PRESIDENT'S WEEKLY - Member Missionary Work in the Great California Fresno Mission

Member Missionary Work in the Great California Fresno Mission

Dear Elders and Sisters:

It was so wonderful to be with all of you at Zone Conference and I appreciated all the wonderful trainings we received and the spirit that confirmed their truth and timeliness for this great mission.  Can you feel the spirit "brooding" over this mission and directing the changes that are upon us in order to better participate and keep pace with the Lord as He hastens His work?  It is amazing to me.  Sunday alone I was in four different Stake Correlation meetings where all the key holders present were so aligned with the Vision of this Mission. The Lord is impressing upon them to fulfill their calling as well and it is clear that we are all in sync with Him as He leads and guides this great work of salvation.  it is such a privilege to "be in His employ".  He is so very, very generous!

Baptizing over 1,000 people in a year is a reflection of the great Member Missionaries in the California Fresno Mission.  We truly are blessed to serve with wonderful, missionary minded Members. I am convinced that the hastening is about the Members. The pace at which it will continue and accelerate will be dependent upon our personal righteousness and willingness to do those things with and through the Members (the topic of Zone Conference) He has revealed to us in order that we better participate and keep pace with Him in the hastening of His work. A friend asked me to outline this.  I thought it worthy to share here:

1.      The Lord is Hastening His work (D&C 88:73)  and He can do HIs own work (2 Nephi 27).

2.      He has sent Elders and Sisters to assist with the “flocks” helping them live up to their covenants as Member Missionaries (D&C 88:72).

3.      Two of the Twelve have said (paraphrasing) that the Hastening of the Work of Salvation has little to do with an increased Missionary force of 85,000 Missionaries and most everything to do with the Members as Missionaries.

4.      Elder Bednar has taught us IWADWWADTWAGWWAG (If We Always Do What We’ve Always Done Then We’ll Always Get What We’ve Always Gotten)  While what we have done in the past is wonderful, we must do things differently in order to;

     a.      Keep pace and participate with the Lord as He hastens His work, and

     b.      Recognize that it is a spiritual work and must be done in a spiritual way

5.      When Members (Active, Less Active, Part Members) and Investigators allow the Missionaries to teach them in a way that will;

     a.      Invite the Spirit through prayer

     b.      Teach the principles from Preach My Gospel

     c.      Testify, then

     d.      Faith will be increased, and

     e.      The Lord will reveal to the Members and Investigators what they should do or who they should invite

6.      There is roughly 3% of the population in the US that “’would join” the Church and ten times that many that “would listen to the Message” – based on a study the Church commissioned.

7.      The Lord has no intention of these people being found to teach and be baptized through a missionary force of 85,000.  They don’t know them but the Members do.  They are people that are in their path, their neighborhood, their workplace and the Lord is preparing them and will tell the Members when to invite them.  (See #3 above)

8.      A Missionary force of 85,000 is interesting but a Member Missionary force of 15 million is powerful.

9.      Couple this with the Spirit of Elijah and the fact that FH is the #1 hobby in the world and clearly the Lord is looking to the “Members” (either of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or Pre-Mortal Day Saints) to participate in the Hastening.

10.   It’s a wonderful day to be a Member Missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints – be it as a full time set apart Missionary or a full time covenanted Member.

I am pleased to announce that Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy will be visiting us for a Mission Conference on March 21, 2015.  The Conference begins at 2:30 pm and you are requested to be in your seats quietly studying at 2:00 pm.  Friends or WMLs, etc are unfortunately, not invited.  This is for set apart, fulltime missionaries only. It will be at the Fresno West Stake Center.  If the Church lot is full, please park on Valentine rather than on Sierra. You should stand when Elder Ballard (a Prophet) comes in and stand when he leaves, unless we have other direction from him.  This is a wonderful opportunity to be with one of the Lord's anointed and I know you will come prepared to receive.

Sister Clark and I love you and pray for you each and every day.  We feel your love and prayers always and continue to feel a little overwhelmed each and every morning as we kneel in 7:55 prayer knowing all of you are praying for us.  Thank you!  May the Lord continue to bless the great CFM with the righteous desires of our hearts - fulfilling our Missionary Purpose and assisting the Members to baptize 1,342 of Heavenly Father's prepared children into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this year.  Go Find, Teach, Baptize, and Rescue!!!!

Love,

President Clark