Mission Now and Then

We recently attended Scrapbook USA in Sandy, Utah and had a booth partner, Diane from All Occasions Photo. As Diane and I got to know one another I found out that she had a missionary in Madagascar. We talked about missionaries and she referred to e-mails instead of letters. The Elders in our area are currently carrying around cell phones. My Mom talks about the big black binder when referring to teaching in her mission and I talk about the discussions. While we had a recent missionary tell me that he was so worthy he no longer needed discussions or binders, but could teach as he pleased. (Yea, he was a little off the base.)

The point is missions are always changing, and I thought that would make an interesting page for your scrapbook. It would also make an interesting kit (we will let you know). Compare your mission with your child's or yours with your parents. If you are a first generation missionary compare yours to an early missionary from the beginning days of the church.

The methods, tools, and technology may have changed, but the message remains the same. The gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored.

Challenges and Promises

The Elders came to our house on Monday. They just dropped by. I was sick Monday and in my sweats, the house was a mess and I asked my husband to "turn them away". He didn't and I knew he wouldn't. Because if I had answered the door I would not have been able to either. So we invited them in. They issued us a 21 day challenge. A promise has gone out in the Salt Lake City Mission that if members would pray morning and night for a specific set of people to accept the gospel, that someone will accept the gospel. We accepted the challenge. So now we are going to issue a challenge to you.

Scrapbook those promises and challenges that you or your missionary received in the field. I think all missionaries receive special challenges with promises attached. One that we frequently talked about in my mission was to be a bold and testifying missionary. We were promised if we were bold and committed people to baptism on the first contact, that people would join the church. I have to admit my faith lacked on this one, but those who had faith like Nephi (build a boat, commit someone to baptism upon meeting them) had great success.