Based on inspiration received at our Mission Presidents Training Seminar in Guatemala, that we just returned from . . .
We focused our Zone Conferences on . . .
"The Work of Salvation"
No more is it the missionary work . . . but for all, you and I, and everyone who has made a covenant through baptism to serve our Savior Jesus Christ . . . it is the work of Salvation.
We began our Zone Conferences with a video that really touches on the heart of
the work of salvation -
the work of salvation -
I'm going to share the thoughts included in this article with photos from our zone conference . . . because it expresses the message we want to share with everyone. Our missionaries . . . our families back home, our friends, neighbors . . . and especially the those we come intact with everyday in the . . .
Honduras San Pedro Sula East Mission.
Behold, I will Hasten my Work in it's Time.
On December 27, 1832, in Kirtland, Ohio, the Lord provided us with a message of peace, including these words to ponder: “Behold, and lo, I will take care of your flocks, and will raise up elders and send unto them. Behold, I will hasten my work in its time” (D&C 88:72–73).
Following President Thomas S. Monson’s historic announcement in general conference on October 6, 2012, the number of missionary applications has continued to increase. It is a spiritually electrifying time as new missions and missionary training center expansions are announced. This “spirit of the gathering” is all around us and has global impact.
In Elder Russell M. Nelson’s inspired words, “The full-time missionary force is growing, and these well-prepared young men and women are both eyewitnesses and participants in this gathering of people from the world into the fold of Christ. Much is being done to help them in their preparations to serve as worthy, well-prepared disciples of Jesus Christ.”
In the beginning pages of Preach My Gospel, the First Presidency’s message to missionaries states: “There is no more compelling work than this, nor any which brings greater satisfaction. We challenge you to rise to a new sense of commitment to assist our Father in Heaven in His glorious work.”
(Olanchito Zone)
(Miramar zone)
These invitations to serve, combined with the direction of the Holy Ghost into the hearts and minds of young men and women throughout the world, have resulted in surges among the entire missionary force, but many families have felt this surge within their own homes.
Elder Kyle Idso, 18, and Sister Kaylene Idso, 19, both entered the Provo Missionary Training Center the same day, January 16, 2013. Sister Idso is the oldest child in the Idso home and has always had a desire to serve a full-time mission. In her own words, “When I heard President Monson make the announcement, I first thought of my brother who was 18 years old and could go immediately. Then when President Monson announced the new sisters’ age, I was excited to know I could also go now.”
Identical twins Sister Linsey Haas and Sister Jocelyn Haas of Mesa, Arizona, are serving in the California San Bernardino and Pennsylvania Philadelphia Missions respectively. Their 19-year-old sister, Tessa, just received her call to serve in the Idaho Boise Mission. By June of this year, all three of the Haas sisters will be serving missions. Senior couples are also feeling a deeper desire to serve, and many have served multiple missions. Elder Gary Batchelor, former president of the Arkansas Little Rock Mission, and his wife, Sister Kay Batchelor, have 30 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren. Following their experiences in Arkansas, they received a call to serve for two years in the Micronesia Guam Mission. They are now in the Provo MTC with their calling to serve 18 months in the Missouri St. Louis Mission.
Entrusted with ushering in this last dispensation, the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1842 described this great latter-day work: “The truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country and sounded in every ear; till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).
(Progreso Sur Zone)
(Satelite Zone)
How might we be active participants in hastening the work?
Sometimes we complicate the gospel to such an extent that we forget what it’s really about.
- It’s about knowing that we have a Heavenly Father who loves us.
- It’s about knowing that Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer.
- It’s about making covenants.
- It’s about knowing that the gospel was restored on the earth and that we are led by living prophets, seers, and revelators.
Additionally, it’s about teaching the doctrine to one another that we might be instructed more perfectly in the laws of the gospel (see D&C 88:77–78).
“Remember, we’re not marketing a product. We’re not selling anything. We’re not trying to impress anyone with our numbers or our growth. We are members of the restored Church of Jesus Christ, empowered and sent forth by the Lord Himself to find, nourish, and bring safely into His Church those who are seeking to know the truth” (“The Essential Role of Member Missionary Work”).
With the increasing number of missionaries throughout the world and greater access to missionaries in every unit of the Church, we will need to do things more effectively.
This will include a more steady engagement by our ward councils into the lives of our young men and young women, as well as a more effective approach to reach out to our less-active brothers and sisters.
(La Lima Zone)
(La Lima Zone)
Spiritual Preparation in the Home
Spiritual preparation in the home is critically important in preparing to share the gospel. The doctrine of Christ and the lesson plans contained in chapter 3 of Preach My Gospel can be taught in a simple way even to young children in our family home evenings.
Young minds in a home setting are so teachable.
We must be steady in our daily scripturestudy and also must preserve our Monday evenings for family home evening so that the evening does not turn into just another social gathering or athletic event that might compete with our chance to be with our own children in a well-planned and executed family home evening.
Progreso Norte)
(Pineda Zone)
Among the promises given:
• You shall have power to declare His word (see D&C 99:2).
• He will go before your face. He will be on your right hand and on your left (see D&C 84:88).
• You shall have blessings greater than the treasures of earth (see D&C 19:37–38).
• You will be given a testimony of the words of the prophets (see D&C 21:9).
• He will bear you up as on eagles’ wings (see D&C 124:18).
We have a gift. We should be willing to share it.
We are blessed to live in a time when the gospel of Jesus Christ is being hastened by our Heavenly Father to all parts of the world. Not just through personal contact with missionaries, but through example, social media, news media, publicity and every means of technology available to man today. The opportunity to do family temple work, gathering the records of loved ones from the past has never been easier nor more available to all mankind throughout the world.
Truly we see the Lord's hand in the work of salvation in all parts of the world.
Capture the Vision
Wishing will not make it so. The Lord expects our thinking. He expects our action. He expects our labors. He expects our testimonies. He expects our devotion.
Whatever our age, capacity, Church calling, or location, we are as one called to the work
to help Him in His harvest of souls.
There is a way for everyone … to participate in this great work. We can each find a way to use our own particular talents and interests in support of the great work of filling the world with light and truth.
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