Two Birds with One Invite

Today I had a great missionary experience. I took one of my friends to Steak and Shake after our test, and she told me about how the guys on campus were handing out bibles again (lots of churches do that at UF). She told me that she almost asked one of them if they had a Book of Mormon! She wanted to know more about the Book of Mormon. I reached around behind her and grabbed a copy of the Book of Mormon that I keep in my car seat for such occasions. I put it on her lap and said "here ya go". Then I grabbed a "Purpose of Life" pass-along card from my console and said "and here's our website so you can learn more". We talked a little more in the drive through and I told her that she should meet with the missionaries to learn more. She said that she didn't want to "become a mormon or anything" she just wanted to LEARN about it. I then told her that one of our mutual friends wanted to learn too! And that they should just do it together! I had asked that mutual friend (Linda) to listen to the missionaries before Christmas. She wanted to, but we never were able to set anything up and I have been PRAYING for opportunities to reinvite her. I called Linda up and put her on speaker phone right then and told her that Kasey wanted to learn about the Mormon church too and that we should all do it together! They loved the idea and figured out what day of the week is usually best for the both of them. Now all we need is an actual date!! I'm SO excited!!

Dear Sister Bassett,

 

Here are a couple of miracles that are happening.

 

It's a miracle how many investigators we had show up to sacrament meeting. We have never gotten 5 people and now this last Sunday there were exactly 5 investigators. Including 1 that I didn't expect to show up whose name is Emmanuel. He is 9 years old, nearly 10. His Dad is a convert but is having some struggles with his testimony but he came to Church. It was great.

 

Another miracle is yesterday after our lesson with an awesome investigator named Chris, (He has a baptism date for the 6th of February) I had accidentally lost my keys. After searching for a few minuets, we decided to pray. 1 min latter my companion found them. It showed Chris just how much God is willing to help us even if it's as simple as praying for some lost keys.

 

Hope you re doing well.

 

Love Elder Thomas

From Elder Jenkins:

we expect miracles.

after all we are the miracle mission. we baptized 1203 people this  

year, a 32%increase from last year. it's great. our  

mission is very unified and we share our miracles because there are  

hundreds of them every day.

so back to our miracle.

we had been praying to find someone who was prepared to receive this  

gospel. we were in much need, considering we were left with 5  

investigators when we got here. we are up to more now, but we still  

needed the lord's help. we asked a member if they knew of anyone we  

could go visit two weeks ago, and he told us a name. we went and  

visited them with him and only the guy, kyle, was there.

kyle's wife is a member but less active. we sat down like every  

other lesson, and as usual we got to know him and things. then we  

asked him what he expected to get out of our visits with him, (one  

of the skills learned in ZC) much to our surprise, he literally said,

"i would like to be baptized the middle of next month, then

eventually be sealed in the temple to my sweet wife."

if we had not asked him we would have never known.

i am thankful for inspired leaders and the lord preparing people for

us.

he tells us

"and i will go before your face..." he did. and he prepared kyle to

hear this gospel. not only that, he already knew he needed to quit

smoking, and he was already planning on it. GOLDEN!

we set a date for his baptism feb 13th. he already had a book of

mormon, and he reads it regularly.

i dare you to tell me miracles don't exist, because your wrong if

you think they don't.

love forever

elder jenkins

mas miracles

Sister Bassett 
     This weekend was amazing. We had a marriage/baptism in our branch of Juan Carlos Ocampo. Also the same day I had the chance to go down to Mesa and baptize someone, Juan Rameriz, who I was teaching. Both have amazing stories.
1st. Juan Carlos Ocampo. He got married and baptized. His wife didn't really listen; she wasn't too interested. But something happened. She has seen big changes in her husband, and really felt the spirit at the baptism. Now she wants to meet with us. She already said that she wants to go to church every Sunday. With the support that she will get from her husband, there will be nothing stopping her from being baptized shortly, just her own will.
2nd. Juan Rameriz just got baptized. He is one who I have seen the biggest change in. When Elder Matsunaga and I were togeather, we TTIed him, and started to teach him. That was in July. He was progressing well, with a baptism date and all, but then shortly after moved to New York to work in the apple orchards. He said that he would return in December, and I just thought, "Well, whoever the missionaries are when that comes around, sure will be lucky." For me, that seemed like forever away. But when december rolled around, I was still there, in the same area We found him again, started to teach him, and he now has an amazing testimony of how the gospel has blessed his life. I have never seen someone so happy, or so giddy. It's truly amazing.
These are just two from this past week. And both people should be talking at the next charla foganera.
Elder Gleaves

Dear Sister Bassett

This week's miracle is from last Sunday. We were having a hard time finding people to teach. We set a goal to teach a good number of lessons. We didn't know what we could do, becasue it was Saturday morning. Most of our investigators weren't home. Then at church, 3 of our investigators showed up. One wanted a lesson right after church. Then we taught two other investigators, because their ride was staying later then expected. Then later that night, we taught another one more person. By the time we went in that week, we were only 1 lesson short of having our goal. Thank you for encouraging me to tell my district about these.
Love Elder Thomas

We Expect Miracles

This is an excerpt a missionary shared from his last letter home:


We expect miracles. After all we are the miracle mission. We baptized 1203 people this year. Our mission is very unified, and we share our miracles because there are hundreds of them every day.
So back to our miracle.
We had been praying to find someone who was prepared to recieve this gospel. We were in much need considering we were left with 5 investigators when we got here. We are up to more now but we still needed the Lord's help. We asked a member if they knew of anyone we could go visit. That was two weeks ago, and he told us a name. We went and visited them with him and only the guy was there named Kyle.
Kyle's wife is a member but less active. We sat down like we do in every other lesson, and as usual we got to know him. Then we asked him what he expected to get out of our visits with him (part of our zone conference training). Much to our surprise, he literally said, "I would like to be baptized the middle of next month. Then eventually be sealed in the temple to my sweet wife."
If we had not asked him we would have never known. I am thankful for inspired leaders and the Lord preparing people for us. He tells us, "and i will go before your face..." He did. And He prepared Kyle to hear this gospel. Not only that, he already knew he needed to quit smoking, and he was already planning on it. GOLDEN!
We set a date for his baptism on Feb 13th. He already had a Book of Mormon, and he reads it regularly.
I dare you to tell me miracles don't exist, because your wrong if you think they don't.
love forever
elder jenkins

A White Christmas

January 2009, ZLC

We had such a great group of zone leaders. They were so diligent, obedient and all full of faith. I watched as they discussed possible goals for the year. I remember how bold they were. They set a goal to help find the 1200 prepared people out there and help them make their way to the waters of baptism. It was a lofty goal, a significant increase from the previous year, but they knew the Lord would help them do it. And I watched. All year long I watched.

We've always had great missionaries, and I watched as they grew and built on the faith of the missionaries before them. We went through training blitz. We practiced teaching skills and learned together how to better develop Christlike attributes.  The mission as a whole began to better at accounting for the goals they were setting. We worked at making sure we were teaching people/not lessons and preparing them to understand the significance of the baptismal covenant. And we prayed. We prayed, and we prayed. And we worked. Things started changing in a miraculous way. Our transfer standard of excellence was to help 140 people every 6 weeks make those baptismal covenants. That was a stretch, but then people started popping up everywhere; people that had heard of the restoration and wanted to know more; people that had met with missionaries a year ago or two or three and now were ready; members' hearts started to be touched. Eventually that 'standard of excellence' wasn't something to stretch for, it was happening, consistently. By summer, we were finding 100's of people and many of them were progressing. Every transfer from that time forward was in excess of 160 people. We were getting close to realizing that goal from so many months before.

(insert slide show here...I need pictures of people who were baptized! Send me some please!)

3 Months before the end of the year, we were close to being on track to reach our goal, but Christmas is a very busy time in our mission with the added responsibilities of Christmas Lights at the temple. We met with the Zone Leaders again.  Their faith led them to set a new goal for the end of the year to help us stretch even farther. The goal they were talking about reminded me of the miracle of the loaves and the fishes. Realizing this goal would let each of them know it could only have been accomplished with the help of the Lord. There was no way we could do it alone. They decided to hold a mission wide fast. We were asking for miracles. We were working for a White Christmas in the desert. Instead of snow, 100's of people dressed in white. Our gift to the Savior. Wether it was the white of baptism or the white of the temple, we were going to find all those the Lord had prepared and help them come closer to Him. What does a White Christmas look like?

I wish words could explain it to you. We fasted and prayed, then exercised our faith through obedient and dedicated service to the God we love. We testified of Jesus Christ and the power of His Atonement. We invited people to come to Him. And together, we watched for miracles. We talked about them and shared them with each other. And the more we began to acknowledge the hand of God in our work and lives, the greater the strength of our vision.

At the end of the year, over 1200 people entered the waters of baptism. Many others renewed their dedication to Christ with new commitments to serve Him and prepare to go to the temple. And we know that we have only scratched the surface.

January 2010, ZLC

Knowing the power of God and understanding the work to which we have jointly been called, the zone leaders set a new goal. A goal that will continue to stretch the missionaries that serve here. One that will bless them all their lives. But more importantly, one that will restore 1500 children of God to a knowledge of who they are, who God is and allow them to draw closer to Him each day through covenants.
We love ALL our missionaries, those that serve with us now, those that will come shortly, and especially those who have completed their service here and gone home to continue their life long missions to return to their Father. We love you all and are forever grateful for your faith and patience and love. And prayers. May you continue to do those things that will help you feel close to Him. Have a wonderful New Year, where ever you are all over the world.
President & Sister Bassett

Beautiful Awkwardness

I went to the distribution center yesterday to get some garments. As I approached the glass doors I saw a HUGE arm! And I thought "wow, that huge arm must be attached to a HUGE man!!". Sure enough, it was indeed attached to a huge man inside. He was about my age and was with a woman who looked like his mom. He was wearing a thin white shirt, so i could tell that he was not endowed. It APPEARED to be a mother who was lugging her inactive son with her to the distribution center just so she could get him on Temple grounds. I heard them talking and realized that he was a football player for the Florida Gators (where I attend school). I spoke to him for a moment, bought my garments, then left. About 15 ft outside of the door, I stopped and thought "if he's inactive at UF, I need to invite him to church." I tromped back inside in all my glory, got out a sticky note and wrote my name and number on it (PURELY for missionary reasons, seriously, not interested). I then said "John. What's your number". All of the old distribution worker ladies started going "ooOOOOOooOOOOOoo". And the mother-figure said "are you going to convert him"? My initial defensive reaction was "no" which was immediately followed by "well, maybe" as soon as I realized what she had said... and that he was not a member. He said "I'm already there". I gave him my number and said "John, you should come to our ward. It starts at 10 at the institute building". He replied "oh yeah? We go to Gainesville 5th ward". I persisted "you should really come check out the singles ward. We could use you and it's really good". Once again very nicely and sheepishly:"we go to gainesville 5th ward". We parted ways because I had to work at the temple that night. As I left the Dist. Center it finally clicked that he had said "we". Then I vaguely remembered hearing the mother-figure talking about people receiving their endowments. That's when it hit me... I think he was engaged to a member. That's why "WE" attended a family ward, and why he was "already there" in terms of conversion. So, basically it looks like I just totally hit on a football star who was already engaged. Not only that, when I got out of the temple that night I had a message on my phone from the Dist. women telling me that I forgot my bag of garments!! HAHAHA! I had left them, and they used the sticky note I gave that guy to call me. The note was in my bag when i went to pick them up today. hahahaha. Oh man. Good times. At least the Lord knows He can trust me!!!

Sister Bassett,
So Sunday came around (yeah it starts out like the last story), and we still hadn't found any new investigators.  We had some spare time in the evening. We decided to try to contact one of our referrals.  We met Maria at the door, and she told us that her daughter was interested in learning about the church because she had many friends that were LDS.  We met the father of the family also and their 4 kids.  We invited all of them to sit in and participate as we taught the message of the Restoration.  We taught simply and with many questions so they all would understand and enjoy the teaching.  We also watched the Restoration DVD, and they understood everything.  Tonight we have a follow up lesson where we will read the Book of Mormon with the family.  We will certainly soft commit the whole famliy to baptism and with any luck we'll have 4 more with a date before the end of the week.  The Lord is very merciful and if we are faithful, he will make up for our inadequacies by providing miracles.
Elder Jeffrey Gomez

Hey Sister Bassett,
          At the beginning of December, Sister Reed and I had been trying to think of pictures that we could take and send home on our Christmas card. We decided in front of an orange tree would be a lot of fun since citrus doesn't grow like that back home in Utah.
      Near one of our recent convert's home are some nice orange trees.  When we were there for an appointment, we got out to take a few quick pictures. Well none of them were working out like we wanted them to, and I felt like we were wasting time. So I said a prayer and told Heavenly Father that we were sorry and asked Him to help us take a good a good picture so that we could get back to work. Just as I said those things, a car pulled up and the passenger hollered "Hey, are you the missionaries?" We went up to the car, not quite sure what to think, and said yes. He then said his name was Kevin, that he just moved into the area and wanted to know what time church started so that he could go. We asked him if he was a member and he said no but he has talked to a lot of missionaries before and wanted to go to church to see what it was all about.
      Kevin wasn't able to make it to church that week but we began meeting with him. Within that week, we set a baptismal date with him in our third visit with him while teaching the plan of salvation. He came to church the following two weeks and is scheduled for baptism on this Saturday, the 16th.
      Oh and when he pulled over he also asked what we were doing. We explained we were trying to get a good picture to send home for our families for Christmas. So he offered to take it for us, and we got the best one out of the bunch. I love how Heavenly Father answers some of the simplest of prayers.
See you tomorrow at Zone Conference!
Love you!
Sister Tara Morton

Somebody's Counting on You

Here's a letter I received from a missionary who is a recent convert himself. He's been on his mission almost a year, and has been a member for almost 2 years. He shared his conversion story at a missionary fireside Sunday. He has a powerful testimony and is a living, walking example of how the restored gospel of Jesus Christ can change and bless lives. His work here is helping to change the lives of families all around him, and from this email-hopefully the family he cares most about, his own:

"I saw a miracle today. A member of my parent's bishopric emailed me and said that my parents, since talking to me on Christmas have thought about taking the lessons. That's so awesome!!!"

That makes my heart so happy. We have so many missionaries that are here blessing other people's families. They work so hard. They are so obedient. They understand that obedience is the way to stay close to the Lord and that's how they can have the companionship of the Holy Ghost to assist them as they teach others. They know their own personal obedience has a direct effect on how they can bring knowledge of the restored gospel to others. They understand those people are counting on them. And I know, that as they diligently take care of others for these 2 years, the Lord will take care of their families in ways they can't. It may not always be obvious and led directly to the temple, but one day they will understand and see what a difference it really did make.
_____
*January 19th
I received news from the missionary that his sister wants to attend BYU-I

Everyday we have amazing testimony building experiences

Dear Sister Bassett,

We had an amazing miracle yesterday! On Sunday one of our bishops came up to us and said that he got a message from a woman who said she was an investigator. She said that she has been taking lessons for a while now, and wanted her son to start taking the lessons. She just moved into our area, and wanted to know where the church building was. Our bishop said he would get back to us on it. Then yesterday while we were in Zone Conference we got a text referral for a woman named Kara. A member from Mesa referred her. The referral said that Kara was a former investigator who was very interested. I am a little slow, so I didn't make the connection right away. So we called the member, and she told us a little bit about Kara, and we started to realize that this could be the same lady that contacted the bishop. We called Kara and left a message. She called back a bit later and said that she really wants her son to be baptized and that she needs help quitting smoking so she can be baptized! We met with them last night and they are awesome! We were amazed! Another miracle! We are so blessed to be a part of this work. We have the opportunity everyday to have these amazing testimony building experiences. I really have come to know that this is The Lord's work and that He will make things happen if we have faith, work hard, and remain obedient. I love it!

Thank you again for everything,
Sincerely,
Elder Christensen

I Feel My faith Growing

Dear President and Sister Bassett,
I have been so blessed to recognize miracles that we have been experiencing in the work in these past weeks.  I feel my faith growing in that the Lord is preparing people to receive the restored gospel, and that I can live worthily so that the Spirit can teach and invite people through me.  Zone conference is coming soon for us, and we are so very excited and anxious for what we will learn there.  I wanted to share with you one of the many miracles that we saw this week, and especially because it has to do with what we will be training on during the conference.  Two days ago, we were driving to contact a referral, and I felt prompted to stop the car (I'm getting better at stopping the car).  In the area we stopped, there were a couple of potential investigators and referrals, and I thought that I was being prompted to visit a particular family, so we started heading in that direction.  On our way across the street, however, I saw a man standing outside the home of yet another referral, and went to speak with him.  It turned out to be the son of a man that we had talked with who was, let's say a little less interested.  We talked with the young man and eventually his father came outside, too.  I tried to focus on teaching and testifying of the Restoration, and they invited us into their home, "just for a little while," they said.  What then happened was incredible, because we tried to apply what we are going to be training, and tried to understand their religious background and their expectations for our visit.  We then gave a brief overview of what we were going to teach (the Restoration) and bore testimony that what we were going to share would help them, addressing specifically the doubts and questions they expressed.  The lesson was simple and powerful, and felt so happy as I felt the Spirit.  The father's attitude and questions changed, and we could feel a great difference in the atmosphere of that humble home.  All I could say after we left their house following a kneeling prayer with their son was "wow."

Thank you for all that you do.  I pray for you and for your family.  I know that you will be blessed for your tireless and selfless service.  I love you.
-Elder R

Dear Sister Bassett
We have had a lot of miracles. We have been working hard, and we have been blessed immensely.

Yesterday, we had an appointment with a single woman named Ernestina, and we needed a 3rd male. Our problem was that the person who was going to join us was out of town in California going to a funeral. So we called a lot of people everyone said no becasue they were busy with something else. Then we got the idea to call another member named Scott. We called him, and he was very willing to help us.

Another thing that God has blessed us with is during the day yesterday we had a goal to TTI (street contact) at least 25 people. We had no apointments for a few hours so we decided to bike from our apartment on 20th street and Campbell to the Ashland building at approximately 3rd street and Thomas. Typically a 1 day ride one way. Talking to everyone that we saw, we talked to about 21 people. Continually, I was praying that we could accomplish our goal. After the bike ride back to our apartment, we didn't get anymore TTI's for a while. After a few appointments, we had arrived back to our apartments at about 8:00. We knowing this (that they would arrive at their apartment earlier than normal), had planned to walk from our apartment to the church building and back which in total is about 2 miles. It was night so there weren't many people. We got to 24 TTI's and with only a few feet until we were to cross the street to make the last turn. I prayed that we would just talk to 1 more person. I turned and I saw a man wearing a black jacket. In the dark, we couldn't see him before, but then we saw him. We TTIed him and there the Lord helped us accomplish our goal.

Also, I think you should know another story. Shortly before the temple excursion, my friend was telling me that she was going through a really hard time. She was getting help, but was still struggling. I prayed that in the temple I could receive the knowledge of what to tell her. During your talk shortly befor we entered in to the temple, you said something along the lines of "Hope is doing the correct thing now believing that things will be made right latter." I was strongly prompted to tell her that. So I wrote it down and latter I wrote her and told her what you said. Followed by my own testimony about how I know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is meant for families and how I came to that knowledge. The next week, I got a message from her thanking me for sending her that quote from you and sharing my testimony, becasue that is exactly what she needed to hear. You were inspired to say that and thank you for not being hesitant to say what it is that you needed to say.

Thank you for all your family's hard work.
Love Elder Thomas

Sister Bassett,
We had another miracle just last night. We went out with our ward mission leader to go teach Manuel and Stephanie. They have a baptism date for the 16th, but they aren't married. So we went over, and we were going to teach them about the plan of salvation, with a focus on eternal marriage. When we asked him if he would get married he just kind of sat there not saying anything. Because he is only 18 years old, he is a little worried about it, he is pretty nervous about making a desicion so big. So we just started to try to explain it, which sometimes can be hard, because I never have been married, but I was able to use the example of my parents, and the testimony that I have through their example, and some where along the course of our discussion, something changed. He said yes to getting married, but he was also excited about it. He had questions about how it was going to be, or who would do it. It was so amazing to see the change within just a few minutes.  And what made the diffrence, I don't think that it was anything specific that we said, but it was just pure testimony that was able to help him feel comfortable about the desicion of being married, and also baptized. It was really interesting to see how the spirit can work on some one in such little time. It will be really exciting to have that baptism on the 16th.

Elder Gleaves