To the Missionaries of the Great Texas Houston Mission,
As missionaries we are in the unique position to represent the Lord in His work. When we are living according to His standards, our words are His words, our promises are His promises and our invitations are His invitations. Sometimes, even though we may understand this, our words betray us; we fail to use words of faith.
For example, sometimes when we invite others to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, we will say, "Will you read the Book of Mormon to know 'if' it's true?" Using the word "if" suggests that there is some doubt as to whether or not it is true. The fact is, it is true. We are only inviting them to act so that they too can know this truth. So instead, we suggest that we consider using words of faith by saying something like this, "The Lord would have you read the Book of Mormon and pray so that you too can know 'that' it is true. Will you accept His invitation to you to read and pray to know that it's true?"
Similarly when we extend an invitation to be baptized, we sometimes say, "We have prayed to know when you could be ready and believe that you can be ready by December 19th. Will you pray to know 'if' you should be baptized on that date?" If the Lord has truly confirmed to us that a person can be ready, shouldn't that change the way we word the invitation to something more like this: "We have prayed and know that the Lord would have you follow His example by preparing to be baptized on December 19th. Will you accept the invitation to prepare for this date?"
As we speak in words of faith and allow the Spirit to carry our words unto the hearts of those we teach, they will be more inclined to accept our invitation and follow the Lord.
We love you and are eager to meet with you at our zone conferences this week. Please come prepared with a 5 minute talk one of two topics:
1. The Importance of Members (PMG p.160-162)
2. How do I work with Stake and Ward leaders? (PMG 213)
We look forward to a wonderful conference!
Love,
President and Sister Mortensen
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| The Larsens arrived in the THM last Wednesday and we are so happy to have them! This is the fourth mission they have served and we love them already. |
Here are some of our missionaries from the Cypress Zone at a recent service opportunity. They are blessing so many lives!
