Texas Houston Mission: Lift, Encourage, Inspire and Bless

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Lift, Encourage, Inspire and Bless

Dear Sisters and Elders –

As missionaries, we are called and set apart to invite and help others to come unto Christ. Certainly, this includes investigators and the members in our assigned wards and branches. We also have a responsibility to help each other come closer to the Savior.

In the Missionary Handbook we are asked to “lift, encourage, inspire, and bless” one another (p. 57). What does this mean?

We “support each other” and “strengthen each other in times of difficulty,”

We “love and respect” each other,

We “look for the good” in each other,

We “find ways to serve each other,"

We “work in a spirit of unity,” and

We “do not criticize” each other (see p. 30).

The Apostle John taught: “Let us love one another: for love is of God… He who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:7, 21). The Savior also explained: “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35).

I invite each of us to seek for ways to “lift, encourage, inspire, and bless” one another. Prayerfully ask God what you can do to help your companion and other missionaries to come closer to Christ. As a companionship, identify ways that you can bless other missionaries around you.

As we seek to “lift, encourage, inspire, and bless” each other, I promise that we will have increased spiritual power, more people will accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and we will find greater joy in this work. I hope that it can be said of us as it was said of the Nephites after Christ’s ministry to them: “Surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God” (1 Nephi 1:16).

With love and respect,

President Pingree