Dear Missionaries,
We have some exciting things happening in this mission.
After interviewing all of you, I could feel the excitement from you as we
prepare for a Prophet of God to visit this Mission to dedicate the Florida Fort
Lauderdale Temple. What an exciting and a historic time we have to be
privileged to participate in this amazing blessing. We also have the month of
March to “Prepare for the Prophets” as General Conference is just around the
corner. For those that have not witnessed General Conference in the Mission field,
prepare for the greatest revelatory event in your life. For those who have
experienced it, it gets better every time.
Last week I taught the importance to sanctify yourself
and to eliminate the worldly distractions that can diminish our success. Our
responsibility is tremendous and our trust from God is certain as we focus on
our purpose:
"When you were set apart by priesthood authority,
you received the right and privilege to represent the Lord. You received a
ministerial certificate that verifies that authority to the world... Along with
your authority comes a responsibility to live worthy of your calling. As the
Lord’s representative, you are to be “an example of the believers” (1
Timothy 4:12). Strive to live according to God’s commandments and keep the
covenants you made in the temple; know the scriptures; be courteous, on time,
and dependable; follow missionary standards of conduct, dress, and grooming;
love the people with whom you serve and work. Honor Christ’s name by your
actions." (PMG p. 4)
We are "an example to the believers", those that
look to us for hope and direction towards Christ. That example and
responsibility is not only to our investigators, but also to our members and
fellow missionaries. We are watched by all and everyone is anxious to see how
we act and how we respond. Our members know that we are a hard working and
obedient mission; if they perceive anything that is out of character of the
reputation and culture of this mission, they call me with concern immediately.
You missionaries should be just as concerned and anxious to protect the
integrity of your mission by correcting issues of obedience immediately. When
Alma counseled with his son Corianton, he didn't beat around the bush and
ignore the problem, he counseled with boldness and love immediately. He helped
Corianton know the why of obedience by teaching wonderful doctrine; then
admonished his concern for the Church because of his son's actions:
"Suffer not yourself to be led away by any vain or
foolish thing; suffer not the devil to lead away your heart again after those
wicked harlots. Behold, O my son, how great iniquity ye brought upon the
Zoramites; for when they saw your conduct they would not believe in my
words." (Alma 39:11)
Corianton repented and Alma helped save his mission.
Corianton later went out and had great success with his companions (Alma 43:1).
We cannot risk the integrity and reputation of this Gospel, Church, or Mission
because of our actions or actions of others. We must cherish and protect this
reputation. We must emulate the example of our Savior and embrace the question
"What would Jesus Do?” We must embrace the attributes of Christ we study
in chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel and his example in the scriptures:
“And know ye that ye shall be judges of this people,
according to the judgment which I shall give unto you, which shall be just.
Therefore, what manner of men ought ye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I
am.” (3 Nephi 27:27)
Elder Ballard teaches us to be “pure” as we represent
Christ:
"Because we love the Lord, we should be spiritually
sensitive to moments when the powerful and important truths of the gospel can
be shared with others. Perhaps more importantly, however, we should seek at all
times to purify ourselves and to lead such worthy lives that the Light of
Christ emanates from us in all that we say and do. Our day-to-day lives should
stand as immutable witness of our faith in Christ. In the words of the Apostle
Paul, “Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in
charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity” (1 Tim. 4:12)." (M. Russell
Ballard, April 2000 General Conference)
Be the example of Jesus Christ as you “Open Your Mouth”:
“We were biking along the sidewalk, and there was a man
sitting at the bus stop. He waved at us, so we stopped to contact him. He
started to talk to us and express how he had been feeling so conflicted lately,
and he didn't like it. He explained to us about how he wasn't living how he
should, and he knew that, but he also wanted the forgiveness of sins. We
testified of repentance, and about the happiness that comes through
commandments. We invited him to repent through church and baptism, and then we
got his information before he had to catch the bus. Then, this girl got off the
bus, and we offered her a card. She accepted it, and we asked if we could say a
prayer. She accepted again, and then told us how she had been baptized in ‘The
Mormon Church’. We followed her to her house, and left a great prayer with her
and her less active mother. They both have great desires to come back to
church, and so we found a family to reactivate. Then, as we were walking across
the parking lot to the road, we saw a young mother sitting in a minivan with
her kids. We offered a prayer, and she immediately led us back to her
apartment. We prayed with her and her kids (two of whom are baptismal age) and
they readily accepted church and baptism. So we got a return appointment for a
time when the husband would be there too. As we were walking away, we thought
about what had just happened, and realized that by talking to the one man at
the bus stop, we were able to get a potential for the YSA area, a family to
reactivate, and another family desiring to be taught and baptized, with 4
baptismal age members. We immediately offered a prayer of gratitude.”
Be the example of Jesus Christ as we offer service:
“... coming off the freeway on a very busy street we saw
a man who had his hazard lights on. I quickly stopped and switched on our
hazard lights and said ‘oye chico necessita ayuda?’ he yelled out in Spanish
that he needed a jump and that His car just died in the middle of the street. I
was amazed at how many cars were just passing him by and honking at us. So we
scurried around the corner and parked our car in a residential street and ran
back to push his car to our car... he explained that his car was not holding a
charge and feared that he wouldn't even make it home because the jump that we
gave him probably wouldn't last. So we offered to follow him home. He seemed
shocked and said we didn't have to, and then we responded that God put us in
his path to get him home that night. He was taken back and said ok. Well, he
drove and we followed, then his car died... So we pull in front and hit the
hazard lights and ran back to push his car to our car. We jumped it again... he
got the car to the next light and it died again....this time we were prepared
and pulled into the gas station and then ran back and pushed. This happened
about 4-5 times before we were able to make it to his house that night. We got
to His house and this man hugged us with tears in His eyes. We extended a
baptismal invitation and He accepted to prepare. We will be going by to teach
him and his family tomorrow.”
Be the example of Jesus Christ and teach to their needs:
“Last week, [my companion] and I were teaching a family,
who have been to Church several times...the Mom has cut down on smoking to only
twice a day... We found out that she had two brothers that she was very close
to, and they both died in a car accident... it was obvious that we needed to
teach the plan of salvation and we felt prompted to focus on the spirit world,
and to focus on baptisms for the dead. We taught the lesson and it helped to
boost the desires of the Mom to be baptized so that she could do the work for
her brothers in the spirit world. We followed up with them last night about how
things have been going and the Mom proceeded to tell us about a dream she had.
Her Godmother from the Dominican Republic came and woke her up and told her
that they needed to go to church. She thought that was very strange, because
she had been a very ‘worldly’ person, but she got up and then they started on
their way to church. She started looking around the crowd, and she saw one of
her brothers there. Then she heard someone preaching, and she looked and saw
that the person preaching to the crowd was her other brother. He was talking
about everything we had taught her about the plan of salvation, and about the
spirit world, and about baptisms for the dead. She woke up from her dream, and
she decided to go and look at her facebook. She saw that her Godmother had
updated her status to a picture of her being baptized in the Church in the
Dominican Republic. My companion and I looked at her and asked ‘Well, Julie,
what does this mean for you?’ She looked back at us and then said ‘I know what
it means.’
Two years ago in March, we had the blessing of having over
100 baptisms for the first time in this Mission. I remember well the faith and
diligence the missionaries had to accomplish what had not been done before. We
worked hard and on Friday March 30th , 2012, we had 88
baptisms, 12 shy of our goal. We prayed and persevered with all our strength
and by the next day, Saturday March 31st, we did not get 12
baptisms; we got 18 baptisms with a total of 106. The accumulated unity of excitement
and gratitude was heard around the world. Then one year later, last
March, we achieved the most ever in this Mission with 168 baptisms with similar
faith and urgency. It seemed like everyone baptized, in fact, almost every area
did!!! This was done with 140 missionaries, not the 180 we have today.
I know we can do this in March 2014, baptize our goal of
175!!! This is traditionally our miracle month, ‘Miracle March’, but every
companionship will need to not only contribute, but to plan well and contribute
early for this to happen. We need the unity of every companionship in this
mission for this miracle to occur in order for the amplification of the power
of unity to bless all of us as Elder Holland states:
“It is when an entire mission is united by the strength
of every missionary’s integrity, every missionary’s personal covenant keeping,
that we move mountains. When there is such unity and power, an endowment from
heaven, coming to every individual in the mission, nothing can ‘stop the work
from progressing.’ It is in this way that the ‘truth of God will go forth
boldly, nobly, and independent.’ (Jeffery Holland, Jan.2012, Liahona)
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!!! “Be an
example to the believers”!!!
President Don
E. Anderson
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