Letter from Mission President

May 18, 2014

Dear Sisters and Elders:

If I were to give this letter a title, I would call it “The Lord is in Charge”.

71 And the Lord of the vineyard said unto them: Go to, and labor in the vineyard, with your might. For behold, this is the last time that I shall nourish my vineyard; for the end is nigh at hand, and the season speedily cometh; and if ye labor with your might with me ye shall have joy in the fruit which I shall lay up unto myself against the time which will soon come.

72 And it came to pass that the servants did go and labor with their mights; and the Lord of the vineyard labored also with them; and they did obey the commandments of the Lord of the vineyard in all things.

The following experience shows the Lord is in charge. Sister Clements and I just returned from the Lakeville Stake Conference. After the meeting, one companionship approached me to relate a most amazing miracle. Missionary A is from Utah. His parents were converts in Minnesota a long time ago. Missionary A’s mother prayed that missionary A, her 11th and last child, would be sent to Minnesota to teach his relatives who still live in Minnesota. Most of those relatives don’t have positive impressions of the Church.

Missionary A is transferred two weeks ago to a new area. He and his companion are
knocking on doors in the middle of the day. No one answers. As they’re about to leave, a
man comes out from the garage. Missionaries introduce themselves. Man says he knows
who they are because his brother is a Mormon in Utah. Man introduces himself. His
name is the same as missionary A (not a common name). Missionary A says “That’s
funny, I have the same name and I’m from Utah.” Man gives missionary A a big hug and
says “You’re my nephew!”
When I prayerfully transferred Missionary A to his new area, I had forgotten all about his family connections in Minnesota. And I certainly didn’t know his uncle lived in the town he was about to be transferred to.

To summarize, Missionary A could be sent anywhere in the world to any one of the 405 missions. 

Here are the steps that took him to his uncle:

1. His mother quietly prays that he will be sent to Minnesota.
2. The Lord’s apostle feels impressed to assign Missionary A to Minnesota.
3. The mission president assigns him to the town in which his uncle lives.
4. Missionary A and his companion decide to tract in the middle of the day.
5. They happen to knock on the Uncle’s door.
6. Uncle is home in the middle of the day, contrary to his normal schedule.

Nothing on his application suggested he had relatives in Minnesota.

Missionary A and his companion are going to dinner at the uncle’s home this week. We are praying for him to astonish the uncle with his testimony when he teaches the restoration to the uncle and his family.

Since it’s the Lord’s work, we must expect miracles every minute of every day. And our expectation should be that those miracles lead to baptisms. We must “eat, drink and sleep baptisms.” That is our purpose. Surely in a mission of more than 6 million people, there are .1% of the people the Lord is preparing today for baptism. That would be 6000 people!

We simply must qualify ourselves for the Lord to trust is with these people. How do we qualify ourselves?

• Diligence
• Boldness

Diligence means we plan effective use of our time. We see every minute as precious.
We don’t find excuses to kill time. Rather every minute is the Lord’s. We make effective
backup plans so when an appointment falls through, we’re right on to the next plan.

My inspiration regarding boldness is included as a separate document with this email.

Please read and prayerfully study that document. At upcoming zone conferences, you will be asked to sign the “MMM Title of Boldness”. Please do each of the seven steps on the Title of Boldness. Your investigators will progress as you follow each step.

Item 5 of the Title talks about boldly committing people to live the commandments.

Don’t delay teaching the commandments. Some missionaries think that if they ignore or wait to teach the tougher commandments, the investigator will progress further. That is incorrect. The commandments are evidence of God’s love for his children. We teach early the commandments the investigator most needs to repent of. For example, if someone is a coffee drinker, teach that soon after teaching the Plan of Salvation. Or if someone is breaking the law of chastity, teach that promptly after the Plan of Salvation.

No one will ever be converted if you don’t teach the commandments. Conversion doesn’t happen until they start living the commandments. If you are fearful, they will be fearful.
Fear is the opposite of faith. You must have faith for your investigator to have faith. You must have confidence and faith that the commandments come from the Lord. You must know that he blesses those who live the commandments. If you don’t believe that deep in your heart, the spirit won’t back you up when you testify.

Finally, as a reminder, we always invite the investigator to kneel to pray at the end of every lesson. Do not ask him to call on someone to pray. That is fine for the opening prayer, but not the closing prayer. Always ask the investigator to kneel and pray. That prayer is an expression of faith. It will lead him to have a desire to repent. Kneeling brings a humble, worshipful attitude. You are bold missionaries. This is what bold, effective missionaries do.

I’m excited to see all of the dates that are set this week. For this week only, please report to the zone leaders two numbers: 1) reportable dates set and 2) all other dates set (report two numbers, not a combined number).

I’m excited to present Sister Clements her birthday gift on May 25. More importantly, I’m excited about all the wonderful people who will make the covenant of baptism with the Lord during the month of June.

We love you,
President and Sister Clements