Dear Elders and Sisters,
How blessed we are to live in a time in which we can be
taught by prophets, apostles and other inspired leaders! I was profoundly
impressed by the missionary broadcast we were privileged to view this past
week. I came away with a deeper understanding of the Doctrine of Christ and
some of our most fundamental responsibilities as outlined in Preach My Gospel. What
a remarkable opportunity is ours, for a brief period, to share a sacred charge
with the Quorum of the Twelve to testify of the Savior and invite all to come unto
Him. I want to follow the admonition given by Elder Anderson to always “have
His name on [my] lips.” If I am ever unsure of what to say, I want to speak of
Him, of His doctrine, of His teachings and His Atonement. Elder Anderson went
on to say that our “greatest responsibility is to extol and defend the divine
mission and doctrine of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ.” He then shared one
of his “favorite promises” from the scriptures, “Whosoever therefore shall
confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in
heaven” (Matt. 10:32). Wouldn’t you want the Savior to confess you to your
Father in Heaven?
Ours is the challenge and blessing to labor in an area where
the name of Christ is barely known. We must prayerfully plan and adapt our
message to the needs of those whom we teach. In doing so, we must always
remember our responsibility to teach and testify of Him. “This is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent” (John 17:3).
“As your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ
grows, your desire to share the gospel will increase” (PMG, p. 2). I urge you
to do as Elder Anderson urged, “Ask yourself: what do I really believe about
the Atonement? Am I personally experiencing the Atonement every day?” By
increasing your own understanding of the Atonement, your effectiveness as a
missionary will increase! In order to accomplish this, Elder Anderson
encouraged us to personally “learn to love [the] powerful spiritual nourishment
from the Book of Mormon so that [we] can share it upon the silver platter of
[our] own faith.” He then promised that, as we do this, we will “see the faith
of those [we] teach grow.”
Wow! I have only shared half of my notes just from Elder
Anderson’s talk, not to mention all of the other great teachings in the
broadcast. I am excited to hear of your personal thoughts and insights. I
invite you to share them in your email to me today and in the coming
weeks. Most significantly, I invite you to ponder carefully and set goals
as to what you will do differently as a result of the inspiration received as
you viewed this broadcast. I hope that each of us may, with real intent, have
“total sincerity to act on the answers to our prayers.” I know that as we have
real intent, we will be able to more fully accomplish our missionary purpose.
President Blickenstaff
Sister Blickenstaff, thank you so much for posting President Blickenstaff's weekly letters! I learn so much from them and love to share them in Branch Council Meetings and RS. :-)
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