We have started a brand new year! I will be a missionary for the full year of 2010 and it is the 50th Anniversary of the Florida Fort Lauderdale Mission!! This is going to be an amazing year! I am so excited to see what it will bring! Everything we do is to celebrate this year of jubilee by being more intune to bringing people unto Christ. We will search for new and better ways to be efficient and effective, we will strive for exact obedience in all we do. We will prepare for the temple by establishing Zion within the hearts of the members.
The year did start out a bit rocky as our planned baptism for Jan 1 fell through because it didn't "feel" like the right day. We continue to pray that we may have success with our investigators that they may be able to push aside their fear and uncertainty and finally take that leap of faith.
We do have changes occuring this week that came to quite a shock! Boca Raton has had a change of missionaries, in the fact that Sis. Eland is being transfered to Hialeah. Sis. Gardner and I will truly miss her, but continue to wish her the best of wishes. We're hoping she goes Spanish speaking - something she simply loves to do!
Working the full city of Boca has been a great adventure, especially since I am the driver. We've taken a couple of scenic routes every now and again as we search for our potentials. One day, we actually drove nearly the full circumference of our area as we went from our apartment to Camino Real east to Military, north to Atlantic, west to the 441, south to SW 18th St, and back to our apartment. Surprisingly, it only took 50 miles. We were shocked the mileage was so little. So I guess Boca really isn't too big of a city. Just comparing it to my old area of East Boca, it's huge. It's been a lot of fun to seek out our potentials and work to gain new investigators and find those people who are ready for the gospel.
A big thing in the mission right now is getting Sisters on bike. We are all excited about that! So now we'll be paying attention to how we can best make Boca into a biking area if that day comes. East will be easy enough, and the southwest corner. We'll have to start doing more finding activities to see if there are any other locations that can become a drive and park - then bike area!
Something I have really been working out this transfer is truly understanding my missionary purpose. We are to invite others to come unto Christ. We are to find those people willing to keep their commitments and progress towards baptism. Therefore, we have had to stop progressively teaching a lot of investigators due to their unwillingness to keep commitments. It was hard for me at first, until I realized that our work as missionaries is to gather those that are ready. As Bro. Wilcox put it, we are all working to gather together the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim so when the Second Coming arrives, the missionary forces will be ready to gather the other ten tribes of Israel. I didn't realize we are working to gather the elite. We are gathering the support system of this church, the souls that are to take part in the building of Zion and preparations for the Second Coming. I am trying to make sure that everything I do is focused on that purpose. Are my words helping them accept the gospel? Are my actions helping them keep their commitments? Is everything I do inviting others to come unto Christ?
One reason why I love to have Sis. Gardner as a companion is the fact that she understands her purpose. Everything she does is geared towards keeping her missionary purpose. It's something I want to do for myself so I will becoming a missionary, not just do missionary actions.
TENDER MERCY: I HAVE BEEN WORKING SO HARD TO FIGURE OUT HOW I CAN GROW WHILE ON MY MISSION. WHAT DO I NEED TO DO? WHAT GOALS DO I NEED TO SET? IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HARD FOR ME TO SET GOALS, BUT I HAVE BEEN ABLE, IN THIS PAST WEEK, TO SET A FEW GOALS FOR MYSELF. IT'S STILL NOT A MISSION VISION OF WHAT I WANT TO BECOME, BUT I AM REALIZING HOW TO MAKE GOALS AND SET PLANS. IT'S SMALL ACCOMPLISHMENTS THAT PROVE TO ME THAT I CAN REACH HIGHER. I AM EXCITED TO CONTINUE ONWARD AND SEE WHAT I CONTINUE TO LEARN EACH DAY, EACH WEEK, EACH TRANSFER, EACH COMPANION. OF COURSE SOME DAYS ARE HARD AND FRUSTRATING, BUT I THINK, WHEN ISN'T LIFE HARD? AND HOW MUCH MORE REWARDING IT IS TO BE HERE ON A MISSION. ALL THE STRUGGLES I MAY EXPERIENCE WILL TURN INTO GROWTH AND BLESSINGS IF I APPROACH THEM IN THE RIGHT WAY AND USE IT FOR MY GOOD. I AM EVER BLESSED TO CONTINUE FORTH AS A SERVANT OF THE LORD HERE IN THE FLORIDA FT LAUDERDALE MISSION!
‘Make no small plans: They have no magic to stir man’s souls.’ This is the vision I have for the South. I believe that one day the South will baptize more people into the church than all other English speaking missions in the world together. There are great hosts of marvelous Baptists, and members of the church of Christ, Methodists and Catholics who are honorable people, and have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love him. As they see their church veering off to the right or to the left of these basic teachings, they will begin to search for the truth. And as pivotal teachers come into the church and have influence, we will see the time when we baptize hundreds and thousands, tens of thousands. In your day you will see a million members of the church in the South. There will be Temples plural in the Southern States. What a great call you have to serve with these marvelous people. ~Spencer W Kimball (1974)
