March 2016

     In March we had a specialized training on personal and companion study.  Of course we want scripture study to continue long after full-time missionary service is completed.  We hoped to generate the following outcomes:

      1.    Study, not read.  Missionaries will begin to understand how and desire to study the scriptures rather than simply read them.
2.      Lifelong habit.  Missionaries will understand the importance of and have a resolve to study the Book of Mormon daily for the rest of their lives and to help their investigators do the same.
3.       Applied study.  Missionaries will understand why and how to apply their morning study to their investigators and potential investigators.
4.      Building doctrinal foundation.  Missionaries will understand the importance of and be committed to engaging in a deeper study of the doctrines taught in the missionary lessons.

     We are shrinking as a mission!  While we had 7 missionaries departing this month (front: Sisters Goodman, Singer, Dodson, with Sis. & Pres. Eaton; back: Elders Larsen, Tima, Tavo, and Patchett) we only had 2 arriving!  We are especially pleased to welcome Hermana McGarity and Elder Lewis!

February 2016

     Our departing group was small this month!  (Sisters Soliz and Baxter, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Elders Maekawa and Berkheimer) We are missing our two temple square missionaries who went back to the square a day later, Sisters Dean and Ngwenya.

     We had a little February sunshine to welcome our newest missionaries--Sisters Pineda, Peterson, McClellan, Giles, with Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Elders Clouse and Murphy.

     February is zone conference month.  Our theme is "Agents, Not Objects."  This concept applies to our investigators as well as ourselves as we take responsibility for our own learning.  Part two focused on being led by the Spirit in teaching people, not lessons.  Pictures below show some role plays.

1) Elders Ovard, Latimer, Snyder, Jackson, Clauson, and Wagstaff
2) Back Left group: Elders Richards, Saydyk, Snook and Stoker; Back Right group: Elders Tavo, Clouse, Fulmer, and Drake; Front group: Elders Rodarte, Richards, Tima, and Wingle
3) Left group: Elders Watterson, Jolley, (backs of ) Jeong, and Northrup; Right group: Elders White, Palmer, (backs of) Chugg, and Lowry
4) Sisters Webb, Pineda, Northrup, and Orr

Teach Repentance
President Rob Eaton

           I love repentance.  It’s like taking a hot shower after getting dirty and sweaty.  It’s like washing and vacuuming your car after a long road trip.  Repentance is one of God’s greatest gifts to his children. 

But it is also one of his most underused and least understood gifts.  One Christian writer candidly acknowledged how unfashionable repentance has become in many churches today:  “There seems to be today a great indifference toward the matter of repentance. In some cases, there is even a hostility toward the issue of repentance. It is not fashionable to preach a Gospel that demands that men and women turn from sin.  That kind of preaching is very rare today, and very often frowned upon. There is both indifference and hostility toward repentance even though it is a centerpiece of the Christian Gospel.”

Sometimes we’re even a bit fuzzy on repentance ourselves.  Too often we think of repentance as bitter medicine to be taken only when we commit serious sexual sins or as a few things investigators must take care of in order to get baptized, like getting married and quitting smoking.  Too few of us think of repentance as a “turning of the heart and will to God, [as well as] a renunciation of sin to which we are naturally inclined” (Bible Dictionary).  When we think of repentance as simply checking off some boxes, it’s hard for us to teach our investigators about it with conviction and depth. 

            That is why I am inviting you to do more to understand and implement repentance in your own lives.  As you study and apply repentance more in your own life, you will develop a conversion mentality rather than a checklist mentality.  With that understanding, you will teach repentance with greater power and greater joy.  “Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it,” Elder D. Todd Christofferson has taught.  That will become true for us as we become as good at repenting as we are at sinning.

            I invite you to begin talking about repentance with your companion and your investigators as much as you talk about baptism.  From the first lesson on, you will look for opportunities to help investigators undergo “a change of mind, a fresh view about God, about oneself, and about the world” (Bible Dictionary).  Elder D. Todd Christofferson said:  “As missionaries conduct investigators on the path of repentance, they will need to understand . . . that repentance means much more than completing a checklist. . . . Repentance must be understood as a fundamental change of direction in life and a transformation of character. . . . Always missionaries will retain the larger focus on achieving not just the resolution of a specific sin or failing, but on the grand transition from ‘natural man’ to ‘saint.’”

            One of the challenges we have had in teaching repentance well is that it feels like we don’t really talk about it until the third lesson (which might be the fourth or fifth visit).  Together, we will find new ways to weave repentance into how to begin teaching and every lesson as we fulfill the charge the Lord has given missionaries in this dispensation:  “Say nothing but repentance to this generation” (D&C 11:9).  I believe encouraging investigators to liken the Book of Mormon to themselves and ask God what they can change will be a key to doing this.

            This doesn’t mean we should baptize fewer people.  (However, it does mean that you should never push to get someone who has not yet repented to get baptized so that we can meet a baptismal goal.)  In fact, when we teach repentance well and early, I believe we will help more people get baptized, because they will have learned how to repent and overcome their sins.  And those we do baptize will be converts, much more likely to endure to the end.

            So please keep praying and planning and pleading for baptisms.  But every time you do, pray and plan and plead for your investigators to repent and to know how to help them repent.  As we do this, we will fulfill our charge to teach repentance and baptize converts.

January 2016

     January's Mission Leadership Council--Front: Sisters Palmer, Singer, Wright, Lyman, Bailey, Goodman, Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sisters Ketchum, and Baxter; Middle: Elders Mousser, Anderton, Wagstaff, Ha, Lee-Wen, Sumsion, Chappell, Berkheimer, Brown, Nelson, Nelson, and Maekawa;
Back: Elders Oliphant, Willardson, Anderson, and Christiansen (missing Elders John and Jones)

     This month we took our annual trip to the Seattle temple!
1) Sisters Lucky, Livingstone, Eaton, Thurman, and Hollingsworth
2) Sisters Lyman, Wright, Young, Rimer, and Woolsey 
3) Front: Elders Nelson, Perkins, Cabrera, Dalley, and Meyer; Back: Elders Kelly, Chance, Sumsion, Kidwell, Fenton, Beaudette, and Tripp

     President Eaton asked the missionaries to share their feelings about being able to attend.  Here are a few of their comments.

Elder Knight:  “The temple was amazing. I had the opportunity to reflect on the past months of my mission and things I want to improve! When I enter the temple and see my life through the eyes of the temple it honestly changes everything! Who I am, who I want to be and become as a disciple of our Savior! . . . In the temple I realized I can't let any of this precious time go to waste, it simply isn't my time!”

Sister Woolsey:  “My temple experience was amazing being able to do temple work for my grandmother. There a new spirit there as I did that. I loved every bit of it, and received so many answers. The rest of my mission experience is going to be different. It is going to be great!”

Elder Beaudette:  “The session at the temple this morning brought much needed peace and assurance. I've been spiritually strained over the last few months and I've realized its because I started to gain more charity for people and so I care about them more and their struggles become my struggles.”

Elder Sumsion:  “The Temple is solace from the world and helps regenerate my soul and desire to follow Christ.”

Sister Rimer:  “When I was sitting in the Celestial room I just kept thinking about all the people who don't have an opportunity to feel the Spirit of that room. It is so peaceful and set apart from the world. I don't think anyone could be stressed out in that room. I love the Temple. I want everyone to get the opportunity to go! Sometimes I forget how important my personal mission is, but the Temple reminded me of how much this work does matter. Everyone deserves the opportunity to go to the Temple and feel Gods love there.”

Elder Nelson:  “I felt so lucky to be a member of Christ's Church going through the Temple today. Specifically I realized that regular Temple attendance, like the Sabbath Day with the sacrament, helps us to remember the covenants we have made to God. It's easy for the severity of those promises we make to get dim the longer we're away. The law of consecration is something I want to renew going forward. Giving all my time, talents, and means to build God's Kingdom is a blessing that will bring even greater blessings.”

Elder Wagstaff:  “When looking through the lens of the the temple, I am more motivated to teach repentance better so that after the converts are baptized, they will be able to go to the temple for themselves and their ancestors.”

Elder Snook:  “Going to the temple was really amazing. It has helped me want to really help people get to the temple and make covenants with God. It really reminded me the importance of going to the temple and how much joy it can bring my life, so I know how happy and how much joy it can bring other people. Our investigators need to get baptized and get to the temple so they can be safe from temptation and be happy here and for eternity. That changes my perspective on my mission when I view it through the lens of the temple because being baptized is really the beginning of their happiness. It starts them getting to the temple, and that is really our ultimate goal.”

Elder Cook:  “The temple was amazing today, in the celestial room i was able to take time and pray to heavenly father for multiple things, but this prayer was unlike any if have experienced before...during the middle of the prayer i was mentioning something along the lines of continuing to help me through the struggles of missionary work and as soon as i said that i felt the spirit so strongly it was as if God was giving me a hug...it was powerful and it made me reflect on what i can do to improve, but to also not be so hard on myself all the time. I felt his love for me soooo strongly and it was truly amazing and such a great experience for me and also an answer to many prayers!”

Elder Samuelson:  “I truly love the temple and wish we could go more often! For my mission, it shows me that there's much more beyond baptism that we're helping people to achieve -- it's the temple ordinances, so that they can be exalted in the celestial kingdom. Like Elder Oaks said, nothing but the fulness will exalt them.”

Hermana Huhem:  “As I was sitting there in the Celestial room, I could envision my my investigators not only in white baptismal clothes, but in temple clothing sitting right there with me. My heart spiritually, and physically ached. I realized how much I lacked in helping everyone I come in contact with get to the temple. I realized how much I needed to change so that I could help people get to the temple. . . . As I sat there in the celestial room the Spirit filled my heart with an indescribable determination to plan better, work harder, pray mightily, study diligently, find daily, teach continually, testify always, and so much more. So that I can fulfill my glorious and sacred calling of bringing soul unto Christ. To help them truly repent, experience changes in their very nature.”

Elder John:  “Since, I went to the temple last week my love for the savior has increased dramatically. My love for the people has increased as well. Charity is the pure love of Christ! We cannot teach or invite others to come unto Christ if we have not charity. I'm grateful for the temple and the physical and spiritual rejuvenation it provides to me. I will always make sure I stay worthy to enter and worship in the Lord's house. I will attend the temple often for the rest of my life!”

Elder Anderson:  “When I look at my mission in terms of the temple. Two thoughts, first, I want to get people there! My goal is the temple! It’s a conversion that will last more than a few months, or even years. Second. I am still reminded of how you had your whole family in the temple at one time. That is my goal, my whole family, in the temple together.”

December 2015

     Our December dearly departed are pictured with the Eatons--front: Pres. Eaton, Elders Johnson, Alcazar, and Green;back: Sisters Eaton, Hill, Sonasi, Halford, Lee, and Clement.

     And our December incoming elders and sisters with the Eatons--front: Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sisters Mickelson, Souza, and Baker; back: Elders Pinckney, Stoker, Ovard, Sisters Pope, Erickson, and Whitney.

Being a Witness at Christmas 

     How fitting it was that God called shepherds to be among the few who witnessed the newborn Savior, the Good Shepherd. Surely one reason God sent angels to these particular shepherds was because he knew how they would react. After the heavenly messengers announced where they could behold the newborn Christ, the shepherds wasted no time in responding. “They came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger” (Luke 2:16).

     After seeing the Christ-child for themselves, what they did next instinctively made them worthy witnesses: “when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child” (Luke 2:17). They had no key indicators, no ward mission plan, no one pressuring them to open their mouths. These humble servants simply couldn’t keep such Good News to themselves. They knew they had seen the Savior, and they wanted to share that message with others.

     Nearly 34 years later, others would react similarly after being allowed to see and feel and know the resurrected Savior personally. At the end of one of the most miraculous days in scriptural history, the 2500 saints gathered at a temple in Bountiful prepared themselves for the Savior’s return the next day.

     What would you have done that night after experiencing the events of 3 Nephi 11 – 17, knowing that the Savior would return the next day? These faithful descendants of Lehi also could not keep such Good News to themselves. We read that “it was noised abroad among the people immediately” what had happened and that Christ “would also show himself on the morrow unto the multitude.” In fact, “even all the night it was noised abroad,” which resulted in many people who “did labor exceedingly all that night, that they might be on the morrow in the place where Jesus should show himself unto the multitude” (3 Nephi 19:2 – 3).

     The next day, great multitudes were able to be taught by the Savior because of those messengers who labored through the night. I cannot help but wonder how he looked on those who sacrificed so much through the night to bear witness of him and invite others to literally come unto him.

     I like to think that the Twelve Jesus called to be his special witnesses were among the messengers who spread abroad the news of his coming. Perhaps it was with awareness of such sacrifice that the Savior looked upon his disciples so fondly that next day: “his countenance did smile upon them, and the light of his countenance did shine upon them” (3 Nephi 19:25).

     Before my mission as a young man, Christmas mostly meant being with my family and getting presents and eating so much fudge I got sick and occasionally getting a good present for someone else. But as a full-time missionary I discovered another whole layer of meaning to Christmas—a layer filled with deeper significance and greater joy. I discovered the joy of being a witness at Christmas.

     What kind of witness will you be this Christmas and this year? Will you be a reluctant, distracted, halfhearted witness? Will you be a dutiful but mechanical witness? Or will you follow the example of the shepherds and the people at Bountiful, sharing with others your witness of the Savior out of the love of your heart with holy haste and a sense of purpose, “glorifying and praising God for all the things that [you have] heard and seen”? (Luke 2:20).

     This Christmas, I invite you to be a giver of the best gift of all—the salvation made possible by Jesus Christ. Be a witness this Christmas. I bear you my witness that as you do, his countenance will smile upon you and your efforts on his behalf.

November 2015

     What a privilege it was to hear the departing testimonies of these missionaries--front: Elders Lewis & Buchanan, Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Sis. Peacock, and Elder Andrasko; back: Elders Gamble, Downing, Holtry, Bennett, and Holden.

     We welcomed this outstanding group--front: Sisters Huhem, Hammond, & Zavala, Sis. & Pres. Eaton, Elders Meyer, Lloyd, and Palmer; back: Elders Pyper, Mitton, Tripp, Jolley, Lesh, Higginson, Kofford, Fullmer, Payne, and Chugg

     We had zone conferences this month.  We opened by memorizing together our ponderizing verse for the week from Alma 6:6--Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather themselves together oft, and join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who knew not God. Our goals for the conference were to do the following:

· Help missionaries understand what mighty prayer is and choose to use it in their own lives.
· Help missionaries seek, recognize and act on revelation on their mission and throughout their lives.

     Missionaries completed the preparation assignment below and we were taught by the Spirit together.

Dear Elders and Sisters,

     In the last few weeks, as a mission we’ve discovered some of the blessings that can come from mighty prayer.  That’s why I am excited for next week’s zone conference, in which we’ll talk about receiving revelation through prayer—as missionaries, as disciples after our missions, and for our investigators.  We believe that one of the most important keys to being able to fulfill our missionary purpose and mission goal and baptize far more people on a consistent basis is for each missionary to discover the power of mighty prayer and the blessings it can bring, including revelation that can guide you in every aspect of missionary work.

     As always, how much you get out of zone conference will hinge in great part on the faith you exercise in preparing for it.  To prepare, we’re asking you to do several things spread out throughout your week.  Take some time in personal study, companionship study, and in your conversations as you travel and during meals to do these things:

·              Read Chapter 4 of Preach My Gospel.  Choose your favorite three sentences.

          

           Read one of these three talks:

o   Elder Richard G. Scott, “Using the Supernal Gift of Prayer” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2007/04/using-the-supernal-gift-of-prayer?lang=eng)

o   Elder David A. Bednar, “Ask in Faith,” (https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2008/04/ask-in-faith?lang=eng )

o   Chauncey Riddle, “Prayer” (Brother Riddle was not a General Authority but a philosophy professor at BYU; some of you will love this one and some of you will . . . not) (https://www.lds.org/ensign/1975/03/prayer?lang=eng )

     In addition to those resources, use the scriptures to prepare a 3-minute talk on one of these three subjects:

• ·         The Keys to Making Prayers Mighty Instead of Lame
• ·         Keys to Receiving and Recognizing Answers to Prayer
• ·         How We Can Use Mighty Prayer to Receive Revelation That Will Help More People Get Baptized in the Lord’s Way

     Finally, take the test on p. 95 of Preach My Gospel.  Use a scale of 1 – 9 to grade yourself on each question, with 1 being fair and 9 being good.  Add your total score and keep it some place.  Be honest and candid in your answers.  We will have you confidentially submit your total score at zone conference for this pre-test about your prayers.  Then, at the end of the transfer I’ll ask you to take the test again and send me both of your scores to see if you improved.

     We look forward to learning with and from you next week!

October 2015

     We had two mission leadership council meetings this month.  One was in a "place set apart."  We went on a Mt. Rainier hike and discussed prayer, revelation, and the Book of Mormon.  The picture shows--Front: Sisters Sonasi, Wright, Dodson, Halford, Goodman, Baxter, Hill, and Singer; Middle: Pres. Eaton, Elders Noh, Christiansen, Jones, Lewis, Nelson, and Sis. Eaton; Back: Elders Graham, Holtry, Johnson, Willardsen, Downing, Tavo, Brown, Taliauli, Andrasko, Berkheimer, Maekawa, Anderton, and Wagstaff.

     Our second leadership council was under the direction of Elder Larry Lawrence of the Seventy. He led the council in outlining steps to achieve a missionwide goal of 40 baptisms during the month of November. He counseled us to pray in every prayer for 40 baptisms during the month of November and to find out what the Lord would have us sacrifice in an effort to reach this goal. In addition, we are ponderizing a scripture together as a mission each week that focuses on the doctrine of Christ.  The picture shows--front: Sisters Goodman, Baxter, Sonasi, Wright, Hill, Sis. & Elder Lawrence, Sisters Singer, Dodson, and Halford; middle: Elders Berkheimer, Nelson, Noh, Tavo, Johnson, Jones, Pres. Eaton, Elders Lewis, Nelson, and Holtry; back: Elders Willardsen, Andrasko, Christiansen, Maekawa, Graham, Anderton, Wagstaff, Taliauli, Brown, and Downing

     During his mission tour, Elder Lawrence taught about increasing our faith (summarize below) and giving our committed investigators intensive care treatment (coming next month).  Sister Lawrence taught about the gathering of the House of Israel.

     Principles of exercising faith:
1) Have a righteous desire/goal that we cannot accomplish on our own
2) Be believing, getting rid of doubt/fear
3) Plead with the Lord in every prayer, over and over again
4) Commit fully to the accomplishment of the goal, being creative to do everything you can
5) Expect trials and obstacles; then double efforts
6) Have faith and expect the Lord will bring this about

September 2015

     These beloved missionaries have returned to their families and the next steps in their salvation--front: Sisters Killingsworth, Collins, Walker, Peterson, & Flamm, Pres. Eaton, Elders Cairo & Warner; back: Elders Goodell, Anderson, Moses, Carson, Jenkins, Lemmon, Walters, Eliason, & Johnson

     We are excited to welcome these missionaries to Washington--front: Sisters Lewis, Skousen, Northrup, Thurman, Livingstone, Woolsey, Richardson, and Yost; middle: Elders Kim, Scheidell, Williams, Jensen, Pres. & Sis. Eaton, Elders Stucki, Oliva, Larsen, and Drake; back: Elders Hunter, Jackson, Perkins, Partridge, Boyack, Urey, Dalley, Simpson, Cook, and Miner

The Faith to Fulfill Our Purpose

            In preparation for zone training, Sister Eaton and I have asked you to study the examples of faith you find from great men and women in the scriptures.  Whether you choose to study Abinadi or Abish, Mormon or Mary, Ammon or Abigail, ponder their examples with these questions in mind:  

•  What evidence do you see of their faith?
• What can you learn from their example about how to exercise more faith to better fulfill your purpose?
• How can you be more like them as you strive to help others come unto Christ?

             At the risk of spoiling your own scripture study, let me share three of my favorite examples of faith in the scriptures.  First, I love the faith of Joseph Smith.  He wasn’t cocky, but he was confident in the Lord.  When he prayed, expected stuff to happen.  When he went into the grove of trees to ask God a question, he fully expected to receive an answer.  When he prayed again three years later, he said, “I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one” (Joseph Smith History 1:29).  When he and Oliver Cowdery prayed about baptism, they prayed next to a river.  Because of Joseph’s faith, the veil between heaven and earth was thin.  From his example, I learn to pray with faith, knowing that God is real and that he hears and answers prayers.

            Such faith comes, in part, from recognizing how God has answered our prayers and blessed us in the past.  When young David heard the giant Goliath taunting the armies of Israel, he had no doubt that with God’s help he could beat the giant, because with God’s help he had slain a bear and a lion with his own hands in defense of his sheep.  In fact, he seems to have been a shepherd with a bit of attitude.  When a bear took one of his sheep, he caught the bear from behind and took him down.  Knowing that God helped him in the past gave him faith that God would protect him in the future when he was on the Lord’s errand.  As he explained to King Saul:

Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:

 And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.

Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.

            David’s faith was not in his own abilities, but in his God.  So he was unmoved by Goliath’s giant tantrum when the Philistine saw that Israel had sent a mere boy to fight him.  In one of the sweetest bits of inspired trash talking in the history of the world, David responded to Goliath’s taunting with this bold retort:

Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.

This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

And all this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s, and he will give you into our hands.

            With that, the Philistine giant charged young David, who was armed only with his sling and a few smooth stones.  David could be forgiven if he had dropped back a few steps like a quarterback getting ready to throw as the giant charged him.  To stand his ground calmly and sling his stones would have been remarkable.  But fueled by faith, David did something that was either crazy or evidence of incredible faith: “David hasted, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine.”  That’s right, David ran toward Goliath, got close enough that his sling would be deadly, and then took down the giant with a single stone:  “David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead; and he fell upon his face to the earth.”  Game, set, and match—David.  Actually, David would beg to differ.  The battle was not his, he would have said, but the Lord’s.  (Read 1 Samuel 17 for the whole story.)  From David’s example, I learn that when I remember how the Lord has helped me in the past, it builds my faith that he will help me succeed in his work in the future.  And when I remember that the battle is truly the Lord’s, I feel I can do anything as his soldier.

            The final example of faith I will share is of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  These valiant Israelites lived in Babylon as exiles, but through faith, perseverance, and diligence, they prospered.  They gained the trust of King Nebuchadnezzar and eventually were appointed to be governors over a province of Babylon.  Unfortunately, it was there that King Nebuchadnezzar chose to erect a 90-foot golden image.  With all the dignitaries in the land gathered for the dedication ceremony, the king commanded all his subjects to bow down to the image or be thrown into a fiery furnace.

            Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego had a choice to make: whether to prolong their political careers and their lives by staying in the good graces of the king, or whether to receive eternal life by staying in the good graces of God.  They chose the real God and refused to bow down. Their act of civil disobedience was not lost on their rivals, who quickly pointed it out to the king.  The king was fond of these young Israelites, so he gave them a second chance and pled with them to bow down to the idol like everyone else.  “Who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?” (Daniel 4:14).

            What is especially impressive about the faith that Shadrach and his friends exercised is that what mattered to them was not whether their God would save them, but whether he could.  In fact, they did not know whether he would save them; God had allowed many righteous prophets to be slain.  But they trusted God for the long term, no matter what the short-term result.  Here is how they answered the king:

If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

(Daniel 4:17 – 18).  When we talk about but if not faith, this is what we mean.  It is what my daughter exercised when she felt inspired to set high baptismal goals and worked out her heart, knowing God could work mighty miracles, but if not, well, she would have given it her all.  It is the faith to work hard and set goals we care about and serve God whole-heartedly, week after week, even when we are not immediately seeing baptismal fruit.  From Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, I learn that great faith requires humble submission and patience, pressing forward and trusting in God with faith in his eternal promises, even if I cannot be sure I’ll get the miracle I pray for in the short run.

            May the Lord bless you as you study your own faith heroes that you will learn, through the Holy Ghost, the principles of faith you most need to help you better fulfill your purpose as a missionary.