Members Capturing the Vision

My mom is so awesome! She has worked really hard to earn a cruise trip with her company and now that she is leaving this weekend, she writes me, her missionary daughter, asking for tips on how to best share the gospel with those she meets in Florida. What an example!!  When I first read her email, I was super brain-blocked and gave her pointers that we missionaries use - unfortunately (for her :) she isn't a missionary and the ideas were of no use at all!
So after going home and thinking more about it, the thought came to me, "gee, maybe I should teach her the 4 steps my mission president has asked us to teach all the members of the church in the Oregon Eugene Mission to help further the missionary effort!" Yeah, maybe!

Let me proceed this 4 step process with the fact that President Young has been called of God to lead and guide the missionary work in this part of the world.  He has prayed and received this revelation (for that is truly what it is) so that the members might experience some of the joy and blessings that come with sharing the gospel with others.  With that said, the four steps are:

1. Pray
2. Faith
3. Talk
4. Invite

1. PRAY - we need to pray for a missionary opportunity - a chance to share the gospel
in some small way.  Growing up in Utah, the excuses always came to mind, "Everyone at school are members. All of my friends are members. Everyone in Utah is a member! There's nothing for me to do." FALSE! There is always work to do, we just need Heavenly Father's help in recognizing it - which is why we pray. See how that works? :)

2. FAITH - missionary work takes a lot of faith! We need the faith that Heavenly Father will actually provide those opportunities we're praying for.  We need to have faith that He will tell us what to say and how to act when those opportunities arise.

3. TALK - we need to OPEN our MOUTHS! As members, we at times have the
misconception that mentioning our church or activities is taboo. We are members of an amazing organization that helps us in every aspect of our lives and it is OK to talk about it - in fact, you probably should... :)  You can start out by changing your answer to the question "what did you do this weekend" from "oh, nothing " to "I went to church and had a really cool lesson about eternal families" Easy-peezy-lemon-squeezy!

4. INVITE - (this is my favorite part:) It is awesome to be an outstanding example andinvite others to enjoy! We have primary, scouts, activity days, mutual, relief society, service projects, family history, welfare programs, church sports, family night, etc.  The list truly is endless! We have to start inviting. We can talk all we want, but until we make some kind of an invitation, nothing will come of it.  Like I said, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an amazing organization that we should

I know that as you implement these 4 steps into your daily lives (and cruise ships ;) opportunities will come and you will be able to receive the blessings reserved for those willing to share.

Good Timber

As I've gotten older and especially as a missionary, I've come to find out more about how hard life can be.  I hear all the time (in various forms) the question,  "If God really loved me, why would He let this happen?"
I'm going to trust an apostle of the Lord to answered that one for you:

"How can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, 'Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then, let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy Joy!' "

-Neal A. Maxwell 

It is because of the love our Savior has for us and the sacrifice He made that we can take these experiences we have been given and turn them into opportunities of growth.  If we choose to use His Atonement, we truly can become more like Him.  What an amazing gift!  We have the chance to actually become like Jesus Christ!  He really will let us "come and dwell with Him and fully share His joy" IF we take that chance and turn our times of trial into times of change.


A few other missionaries have this poem on their walls and I really love how it encompasses the truth that hardship IS because God loves us and wants to help make us strong.  

GOOD TIMBER

By Douglas Malloch

The tree that never had to fight

For sun and sky and air and light,

But stood out in the open plain

And always got its share of rain,

Never became a forest king

But lived and died a scrubby thing.

The man who never had to toil

To gain and farm his patch of soil,

Who never had to win his share

Of sun and sky and light and air,

Never became a manly man

But lived and died as he began.

Good timber does not grow with ease:

The stronger wind, the stronger trees;

The further sky, the greater length;

The more the storm, the more the strength.

By sun and cold, by rain and snow,

In trees and men good timbers grow.

Where thickest lies the forest growth,

We find the patriarchs of both.

And they hold counsel with the stars

Whose broken branches show the scars

Of many winds and much of strife.

This is the common law of life.

I just want to share my own testimony that I know that God loves us.  He never does anything that isn't for our own good. I love Him and I thank Him for, as this mormon message says, "loving me enough to hurt me."