Thank you for your support of your
missionary and the Texas Houston East Mission. Sister Crawford and I have
recently completed interviews with all the missionaries. I am pleased
with the growth and development of these wonderful young missionaries. It
continues to be a wonderful experience to compare and contrast their arrival in
the mission field to where they are at the time of the interview. Whether
the missionary has been with us for three weeks or twenty three months I see such
changes and I am amazed and thankful for the strength they have earned.
At the conclusion of every
interview, I ask the missionaries a series of questions to gauge the depth of
their understanding and commitment to the Savior and the work. I ask the
following questions: “What do you think about the Book of Mormon?”
Without exception I get smiles and a statement such as: “I love it.” I
then ask, “So it is a good novel!” Then the reply is given more
seriously, “I know it is true.” I ask them how they know it is
true. The answer is typically that they have read it, felt its goodness
and prayed about it. I ask if they have received an answer to their
prayer. The vast majority say, “Yes.” Some are still looking for
that spiritual confirmation, which is fine with me because I tell them it took
me five and a half months on my mission before I had a spiritual confirmation
that the Book of Mormon is true. The next question is, “If you know the
Book of Mormon is true then you must know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of
God.” The answer is positive. I then state, “If you know that
Joseph was a prophet then you must know that the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-Day Saints is the restored church of Jesus Christ and has authority and
power.” They answer “Yes.” To which I then state, “Then you must
know that the doctrines of the Church are true.” Again the answer is
positive. With that I ask my final question which is straight from the
first principle of the Restoration lesson from Preach My Gospel: “Then you must
know that God is our Loving Father in Heaven, that He knows you personally, and
He loves you more than you can comprehend. Do you believe that?”
Many say yes and many look at me with tears in their eyes and say they are
working on that belief. In short, many missionaries believe God loves
them but maybe not as much as everyone else. That is not surprising to me
as it is a very mature concept to grasp. I tell you all this because I
want you to know that from this moment to the time that we turn this mission
over to the next Mission President, Sister Crawford and I will be working
faithfully to help your son, daughter or loved one understand how just, holy
and loving our Father in Heaven is and that they are known, loved and numbered
by Him.
We will constantly push to become
better Preach My Gospel missionaries, to become better finders, teachers and
guides to bring people to Christ. I will not change our goal to baptize
50 people per month on a consistent basis and will then increase that goal to 70
people on a consistent basis. However, our greatest desire is for the
testimony of the Book of Mormon to sink deep into their hearts and to know
that, despite their individual shortcomings and weaknesses, their Father in
Heaven knows them individually and loves them, that he doesn’t hold grudges and
that the Atonement of Christ is magnificent and applies to all of us.
That knowledge will sustain them in the hard time and balance them in the good
times of their mission as well as for the remainder of their lives.
Sister Crawford and I love your sons
and daughters. We thank you for them.
President Crawford
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