In April we said goodbye to these beloved missionaries--front: Elders Kim & Benton, with Pres. & Sis. Eaton, and Sis. Cass; back: Elders Turney, Benhoff, Dawson, Thomas, Erekson, and Kim.
We said hello to--front: Elder Clayburn, with Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sisters Cole, Lyman, and McMakin; back: Elders Christiansen & Saydyk, Sisters Worthen and Stewart.
For this month's update, I've included President Eaton's summary of the training emphasis for the last quarter.
Before we move on to a new quarterly emphasis in May, I want
to pause to reflect on some of the things we’ve learned since zone conference
in February. Few things are as important
in missionary work as having the companionship of the Holy Ghost and teaching
with the power that brings. The Lord put
it bluntly: “If you receive not the
Spirit, ye shall not teach” (D&C 42:14).
My prayer is that teaching and being guided by the Spirit will become a
lifelong part of your fabric, not just a flash in the pan.
President Eyring taught priesthood
holders last week that they have received “the right to speak and to act in the
name of God,” but he cautioned, “That right will become a reality only as you
receive inspiration from God. . . . The power to speak and act in God’s name
requires revelation.” Such revelation,
President Eyring taught, comes when the Holy Ghost is our “constant companion.” Similarly, all members of the Church have
been granted the gift of the Holy Ghost, but receiving the Spirit is another
matter. And all of us have been set
apart as full-time missionaries, but only with inspiration from the Holy Ghost
can we truly do what we’ve been set apart to do: represent Jesus Christ.
President Eyring taught that
receiving the Spirit and the revelation He brings requires much more than a
casual interest on our part. “You will
not survive spiritually without the protection of the companionship of the Holy
Ghost in your daily life.” That reminds
me of Elder Holland’s probing question:
“Was the Holy Ghost the senior companion today, the junior companion, or
was He even in our companionship today?”
I invite you to
reflect on what you have learned since last zone conference about inviting the
Holy Ghost into your companionships and teaching with the power necessary to
help bring about lasting conversions.
Many of you
have learned that the prayer of faith is a crucial part of the price we must
pay to receive the Spirit. As the Lord
himself said: “And the Spirit shall be
given unto you by the prayer of faith” (D&C 42:14). (Note for perfectionists: please don’t feel
bad if you cannot yet recognize the promptings of the Spirit as clearly as you
would like. You’re doing great. Keep studying, praying and teaching, and your
ability to recognize promptings will grow little by little, line upon line.)
What does the prayer of faith look
like? Quoting President Joseph F. Smith,
President Eyring taught, “You pray that God may recognize you, that he may hear
your prayers, and that he may bless you with his Spirit.” In his own words, President Eyring further
described the mentality of someone who offers a prayer of faith: “It is not a matter so much of which words to
use, but it will take some patience. It is an approach to your Heavenly Father
with the intent to be recognized by Him personally. He is the God above all,
the Father of all, and yet willing to give undivided attention to one of His
children.”
Those words pricked me as I heard
them. Too often my prayers, especially
my evening prayers, are rushed and lack focus.
Imagine that you had a chance to speak with your favorite apostle at the
end of the day for a few minutes. How
much more focused, respectful, and less hurried would that conversation be than
the ones we get to have with the Almighty God?
I have vowed to improve the quality of my prayers—to more fully take
advantage of the fact that Heavenly Father himself is granting me his undivided
attention. I am going to seek to pray
with greater faith, patience, reverence, and specificity.
In addition to the prayer of faith,
we can more fully enjoy the companionship of the Spirit as we study and teach
from God’s word. “Getting that guidance
will take more than casual listening and reading,” President Eyring
taught. “You will need to pray and work
in faith to put the words of truth down into your heart. . . . The Holy Ghost
will be your guide as He reveals truth when you study the words of prophets.”
I am so grateful that so many of
you have taken to heart the very specific counsel I felt inspired to give you
to study the Book of Mormon daily. I
have asked you to go far beyond casual reading as you basically ask these two
questions as you study the Book of Mormon each day: (1) How can I come more fully unto
Christ? (2) How can I use the principles
and doctrines I study to help others more fully come unto Christ? As you actively search for answers to those
questions and record them in some kind of study journal, you are seeking
learning by faith. Your scripture study
is becoming more active and less passive and your testimonies are being
strengthened.
As you use the scriptures generally
and the Book of Mormon particularly in finding and teaching, you are also
discovering that you teach with greater power.
As Elder Wade Johnson wrote me, “I have loved contacting using the Book
of Mormon. . . . I wish I would have figured this out sooner. There is no more
awkward connecting with no direction, but good questions that lead to powerful
points taught in the Book of Mormon!”
As we have
the Spirit with us, we are also able to have greater discernment and
inspiration to teach people rather than merely cover material. We will come to know their true doctrinal
needs and be inspired with questions that help them discover those doctrines
for themselves. Recently, I was teaching
a young man with two of you. Based on
the investigator’s previous comments, we had assumed his doctrinal need was a
willingness to walk in faith. He seemed
to want a clearer answer before committing to baptism, even though he’d already
had the Spirit bear witness of Joseph Smith.
But during our lesson, one missionary asked an inspired question: “Which
commandment will be most difficult for you to keep?”
“The law of
chastity,” answered the young man, without hesitation. “I’m 18.”
As we talked, we quickly realized that what had been holding him back
from firmly committing to baptism was not wanting a clearer answer. Instead, it was that he knew he wasn’t ready
for baptism because he wasn’t yet living the law of chastity. After we helped him discover the importance
of the law of chastity and the faith to keep it, he then committed to
baptism. That is why, as President
Eyring taught, “you will pray for the way to know their hearts, to know what
things are amiss in the lives and the hearts of people whom you don’t know well
and who are not anxious to have you know them. You will need to know what God
would have you do to help them and to do it all, as nearly as you can, feeling
God’s love for them.”
Many of you
have discovered that receiving such inspired insights into people’s needs and
teaching to those needs requires better planning and a different kind of
planning. There is nothing mechanical
about Spirit-led planning. Instead, as
you prayerfully ponder the needs of individual investigators and how to study
for them and teach them, planning and companionship study and personal study
become revelatory experiences. Even
finding becomes an exercise in inspiration.
Finally,
you may wonder how the doctrine of Christ training fits in with this quarter’s
emphasis on the Spirit. Only as we
exercise faith in Christ, repent of our sins, and renew our baptismal covenants
by partaking of the sacrament meaningfully can we fully receive the gospel of
the Holy Ghost, which gives us power to endure faithfully to the end. Without these first three steps that
culminate in baptism, neither we nor our investigators can receive the
companionship of a member of the Godhead, which prepares us for eternal life
with God the Father.
Indeed, the Holy Ghost is not only
crucial to our quest to receive eternal life, but enjoying his companionship
gives us a small taste of what eternal life will be like. In 2 Corinthians 5:5, Paul writes that God
has “given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.”
Many translators render the Greek word translated as “earnest” (like
“earnest money”) in the King James Version as down payment or guarantee. I especially like the Weymouth
translation. In verse 4 of that
translation, Paul speaks of our desire to have our mortality “absorbed in
Life.” In verse 5 Paul then adds, “And He
who formed us with this very end in view is God, who has given us His Spirit as
a pledge and foretaste of that bliss.”
I testify
that as we and those we teach exercise faith in Christ, repent, and make or
renew our baptismal covenant, we will enjoy that the companionship of the Holy Ghost,
which is, indeed, a foretaste of that bliss that is to come in eternal life.
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