Oh missionary work... probably one of the most stressful topics for us in Sunday school lessons. Why? Many of us served missions or were converts ourselves. Many of us have seen friends or family members join the church. I could probably say that most (if not all) have experienced the joy that comes with missionary work. It's hard but somehow there is so much happiness.
I will keep my thoughts about missionary work brief today for those of you who have accepted the Christ scripture challenge. (If you are wondering what I am talking about, email me)
This week, I want you to ponder what type of member missionary you have always wanted to be. Write down what it would look like. What kinds of things you would invite people to do, the relationship you would have with the missionaries, how often friends and families would enter the waters of baptism etc.
Then, I want you write down all the things that have kept you from becoming that member missionary and all of your past or current frustrations. Rejection, lack of testimony, unable to make new acquaintances, fear, etc.
We'll be talking about what it looks like to be a member missionary and what we can do to be successful. I have always loved the motivation I feel when I read this quote by Elder Eyring, to talk to someone TODAY about the gospel:
“It’s easy to say, ‘The time isn’t right.’ But there is danger in procrastination. Years ago I worked for a man in California. He hired me; he was kind to me; he seemed to regard me highly. I may have been the only Latter-day Saint he ever knew well. I don’t know all the reasons I found to wait for a better moment to talk with him about the gospel. I just remember my feeling of sorrow when I learned, after he had retired and I lived far away, that he and his wife had been killed in a late-night drive to their home in Carmel, California. He loved his wife. He loved his children. He had loved his parents. He loved his grandchildren, and he will love their children and will want to be with them forever.
“Now, I don’t know how the crowds will be handled in the world to come. But I suppose that I will meet him, that he will look into my eyes, and that I will see in them the question, ‘Hal, you knew. Why didn’t you tell me?’” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1998, 42; or Ensign, Nov. 1998, 33).I guess the theme of this week's lesson could be "No regrets".
The following list comes from the lesson itself, it lists scriptures and then a direction to ponder. We might go through a few of these as a class, but in case we spend the majority of class doing a Q&A style, I wanted to put these up here as a scripture study exercise for those of you so inclined:
- D&C 18:15–16. Invite class members to express their feelings for Church members who shared the gospel with them or to describe their feelings as they shared the gospel.
- D&C 71:9–10. Point out that the Lord gave this promise at a time when the Church was under attack from a bitter apostate. How can this promise help us today?
- D&C 84:80. Invite class members to tell how the Lord has sustained them mentally, physically, and spiritually as they have preached the gospel.
- D&C 100:7–8. Invite class members to share experiences when they have felt the Holy Ghost bear record while they have shared the gospel.
I am so excited to have a discussion and counsel on missionary work in our class this week!
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