Transfer 5, Week 4: Wahoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!
We
had two really awesome miracles this week:We taught a man who has lots of LDS
friends, who is non religious himself, with a Jewish background (of course… I
always meet Jewish people or Baptists) who had a problem with prayer, we found
out later. He wanted to see what we believed. We told him about the
Restoration and how Joseph Smith asked questions, and we all must too and be willing to pray about them and
will receive an answer. We then taught about a modern Prophet and
apostles today, and at the kiosk, he randomly pushed President Monson’s picture
to hear a snippet from his last General Conference talk. At first, I was
really nervous because we had no idea what snippet or from what talk it would
be from. It was neat because this was a clip from “Consider the
Blessings” = THE ONLY TALK IN CONFERENCE directly ABOUT PRAYER. It was so
cool to see how inspired and how the Lord teaches His children exactly what
they need, not necessarily what we the missionaries had planned to teach.
I had a
man from FLOWERMOUND randomly come up to us at the desk on Sunday. He’s
24, and has been listening to the Book of Mormon on tape in his truck as he’s
been truck driving around the country. He’s ready to leave it all behind
and change. He said, “I want to give it
all up. All that I have, am, everything. I want to quit truck driving and do
whatever God wants me to.” He wants to be baptized. He knows the Church
is true. He wants the Priesthood and an eternal family. He told me
the story of how he was led to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints: At one point, he knew he needed to change and that he wasn’t
happy. He prayed and told God that he would do whatever He wanted him
too, but he wanted to change his life, but didn’t know what church to go
to. He asked that God would show him where to go and what to do, and that
he would be lead to the right church. THE NEXT church he found on the
road that Sunday was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
He’s awesome. So prepared. We’re going to teach him over the phone
and see miracles happen for this young man who has such righteous desires.
The
other thing that I wanted to share, is something that I have been really
thinking about lately. It is 38 pieces of Advice that I have learned
about missionary work for other missionaries. I know that it still applies
to any other member’s lives too. Here are the first 20 things of what I
have learned so far on my mission:
1.
The answer to every problem, concern, or doubt you have is
this: “Forget yourself, and go to work.” You didn’t come out here to
think about you, anyway.
2.
Forget about your concerns, weaknesses, or insecurities- focus on
your investigators and companion. You didn’t come out here to think about
yourself anyway.
3. We may need to drop people (from our call list if they don’t respond etc), but God never will. People all have their agency. But God has a plan for each one of them to come back to Him. (D&C 138)
4. If they want to argue, walk away or hang up. You won’t and can’t prove anything to them because the converter is the Spirit- not you, and the Spirit won’t be in a place of contention. (No matter how many Bible verses you can give) see D&C 43:15, 10:63, 18:20
5. As long as you think about yourself, you’ll be miserable and as long as you think about others you’ll be happy. (see Mormon 9:14)
6. Assume
the good and doubt the bad in your companion. If they annoy, frustrate or
offend you, you probably don’t understand where they’re coming from or their
point of view or intentions. They came out here for the same reason you
did.
8.
Don’t waste your precious time wondering or worrying if the Spirit
is with you, - just do it our say it anyway. Because He is with you. We
get kinda numb to what feeling the Spirit feels like because it is around us
99% of the time all day long on our mission here. We recognize it when it
changes or leaves. (D&C 121:46, 99:2, and 3 Ne 9:20)
9. Whatever
the reason or excuse, be obedient anyway. (no matter how legitimate the excuse
may be) It is not worth Heavenly Father withholding a miracle from
you. It doesn’t matter WHAT the Lord or our leaders as us to do or
obey, but instead that we are willing to do it. Obedience isn’t about the
action, but about the attitude.(D&C 82:10, 130:21, 6:20 and Mosiah 2:41)
10. Make
the sacrifice (sleep, time, eating whatever) and write in your journal anyway.
(It’s the way you record the Lord’s hand in your life, and when you record it,
you recognize and remember it, and He is more likely to bless you again)
11. Your
leaders aren’t and never will be in this life perfect, so don’t expect them to
be.
12. God
doesn’t want you to be an exact copy of your zone leader. He called YOU
on a mission, and all He wants is the best YOU that you can be (not 100 clones
of your District Leader).
13. Preach
My Gospel is perfect. Use it. Don’t dilute the doctrines in there, TEACH
them. It’s important to personalize lessons, and teach people- but we
must still teach lessons. That is what will convert them. (The difference
between being someone’s counselor and being their missionary is whether they
keep commitments or not.)
14. Happiness
is a choice. It is also a commandment. (2 Ne 2:25) It’s really hard to
teach the Plan of Salvation, or the Plan of Happiness if you are not happy
yourself. (Come what may and love it. Smile, especially when you don’t
want to.)
15. It
doesn’t matter who says it (your companion, the investigator or the member), as
long as it gets said. You don’t need the credit.
16. Saying
what you want to say isn’t as important as companionship unity.
Backing up, clarifying, illustrating or testifying or giving a commitment after
what your companion has just said is more powerful than you changing the topic
or stating your opinion or how you would’ve said it.
17. Don’t
focus on so many people that you are too stretched, because then nothin and no one gets affected. (D&C
123:17, Mosiah 5:27, D&C 10:4, D&C 50:40-41, D&C 10:4)
18. . You
can only convert someone as much as they want and choose to be. But don’t
worry, the Lord does have a plan for them.
19. The
Holy Spirit converts. Not anything you do or say. (D&C 50:17-22)
20. If
you ever doubt something or have questions, it’s okay. Be patient. Your answers
will come in their own time and way. (And probably not like the big bang sort
of revelation your investigator receives because they need that in order to
change their life, you already know and don’t need it. Yours probably will be a
still and small voice.)
Well,
I’m out of time for today. The next 18-20 pieces of what I learned will
come next week.
Love
y’all so much,
Sister
Fisher
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