Faith is a Power!
Dear Elders and Sisters:
Each of your letters from me this week began with:
"I just want to start by letting you know how great it was to be with you
in Specialized Training this week and I trust you can observe how dedicated I
am to helping you develop greater faith in the work and greater faith in
achieving Zone and Unit goals this year.
I know you are the kind of missionary who will plant the seed of faith,
receive the initial endowment of faith through the spirit and then get to work
and give the Lord a reason to bless you."'
I do this because it is the message I want each of you to
hear, to know, to feel, and to live! I
have felt such peace in teaching it and feel so aligned with our culture, the
culture we seek to adopt from "Teach Repentance and Baptize
Converts". I know this is what the
Quorum of the Twelve desire of us and testify it is their work we are
participating with them in. And I have
already heard from so many of you how focusing on and exercising greater faith
in the work is blessing you, your area, and your ministry.
I know we are called of God and desire to live our
Missionary Purpose! And I know we will
better be able to do so as we seek to increase our faith in Jesus Christ and
His Atonement as well as help investigators develop the same - Faith in Jesus
Christ and His Atonement...unto Repentance, yielding a desire to be
baptized! My heart brims with excitement
as I even write about it. The entire
world simply needs to increase their faith in Jesus Christ and His
Atonement. It is the cure for what ails
everyone in this world. It is the
greatest message and if you'll help them understand this, baptisms will
increase for they will desire to repent and be forgiven of their sins for they
will want to "Come and Follow" Him.
This is so absolutely real! Only in His Church, the true and living
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints can one truly "Come unto
Him". But it will take faith! Faith to begin that walk with Him! Faith to come and see! Faith to know "he is mighty to
save"! Help them plant this seed of
faith and receive through the spirit the initial confirmation it is a true seed
(Alma 32:28). Then help them nurture it
through their good works - asking, seeking, and knocking. This pattern is so simple and it is so
real!!!
Elder Christofferson teaches in his great talk "Free
Forever to Act For Themselves" that we need to simply "Go to work so
there is something for God to help us with." You hear me say this often. But we need to work in the right ways. We need to seek to achieve things rather than
just do things. Good is the enemy of
Great! Preach My Gospel says: “Goal
setting and planning are acts of faith. . . . Goals reflect the desires of our
hearts and our vision of what we can accomplish. Through goals and plans, our hopes are
transformed into action.”
“Set goals for each key indicator. . . . Do everything
within your power to achieve your goals while respecting the agency of others.
. . . Carefully considered goals will give you clear direction and will help
you fill your days with activities that help people strengthen their faith in
the Savior and progress toward baptism, confirmation, and full activity in the
Church. Challenging goals will help you
work effectively and lead you to stretch and grow.” (PMG)
I am confident (based on seeds of faith I have planted)
that our increased faith coupled with the appropriate good works manifested in
our finding, teaching repentance, and baptizing converts will help us advance
from 30 to 60 baptisms per month. The energy and faith to find those who will
listen will come alive, and repentance and conversion will follow.
I have planted seeds of faith in two things: 1. Zone
Goals, and 2. Unit Goals. And I have
received, through the spirit, the confirmation they are good seeds. I am now working to nurture them through good
works and can already see how they are developing into a mighty tree. I promise you that as you do the same (and
you'll need to do this each month in regards to your Zone Goals and in each new
area you may be transferred to), you will "know" they are good
seeds. And then simply go to work doing
the right things and give God a reason to bless you! In this manner you will nurture these seeds
by planning and working in the right way which will serve to create and provide
more faith.
His promise is that He will bless you and while people do
have their free-agency to choose, i know that where faith is present coupled
with appropriate good works, faith increases.
And as Elder Anderson taught us: "There is a spiritual force that
can stir a mortal soul toward the spiritual, motivating deeper study into the
Book of Mormon and more prayer with real intent. Faith is a power, and it can
cause things to happen that need to happen. It can cause a soul who is good but
dormant to awaken to God."
With much love and heartfelt prayers of faith,
President Clark
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