A Short Message For The Holiday Season (And Hopefully For The Rest Of The Year Too)

As many of you know, my oldest son is serving a mission in Mexico. Most of the people in the area that he is serving in right now are very poor.

This week Elder Archibald sent us pictures of a man that he and his companion had the awesome opportunity to baptize. This man is an 83 year old farmer. His name is Pedro. He is very poor and he is a nobody in the eyes of the world. But in the eyes of the Lord, this poor humble farmer, is just as precious, just as valuable, and just as important, maybe even more so, than the richest person on the earth.

In Doctrine & Covenants 18:10 we read: "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God".

I pray that we will all remember the worth of all souls in the eyes of God. I pray that we will treat all of our brothers and sisters the way our Savior would throughout this Holiday Season, and hopefully throughout the entire year. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

-Brother Archibald, High Councilor

Get Involved in Hastening the Work of The Lord

I remember that it was not that long ago that the Church really started to embrace technology. We have a great opportunity through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, lds.org and other means to spread the Word of God to the whole world. It’s amazing to see what we have and how we can use technology to help hasten the work of the Lord. 

As some of you may know I have a son serving a mission in the Australia Sydney South Mission. He has been out for 3 months now and it is so wonderful to see how he is growing. A few months before he left I was thinking to myself, “What can I do to be more involved with the experience of his mission?” Of course as a parent as soon as you find out where your son or daughter is going to serve you start to learn all about the area, and as I did I found some missionary blogs of missionaries in his mission. As I read their blogs and really started to ponder how I could be more involved, a blog was a great answer. 

We have some inactive and non-members in our family and I thought, “Wow, what a great way to share Dalton’s mission experience with them and others.” So from day 1 we have posted a weekly blog of his emails that we receive. We get his emails Sunday evening and we ponder his letter that night and the next day, and then Monday night for our family home evening we post his letter. At first I thought we would get the typical “not much going on, knocking doors stuff like that”, but I have been amazed at the letters that we receive. They are so in depth of his feelings and how the Lord is helping him grow I can just feel the spirit flow from his letters. It makes me want to be a better person. 

He challenges us each week to do something different like, go to the temple, pray, read the scriptures, have a good attitude and accept what happens. So as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we have a great opportunity to flood the Earth with good, uplifting messages and thoughts through the technology that we have at our finger tips. It will make a difference. Just think, if each of us relates a good uplifting post on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, people will read it, and it just may open that door to their heart to let a little bit of the Spirit in. That was my hope with Dalton’s blog that it may touch a family member or others, that they may feel the spirit and that it may lead to something more. 

My challenge to us as a stake is, when we think we have some idle time, let’s use technology to hasten the work of the Lord, post an uplifting story, do family history on line, we can even do indexing on our phones while we wait in a line at the store or the drive thru. This is my hope and prayer, that we will do all we can to further the work of the Lord.

-Brother Ryan Stott, High Councilor

Stories from Sister Marielle Larsen's Mission

Sister Marielle Larsen from the 5th Ward has been serving in the France Lyon Mission for a little over 15 months. Her mother Anne shares some of her stories.

"Her mission covers the southern part of France and all of the French-speaking part of Switzerland, which is where I grew up. She served for 6 months in CH (short for Confoederatio Helvetica, the Latin name for Switzerland) where she got to see her relatives, and is now in Lyon, France.

"While in Switzerland, she taught a lady from India named S. S. had passed by the chapel and asked the sisters if they could tell her more about Jesus. They started teaching her and became close. One day she confided in them that she felt very lonely and depressed because she was far away from home, her husband worked a lot and she didn’t know anyone in CH or speak any French. Marielle said:

      Most days that we meet with her, she is bubbly and full of light and curiosity to learn more about Jesus Christ. This week, however, we had a really serious meeting with her. She was talking about how she has been full of anxiety recently and her head aches and she just can't stop feeling stressed. I testified of the power of prayer and of the comfort of the Holy Spirit. She said she has tried and she prays all the time, but she can't stop the anxiety. She expressed her despair because she has no one to share these things with but us, and she doesn't want to burden us. My companion and I were pretty lost. We had a rendezvous with a potential investigator so we had to leave, but we said we would come back. 

      Earlier that morning, before the meeting with S., we had missed our train. So I told my companion that we would take the bus, even though it would take longer. We got on the bus and a girl named T. sat down next to us with a beautiful scarf. I complimented her on it, but she didn't understand and replied in English. I excitedly started a conversation with her and it turned out she was from India and was looking for an apartment in town. We got off the bus before getting her number and I hoped we would see her again. 

       WELL, guess who we saw on our way back to S.’s house? T.! I practically ran after her and we got her number. As we were walking to S.'s home, a thought clicked in my head that Heavenly Father had totally put T. on our path so she could be friends with S.! We put them in contact with each other and T. is going to move into their apartment. Miracle! God loves S. and He loves us!

"Another experience that I want to share is the story of M. who is a 45-year-old man from Togo, Africa. I quote Marielle:

       M. has gone through some really tough things that he does not tell us about. He has no family left. One day he passed by the chapel and saw the sign saying The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  The phrase Latter-Day Saints just kept running through his head, so he went to church one Sunday. This was the beginning of him learning about the Gospel.  

       He seemed to be very enthusiastic at first, but did not make any progress for a while. So one day, we taught one lesson where we really focused on the fact that God has commanded us to read the scriptures and that it's only in reading each day that we can come to understand them and gain a testimony. He committed to do it each day. We met with him 3 times this week and on Friday. He said that something had happened to him that had brought him a lot of joy. The night before, he had dreamed that he was dressed all in white. Then he woke up, got on his knees, and prayed to know what his dream meant. Immediately after he fell asleep and had another dream. It was a man telling him 'to leave the darkness.' He said that when he woke up, he wasn't sure what to think, so he opened the Book of Mormon and read a scripture that filled him with joy and he had been feeling joy all day. The change in him was so clear. He understands things we haven't even taught him or discussed. The Spirit is definitely a better teacher than I am. It's so cool to see the change that comes about in us when we apply the Gospel and follow the commandments of Christ in our lives.

"Marielle was transferred and M. was baptized shortly after.

"In her emails, Marielle often describes how grateful she is for her mission. She says:

       The best part of my mission is just being really close to Heavenly Father and the Spirit and feeling Him really near. 

       One thing that I feel like I am really learning on my mission is how the Lord truly does refine us in ways that we might not understand fully in the moment, but that in the process, he heals us above and beyond our expectations. It really fascinated me to learn about the skeletal system in my anatomy and physiology class at school. We learned about how our bones' cells are constantly breaking themselves down and building new bone behind. Thus, our bones continually renew the material there and we grow bigger and stronger. That's how conversion is. God doesn't just build over the old material and hope that the good things stick. That wouldn't work. He breaks us down and lets us feel around in the dark for a bit until we realize that we need His help. Then, with His help, we become 'new creatures' and our hearts are changed. He fills us in abundance. It's astounding and miraculous. He's so merciful and I can feel how my love for my Saviour has changed and deepened as I have had to lean on Him and put everything in His hands because I just. can't. do. it. alone. It's not possible. I can't do it without His love and His wisdom and I definitely can't do it without the Spirit. 

       The mission is really nothing at all like I imagined. I think I imagined us going door to door and being rejected all of the time and then finally one day having a huge miracle. It's not at all like that. Really, the thing we do the most is just serve people while testifying of Jesus Christ and of His Gospel. We try to show people Heavenly Father's love at all times, and I adore that. There's nothing as fulfilling as seeing the light in someone's eyes when they realize they're not alone with their problems, that they're not alone in this world. I love it. I love being a missionary and I love being here.

"I will just add that I have personally felt an added portion of the Spirit enter our home after Marielle was set apart as a missionary and I know the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings peace, comfort and joy into our life and I am thankful that Marielle can share it with others, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen"

Sister Lauren Boring is weeks away from completing a successful mission in the California Ventura Mission

My youngest child and daughter, Lauren, is about three weeks away from completing a successful mission in the California Ventura Mission.  Shortly after President Thomas S. Monson made his historic announcement reducing the missionary ages from 19 to 18 for elders and 21 to 19 for the sisters, I asked her what she thought and she said, "No, I prayed about it and the Lord said I am on track doing what I am doing now."  I hate to admit this, but I was relieved.  My son, Wade, had just returned from the Brazil Campinas Mission and I had wanted him to go, of course, but I never really expected (and truth be told, wanted) my daughters to go.  If they wanted to go, I would support them, but I was much more comfortable if they stayed home and got their educations.

A few weeks after our initial conversation, Lauren entered into the living room and announced in a loud voice, "I have an announcement!"  My first and immediate thought was she was getting married which really concerned me because I hadn't heard she was dating anyone.  Then she said, "I am going on a mission!"  Talk about mixed emotions.  Half of me was saying, "Yay!"  the other half of me was sobbing, "No!"  I asked her what happened to the answer to her prayer?  She said she was sitting in church and got this overpowering feeling she should go on a mission, so she prayed again, only this time the answer was yes, she should go.

I was concerned, all right, I was scared.  I could only imagine where the Lord would send her.  She was willing to go anywhere.  Then that fateful day came when the large white envelope from Salt Lake City arrived in the mail.  She opened it and began reading.  My heart was pounding in anticipation.  Then she read the words "California Ventura Mission."  I grew up in Southern California, and while it has its rough spots, generally she was going to a pretty nice part of California.

As Sister Boring wraps up her mission, I can't express enough how proud I am of her for her willingness to forget about herself and serve others for 18 months.  She has indicated in her letters how much she loves her mission, but she is ready and excited to see and be with her family, again.  She has had many amazing, spiritual experiences, experiences that will remain with her throughout her life.  She is not the same person she was when she left.  She has grown spiritually, mentally and emotionally.  She left home a 20 year old girl, but is returning home a strong, mature and independent 21 year old woman.

In a day and age when selfishness seems to run rampant, I am thankful for the young men and women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who literally put their lives on hold for 18 months to 2 years to serve God and their fellow human beings.  It is really an amazing feat when you think about it.  We have some pretty special young adults in our Church, and I thank God for them and pray for them each and every day.

Let me close with a quote from one of Sister Boring's recent letters:  "I love the Lord. . . .  I'm still focused, I'm excited to be home, but I desire to give my all and do my best.  That's what I will continue to do."

- Brother Michael Boring, Stake High Councilor