Reed Benson: A Personal Encounter

I wanted to write this tribute to Reed Amussen Benson since I don't know how long he will be around still. Back in 1985 I was a graduate student in early twentieth century history at BYU. I worked in the religion department at the time for Donald Q. Cannon and Richard O. Cowan. I helped Brother Cowan do research on LDS temples and assisted him in preparing some of the gospel doctrine lessons as well as helping him on his book the Church in the Twentieth Century. I helped Don Cannon work on a few articles such as the Provo Sugar Miracle, Latter-day Visions of the Savior, the Wisconsin Pinery and a few odds and ends on free masonry. At the time I was writing my master's thesis on James E. Talmage: The Man and His Times. I had the first two chapters complete and had submitted them to Tom Alexander. In one of my history classes I had written a paper on Ezra Taft Benson during his time as Secretary of Agriculture during Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration.

One day I was walking along near the administration building when a short man with a bald head dressed in a blue Mr. Mac suit came running up to me. He called me Friend Bruno. I didn't really recognize him very well since I had never met him before. He introduced himself as Reed Benson. He said he had heard good things about me and heard I had written a paper on his father and would I bring a copy by his office. He told me he had talked to his good dad Elder Ezra Taft Benson about me since I was recommended as a top researcher and writer. I told him I already had a job and that I appreciated the offer. He told me he needed help writing his fathers biography and eventually also his teachings book.



According to a 2001 biography of Reed Amussen Benson he is "Reed A. Benson is a professor in the Ancient Scripture Department at BYU and teaches a thousand students a semester. He has written for a national news magazine and lectured widely, with numerous TV interviews and press conferences. A former Air Force Chaplin during the Korean War, he was the President of the Kentucky, Louisville Mission. He served as Branch President in Oxford, England and in the Israel District Presidency. Oldest son of President and Mrs. Ezra Taft Benson, he is the father of nine children and grandfather to twenty-four." I think he is semi-retired now as a professor I haven't really spoken to him in about twenty years.

I learned a great deal about missionary work from Reed Benson. He was president of the Kentucky Louisville Mission. He was a master at commitment. He taught me that you need to be bold and to testify. That missionaries need a message to match their mission. He was very influential in converting his father's words in to practice. President Benson was really influential in flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. Reed was a great spokesman for his message training literally thousands of students who passed through the halls of the religion department at BYU.

Later that day I took my only copy of my paper by. I was so poor at the time that I didn't even have enough to copy the paper so I gave him my original. A few days later he called and said his good dad had read my paper and they both wanted me to work for them. I went and talked talked with Don Cannon who told me that Brother Robert J. Matthews wanted to see me about working with Reed. I was told I was to be a full-time staff member during the two years I was to work on the project and was to be paid $8 an hour.

A day or two later Reed told me that Ezra Taft Benson, who was then President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles wanted to see me in his office in Salt Lake City. We drove up in Reed's car. When I arrived President Benson was meeting with one of my heroes Boyd K. Packer so I had to wait about ten minutes. Reed wandered off to speak with one of his secretaries who I think was named Betty about some business he needed to take care of for his dad. I learned that Reed was always doing some project or another for his dad from the very beginning. His office was on the First Floor. It was quite different than visiting my old mission president Russ Ballard whose office was on the fourth floor or Elder Kikuchi's who was on the third and later in the Church Office Building. It was a very impressive office.

Finally I was ushered in to the office. Reed was in the office and left to take care of some other things. President Benson shook my hand and said that he had read my paper and that he wanted me to come to work for them. He said you will have to work probably hundreds of hours with no pay and sacrifice your time. Are you willing to do it? I told him I was. He said that he heard from Reed that I wanted to be an institute teacher and that he felt I would make a good one since he knew I was one of the good and trusted LDS historians. He told me that some of the current ones were struggling and we needed men like me working in the ranks.

I asked him if he would give me a blessing prior to working on the project. He told me that he would like to but that the brethren discourage that so that a person receiving wouldn't later claim something was said interpreting it differently than the way it really was given. He told me that I would work out of Reed's office and would work closely with him in writing his biography and later his teachings book. He said since he couldn't give me a blessing he would give me copies of his books and that he personally would sign them.

Ezra Taft Benson went to a closet in his office and removed about nine books which included God, Family and Country, An Enemy Hath Done This, The Red Carpet, Farmers at the Crossroads, Cross Fire, So Shall Ye Reap, This Nations Shall Endure, Title of Liberty, and On Wings of Faith. He took out a pen and said that he was going to personally sign mine and he wanted me to have them as a gift of his appreciation. I had asked Reed coming up how he father signed the dozens of documents and he told me he used an autopen so I knew that his signing them was a special thing since he was a busy man. Elder Benson was very enthusiastic warm and had a vital and active mind. He told me that there were two criteria that needed to be involved in writing his biography and doing his teachings book and that was "It lead men to Christ and that it establish the trutfulness of the Book of Mormon." I spent about an hour with him. He later explained to me where his desire to flood the earth with the Book of Mormon came from.

The next day I went to work with Reed. The first few days I went either over to his house. He had a spacious custom home that had been built by Reed Bankhead's sons he later moved over on Stadium Avenue when he sold his house to Joe Cannon who was head of Geneva Steel. Reed Bankhead was one of Reed's religion colleagues that had a similar John Birch perspective. Bankhead and Reed were really in to the idea that they were opposing communism and other socialist regimes in order to preserve the liberty and freedom of the Free World. I remember that Bankhead, Ron Mann, Gerald Lund, Dennis Wardle and Reed all worked on The Constitution: Our Heavenly Banner. Glenn Pearson might have even had a hand but I do know for a fact the other men did research on it.

I remember that Reed Benson was an exceptional parent. He and his wife May were not able to have children and adopted nine children. They were both very involved in the home schooling movement. They had some pretty elaborate family home evening activities which included things like going to the Utah Jazz basketball games. One time Reed showed me an itemized listing of his expenses. He kept a detailed account of things he did in life which showe he spent close to eight thousand dollars alone for family activities. My kids are lucky they go to the local water park which cost a few hundred. I hardly ever take all eight out to a restaurant. He even took them every summer to Aspen Grove for family camp. They had a weight room and one the nicest libraries I have ever seen in their home. He always had time for his kids who would visit him on occasion at his office. He was a patient and understanding type of a father.

One time I was visiting and they had Book of Mormon reading while I was there. It was very impressive seeing him there with all his kids. One day he told me had to go to school and see what his kids were being taught. Apparently when they got in the older grades a few of them attended a formal school and Reed went to see what kind of curriculum and teachers they had. I learned a lesson or two from Reed I never had a clue that they would let you come right in the classroom and check it out until then.

I remember one of his daughters had her stomach stapled. Reed made sure that she was prayerful about her decision. He was very even keeled about his interactions with his kids. I would have probably have said you must be whacking out of your brain let alone pay for something like that. His kids loved him a great deal.

Not only was he a good parent but he was probably the best son I have ever seen. He sacrificed his whole life to promote his father and his mission. Everything Reed did had to do with religion and serving his father or family. He was the most devoted son I ever saw. He was constantly in touch with his father. He spoke to him a few times a day. Dennis Wardle was constantly telling me about the things he would do. Reed would drop whatever he was doing if his father needed him to do something for him. Usually he did research on whatever topic his father was interested in. His brother Mark was also closely connected to his father and ended up serving as a special assistant. Reed took a beating because of his faithful devotion not everyone realized just how faithful he was. He taught in the religion department so he could be close to his dad. He told me that earlier in his life he was interested in working with Jack Welch and was in the Freeman movement but his dad needed him so that is why he moved to Provo.

To look at Reed one would never know with his bald head and large ears just how dynamic he was. He would tilt his head to the side and start speaking and it was amazing how he would capture his audience and enthralled them with his grasp of doctrine. He was an exceptional scholar of the Book of Mormon and taught thousands of students many returned missionaries. In terms of religiosity I found Reed Benson to be one of the top people in the whole LDS Church. He was as straight laced a Mormon as ever walked the earth. He prayed conscientiously. I would find him on his knees sometimes in the office in the JSB. He would be there some days at four a.m. One cute story about him involved sleep. The poor guy never got more than three or four hours a nigh of sleep. He had special pink Sylvania bulbs put in because otherwise he would fall asleep in the afternoon. One morning he fell asleep at the wheel and drove down the side of the hill just below the Heber J. Grant Building. I tried to make sure he was always properly rested. I even learned to work with a dim light on in his office.

He was actively involved in the John Birch Society but he kept it low key as a religion instructor. It took me a while to catch on to the code. Someone would call him and the conversation would go something like "I am glad you are interested in the freedom movement. There is a meeting but I will have to meet you by the temple since I don't get involved with that here." He would then tell the person to come at certain time where he would be parked waiting for them. He never once pushed it on anyway that I saw. I never had an interest in the John Birch movement and he never offered to take me personally since he respected my preferences. It was cute though when he would call me Comrade Bruno or Friend Bruno.

He was very busy in his life taking care of daily things like teaching his classes, serving in his local callings, taking care of his family, etc. I knew he didn't have a lot of time so I concentrated on doing research on the biography and later the teachings book.

A few months in to the biography we had a change. One day I heard Reed talking to his father. His father said that Marvin J. Ashton had a prodigy named Sheri Dew that worked at This People magazine and that President Benson needed someone that could make him more human and show that side of h im. Reed tried to argue that he and I were writing the book but President Benson said he was convinced by his brethren that was the way he should go. He never liked to go contrary to them. In fact I was apalled that they made him put a disclaimer in his original pamphlet the Constitution Our Heavenly Banner that it was his opinion and not the official viewpoint of the LDS Church. I had a good laugh when as President of the Church he gave it at a general conference. When a Prophet gives an address in an official capacity it becomes the mind and will of the Lord. It actually was a marvelous address and I am far from being an ultra-conservative but even I felt it was an inspired discourse. Anyway Sheri Dew came on board.

Reed was a very busy man so he had his niece Flora Parker who was staying with the President and his wife help Sheri Dew out by gathering the thousands of pages of his addresses in to one place. Reed paid her I believe the same way I was paid which included countless hours of service. Sheri would occasionally call for Reed and sometimes he would respond right away. I can honestly say that the man was given constant assignments from his father that side-tracked him. He was a sweet man and thought the best of those he worked with. One day she called out of frustration and said she was going to quit unless she got the diaries. I have to say I understand Reed's reluctantance to not give them up until he read through them since there were delicate topics in them. I remember assuring her that he would call her and to hang in there. She told me she had writer's block and was going to give up. Reed brought the diaries in within a few days and he and I and Dennis Wardle spent a few hours photocopying them since we didn't want unauthorized copies to spring up on the underground. She was given a copy of his diaries and Reed became more actively involved in editing her writing. Richard Cowan helped her a little bit and soon Reed put his time in moving that project along. I was pleased that she was able to bring it to fruitition. At the time I resented her taking the book I was supposed to write but she had a more journalistic style. I doubt even if I had written it that I would have ended up President of Deseret Book.

Reed, Dennis Wardle and myself began to concentrate on the teachings book. Reed did a few talks extracting quotes. We had to whittle down forty years of talks in to a five hundred page book. I came up with the classification schedule using the church magazines scheme which I only had to adapt using a few topics they didn't have. I had a few volunteers from student wards and Richard O. Cowan's classes do a few talks but in the end Dennis and I did the majority of the selection. We used a numbering system for the topics with the person marking the talk with a pencil using brackets. Then we had two different secretaries Jodie Durrant, George Durrant's son Warren's wife and Jannell Johnson who typed the quotes in WordPerfect. We ended up with forty or fifty floppy disks. Dennis and I whittled it down to about eight hundred pages.

Then the three of us went to the Benson Institute and sat together for about a month condensing it down to the punchiest quotes. Reed made sure that we always started with a word of prayer. He continually reminded us that his dad wanted nothing said that didn't lead men to Christ. Slowly but surely we began wading through the material. It was in the Spring of 1987. Reed called the three of us the three musketeers. Each day we would make our way through about two or three topics as we would have to tell Reed whether that was the best his father said. Reed would argue with us sometimes whether we had already said that and we would discuss how each quote was different or added something different.

I had a couple of great experiences while working with Reed.

When President Benson became President of the Church there was a special solemn assembly. Since Reed and Dennis and I were working on his book he wanted us to attend it as his personal guest. We were given special tickets. I was able to sit with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the service with my wife and children I never had better seats and was able to raise my hand to sustain him.

Another experience involved blessing the living Prophet. One day I got a phone call from Mark Benson that President Benson was in Provo at Dr. Harold Oaks, an eye surgeon's office and that Reed was needed there immediately. Dennis Wardle came about then and so we checked Reed's class schedule and saw he was about to get out of one of his classes. Dennis and I drove in his car over to pick up Reed. We took him down to Dr. Oaks office. President Benson was going blind due to cataracts just like President Kimball had been. Dr. Oaks was busy for several weeks and President Benson had a busy schedule for several weeks to come the only time they could do the operation they discovered was that very day. Dennis Wardle and me and a Church Security guard waiting in the foyer while Reed went back. I asked Dennis why the Twelve didn't give him a blessing he told me that they didn't have time and that his sons had the right to give him a blessing. A few minutes later Reed came out and invited Dennis and me to join him. He had told his dad we were there and so he invited us to assist in the blessing. Mark annointed his father and Reed sealed the blessing. As we stood there I prayed silently to the Lord that if President Benson needed some of my eyesight that I would willingly give it up so he could be able to fill his duties as a Prophet. I learned a lesson that day as the Lord took me at my word. My eyesight has slowly diminished in my right eye. Today I have hugh black floaters but I will always remember Reed's confidence and his father's in Dennis and me. We were considered family.

Reed was always concerned about us. One time his father was given some prime number one Idaho spuds. He told his dad we were living in the basement of a mission president who had his daughter living in the home while he was gone. Reed brought nuts, oranges, and the potatoes. Three families living there ate those potatoes for a week we didn't have much money between us.

Reed always thought people would be great leaders. One day on August 4th 1987 I was at President Benson's apartment which was his birthday and also my own. Reed came out I was sitting at the Prophet's kitchen table waiting and he told me to write in my journal that President Benson prophesied that one day I would be a bishop and stake president. Both he and his dad were certain of it. Another time I had President Benson tell me I would one day be a mission president. I have always been faithful in the church because of their confidence in me. I have remained true to the faith. I remember Reed would tell me that J. Reuben Clark Jr. who was a counselor in the First Presidency even said on his death bed that he wanted to endure to the end. Reed liked telling us personal church history stories. A lot of what I know came from Reed's instruction.

I don't mind that I have never served in high profile ways because I think of Reed Benson who quietly served his whole life and gave his all to the Church or Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint. I hope to be half the man he was when they lay me down in the grave. In the next life I intend to hang around with Ezra Taft Benson and Reed some of the greatest men of God and patriots I have ever known. I believe Reed Benson is the salt of the earth and one of the most faithful sons a man could ever have. Members of the Church owe Reed Benson a debt of gratitute for his life of service.

Missionary Letters-Rome, Italy: Member Help

Cari Miei,

So not that I am trunky or anything but next week will be your very last week to write me in the mission so I expect a letter from all of you! This week was crazy good. I love being here serving the Lord. We keep having miracles finding people on the bus. I was speaking to an elder in my district last week and he told me that if we just were outside all day long talking to people on the public transportation in the States we would have some pretty funny ideas about Americans. He made me laugh but it is true most normal people are usually at work while we are out trying to find people. I have realized just how important member work really is on my mission. I have thought about what kind of member missionary we all have the responsibilty to be!

My companion Sister C told me a story about a man who joined the church in Rome 1 when she was there. How he was a well off single italian man which it is easy to think never happens, but God led the missionaries to him because they were listening to the Spirit and so was he. I know that this happens. As we pray every day to be led we are and we pray every day to be led by the spirit to know where to go, with who to speak and what to say. I know that when God trusts us he leads us because he knows that we will talk to everyone. I am trying to talk to everyone even when it seems silly because I have little time left, you never know. I strive always to be diligent and obedient and just pray that that is enough. I love you all I love my savior Jesus Christ. WRITE ME!!!

Vi Voglio Bene

Nepotism or Family Legacy: LeGrand Richards' Missionary Legacy Lives On in Callister Grandsons

As a young missionary in the Canada Toronto Mission I remember reading my missionary library which consisted of A Marvelous Work and a Wonder (LeGrand Richards), Truth Restored/Gospel Principles (Gordon B. Hinckley),The Articles of Faith (James E. Talmage), and Jesus the Christ (James E. Talmage). LeGrand Richard's book was the basis of my early doctrinal foundation as were the two books by Talmage and to a lesser degree the one by President Hinckley.

LeGrand Richards was very missionary-minded. His talks often included personal experiences of his mission in the Netherlands from 1905 until 1908. He also served a short-term mission to Rhode Island in 1926. He was a mission president in the Southern States Mission in 1934-1937. He was famous for talking from his heart and would often have to be reminded to quit speaking. He would lay his cane up on the podium and many times I remember President Kimball pulling on his coat tail. He would laugh and sometimes go on. As a missionary I dearly enjoyed his talks as he would relate in detail his missionary experiences he had a warm rich and often humorous speaking style that endeared him to young missionaries. Most people don't remember him as well as those older than forty but his was the picture of the ideal grandfather.

LeGrand Richards had a rich tradition in LDS Church leadership. His father was George F. Richards, and his grandfather Franklin D. Richards served as President of the Council of the Twelve. In the last several years two of his grandsons Tad R. Callister and Douglas L. Callister have both been called as members of the Second Quorum of the Seventy. The Second Quorum of Seventy is a limited appointment group that can be released after six to eight years of service, many move up in leadership. Both men were sons of LeGrand's daughter Norinne Richards Callister and Reed who lived in the Glendale, California area.

Both grandsons were tax lawyers by profession. Tad has practiced law for twenty-eight years in a family law firm down in California that was started by his father Reed who was himself also a mission president in the British Mission from 1967 until 1969. He was called to the second quorum of Seventy in the April 2008 General Conference.

Tad published two books — The Infinite Atonement and The Inevitable Apostasy and the Promised Restoration. The second book was published while he was out as a mission president and I have included the previous link of an interview with KSL Radio talking about his time in the Canada Toronto mission and the book. His church service includes: President of Canada Toronto East Mission (2005-2008), Area Seventy, regional representative, counselor in the California Arcadia Mission, President and a counselor of the Glendale Stake, bishop, temple ordinance worker, mission president's counselor, stake mission president, elders quorum president, seminary teacher and missionary to the Eastern Atlantic States Mission (1965-1967).


Of missionary interest was a letter he sent the parents of Elder Britt Wells included below:



Letter from President Tad Callister


Date: January 17, 2008

Area: York, Ontario

Companion: Elder Deskins


THE CHURCH OFJESUS CHRIST OF LATTER~DAY SAINTS
CANADA TORONTO EAST MISSION
24 FERRAND DRIVE SUITE 300
DON MILLS ON M3C 3V4
Phone 416-490-6869



3 January 2008



Mr. & Mrs. Monty Wells
294 West 1360 North
American Fork, UT 84003 USA



Dear Brother & Sister Wells:



Elder Britt Monroe Wells arrived here in the Canada Toronto East Mission on 1 January 2008. Your son is anxious to begin the work and experience missionary life. His testimony and enthusiasm for the work are fully evident. Sister Callister and I look forward to working with Elder Wells as he serves our Father in Heaven here in the mission.



After prayerful consideration I have selected Elder Cody Deskins to be your son’s first companion and trainer. I will have a personal interview with your son every six weeks. This enables me to monitor your son’s growth and assess the conditions inherent in his labours. Sister Callister will monitor his health needs and encourage him to take good care of himself.



You are encouraged to write often. My father wrote me each week in the mission field. Sometimes was short (only 3 or 4 sentences), but he always had a message of inspiration. I loved those letters, as they were a great help to me. The mailing address is:



24 Ferrand Drive Suite 300
Don Mills, ON M3C 3V4



Your missionary committed to his bishop and stake president to serve a full term mission of 24 months. Your missionary has also committed to put his personal life on hold. Brigham Young said, “Let you: minds be centered on your mission.



”We expect accomplishments here to involve many growing experiences, which will be a source of pleasure for him and your entire family.



If you need to contact us for any reason, the mission home address is 5 Windom Road, Don Mills, ON M3C 3Z5; phone 416-467-7164


We are grateful for the support you are giving your son, and pray that the Lord’s blessings will attend you. We encourage your missionary to write you each week and share his positive missionary experiences with you. Sister Callister and I pledge to do all we can to make his entire mission successful and rewarding.



Sincerely yours,

Tad R. CallisterMission President



Enclosure P.S. Elder Wells is off to a good start – a fine young man.



In June 2008 Tad R. Callister was made the second counselor in the Pacific Area Presidency working with David S. Baxter, President and Keith K. Hilbig, as first counselor.

Douglas L. Callister was sustained to the Second Quorum of the Seventy April 1, 2000, at age 61. He was a former Area Authority Seventy, regional representative, president of Minnesota Minneapolis Mission, temple sealer, stake president, and bishop. In 2003 he served as the President of the Eastern Europe Area and lived in Moscow.

Both grandsons have served faithfully throughout their lives and are a credit to their grandfather. For information about other general authorities and their relatives you can check out Jeff Spector's post on Mormon Matters.

LDS Greatest Missionary of All Times: The Poll

I am conducting some polls to determine the greatest missionary of all times in the LDS Church. Please choose who you think is the top missionary of all times. I will take comments as well as votes then I will compile a list of the top ten vote getters and have a final vote later. As with all lists there might be someone I have missed so let me know what you think. I am missing a picture of Mischa Markow if you have one leave a comment with your email and I will contact you for it. Happy voting!

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Opinion Polls & Market Research

Advice for Mission Leaders: Using Book of Mormon To Motivate in Member Missionary Work

I recently moved to a new ward in South Carolina. During the priesthood opening exercises a young man with a very prominent goatee got up and held up a blue paperback copy of the Book of Mormon and said does "Anyone want to take the Book of Mormon challenge this week and make a report next week."

Every week someone accepts the Book of Mormon and tries to give it to a acquaintance or friend. Then they are expected to make a report of what takes place. One brother came up and said that he gave it to his sister who was experiencing problems in her life. She wasn't fully ready for the gospel at this point in life because she had some relationship issues but that she accepted the book and he felt it planted a seed that one day might have results.

The interesting thing is that not everyone has a startling story of success to tell but people take the book and make an attempt to share it with a friend. It makes you feel a little uncomfortable when you don't take the book. I have been thinking since I only moved here four weeks that I don't really know anyone to give the book to yet. I then think about Bookslinger who was mentioned in M. Russell Ballard's talk who goes around to gas stations and restaurants and gives it away to complete strangers. I am sure if we prayerfully seek an opportunity that we would be able to place the book each week with little trouble. I have recently wondered why missionaries don't place more Book of Mormons by standing in front of places like the local public library and try giving them away. I guess they need members like me to buy them a few cases of Book of Mormons. The ward mission leader tries to place the book if no one takes it so that the momentum of the placements keep moving forward. I could see how it would be difficult if no one takes the challenge. I have been very impressed by this Book of Mormon placement program.

Advice to Senior Companions

I had a couple of senior companions from the South Carolina Columbia Mission over for dinner the other night. I told the Elders that they had to earn their supper by giving me five things that I could share on my blog with other missionaries that would make them a good senior companion.

One of the Elders gave me things that came directly from the Preach My Gospel Guide:

1. Be Obedient.
2. Lead and be led by the Spirit.
3. Know the lesson principles.
4. Bear pure testimony.
5. Resolve concerns.

The other missionary was more in to interpersonal relations and gave what I thought were exceptional suggestions:

1. Contact like crazy, nothing happens unless you have someone to teach.
2. Be obedient.
3. Involve your companion in planning and other activities.
4. Don't bash, arguing gets you nowhere.
5. Remember to have fun, missionary work is always better when you're happy!

The two elders come from a mission where their mission president Stephen L. McConkie, son of Bruce R. McConkie and their former mission president Kenneth Brailsford stress the importance of obedience.  Being a former M. Russell Ballard missionary I have to agree that it is better to be an obedient missionary and adhere to the missionary rules.

Missionary Letters--Rome, Italy: Sacrifce of Member

Cari Miei

So this week I am super stanca because our district took a train and went to Tivoli the city of 1000 fountains. I have never seen so many fountains in my life it was absolutely beautiful. I am stanca da morire. I had so much fun.

So here it goes, I have the next 5 mins to sum up this week...I love you all super a lot. This week our investigator with a baptismal date came to church for the first time. She will get baptized in 2 more weeks. My whole mission I have tried to teach Italian families so that we could grow the church and make it stable for generations. This woman is all alone and comes from a Muslim background. I dont know how much you know about it but we are not allowed to teach Muslim people without permission from the area authority.

This woman will go back to Tunsia after her baptism where it is strictly illegal to bring in religious material it being an Arab country. I am pretty much amazed daily by her dedication and desire to sacrifice everything to come unto Christ through baptism.Sometimes in the mission and in life, we don't control from where we come or where we will end up, but I know that it we have faith and act on that faith that God will provide a way. With that faith we are going forward... sempre avanti. I know that God will take care of her 1 Nephi 3:7.

VI Voglio Bene

Missionaries Say the Darnest Things

I had the missionaries over for dinner and one of the elders turned to me and told me that someone did a poor job patching and repairing the living room wall. I looked to see what he was talking about and sure enough there were a few uneven places that were noticeable when you looked closely. I told him that he was very observant but since I was renting it wasn't a big deal to me but it wouldn't take much effort to paint it. He agreed. I then said I bet your dad is a contractor. He said how do you know. I said you remind me of a companion I had in the mission field whose dad was a contractor. He then told me about how his dad had a small company and how he had worked in it before his mission.



Then I told him the story of my companion who had special permission to call his finacee every P-Day. We discussed how he had a tough mission president named President Kenneth Brailsford who gave every missionary the talk lock your heart. He said his mission president was a tough dude and the missionaries really followed him. He had 116 baptisms right before he went home in June which was a record in the Southern and Eastern States Missions. When he started they had 30 or 40 tops. I said I bet he will be an area Seventy in no time. I said he sounds just like my mission president M. Russell Ballard I bet he is a Ballard man. They said how did you know he was close friends with Elder Ballard. The told me he was on Forbes list of the most wealthiest people in the world. They said he could look you in the eyes and see in your soul.

I laughed I said he learned that one from Elder Ballard also. I asked them if he made a point when looking in their eyes of poking them in the sternum when making a point. I made the missionary stand up and demonstrated the Ballard technique for keeping or getting attention. I asked them if he had a hot seat where he put them so they could improve. He didn't do that but they said he was best friends with Elder Ballard.

At dinner one of the missionaries brought up the darndest thing. I told him I had taught missionary preparation 130 at BYU-Hawaii. He said I have a doctrinal question for you that someone asked him recently "How would you respond to a woman who said that Satan had sex with Eve." I told him that image actually grossed me out. My wife who reads a bunch of blogs said "I have heard it said that Satan might have been the father of Cain but the Bible says his father was Adam." I told the Elder I doubted Satan was the father of any of Adam's children. His companion and I both thought he couldn't have had sex with her before they came to earth since Adam and Eve were in a state of innocence.

Missionary Dinner Appointments Are So Inconvenient

Last night my family and I had two missionaries from the South Carolina Columbia Mission over for dinner. I asked the missionaries why they couldn't come at six o'clock instead of five o'clock for dinner appointments since it forces most ouf us working people to go home an hour early from work. I asked them if they realized not everyone could go home and fix them dinner and have it ready by 5pm in today's business world. I also said I bet even the Prophet works until at least five and maybe even until 6pm. I explained to them that there are many people who could get in trouble by going home before their normal work day is over but that fortunately I am the director and I was able to go in today by 7:30am and leave by 4:00pm. I wanted to know why didn't they come one hour later.

I commented to the missionaries that they should be more flexible in coming when a family could have them over. One of the elders patiently replied "It says in our White Missionary Handbook that we are to have dinner from 5pm until 6pm. The prophet himself has instructed us. The prime proseltying time is between 6pm until 9pm." He explained they need to be done in order to do their most effective work."

I replied I find it hard to believe that the Prophet or General Authorities themselves go home on time by exactly five pm in order to feed the missionaries. The missionary replied "I don't know about that but I bet they do but it doesn't matter we are obedient to the mission rules and that is when we have dinner appointments." He said there is nothing he can do about it whether people can or can't feed them at that time. He also said for the most part people comply with that schedule but if they have to they have some food in their apartments when an appointment falls through.

The thought passed through my head that there are many people not in the situation to go home and feed them that could get fired. I also thought I guess it would be easier for people like that to just buy them a pizza and have it delivered.

Then I thought that defeats the purpose since they asked if they could give us a family missionary discussion and hit us up for referrals. I then thought if the Prophet and Missionary Committee wants us to feed them so bad maybe we all needed to suck it up and do it across a whole ward since it places a hardship on the few who do feed them.

I also thought about the value of why I have them come over is to interact with my children so they will one day go on a mission. Plus it helps me give back something since someone once feed me when I was a missionary. It is a very conflicting thing.

Jimmizine Taylor and Her Influence on Me

It is not often that I write about a person who is not Latter-day Saints but Jimmizine Taylor is a person that touched my life for good and has been an inspiration to me. Back in 2000 I took a job at Prairie View A&M University, a historically Black University located twenty miles northwest of Houston and worked there for over four years. Ms. Taylor worked there in the special collection/archives. I was her direct supervisor. Jimmizine was around 80 years old and had more spunk and get up and go than many people half her age. She enthralled me with her stories such as how she came by train to Prairie View in the fall of 1946 from Atlanta University where she had completed her library degree.

She told me some stories like how they form a human chain to pass the books between the former library in the Banks Building which was the old administration building of the university along a dirt walk to the new library. She told me of their comadrie in the library and that a former director who had a watermelon bust every Friday afternoon. Landis Jones, one of her colleagues, was born in a house that was on the campus. She talked about the involvement of past presidents who lived right on the campus until around 2002. She was apalled when the two past presidents took a huge housing allowance around $5,000 per month and moved off campus. Not because they were making big money but because she felt there was something special about their involvement with students.

She told me repeatedly she was a "people person." I knew she really was. She asked me all the time about my eight children. She was one of the few in the library that really cared about how my family was doing. When they graduated she would ask me about it or where they would attend college. She was always concerned about people were. Everywhere I would go people would ask me when I told them I worked at Prairie View A&M did I know Ms. Taylor. When I told not only did I know her I was her boss they would tell me about how they had been helped by her or worked for her as a student. Everyone I met who knew her loved her. Even when I served on a Ketchum Capital Campaign Committee with Marvin Brailsford and Julius Becton, two former military generals, they would ask about Ms. Taylor.

One day I was talking to one of them about about how the VPAA Joanne Thomas Smith wanted me to get Ms. Taylor to retire. Thomas Smith had called me in and insisted that I get Ms. Taylor to retire in strong language and that I was to just plain do it. I told her I thought it was a bad idea since Ms. Taylor still had her mental faculties and was well loved. I told her we would lose the collective historical memory of the campus. Thomas Smith insisted that she just needed to call it a day and I should just tell her to retire. I didn't agree but I knew Thomas Smith was a hard woman and would make my life miserable if I didn't do it. She was a tough nosed administrator.

I kept stressing to Dr. Thomas Smith that Ms. Taylor was the historical memory of the campus and it would be a loss for students and faculty not to have her on campus. When anyone wanted to know something about the past they called Ms. Taylor who had lived through the event and remembered it. Her mind was sharp even if on occasion she might drift off over her cane for a few minutes. I needed to find a solution to keep Ms. Taylor and not jeopardize my job. I told the General about my being squeezed to make her retire and did he have any suggestions. He told me in his opinion it would be political suicide for anyone that forced her to retire. I had told Ms. Taylor as long as I was director she would always have a job. The general told me that it was good that I felt that way since most alumni would be angry if she were ever forced out.

One thing that happened was that Ms. Taylor used to park by the loading docket behind the library. She was told she couldn't park there any more. Everyone thought surely this would force her to retire. But Ms. Tayor was undeterred. One of her boys worked in the physical plant and he stayed over one hour not being paid every morning to drive Ms. Taylor the block from the lot to the front of the library. Then she would climb the stairs and ever so slowly walk to the elevator and go up to the fifth floor. In the even of a fire or emergency I made special arrangements that if a male student worker or Ms. Earles wasn't there to help I was to be called to help her down the stairs. I finally negotiated with Lettie Raab that she could park in the University College Parking lot adverting her retirement due to hardship of getting to work.

I came up with a solution to save her job. I went to her and told her I wanted to throw a party to honor her while she was still vigorious and could enjoy it. I went up to her office and reaffirmed my pledge that as long as I were director I would never fire her. I said just because we have a party doesn't mean you have to retire. She told me that she would die if she had to stay home because it would make her old. She said as long as she could come in every day she stayed young and could make a difference in the world. To her the students and staff were the children that she never had. She told me she would get back to me. After much discussion she told me to go ahead with it. We have a hugh party to celebrate her fifty-five years of devoted service.

I had Phyllis Earles and Marion Williams work on putting together a party in the public events room of the library. The gathering was really quite impressive with widows of professors, public officials, students, library staff and even Dr. Thomas Smith herself showing up. Landis Jones taped the meeting. It wasn't your usual meeting. It was like a religious revival meeting. We had anyone stand up who felt they wanted to say something about her work and contributions. People like Alfred Poindexter, legendary professor and veternarian came and told how he had come at about the same time and how they had seen the campus develop and students be allowed to get an education despite discriminatory conditions. It was interesting that the two had a close friendship and both wanted to outlast the other as the longest person working. I think Ms. Taylor beat him by a few months. Frank Jackson the mayor of Prairie View read a resolution honoring that as Jimmizine Taylor day. It was really a very special event. Then unbelievably Joanne Thomas Smith rose to her feet and said "Bruno was right about Ms. Taylor." She went on to say how they needed Ms. Taylor at Prairie View for as long as she wanted to be there.

I contacted Texas A&M University right after the event when I read their system-wide newsletter talking about people with forty or fifty years service. I told them I have a person you need to feature. Ms. Taylor was put in their slick annual feature of exceptional people which included a Nobel Prize winner. I truly respected what Jimmizine Taylor stood for irregardless of race, religion, or belief. She will always symbolize the best of the library profession.

I revered Ms. Taylor for her devotion not only to the institution which she loved but to the library profession. Until her seventies she was very active in the Texas Library Association and she was the head of the reference department until the 1990s. She moved up to the archives when she lost her mobility. I have to say that she actually handles lots of enquiries on a daily basis and was more valuable than an online catalog because she remember literally dozens of items at the folder level on a myriad of subjects. She and Phyllis Earles became a team. In a strange way they helped each other be better as both learned from each other.

When I was later forced out of my job she was one of the few who cared that I was no longer going to be there. My boss accused me of giving Ms. Taylor preferential treatment. Ms. Taylor was treated fairly by me and for the most part was productive. Ms. Taylor didn't care that I was white and she was black like many people at PVAMU. She saw what was inside of people. She knew that I loved the students and faculty as much as she did. She knew I was there to make a difference and she respected those who stood for their beliefs. She was inspiration to me and a role model. She lived her life for Prairie View A&M University. Her commitment to PVAMU will be hard to beat for the fact of longevity and faithfulness. I know it has helped me be a better person and whenever I think about someone that has sacrificed for a cause I think of Jimmizine Taylor who gave her life to serve her friends.

In an interesting way even LDS can take a page from her book. In my management experience I have found few that will give their lives let alone a lifetime commitment to one organization. One day I talked to her about the fact she had put hundreds of thousands of dollars in to the Texas State retirement plan and would never live to collect it if she kept working. She told me she didn't care about the money she only cared about making a difference in the lives of others as long as her health permitted she would be there. I have hired a few LDS librarians who told me straight up that if a better job came along paying a few thousand they would leave me. I myself have never stayed longer than five or six years anywhere. I know few organizations today look out for their people so sometimes it is understandable but for the most part there are very few that love their jobs so much that they would stay for sixty-one years. I will miss Jimmizine Taylor who is a legend as a librarian and person. I hope I can be as dedicated to my church as she was to her job.

Mark Hoffman: A Personal Historical Remembrance

In 1982 three years before Mark Hoffman planted his bombs he was at the height of his noteriety and was considered the number one top Mormon antiquity dealer. He was supposedly blessed to find rare and valuable documents. Hoffman was invited to be the keynote speaker at the Mormon History Association in Odgen Utah at Weber State University. I was a senior majoring in history at the time and trying to break in to the Mormon history circles. I was also working at the time as a volunteer for Richard O. Cowan, a Church History professor for whom I would did some research in the Church History Archives in Salt Lake City.

A couple of my BYU history department classmates Scott Faulring and Mark Grandstaff invited me to share their hotel room if I would split the cost with them. I really had not planned on going but they insisted I needed to go so I could meet the movers and shakers in the field. Being students on a limited budget I thought it was no big deal. Being young I didn't worry about the fact I might have to sleep on the floor. It got a bit complicated when I arrived at our hotel and found that they had invited Walt West to also share our room. It was pretty crowded with four men in a room with two queens.

Walt West was an older man who had retired from the Postal Service and had a bookstore in Provo near Deseret Industries. Walt had wild red hair and wore colorful blue, red, yellow and green jumpsuits. He got most of his books from students and DI as well as the vast collection he had acquired in his life collecting. He described his life to me on a few occasions when I hung out there for five or six hours. I knew his collection quite intimately having spent several hours there. I had a hard time going up to Salt Lake City to Cosmic Airplane or Sam Wellers so his store was convenient. One of my friends Jay Bell turned me on to Walt West Books. Jay was a mega collector and he was in my ward one year. It was weird that he was such a mega collector since he could hardly read or see for that matter wearing glasses that looked like coke bottles or binoculars. He actually got me to go to DI since some guy found a set of journals valued at thousands.

I remember one day go to visit Walt. He had a first edition Book of Mormon that he offered to sell me for about $8,000. I wish I had bought it but I had a good time holding it and discussing its value. Walt and I speculated what it might one day be worth. Walt really encouraged me to buy that book but I never had two nickles to rub together let alone 8 grand. It is a shame because they sell for over a $100,000 today. Walt knew I was poor and would sometimes give me a discounted price on some of the 600 books I ended up owning. He wrote the price in pencil in the front of the book. In my case he would knock off a buck of two. Anyway Walt and I bunked with them. We flipped a coin to see who got the bed during the three nights we were to be there. Walt suggested we all could fit two to a bed but Faulring didn't want to share a bed with anyone. Walt and I slept on the floor the first and third night.

I remember the first night we all went to a barbecue that Jan Shipps the noted IUPUI non-Mormon Scholar spoke at. Hoffman supposedly had found the William McLellin Papers and it is interesting to note that Shipps ended up editing his bonafide journals later. Anyway Faulring and Grandstaff ended up making friends with Lawrence Foster, another non-Mormon scholar who had written a book on the millenarian experience of Mormons and Shakers in Ohio in 1981. The three of them sat on the floor for hours discussing Mormons and their millenarian connections since Grandstaff was thinking about doing a thesis on the same subject. He had written something in one of his classes and had a strong interest. They were also enamored of Foster's attention.

Grandstaff and Faulring were interesting guys. He and Faulring planned on going in the air force and sitting in missile silos for twenty or thirty years then having enough money to devote their lives to Mormon history. I was inoculcated by them in to the Ernest Strack circle earlier in the year. Faulring was always trying to get me to visit Grandpa's Books since Uncle Ernie had some good things that he felt I needed like L. John Nuttall's diaries etc. One day I saw Grandstaff in the library and he took me over to the reprographics area where it turned out that Faurling was working. Faulring would make copies of things and they swapped Mormon documents like trading stamps. I drove the two guys nuts because I was so conservative and would insist they were liberal apostates on the road to hell.

Anyway on the day of the keynote address I was walking with the group when who should come walking by but Mark Hoffman with a group of five or six admirers. I asked Grandstaff and Faulring who the guy with the followers was because I had never met Hoffman and didn't know what he even looked like. I wasn't enamored of him even from what I had read or seen about him. The other men went on about what a lucky guy he was and how he had made some important finds. I told them I was totally unimpressed with him and felt his finds were too good to be true and doubted they were authentic. Faulring told me I was just jealous.

Hoffman and his group of accolytes wasn't more than five feet in front of us. Being the mild manner guy that I am I said almost yelling, which I do very well, I think the guy is a phony baloney. As we walked towards the big session I got madder and madder as they went on about Hoffman.

When we sat down we were near the front row. The Spirit told me stand up and denounce this guy. I told Walt West I am going to stand up and denounce this guy. He told me that I shouldn't do it and that I would embarass myself and everyone there. He also said if he was a phony he would be found out later. As I sat there I continued to get madder and madder and almost stood up. He actually grabbed me by the shoulder. Finally I endured to the end as he gave a few brief remarks and some religion guy I believe named Gage gave the major address.

I wonder what would have happened to me had I stood up and denounced Hoffman. Would he have started his kiling spree sooner. Would I have been one of his first? Or would I have stopped him before he got started. The trajectory of our lives might have been different.

One thing I do know I despised the guy. Later I began to be suspuscious of him even more. I was up at the LDS Church Historical Department waiting to speak to Glenn Rowe and Don Schmidt was in there ranting and raving with G. Homer Durham about how Sam Weller wanted to trade some land for the McClleland diaries. They were very angry about how Weller was taking them over Hoffman's find. I believe Hugh Pinnock took a beating on purchasing some of Hoffman's stuff.

When the bombing started I didn't really give Hoffman much thought until the day he was caught. Ron Walker who was working in the BYU Religion Department was fearful that he might be a target of the bomber. The police had named Hoffman by this point but he was not yet apprehended. Ron said he was concerned because they had found a package in the Religion Department but it didn't turn out to be anything.

I was not overly surprised when it all came out that Hoffman was a murder and psychopath. I was sorry though that I hadn't stood up and denounced him. If I had maybe things would have been different.

Missionary Letters--Rome, Italy: Value of Book of Mormon

Cari Miei,

This week was good, we talked to a lot of people. I love Rome because there are people everywhere. Today we are going to wander around Rome and soak it all up. I am reading the Book of Mormon this transfer because I want to finish my mission how I started it reading the Book of Mormon. I am astounded by how much stronger my testimony of it is now than when I started my mission. As I read it I think of every time that I read a certain verse with an investigator or a time that a member bore testimony during a lesson of another versus. I think of the different things that it has taught me and the overwellming witnesses that I have recieved through the Holy Ghost. I have had so many spiritual experience in the last 18 months with the words of the inspired prophets in the Book of Mormon that I know with all of my heart that it is true, that it was translated by a modern day prophet. I love you all so much, dont forget to Read the Book of Mormon!!!!

Vi Voglio Bene

New Exhaustive Collection of Missionary Statements

After twenty years of hard work a new exhaustive collection of missionary statements has been made available for free to those on the Internet. Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord has included all significant quotes by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in one place.

In addition it includes statements from the Missionary Preparation 130 manual and the definitive guide on missionary work Preach My Gospel. Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord has been carefully scrutinized by the copyright department of the LDS Church. Bruce Taggert of Intellectual Reserve has agreed that as far as the LDS Church is concerned the author can post it on his webpage without violating copyright law since it is a private compilation not for profit. However the author encourages users if a person would like to make a donation to the missionary fund as a result of using this great tool..

The compiler produced the compilation as a labor of love under the direction of former LDS president Ezra Taft Benson who encouraged him to do it over twenty years ago. The compiler who also produced the Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson says it is his best compilation to date. There is a vast amount of material that will inspire and motivate people about all aspects of LDS missionary work.

The compiler based the sections on scriptural passages that have missionary themes. It includes over 630 pages of statements by the authorities of the LDS church. The author will compile a second volume to include statements by the Seventy which will take another ten or twenty years. Since the compiler is a bit older now he hopes to complete it before he passes on to the next realm. The book can be accessed on the side bar of the blog Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord. So far nearly 35,000 people have viewed it. The author hopes more people will become familar with this exceptional missionary resource and thousands more will discover it to improve talks, lessons, and missionary activities.

The book is included below:
Prepare Ye The Way of the Lord (632 pp.Book); LDS Prophets and Apostles Speak on Missionary Service

FOREWORD
THE STONE CUT FROM THE MOUNTAIN WITHOUT HANDS
All Will Hear
The Worth of a Soul
Our Message
Purpose of the Work
ARISE AND SHINE FORTH
Mission of the Church
Our Responsibility
Member Missionary Work
Stake and Local Missions
THAT THEY THEMSELVES MAY BE PREPARED
Missionary Preparation
Worthiness
YE ARE CALLED TO THE WORK
Who Should Serve a Mission
The Calling of a Missionary
THE HOUR OF YOUR MISSION IS COME
The Missionary in the Mission Field
TWO BY TWO IN MY NAME
Missionary Companions
Sister Missionaries
Couple Missionaries
I WILL LEAD THEM
Mission Presidents
FIRST SEEK TO OBTAIN MY WORD
Study
Prayer
Language (The Gift of Tongues)
Obedience
Sacrifice
Trials
DECLARE THE TRUTH
Preaching the Gospel
Preaching the First Principles of the Gospel
Preaching by Service
Preaching by Example
Preaching by the Spirit
Preaching With Love
Preaching With The Book of Mormon
GREAT SHALL BE YOUR JOY
Conversion
Missionary Experiences
The Return Missionary
Joy Through Missionary Service

I hope you will have a spiritual blast reading it as I did in compiling this great resource. As new talks are given by the First Presidency and Twelve they will gradually be added to this resource making it a living document.

Loser, Geek, and Odd Ball Missionaries

Most people don't like to admit they are a loser, geek or odd ball. But that is exactly what I was. I was all three of them. I know it is rare for a missionary to be all three but that is exactly what I was. As a kid growing up in an abusive home my father made it clear what a loser I was in life. In order to compensate I was the studious type of kid who immersed himself in to my studies. Even today with a doctorate I view missionary work as both a series of systemic processes mingled with the spiritual elements. I was an odd ball missionary because I was naive to believe that we were on a mission to baptize everyone and if we followed the mission rules we would be mystically blessed with thousands of converts.

When I was a missionary in the Toronto Canada Mission my mission president M. Russell Ballard would often warn me about kicking against the pricks. He would tell me that I needed sit back and relax and get along with other missionaries. One time I got carried away reading Alvin R. Dyer's The Challenge. I went on a rampage challenge and testifying to every one I met. I even had eight baptisms in one month. I thought my mission president would be thrilled that instead of being a problem elder I was now a productive missionary bringing people in to the fold.

My bubble was soon burst when my mission president questioned the quality of my baptisms. Instead of being praised he shattered my idealism. Being an odd ball missionary he questioned me about the people I had baptized. One sweet little old man I used as an example of how great it was he joined the church. He dismantled me by saying how do you know where he will be in twenty years. Some of the people you baptized are pretty weak in the faith.

I learned this lesson being a Mormon now for over thirty years that Mormon leaders once they have branded you as being different don't usually change their opinion of you for the rest of your life. In fact it is not uncommon for them to call your new leaders in a ward to warn them about you. They even have files on you some good and some bad. I have had a few leaders call me to positions then later when a more responsible one comes up call me in to apologize why they wanted to call me but could not.

I am writing this post to warn all loser, geek and odd balls missionaries to be careful on a mission. David O. McKay was a pretty straight prophet. He had a motto that should serve most missionaries well who are in the categories named above. He taught missionaries to hide their condition he told us and it was drummed in to my head as a missionary 'What E're Thou Art Act Well Thy Part."

Russell Ballard tried to tell me as a new convert that if I want to get ahead as a Mormon that I need to learn to shut my mouth when anyone in leadership whether a district leader, zone leader, mission president, bishop or stake president said or did anything that I didn't agree with.

The unfortunate thing with loser, geek, and odd ball missionaries is that they think the "truth will set them free." I have learned by sad experience that if you open your mouth you will be forced to eat your own foot. Mormon males have a pecking order and loser, geek and odd ball missionaries are easy targets for those climbing the mission ladder to success.

If you want to save yourself some frustration and not be branded on a mission learn to sacrifice your non-conformist dress, manners, beliefs and tendencies by being obedient. The best way to be obedient is to shut your mouth and do your job as quietly as possible.

I wish someone had given me this advice thirty years ago and I could have accepted it. I tried to be indivualistic which is not good in a conformist society. It is better to be one of the herd so that you aren't culled.

Elder Ballard told me if I just got a long everywhere I would be able to get good callings and do more in the kingdom. I wish people were more use to diversity not just in terms of race, color but belief. I think Mormons need a prophet that would call on others to allow losers, geeks and odd balls to exist peacefully. In the scriptures it talks about how there is a need for the different parts of the body. I think loser, geek and odd ball missionaries need to go underground.

One day some enlighted leader might realize we bring other odd balls in to the kingdom which keeps the boring sacrament meetings more interesting because odd balls think outside the box we add a little excitement in the wards we live in.

Unfortunately for now we need to wait until it becomes the season for loser, geek, and odd balls to rise up and take our places with the normal Mormons in the wards and on missions. Please for your own sakes don't believe that it won't have an effect on your life what happens for the two short years you serve a mission.

My mission president told me my mission was a mini-reflection of my life. The rest of my life would be like my mission. If you don't mind being on the outside looking in then be an odd ball on your mission. Remember that odd balls have a place in the church but enduring to the end might be a rough road fraught with minimal callings. If that is what you want then by all means continue in your loser, geek and odd ball ways.

Distractions and Missionaries

Richard G. Scott said "Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people. It is distraction."  One of the greatest way to keep missionaries from finding the honest in heart is to distract them.  I remember many days going out to tract and how we would wonder around.  My companion and I were not always as organized as we could be as we would pull out the name of a few people to contact on a given day.  We never really thought about the distances between each person within our area.

We would become distracted when we went out just riding our bicycles around the area or riding the bus or the subway.  We would sometimes get distracted in the subway station by the Laura Scudder's store that would have great donuts or the See's Candy store that would have great chocolate.  We would have every intention of getting out to those people we selected but many times we would become so distracted that we would be lucky to contact half the people we intended.

Sometimes are distraction would be it was cold or raining or snowing or just too nice of a day and we would decide to just stay near the person's house.  Sometimes our logic was they weren't home and would eventually come home if we  just hung around long enough maybe they would show up.  In the Toronto area we got distracted a lot of times by the vast amounts of apartment buildings in the vincinity of the person we would be contacting.  We had as many as a quarter of a million people in some of the areas I served in.  We would see a twelve story high rise and think maybe if we could sneak in we would find someone that wanted to join the church.

Today there are more serious distractions for missionaries like the Internet.  My daughter recently described how one of her missionary friends lived with a member who allowed this young missionary to MSN Message his old circle of friends every night.  Instead of being out on the street teaching he would be in his apartment chatting with his old girlfriends.  I remember a missionary I served with who was always distracted by the thought of going home and marrying his girlfriend.   He wasted dozens of hours of several missionaries lives talking about her to us.  He also destroyed his efffectiveness as  a missionary.

Missionaries need to be single-minded and efficient in doing missionary work.  I am sure many of us have examples of how we goofed off as missionaries.  I hope missionaries today aren't like one of my companions who would stand in front of our apartment which was behind a Becker convenience store saying to every attractive girl who goes by "There's always room for jello."

Satan and Missionaries

When I was a young missionary in the Canada Toronto Mission I had an usual experience with Satan in the Royal York apartment we had in the Toronto area. Our mission president M. Russell Ballard told us as missionaries that we needed to dedicate our missionary apartments. I remember getting down on my knees with my companion Elder Harry Lodholm and commanding Lucifer to be depart from our apartment and be bound and not enter again through the Holy Priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ. I thought it would be a simple matter but as we were doing it an evil presence fought for my very soul. I saw in vision the Adversary fighting with an Angel of God for my soul. I was overcome and had to lay down as they battled back and forth for several minutes. Finally I was delivered by the Heavenly Messenger who drove the evil being away. I was overcome with the Spirit and had a very strong impression concerning my one day being a great leader in the LDS Church. My companion didn't think it was any big deal at the time and was just mildly concerned. A few days after the experience I related it to President M. Russell Ballard. He said I should write it down in my journal. He told me he had had an experience while he himself was a missionary in Great Britain with the Savior that he would one day share with me. Until now he has never shared it although he has alluded to it from time to time over the years. I told him that Satan himself grappled for my very soul and I was delivered by an angelic being. He told me that Satan didn't fool around with the likes of guys like him or me since we were just little fish in the ocean and that in our case he sent his lieutenants. I never fully agreed with him even at that time I expected him to one day be an apostle and I think Satan himself was very aware of who we are and what we were capable of. I recently came across a quote by Elder James E. Faust, former second counselor in the First Presidency that talks about how he himself was buffeted by Satan while serving as a missionary in Brazil:

We hope that young people, unfamiliar with the sophistries of the world, can keep themselves free of Satan’s enticements and deceitful ways. I personally claim no special insight into Satan’s methods, but I have at times been able to identify his influence and his actions in my life and in the lives of others. When I was on my first mission, Satan sought to divert me from my future path and, if possible, to destroy my usefulness in the Lord’s work. That was more than 60 years ago, and I still remember how reasonable his entreaties seemed. (James E. Faust, “The Forces That Will Save Us,” Ensign, Jan 2007, 4–9).

I think Satan is very aware of the noble and great ones and will do much to try and frustrate the work of the Lord that is taking place in the mission field. I am sure many missionaries have had experiences with Satan himself and/or some of his lieutenants as President Ballard alluded to. I am sure many missionaries have had some bizarre things happen on their missions. I bet some are more startling that the one I described.

Featured Blog of the Month: Steadfast in Christ, A Missionary Journal

I came across an exceptionally nice missionary blog Steadfast in Christ: A Missionary Journal that is being maintained by three missionaries from the Tarbet-Neves family, currently serving for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I think one of the mother's is putting it up because it has some exceptionally nice links of Sister Freeman's son. It mostly chronicles the mission of Elder Freeman but has a few things by the two other missionaries from time to time. The family has had an additional sister missionary who served and has pictures of all four missionaries.

They site has a nice array of links on their sidebar including one that allows you access to Chat with an LDS Missionary Live.  They have four slide shows with hundreds of photos of their missionaries in action.

The missionaries take turns posting a short spiritual thought each week.  A few of the previous posts included:

A Sure Foundation

Steadfast and Immovable in the Gospel

I Love Teaching People

It runs mostly from Elder Freeman's calling in November 2007 until now July 2008.  It has morphed as time has progressed.  I think the family put up the site in response to Elder Ballard's New Media mantra of sharing the gospel with others.  I think you might enjoy checking it out.  I had a fun time and put a few photos in to my daily life of a missionary slide show.  Enjoy.

Missionary Letters--Rome, Italy: Mistake Turns Into Blessing

Cari Miei,

So this week has been absolutely amazing, Rome is HOT but I love it. I am trying to really recognize how many miracles we have everyday and to see the Lord's hand in everything. Yesterday we had a experience that I could not forget.

So in the morning we went to see a man named Flaminio who the sisters who were here before us met, they wrote us a note telling us how to get there and that he was Italian but had a Romanian wife named Maria. We found a Book of Mormon in Romanian and wrote her Maria a dedica in the front. Then we planned to call some of the old investigators who we had found in the Area Book.

When we went to see Flaminio he told us that his wife was not Romanian but Italian and that the Book must be for someone else...

We were supposed to meet a new investigator named Fernando at 9pm at a bus stop so we went but we were about 30 mins early, we had planned to knock some doors in that area. At first we were heading towards a street and we passed this beautiful family with two beautiful blond babies and didn't talk to them because they just passed so quickly and we were headed in the other direction. However on the Bus going there I had seen a little piazza with some benches and trees and a child's slide. So I told Sorella Chavez that we should go there instead. When we got there we saw this family sitting on a bench. We headed straight for them and told them about eternal families and prophets.

We asked them for their names, Claudio and Maria, Claudio from Rome and Maria from Romania. We told her that we had a Book for her with her name in it because God had prepared it for her and that it would teach her more about her Savior Jesus Christ. Yea I know amazing but it gets better... we finished the 1st leasson, left them a reading assignment, got their phone number, and told them we would call them in 5 days.

So when we got home after our appointment I told S: Chavez that we needed to call the old investigators still and looked in my planner for their names and phone number, on today's page of my planner I saw Claudio and Maria... I told Sorella Chavez to get the sheet with their information written on it and read me their description... Written was Claudio is Italian, Maria is Romanian... I told her to read me the phone number... it was the same. God had lead us to this family, once they passed us but he lead us to the park where they were so we could talk to them. He also had prepared us with the Book of Mormon to give them with her name written in it with our testimony... But even before all of that we already had their phone number, but maby they would not have accepted us if we had just called so God lead us to them TWICE.

I know that God loves these people so much that he leads us over and over again to them, to give them the opportunity to accept the gospel. He works mighty miracles all to bring people peace and joy in this life. I love being a missionary. I love that God is all knowing and that he prepares every needful thing. I love you all so much. Trust the Lord to lead you where you need to be and seek always to be an instrument in his hands to bless the lives of others.I love you all so much. Vi Voglio Bene

2008 Mission Presidents' Seminar

Photo by Gerry Avant

Mike and Gala Dowdle, center, join with new mission presidents and their wives in singing during the annual seminar at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. President Thomas S. Monson spoke in the meeting on June 22.

One hundred and twenty-four mission presidents and their wives attended the Mission Presidents' Seminar at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah on 22 June 2008 until 25 June 2008.  President Thomas S. Monson kicked off the meeting by addressing them in a special sacrament meeting talk.  The Church News staff did an excellent job of summarizing important concepts brought out in the First Presidencies talks.

Photo by Gerry Avant

President Thomas S. Monson

 Gerry Avant of the Church News reported President Thomas S. Monson's Sunday evening remarks:

President Thomas S. Monson said, "The parents of every missionary kneel each day in prayer and ask our Heavenly Father to bless that son or daughter in the mission field. And in that prayer they ask a blessing upon you, for you in effect become a mother and a father to their child. You help determine the destiny of that young man or that young woman. Someone said, 'The power to lead is also the power to mislead, and the power to mislead is the power to destroy.' Let there be positive leading, positive motivation, positive uplift on your part as you inspire your missionaries."

Photo by Gerry Avant

President Thomas S. Monson attends Seminar for New Mission Presidents with his wife, Frances, and daughter, Ann M. Dibb. He addressed new mission leaders and their wives during sacrament meeting on June 22.

The sacrament meeting at which President Monson spoke was held at the Missionary Training Center in Provo in conjunction with the 2008 Seminar for New Mission Presidents. The meeting was attended by President Monson's counselors in the First Presidency, Elder Henry B. Eyring and Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, and members of the Quorum of the Twelve and Quorum of the Seventy. The seminar continued through June 25.

Speaking to mission leaders from a practical standpoint about motivating missionaries, President Monson shared counsel which could be applicable also to stake and district leaders, parents of missionaries and the general membership of the Church.


He encouraged mission presidents to have personal interviews with each missionary upon arrival and at given times throughout their missions. He suggested that the approach to the interviews be similar to that which was recommended many years ago by President Spencer W. Kimball, who said: "When I interview a missionary, I don't say to him, 'Are you doing this wrong? Are you doing that? Do you have this problem or that problem?"'


President Monson said that President Kimball would say, "Tell me what you most admire about your companion."


That, said President Monson, will stop the missionary for a moment. "He starts to think about what he admires most about his companion. Then another question of President Kimball's: 'If you had a little brother 18 years of age preparing for a mission, what would you tell him to do so that he might be a good missionary when he goes out to serve?'


"That sets a positive tone for the interview," said President Monson. "My suggestion is that we provide help —that we love, not scold. 'Show how' is more important than 'tell how' in that kind of a situation. We read from the Doctrine and Covenants, Section 108, verse 7: 'Therefore, strengthen your brethren in all your conversation, in all your prayers, in all your exhortations, and in all your doings."'


Mission presidents — as well as missionaries and their families — need to know that the Spirit will guide decisions made in carrying out the Lord's work. President Monson illustrated this by relating an experience he had when he presided over the Canadian Mission and was inspired to move one young man from the city of Belleville, Ontario, to Welland, Ontario.


"He wasn't due for a transfer, but the impression came so strongly that I made the transfer. The next week when I received a letter from his companion, tears came to my eyes when I read: 'President Monson, I know you were inspired in sending Elder Smith to us in Welland. We are teaching ten Italian-speaking families whose English skills are limited. In my heart I had been praying for a companion who could speak Italian. You found the only missionary in the mission who spoke Italian.'


"I thought to myself as I read that line, 'I knew nothing about whether or not that boy spoke Italian.' With a name like Smith, you don't think he is going to speak Italian. How did I know that his mother was Italian, and that she had taught the boy to speak in her native tongue? In that way he was able to carry the gospel to those families in Welland. That is just one example."


President Monson said that he does not like to see emphasis placed upon when missionaries become senior companion or if they'll remain a junior companion. "I like more or less to treat the companionships equally, even though we know that one of them is in charge. I would show one above the other on the roster, but I would downplay the idea of who was senior and who was junior in that kind of a situation.


"Always select your outstanding missionaries to introduce the new elders and new sisters to the field. I had a young man, James Arnett, from Price, Utah. He never was a district leader, never was a zone leader, never was an assistant to the president; but if I were to name on one hand my most outstanding missionaries, he would be one. The reason was that he was such an outstanding trainer of new missionaries. I would put an elder with him for a month, then I would give him another new elder, then another, and so on. His influence could be seen in almost every missionary whom he had trained and those who had been trained by those he had trained. You will occasionally find that type of talent. Utilize it when it comes. From the Doctrine and Covenants comes this beautiful passage: 'And if any man among you be strong in the Spirit, let him take with him him that is weak, that he may be edified in all meekness, that he may become strong also"' (84:106).


President Monson counseled mission presidents about activities they allow on missionaries' preparation day. He spoke of having met a missionary who had a foot in a cast. President Monson thought perhaps the injury had been sustained in a game of football, baseball or basketball, but learned that the missionary had skateboarded down a cement causeway at about 30 miles an hour and smashed into a cement wall. President Monson said, "It's a shame to teach a young man Portuguese, let's say, and have him wait week after week after week for that visa and then finally get down to Brazil, and then get in a game of touch football, break a leg, then have to go home and lose all of that Portuguese training, all of that motivation — all for a game of football. There are other things missionaries might do on preparation day that could destroy and damage the Spirit. We need to be very careful about what activities are allowed on that day."


Missionaries are to be encouraged to write a letter or e-mail home every week, President Monson said. "I call it the Monson Rule of Proselyting. I like to tell missionaries that it isn't so significant how much you write — just be certain to write....Those letters and e-mails from a missionary son or daughter can bring parents into the Church."


He told of a time when he was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve and met a missionary in Los Angeles who, in the six months he had been serving, had never received a letter from his parents. President Monson encouraged him to continue writing every week, and then said, " I promise you, Elder, that if you continue to send a letter home to your mother and father every week, you will see changes."


President Monson said that he returned to California months later and met again with that missionary, who reached into his pocket and brought out a letter from his mother. It said, "Dear Michael, Thank you so much for your weekly letters. You will be pleased to know that Dad has been ordained a priest, and I am taking the lessons with the missionaries, and Dad is going to baptize me. We have figured out that in one year's time we can come out to Los Angeles with the family when you complete your mission, and we can all go to the Los Angeles Temple together and be sealed for eternity. Keep up the good work. Love, Mother."


The missionary said, "'Elder Monson, the Lord fulfilled your promise.' To which I said, 'The Lord answered your prayer."'


President Monson encouraged mission presidents to work closely with local leaders and members. "There is just no substitute for a member-oriented proselyting program. Tracting will not substitute for it. Golden questions will not substitute for it. A member-oriented program is the key to success. It works wherever we try it. I hesitate to deal in dramatic statements, but let me try one: The greatest single thing you as a mission president can do to increase the effectiveness of your missionaries and their productivity is to ensure that the proper relationship is maintained with the ecclesiastical leaders in the area where they proselyte. I can think of no greater thing that you could do....


"It was President Kimball who said, 'No mission can achieve its full potential without member help.' Then President Kimball said, 'We expect to...involve the members of the Church generally in opening the gospel doors to our Father's other children."'

President Monson spoke of the importance of building "mission spirit." Let each missionary, he said, know that he or she "has been called to the greatest mission in all the Earth."

He said he liked the philosophy of a teacher he once read about. She said, "No one fails in my class. It is my responsibility to help each one succeed."

He said that for years he carried in his wallet a photograph of one of his missionaries, Heber Barzee. President Monson held up an enlarged copy of the photo, and said, "Elder Barzee gave me the picture, and on the back he wrote, 'Dear President Monson, I am happy.' When I would look at that smile, I would say to myself, 'It is my job to motivate and demonstrate and to show every missionary in my mission how to be successful. It isn't my job to scold; it isn't my job to berate or to pressure. My assignment is to show each missionary how to be successful so that he's as happy as Elder Barzee.'


"I think one of the best ways we can do that is to remember that 'the worth of souls is great in the sight of God,' and if we should labor all our days and bring save it be one soul unto Him, how great shall be our joy with him in the kingdom of our Father. And if we should labor more diligently and bring many souls unto Him, how much greater shall be our joy (see Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, 15, 16).

"You may sometimes be tempted to say, 'Will my influence make any difference? I am just one. Will my service affect the work that dramatically?' I testify to you that it will. You will never be able to measure the influence for good you will have."

(Gerry Avant, "Positive uplift: The Spirit will guide decisions made in carrying out the Lord's work," Church News, [Saturday, 28 June 2008]: 3).


On Monday, 23 June 2008 President Henry B. Eyring, second counselor in the First Presidency addressed the mission presidents and their wives:

Photo by Shaun Stahle

Ancient missionary prophecies are being fulfilled worldwide, says President Henry B. Eyring at annual seminar for new mission presidents.

Speaking of the blessed opportunities and events awaiting new mission presidents and their companions, President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, said an ancient missionary-themed prophecy is being fulfilled.


Long ago, the prophet Jeremiah envisioned the present day and the Church's missionary efforts: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them: and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks" (Jeremiah 16:16).


At the Seminar for New Mission Presidents on June 23, President Eyring said that Jeremiah was speaking of the gathering of Heavenly Father's children to His church and kingdom. And he was speaking of missionary work today, and beyond. The fishers and hunters are those involved in taking the gospel to the world. Much of that growth is found in an increase of full-time missionaries. But an increase will also come through rank-and-file members becoming more involved in missionary work.


"The miracle is unfolding slowly before our eyes," President Eyring said.


The Church leader shared an account of one young bishop who met frequently with the full-time missionaries serving in his ward. The bishop learned from the missionaries about the investigators they were teaching. He loved each person who was hearing their message. Enlisting prayer, that bishop pondered the best way to utilize the ward council. Each Sunday felt like a missionary day.

"The bishop sees missionary work as at the heart of his being a minister and a shepherd," President Eyring said.


That bishop would come to know each investigator and their respective needs. Long before their baptism date, the bishop considered their future callings, home teachers and visiting teachers. As much as possible, he ministered to the new members following their baptisms. He tracked their progress.


"He knows that a love of individuals by name always precedes improvement in the numbers of people baptized and those who endure," President Eyring said. "He is guided by a simple rule for holding the hearts of investigators and new members: Give them personal contact early and often.


"You can imagine that in his ward the full-time missionaries get not only referrals but invitations to teach. Every member has an opportunity to love and nurture people being taught and those who are baptized. They have felt the joy of a person who is finding the truth. In time many of the members will themselves have felt the joy of coming into the waters of baptism and being embraced warmly by their fellow citizens in the Kingdom. They will want the same experience for their friends and for every person they meet."


President Eyring spoke of his own experiences as a young man serving as a district missionary in New Mexico, and of the pivotal role that local priesthood leaders played in fellowshipping those that young Brother Eyring and others taught and baptized.


It's natural for new mission presidents to wonder how they can hasten the unleashing of the member missionary power. President Eyring pointed out a few things that won't help. First, don't "nag" the members into missionary duty. And second, don't beg.


"You can build in your missionaries a love of the gospel and of the people," he said. "That love shows when it is deep and genuine. Your missionaries will be trusted when their motive is pure love of the gospel and of people."


President Eyring then reminded the mission presidents and their wives of President Thomas S. Monson's counsel to increase missionary effectiveness.


The "Preach My Gospel" guide to missionary service, he added, also includes several valuable suggestions directed to mission presidents.


President Eyring said the wives of new mission presidents have a special opportunity to give praise and encouragement to the faithful women in wards and branches.


"You know that it is women and girls who issue many of the invitations to friends to be taught by the missionaries," he said. "It is often women, both as leaders and as members, who become the friends and the nurturers of new members."


It has been said that the success of a mission president cannot be judged until "we see the children and grandchildren of his missionaries."


"The likelihood of that success is becoming greater as more members and more bishops become devoted missionaries," President Eyring said. "They will surround your missionaries with examples and influence to lift their hopes and change their choices over a lifetime."

(Jason Swensen,  "Pivotal role held by members in work: Mission presidents can utilize 'member missionary power',"  Church News, [Saturday, 28 June 2008]: 4).


Later in the week Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf the second counselor in the First Presidency spoke to the group:

Photo by Shaun Stahle

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said much is expected of missionaries who have been called of God and have access to great resources of power.

The Savior's call to "Come, follow me" set the standard and gave the priorities for the ministry of all His disciples, said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency.


"Therefore," said President Uchtdorf, addressing the 124 newly called mission presidents and their wives during the annual mission presidents seminar, "it is your responsibility to inspire and encourage your missionaries to become more like Him, more Christlike."

President Uchtdorf said "the Lord does not ask us to merely 'try' to live the gospel or, 'give it a good effort.' His standard is higher than that. He asks that we 'bind (ourselves) to act in all holiness before (Him),' promising that 'as (we) do this, glory shall be added to the kingdom which (we) have received' (Doctrine and Covenants 43:9-10, italics added). Therefore, priceless blessings will attend our faithfulness."


Christlike attributes come into individuals' lives as they righteously exercise their agency, avoiding the traps of Satan and holding on to the will of God. "Christlike attributes are gifts from God, and we cannot develop them without His help. The one indispensable gift we all need is offered freely to us through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the path of true repentance."


President Uchtdorf said the Christlike attribute of humility — willingness to submit to the will of the Lord, and to give unto Him the honor for all that is accomplished — is of critical importance for missionaries. It includes gratitude for blessings and acknowledgment of the constant need for divine help. "Humility is not a sign of weakness; it is a sign of spiritual strength."


President Uchtdorf said that missionaries have been called of God and promised great resources of power, and that God has high expectations for them. "You have been called to help them rise to these expectations. Have faith in the promises the Lord has made to you and your missionaries. The Spirit will guide them, and the Spirit will guide you."


Because the Holy Ghost does not dwell in unclean tabernacles, virtue is a prerequisite to receive the guidance of the Spirit, President Uchtdorf said. "Virtue is a Christlike attribute originating in our innermost thoughts and desires. It is a pattern of thoughts and behavior based on high moral standards. Whatever we choose to think and do when we are alone and no one is watching is a strong measure of our virtue."


President Uchtdorf asked the mission presidents and their wives to encourage missionaries to cultivate and enrich their character, through repeated study, learning and work, and to help them not only to know what to do, but also to know and feel with all their heart and mind what they are to be.


"The Christlike attributes of faith and hope are a key part of this process," he said. "They are very powerful and will lead you and your missionaries safely through unknown territories and carry you across deep and fearsome canyons. Those who have faith and hope receive the Lord's promise that He will bear His servants up as on eagle's wings" (see Doctrine and Covenants 124:18).


The life of a missionary is about growing, having faith and hope, about courage and sweet boldness, about acquiring knowledge and skills, about enduring and trusting that God is always there and that He will bear them up as on eagles' wings, President Uchtdorf said.


He spoke of faith as a principle of power and said, "God works by power, but His power is usually exercised in response of faith. And God works according to the faith of His children."


He said that doubt and fear are opposed to faith. "However," he cautioned, "please do not confuse doubt and fear with having questions. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the few churches, if not the only church, that invites questions. Your missionaries need to seek, knock and ask to receive answers from the Lord. This is the way the young Prophet Joseph received instructions and answers. They need to study and pray to find answers to their questions. At times, an answer may not appear right away, but as the missionaries continue to work day by day, they receive more light and knowledge. Until then, they walk and work by faith.


President Uchtdorf reminded the mission leaders that "we are not here on our own errand. We are not engaged in a public speaking competition, religious debate or a sales contest. It is our task and solemn responsibility to proclaim the glorious news of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is our responsibility to serve worthily so that the Holy Ghost can accompany us and touch the lives of those we come in contact with. As representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ, we courageously open our mouths and tirelessly exclaim the truths revealed again through living prophets to the children of our loving Heavenly Father. That is our responsibility, privilege and joy....


"You are on the Lord's errand; it is His work. It is the work of our Father in Heaven. Teach your missionaries to have faith and trust that our Heavenly Father will do His part. Your missionaries need to learn, as did the young man who served Elisha, that unseen hosts attend them and support this wonderful work" (see 2 Kings 6:15-18).


Expressing love and gratitude for missionaries, President Uchtdorf spoke of two missionaries from small rural towns in the United States who served in Germany. They met with rejection as they knocked on doors in a multistory apartment building but, finally, on the fourth floor, at the last door, they were invited in by a widow, mother of two daughters. One of those daughters became President Uchtdorf's wife. President and Sister Uchtdorf's eldest grandsons, twins, recently received their mission calls. "They both have a deep respect and love for the missionaries who came to that fourth floor, last door, in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1954. They have seen only pictures of these missionaries but have never met them in person.


"Now, 54 years later, our grandsons, as newly called elders, have also promised the Lord and His prophet to be missionaries of faith and hope, missionaries of discipline in the work of the Lord, and missionaries who are willing to endure to the end, even to the fourth floor, last door. As grandparents, we pray for their success.


"Please tell your missionaries that the fruits of their labor will reach far beyond their present horizon. Generations to come will be grateful and bless their names for their faithfulness and dedication."

(Gerry Avant, "Christlike attributes critical to missionary work:'You are on the Lord's errand; it is His work'," Church News, [Saturday, 28 June 2008]: 5).



Sarah Jane Weaver of the Church News reported the missionary remarks of Elder Boyd K. Packer, President of the Quourm of the Twelve Apostles delivered on 25 June 2008:

Photo by Sarah Jane Weaver

President Boyd K. Packer speaks at the 2008 Seminar for New Mission Presidents in the Provo Missionary Training Center.

The single most important thing about teaching and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ is to bear clear and pure testimony, said President Boyd K. Packer on June 25.

Photo by Sarah Jane Weaver

Choir of missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center sings during 2008 Seminar for New Mission Presidents June 25. President Boyd K. Packer addressed the congregation.

Speaking at the 2008 Seminar for New Mission Presidents in the Provo Missionary Training Center, President Packer offered counsel and direction to those who will lead some of the Church's vast missionary force currently serving across the globe.


"You are good enough and your testimony is good enough. It will enlarge and be greater," he told the mission presidents and their wives.


President Packer, President of the Quorum of the Twelve, recalled a time years ago when he met a young, disrespectful missionary. The young man had been referred by the Missionary Training Center to President Packer as a member of the Church's Missionary Committee to determine if he should be sent home from his mission.


The young man was a smart aleck and impudent and rude, President Packer thought. He took the young man to lunch.


"There could only be one verdict," President Packer said. "This young man could not go on a mission."


As the pair returned to the Church Office Building, they saw the Missionary Training Center director waiting for them at the top of the stairs.


"I thought, 'When we get up to the top I will have to send him home,' but I thought, 'I can't do that.' About half way up the steps I took hold of this young man and pulled him around so I was looking him right in the eyes. I said, 'You have been disrespectful and impudent and don't deserve much. But there is one thing you have got to know.'


"Then I bore my testimony to him, clear and pure testimony.


"Then I said, 'Now, don't you ever say you don't know or that you haven't been told, because you have been told. I will bear testimony against you at the judgment seat of Christ that you were told.'


"I have never done anything like that before or since."


When President Packer and the missionary got to the top of the stairs, President Packer simply said, "Take him back and try again."


Some months later President Packer heard a report of President Marion G. Romney's weekend visit to Mexico, where he met a missionary who embodied all that is ideal in a missionary. To President Packer's great surprise, it was the missionary he had sent back to the Missionary Training Center.


"And I had learned a lesson. The single most important thing that can be done is to bear testimony to them so that they will know," he said.


President Packer also told the mission presidents and their wives that they have already passed a major test in mortality, by virtue of their being at the conference.


"If the world asked a couple in the prime of their life to go someplace they have never been, speak a language they may or may not know, put their career aside, miss weddings and funerals and grandchildren, would they go?" he said.


"If asked, 'Who could you get to do that?' The answer is probably nobody," he said. "But it is different for you. You were not asked; you were called."


"The Lord," he told the couples, "will watch over you."


President Packer then shared with the congregation a truth taught by the Prophet Joseph Smith: "All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith (1976), 181).


"The adversary," he said, "only has power over those that permit him to."

"There are things that are ensnared within our lives and it seems so hopeless, but remember: 'Men,' the Book of Mormon says, 'are instructed sufficiently that they know good from evil"' (2 Nephi 2:5).


President Packer said he has learned that "nobody is worthless. Nobody in mortality is totally lost."


"So," he explained, "you are on the winning team."

"Now, unfortunately, the scoreboard will always be in the other direction. You will close each inning with them having more numbers on the scoreboard than you do. But you know that ultimately you are on the winning team. The missionaries need to know that. 'All beings who have bodies have power over those who have not.' The devil has no power over us."

(Sarah Jane Weaver, "Most important: Bear clear testimony:'You were not asked; you were called,' President Packer tells mission presidents," Church News [Saturday, 28 June 2008]: 6).


One of my good friends from my BYU student days Tim Sloan and his wife were in attendance.  It is always exciting for me to see people I know called to serve as mission presidents.  I really enjoy reading the quotes and advice given to the new mission presidents and their wives by the brethren.  I wonder how many will put up blogs.  I will begin tracking them down in a week or two.  For a review of other mission president seminars please see my earlier post The Mission Presidents' Seminar: A Doctrinal and Historical Bibliographic Review.