October 10, 2016 The Essential Role of Member Missionary Work

Here's the updates.  No word from J, and almost nothing from C this week, but we did get to see H for a few minutes.  I can't remember if I talked about L yet, but she is this cute little old Native lady that missionaries had taught in the past, so we decided to contact her.  Two weeks ago, we taught her the Plan of Salvation, and she just loved it.  When we came back yesterday, she had a bunch of questions for us, and we were able to answer them as we taught the Restoration, and once again, she just loved it.  The Spirit was so strong in that lesson!  Elder Bone and I taught totally unified for the first time since we've been together!  She just grasped on to what we taught, and it all made sense to her.  She asked all the right questions, and seemed to truly find peace in the things we taught her.  It was an absolutely grand experience.

As for the rest of the week, lets just say my legs were soar some nights.  We did a lot of walking and knocking doors, and found almost no success doing so.  Having said this, I want to impress on your minds the essential role that member missionary work plays in the Church, but also that this should apply to all people, whether they be a member of this church or a member of any other Christian denomination or faith.  The Lord called His Apostles to spread the Gospel to all the world.  That commandment (for so it is) is a commandment for us today.  If anything, we should feel a greater need to keep this commandment now by sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ because we know that His Second Coming is just around the corner!  The time is almost upon us, and we have no time to waste!  We should desire to bless the lives of all we see right now, not postpone it till a stranger has to knock on their door and try to help them understand the importance of their message in a few brief seconds before the door is closed in their face.

As members of the LDS church, we have been reminded time and time again of this commandment, and yet many of us still don't get it.  This is not a new mandate.  It is ancient, and it's importance has been revealed to us again today in such clear terms as "It becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor".  This is what the Lord has told us at the start of this dispensation, nearly 180 years ago, and every prophet since has reminded us of it.  Just last week we were once again taught the importance of it in General Conference.  Now is the time that we need to repent of this!  Seek the will of the Lord as you strive to share your testimony with your friends!  Pray for the gift of discernment that you may know what to say and when to say it, to not miss your opportunity, but also being patient and not jumping the gun.  Pray for the faith to act on the promptings the Spirit will give you. 

I'm sure you can figure out what inspired this rant.  It is because we have spent so much time knocking doors only to find no success thus far.  The saddest thing is that half of the doors answer and tell us that they have friends in the church.  Many say they know almost nothing about the church but don't care to know more.  Why?  Because they have never been told just how important our message is.  Why?  Because their friends have never had the courage to share it with them.  Being an example is important, but it is not enough.  We must do more.  And when we do, we have been promised by prophets and apostles for the last who knows how many years, that we will feel a joy that cannot be compared, and we will rejoice with hundreds of thousands more of our dearest friends and family as "we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" and we will only be able to do it by "speaking the truth in love" (ephesians 4:13, 15).  Notice the action word there.  Let us all have the courage to open our mouths and speak.

Once this happens, we will no longer need to have missionaries use their precious time knocking the doors of strangers, most of which are not home or not interrested, but they will be spending all their time and efforts teaching the Word of God to our friends.  What a blessed day this will be, when the vision of the Prophets will be fulfilled!!  If you want a list of talks from the modern prophets and apostles concerning this subject, I can give you a very large one. 

Well, I once again will step off my soap box.  Hope you enjoyed the show!

And that about concludes my adventures this week.  Sorry it was all just my thoughts and feelings and not so much about the work we did.  I love you all dearly and I hope all is well!

Elder Carter V