Message 27 May 2012

Message—27 May 2012

Dear Family & Friends,

Monday we spent most of our time preparing for the four zone conferences held during the week.  The zone conferences were held on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  They were all held at the Sacred Grove and in the basement of the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center.  Each day we met at the parking lot for the Sacred Grove at 9am.  Many of the missionaries come early so they can visit with each other as well as some like to spend time on their own in the Sacred Grove.  Therefore we had to arrive early enough so we could get the information I needed from the missionaries about their vehicles.  I directed the missionaries to park in the bus parking area where I could do the vehicle inspections; while Sister Jensen asked the missionaries the questions for which I needed answers about their vehicles.  After all the missionaries arrived with their cars I and Sister Jensen  began doing the inspections of the vehicles.  She served as my recorder of information and I checked the vehicles; while she checked to vehicle pouch information in the glove box.  On three of the four days I had the help of Elder and Sister Ellis and on two of the days I had the help of Elder Servoss; they were very helpful.  We only had about an hour and half to do the inspections so we could be finished by the time the missionaries were finished in the Grove so they could drive their vehicles to the Hill Cumorah for the rest of the training to be given.  After we finished with the vehicles we attended the rest of the training given until the zone conferences ended about 4 pm each day.  I prepared and provided about 20 minutes of training about vehicle safety and caring for the vehicles in each meeting.

We were blessed to have Elder Kevin R. Duncan attend the zone conferences on Friday and Saturday and provide some instruction for about an hour both days.  He had been doing a mission tour in a nearby mission and since his two daughters were on school vacation for the long weekend he had arranged for them to meet he and his wife at the church history sites so they could spend some time together there before returning home on Monday.  Elder Duncan is a great teacher and provided some very helpful instruction to help the missionaries be more effective in helping to bring about real growth in the church.

The lunches for three of the days were provided by the Stake Relief Societies for the stake in which the zone was located.  These sisters brought the food from their areas to the Hill Cumorah and fed the missionaries and then cleaned up and returned home.  On Saturday Sister Jensen and Sister Servoss provided the food for the lunch; they did a great job.  Sister Jensen also provided the afternoon snacks during the 15 minute break on three of the days, Sister Servoss also helped on the last day.

The zone leaders in each zone provided some instruction relating to Chapter 5 in PMG on the Book of Mormon.  This was done to initiate the reading, pondering, and praying about the Book of Mormon as a mission.  Beginning today, Sunday, all the missionaries, including us senior couples, will begin reading 5 pages every day from the Book of Mormon as companion study time.  We will all read the same 5 pages together on the same day.  One main objective is to help bring an increased unity to the mission as well as to each companionship.  In addition, this will strengthen our focus on teaching the great value of the Book of Mormon in helping investigators gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel.  When we read the Book of Mormon together last year as a mission, many missionary miracles happened; we hope and pray the same will happen again this year.

President Christianson taught us about “…establishing the church and bringing about real growth…”.  This is information provided by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve.  It was given to President Christianson and all the other mission presidents in our area in an April Mission Presidents Seminar; and was taught to them by Elder Jay Jensen.  The beginning principle of the instruction is Doctrine & Covenants Section 107:33-34 which teaches that the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve have the major responsibility to “…build up the church…”.  The Seventy are to “…act…under the direction of the Twelve…in building up the church…”.  By extension to us, we are to assist in “…building up the church…” under the direction of our priesthood leaders.  The concept of real growth is to help members and converts remain true and faithful to their covenants, enduring to the end, and helping to “…build up the church…”  The church is growing in numbers every year; but there is not a corresponding increase in sacrament meeting attendance and other measures which indicate faithfully enduring to the end of our lives.  In relation to this topic, Elder Duncan taught the two zones he attended how to help bring about real growth by helping members learn how to become more involved in participating in finding, teaching, and retaining investigators.  He had the missionaries participate in describing the “perfect” investigator teaching situation.  The end result was that the investigators were a family; the teaching was to be done by the missionaries in the home of the investigator, with the presence of a member family who were returning to activity in the church after being inactive for a time.  If you think about it for a few minutes you can see the wisdom in this.  The unseen part of this is that the Bishop and the ward council were involved with the missionaries in determining who the family should be, who is returning to activity.  Following each teaching meeting a report should come back to the ward council on how the teaching went and decisions and assignments were made to help both families continue to make progress and bring about real growth in their lives.  This same process is repeated with every investigator family, or individual.  The members of the church, both active and inactive, should become a part of this process, and gather in the non-members and help each other remain faithful to the end.

Friday evening after zone conference we attended a YSA “Gathering in the Grove” fireside which was actually held in the Palmyra Stake Center which is about one fourth mile from the Sacred Grove.  The Speaker was President Christianson; he spoke on the topic of the influence of music in our lives and our choices.  He has written a few books on the topic and was very effective in reaching the YSA to help them see how music can influence their lives in coming to Christ or being led away from Christ.  The concluding event for this YSA weekend activity is a fireside Sunday evening, tonight, at which Alex Boye, of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, will speak and sing.  President Christianson is very good friends with Alex; and he had invited him to the Friday evening fireside along with Alex’s piano accompanist.  President Christianson had him sing a musical number Alex had written with a very spiritual message; it had a very positive and strong effect on the YSA audience to illustrate the power of good music.

This morning we had previously been invited to speak at the sacrament meeting in Warsaw; which is about 15 miles from the Geneseo ward building.  We spoke on the topic of renewing baptism and temple covenants.  Sister Jensen did very well with her talk; but she left me more time than I needed; but the Spirit was there and did some good teaching and we had a very good meeting.  We returned to our Geneseo ward in time to attend our priesthood and Relief Society meetings.  This evening we are going to attend the Alex Boye fireside.

It has been a great week, with long days and short nights; but with great spiritual experiences along the way.  We are so very blessed to be here in this mission and to have the great opportunity to be in special places where the events of the restoration began.  We know Heavenly Father lives, Jesus Christ is His Only Begotten Son, and is the Savior and Redeemer of all of us.  Joseph Smith is the prophet of the restoration; and President Monson is his ordained successor and holds all the same keys the Prophet Joseph held.  We have living apostles and prophets to lead us in all we should do to become worthy of living with Heavenly Father and His Son.  We have a certain witness that the Book of Mormon is true and will bless our lives as we read it and pray to know and understand what it teaches; and follow those teachings in our daily lives.

We extend our love and best wishes to each of the following on their birthdays this month.  Our daughter Jana on June 3^rd, Shalee on June 5^th, Brandon on June 13^th, Bailey on June 20^th, and Robyn and Braxton on June 28^th, and we also wish Kamri a happy first birthday, we think on June 28^th but we might be wrong on the day.  We hope you each have a wonderful day and a great year ahead.

Most all of the farmers here in NY have their crops planted and growing; they are now praying for rain to water them so they will grow.  There is very little irrigation here in NY, so almost all of the farmers are totally dependent on the Lord for bringing rain for their crops.

May you each be blessed with all the blessings and help you need to guide, protect, and sustain you in all your needs.  We love each of you, and pray for you in your individual needs.

Love,

Mom & Dad, Grandma & Grandpa, Richard & Maxine