Start A New Day
Dear Elders and Sisters:
May I share an excerpt from the letter of a missionary's
first day into an area he and his companion were just doubled into? I think we can extract some insights to help
us from this experience. The names have been
changed or omitted for privacy.
“- Natalie Turnberry
I feel like this woman may be the one I came to [this area] for. I'm
sorry this is going to be long, and I know you have many emails to read from
the mission, but I'd love you to hear this story: So, on Tuesday night (our
first night), we had about 20 minutes left before curfew. We saw a big
apartment complex and decided to park the car in there and talk to people
outside. While talking to a man in front on his apartment, his neighbor came
out of her door and stood there watching/listening to us. The Spirit made it
clear that we needed to end our conversation with this man and go talk with
her. So, we did. Natalie told us that she had been seeing missionaries often
the past few weeks and has become curious to ask what it is we teach. In our
remaining 5 minutes before we needed to leave for curfew, we mentioned the
Restoration and asked if we could return the next day to teach her more. She
gladly accepted. The next day she called us just to confirm that we were still
coming. We went by and taught all of lesson 1. She told us she always felt like
there was more scripture than just the Bible, and that a record of the ancient
inhabitants of the Americas made perfect sense to her. She told us that she has
been feeling like she needs to become involved in a church and be baptized, but
didn't know where to go or how to get started. She accepted another return
appointment. The next visit we taught her the Plan of Salvation. As we
testified of the afterlife I saw a tear run down her cheek. We asked her what
she was thinking. She told us that her son passed away at 9 months old and that
she would do anything to see him again. We shed a few tears with her as well as
we promised her that she would see her son again. We set a baptism date with
her for the 30th of this month. The next Sunday she came to church! She stayed
all 3 hours and LOVED Relief Society. She even signed up on the missionary
dinner calendar! Several Sisters of Relief Society came up to us after Natalie
had left for home and said things like, "Elders, she is golden. She was
such a sweet delight. What can we do to help her? How can we become
involved?" The Relief Society Lesson was all about Temples & Eternal
Families. Wow! So, that night we went by to see her again. We brought Brother
& Sister [WML] and her favorite candy bar, a Snickers. When we approached
her apartment she was on the front porch reading the Book of Mormon! - She is
so golden! She was writing her thoughts and impressions in a journal. It was
9:15 PM, so we only had about 30 minutes until we needed to leave for our 10:00
curfew. She told us that the day we met she was in her upstairs bedroom with
her window open. She told us she could hear us talking to someone and felt like
she needed to go out and meet us. At about 9:40 (5 minutes remaining), the
story of the woman at the wale in John 4:13-14 came to my mind. I felt a strong
impression that I needed to share it before we left, so I did. As soon as I
began reading it, Natalie's eyes lit up. I asked her, "What is it?"
She told me to just finish the scripture then she'd tell me. After reading it
to her, she opened up her journal and showed us what she had written just
minutes before we arrived for that evening visit. She wrote something like
this, "I've always felt so thirsty to know more about this church and now
I feel like my thirst is finally being quenched." It was a sweet moment.
Elder [Companion] and I ran as fast as we could back to the car - we now only
had 10 minutes to make the 15 minute drive back to our apartment - which we did
with 1 minute to spare, being blessed by a series of green lights (imagine
that).”
I, President Clark, make several observations:
1. The Lord is hastening His work and preparing people to
receive the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ!
2. The Spirit must be followed in all things, including
in your finding and always in your teaching!
3. Faith must always be present! - these Missionaries
texted me when they arrived to the area (which had no PIs) and told me they
were going to keep their white clothes with them because they planned on
baptizing so much.
4. You must do the work and do so with a glad heart!
5. You must always Open Your Mouth!
6. You must Teach People and Not Lessons!
7. You must "treasure up the word" so you will
be a full vessel from which the Spirit can draw to teach!
8. You can and must be Exactly Obedient!
9. You must have your Line in the Water!
I know the Lord has prepared and is preparing people like
this in each of your areas. If you don't
have a testimony of this, “Start a New Day" and please study the doctrine
to obtain one. It is fundamental to
being able to exercise the faith necessary to receive the "Golden
Investigator" blessing you desire.
Faith must be present in all you do! "Set Goals, Make Plans" is a faith
based approach to this work! If your
faith is insufficient, “Start a New Day" and determine to exercise faith
rather than be found lacking in faith.
You must seek and follow the Spirit and if you are
lacking, “Start a New Day" and figure out (preferably through the
chastening of the Spirit) what needs to change in your attitude, approach, and
abilities to draw on the powers of heaven and receive a full measure of the
Spirit.
And then go to work!
Get your Line in the Water!!! I
continue to observe that the solution to challenges, the way to remove hurdles
and stumbling blocks, and the method to achieve rather than just do things is in
doing the work. The anecdote to all that
ails you and fails you from being successful is always found in doing the work.
So begin each day by “Starting a New Day” with great
faith, seek and follow the spirit, have a glad heart, Open Your Mouth, and work
in accordance with the dictates of the Spirit which you must be exactly obedient
to in order to receive a full measure off.
Sister Clark and I pray that every day will be the best
New Day of your Mission experience!
We love you dearly!
President Clark
PS In advance of our upcoming Zone Conference, please
obtain and study President Uchtdorf's talk entitled "The Gift of
Grace" from April 2015 General Conference. Also, please memorize D&C 20:37, if you
have not already done so.
