Week 33 In Fort Lauderdale....

First off 2 requests that will need some Facebook snooping I need you to find/ask S** C******* for her address, she sent me a letter a while ago, but I lost her address and have not replied. Then I want you to hunt down Elder C****'s email for me, I want to know what it's like on the "west coast" (the people here literally call it that, I used to think California when they would say that) (Elder C**** is serving in the West Coast of Florida)

So this week was an interesting week full of weird circumstances and unusual things taking place. But somehow we are still here! A missionary once said, "Every Sunday I don't know how we are going to make it through church, but every Sunday we do." I used to think of church as relaxing, easy, and I remember all the talks being wonderful (soothing, sleep inducing). Now as a missionary church is the MOST FREAKING STRESSFUL moments of my life. Because it's uncontrollable! As a missionary during the week we control the content and amount of information that we give to investigators, not in a deceptive or sneaky way, but we teach them what they need to know and we teach them to their desires, and especially what the spirit prompts us too. We basically teach our investigators what they can handle and what they need to know so they can take another step forward then we start again.

But then there's church.

Church is uncontrollable. You don't know who will be there, what they will be talking about, what strange and complex doctrines that long time members will share. So it makes it VERY stressful! Like this week I about fell out of my chair when a member started talking about how we have a heavenly mother and that it is our duty to live good here to so that we ourselves can become Gods. All of that is true, but it is confusing and is hard for members with strong testimonies to understand sometimes, let alone a person that we haven't even had a chance to teach the Plan of Salvation. It adds a few obstacles when members throw stuff like that around!

But we always survive.

Somehow the work still progresses and people still get baptized. People feel the spirit at church and that is what converts them and helps them gain a testimony. Most of the time it's not the doctrine or the people. It's the Spirit. That is what truly matters and makes a difference

 This week was an interesting week full of energy and movement. We really helped excite a lot of members and used them in different ways. We started a recent convert Family Home Evening at a recent converts home that will happen every week so that they are all there helping and encouraging each other to succeed in the church and fellow shipping one another, it also helps them in their preparations for the temple. We also had a member this week that REALLY wanted to knock doors with us so we did, we took him Harvesting and it was really cool, he was able to bear testimony of the spirit and help them recognize it.

This week was interesting in comparison to last, we had a plethora of progressing investigators last week and very few new ones, but this week we and an increase in New Investigators, but none that were progressing or had desires to progress.

This week in my studies I focused on using Preach My Gospel and the Book of Mormon together instead of 30 min reading and then 30 min of studying, I decided to use my Book of Mormon time to search for examples of the things I was studying in Preach My Gospel and it amazed me how no matter where in the Book of Mormon I was there seemed to always be some sort of example in the chapters that I was reading. 

That is what I learned this week! Love you guys!

STAY STRONG PUSH ON!!

ELDER PARK!!

Letter From The President, May 12, 2014....

Dear Missionaries.

What a tremendous blessing we have now that the Temple has been dedicated and established to bless the lives of our members, those that we teach, and us as missionaries. When the Kirtland Temple was dedicated, the blessing given by Joseph Smith included:

 “That their hearts may be softened when thy servants shall go out from thy house, O Jehovah, to bear testimony of thy name; that their prejudices may give way before the truth, and thy people may obtain favor in the sight of all;... That all the ends of the earth may know that we, thy servants, have heard thy voice, and that thou hast sent us;” (D&C 109:56-57)


I know God will do the same for us as we embrace obedience and infuse it with faith as I have talked about the last couple of weeks. Along with our desire to increase our obedience and faith, we need to help increase the understanding of the Atonement with all we see. I love how we invoke the blessings of the Atonement from our initial approach with harvesting.

·         “We are Representatives of Jesus Christ” – Declaring who we are and we have His power and authority to bring others to the Atonement.

·         “He has sent us to your home (or to you)” – The Atonement is for all people.

·         “To leave His peace and blessing” – The Atonement can bless all people’s lives and bring them peace.

·         “What do you need from Jesus Christ?” – The Atonement covers all infirmities: “And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Alma 7:12).

·         “How do you feel?” – The Spirit will help bring them to the Atonement.

The influence of the Atonement is evident in just a few short minutes, sometimes even seconds. Part of the evidence, when they feel the influence of the Atonement, is when they may be reluctant in the invitation to the blessing, to after the blessing, when the Spirit softens and pierces their hearts and they feel the peace and hope that only the Atonement can give:

“And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?” (Alma 5:26)

We begin helping them recognize what they are experiencing and help their progression to Christ. I know we are internalizing our “Purpose” more as each person we find feels and understands  the principles of the Atonement of Jesus Christ as we: “Invite others to come unto Christ, by helping them receive the restored Gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, Repentance...”

Then, as they feel, understand and embrace what the Atonement is, we help them to receive the ordinances that are associated with the Atonement: “Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End”. “Enduring to the End” being the ordinances of the Temple. I believe our mission internalizes our “Purpose” because of our ability to help them see, feel, experience, and understand it with our very first contact.

I know it is not easy; I know it is not always “riding downhill”; I know we will have difficulties trying to bring souls to the Atonement of Christ, and it will require great effort from our part. Elder Holland teaches us that Salvation is not easy:

“Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?... You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary... I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price... For that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign March 2001)

They are praying for us to find them and bring them access to the Atonement:

“We had the most miraculous experience harvesting. We saw a young woman with her head down through her kitchen window. She invited us in to pray for her, a young single mom struggling to find a job. After the prayer (before we even said anything!) she said, ‘I feel so good. I know God sent you to me. I was in my kitchen so sad, and I prayed to God. Then you knocked on my door and I feel so happy now!’ She will be baptized on the 18th!!”

As we declare our purpose and who we represent, God will confirm that power and authority to them that we can help them to the Atonement:

“At the beginning of this week we went to see our investigator, with the plan of following up on his commitment to keep the Word of Wisdom. When we got there it was evident that he was still struggling with it. My companion and I immediately began to teach doctrine, but he really wasn't getting it. After several minutes a question came to my mind. I asked him ‘...  who are we?’ and he responded with, ‘ Some great friends that are trying to help me out. And missionaries too I guess.’ Then I saw where the spirit was going with the question I had asked. I responded with ‘Yes we are all those things. But we're also something else,  we are Representatives of Jesus Christ.’ My awesome companion jumped in and testified to him that we were called by God to stand in Christ's place. I then told him that when we ask him to do something, it is because Jesus Christ wants him to do that thing. I then told him that Christ wanted him to keep the Word of wisdom. And he said in a very firm voice, ‘It's Done!’  We asked if he believed what we had said and he responded that he knew we were telling the truth. He said ‘ I understand now, and I will stop smoking. It's done.’”

God will lead us to those who will recognize the truth and embrace the Atonement:

“On Monday, we decided on what place we wanted to go to harvest. As we arrived at the place, we decided on a street, and then started to lock up our bikes so that we could start to harvest. I felt the impression that we needed to walk down the entire street too, I told my companion about it, so we started walking. As we walked down the street, we did not see anyone that we could contact, but we knew that for some reason, we needed to be on that other street. At the very end of the street we were walking down, there was a guy sitting out on his front porch smoking a cigarette. The walk down the street took a solid 2 minutes, and he was watching us the entire time. It felt a little awkward, but we were supposed to be there! We contacted him after walking down the entire street towards him. We went inside and blessed him and his family, and they were very receptive. When we came back to teach them for the first time the next day, they said ‘We've been thinking about that baptism, and we've decided that we want to do it!’ We were soo excited. On Saturday, it was their 14 year old daughter’s  Birthday, so we bought cake and ice cream and then had a ‘birthday party’ chapel tour at the church with the Father and daughter. They loved it. While on the chapel tour, the mom called the Father because they were supposed to be at their house for the daughter’s birthday. The Father’s responded ‘We'll be there in a little bit-we're visiting the new church that we're going to join.’”

Remember that the Atonement is for our benefit too, perhaps even more so as Elder Holland teaches:

“The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life... I bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to the captive and open the prison doors to them that are bound. I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Ensign March 2001)

Missionaries, “Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway!!!”

Let us be resolute to achieve 175 Baptisms !!! May is now our Vision month! We need 200 dates and 200 I@S on the 18^th. 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 have been sealed in the Temple!!!

We Love you, We Pray For You, Elders and Sisters, We can do this!!! We have work to do!!! “That all the ends of the earth may know that we, thy servants, have heard thy voice, and that thou hast sent us!!!”

President Don E. Anderson

Week 32 In Fort Lauderdale....

Well this was a CRAZY week, full of frantic and confusing days! This week because of the temple dedication, there was no sacrament meeting to bring investigators to so we had to invite them to sacrament on the 11th! that was weird, but with out sacrament, that means that it was going to be difficult to get any baptisms this week because there couldn't be any investigators at the chapel Sunday. But the Lord saw fit that miracles should happen. Terek a 14-year-old boy that has come to church consistently for about 2-months was able to finally get his mom to come to the church so that he could be baptized on Wednesday. We have been trying to talk with the mom for FOREVER! but she always said "I will call you when I am ready" and she finally decided she was ready! But the miracles don't stop there, while in comp. study we receive a cal from and ETERN-igator that we were witnesses to his wedding a week ago, he calls us normally asking for favors and what not, but this time it was different. Apparently the marriage situation wasn't going to well and the night before they had separated, he couldn't sleep so he turned on the radio to listen to opera and classical music and low and behold he says an opera about the church comes on he says the music and the message touched him, and he took it as a sign that he needed to be baptized... that day... in fact he said "ahorita" which in Spanish is right now (to most of the Latin world excluding Cubans and Puerto Ricans) and so we planned the baptism, called the bishop and got his approval and made it happen. The service was very spiritual, just Armando, Our ward mission leader, our district leader and his companion and the two of us. It was amazing to see this man finally take the step that allowed him to start a new life. It wasn't till later that we found out that what he had listened to on the radio was the play "The Book of Mormon"... but even though it was an apostate musical it was enough to cause him to realize that he needed to begin a new life, and it was a testimony to me that the Lord's work will not be halted and he will push it forward no matter by what means.

And then it comes to the actual dedication! we went to 2 of the 3 sessions, and it was an incredible experience, President Uchtdorf came and Elder Christofferson was there it was really cool. I am going to send home the white hankie its got the temple embroidered on it! It is a different feel here now to know that there is a new and dedicated temple here in south Florida, it was really interesting to hear first hand stories from members here about traveling as a family to SALT LAKE for  there family sealing's how crazy!

And BOY is it getting HOT AND MUGGY!!! There is an incredible need for a couple bandanna's and a new pair of shades, the dollar store ones died this week! I actually wrung my shirt out Friday night! but EVERYBODY gives us water even people that don't want to talk to us will give us water.

Oh! Our names got sealed in the temple box! the Box that they put in the "cornerstone" and the cornerstone ceremony has my name and signature on it! To be remembered with the Temple til the end of time! how cool!

Well its been a crazy week! 2 baptism on weekdays that normally never happens!

Anyway I love you

STAY STRONG, PUSH ON!!

ELDER PARK!

Letter From The President, May 4, 2014....

Dear Missionaries.

Mothers Day is next week, Sunday, the 11^th of May. You will have permission to call home that day with a 30 minute time limit. You may use Skype if it is not an inconvenience to members. If you have parents that live apart, then you have 20 minutes each with them. Please organize this appropriately with your family.

What a tremendous weekend we had with the Cultural Celebration and the Temple Dedication. South Florida has been praying for decades for this moment and we have had the privilege to experience this great blessing ourselves. You all were inspiring in the celebration and I know your families are proud of you. They can still see it on LDS.org.  I know the Temple will springboard amazing opportunities for all areas of the Mission. We are so excited for additional miracles to be poured out upon these wonderful people of South Florida. Now is the time to increase the focus on those who will be blessed from the Temple.

We had a great MLC with the Mission Leaders concerning how we as a mission can increase our faith. I know the Zone Leaders will share these revelatory insights with you on Tuesday. I shared with them what Elder Holland told me in his visit here, “President Anderson, this Mission is legendary”. It made me think though that legendary is something potentially from the past, and we need to get back to the legendary mission we know we can become.

I interviewed a husband and wife on Saturday before their baptism and they shared with me how they prayed for help from God and 20 minutes later, 2 missionaries came to the door. What a testimony of not only the faith of our missionaries, but also the faith of our non-member friends who the Lord is putting into our paths. Increasing our faith in Jesus Christ will also increase our investigators faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus Christ is essential to all things as President Benson taught:

“The fundamental principle of our religion is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why is it expedient that we center our confidence, our hope, and our trust in one solitary figure? Why is faith in Him so necessary to peace of mind in this life and hope in the world to come? …Only Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to provide that hope, that confidence, and that strength to overcome the world and rise above our human failings. …Faith in Him is more than mere acknowledgment that He lives. It is more than professing belief… Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him. As God, He has infinite power, intelligence, and love. There is no human problem beyond His capacity to solve. Because He descended below all things (see D&C 122:8), He knows how to help us rise above our daily difficulties” (President Ezra Taft Benson, Oct. 1983, 5, 7; or Ensign, Nov. 1983, 6, 8).

Increasing faith in God also requires our trusting him. One is not without the other. Faith and trust in God and in His Son will prepare us for anything. Elder Oaks has also taught the importance of this Doctrine:

“Faith must include trust. … When we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have trust in him. We must trust him enough that we are content to accept his will, knowing that he knows what is best for us… The exercise of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is always subject to the order of heaven, to the goodness and will and wisdom and timing of the Lord. That is why we cannot have true faith in the Lord without also having complete trust in the Lord’s will and in the Lord’s timing. When we have that kind of faith and trust in the Lord, we have true security in our lives... Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ prepares you for whatever life brings. This kind of faith prepares you to deal with life’s opportunities—to take advantage of those that are received and to persist through the disappointments of those that are lost” (Dallin H. Oaks “Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Ensign, May 1994, 99–100).

Then as this faith and trust grows, conversion takes place as President Hinckley has taught:

“In the process of conversion, the investigator of the Church hears a little. He may read a little. He does not, he cannot comprehend the wonder of it all. But if he is earnest in his search, if he is willing to get on his knees and pray about it, the Spirit touches his heart, perhaps ever so lightly. It points him in the right direction. He sees a little of what he has never seen before. And with faith, whether it be recognized or not, he takes a few guarded steps. Then another, brighter vista opens before him” (President Gordon B. Hinckley, Apr. 2002, 84; or Ensign, May 2002, 72).

Increase our faith and their faith, to help them make commitments, like coming to Church:

“One miracle that came was Sunday morning as we went to round up our investigator who has been having word of wisdom problems. We stopped at his home around an hour before church, and he and his wife answer the door saying they are both coming to church, so applying our training we said a prayer with them.  Well, half hour later, they both show up to church, and they loved the service.  The members, though barely able to speak Spanish, showed so much love for the two of them.  After church, we showed them the baptismal font and talked about baptism of water and of fire.  We brought up how they felt during church and reminded them of how they felt at the temple, and then we invited both of them to be baptized on the 11th of May. She looked at Enrique with a look of hope and said, ‘yes’.”

Increase our faith and their faith as the Lord compensates from our efforts and diligence:

“We did a very thorough round up and prayed like crazy. Well, the people that we planned for didn't come, but the Lord compensated. One of our beautiful members brought their non-member mother. She cried throughout Sacrament Meeting and when we went to follow up with her that evening, she didn't understand why she had been crying so much. We quickly told her what that feeling was that she was feeling. Then we explained that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. We explained to her how when we are baptized we are promised to have the Spirit always, if we keep the commandments. We invited her to be baptized, and she said ‘yes... I'm going to do it’... We invited her to pray. She did and the thing that touched my heart the most was that at the end we looked up, and her daughter was just crying and smiling at us and then back at her mother. She told us that she has been waiting for this for so long.”

Increase our faith and their faith with that “one more door” and “one more contact”:

“After church we needed to go and harvest. We prayed and God directed us to a street. We were so excited to meet new people. We knocked doors we prayed with people and all was great!! That’s when our time for harvesting was over and we looked at each other and said wait... one last door. We knocked on this house and this lady answers with a baby boy in her arms. We introduce ourselves and tell her we are representatives of Jesus Christ. She then stated ‘no way where did you guys come from?’ We told her that god directed us there to her house through his Holy Spirit. She then began to cry. She cried and cried and said, ‘This is going to sound funny but guys I was actually just barely in the back room praying with my baby boy asking God to get me outta the situation I’m in. Tell him that I needed his help!’ She continued telling us how... things just aren't going well in her life. We were able to testify to her letting her know that God loves her and he will cause things to get better as she does her part. She agreed and we were able to say a prayer with her. She cried and thanked us. She knew god answered her prayer through us. SHE KNEW THAT WITHOUT A DOUBT! We invited her to accept that help from god by following Christ example and by being baptized. She said without even any hesitation, ‘Yes I will!!!!’ God is real. God hears our Prayers. God knows us! God compensates our efforts!!”

Elders and Sisters, now is the time to unleash the greater power that God has blessed us with. The greater power of magnifying our faith that God will help us bring these souls to him. Urgency is our “middle name” and we must magnify our responsibility, faith and purpose by finding, teaching, and inviting all who God places in our path. Let us do what has not been done this week!!! President Packard teaches it best:

“Since baptism is essential there must be an urgent concern to carry the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people … We accept the responsibility to preach the gospel to every person on earth. And if the question is asked... You mean you are out to convert the entire world?’ the answer is, ‘Yes. We will try to reach every living soul.’ Some who measure that challenge quickly say, ‘Why that’s impossible! It cannot be done!’ To that we simply say, ‘Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway.’” (Boyd K. Packer Ensign, November 1975, p. 97)

Missionaries, “Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway!!!”

Let us be resolute to achieve 175 Baptisms !!! May is now our Vision month! We need 200 dates and 200 I@S on the 11^th. 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 have been sealed in the Temple this very week!!!

We Love you, We Pray For You, Elders and Sisters, We can do this!!! We have work to do!!! “Perhaps, but we shall do it anyway!!!”

President Don E. Anderson

Week 31 In Fort Lauderdale....

This week was good we baptized Cedric! My first baptism in Richmond Hieghts! Richmond Hieghts is an area that was created for Black Veterans and their families. Most of the homes here are "family homes" that have been in the family for 3 generations and there are 3 more generations living in it. They all have a "church home" they all have a father of uncle that is a pastor at the church and they are all "comfortable and actively participate" in their church. They love to accept prayers and talk in tongues to us after. Except Cedric! He suffered a TERRIBLE accident in 07 and "nobody from none a d's church's came" so he really felt at home and felt the truth when he came to church.

This week we also met some SUPER crazy cuban people like... crazy.

and we worked, sweat, worked and sweat.

 This week was a week of some serious soul searching. We (Elder T***** and I) had so many people that were showing such signs of progress right up until the day of their interviews. And it really was difficult and stressful for the both of us. We were checking our faith, our obedience, and our diligence. But really we just kept coming back to the President's email last week, Something Great is Stirring and I feel that it truly is and that is why things were happening the way they were, because the Lord has a better, in fact the best plan already about to take place.

This week in my studies I learned:

From the first few chapters of Alma that I have been studying thisweek that we must change how we teach to match the people that we are teaching. In chapter 5 as Alma is teaching the people of Zarahemla he asks alot of questions, helping the remember the things that they already knew and helping them reorganize the church and restrengthen their faith. And then when Alma teaches the people of Gideon (ch. 7) he starts by praising them (v.3-6) and helping them feel good about what thy have already done, but then tells them about the sacrifice of Christ (v.11-13) just teaching them about the Atonement increased their desires and right while their desires were high he invited them to be baptized (v.14). And then he went to Ammonihah and all the nice and easy tactics didn't work so he had to throw out the serious cries to repentance and tell them of destruction and mayhem that would come if they didn't change their ways. I just remember thinking as I was studying how amazing it was to see those changes in his teaching it helps me realize that not everyone will be touched by the same experience.

Spiritual Experience:

As Elder T***** and I were headed to our appointment, Elder T***** mentioned that he felt drawn to 106th ave as we passed and said that we ought to go back and Harvest there after our appointment, we had picked a different spot the night before but as he talked about the spot I too felt that we needed to be there. So after our lesson we returned. As we were there we OYMed a few people and left a few blessings, the entire time the spirit was very high, but nobody accepted baptism, church, or a return appointment. But it felt good. I still am not sure why we were there, but the spirit was high and it was rewarding to act on a spiritual prompting, and I pray that something good will come out of that.

I wish there was more to write about this week. It was rough and yet rewarding, It's REALLY starting to get hot here. RIDICULOUSLY!

Anyway love you take care and KEEP STAYIN SCRONG AND PUSHIN ON!

E. Park

Letter From The President, April 28, 2014....

Dear Missionaries,

We will be distributing all of the dedication tickets during your District Trainings this week. Remember your white handkerchiefs and make sure you come more than 30 minutes early to the dedication. You may go to both the 9:00 AM and the 12:00 Noon Sessions if you wish. We will also be distributing the Cultural Celebration Tickets at the same time from your Zone Leaders. For the Cultural Celebration, we will meet at the D. Taft Arena at Nova Southwest University at 5:30 PM, Saturday May 3^rd. Address is : 3301 College Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314. We will have a boxed dinner there for you, and we will orientate our role in the event.  We will have tickets for the North end of the arena, opposite from where the General Authorities will sit (South side), and we will discuss how we will begin descending down the East and West mezzanine sides during the 2^nd verse of “Faith In Every Footstep”. We will remain standing along the East and West sides of the arena and sing with the Youth, “High on the Mountain Top”. We will expect a speedy departure when the event is over. Elders please wear long sleeve white shirts and conservative ties; jackets won’t be needed. Sisters, please wear your Sunday best, a bright colored blouse would be preferable.

We are uniquely blessed with a wonderful opportunity to bless the lives of others through the wonderful work being done by the youth of our mission as part of the cultural celebration.  The Fort Lauderdale Temple dedication marks the first time that the Church is broadcasting a cultural celebration live and on the internet.    This means that anyone with a computer or device with internet access can watch and enjoy the cultural celebration next Saturday. Make sure your families and investigators have an opportunity to watch it.

Next Saturday, May 3, 2014 at 7:00 pm EST (be thoughtful of the time difference), the cultural celebration will be broadcast live on the internet at:

www.lds.org/broadcasts/languages/florida-cultural-celebration/2014/04.  

Mothers Day is in two weeks, Sunday, the 11^th of May. You will have permission to call home that day with a 30 minute time limit. You may use Skype if it is not an inconvenience to members. If you have parents that live apart, then you have 20 minutes each with them. Please organize this appropriately with your family.

Sister Anderson and I had the privilege this past weekend to be instructed by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, Elder Soares, Elder Kopischke, and Elder Pino. Elder Holland told us to tell you how much he loves you, is proud of you, is praying for you daily, and is grateful for your diligence, sacrifice and obedience. In discussing obedience, Elder Holland has told Sister Anderson and me before:

“I frequently say to missionaries in the field, ―You make or break your mission every morning of your life. You tell me how those morning hours go from 6:30 a.m. until you are on the street in your mission, whatever time it is; you tell me how those hours go, and I will tell you how your day will go, I will tell you how your month will go, I will tell you how your year will go and how your mission and your life will go in effect... In the mission field, obedience to divine purposes of the gospel and mission service—in effect the rules of the mission and the rules of the gospel—is the first law of everything. It is the first law of heaven; it is the first law of the temple; it is the first law of a mission; it is the first law of a marriage; it is the first law of everything.” (Mission President Seminar, June 2011)

In General Conference, I heard the principle of obedience taught over and over, in fact, I don’t think I have heard a General Conference where the scripture, “If ye love me, keep my commandment” (John 14:15) is not quoted. It occurred to me that as we “act” and “do”, God will bless us for our obedience in being proactive with this great work. As we “act”, others will be inspired to “act” too. I know that as we “act” on obedience, God will bless us with the “powers of heaven”. Elder Perry teaches us that obedience will “rescue” us, and that it allows us to tap into God’s power:

“Too often we think of obedience as the passive and thoughtless following of the orders or dictates of a higher authority. Actually, at its best, obedience is an emblem of our faith in the wisdom and power of the highest authority, even God. When Abraham demonstrated his unwavering faithfulness and obedience to God, even when commanded to sacrifice his son, God rescued him. Similarly, when we demonstrate our faithfulness through obedience, God will ultimately rescue us... Those who rely solely on themselves and follow only their own desires and self-inclinations are so limited when compared to those who follow God and tap into His insight, power, and gifts. It has been said that someone who is all wrapped up in himself or herself makes a very small package. Strong, proactive obedience is anything but weak or passive. It is the means by which we declare our faith in God and qualify ourselves to receive the powers of heaven. Obedience is a choice. It is a choice between our own limited knowledge and power and God’s unlimited wisdom and omnipotence.” (Elder L. Tom Perry, General Conference, April 2014)

Elder Hales taught us what “Savior like obedience” is:

“Spiritually mature obedience is ‘the Savior’s obedience.’ It is motivated by true love for Heavenly Father and His Son. When we willingly obey, as our Savior did, we cherish the words of our Heavenly Father: ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we look forward to hearing, upon entering our Heavenly Father’s presence, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant: … enter … into the joy of thy lord.’... Using our agency to obey means choosing to ‘do what is right [and letting] the consequence follow.’ It requires self-mastery and brings confidence, eternal happiness, and a sense of fulfillment to us and, by example, to those around us; and it always includes a deep personal commitment to sustain priesthood leaders and follow their teachings and counsel... Our love of the Savior is the key to Savior-like obedience. As we strive to be obedient in today’s world, we declare our love and respect for all of Heavenly Father’s children. Yet it is impossible for this love for others to modify God’s commandments, which were given for our good! Obedience makes us progressively stronger, capable of faithfully enduring tests and trials in the future. Obedience in Gethsemane prepared the Savior to obey and endure to the end on Golgotha.” (Elder Robert D. Hales, General Conference, April 2014)

No matter how busy we may be, obedience will always produce the miracles:

“We weren't going to transfers, but we still knew miracles could happen. We made sure, even with other things going on, that we were going to get 8 blessings by Wednesday. We went to the temple, then harvested, and then we had a baptism! This family was unsure if they should be baptized, but as we took them to the open house the Friday before, they had an enormous confirmation that they needed to be baptized. And it happened on transfer day! It went amazingly and it was for our obedience and making sure we still had 8 blessings that it happened. And the best part to top it off, the wife turned to me as we went to say good bye and said, ‘You're coming back in a year for our sealing, right?’”

Being obedient with our pure testimony of The Book of Mormon will always pierce their hearts:

“We went and taught [our investigator] and then we were walking out of the lesson and we heard a neighbor yell to us and asked us if we had any of our church literature that she could have. Of course we went over there and gave her a Book Of Mormon and taught her a short lesson about it. She was really excited to learn and to read about it. The next day we went by and she said that it wasn't for her and gave us the book back. She was scared because it was different from the Bible. We testified to her for a few minutes and then she asked ‘can I actually have that book back?’ It was amazing and the next day she had read 10 chapters already and was talking about how she couldn't wait to get baptized! She has continued to read and is excepting everything we teach her. When she gets tired of reading she gets on Mormon.org and talks with missionaries online! She is so elect. She came to stake conference yesterday and loved it and says that she has finally found the faith in which she belongs! She will be getting baptized this Sunday!!”

Even our investigators will recognize our obedience and trust us because of it:

“We had just finished harvesting for the day, and were riding back to be picked up at our apartment by our members. We noticed a man sitting down, smoking a cigarette behind his car. We stopped and offered to leave a blessing with him. He seemed very depressed and down, but he agreed. When we asked what he would like us to include in the prayer, the only thing he wanted was for God to help him get rid of cigarettes in his life. It was my turn to say the prayer, but before I started, he said, ‘Thanks for being obedient.’ I was confused at what he meant by that, but I said the prayer, we recognized the spirit, and invited him to be baptized. He agreed to a date on the 11th (mother's day). Before we left, I asked him why he had said that before. He told me that we had been obedient to the spirit by coming to pray with him. He said that he believed that many times, the things we think we do by ourselves are actually prompted by the spirit, and we would not have stopped to pray with him if we hadn't been obedient and willing to listen.”

A departing missionary wrote me concerning the attitude we sometimes have concerning obedience:

“I was really nervous when I came out on my mission that I wouldn't like the mission president or that the rules would be too hard to follow.  Well, the rules were hard to follow at first but you proved me wrong!  I learned the problem wasn't the rules it was my attitude towards obedience and I learned so much more along the way.  Being a Florida Fort Lauderdale missionary has changed my life forever.  I'm going to keep the change going!”

Elder Holland taught the importance of obedience in our discipleship:

“’If ye love me, keep my commandments,’(John 14:15) Jesus said. So we have neighbors to bless, children to protect, the poor to lift up, and the truth to defend. We have wrongs to make right, truths to share, and good to do. In short, we have a life of devoted discipleship to give in demonstrating our love of the Lord. We can’t quit and we can’t go back. After an encounter with the living Son of the living God, nothing is ever again to be as it was before. The Crucifixion, Atonement, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ mark the beginning of a Christian life, not the end of it. It was this truth, this reality, that allowed a handful of Galilean fishermen-turned-again-Apostles without ‘a single synagogue or sword’ to leave those nets a second time and go on to shape the history of the world in which we now live.” (Jeffrey R. Holland, General Conference October 2012)

Let us be resolute to achieve 175 Baptisms !!! May is now our Vision month! Prepare for the dedication of the Temple! We need 200 dates and 200 I@S on the 11^th (We’re getting closer). 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 this very week!!!

We Love you, We Pray For You, Elders and Sisters, We can do this!!! We have work to do!!! “truth to defend... truth to share!!!”

President Don E. Anderson

Week 30 In Fort Lauderdale....

This week has been a week of miracles and disappointments, but that is the life of a missionary and I am learning to deal with that and to accept it. This week Frank and Giselle (solid progressing gators for this week) went to the temple with us for a tour together, they loved it1 we taught them again Thursday and they sucked up the doctrine we gave them and then we set them up with a baptismal interview for Friday. Elder Taylor and I could not make it to the interview because we were going up to the temple with another investigator, but we arranged for the district leader to go and do it. Unfortunately, even after all of the positivity and happiness they had felt, Frank, in his interview shut down and decided that this is not what he wanted to do. I really felt disappointed because he and his wife had been one of the coolest miracles of my mission, the fact that they were willing to take time off work and drive us all up to the temple, and the fact that they kept EVERY commitment that we left them, and now wants nothing to do with it. But, like Elder Kopishke said 2 months ago, "you can't take the blame for failure, nor the credit for success" and that has been a source of strength for me these last couple of days. I know that the Lord does things in his own way and time that we just need to accept it and do our best and move forward.

Speaking of Elder Kopishke, this week he, Elder Quintin L. Cook, the Presiding Bishop, and Elder Thompson all came and we had a mission conference that was amazing! We talked not only on the importance of the Easter season but also on the importance of the First Vision and the Plan of Salvation. A great part of this conference was seeing the miracle of seeing the spirit answer every bodies questions. It was a huge builder of my testimony to see how perfect the Spirit is at planning and coordination, EVERYONE can come to a meeting like that or any church meeting with a heart felt question and the Spirit will answer it as you seek for your answer! whether it be by the words that are said, a different interpretation of a story or just he feelings that you feel as you listen. I saw my question answered right before my eyes in a combination of all three of those things and even more. It was a truly inspired event. And then we had a special Stake Conference because while all that Priesthood authority and leadership was down here in the FFLM why not? And so that's what they did and guess who spoke to the Miami South Stake that I am in? Elder Kopishke. I truly think that this man is amazing. He speaks in such a way that the scriptures and words of the prophet fall open in front of your eyes making clear perfect sense leaving you empowered and excited! I truly recommend not only  finding and reading something of his on the internet but trying to find him speaking, he has changed the way that I read the scriptures. But while he was at the stake conference he spoke about obviously the Easter holiday, but he spoke about the tasks that Christ gave as part of his Resurrection.

1. Being the command to preach the gospel, he gave this task the DAY OF HIS RESURRECTION and Elder Kopishke talked about how important that event was to the spreading of the Gospel, with out the resurrection there would be no reason to preach the gospel because there would be the lack of hope and the promise of a new life.
2. Feed my sheep or retention work. What point is there to spread the gospel if you can't help people continue and stay strong to the promises that they made.
3. Baptisms for the dead and other proxy work. through revelation in the Doctrine and Covenants we know that during Christ's time in the Spirit World he was teaching those that needed the Gospel in that life. And we need to give them the opportunity to accept that and move forward in the gospel

After the Stake conference we went to a member's house for dinner... it was a "Passover meal" she is a converted Jew and as a way of remembering their families heritage they have a Passover meal that includes, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, salt water, Wine (grape juice) and other things all of which have symbolic meaning and whatnot and there were a lot of rituals, but it was interesting to see the symbolism that even that ancient and long since fulfilled ritual had that pointed to the Savior, but the Jewish people can't see that!

1. How are you doing?

I am fine I have NEVER before felt that I have been a bigger part of anything, I am learning a lot about who I really am and more importantly who I want to become. I suffer from disappointments, but that is expected in a work that involves other people's agency and I am learning to accept that in my life. I have become a new person. I am not the same, I will not be the same tomorrow, and I will NEVER go back this life is for my progression and to prepare me for the next life. I WANT YOU ALL TO KNOW THAT I AM HAPPY! I love this place and the people I really do!

2. Will you do me a big favor. I want you to walk around your house, inside and out and take some pictures of it for me. Even some from inside looking out your window. It would be nice if you were in some of them, too. I just would like to see where and what you are living in.

This is just silly, I will do it but I want you to know that it is FINE. I am going to send you a few pictures next week and I will send you the thumb drive soon too. There will be plenty of pictures, the ones that matter are the pictures of recent converts dressed in white, The real memories that matter on a mission are the ones that get written in the Journal, or the spiritual experienced that get engraved on your heart. BUT there will be plenty of other pictures that add icing on the cake!

3. What is your favorite food that you have found you like down there, that you didn’t know about at home?

Baleadas, Maduros, tostones, Ropa Vieja, Curry Goat, TRES LECHES, ros con gris, and much much more. everytime there tends to be another

4. What do you love about the area that you are in? What is different than here at home?
 The people, specifically I love my Richmond Heights peeps and the comfortableness they have in who they are, you ride your bike through a neighborhood and the kids be axin (ask) "wanna trade rides?" they are the best! I also love the fact that there are 3 distinct people in my area that live in 3 different areas.
5. How far away from the beach are you? Do you ever get to see the water? Ocean? Waterways? Canals?
Yes and there will be pictures! I have seen all three in this area!

LOVE YOU ALL
STAY STRONG PUSH ON

ELDER PARK