Dear
Missionaries,
Zone
Conference will be November 19th through 22nd from 9:30
AM to 3:30 PM. They will be Tuesday November 19th- Homestead and
Miami Zones- Killian Chapel; Wednesday November 20th – Hialeah and
Miami Beach Zones – Miami Lakes Chapel; Thursday November 21st –
Fort Lauderdale and Coral Springs Zones- Ft. Laud. Chapel; Friday November 22nd
– Palm Beach and Stuart Zones – Stuart Chapel.
In
the Book of Mormon, Ammon was a great example of inviting and committing. Ammon
was well prepared to teach King Lamoni, and first and foremost he had the
Spirit to discern the King’s needs and desires:
“And
it came to pass that Ammon, being filled with the Spirit of God, therefore he
perceived the thoughts of the king.” (Alma 18:16)
Because
of that Spirit, it caused the King to trust in Ammon’s words and to be able to
believe:
“Now
Ammon being wise, yet harmless, he said unto Lamoni: Wilt thou hearken unto my
words, if I tell thee by what power I do these things? And this is the thing
that I desire of thee. And the king answered him, and said: Yea, I will believe
all thy words...” (Alma 18:22-23)
Then
Ammon was able to increase his ability to commit and testify of important
doctrines and scriptures:
“And
Ammon began to speak unto him with boldness...he began at the creation of the
world, and also the creation of Adam, and told him all the things concerning
the fall of man, and rehearsed and laid before him the records and the holy
scriptures of the people...But this is not all; for he expounded unto them the
plan of redemption, which was prepared from the foundation of the world; and he
also made known unto them concerning the coming of Christ, and all the works of
the Lord did he make known unto them.” (Alma 18:24,36,39)
Ammon
then could invite and commit the King to anything because of the Spirit and
preparation he possessed to teach and testify of the truth. The natural result
was the King’s strong desire to repent:
“And
it came to pass that after he had said all these things, and expounded them to
the king, that the king believed all his words... And he began to cry unto the
Lord, saying: O Lord, have mercy; according to thy abundant mercy which thou
hast had upon the people of Nephi, have upon me, and my people.” (Alma
18:40-41)
As
we invite and commit our investigators to keep any commandment, we are actually
inviting them to repent. As we witness their keeping the commitments, we are
also witnessing the evidence of repentance in their lives:
“Commitment is an essential part of repentance. It is
the act of obligating oneself to a course of action and then diligently
following through on that decision. When people are genuinely committed, they
have real intent, meaning that they fully intend to do what they have committed
to do. They make an unwavering and earnest decision to change. They become
devoted to Christ and dedicate themselves to His gospel. Keeping their commitment
is how they “truly manifest by their works that they have received of the
Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins” (D&C 20:37). When you
ask for commitments as part of your teaching, you are inviting the investigator
to repent.” (PMG p.195)
We
invite them to commit so that they can feel the Power of the Holy Ghost, which
in turn will lead them to Baptism and the Gift of the Holy Ghost. President
Joseph Fielding Smith teaches the importance of obeying commitments so that the
Holy Spirit would be revealed:
“The
world will not listen to the testimony of men who tell them that the Lord lives
and that he is able to reveal his will to man today. Those of the world cannot
advance nor learn the ways of the Lord nor walk in his paths because they do
not have the gift of the Holy Ghost. This was the path pointed out by Peter and
the apostles when the Spirit of the Lord rested upon them with great power to
the convincing of the hearts of the people who cried out, "Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" 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" (Acts 2:37-38).
This was the counsel given them, and inasmuch as they obeyed it, they were
entitled to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which would bring peace and
happiness, reveal to them their duties, and enable them to understand their
relationship to the Lord. (President Joseph Fielding Smith, General Conference,
October 1968)
Our
culture of commitment will bring others to Christ immediately:
“We
weren't able to get any of our investigators to come to church, but there was
this one guy who came we hadn’t met before. We talked to him for a little while
and found out that missionaries from Utah had been calling him and teaching him
over the phone for the past two months because he moves around so much. So
after a little while we invited him to be baptized and he paused for a minute
then said, Yeah, I want to be baptized. So we baptized him right then and
there! The really funny thing about it is that we received a referral for him 2
hours AFTER he was baptized.”
As
our investigators commit, they see the amazing blessings immediately:
“We
were harvesting on Wednesday, we walk up to a building and we both instantly
feel like we need to go to the top floor first. So we start off by meeting this
woman. We say a prayer with her and she said how it was a miracle; that we were
sent by God because she had just been happening to read a book about God when
we knocked. In the prayer she had asked for a job because she was practically
homeless living in a friend's house. She accepted a baptismal date right
there and that was it. But the biggest miracle was as we followed up the next
day, she filled us in on more details. She told us that God had given her a
financial blessing, also for the first time in 2 years she had a job interview,
and also she told us of how much she had been struggling. She hardly believed
there was a God anymore, and had been contemplating ways that she could take
her life. But all in that 24 hour time period, all of her problems were solved.
Even her suicidal thoughts had diminished. God had shown her His love. It was
so amazing to see the tears and gratitude in her eyes, not because of us, but
because of what she saw from God. That she now knew God was watching her.”
We
invite our investigators to commit, we follow up with testimony and doctrine:
“My
companion and I were riding our bikes and we had 20 minutes to meet our next
appointment. We decided that we had no time, and biked home to meet our member
ride. Right as we crossed the street, we see a man biking towards us. We
stopped him to give him a card, as he accepted the card he told us that he was
just saying a prayer to God asking if He was there and to give him a miracle.
We offered to return and bless his home, he accepted excitedly! The next day we
met him, blessed him, and invited him to be baptized. He accepted without
hesitation! We taught him a lesson and gave him the Book of Mormon. On
Saturday, after teaching him for a bit, we came to follow up on the Word of
Wisdom and teach about the Sabbath Day. As we invited him to stop drinking
coffee completely, he got a little defensive, ‘I know I need to stop drinking
coffee, I am slowing down day by day, because I don't want the headaches and I
will stop completely in five days’. We gave him 3 Nephi 18 to read and left. We
were blessed to have him at church, and during the sacrament, he was flipping
through the Book of Mormon and he said ‘this scripture stood out to me’. He
showed me 3 Nephi 18:31 (repent and be numbered my people) He then said, ‘If
I want to be numbered, I have to stop the coffee now!’ He wants to be
baptized next week!!!”
I know that teaching the incredible blessings that come to those that commit, the peace that will come to their lives, and the increased relationship with God, will bring our nonmember friends to the waters of baptism in an accelerated way. Elder Scott teaches:
“Changing
a profoundly embedded pattern of life can be very difficult. Former friends can
ridicule, criticize, and even persecute. Persistent faith in the Savior and
obedience will see you through such hardships to greater blessings. The
scriptures illustrate how conviction and faith can overcome traditions in
conflict with God’s plan, bringing blessings to individuals, and even
generations of people. ... [a] dramatic example of discarding long-established
traditions is the change of warlike Lamanites into humble followers of Christ
willing to die before violating covenants made as members of His kingdom. I
encourage you who have already made correct cultural choices to help others to
do likewise. Teach them to recognize the long-term blessings of peace and
happiness that come from a decision to place Father in Heaven, His plan, and
His Son at the center of their priorities.” (Elder Richard G. Scott, General
Conference, April 1998)
Missionaries,
let us invite, so they will commit, and then follow up all the way to their
baptism:
“And
moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state
of those that keep the commandments [commitments] of God. For behold,
they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold
out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may
dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that
these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.” (Mosiah 2:41)
President Don E. Anderson
Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission
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