Dear
Missionaries,
Sister
Anderson and I have started interviews and apartment inspections this last
week. We will be at Palm Beach Zone, Wellington and Belle Glade on Tuesday,
2-25-14; the rest of Stuart Zone, Boca Raton and Coral Springs on Wednesday
2-26-14; and the rest of Coral Springs Zone and Miami Beach Zone on 2-28-14. We
are excited to meet with you and feel your excitement for the great work we
have been called to. Please be prepared to have your Area Books current. We are
looking forward to see your spotless apartments and cars.
Interviews
have been wonderful for Sister Anderson and I. We love being with you and
basking in your Spirit. I am always amazed at the tremendous desires that
you radiate as you apply and implement new trainings and inspiration such as
what we received from Elder Kopischke. He is extremely impressed with you
missionaries and this mission. He was astonished at our internalization of our
purpose and our high level of obedience. Elder Kopischke wrote me saying
“... while there I learned a lot about faith, obedience, applying skills, and
spiritual self-reliance of your missionaries...I would be proud to have any one
of my children serve in your mission”.
While
interviewing half of the missionaries this last week, and reading your emails,
I realize many of you are trying to increase your level of diligence in all
facets of the work, especially as we prepare for the Temple and the great
blessings it will bring. You are introspecting on how to increase your faith,
obedience, revelation, and desire. Many of you have expressed to me that you
feel that perhaps we need to increase our level of worthiness and
sanctification with the Lord in order for this to happen. I truly believe that
this is absolutely essential before we can amplify and enhance all other
principles and attributes of Christ to ultimate levels. We must “Sanctify
ourselves”!!!
When Jesus offers the great Intercessory Prayer - He prays for His Apostles and all the Saints to “sanctify themselves” as He has sanctified Himself for our sakes, to keep us out of the worldly distractions, and evils that surround us. We sanctify ourselves because of truth and we help sanctify others as they embrace the truth:
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil... They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world... Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth...As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world... And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth... Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:15-21)
The
scriptures teach that we will not be able to work miracles in Christ’s name, or
receive an endowment of power unless we are obedient and sanctify ourselves:
“and
there was not any man who could do a miracle in the name of Jesus save he were
cleansed every whit from his iniquity” (3Nephi 8:1)
The
Lord has also declared : “And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify
yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have
spoken.”(D&C 43:16)
Elder
Richard G. Scott teaches:
“I have seen individuals encountering challenges who knew what to do when it
was beyond their own experience because they trusted in the Lord and knew that
He would guide them to solutions that were urgently required... The words
sanctify yourselves may appear puzzling. President Harold B. Lee once explained
that you can replace those words with the phrase “keep my commandments.” Read
that way, the counsel may seem clearer. (Teachings of the Presidents of the
Church, Harold B. Lee, 2000, p. 34)... One must be ever mentally and physically
clean and have purity of intent so that the Lord can inspire. One who is
obedient to His commandments is trusted of the Lord. That individual has access
to His inspiration to know what to do and, as needed, the divine power to do it...
For spirituality to grow stronger and more available, it must be planted in a
righteous environment. Haughtiness, pride, and conceit are like stony ground
that will never produce spiritual fruit.” (Elder Richard G. Scott, General
Conference April 2012)
Sanctify
yourselves to help others to the ordinances including the Temple:
“Such
a miracle week! So, first, we received a media referral from this lady and left
a message on her phone so she called back and set up a time for us to come see
her on Friday. When we got there we started talking and asked her how she came
to get on our website and why she wanted us to come over. She then told us her
amazing experience. About a month ago she had this dream one night of a light
cream colored building that was beautiful and had beautiful windows. She didn't
know where this building was until she was driving on the freeway and saw the
temple! And she immediately knew that was the building in her dream and she
kept thinking ‘Mormon.’ So she searched the temple out and found out about our
church and asked us to come over! She wanted to know about Smith and the Book
of Mormon and everything she could. And even invited herself to be baptized
saying ‘they said I had to do something before I could get baptized?’ This
Sunday she showed up for church early to meet people and get a good seat. The
temple is a missionary tool that God is preparing his children for!”
Sanctify
yourselves so that you may witness others sanctify themselves:
“She
looks at me and asked ‘Do you see my face? I have changed, I am happy and so is
my son and it's because when you and your companion knocked on my door
that Friday; I can never thank you enough.’ She began to tell us how she
received her patriarchal blessing and now she is preparing to go to the temple,
her 8 year old son told us how much the Gospel has changed his and his mom's
life as well... I was SO happy to hear the blessings that have come to them and
the pure joy they have felt from the gospel. The one thing that I pulled out
from this experience was the importance of following the promptings of the Holy
Ghost. Just like Elder Kopischke said that we HAVE to act on the promptings of
the spirit and to never doubt them. My companion and I spent almost a whole
month knocking this entire apartment complex and the reason why we kept going
back was because we knew that someone in that complex needed the gospel and as
hundreds of doors were shut and hundreds of no's we knew that we needed to be
there for this woman and her son.”
Sanctify
yourselves so you can witness the sanctification process of others accepting
the truth:
“It
all started on Sunday when my companion and I felt prompted to invite a member
to come out with us... we found him (new investigator) and he was living in a
halfway house, no relationship with God and could care less about keeping the
commandments... when we first saw him I didn’t see him progressing that much in
the Gospel, but we got a return appointment for Tuesday... As soon as he
opened his door on Tuesday I immediately pictured him in white. And it was so
easy to do so. As we taught with love, that night he was able to feel of God’s
love. He told us that he hadn't felt that for a really long time, and he was
ready to change his life around so he could get back to heaven... On Wednesday
we took a member out with us and again we had a power house lesson. We taught
the Word of Wisdom, and he LOVED it! He even went into the house and gave us
his box of cigarettes. And the member was incredible, supporting him every step
of the way... Then on Thursday after the amazing training from Elder Kopischke,
my companion and I talked about that we needed to HELP our investigators...
When we got to his house on Thursday evening... you could see the light was
gone from his eyes. We asked him what was wrong and he told us that he had
messed up and smoked 2 cigarettes that day. We changed our lesson plan and
decided to go through the steps of Repentance with him... we both felt prompted
to have him pray right then and there with us. And as we helped him with the
repentance process you could feel the spirit working on him. During his prayer,
he was basically pleading with God to forgive him. After his prayer, we sat
there for a few minutes. We finally asked how he felt and he said ‘I now know
the difference between happiness and pure joy!’ And the light was back in his
eyes! After church we asked if he believed he was at Christ's church and he
told us without a shadow of a doubt he KNEW he was. He said that for the first
time in his life, he had family and true friends. Sunday he had some
things come up and he took with him a bible, a Book of Mormon, a TON of
pass-a-long cards, and all the pamphlets we have left with him. As of today, he
no longer has his bible, (he gave it to someone who was depressed) his
pamphlets have all been given away, and yesterday and today he asked for more
pass-a-long cards, because he has given them all out! He is already doing
missionary work and is sharing the love that he has felt these past week with
everyone that he meets. [He was baptized yesterday]”
Missionaries,
sanctify yourselves and cast off all distractions that would keep you from
finding and “HELPING” God’s children come to Christ; yield your hearts to God:
“Nevertheless they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility, and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ, unto the filling their souls with joy and consolation, yea, even to the purifying and the sanctification of their hearts, which sanctification cometh because of their yielding their hearts unto God.” (Helaman 3:35)
I know, as Elder Holland teaches, that we need to be ready, worthy, and strong to bring souls to our Savior, “for the Lord will do wonders”:
“[Missionaries], you will learn, if you have not already, that in frightening, even perilous moments, your faith and your [authority] will demand the very best of you and the best you can call down from heaven... all [missionaries] must be instruments in the hand of God, and to be so, you must, as Joshua said, “sanctify yourselves.” You must be ready and worthy to act... In an even more serious kind of spiritual warfare... the day may come—indeed, I am certain will come—when in an unexpected circumstance or a time of critical need, lightning will strike, so to speak, and the future will be in your hands. Be ready when that day comes. Be strong. Always be clean... I bear witness of this work, of the power we have been given to direct it, and of the need to be worthy in administering it... I testify that the call in every age—and especially our age—is Joshua’s call: ‘Sanctify yourselves: for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.’(Joshua 3:5)” (Elder Jeffery R. Holland, General Conference October 2000)
Our resolution is to achieve 175 Baptisms !!! March can be our miracle month!!! Dates
are lower than they have been in years! We
need 200 dates and 200 I@S this week. All must contribute!
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, Elders and
Sisters, We can do this!!! We have work to do!!! Sanctify Yourselves!!!
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