President's Weekly Letter #40

WHITE READY TO HARVEST

When I served my first mission 43 years ago, I felt the Church was “making it” in the world.  It had been expelled in the eastern United States after it was founded in 1830.  Through the faith, work and sacrifice of converted saints, the Church headquarter was established in Utah, it survived the days of poverty and steadily grew for a century and a half.  I felt that in 1970 many people respected the Church for its humanitarian work and the wholesome, successful lives that members of the Church seemed to live.  The fastest growing areas at that time, as I remember, were the Northwest of the United States and South America.  In the world, there were about 16,000 missionaries, 560 Stakes, 94 Missions and the church was established in about 60 countries.  There were 13 operating temples.  There were 2.9 million members with about 79,000 convert baptisms in 1970.

Today there are 65,000 missionaries, 3,005 Stakes, 347 Missions, the Church is established in 189 nations of the 224 nations and territories of the world and there are 140 operating temples.  Church membership is 14.8 million people with 272,000 converts baptized in 2012.

While the difference in numbers are impressive, it is put into perspective to note that in 1970 there were 3.7 billion people living on the earth.  Today, 2013, there are 7.0 billion people.  Church membership today is a mere 0.2% of the world population. 

We are few in number just as Nephi foretold in 1 Nephi 14:12, but the prophetic words of Daniel are clearly seen: the “stone … cut … without hands … [is filling] the whole earth.” (Daniel 3:34-35) The membership growth of the Church is and will continue to be an exponential function ie, if each year every member finds one, then the next year every member finds one and so on, the numbers are astounding.  If this occurred and you assume only 1/3 of 1/2 of the members participate now and in the future, the Church would have 7.0 billion members in 40 years.  Do the math.  I am convinced that some day in the not so distant future we will look back at 2013 as pre-historic in terms of where the Church will be at that time.

Many more missionaries are coming.  The Lord is pouring out his spirit on Nederland and Belgium consistent with the hastening of the work begun last October with the announcement of the lowering of age for missionary service. But the members and non-members are the main recipient of the blessings of the hastening, not the Mission.  It would be well to explain this to members as we work with them.  Elder Anderson said in April Conference 2013:

“Brothers and sisters, as surely as the Lord has inspired more missionaries to serve, He is also awakening the minds and opening the hearts of more good and honest people to receive His missionaries. You already know them or will know them. They are in your family and live in your neighborhood. They walk past you on the street, sit by you in school, and connect with you online. You too are an important part of this unfolding miracle...

I promise you, as you pray to know with whom to speak, names and faces will come into your mind. Words to speak will be given in the very moment you need them.  Opportunities will open to you. Faith will overcome doubt, and the Lord will bless you with your very own miracles.”  (Neil L. Anderson, It’s a Miracle, April 2013 General Conference)

We share the “Living Water” of the gospel.  Jesus taught the woman of Samarian at the well, skillfully using water and thirst as the teaching tool (John 4).  The “Living Water” Christ taught about is to be compared to the doctrine of the gospel, the love of God and/or the atonement.  The woman made it easy to be taught because she was humble (verse 9), she desired to know more (verses 11-12) and she believed his words (verses 15, 19, 25).  Samaritans were despised and avoided by the Jews.  But, Jesus went straight there and said: 

“13 …Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”

He then told her about her relationships with men, which he had no way of knowing, and she immediately recognized him as a prophet.  After Jesus testified, “I that speak unto thee am He [the Christ]” (verse 26), she caught the spirit of missionary work, left her water pot (symbolic that she will never thirst), went her way into the city and testified to the people of the Christ.  They went out of the City and came unto Jesus.  Upon seeing them come Jesus said,

“35 …Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.

36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal: that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. 

37 And herein is that saying true, One soweth, and another reapeth.

38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour: other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.”

In the end, the Samaritans asked him to tarry and he stayed there two days.

 “41 And many more believed because of his own word;”

Elders and Sisters, we along with the church members in our Mission are engaged in this great work that Jesus foretold.  Let us all commit our best efforts to be successful at our task, making the members a partner in the work and gather the fruit.

President Robinson

President's Weekly Letter #39

THE ACCUSER

One day early in the morning Jesus went into the Temple.  All the people came unto him and he sat down and taught them.  Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman taken in the very act of adultery.  Their motive was to tempt him into making a mistake so they could have something to “accuse” him.  We all know the story which is a classic teaching tool for various doctrines.  I want to focus on the accuser.

“ 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

 9 And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?” (John 8:7-11)

One of the names of Satan is the Accuser.  He was literally a spirit son of God who was in a position of influence in the pre-existence.  He presented his plan of salvation as alternative to our Father’s plan supported by Jesus Christ.  His plan was to withhold free agency from all of God’s children and thus guarantee that all of them would return to our Father’s presence due to forced righteous living.  No Savior would be necessary.  He also had a greedy streak and demanded to receive Father’s glory for his plan.  He did not seem to understand or maybe even care that our experiences with moral agency on earth brought about the very growth we needed in order to continue progressing.  Without the ability to choose while experiencing life, adversity, and successes; we could not learn Christ-like attributes of gratitude, patience, charity, longsuffering, sacrifice, forgiveness, etc.  

He openly rebelled when his plan was not accepted and he persuaded 1/3 of the spirit children of our Father in Heaven to follow him.  He and they were cast out of heaven for rebellion and trying to destroy the agency of man.  He is still trying to win that rebellion.

I can just imagine the jealousy and resentment that Satan must have chose to hang-on after his plan was rejected.  He was obviously emotionally connected to his position.  He probably felt then and still feels his plan was perfect and nobody should have had the right to discard it.

We get a glimpse into why one of his names in the scriptures is, Accuser.  He accuses each of us (God’s children) day and night, meaning I presume, all the time.  In Revelations we read:

“10 …for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” (Rev. 12:10)

Every time we make a mistake we disqualify ourselves from returning to our Father in Heaven unless we use the atonement.  Satan rejects the atonement.  He hates Jesus Christ who championed the competing plan in the pre-existence.  He mocks Christ’s atoning sacrifice.  He resents our efforts to improve as we make course corrections in life.

Every time we make a mistake, I imagine him accusing and whispering, “Now, look what you have done.  You have disqualified yourself.  This would have never happened if you had supported my plan.  You can never get back.”  Such promptings are discouraging to people. 

When we are critical of the shortcomings of others, we can become the accuser for Him.  The whole end result is people giving up on the atonement.  I believe that Christ could have easily been talking about the great Accuser as he questioned the woman, “…where are those thine accusers?”

We and those we teach need only to remember that the atonement is free for us to use to return to our Father in Heaven, regardless of the mistakes.

“27 Hath he commanded any that they should not partake of his salvation? Behold I say unto you, Nay; but he hath given it free for all men; and he hath commanded his people that they should persuade all men to repentance.” (2 Nephi 26:27)

Protection against the influence of the Devil is found only by righteous living and obedience to the commandments.  Righteousness and peace will ultimately win out over error, sin and war.  There will be a complete and lasting victory of the righteous.

President Robinson

President's Weekly Letter #38

TIME AND LOVE

I love grapefruit.  They are best in the winter beginning about December and I try to enjoy a half every day until about May and prefer ruby-reds.  In America I found WalMart has consistent, great grapefruit, so I would frequently stop in at a favorite store to stock up.  One day I waited a long time in the checkout line.  As usual being the important business man I thought I was, I was double booked and in a hurry.  I needed to get in and get out without being bothered.  The line was slow because of what I thought was a slow WalMart teller.  As the teller totaled the bill for the customer in front of me, she stacked my grapefruit with that customer’s groceries.  The customer explained to no avail that the grapefruit were not hers.  Finally the teller understood and as she moved the grapefruit back to the belt they spilled, rolling all different directions on the floor at WalMart.  I ran around scooping up my grapefruit and re-bagged them. Honestly, I felt put out with her.  I would not have said anything, but none the less, I had big, critical thoughts toward her incapacity and neglect.  I stepped up to pay my bill and noticed a badge pinned to her blouse with her name and the words:  “Hearing Impaired”.

Wow, I was humbled.  I was actually surprised and glad that my critical thoughts immediately evaporated.  How could I have judged someone so harshly without knowing the full story?  Here she was trying to make it in life with her problems.  She was out there swinging at the ball like a champ trying to hit a home run.  I felt admiration to WalMart for giving her the chance.  I am a healthy, successful blessed guy.  I had my problems but would not have traded them for hers.  And, whenever I make mistakes I hope and actually expect people will give me the benefit of the doubt and patiently not react harshly toward me.

I smiled at her and kindly asked how she was doing.  She said, “Not so well.”  Her father was in the hospital that day for a cancer operation.  She was upset, anxious and scared.  She had never married and her father was all that she had.  I felt more guilt.  I visited with her, encouraged her and left.  Over the coming years, I saw her occasionally in the store.  I would say hi to her and ask about her.  She became an acquaintance that enriched my life. 

I have a saying in business, “You can be busy and rich or busy and poor. I choose to be busy and rich.”  This speaks to rushing around being incredibly busy but not being productive (also pricing yourself so low that you are incredibly busy due to your cheap prices but there is no profit in the jobs, but that is a lesson for another day).  I noticed that people can be terribly busy all day long checking email, filling out expense reimbursement reports, doing administrative tasks, etc.  But, we get paid to produce deliverables for a client.  That is the important work, the top priority and the basis for success.  The other busy work things do not really matter so much.

What do I learn about missionary work from these two stories?  With the first story (besides the obvious-be forgiving), I learned that I can become caught up in my schedule driven activities and lose sight of the most important thing; that success and the quality in missionary work lays in our relationships with others not the busy schedule.  Quality relationships will naturally come when we love the people.   Christ said if we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, strength and mind and our neighbor as ourselves, then we shall live.

In the second story I learned that it is possible to go through the motions of a successful mission and appear busy and productive yet never do the important thing of loving the people which is the deliverable that we are sent here to do.  We can be busy doing missionary things but the top priority and the basis for success is love for the people.

Do not get me wrong.  I hope and ask that we are all double booked and very busy, but at the same time, I hope we realize that really feeling love for the individuals we contact every day is the most important part of our work.

In 1831 Joseph Smith with ten Elders were traveling down the Missouri River in canoes.  The Lord said,

“But verily I say unto you, that it is not needful … to be moving swiftly upon the waters, whilst the inhabitants on either side are perishing in unbelief. (DC61:3)

The message is clear.  It is with the people where the fun is.  In your busy schedule, take time to extend yourself and love the people.

One day Jesus entered into a certain village and was invited into the house of Martha.  He and other disciples gathered there to eat and be together.

“38 Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.

 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

 41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  (Luke 10:38-42)

I can just see Martha busy with “much serving”.  This was the temporal affairs, the rushing in to get the grapefruit or the emails and busy work while never getting to the tasks that bring about real production.  We must all choose the good part, to love the people.

President Robinson

  

President's Weekly Letter #37

THE BREAD OF LIFE

The doctrine of Christ’s role in the atonement is spoken of in many ways throughout the scriptures.  One of the more interesting passages that teach of the atonement is the feeding of five thousand recorded in the New Testament.  To the casual reader, it is an interesting story of a reported miracle, probably done to prove he is the Son of God.  But this miracle laid the foundation to His incomparable sermon on the Bread of Life which followed and became a clear testimony of his role as Savior and Redeemer.

“8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, saith unto him,

 9 There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?

 10 And Jesus said, Make the men sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, in number about five thousand.

 11 And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.

 12 When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

 13 Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.” (John 6:5-13)

  

The story line is that Herod had beheaded John the Baptist in prison.  When Jesus heard of it, he departed by ship into a desert place, John said it was also upon a mountain, and there He stayed with his disciples.  He was probably distraught and in mourning and went to be alone except for some close friends.   Most of us would do likewise.  When the people heard of this, they followed him on foot out of the cities.  When Christ saw the great multitude he was moved with compassion toward them and healed their sick.  When it came evening, Christ said, “…they need not depart; give ye them to eat.”  The apostles said they did not have sufficient money to provide the food.

As a missionary, how can you follow Jesus’ example of compassion?  You must let your love for the work and the people create compassion in you toward them so when it is late, you are tired, hungry or it is inconvenient your compassions for the people carry you forward.

The boy gave all that he had, five loaves and two small fishes.  You follow this example when you, like the boy, give whatever you have in His service.  The Lord magnified the boy’s service to feed the five thousand and he will magnify you and your service as you serve your mission.  This miraculous feast from five loaves and two fishes symbolizes the spiritual feast the Savior offers you in return for your small offering as a missionary of all that you make.  James E. Faust said,

“Many nameless people with gifts equal only to five loaves and two small fishes magnify their callings and serve without attention or recognition, feeding literally thousands…They have largely surrendered their own interests and in so doing have found the peace of God, which passes all understanding.” (Conf. Report Apr 1994)

The following day Jesus took advantage of the miracle of feeding the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes to testify to the people in Capernaum about his mission to bring about the atonement.  He chided the followers saying ye seek me, not because of the miracles but you ate and were filled.  They flocked to him hoping for another free lunch.  He then said:

 “35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.

 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

 51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:35, 47, 49-51)

The Bread of Life is an appropriate description of the Savior and the blessings he offers to us and to our investigators.  Hunger and thirst are bodily appetites and passions that everybody understands.  Food is important but incidental to the real nourishment the Savoir offers.  As we strive to know him, remember him and serve him, we receive spiritual nourishment and our confidence in our spiritual standing before the Lord increases.  We partake of the bread of life as we accept and use the atonement in our lives and experience the peace He brings.  We will then never hunger or thirst again due to spiritual depravity.  Thus, “He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst and hath everlasting life.”

The Savior then tied the lesson directly to His atonement that brings this liberation and peace:

“53 … I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:53-54)

I testify that Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life and he has the words of eternal life.  I hope all of you can continue to apply his promises from the sermon on the Bread of Life.

President Robinson