized and confirmed.\u00c3\u201a\u00c2\u00a0 After she came up out of the water while she was still in the baptismal font she prayed and thanked our Heavenly Father. She has so much faith. She told us she had waited 34 years to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost and now she had it.\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u009d<\/i><\/p>\n The Apostle Paul taught that \u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u0153Power and Authority doesn\u00c3\u00a2\u00c2\u20ac\u00c2\u2122t only come in what we say or proclaim, but by the Spirit we invoke:<\/p>\n “For our gospel became not unto you in word only, <\/i>but also in power<\/i><\/b>, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.” (1 Thessalonians 1:5)<\/i><\/p>\n <\/i>The Lord will continue to “honour” us with “Power and Authority” as we remain worthy to be entrusted with it:<\/p>\n “Eli the priest was relieved of his calling when he permitted wickedness in the house of the Lord. The Lord said, ‘For them that honour me I will honour.’ The great… \u00c2\u00a0power and authority<\/b> with which we have been entrusted must be exercised by those authorized to do so who have proven themselves worthy to do so. Only in this manner will our acts be sealed by the Holy Spirit of Promise and thus be honored by the Lord.” (President James E. Faust, General Conference, April 2001)<\/p>\n