Nov. 13, 2017 ~ To Every Member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Week 18)

(A letter to the fellow members of my congregation in my hometown...)

To my wonderful ward family (and every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints): 

First of all, I want to tell you all how much I love and appreciate you. I have been humbled and amazed at the emails and letters I have received from all of you. I have felt your prayers, and I was so grateful to hear that you fasted for our 11 full-time missionaries this past week. I am excited for you to hear of the miracles that take place throughout the world over the next couple of weeks, thanks to your faith and sacrifice on behalf of us and our areas. No effort goes unnoticed by God. Thank you so much! You all thought the Brooks family was big… but it's so much bigger because I consider you all family too. I love you! 

My mom told me that the ward is talking about missionary work this Sunday. Congratulations!! I couldn't think of a better topic to talk about! 😉 She asked me to share my thoughts on how to involve members in the work, and the importance of the work itself. 

I am sure you have all heard the term, "every member a missionary". I remember hearing that phrase growing up and getting annoyed. Yes, getting annoyed!!  I didn’t like being told I should be inviting my friends to church because our relationships were not on a spiritual level in any way, and I didn't know how to cross that barrier. I didn’t even really understand the meaning of the phrase, "every member a missionary" because I had absolutely no idea what a missionary did. So how could I, as a member, be a missionary? There was no way in heck that I was going to walk up to a friend at school and give them a Book of Mormon. I had assumed that everyone in my hometown had either been to church and loved it, been to church and thought it was okay but went for their parents, had been to church and hated it, or had heard everything about the church and Mormons and hated everything about it. To me, there was no work that would be worth my time in my town, because everyone already knew everything about the gospel of Jesus Christ…. Or so I thought. 

Looking back, I regret all of it. I used to think that talking about the church in a casual setting was impossible and weird… but it shouldn't be! Religion is common around the world. Most people believe in SOMETHING. And chances are they're more than happy to talk about it. If they don't believe in something, they too will probably want to talk about that. So that literally clears the entire list of people not to talk with about religion. When I moved to Texas, I was amazed at the number of people who talked openly and casually about their belief in God. Whether they were Baptist, Lutheran or Catholic, didn't matter, because they all openly shared their love of God with me and often invited me to attend their church or to "remember to read the good word". To these good people, who they were and why they acted the way they did was expressed through their religion, so why should we be ashamed to feel the same way?

If you're like me and you don't know how to be a MEMBER MISSIONARY because you don't know how to be a missionary, I will tell you what we, as full-time missionaries, do...

We get up every morning and ask Heavenly Father to lead us to his children that we can teach that day. Then we study personally for the people we will potentially teach. Next, we come together as a companionship and plan in a more detailed fashion the lessons that we will teach them.  We study the language in which we will be teaching… (all the while, saying prayers for these people and for ourselves to be the instruments in God's hands that he needs us to be). Then we go out, and we find these people! We knock doors, we do service, we take every chance we can to share a message of the gospel. When we don't have planned lessons, we do drop bys. When no investigators are home, we go to members in search of referrals. When they don't have anyone, we knock doors, or street contact. When we end the day, we report to Heavenly Father that we did our very best to teach as many of his children as possible, thank him for the opportunity, and ask him to let us do it again tomorrow.

Why? Because these are His children. He wants them to be with Him in the Celestial Kingdom! He asks us, as their brothers and sisters, to let them know whose family they are a part of and to teach them of our wonderful Father who has blessed us with everything. He wants us to teach them about Jesus Christ and His Atonement which makes it possible to live with them again.

This is people's eternal salvation on the line...
IT REALLY IS A BIG DEAL.

The prophet has told us that we are in the last days. The work is hastening because our Savior will be coming soon. The Savior asks us to prepare our brothers and sisters to meet Him; to give them the opportunity to partake of the healing powers of His Atonement and the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in order to partake of His glory.

We love our Father in Heaven. We love our Elder Brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is our job and privilege as members to help our brothers and sisters.

"Lovest thou me?... Feed my sheep." (John 21:16)

"When thou art converted, strengthen thy  brethren." (Luke 22:32)

75% of baptisms come from a member referral. That means that only 25% of baptisms come from actual missionary efforts or people searching for the truth themselves. People need a push. As missionaries, about 4 in every 10 doors is opened to us. and from those 4, only 1 will actually listen to our message. From there, about 50% of people don't make it past the first lesson. You can see how much time we are spending on people giving little results and showing little progress. Our time would be much better spent if we already had a name to visit, we knew that they were open to hearing our message, and that they had a Mormon friend who was there to support them and bear testimony and help them along their path to conversion.

Members are EVERYTHING in the work.

WE NEED THE MEMBERS TO HELP US! 

It's not just about finding someone who has never been baptized, but also about reactivating. There are a lot of people who are afraid to come back to church for one reason or another. There are people everywhere who are searching. Maybe they have been hiding for over 30 years and are just now starting to look, or maybe they’ve been looking their whole lives and don't know where to find it. But either way, we should be there for them.

*Teach people in your home about Jesus Christ and His gospel.
*Invite them to your Family Home Evening.
*Speak openly about your beliefs and always speak with love. A conversation spoken with love will never be offensive, so don't stress about offending someone.
*Take every moment you can to serve and to be an example of Jesus Christ. 

I promise that you will never regret sharing your testimony with someone. You do your part to share and invite and serve, and then it is in their hands to receive or reject. But either way, it is important to do your part. And if it doesn't work the first 30 years, try again… Because you never know when someone’s heart is ready to receive.

Again, it's our privilege to put it out there for when they are. 

After Christ's Resurrection, He ministered for forty days...

At the end of his ministry, he said to His apostles, 

“… And ye shall be WITNESSES UNTO ME both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Spencer W. Kimball said, "THESE WERE HIS LAST WORDS ON EARTH before he went to his heavenly home." (Ensign, October 1974)

"And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight." (Acts 1:9)

AND....

You and I promised to do just that when we were baptized. We wanted to "come into the fold of God, and to be called His people" (Mosiah 18:8).  And so we covenanted to "STAND AS WITNESSES OF GOD at all times and in all things and in all places" (Mosiah 18:9).

Keep up the good work!

Here's to another awesome week! 

I Love You,

Hermana Brooks