Transfer 3, Week 5: ..... let it snow, let it snow, let it snow
Family and Friends!
Thank you Dad for Both of the letters you sent- I received
and read both of them. PS Tell B he looks old, mature, and better than he
even was before and like he was an excellent missionary! I want to look like
that when I come home. I hit my 6 month mark in a week. It's insane.
I have a huge testimony of fasting now. We had a mission
fast this weekend, and we received through chat and the Square and on
the phone and in guest services 6 new people to teach. It's awesome. (not that
we need more to teach right now.... haah)
Teach When You Find, Find When You Teach -- Nov 2012 talk by Sister Fisher
I’ve heard many people say (myself included before my mission): I don’t have any missionary experiences, or I don’t know anyone who is interested in learning more. Preach My Gospel shows us that finding and teaching is the same thing.
Maybe one reason why people around us don’t show interest in learning more, is because they don’t actually know what we believe in.
How we speak to our family, how we dress, all of our conversations, the media we watch and listen to, how we use our time, and our attitudes toward meetings and church are all ways to show our beliefs. However, as a youth told us on Temple “Oh, I’ll just be an example to them”----It is no longer enough to just be an example, or show what we believe. We have to share WHAT we believe.
We answer chats, phone calls and questions from people all the time who all say “Yes I’ve noticed my Mormon friends do this or that, but I don’t know why they do it.”
Too often we wait for formal opportunities to share the “why” of what we do and who we are. We wait until we bring them to church and explain to them there, or wait for the missionaries to teach them, or we write our testimonies in copies of the Book of Mormon and give it to them, or we wait to explain what we believe and why we acted the way we did in high school in a letter you write a few days before you go into the MTC. (Me)
As Preach My Gospel teaches us, we don’t need to wait to share what we believe. Our friends and neighbors already know and can tell that we are different—what they need to know is why we are different.
As President Uchtdorf’s family did, we can all explain or share religious experiences that we have as we go along, instead of waiting for a formal occasion to do so. We don’t have to say, would you like to learn more? Or do you have a few minutes that I can share _________ with you. Or if you just read this you’ll find out why I ________________. As President Uchtdorf said in his talk Waiting on the Road to Damascus, you don’t have to wait to share your beliefs with friends by saying “I’d like to bear my testimony.”
He says: “Years ago our family lived and worked among people who in almost every case were not of our faith. When they asked us how our weekend was, we tried to skip the usual topics—like sports events, movies, or the weather—and tried to share some religious experiences we had as a family over the weekend—for instance, what a youth speaker had said about the standards from For the Strength of Youth or how we were touched by the words of a young man who was leaving on his mission or how the gospel and the Church helped us as a family to overcome a specific challenge we had.
We tried not to be preachy or overbearing. My wife, Harriet, was always the best at finding something inspirational, uplifting, or humorous to share. This often would lead to more in-depth discussions.”—UNQUOTE……..(--President Uchtdorf, in Waiting on the Road to Damascus) Preach My Gospel tells us to share short powerful messages where the spirit can testify of the simple truths we believe in—or the ‘why’.
As people notice that we dress differently at prom, instead of saying “my parents or my church said I have to” we can explain why we dress modestly by saying “I know that I am a daughter of God, and because of that I want to dress my body respectfully” or “well, one day I want to be married in the Temple, and I need to dress modestly to prepare” or “I dress modestly so that the spirit of God can be with me.”
Or when people ask us why we don’t work on Sunday we can share a principle of the gospel that we believe, such as “A prophet of God has said that the way we can keep the Sabbath day holy is by attending church, spending time with our families and resting from work on that day.”
When we switch the radio station because an inappropriate song comes on, instead of saying “I just don’t like this song,” we can say “Well I don’t want the thoughts that will come in my head if we listen to this song,” or “the spirit won’t be with me if I listen to this song.”
When people ask us about not drinking alcohol or coffee, instead of saying “well I’m not allowed to” we can share how we know that a Prophet of God revealed that those things are not good for our body, or it prevents us from feeling the spirit, or another simple truth.
Or when they ask us about why we don’t date until we’re 16, or we date in groups or are very careful with how far we take physical affection, we can share “that we know that marriage is very important to God, and that we must keep each other clean and respect the standards a Prophet of God have established to keep us safe.”
When we teach as we find (or as we have the opportunity to share), and not waiting to find before we teach, our friends will be interested in learning more because they will actually know what we believe, not just how we live our life. When we refer quickly and simply to the truths we know, or the why behind what we do, I know that we will all have many more missionary opportunities. We’re not asking you to work harder, just smarter.
As we share short powerful messages we will help direct those who are seeking for the gospel, but don’t know where to find it, actually find it. We will be able to share all the blessings and guidance that we have from the restored Gospel, with all those around you that you love. We will also more effectively keep our covenant we made with our Heavenly Father at baptism, to “stand as a witness for God at all times and in all things and in all places.”
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Love,
Sister Fisher
PS. Sorry about the short letter today. Next week will have more.
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