Dear
Missionaries,
Next
week, President and Sister Richardson will have “Meet the President” meetings
with all of you. Tuesday, July 1
st will be Stuart and Palm Beach
Zones at the Stuart Chapel at 10:00 AM. Then the same day at 2:00 PM will be
the Coral Springs and Fort Lauderdale Zones at the Fort Lauderdale Chapel.
Wednesday at 10:00 AM will be the Miami Beach and Hialeah Zones at the Miami
Lakes Chapel. Thursday will be Miami and Homestead Zones at the Killian Chapel.
They are looking forward to meeting all of you. Next week you will write
President Richardson at
presidentrichardson@establishingzion.com.
He needs of course to hear from everyone! I have bragged about you to him how
amazing you are and obedient you are! Obedient to schedule (we don’t even sleep
in) and obedient to rules (we don’t even watch the World Cup at members homes)
because we love the Lord and our Mission.
What
a wonderful experience we had at the Temple on Friday. The Temple was full of
the Spirit and I pray that every one of you had questions answered and
revelation received. Now that we have recommitted ourselves in serving, let’s
remember the promise we made that is sealed in the Temple to serve with “all
our heart, might, mind, and strength”.
I
wanted to take a moment and teach you a little concerning the “keys” of the
Priesthood and the importance of following them. In “Guide to the Scriptures”,
the keys are defined:
“Keys
are the rights of presidency, or the power given to man by God to direct,
control, and govern God’s priesthood on earth. Priesthood holders called to
positions of presidency receive keys from those in authority over them.
Priesthood holders use the priesthood only within the limits outlined by those
who hold the keys. The President of the Church holds all priesthood keys”.
(Guide to the Scriptures)
President
Faust taught us the “doctrine, principle, and application” of those keys:
“I
speak of keys other than those of metal. The keys I speak of never rust. These
are the keys of life and salvation in the kingdom of God. The Prophet Joseph
Smith said, ‘I will give you a key that will never rust, if you will stay with
the majority of the Twelve Apostles, and the records of the Church, you will
never be led astray.’... Why are these spiritual keys so important? These
spiritual keys hold ‘the right to enjoy the blessing of communication with the
heavens, and the privilege and authority to administer in the ordinances of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, to preach the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by
immersion for the remission of sins.’ Keys of the ministering of angels are the
right of the Aaronic Priesthood. The higher Melchizedek Priesthood ‘holdeth the
key of the mysteries of the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God.’ To
be efficacious and valid, every act in the Church must be performed under the
authority of the keys at the appropriate time and place, and in the proper
manner and order. The authority and power to direct all of the labors of the
kingdom of God on earth constitute the keys of the priesthood. Those who
possess them have the right to preside over and direct the affairs of the
Church in their jurisdiction... Why is it so necessary to follow those who have
the keys of the priesthood? That principle has guided this church and its
people since the beginning, and it is a principle of revelation. Among the
members of the Church have been the living oracles of God, who have held the keys
to direct this holy work. Without prophets, seers, and revelators, the Church
and the kingdom of God cannot grow and prosper... Great temporal and spiritual
strength flows from following those who have the keys of the kingdom of God in
our time. Personal strength and power result from obedience to eternal
principles taught by the living legates of the Lord.” (President James E.
Faust, General Conference, October 1994)
Elder
McConkie taught us that those presiding keys come directly from God:
“We
need not fear for the future. This is the Lord’s work; it is his kingdom; and
he governs its affairs as he chooses. The keys, having been committed to man on
earth, are now vested in those of his own choosing... And as the Lord lives,
and as Christ is true, and as truth will prevail, I testify that this work
shall roll forward until it fills the whole earth, and until the knowledge of
God covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.” (Elder Bruce R. McConkie,
General Conference, April 1983)
God
also promises us that those keys will always be here to bless those who follow
them, and that there will always be someone possessing them:
“For
I have given him the keys of the mysteries, and the revelations which are
sealed, until I shall appoint unto them another in his stead.” (D&C 28:7)
When
Sister Anderson and I were called as Mission President, we were initially
interviewed by Elder L. Tom Perry, an apostle with keys to do so. Then we were
interviewed and called by President Henry B. Eyring, a member of the First
Presidency who has the keys to call a Mission President. I was then set apart
by Elder D. Todd Christofferson, also an Apostle who has the keys to bestow the
keys I have had the last 3 years. On Friday, June 27th, those keys
will transfer to President Richardson who received the keys to be the President
of the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission, the same way I received them. What a
great blessing to know that these keys will continue in this area for the
benefit of all of you. To bless and direct all of you to greater levels you
have never been before. We know President and Sister Richardson, we love them,
we have felt their mantel, and we sustain them as I know you will.
Following
the keys helps us implement and magnify those things we have been trained on:
“A
miracle that we saw this week was right after zone training. We went to harvest
excited to apply the things we were trained on. We said a specific prayer to
find a YSA age person that would accept all of our invitations and for a family
that we could pass to the other missionaries in that area. We knock the first
door and a YSA age guy opens the door. He let us come in and share the harvest
blessing with him and he felt the spirit. We invited him to act and he accepted
all of our invitations. The third house we knocked on we prayed with a family
from El Salvador. We invited them to act and they accepted all our invitations
too! Then to finish off the harvest we found a Hatian family that accepted all
our invitations to pass to the other missionaries. The Lord truly blessed us
with miracles because we exercised our faith!”
Following
the keys brings them from “finding” to “Baptism”:
“Miracle
Transfer Day, and I was transferred to my new area. My companion and I
got home and we immediately set out to harvest since we needed all 8 blessings
by the end of the day. We [went to an area and] picked a road.
We said a prayer to ask God to send us to a miracle who would be
baptized. In my entire mission I have never met anyone on transfer day
who was baptized. We walked down the street and were able to leave
amazing blessings with people, one of which was a lady from Cuba! She
loved the prayer we left with her and said she would think about baptism.
That Sunday, she came to church with her friend. We stopped by that
Friday and invited her and her friend to baptism. She told us she'd never
been baptized before and if it would bring her closer to Christ, she would do
it. She came to church again. As we taught her she was so willing
to change her life to prepare to be baptized, she quit smoking and coffee in a
day! The next Friday we had her interview and she passed! She was
baptized last Sunday!”
Following
the keys will invoke the Spirit, even through doors:
“The member was running late so we decided to take advantage of the few
minutes we had and went right to knocking some nearby doors. The second
door we knocked, a man spoke with us through the door saying that he could not
open the door because he was blind. We did not believe it and testified
that Christ sent us to bless his home, but he insisted and told us that his
heart was open to receive our blessing, so we believed him. Midway during
the prayer, he stepped out and told us that he felt our love and sincerity and
knew he could trust us. He knew we were sent from God. He
immediately accepted baptism and we started teaching him the day after. I
learned from this the importance not wasting the Lord's time. Even if we
only have one minute, we can change someone's life.”
Sister
Anderson and I look forward to the same feelings of Alma and Ammon when they
reunited after 14 years of being separated (thankfully it won’t be that long).
When we reunite with each of you we will feel these same emotions:
“And
now it came to pass that as Alma was journeying from the land of Gideon ...,
behold, to his astonishment, he met with the sons of Mosiah journeying towards
the land of Zarahemla... Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time
the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to
see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren
in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for
they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures
diligently, that they might know the word of God... But this is not all; they
had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit
of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught
with power and authority of God.” (Alma 17:1-3)
“Therefore,
let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy
is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in
the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and
of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I
cannot say the smallest part which I feel.” (Alma 26:16)
As
Alma blessed the people in Gideon, may I borrow his words as I bless you:
“And
now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be
entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things;
being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever
things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks
unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive... And see that ye have faith,
hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works... And may the
Lord bless you, and keep your garments spotless, that ye may at last be brought
to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and the holy prophets who have been
ever since the world began, having your garments spotless even as their
garments are spotless, in the kingdom of heaven to go no more out... And now my
beloved brethren, I have spoken these words unto you according to the Spirit
which testifieth in me; and my soul doth exceedingly rejoice, because of the
exceeding diligence and heed which ye have given unto my word... And now, may
the peace of God rest upon you, and upon your houses and lands... and all that
you possess ... according to your faith and good works, from this time
forth and forever. And thus I have spoken. Amen.” (Alma 7:23-24)
When
Jacob bid farewell to his people (Jacob 7:27), Joseph Smith used a unique
French word that expressed many emotions, “adieu”. In Joseph Smith time, adieu
meant “a farewell; an expression of kind wishes at the parting of friends,
meaning that I commend you to God”.
Missionaries,
my “eternal friends”, May God’s greatest blessing be bestowed upon each
of you as I commend you to God until we meet again. Missionaries, adieu!!!
Missionaries, Let us be resolute to achieve 175 Baptisms !!! One more week to accomplish our
vision! We need 200 dates and 200 I@S. All must contribute! You are
Amazing!!! You are Incredible!!! You are Wonderful!!! And you are in the
“Exciting Legendary 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!!! “Missionaries, follow the keys!!!”
President Don E. Anderson
