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Competition Put to Good Use

Elder (Christian) Johnson gave a training about using the calendar to help people reach their baptismal date. Here's a visual of his object lesson.

Ingredients: 2 competitive missionaries (thanks elder moffitt & pasenelli),

tootsie rolls, 9 X 13 pan, and a crowd to cheer them on

The concept: You want to be a focused missionary and keep your eyes faced downward on the pan. Elder Johnson will call out a point of progress for your investigator (setting a date, reading, going to church, praying...). Then he will drop a tootsie toll. The focused missionary wants to be the first to grab it-but only after it has touched the pan.

It was getting a little fierce. They each had a stack of tootsie rolls, but Elder Pasenelli was edging Elder Moffitt out.

I was paying more attention to my camera and trying to get a good angle, so I was as surprised as they were when...

...the next point of progress for the investigator was, "You find out your investigator hasn't quit smoking 2 days before his date," and instead of grabbing a tootsie toll,

...they grabbed an egg.

 Gross

An Encore Performance

Does this look familiar?
President did the focus training again and it was great. If I have more time tomorrow, I'll post a little more about it.

'the Lamanites... are the principal ancestors of the American Indians'

Dear Sister Bassett,

I wanted to let you know of some of the miracles that we've seen as we have been using The Book of Mormon more. My goal has been to have a give-a-way copy of the Book of Mormon in my hands at all times. Through doing this, I've been able to use it in TTIs and see peoples' hearts soften and agree to meet with us.

Two days ago, we had dinner with a recent convert from another area who just moved into our area. During dinner, her son's fiancee said she was Navajo. For our after dinner message we read the introduction to The Book of Mormon. I asked her to read the second paragraph in which it says, "...the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians."

She was visibly touched and had a great sense of urgency in learning more about this book. She said she had grown up in a small, primarily LDS town in Southern Utah and no one had ever told her that. We invited her to learn more and to attend a Stake Missionary Fireside with Signa (the recent convert) that evening. She came to the fireside, and we taught her the first lesson yesterday. When she gave the closing prayer, she prayed that her fiancee and Signa's husband would "open themselves to this, because she was really into it."

The Book of Mormon truly is God's chosen tool for us to know of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the Restoration.

Thank you for your message and testimony at last Zone Conference.

Love,

Sister Tomoser

Fact or Fiction

Dogs hate mailmen and missionaries.

Fact or Fiction?

You decide.

OK, so my foot wasn't actually in the shoe while the dog was chewing on it. Still, it was a HUGE dog. It looked like a pony; a big, black, shaggy pony with the head of a bear. (New Foundling maybe?) I also used to think that Beethoven-type dog slobber was a movie stunt, but this dog proved that wrong, too. Gross.

So, what is your best dog story from the mission?

All You Have to Do is Ask

I hadn't seen my friend Nicole since before the mission. She had moved to Jacksonville, FL and I hadn't even talked to her since I returned. This Sunday we were able to meet up for about an hour while she was in town. She asked me about the mission and we had a great time, as if I had never left. I had really been praying for missionary experiences that week, and two days after seeing Nicole she popped into my head during my scripture study. I sent her a simple text message that said "I feel like a horrible friend for never giving you the opportunity to learn about why I left for 18 months. It would mean so much to me if you would allow me to send the missionaries by to share with you the most precious thing that I have. Would that be ok?" She replied "That would be fine :-)" Nicole is someone who had boldly enforced the idea that "God is just not for me". But trusting in our friendship, she allowed me to send the missionaries by. I called in the referral (she lives 1.5 hours away from me) and I can't wait to hear how it goes. It just goes to show you that all you have to do is ask. Ask the Lord for the opportunity, then ask the person when the opportunity is presented.

Stay Focused...no distractions!

Remember this one?

Clicking on the link should take you to the slide

show on Picasa where you can download individual pictures.

If it doesn't work, let me know.

Expanding or Shrinking?

I loved this thought that Steff Warren shared with me about the struggle to continue sharing the gospel after going home.

I knew that missionary work had started to be OUT of my comfort zone within the last two weeks, and I needed to do something drastic to fix that... I pulled over to help someone on the side of the road and gave them a card. No matter how uncomfortable I was. That principle never seems to change: you have to step out of your comfort zone, so the Lord can help your zone increase! What we DON'T emphasize enough, is that if you stay IN your comfort zone... IT SHRINKS! All of that explanation was me saying 'Yes, I will share some experiences because I think it will also help inspire me'. "

Haven't you found that to be true? There's no standing still in the gospel. You're either pressing forward or you're sliding back. No one wants to, or should, let their spirituality slip post-mission. The trick is how do you move forward? Elder LeSueur shared this thought with us, "It is easier to accelerate your efforts than to maintain them." Interesting, huh! The more I think about that, the more it seems to be true. Even though we go home and our focus broadens, we can increase our abilities by finding new ways and opportunities to be 'member-missionaries." What ideas have you found to keep accelerating your progress?

PS Look for past posts with stories from Steff and other RM's for experiences being a member missionary.

Coming and Going and Coming Back

Are you interested in Ancient Languages?

This one's from Steff Warren:

"When I first moved back out to school, it felt like moving to a new area. I continued to pray for missionary experiences daily. Often times my experiences were seemed so quick and simple that I didn't recognize them as missionary experiences at all. I prayed to be able to share things from my personal study with those around me. Somehow, it always happened. Whether it was through a text message, an email, or with a class mate. Nothing seemingly huge, but ANYTHING that would help turn people's thoughts to the Savior and gave me a better idea as to what their backgrounds were. Since I don't wear a name tag, I have a little more time to find out that kind of information. One day I was headed to a small study group when one of the girls in the group called me and told me that she would be late because it was raining and she was waiting for the bus. I offered to go and pick her up and she accepted. While we were in the car, I learned that she was a linguistics major (I found it odd that she was in my GENETICS class as a linguistics major). While she was talking I listened and prayed for an opportunity for SOMETHING she was saying to "highlight a truth of the gospel about which I could bear testimony" (PMG "Listening"). I asked her why she chose her particular major and she told me that she liked learning about different languages and cultures. I saw this as my opportunity:
"Are you interested in ancient languages?"
* Yes, I love them *
"Things such as translations?"
* Oh yes, I have all kinds of books about that *
"OH! You like reading too?? Well. Have I got a book for you!! I think that you will really like it. It was written in reformed Egyptian from around 600 BC-400 AD. Then it was translated by the power of God"

I reached over to my passenger seat pocket and gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon. I opened it up to the introduction and showed her where she could read about how the record was obtained and translated. I still need to follow up with her and IDEALLY, ask for referrals. "

What other stories do you have sharing The Book of Mormon?

Missionaries in Action

The Easter Pageant

Do you miss this?

I haven't had a chance to edit this slide show, but I wanted to get some of the pictures up so you could see them. What a great group of missionaries, yeah?! You should be able to click on the slide show and go to Picasa and see full size pictures. It was great to see all of you returning missionaries. We heard we missed a few, but we love you all where ever you are in the world!

Patterns

This is from a training we did with the Zone Leaders (wow-we have such great missionaries!). You can't tell from the clip-but this little exercise caused some frustration. (It made me laugh so hard, I couldn't keep the camera straight.) Then, of course, they all felt dumb after they learned the trick. Life is so much easier once we learn some basic rules. The best part-the rules aren't secret!

The concept behind the game? Once we begin to recognize patterns, progress accelerates. There are patterns through out history, the scriptures, and modern revelation. Picking up on recurring themes expands understanding of certain principles. I've observed that reading The Book of Mormon daily increases discernment. Once I discover a true principle, I begin seeing it in other aspects of my life.

Some of my favorite recurring themes? (one day I'll work on getting some references linked to these!)

• Remembering
• God's promises and prophecies are always fulfilled
• Journeying to a promised land
• The blessings that come from obedience
• Looking for Christ to come again
• 2 choices-only two, no middle ground-opposites
• The Lord does things differently than the world
• God prepares a way for us to succeed
• Building Boats (only 3 times, but still-repetition is a law of learning!)
• Patterns of revelation
• And of course-MISSIONARY WORK in every size, shape, and form!

What are some of your favorite recurring themes from The Book of Mormon?

Faith as a principle of action

Elder Pead called us tonight to report a miracle he saw today. At our last zone conference, President Bassett made the missionaries a promise that if they would be obedient and apply the principles they were learning that day, they would see a miracle. He told them they would find 4 people prepared and willing to be baptized in the next month. While that has happened all over the mission, it is more challenging in some areas than others.

For example, we have three elders assigned to the American Sign Language (ASL) branch. They serve the deaf community in an extremely large area that actually incorporates all of our mission and the two other adjoining missions. It's difficult to find deaf people at all, let alone travel from one end of the valley to the other to serve them all. Fortunately for us, and the deaf branch, tremendously faithful missionaries serve there. Elder Pead calls more than any other missionary to tell me about the miracles he sees. When he called to report today's miracle, I knew it would be great.

They've been working hard over the last 3 weeks to live and apply the principles they were taught. As a result, they have been blessed to find a little family to teach with 2 teenagers and 2 preteen children. As they strived to teach as Christ taught, they've focused on serving this family. Knowing they won't have much of a Christmas, and not wanting to bother his family for money, Elder Pead saved some of his money (missionaries don't have much) and spent it on some treats for the kids. He's been eating light as a result (a big deal for elder Pead-he's one of the largest, strongest, missionaries we have with hardly an ounce of fat on him. He eats an incredible amount of food....) But still, he wished more could be done for this family. He has such a soft spot for children. He's been praying to find a way to help them have a fun 'kid' Christmas. Tonight, while they were with the deaf branch visiting the Christmas lights at the temple, a family came to him. They said they were laying awake thinking of this family and decided to make sure they had a great Christmas with some toys and a visit from Santa. They wanted to know if Elder Pead could come with them and help. He felt it an answer to his prayers. He was thrilled with that part of the miracle, and I know he's looking forward to it since he's still (and will always be) a big kid at heart. But the big miracle of the day came when one of the children asked Elder Pead if they could be baptized.

Their baptism is scheduled for December 27th. There's nothing better than a white Christmas!

I can read this!

Two of our elders were teaching a woman at a member's home. They passed their scriptures to her and asked her to read a passage. She looked down at the scriptures and then looked up at them and said, "I can read this!" The elders didn't quite understand the significance of her exclamation until she explained. Earlier that day she had broken her glasses. Her eyesight is very poor. She was unable to see anything clearly. When they handed her the scriptures to read, she was going to give them back and explain, but when she looked down the words were clear to her. She was very moved by this experience and felt it was confirmation that the things she was learning and feeling were of God.

I can relate to this experience on a different level. Though in English, the wording of the scriptures is different from the way we use English today. When I first began reading, I felt I wouldn't be able to understand what was being expressed in a way that would have meaning for my life. Experience has changed that assumption. I have found that every time I read, I can glean something from these prophets that applies to me and strengthens my faith in Jesus Christ.

Why is that? Moroni, the last Book of Mormon prophet to record his witness of Jesus Christ, explained the reason. He said that he and his father, Mormon, had 'seen our day'.
Mormon was chosen by God to compile and abridge all the records of their prophets into one record in order to persuade everyone who would read it to come unto Christ. The accounts that would best help us with the obstacles and challenges from their day that would apply to us in ours were selected and included in the record. After Mormon's death, Moroni finished the task his father began and hid that record until God prepared and chose another prophet for our day. That prophet was Joseph Smith, and his first task was to translate and publish this record now known as The Book of Mormon.

This book and its testimony of Christ seconds the magnificent witness of the Bible. Moroni tells us how we can know if the record we're reading is true. He said,

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

That last line, "by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things," is so important to me. These words have clearly testified to me that Jesus Christ is real. That He is the Savior of the world. Not only is He able, but willing to be a part of my life. He wants to guide me and my family back to our Father in Heaven. When my reading is regular (daily) and prayerful, the Holy Ghost gives me insight and inspiration-helping me apply the doctrines of the prophets in my life; doctrines such as faith, obedience, integrity, repentance, prayer, prophets, baptism, salvation. This book helps me to see clearly, to see the hand of God working in my life and bringing me ever closer to Him.

A missionary people

Have you ever wondered why members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [Mormons] place such a heavy emphasis on missionary work? One reason is captured in a hymn frequently associated with missionary work titled, "Called to Serve". The second verse begins,

"Called to know the richness of His blessing-Sons and daughters, children of a King. Glad of heart, His holy name confessing Praises unto him we bring."

Missionary work is sharing the joy and happiness we have in our lives with others. A prophet named Heber J. Grant once said, "...it is our duty above all other to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the restoration again to the earth of the plan of life and salvation...We have in very deed the pearl of great price. We have that which is of more value than all the wealth and the scientific information which the world possess. We have the plan of life and salvation... The best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ,"
These revised Junior mint boxes were handed out to some of our missionaries during a preparedness fair [the major emphasis of the event focuses on emergency preparedness, 72 hour kits, first aid...]. Fun idea, but great sentiment. The atonement of Jesus Christ was never meant to bless only a select group of people, but is intended and offered to all of God's children.

Everyone that is blessed with gospel knowledge then has the wonderful privilege and responsibility to share it with others. One of my favorite scriptures is found in Doctrine and Covenants section 88 verse 81 which reads in part, "it becometh everyman who hath been warned to warn his neighbor." When I read this scripture, I often change the word 'warn' to 'bless' as that reflects my feelings about the knowledge I have about God's plan of salvation for His children.

If a member of our faith invites you to meet with the missionaries to learn more about Jesus Christ, what a compliment! That invitation is a reflection of their great esteem for you and the overcoming of their own fears of how you might receive it. If your friend hasn't asked you to learn more, be brave and ask them! They're probably wondering if you're interested. As much as the world sees our faith as aggressive about missionary work, many members of the church are shy about sharing what they know with others. They understand how important the message is and so are intimidated about saying the wrong thing or coming across as less than sincere and blowing your chance to hear about it! Slowly, surely, we're doing better. Another prophet named David O McKay said "True Christianity is love in action. There is no better way to manifest love for God than to show an unselfish love for your fellow men. This is the spirit of missionary work." As we individually do better at becoming more like the Savior Jesus Christ that we follow, more and more,...hopefully, you'll have an invitation to learn more.