Inviting People to Come Unto Christ

I can't believe it has already been another week! Time here is funny because the days feel long, but the weeks go by so fast. I've learned a lot this week about how I can be better at inviting people to come to Christ.

 

We had a mission meeting this past Friday that started at 7:00am, which is quite early. We didn't know what it was for and Sister Guanzon suspected it was going to be about General Conference. It turns out that we got to be the first people to see the new "Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration" movie in the Legacy Theater (in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building). It's really similar to the old one, but they've made some changes so that it's more missionary oriented and easier to follow. I'm so grateful that we got to watch that. It reminded me of the urgency of this message that we are sharing. I know that through the prophet Joseph Smith, Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ restored Christ's original church on this earth. Joseph Smith really did see God the Father and Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon is physical evidence of that. This restored gospel has the power to change lives and bring lasting happiness.

 

We get to teach people over the phones before the missionaries come and visit them, and even while the missionaries are talking with them. This week we've talked a lot about how we can help people come unto Christ and one of the ways that we do that is by helping them make and keep commitments. The really important commitments for them to keep are prayer, reading the Book of Mormon, and going to church. Through doing these things we can recieve revelation for ourselves and come to know what Heavenly Father wants for us. Dave is one of the people that we are teaching over the phones. He requested a Book of Mormon but didn't want to have the missionaries over before he'd finished reading it. He is working on reading Mosiah right now and he says that he highlights verses as he goes. It makes me so happy when I hear that people are reading the Book of Mormon with an open heart and really seeking to know if it's true. We've tried inviting him to church, but he has been out of town for the past three weeks, but we're going to do our best to help him understand why it's important so hopefully he'll go next week. I really hope and pray that he can see the value of what he is reading.

 

One of the things that I'm working on is talking with members of the church. You'd think that they would be easy to talk to, but they're not. They know that we're going to ask them for referrals so they get really defensive. Sometimes when we ask them a question--it doesn't matter what question we ask--they will respond "I'm a member". For example: "What do you like about Temple Square?" Response: "I"m a member." That's great! But you didn't answer our question! We do our best to give every visitor the chance to either share the gospel or accept an opportunity to learn more about the gospel. One of the ways that we try to help members share the gospel is by asking them to take out their cell phones and look through their contact lists to see if there is anyone that they might not be able to think of off the top of their heads. Even general authorities ask us to do that. Sister Guanzon and I have been working on asking members to do that because it's difficult to be so bold, but no member we've talked to has actually done it yet. My favorite experiance with it was when we invited a son and his mother to take out their cell phones. They're response was "we don't have them with us". Then thirty seconds later the mother's phone rang in her perse. I just had to smile. I know it was Heavenly Father telling her that she should take out her phone. She didn't look through the contact list, though.

 

This message that I'm doing my best to share is SO important. I wish I could help members understand that more. The reason we ask for referrals is not just so that we have people to teach and reach our number goals. It's because Heavenly Father loves them and each soul is of great worth to Him.

 

Second P-Day

Hi Everyone!

Sister Smiley & Sister Guanzon

I can't believe this is already my second P-day! We've talked to a lot of people and had some really great experiences. Yesterday was interesting because we were trying to show Temple Square to a baptist minister. He was difficult to talk to because he wouldn't stop talking. He told us about how we need to be humble and we can only interpret the Bible through the Holy Spirit and he just kept going. The only thing of  much worth that I could get in was that I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of God. He then proceeded to tell me that I don't really know that. The whole experience just made me laugh. Needless to say, we didn't ask if he would be interested to learn more.

Every morning we have "gym", or exercise time. I usually get in about ten to fifteen minutes of running. My companion isn't in to exercising very much, so a lot of the time I just run up and down the hallway inside the apartment building. There are usually about ten of us that do that. This morning I ran in the parking garage under the apartment building while Sister Guanzon did the Tahitian dance class thing. It feels really good to exercise. We spend a lot of time sitting here at Temple Square.

The highlight of my week was taking Christian and Mario on a tour of Temple Square. They were visiting Salt Lake from Costa Rica and they were up here as journalists covering the Real Salt Lake and Costa Rica soccer game. We found out that Mario had actually already met with the missionaries in Costa Rica and had a Book of  Mormon (which apparently is green in Spanish). I guess their visits didn't result in baptism for him yet, but as we were talking to him he said that he would start reading the Book of Mormon again when he goes home. It's amazing to see how God prepares people. We took them to the Tabernacle and talked about modern day prophets and Mario said that he believed that God would call prophets today, which was neat to hear him say that he believed that. Then we took them to the Conference Center. I love taking guests to the Conference Center because it's quieter and there is a wonderful peaceful spirit in the auditorium. While we were in the auditorium (which sits 21,000, just if you were wondering), Mario said that he felt peace. I know that he was recognizing the presence of the Holy Ghost. So in the end, Mario requested a Book of Mormon for his wife and to visit with the missionaries again, and Christian (who doesn't really understand English) referred for a Book of Mormon as well! Even though, Christian didn't understand everything we were saying, I know that he felt the spirit that was in the Conference Center and wanted to learn more about it. Unfortuatly we don't get to teach them over the phones because it would be better for them to be taught in Spanish, but they were wonderful people to get to know.

One of the things that I have been focusing on this week is charity. I read in Preach My Gospel that "charity, like faith, leads to action", and also in Mosiah 28:3 it say "Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yeah, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble". As a missionary I want to develope that same kind of charity that the sons of Mosiah had. Whenever I approach my day as an opportunity to help people come unto Christ and bring true happiness in their lives, my day goes so much better.

General Conference is coming up! That means that TONS of people will be traveling through Temple Square! That also means lots more people to teach! I heard that last conference the mission goal was for every companionship to get 32 potential referrals per day. That's so many! I'm excited.

Now On The Square

I've been on Temple Square since Wednesday and I've learned that missionary work isn't that easy. Approaching people isn't that difficult, but figuring out what to say next is usually a problem. A lot of the time they don't want to talk to you in the first place. But, I have a great companion, Sister Guanzon. She is from the Philippines. She is about as quiet as I am so we work well together. She knows a lot about being a missionary (even though she says that I'm training her, which is not true). We've had some neat experiances thus far.
 
We only spend about half of our day on Temple Square walking around and trying to talk with people. The rest of the time in spent in the referral center (RC) calling the referrals that people trust us with and waiting for inbound calls. The RC is hard. Probably about 75% of the time people don't pick up their phones and the other portion of the time they either don't want to talk to you or they're not interested. I'm going to have to learn how to love that portion of my mission. I'm not very good at it yet. We also spend time on the computers chatting with people that "chat with a missionary" on mormon.org. Most people just try to waste our time.
 
On Sunday we have sacrament meeting in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building chapel. It is the most beautiful chapel that I have had sacrament meeting in. This past Sunday was fast Sunday so lots of Sister missionaries bore their testimonies about the truthfulness of this gospel and how it has blessed their lives. It was really an uplifing experiance. One of the things that came to my mind as I was sitting there was Moroni 8:16 which says that perfect love casteth out all fear. I was thinking about that and how if I can feel the love that the Savior has for the people that I talk with, then I won't have to fear talking with them. And if they can feel the love that I have for them, they won't have to fear to learn more. It is so important to love the people you teach.
 
This past Saturday Sister Guanzon and I were on the square and we met Monica who was visiting Salt Lake because her husband was here on business. We approached her and asked if she would like us to show her arround. Much to my surprise (sadly) she said that she would like that. So we took her to the model of the Temple and explained how in the Temple we learn about our purpose in life and what happens after death. She thought that was neat. We also took her to the Assembly Hall and the Tabernacle. In the Tabernacle I did the acoustics demonstration. Just in case some people are wondering (you know who you are) there are pins and a nail at the desk in front of the Tabernacle that we use. The pins are not specially distributed to the missionaries. While she was in the Tabernacle she said that she felt good. I know that it was the Spirit that was touching her heart. We also took her to the Scriptures and Revelation section of the North Visitor's Center and watched a short clip about Joseph Smith and the first vision. I think she liked that. At the end she referred herself and so she's getting a free copy of the Book of Mormon from the missionaries! I could hardly believe it, but God is a god of miracles indeed.
 
On this past Thursday we were all called up to the front of the Temple. One of the sisters that just got off her mission this past Tuesday got married. I've heard stories about how people get married fast after their missions, but I think two days wins for the fastest. She's from Pakistan so I guess it's more understandable since there aren't any temples there.
 
Every day I learn more and more about how to be a more effective missionary. I know that Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and that He loves us. Feeling that love will cast out any fears.