To the missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,
We want to thank each of you for making this Christmas the whitest Christmas in many, many years in this mission. Lives have been changed, vision has been lifted and all of it has happened because we focused on our purpose: to invite others to come unto Christ and be baptized.
As the new year approaches, the challenge we have is that our nature is to forget the source and cause of our many blessings. We see this unfortunate pattern repeated over and over in The Book of Mormon. Mormon laments how slow we are to remember these the Lord in the midst of prosperity (Alma 46:8). With this in mind, I wish to restate the standard in our mission:
1. Invite someone to be baptized everyday (Really means teaching a 1st lesson everyday)
2. Finding everyday! We should especially be finding between the hours of 6-8pm unless we are teaching an investigator that we can't schedule before 6pm or after 8pm. This is when we will find families at home. We should not be visiting members during these hours.
3. No first lessons taught without a baptismal invitation extended.
4. No second lessons taught if those we teach are not keeping commitments/repenting (PMG p.196).
One of the great lines in PMG is that "Nothing happens in missionary work until you find someone to teach" (p. 156). When we have people to teach, nightly planning becomes more purposeful, personal study becomes more revelatory and companionship study become more productive. We need to be finding everyday. I would like you each to spend time in personal and companionship study this week reviewing the principles related to finding in Ch 9 of PMG. There is great wisdom found in this chapter that, if followed, can dramatically increase the number of people we find, teach and baptize.
We love you all and are eager to begin this new year fully resolved to finding those the Lord has prepared. With Fast Sunday approaching, let's also encourage members to fast and pray for opportunities to share the gospel just as the member of the church did in Zarahemla (Alma 6:6) that they may find joy in sharing the gift we are so blessed to have.
Love,
President and Sister Mortensen
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| Sister 'Aisea and Sister Lusk at their baptism. |
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| Inwood missionaries at their ward party |
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| "He is the Gift" Tree in the Mission Office |
