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| Our District in Loncoche |
We attended a special priesthood session for the Church in
the South America South Area. In this priesthood fireside, Elder Rasband and
Elder Ballard spoke. I am so grateful for this fireside because it filled me
with the Spirit.
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| Elder Rasband |
Elder Rasband shared President Monson’s quote from the
satellite broadcast about how now is the time to hasten the work and how the
Lord has prepared man the means to do so. He focused on how we can do this through
modern communication and technology. He talked about how out of the 70,000+
priesthood holders in this area of the world, only 40,000+ are active in the
Church. He also talked about how with the thousands of new missionaries, they
are concerned that these missionaries do not have enough to do and many are
wasting time wandering around. He talked about how missionaries are called to
teach. Then he taught how to do missionary work from your phone. He talked about
how he can use Facebook to keep tabs on 700 of his missionaries from when he
served as mission president. How he can post a little message when they post
something not so great, or help reactivate those who have fallen away from the
Church through Facebook. He said to think out of the box and asked each member
to contact someone using technology and get appointments for the missionaries.
He said no matter how busy you are, you can use technology to do missionary
work. What I got out of this is that I need to think out of the box and get the
members more involved. Elder Rasband also talked about how if we continue to do
the same things, nothing will change and the work will not move faster. Over
the last 6 weeks I have talked to about 700 people about the gospel and knocked
a whole lot of doors. I am determined to work with members to find a more
effective way to find people, to find people who are prepared. Some ideas are
ward Facebook pages that connect with less active members and notify them of
big events. Also a ward text, for big events. Elder Rasband promised that if we
do these things the Lord will bless us with success.
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| Elder Ballard |
Elder Ballard gave a very powerful talk. He talked a lot
about the importance of the work. How our time in this world is brief, and when
it ends, a lot of people are going to come to a terrible realization. He talked
about focusing on developing eternal relationships because they will last,
while things of the world will not. He talked about how strengthening the
priesthood is the key to strengthening the Church. He talked about being
fearless in sharing the gospel. He talked about the power of prayer, and
how we need to pray for opportunities. We should pray for opportunities to help,
serve, and bring others back. He also invited everyone to bring someone into
the Church between now and Conference. The most powerful moment was when he
bore his testimony about his grandchildren who were serving or going to serve
missions. He said that he wants them to grow firm in the faith, how he wants
them to come to know Christ as they TEACH the gospel. It was so powerful! He
said that we are these missionaries’ opportunities to teach, opportunities to
build their testimonies. PLEASE HELP THE MISSIONARIES!!! WE NEED PEOPLE TO
HELP!!! It is so, so, so difficult to be a missionary with no one to teach. I
cannot describe how hard it is to be a missionary without anybody to teach.
PLEASE HELP THEM AND BUILD THEM UP ANY WAY YOU CAN!!! I know you are so busy,
trying to raise families, but they should do all they can to move this work
forward as well. He also said, WE ARE IN A HURRY! The time to act is now.
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| Our Zone |
My biggest take-aways from this meeting were:
1) An infusion of missionary SPIRIT
2) I felt really stongly that I have the ability to make
something happen here. I can change things and MAKE IT HAPPEN with the help of
Heavenly Father.
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| Loncoche |
We had transfers today and I will be staying here for another 6 weeks with my companion. There is one new elder who will be training that will joining us in our house. I am going to make sure to help the new missionary in any way that I can!
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| This country is so beautiful! This picture was taken while I was on an exchange. |
