Dear
Missionaries,
I
pray everyone is working well with the faith scriptures I assigned last week
and that we are increasing our expertise on teaching better “Doctrine,
Principle, and Application”. I am hearing some amazing stories from those that
are applying these principles.
On
occasion I will get communication from previous missionaries who share their
thoughts and gratitude on the things they learned in this amazing mission. I am
always impressed with the number one principle they come to understand is
critical for our highest potential of success. I wanted to share a few quotes
from their letters testifying of this principle:
“How grateful I am that our mission focused a lot on
obedience, because of it we as the Ft Lauderdale, Fl missionaries were able to
gain our own personal testimonies of the importance of obedience through
the miracles and blessings that took place while we served
faithfully. We were obedient because we loved the Lord and knew that
this was his work and not ours. Why go on a mission then if disobedience was
going to take place? It would just defeat our purpose as Representatives of
Christ!”
“One
of the first things that comes to mind when people ask how our mission was so
successful, is our culture of obedience. I don’t even have to hesitate when
giving that response. I learned quickly as I entered into the Fort Lauderdale
mission that there is a difference between being obedient, and being exactly
obedient, and that we were an exactly obedient mission. I learned that being
obedient brings blessings, but being exactly obedient brings miracles, which
was what we expected and what we prayed for as Fort Lauderdale missionaries.
With harvesting, and inviting people on the spot to be baptized, there is no
way that it could have worked without us personally exercising the highest
standard of obedience within our companionships. We had faith, and we knew that
if we were obedient that the Lord would lead us to those that were ready and
prepared not only to be taught, but to be baptized.”
“First
and foremost, obviously is that we were obedient. Especially after returning
home, I have not yet heard about another mission that kept the high standards
that we did and understood why. That desire to be exactly obedient was
something that had to be worked at every single day, if obedience came easy
then there wouldn't be as much growth or learning from God. That desire to be
obedient was cultivated out of our love for God and to strive to improve each
day. It was the foundation for every miracle experienced.”
I
have realized that those who don’t embrace obedience early, most likely get
caught in the dangerous and infectious sin of “murmuring”. Laman and Lemuel
were prime examples of how murmuring created a large burden on their family.
Because they did not seek God’s will to be obedient through God’s appointed
leaders, they succumbed to murmuring instead:
“And thus Laman and Lemuel … did murmur because they knew not the dealings of that God who had created them.” ( 1 Ne. 2:12 .)
Just
as it created a huge burden on their family and their people, disobedience and
murmuring will cause a tremendous negative weight on a companionship, District,
Zone, and Mission. It will stifle progress as well as the Spirit, and can slow
the work to a halt. Faithful people in the scriptures refused to lower
themselves to murmuring even during hard times because they knew God would bless
them for their obedience:
“Behold, [perhaps] ye are unsuccessful; … if so, we do not desire to murmur. …It mattereth not—we trust God will deliver us, notwithstanding the weakness of our armies.” (Alma 58:35, 37)
In the early days of the Church, Thomas B. Marsh shared his experience in
murmuring and how the Spirit was lost because of it:
“I must have lost the Spirit of the Lord out of my heart. … I became jealous of the Prophet … and overlooked everything that was right, and spent all my time in looking for the evil; … I thought I saw a beam in Brother Joseph’s eye, but it was nothing but a mote, and my own eye was filled with the beam; … I got mad and I wanted everybody else to be mad. I talked with Brother Brigham Young and Brother Heber C. Kimball, and I wanted them to be mad like myself; and I saw they were not mad, and I got madder still because they were not. Brother Brigham Young, with a cautious look, said, ‘Are you the leader of the Church, Brother Thomas?’ I answered ‘No.’ ‘Well then,’ said he, ‘why do you not let that alone?’” [Testimonies of the Divinity of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Its Leaders, comp. Joseph E. Cardon and Samuel O. Bennion, Independence, Mo.: Zion’s Printing and Publishing Co., 1930, pp. 103, 105.]
Being
obedient in contacting everyone brings power to “Doctrine, Principle, and
Application”:
“We
met this awesome guy this week. While we were harvesting we saw him sitting
outside his home. He had his head down, and his hands on his face. He looked
really sad. We felt like we needed to talk to him. We told him who we were, and
why we were there. He accepted the prayer, and after the prayer he felt the
spirit so strong. You could see it in his eyes. He said he felt relieved and
when we invited him to be baptized he said, ‘yes, why not!’ We have been
teaching him and he is very receptive to the spirit. Last night as we taught
him using ‘Doctrine, Principle, Application” we taught him through Christ he
can be cleansed from sin he said, ‘wow that's powerful!’ He is awesome and he
is excited for his baptism!”
Being
obedient to teach to the investigator’s needs and not with a recurring, cookie
cutter, or memorized lesson:
“I
was pumped to apply Doctrine-Principle-Application to our investigators. As
soon as we got back we went to go teach one of them. She has been unsure and
nervous about baptism for the last week because she's been baptized in other
churches before and she didn't have a good experience. She told herself ‘I'm
never going to get baptized in another church ever again.’ So we decided to
teach her about the Plan of Salvation. We taught her about how God's work and
his glory is our eternal life and immortality; then we talked about how our
work is to keep his commandments. We shared a scripture about baptism and asked
her what she needed to do. She answered ‘I need to repent and get baptized!’ We
said, ‘Exactly! Will you repent and be baptized this Sunday?’ Without
hesitation she said yes! It was so amazing to see how she was able to overcome
all doubts as we put our trust in God's perfect Doctrines!”
We
can even teach our members to commit using “Doctrine, Principle, and
Application”:
“We
once again discovered the strength of bringing members with us. How incredible!
A recent convert that just received her endowments on Saturday came out last
night, and while we were focusing our invitation to continue preparing for
baptism to our investigator, the member interrupted and said, ‘the spirit has
changed here, with just 2 of you baptized. Imagine how powerful it would be if
all 5 of you were. Baptism is the only door we can enter, there is no other
way. Will you be baptized too? (focusing on the others).’ One looked at her in
shock (we had invited him multiple other times) and said, ‘yeah, I'm going to
be baptized this Sunday.’ It was incredible. Another then looked at us and
said, ‘do I have to change what I wear?’ We responded, ‘You will have the gift
of the Holy Ghost, and God will let you know what you should do.’ She looked at
us for a minute, ‘You know, I was telling my mom after church today about long
skirts, I used to make fun of them but now they look so elegant to me.’
Elder
Maxwell teaches us concerning obedience and murmuring:
“Perhaps when we murmur we are unconsciously complaining over not being able to cut a special deal with the Lord. We want full blessings but without full obedience to the laws upon which those blessings are predicated. For instance, some murmurers seem to hope to reshape the Church to their liking by virtue of their murmuring. But why would one want to belong to a church that he could remake in his own image, when it is the Lord’s image that we should come to have in our countenances?... The doctrines are His, brothers and sisters, not ours. The power is His to delegate, not ours to manipulate!... nonmurmurers are permitted to see so much more... Elisha’s counsel, (2 Kgs. 6:14–17.) can help Church members today to silence our murmuring. Regardless of how things seem, or come to seem, in troubled times, “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” My brothers and sisters, if our lips are closed to murmuring, then our eyes can be opened.” (Elder Neil A. Maxwell, General Conference, October 1989)
As
we are obedient and go forth without murmuring, God will bless us with His
countenance. Others will see Christ in you!!!
Our resolution is to achieve 175 Baptisms !!! January can 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!!! Christ’s
countenance comes to those who are obedient without murmuring!!!
President Don E. Anderson
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