Dear Elders and Sisters,
This past Saturday, we enjoyed a beautiful day here in
Taichung with about 30 of our missionaries as we participated in Grave Sweeping
Day. It is a day when many Taiwanese people clean the graves of their deceased
loved ones and honor them with various rituals and ceremonies. As I carefully
cleaned some graves of the unnamed who have none to care for them, I could not
help remembering other times in my life when I had done the same for my loved
ones. In particular, I thought of the many times I had visited the gravesites
of my parents and my daughter, lovingly polishing their headstones with care
and pausing to remember the great impact they have had on my life. How grateful
I am for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, which provides us with the
opportunity and blessing to serve our ancestors through vicariously performing
saving ordinances on their behalf, so that they may receive eternal blessings
of family association and exaltation.
This year, Easter weekend happened to coincide with Grave
Sweeping Holiday. I am thankful for the Savior of all mankind, who voluntarily
laid down His life and then rose again from the tomb on the third day. This
incomprehensible act of love has made it possible for us to overcome the
effects of the fall of Adam. Because of the resurrection of Christ, we too will
be resurrected, thus overcoming physical death that we inherited as a result of
Adam’s transgression. Equally important, through the suffering of the Savior in
the Garden of Gethsemane, where He took upon himself the sins of all who would
ever live, we can overcome the spiritual death that separates us from God while
we are here in mortality. Through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we may be cleansed of our sins and be able to return and live with our
loved ones in the presence of God for all eternity.
We are blessed with the privilege of serving as His special
representatives for this short period of our lives. We wear His sacred name on
our chest and we seek daily for opportunities to testify of Him. I testify of
His life, His ministry and His mission. I testify of the reality of His atoning
sacrifice and of His resurrection. Because of His Atonement, we can be freed
from past mistakes and overcome current faults and weaknesses. Because of His
Plan of Salvation, we too can hope of seeing our loves ones again and of having
an eternal association with them. I testify that He lives and because He lives,
we too shall live.
President Blickenstaff
Mentor of Champions
PS. Here is an excerpt from one of my favorite emails last
week: A great miracle we saw this week was when we taught a Sister Chen….We had
taught her once before and she seemed pretty set on being Buddhist so when we
went back the second time we didn't feel like there would be much more we could
do. However, we decided to teach her the Restoration again and invite her to be
baptized. The lesson went well, she had some great questions and comments and
accepted the invitation on condition of knowing the message is true! It was
incredible! She went from being what we thought was pretty hai hao to accepting
the invite because we were challenging and testifying missionaries. After that
we decided she was ready enough right then so we went to the canal behind her
house and baptized her. Just kidding. We didn't do that...but thank you for
having us read that talk again this week.
PPS. Looking forward to starting interviews this week with
Taichung, Jiayi and Zhongxing zones. You will get more from your interview if
you prepare for it. Come prepared to discuss something you learned from your
recent study of “Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary” or a personal question
that you would like to discuss with me.
Please prepare to
share with Sis. Blickenstaff where you are with your Phase I pass offs, what
language study materials you are currently using, as well as your language
study vision, goals and plans.
