Dear Elders and Sisters,
What a blessing it has been to attend Zone Conference with you and a General Authority. Elder and Sister Hamula taught many great and important truths that, if acted upon, will bless each and every one of us and the great NZAM. Among the many great insights was his illustration on the four aspects of Faith. As we learn and understand the (1) Doctrine---really study and ponder the eternal truths of the great Plan of Salvation, our (2) Hope in the Saviour increases. As our Hope develops we are more prone to (3) Act on those things that will strengthen and develop our(4) Personal Witness of the very Doctrine we are seeking to understand. As we continue on this Faith cycle—our Hope changes to Confidence, then to Assurance and over time—line upon line----we no longer Hope but are Certain in that thing we were initially seeking answers to.
This Faith cycle is a ‘Pearl of Great Price’ and if understood will guide you throughout your mission and beyond. There will be no desire to be disobedient, there will be no home sickness or lack of urgency for the work. On the contrary, your eye will be single to the glory of God and His great work to bring to pass the Immortality and Eternal Life of Man. Our prayer is that each of you will “ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, if these things are true”…but remember… “ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ”….
We were also taught from a wonderful role play that we are the Physicians (doctors) and our role is to find the concern of the soul and prescribe the right Medicine (doctrine). To prescribe the right medicine, we need to know what is available. In other words—we have a responsibility as servants of the Lord to know the will and mind of the Lord. We find this out by daily study. We cannot afford to sleep in, miss our personal and companionship study if those who are ‘sick’ are relying on us to deliver the ‘medicine’ to heal their souls. Elders and Sisters, we invite each of you to study from PMG and the scriptures daily and then ACT (that means being up every morning at 6:30am, and being ready-dressed in your proselyting clothes—for your study commencing 8:00am). Ask questions of your companion, role play together and if you have not been using time wisely—then repent and move forward—and commence studying the Gospel like you have never studied before—Will you do it?
We were also reminded about self motivation—How we can be the best missionary we can every day of the mission. Elder Hamula used Hebrews chpt 11 and chpt 12: 1-3. He then reminded us in all that we do—keep our eye fixed on Jesus Christ. If we do that we will never lose our motivation.
We want to close this email by referring to Numbers 13:17-21 and 25-33, then Chpt 14:1-9,22-24. You will remember Elder Hamula sharing this experience with us. In verse 33 we read… “and there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight”.
In other words—if we think we are grasshoppers then those we associate with will think we are grasshoppers—and eat us up!!. How does that apply to us Elders and Sisters? If we think we cannot achieve 167 souls saved each month---then we won’t. If we think our investigators won’t commit to baptism or come to Church, then they won’t. We need to BELIEVE!!!!------do you Believe Elders and Sisters…??? We can do this, we have the Lord on our side.
With all this in mind we reminder each of you how we can take this the great NZAM to the next level..It will be by doing the following:
1. Focus on Finding in all that you do..Find more people to teach---use the members, Ward Clerks (MLS reports like: prospective Elders, 9 year old or older unbaptised, part-member families);
2. Commit more often and earlier. In other words----Act, then allow the Spirit to do the rest. The invitation is to commit our investigators to baptism in the 1st lesson and if not the first at least by the second.
---Remember what you all said to Elder Hamula? It Shall Be Done!
Elders and Sisters, we know that as you commit to the two invitations above, the Lord will bless you with power and in a real way be even like Nephi of old who was made “mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works” (see Helaman 10:5). We love you and want you to know how proud we are of all that you are doing. Keep up the great work, love each other, serve each other. Love the members and help ‘establish’ the great cause of Zion here in the land of New Zealand. May the Lord bless you all and keep you safe, happy, obedient and busy doing His work, is our prayer.
Love
President and Sister Lekias
No comments:
Post a Comment