Dear Missionaries
What a wonderful Christmas Conference we had being with all of you. We enjoyed being filled physically, spiritually, and emotionally with the memorable activities we experienced. Many of you asked that I quote again the poem and legend of Sir Launfal. Sir Launfal was a Knight of King Arthur’s Round Table. As legend states, he began his quest to find the Holy Grail (the cup Christ drank from the “Last Supper”), and he came across an old leper man who was begging for alms. He reached in his pocket and threw him a coin out of duty and continued his journey. After many years of disappointments and failures to find the Holy Grail, Sir Launfal humbled, tarnished, older, and dejected returned home to Camelot. Arriving in the outskirts of town he finds the same old man begging for alms. This time he gets down off his horse, reaches in his saddlebags for his last crust of bread and a tin cup. He dips the cup in the stream and hands both it and the bread to the old man. Legend says that the old man turns into Christ and the tin cup turns into the Holy Grail, and Christ tells him:
“It’s not what we give but what we share;
For the gift without the giver is bare;
Who gives of himself with alms feeds three;
Himself, his hungry neighbor, and me .”
I know that this is the key to success as a missionary, one who gives of himself without thought of himself. I also shared the story of “It’s a Wonderful Life” and George Bailey. While struggling over the potential closing of his “Building and Loan” business he looks at a picture of his father on the wall, and underneath it reads “All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away”. I believe that is true and that is a principle in which God’s blessings are at their most generous. This motto seems to inspire him until the end of the movie where frustration causes him to want to take his life. His guardian angel “Clarence” saves his life and helps him realize how important he is. At the end of the movie his younger war hero brother makes a toast to George with what seems like hundreds of family and friends saying “To my big brother George, the richest man in town”.
These stories remind me of when the Savior was teaching the Apostles just before his crucifixion and taught:
“I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, 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 25:35-40)
I know God is blessing us as you Share yourself and his blessing as a Representative of our Savior:
“Yesterday as we walked into church, the Branch President handed us a note that was posted on the door from somebody. And here is what the note said. ‘A couple of your followers came to my house and recited a prayer for me. I asked for a little financial assistance from the Lord. This past week I've received extra hours at work. I just wanted to thank them for their words. Also to let everyone know that I believe it was their kind prayer and belief in God that gave me the help I needed.’ And I still have that note. And will always keep it. It is just an amazing assurance that God is there. He answers prayers when we pray in faith.”
God truly blesses those we share His love and Gospel with:
“We harvested and as we were harvesting we met this man. He let us in and after the prayer he told us that he had been talking about how he needed to feel closer to God and needed a prayer. That is when we knocked on his door. He accepted baptism and committed to church! God puts people in our paths! Then later that day we were going to follow up with a lady who we had blessed and she said ‘before you start I got to tell you guys. After you left last time I got a phone call with the best news that I have heard in years and I knew it was because of your prayer.’ God truly did answer our prayer on her behalf. He always does! It was amazing to see her so excited about how he had answered the prayer.”
God will trust us to find and bless others in need as we act and do:
“We decided that we would be creators of circumstance for 30 extra minutes we had. We went straight to the map and chose a street to harvest. Speedily, we got into the car and drove to that spot and knocked. A man let us in and asked us to pray for health and work. We said a sincere prayer and boldly testified that Christ had sent us to Him. Thomas accepted baptism right away. The following day he had already asked his boss for the next Sunday off; his boss (who He said never changes the work schedule) gave him Sundays off! His daughter, who has been looking for work, got 2 calls for interviews the day after we prayed for his family. Both Him and Her came to church 20 minutes early on Sunday and exclaimed that they have found the truth. What a miracle, WHAT A LIFE CHANGING MIRACLE! The Lord knows who he wants in His church, and if we had decided to just sit and wait that 30 minutes we probably would have missed out on that miracle."
God will bless those that we serve:
“The other day we were out harvesting. We passed this woman taking some stuff to the trash. We turned and offered to help. She seemed really startled and said she was fine. We left her with our card and continued on. Thirty minutes later she called us and said, ‘You know, there have been 2 people in my life who have ever offered to help me; some 10 year old kid and you. God must be telling me something by putting you in my path. This card is in Spanish which doesn't really help me. . . Can you come over and expain a little more?’ We have been teaching hr all week! She came to church and is preparing to be baptized this Sunday!”
President Monson teaches us the importance of “giving, not getting”:
“Our celebration of Christmas should be a reflection of the love and selflessness taught by the Savior. Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. We feel more kindly one to another. We reach out in love to help those less fortunate. Our hearts are softened. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than in things. To catch the real meaning of the spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ.” (President Thomas S. Monson, December 2013 Christmas Devotional)
A wise friend years ago told me “You give, and give, and give, and give until you have it all; until you are rich,”. I know “rich” in this case is being rich with the blessings of God as we give ourselves unselfishly in this great work we’ve have been called to.
It’s our prayer this Christmas season that we may take the example of the Savior Jesus Christ, and put others first as he told his Disciples in Mathew 25. Give of ourselves to others, until “we are rich”, and then we can become “the richest” person “in town “.
Let us get 175 Baptisms !!! December will be our miracle month!!!
You are Amazing!!! You are Incredible!!! You are Wonderful!!! And you are in the “Exciting Mission”!!! Remember our promise and that our names will be sealed in the Temple!!!
We Love you, We Pray For You, We can do this, We have work to do!!! Give, give, give, and give, until you have it all!!!
This is a link to pictures from the Mission Conference. Please forward to you families and wish them a Merry Christmas from Sister Anderson and I.
President Don E. Anderson
Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission
954-817-5256
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