Dear Missionaries
While
interviewing with many of you missionaries this last week, I made mention of
the tremendous opportunity that we have to be a missionary this time of year.
In a five week period, we will experience three of the most celebrated
holidays, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. In pondering this, I have
realized that this is the most exciting time to be a missionary because of what
each holiday represents and signifies. We can magnify these holidays in how
they help fulfill our purpose as a missionary and ambassador of Christ.
Christmas of course will be the holiday that we celebrate the birth of Christ
by bringing souls to him. New Years is an opportunity we have to recommit ourselves
in the calling we have and to make resolutions, to improve ourselves so that we
may be better “Representatives of Christ”. Thanksgiving is a time that we show
our gratitude for the many blessings that God has given us.
Christ
was the perfect example of gratitude. When he fed the multitude of four
thousand with the few fishes and loaves of bread, he first gave thanks to
God:
“And
Jesus saith unto them, How many loaves have ye? And [the disciples] said,
Seven, and a few little fishes. And [Jesus] commanded the multitude to
sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves and the
fishes, and gave thanks, and brake them, and gave to his
disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.” (Matthew 15:34-36)
Immediately
after Christ showed his gratitude, the miracle occurred:
“And
they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the broken meat that was
left seven baskets full.” (Matthew 15:37)
I
love the fact that when we show gratitude, God will show forth miracles. I
believe there are many attributes of Christ that are required in conjunction
with gratitude. In fact, every attribute of Christ in chapter 6 of “Preach My
Gospel” overlaps gratitude. I invite all of you to commit to find the
association of gratitude with those attributes. Elder Oaks teaches that we
should be grateful even for what we learn in “hardships and adversities”:
"When we give thanks in all things, we see hardships and adversities
in the context of the purpose of life... We are meant to learn and grow through
opposition, through meeting our challenges, and through teaching others to do
the same... the Lord will not only consecrate our afflictions for our gain, but
He will use them to bless the lives of countless others." (Elder Dallin H.
Oaks, Ensign, May 2003)
President
Monson is a tremendous example of teaching us through word and deed the
importance of gratitude. He has coined the phrases “Think to Thank” and
“Attitude of Gratitude” and teaches us of its virtue:
“We
can lift ourselves and others as well when we refuse to remain in the realm of
negative thought and cultivate within our hearts an attitude of gratitude. If
ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place
among the noblest of virtues. Someone has said that “gratitude is not only the
greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.” (President Thomas S.
Monson, Ensign, General Conference, October 2010)
He
also teaches us that gratitude is a Celestial characteristic:
“A
grateful heart … comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for
His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. …
To live with gratitude ever in our hearts is to touch heaven” (President Thomas
S. Monson, General Conference, October 2010)
The
principle of gratitude is not an option, but a commandment from God:
“Thou
shalt thank the Lord thy God in all things.” (D&C 59:7)
Amulek
taught that we must show gratitude to God daily:
“…live
in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which [God] doth
bestow upon you.” (Alma 34:38)
Elder
Hales teaches us that gratitude is a divine principle and can sanctify us:
In
some quiet way, the expression and feelings of gratitude have a wonderful
cleansing or healing nature. Gratitude brings warmth to the giver and the
receiver alike... Gratitude expressed to our Heavenly Father in prayer for what
we have brings a calming peace—a peace which allows us to not canker our souls
for what we don’t have. Gratitude brings a peace that helps us overcome the
pain of adversity and failure. Gratitude on a daily basis means we express
appreciation for what we have now without qualification for what we had in the
past or desire in the future. A recognition of and appreciation for our gifts
and talents which have been given also allows us to acknowledge the need for
help and assistance from the gifts and talents possessed by others... Gratitude
is a divine principle...we express thankfulness for what happens, not only for
the good things in life but also for the opposition and challenges of life that
add to our experience and faith. We put our lives in His hands, realizing that
all that transpires will be for our experience... When in prayer we say, “Thy
will be done,” we are really expressing faith and gratitude and acknowledging
that we will accept whatever happens in our lives. ( Elder Robert D. Hales,
General Conference, April 1992)
Show
gratitude when we experience miracles as we open our mouths:
“We
were heading down a busy street when far in a distance we saw this man walking
towards us and we were riding towards him and you know that feeling you get.
Should I contact him or just go around him, maybe he thinks we're weird or
something. So before we passed him I stopped and talked to him. Well little did
I know that he would later come to our thanksgiving dinner at the church, and
come to church the next day to witness the sacrament and now has a baptismal
date for this next Sunday. I’m [grateful] that we really are led to those that
are seeking for his true Gospel.”
Show
gratitude when others are led to us to open our mouths:
“As
we were riding our bikes to an appointment, and on the way we passed a couple
sitting on a bench. They each had a beer in their hands and didn't look like
the type of contact with the most potential, because of the influence of
‘spirits’. Just as we were about to pass them by the women jumped to her feet
and said ‘wait stop, please say a prayer with us!’ So we, like good
missionaries stopped and asked her what it was that she would like us to prayer
for. She explained that she and her boyfriend were homeless and had nowhere to
go. She wanted God's help. She also explained that some time ago, two sister
missionaries had knocked on her door, when she was living at her mother’s home,
and had prayed with her and everything in her life had gotten better. She
wanted that same blessing now. So we shared a short but powerful prayer, and
invited her to come to church and to be baptized. She accepted without
hesitation. Right there we invited her to begin to repent by throwing away her
beer, which was about half full. Again without hesitation she literally threw
it to the ground. Yesterday they came to church and felt the Spirit, and as we
invited them to be baptized after the Sacrament meeting, they both accepted
without hesitation.”
Show
gratitude in opening our mouths, the miracles will follow:
“I
felt inspired to go see a man we had street contacted ... he opened the door,
and welcomed us right in, his wife and 3 girls had just moved here this week
from Venezuela! They are an incredible family, already with light in their
eyes. We invited them to church...and they walked there the next day!
President, I thought that was the miracle this week. But it didn't end there.
As Sacrament meeting started, 2 people we had street contacted/
OYMd (we have a goal to OYM absolutely EVERYONE after Zone
Conference!) that morning before church, walked in at different times. One
of them was doing her laundry across the street, and ended up staying for
all 3 hours, and the other was an incredible woman we ran after while she was
crossing street. We scared her, but she came back to the curb with us and
although she was just returning from a night shift she came too. All 3 hours.
She had been getting mormon.org
messages on her phone, tried to block them, but it didn't work and they kept
coming. Taking it as a sign, she called her kids in Honduras and told them to
go to the Mormon Church because she liked their messages. She had stood at our
Church doors multiple times and would think ‘and if I went in there?’ Well, she
came too... After we gathered all 7 of them by the baptismal font (trying again
to implement what you had taught us), taught them about the baptismal covenant,
and invited them to be baptized. A couple members saw us and walked up to
listen, and I invited them to share their testimonies of baptism. The spirit
was immense and they all accepted baptism!”
President
McKay teaches us that gratitude is not just what we say, but it is what we do:
“Gratitude
is deeper than thanks. Thankfulness is the beginning of gratitude. Gratitude is
the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist merely of words.
Gratitude is shown in acts” (President David O. McKay, Improvement Era,
Nov. 1964, 914).
President
Uchtdorf teaches us to always be aware of those things to be grateful for and
the tremendous blessings that come to those who show gratitude:
“Brothers
and sisters, no matter our circumstances, no matter our challenges or trials,
there is something in each day to embrace and cherish. There is something in
each day that can bring gratitude and joy if only we will see and
appreciate it. Perhaps we should be looking less with our eyes and more
with our hearts. I love the quote: ‘One sees clearly only with the heart.
Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.’[Antonio de Saint-Exupery, The
Little Prince, 63] We are commanded ‘to give thanks in all things.’[D&C
59:7; Mosiah 26:39] So isn’t it better to see with our eyes and hearts
even the small things we can be thankful for, rather than magnifying
the negative in our current condition? The Lord has promised, ‘He who receiveth
all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious; and the things of this
earth shall be added unto him, even an hundred fold.’”[D&C 78:19],
(President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, General Conference, October 2012)
Let’s have a wonderful week, let’s have an “Attitude of
Gratitude” and be thankful for all of God’s blessings. I know the miracles come
before and after being grateful.
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!!! Gratitude will help
us achieve miracles!!!
President Don E. Anderson
Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission
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