I have thought a little bit about what you said last week about the members, and that is hard. There isn't a mission in the world where that isn't a problem. The gospel must be shared, but it is hard to have the faith to go out and share it. I have two ideas for you. The first one came from Cassi. She taught senior couples at the MTC last semester and she said that one day she had them do role plays. And she did a role play and told them to pretend that they were missionaries (which they are) and that she was a young member girl in Provo that worked, and went to school, and lived with roommates that were all LDS, and didn't really have ideas for how to do missionary work in her own life. So it was a role play, but really a real play. And it was very sobering for her to realize how many good ideas these senior couples had, and through the process these senior couples learned so many ways they had never thought of of how THEY could share the gospel more in their daily lives. So if you turn it on them, make them tell you (acting as a member) what you should do, they will realize what they need to do.
Another thing I was thinking a lot about is a quote I got from a talk by grandpa Liljenquist. This is a small piece of a talk Elder Eyring gave in General Conference 2003 that I LOVE! It is called "A Child, A Disciple."
I’ve studied carefully and prayerfully some who are remarkably faithful and effective witnesses of the Savior and His Church. Their stories are inspiring. One humble man was called as the president of a tiny branch. There were so few members he could not see how the branch could function. He walked into a grove of trees to pray. He asked God what he should do. An answer came. He and the few members began inviting friends to join with them. In a year, hundreds had come into the waters of baptism and become fellow citizens in the Lord’s Church.
I know a man who travels almost every week in his work. On any day there are missionaries somewhere in the world teaching someone he met. There is another man who seems undeterred by how many he must speak to before any of them wish to be taught by the missionaries. He doesn’t count the cost in his effort but only the happiness of those whose lives are changed.
There is no single pattern in what they do. There is no common technique. Some always carry a Book of Mormon to give away. Others set a date to find someone for the missionaries to teach. Another has found questions which draw out feelings about what matters most in life to a person. Each has prayed to know what to do. They each seem to get a different answer, suited especially to them and to the people they meet.
But in one way they are all alike. It is this: they have a common way of seeing who they are. They can do what they have been inspired to do because of who they are. To do what we are to do, we will have to become like them in at least two ways. First, they feel that they are the beloved children of a loving Heavenly Father. Because of that they turn to Him easily and often in prayer. They expect to receive His personal direction. They obey in meekness and humility, as the children of a perfect parent. He is close to them.
Second, they are the grateful disciples of the resurrected Jesus Christ. They know for themselves that the Atonement is real and necessary for all. They have felt cleansed through baptism by those in authority and the receipt of the Holy Ghost for themselves. And because of the peace they have experienced, they are like the sons of Mosiah, “desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble.”2
I think so many times missionaries challenge members to do something. A specific challenge. But in the end, the goal isn't that they do a specific thing, because there is no perfect way to find people to teach. If there was, God would have reveled it to us, and every missionary in the world would know it. But rather, for every one, at every time in their life, there is a way that they can share the gospel. It is different for each family, different for each situation. And the coolest thing is that if you get told to do something by a missionary you might do it. If you pray and ask God for an answer, and he gives it to you, you will definitely do it, because you already put it part of the work, and you feel like God is with you ever step of the sometimes scary path of sharing the gospel.
But be exited. Honestly some of the best references we got we did by testifying of the atonement. Like the last paragraph of the quote and also the second page of PMG, "As your (or the member's) understanding of the atonement grow, your (or their) desire to share the gospel will increase." If you love the atonement with all your heart, your enthusiasm will spread, and will catch on.
Stephen, you are doing so well. Better than you think. Unless you just think you are the best missionary ever, then maybe study humility a little. But really, everyone that knows you and gets your letters is proud of you. And I don't know if you get Josh's letters, but he was having someone that was going to get baptized on Christmas, but then his anti mormon family came into town and destroyed his testimony. So Josh's first baptism of his mission they just had to drop. So Satan is fighting hard everywhere. But the good will win. Like a stone cut out of a mountain without hand that will cover the earth. We really aren't carving the rock out of the mountain, we are just shoving it as it comes racing past us down the hill. God already did the hard part, there is no stopping the Restoration now, and how amazing is it to be apart of it!!
Love ya babe,
Liza
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