Overwhelmed With Opportunities

The question was asked," What would you do if someone gave you $86,400 each day.  However, you must spend it all in one day because at the end of the day your bank account would be wiped clean and it would go back to zero.  And then the next day would repeat with $86,400.

It is interesting to see how much stuff you could buy in one day, for yourselves or others. Would you finally learn how to use it wisely? Would you learn to share?  Would you look for people who could use your help?

Well, every day we are given 86,400 seconds of time. That is more valuable than cash.  What do we do with this time?  Do we use it wisely? Do we share our time with others? Do we look for people who could use our help?

  We all get the same amount of time in our daily account but everyone chooses to use their wealth of time differently. Some people are hard workers and some people are hardly working. It is interesting to watch two fishermen go fishing.  One meanders around and while he fishes all day, his line is only really in the water two hours.  But the other fisherman knows ahead of time where the fish are biting and what kind of bait they are biting on.  He actually has his line in the water for ten hours a day.

If you are asked to raise your hand high above your head, it is amazing when asked to raise it just a little bit higher to find that you can.

Planning is important. We need to be "administering sound" to be "spiritually in tune". It becomes not "time management" but "priority management". As a missionary our responsibility is to work smart and with the spirit so we can get done exactly what the Lord wants and needs us to do. You will feel overwhelmed when you see the opportunities the Lord will give you.  But that is exactly where you want to be.

I Will Find You

So imagine for a moment what it was like living in the pre-mortal world.  We know we had a Mother and Father in Heaven. We know that we were learning and training there.  We know that the plan was presented to come to earth and get a body and to live by faith.  We know that anyone born  on the earth accepted God's plan for us.  We know we actually shouted for joy when the earth was ready for us.  And we know that everyone already has a spiritual knowledge and testimony that God is our Heavenly Father and this church is the true church. Every important truth that comes to our heart or mind is a reawakening of what we knew there.

But imagine what it was like when it was your turn to step through the veil and your spirit entered your baby body. We know you were an adult spirit because you deliberately made the choice to come to earth.  Imagine all the friends and family you had there telling you good-bye.    What would have been the last words your best friend would have said to you? 

What would have been the last words you would have said to them as you went to be born into an LDS family or to a life where you would become a member of Christ's church?

Your friend may now speak a different language than you.  He may dress differently, believe differently, have a different color of skin or nationality. It doesn't matter.  He is your friend from Heaven and he is counting on you.

Members of this church do not have to convince people of the truth we have.  These people's spirits already know.  The memory may be covered by circumstances, ignorance or sin, etc.. What wise members need to do is invite, invite, invite.  They need to open their mouths and invite everyone to hear the message of the restored gospel.

Because you definitely promised that you would. 

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Francis prayed to find a church to be baptized into. The next week the Elders knocked on her door. Today Elder Pack baptized her. She was prepared to recognize the Lord's church. She's great!

Hastening The Work

As Relief Society President I am responsible for teaching the class now and then.  And I can pick anything that I think the sisters need most to talk about.
So this week I had the lesson all planned.  But while studying about it I felt the Lord wanted me to talk about something else, Missionary Work.  So I found great stories and articles and put the lesson together yesterday, Saturday.
Then this morning I was praying and had a flash of inspiration from the Lord.  He didn't want MY lesson.  He had another lesson in mind.  So I went with it.
I told the sisters that for every 1000 doors that the missionaries knock on, one person is baptized.  That is more or less depending on what part of the world you live in but it is the average. 1 baptism per 1000.
Then I told them that if a member invites their friends or relatives to the member's home, with the missionaries present to give a spiritual thought or lesson, it results in 2 baptisms per 3 people.
1 per 1000 OR
2 per 3
Then I had the three newest members of our Branch stand and tell how they were introduced into the church.
Two had friends introduce them to the missionaries and have the lessons in the member's home.  The third one had a friend who was a missionary teach her.  We counted her 1/2.
The sisters cried as they bore testimonies of the truthfulness of this fact and I also had the member missionaries themselves tell how they did it.
I told them it was easy once you know how.
Our sisters are responsible for feeding our missionaries every night.  They take turns.  I explained that now all they need to do is invite a friend or relative also and the missionaries can take it from there.
Or I pointed out that one of the sisters in the class had a family night where she invited her niece's family and also a friend of her daughter's.  She had the missionaries actually do the family night.  Now both her niece and her daughter's friend are taking missionary lessons!
In our Heavenly Father's plan the members are now to be the finders of prepared people ready to receive the gospel and the missionaries are the teachers of the gospel.
This is the Lord's work. He has a plan to hasten it. We simply need to do it.