Talk given 12/2010 member missionary work

President Gordon B. Hinckley said:
“So many of us look upon missionary work as simply tracting. Everyone who is familiar with this work knows there is a better way. That way is through the members of the Church. Whenever there is a member who introduces an investigator, there is an immediate support system. The member bears testimony of the truth of the work. He is anxious for the happiness of his investigator friend. He becomes excited as that friend makes progress in learning the gospel.”

This was the experience of my parents as they learned about our Church.
My dad grew up on a farm in Iowa with 11 brothers and sisters. He was anxious to get off the farm so in the late 50‘s when he turned 18 he enlisted in the Navy and hitch hiked to California to begin his service. While serving in the Navy, he was always anxious to get off the base when he could so when a friend invited him to attend church with him off the base--he was excited to go. My dad enjoys singing and he joined the choir in the ward he attended. I think his original motivation for attending the Mormon church was because he enjoyed singing, it was off the base, and he liked his friend, Al Sorenson. (there are always good things surrounded with the name Sorenson.)
My dad also says that he just had a good feeling when he attended the Mormon church. And he was eventually baptized.

My mom was a college student in Colorado when she was first introduced to the church. One winter break a friend who was LDS drove her to Salt Lake so she could catch a flight home to Portland. While in Salt Lake--Temple Square was brand new and so my mom’s friend took her there for a tour. My mom said she felt the Spirit, though she didn’t know at the time that is what was touching her heart. She went back to Colorado in January and toward the very beginning of the semester missionaries had a display set up on campus. My mom inquired about it. They began teaching her lessons in the student union but it was hard to in such a busy area so they had the rest of the lessons in a member’s home. Those members were the Peerson Family. This family played a significant role in fellowshipping my mom as she investigated the church and after her baptism.

President Hinckley goes on to say “The full-time missionaries may do the actual teaching, but the member, wherever possible, will back up that teaching with the offering of his home to carry on this missionary service. He will bear sincere testimony of the divinity of the work. He will be there to answer questions when the missionaries are not around. He will be a friend to the convert who is making a big and often difficult change...The process of bringing new people into the Church is not the responsibility alone of the missionaries.”

My first year in college I attended Ricks College in Idaho. I had 5 roommates in my apartment. One of my roommates, Kristin, was not a member of our church. She followed her best friend to Ricks-who was a member of our church. Kristin began registering for classes. At Ricks it was required to take religion classes. Kristin was not sure what to take so she innocently signed up for a Book of Mormon class for returned missionaries. Her first day of class, after listening to some discussion, she raised her hand and asked “Who is Nephi and Lehi?” If you can imagine all those recently returned missionaries just surrounded her and we had the Sister missionaries knocking on our apartment door the next day. After about a year, Kristin joined the church. Now she is still active, married in the temple, and has three beautiful children.

When I was living at home preparing to leave on my mission, the missionaries came to our home and invited us to participate in the set a date program. Not knowing what that was, they explained that we would choose a date and pray about having a first discussion in our home on that date. I chose my date and prayed about it. I decided that I wanted to share a first discussion with my neighbor across the street so I began praying for opportunities to share the gospel with her. She invited me over one evening to talk about my plans. I told her about my mission call and she asked what I would be doing on a mission. I told her I would be teaching people about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I told her that missionaries would be at my home next week and invited her to come listen to what I would be sharing with people in Singapore on my mission.
She said “I don’t know, I am very busy right now. We will see.” As I left I was really disappointed that my invitation wasn’t answered with an energetic “Yes, I would love to come!” I told the missionaries that I didn’t think my neighbor was going to come. They invited me to fast about it. I fasted that week. On the day of the discussion, the missionaries were sitting in my living room and I really didn’t think my neighbor would come over, but there was a knock at my door, and Linda had come. I was so excited! She listened to a first discussion, but she was not interested in reading the Book of Mormon or attending a church. After she walked home, I was still so excited about my experience. I felt so close to my heavenly Father. I felt that he heard and answered my fast and knew me on such an individual level. Sometimes sharing the gospel with others will not lead to baptism or even further interest, but I have a testimony that as we do our best, we will feel the love of our Heavenly Father in our lives and our personal relationship with Him will strengthen.

When I first moved here to Rapid City I was called as the Enrichment leader in Relief Society. We were in the 2nd ward, before the ward boundaries were re aligned. Bishop Scrub’s focus that year was missionary work. He wanted the Relief Society to put together a community fair and host it at our church building. I was put in charge of that. At the first meeting with the enrichment committee I still remember sitting there trying to keep up with all the different organizations that were being discussed, and feeling very overwhelmed. I felt so new to the area and didn’t even know how to get from my home to the post office--let alone where places like Habitat for Humanity or the Red Cross were located. I really didn’t even want to think about this assignment because it only created stress in my mind. But I had to do it, so a month before this community fair was supposed to happen I started praying about it. My prayers sounded something like Heavenly Father--this is what I have been asked to do. I don’t know what to do. I am feeling very overwhelmed. I really don’t want to do it and I am not sure where to go from here. What should I do?
After my prayer I would feel some direction--like make a list or call this person or look up something on the internet. When I began to feel overwhelmed again, I would take my frustrations to my Heavenly Father, and receive more small manageable steps to complete this assignment. The community fair turned out being successful. I am not sure if anyone from the community who was not a member of our church attended, but there were six people representing organizations in our community who were there who were not members of our church. They each met members of our church, spent time in our church building, and received a copy of the articles of faith. One received a copy of the Book of Mormon. Later, the director of the Red Cross needed help packaging food so he called our church asking for assistance. We had a great turn out of our members coming out to help and afterwards the director told me that they had never had such a positive experience working with another large group of people than with our church members.
Sometimes being asked or expected to be a member missionary can feel very overwhelming. When these feelings come into our life, I have learned that it is okay to kneel in prayer and say “Heavenly Father this is hard! I don’t know what to do.I don’t want to do what I have been asked to do. I need help.”
I have a testimony that he will guide you and help you one step at a time so the task feels manageable--and even exciting and you will feel blessings that come from your efforts to do the Lord’s will.

Next I want to touch on the gathering of Israel and how that relates to being a member missionary.

“The doctrine of the gathering stands at the very heart of the restored gospel.
We do not understand who we really are as a people, the covenants that God has made with us or the destiny that is ours until we gain a meaningful understanding of this doctrine.” Joseph Smith

An exerpt of the dedication of the Kirkland temple reads: May all the scattered remnants of Israel who have been driven to the ends of the earth come to a knowledge of the truth. Believe in the messiah and be redeemed from oppression and rejoice before thee. May they return to the holy temple of the Lord and the sacred covenants found there in.

“The gathering of Israel consists in believing and accepting and living in harmony will all that the Lord once offered his ancient chosen people. It consists of having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, of repenting, of being baptized, and receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and of keeping the commandments of God. It consists of believing the gospel, joining the church, and coming into the Kingdom.

It consists of receiving the Holy Priesthood, being endowed in holy places with power from on high. And receiving all the blessings of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob through the ordinance of celestial marriage. And it may also consist of assembling to an appointed place or land of worship.” Bruce R. McConkie

As I am learning more about what the gathering of Israel means I am realizing that assisting in helping people learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ and being baptized is only half of it. The next important step is making temple covenants--including being sealed to family. Is that part of being a member missionary? Yes it does.
Growing up my dad never held a calling, that I can remember. But he was always a home teacher. He went every month. I have memories of every Christmas our dining room table was filled with red poinsettias that he would give his home teaching families through out the season. One family he home taught were not yet sealed in the temple. They had 6 young children. My dad would always bring me with him when he home taught so I could play with their girls. My dad felt they were good friends. Eventually this family was sealed in the temple. And I remember the father of this family getting up in fast and testimony meeting to share his testimony about his family’s experience being sealed and feeling so proud of my dad and relationship he had with this family--a relationship founded by a desire to love them and to just want to be their friend.

I want to go back to my friend Kristin and her experience being sealed in the temple. When Kristin was baptized, her parents were not happy. When she told them she was going to be sealed in the temple, they did not view her sealing as an actual marriage and refused to participate in any of the festivities surrounding her marriage. She was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on the day that a tornado hit Salt Lake. My roommates were in a car together driving to the Salt Lake Temple when traffic suddenly stopped and it got extremely stormy. Suddenly all of the windows in the car shattered and then the roof of the car was making a horrible noise--it sounded like it was going to rip off any second, but quickly the storm passed and police were trying to get people out of their cars and into a safe building. My friends were telling this officer that they needed to get to the temple for a sealing, but this officer wouldn’t hear of it. So as soon as he turn away from them, they ran toward the temple and got there in time for the sealing--which was still occurring because those who were in the temple had no idea of the storm happening outside.
These friends loved Kristin so much that they would be willing to run through dangerous weather to be with her because they wanted her to feel supported in this decision she was making. I am not asking any of us to endanger our lives, but to look at who we know, who we have relationships with, who we home teach or visit teach--have they been to the temple to make important covenants with Heavenly Father? Can Heavenly Father use me to help assist in these people receiving those covenants? If we don’t have answers to these questions, then pray about them. Joseph Smith said “After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel”. Surely Heavenly Father will answer our prayers as we desire to help him in this great work of gathering israel.

The greatest gift that I have received in my entire life is the gift of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the privilege of being sealed to my family. This gift was not given without sacrifice and endurance through trials. But how grateful I am for those people who blessed my life with their examples and testimony. One of my very favorite quotes was given by President Hunter at a Christmas devotional in 1994. He said
Christmas is a time for giving. Someone once said he couldn’t think of what to give for Christmas. The next day in the mail he received an anonymous list which read:
Give to your enemy forgiveness,
To your opponent tolerance,
To your friend your heart,
To all men charity, for the hands that help
are holier than lips that pray,
To every child a good example,
and to yourself—respect.
All of us need to follow the example of the Savior in giving these kinds of gifts. From Christina Rossetti we read: UAdd a Note
What can I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd
I would give Him a lamb,
If I were a Wise Man,
I would do my part,—
But what I can I give Him,
Give my heart.1
This Christmas, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again.
Christmas is a celebration, and there is no celebration that compares with the realization of its true meaning—with the sudden stirring of the heart that has extended itself unselfishly in the things that matter most.2

It is my prayer that this Christmas season we will think about what matters most and how we can include missionary work in those goals and desires that are deep within our hearts--that make up who we are.