Coordinating Sister & Elder David A. Bednar Speaks at Provo MTC

So I have been in the MTC for 5 weeks now and its crazy I dont feel like it has been that long but I guess it has.  I am slowly not liking the food at the MTC I feel like we have the same things all the time but its not bad food maybe I am just getting sick of eating all the time arg!  Me and my companion Sister Chang go to the temple to eat lunch on P-days sometimes it's a change.  This week has been pretty awesome because our guest speakers were both amazing for fireside and devotional this week.  This Sunday we had Sister Sheri Dew come and speak and her main point was mortality in comparison to eternity is small even if it doesn't feel like it now.  She talked about life being short and that we need to understand who we are.  She said right now is the time to learn right now!  

Interesting David A. Bednar Experience as Missionary with Elder Boyd K. Packer Has Dramatic Impact

Dan and Janice Hegorhorst who are a senior couple going to Uruguay Montivideo Mission relate a story told by David A. Bednar to MTC missionaries at their devotional on 9 June 2009. It is quite fascinating:

We attended the Devotional and as usual they did not announce the speaker until just prior to the meeting starting, but this week was a bit different, one of the head ushers announced that usually we do not stand to sign our Hymns but we do stand when an Apostle of Jesus Christ comes into the room. (he said now aren't you glad you came early and got a seat). A few minutes later Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve apostles came into the room. Usually the Senior Missionary couples have a few of the rows reserved for them in the front of the auditorium. We had arrived early to make sure we got a good seat ( 2^nd row center) . We looked around and found that we were the only Senior Couple in the room. It turns out that all the Senior Couples were asked to watch the Devotional from another room at the MTC. This time it really paid off not being an officially entered Senior Couple. We were so close the the Bednar's we could see the color of their eyes and see and feel the spirit they both have.

Sister Bednar spoke about how the Gospel is one eternal round meaning that the missionaries will convert someone who will raise a family and send missionaries that will convert others and we will all be blessed by those that spread the gospel.

Elder Bednar spoke about how when he travels he usually answers questions from the congregations. One of the most asked question is “ How do I know when it is the Holy Ghost giving me prompting or is it just me” His answer was a very simple and direct answer. He said “stop worrying about it, if you are living the commandments, keeping your covenants the Holy Ghost will be there to direct you as long as you are moving forward. You have to get off the couch and do something and the Holy Ghost will be there to direct you. If you are not moving the Holy Ghost cannot direct you! He gave and example of how when he was a stake president in Arkansas. President Boyd K. Packer was visiting Elder Bednar's region for a region conference and the Stake leaders had the opportunity to share a meal with Pres. Packer. When it came time for Pres. Bednar to introduce himself he said his name and then mentioned to Pres. Packer that you may not remember this but when I was 20 years old I was serving a mission in Germany and you and your wife came to visit. When it came time to leave the airport was shut down due to bad weather and my companion and I picked you and your wife up at the airport and took you to the train station. President Packer then interrupted and said and do you remember you brought us back to the mission home and made you a simple meal and arranged train tickets to allow us we could continue our journey and then took us to the train station and just prior to us getting on the train you gave me a 20 mark note so we could purchase food on the train. Did you also know that while we were on that train ride we entered into East German territory and the East German guards came on the train and were inspecting the Visa's of all the people. President Packer's Visa was okay but Sister Packers was a 3 year Visa that had been extended to 5 years. The guard had a very dark evil spirit about him and was not going to let Sister Packer continue on the train. President Packer gave his Visa with the 20 mark note slipped inside and his wife's Visa. The guard went away and returned with the Visa's minus the 20 mark note and they were both allowed to proceed on their journey. Elder Bednar did not remember giving the 20 mark note to Pres. Packer but was where he should have been doing the things he should have been so the Holy Ghost could prompt him and use him to help Pres. Packer and his wife during their time of need. Later out they found out that the East Germans were taking people of the of the training during that time because of the 2 year extensions to the Visa's and some the the people were not heard from again.

I love these faith promoting stories. It is amazing how small acts can affect us. If it weren't for missionary blogs we would miss out on some great material that is not reported in the Church News or other places.

David A. Bednar Servant Leader Addresses Taiwan Missionaries and Members Teaching with Great Power

Last week David A. Bednar visited three missions in Taiwan for five days, April 16-20. He made quite an impression on my daughter Sister Flora Bruno who is currently serving in the Taiwan Taipei Mission. Elder James and Judith Phillips reported: "Elder Bednar's soft-spoken, yet powerful messages to the Taiwan saints are captured in a comment he made at the Taipei member meeting. "Because I love you, I simply want to serve and assist you." Elder Bednar is emulating the servant leader model and is patiently addressing practical questions from members and missionaries alike.

Sister Bruno reported from the mission field :

So, now to go further back in history...Elder Bednar came to Taiwan and did meetings with all the missions here, and also he did a broadcast for the members in the cities the mission offices are at, so Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei with the members (which by the way, next month, Kaohsiung and Taichung missions are combining and Taipei will expand and take part of the current Taichung mission if you hadn't heard, so there will only be 2 missions in Taiwan...I'll have to write my friends in Kaohsiung and see what they think of the change and what exactly has been going down...when I have time to write hand letters at all that is)...so anyways, us Zhongli missionaries were told that we weren't exactly allowed to go to the member meeting, since we would go on Monday to mission conference, so we had no plans to go, but on Sunday after going to our 2 wards that our area covers, we went home to eat and do personal study...and we got a call from the assistant's saying that they needed sister Hill to come interpret for a deaf girl at the conference, so we packed our bags and went to Taipei. We spent the night in the mission housing, then the next day we listened to Elder Bednar and asked questions at mission conference. It was amazing. Both nights he let the audience ask questions and answer them. The time went by really fast, and I was totally intrigued. It was a really spiritually uplifting time. He said a lot of things that I need to improve on. OH! and after mission conference, a man in the front, so some kind of bishop or VIP in Taiwan who had spent the last week with Elder Bednar turned to me and was like "Sister Bruno, so nice to meet you!" Or something to that effect...so basically from the conversation with him I found out he is a nice man from Taiwan...who happens to know me through my online blog. EMBARRASSING. I mean, he was nice, he said he had wanted to answer some of my questions about Taiwan he had seen, but it was still embarrassing. And the second time some stranger told me they had seen my Taiwan blog. Gaaah.

But I want to send videos from the MTC and pictures so I'll do a quick quick thing on what Elder Bednar talked about...he told us that our goals as missionaries were to eventually have our members be independent in their faith. That they relied on the Lord and not the missionaries or anyone else. I think that was something really good to hear at the beginning of my mission, because he said we need to teach our investigators one by one...like Jesus did when he let people feel his wounds one by one...it was unique for everyone. So right now before I've ever been able to coherently teach a lesson in Chinese, I already want to be able to make my lessons unique to individuals, because E. Bednar is right, the gospel is a unique experience for everyone, everyone gains and individual testimony, so we need to let our investigators do that by giving them lessons unique to their needs.

And then the other biggest highlight I'll mention is he talked a lot about the natural man, both to the members Sunday night and to us missionaries Monday. He mentioned the scripture about the natural man being an enemy to God when a sweet Chinese girl asked how she could be bold yet meek, and he told her that you could be bold because you KNOW the work you are doing is of God, so you aren't scared to do it, but meek because you know it is the Lord's work and you are weak and dependant on him. And he told the missionaries that we needed to teach the lesson, bring the spirit...and then GET OUT OF THE WAY. To get our natural man out of the way of the investigators feeling the spirit. To teach them not just applications, but the principles and correct doctrine behind applications so they understand what they are doing and why...he mentioned how this is necessary to teach children as well, otherwise they won't understand and be more likely to fall away because they don't have as strong of spiritual power to withstand if they don't understand the doctrine and principle behind the things they are asked to do.

Oh and to Michael, (and my other Priesthood holding readers) a question was asked by a sister about the keys of ministering angels...and E. Bednar said that God won't send literal angels to do stuff that worthy priesthood holders can do, because the priesthood holders have the keys of ministering angels...so then he said that the Young Men's responsibility is to strenghten members, so you remember that is your responsibility, so make sure to serve the people who need help when they give you an opportunity and make sure to see if there is anything the missionaries can have you do like visiting inactive members or something so that they can spend their time on teaching lessons! Because the priesthood is really amazing and you are blessed to have it! A lot of people don't have the influence of the priesthood in their lives yet...and that's where I come in with my other fellow missionaries...telling people about it!

Elder Tyler MacKay reported his impressions of the same meeting:

So, elder Bednar came to visit and we had a 3 HOUR Q&A session with a member of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles! Afterwards we got to shake hands with him, his wife, and Elder Watson of the 1st quorum of the 70! It was the most excellent meeting of my life! We talked a lot about asking inspired questions, about teaching doctrines and principles and not so much about how to apply, both to our investigators and to our future children. It was just incredible! He's a really really nice and impressionable man, and definitely an apostle of Jesus Christ who, along with the prophet and members of the 12, hold the keys of the kingdom on the earth today. We had fun, but weren't light-minded, and I had a lot of questions answered, even though I didn't ask any. That was another lesson of his: we might speak and ask questions, but the Holy Ghost teaches, and all we need to do is get out ego's out of the way. It was so incredible! At the very end he told us that if we wanted to know what the judgment would be like, and what it would be like to stand in the presence of Jesus Christ, just look into the eyes of our mission president, or those of an Apostle of the Lord, because we'd condemn ourselves, or not. So I made a definite effort to look him in the eyes, and though it was quick, it was a powerful experience, and I know that he really is a prophet. I just want to keep going, but my time is almost up, and I have to write to president.

The Phillips reported to the Church News:

Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve began his Taiwan tour meeting with the missionaries of the Taiwan Kaohsiung Mission on the south end of the island. It concluded with a meeting with the missionaries of the Taiwan Taipei Mission in the island's capital city of Taipei in the north.

Sandwiched between those meetings were a half dozen member and missionary meetings, plus a stake conference. In total, approximately 5,000 Taiwan members and missionaries were taught in the presence of one of the Lord's apostles. Hundreds more witnessed the various meetings by closed-circuit television broadcasts to outlying meetinghouses.

Elder Liang Zhi-kai of Yuan Lin, Taiwan, a missionary in the Taiwan Kaohsiung Mission, considered it a high honor to be in the presence of Elder Bednar. "He taught me to rely on the Spirit in my missionary teaching," he said at the conclusion of the Kaohsiung Mission's three-hour meeting. "It is the Spirit that teaches."

Commented Elder Laren Helms of Manassa, Colo., of the same mission: "I learned that people are converted by the Spirit which has no language barrier," Elder Helms, like all of the non-local missionaries in Taiwan, has had to learn to teach the gospel in Mandarin Chinese.

At all of the mission and general member meetings during Elder Bednar's visit, his primary teaching method was to solicit questions from the congregation. He would then respond to the questions, always concluding his comments by asking the questioner, "Have I responded to your question?"

Elder Bednar has been touring a few missions and has a consistent message:

In both the missionary and member meetings, Elder Bednar emphasized that it is the member's job to find and the missionary's job to teach. He told the missionaries that they are now full-time missionaries, but when they are released they will become "lifelong missionaries."

At the meeting with missionaries of the Taiwan Taichung Mission, Elder Bednar emphasized that missionaries must listen, observe and discern when they teach the gospel. Unless such an approach is used, there can be no teaching, he said.

Elder David A. Bednar Gives Answer to a Sister Missionary Seeking Answer on the Atonement

Brigham Young used to say that people we encounter are ministering angels to us when theyanswer questions we have asked God.

Sister Ashley Elison of the Taiwan Taichung received a special insight when David A. Bednar answered a gospel question she had during a member meeting:

Elder Bednar came and it was so amazing. Just our mission and Elder Bednar! He is sooo bold! When he talks to missionaries in person it's a lot different than his talks in conference. He is so funny...he says it like it is and doesn't apologize.

I wish you could have heard him! There were a couple times when he answered a question someone asked and started out by saying "don't get offended...choose not to get offended by what I'm gonna say." And then he went off. It was amazing...he's old and powerful and doesn't beat around the bush.

He doesn't worry about offending someone or making what he says sound good. He just says it like it is. But he's so humble at the same time. Just like the prophets in the scriptures, bold, yet humble. He's amazing! It was set up like a question and answer setting. Pres. Hoer asked us to prepare inspired questions to ask him beforehand. So we had about 3 hours with a prophet of God to ask him whatever we wanted. He told us that this was a once in a lifetime opportunity and that we would probably never have a chance like this again.

With that in mind,I should have been the first one with my hand in the air. But I was too scared...the whole time I wanted to raise my hand and ask my question, but I was too scared it would be a stupid question to ask a prophet of God.

And before I knew it the time was gone and I never asked! I learned my lesson! That's not a good feeling to miss an opportunity like that! But the meeting was incredible...he taught some deep doctrine that I've really never understood before. It was incredible to sit at the feet of a prophet of God...close enough to ask him questions and hear his answers face to face. Wow! I wish you all could have been there!

The real miracle came that night though. After zone conference, Elder Bednar had a devotional for the Taichung stake. It was broadcast live at our chapel in Zhunan. It was set up the same way...people in the audience could ask any question they wanted, and they had a professional translator there. Elder Bednar was amazing. His answers were so inspired, and everything was there on the spot.

There was one part that he talked about the power of the Atonement,and it was an answer to one of my inspired questions from conference. He spoke about how we all know how the Atonement helps us overcome sin, but a less often discussed power of the Atonement is how it helps us "become a Saint"- Mosiah 3:19.

He said there are three phases discussed in that verse in Mosiah...1. putting off the natural man(stop doing bad things) 2. start doing good things 3. become a Saint. He talked about the power of the Atonement helps us through every single phase of the process...not just number 1. In the Liahona there is a talk by Cecil Samuelson about the Atonement....read it! He even quotes Elder Bednar in that talk. He talks about how our own willpower, hard work, or determination is not what's gonna help us become a Saint. It's reliance on the Atonement. I needed to hear that! My hard work, determination, and willpower is important as a missonary, but it's never gonna be enough. And that's relying on myself, not the Lord. It's just amazing to me...the power of the Atonement extends into realms we just don't understand. Anyways, Elder Bednar set a challenge...he said to read the Book of Mormon and look for every example of "in the strength of the Lord." And by doing this he promised we would be able to understand and utilize the power of the Atonement in our lives to do hard things...to "become a Saint." So I started the Book of Mormon again, and I'm gonna find every place in the scriptures that uses that phrase or something similar! An assignment and a promise from a prophet of God.

This missionary was really uplifted by his boldness and learned that the spirit can make us bold so that revelation can come with power of the Holy Spirit. Elder Bednar is picking up the baton and going throughout the world addressing missionaries in a special question and answer format.

Missionary Letter: Missions to Collapse from 3 to 2 in Taiwan

Monday, April 13, 2009 12:22 AM

Hey, could someone ask the following people for their current addresses, since school is getting out and I just have people's schools address: Felicia, Matt, Amanda Lowder (I don't have her address at all) ...that's all I can think of for now.

This week was okay. Long because P-day was different last week, so we had to go a lot longer without a little break, but it was fun in a lot of ways too. I'm going to update you in reverse order because that is the easiest to remember. This morning we went to Taoyuan to do our ARC residence cards. It took awhile since we had lunch really quick, and now emailing at 1 is the next thing we are doing. My companion has to register for school, so by the time we get out of here, it will probably be 2:30 and only 3 hours will be left of preparation day...so much for having time to both shop and write the letters I feel like I should...seth, paul, christian, amanda, matt, felicia...I don't have most of their addresses anyways though, so next week will have to suffice for most of them. Oh yeah, I opened my first snail mail letter in Taiwan today. All that it had was one picture. From Christian. Man, some Elder's are so lazy, they send a picture and expect to get a letter in return, my friend James did the same thing back at the MTC, and some of my friends in college had the same thing happen...but I'm thinking he'll get a picture in return. It was actually pretty thoughtful though...it was Christian Burstall downing a bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Given that I still have a bag in my suitcase it was funny and I wasn't envious, but if i got a picture like that in 6 months, it might be a different story.

Yesterday we went down to Taipei...we actually spent since last Sunday in Taipei..we spent the night Sun-Mon, but Yeah Tuesday morning we went into Taipei to do temple tours. It was a lot of fun because it's a different pace, and you aren't rained on all day. We got a really awesome guy, and he came in and he was like..."I'm Buddhist but I believe in Jesus Christ (in Chinese mostly of course), history shows he exists." We walked him through the chapel and showed him pictures of Jesus and he talked to us about how one day he started to wonder his purpose on earth and all these other GREAT questions that we happen to have the answer to. We didn't get to talk about everything because he had stopped in on his way to class, but we told him about Joseph Smith being similar to him and got his number. The obstacle (zhang'ai) though is that his mother fandui's (opposes). That's a word I had to learn here my first day. A lot of mother-in-laws or mothers fandui...so people who even want to be baptized never are because they are very respectful of what their elders say. We have a lady who is pretty much a member, minus being baptized because the mother-in-law won't allow it. Hopefully one day she will soften her heart...But if not, I'm sure as long as she stays strong, the time will come that she will be baptized.

So, now to go further back in history...Elder Bednar came to Taiwan and did meetings with all the missions here, and also he did a broadcast for the members in the cities the mission offices are at, so Kaohsiung, Taichung, and Taipei with the members (which by the way, next month, Kaohsiung and Taichung missions are combining and Taipei will expand and take part of the current Taichung mission if you hadn't heard, so there will only be 2 missions in Taiwan...I'll have to write my friends in Kaohsiung and see what they think of the change and what exactly has been going down...when I have time to write hand letters at all that is)...so anyways, us Zhongli missionaries were told that we weren't exactly allowed to go to the member meeting, since we would go on Monday to mission conference, so we had no plans to go, but on Sunday after going to our 2 wards that our area covers, we went home to eat and do personal study...and we got a call from the assistant's saying that they needed sister Hill to come interpret for a deaf girl at the conference, so we packed our bags and went to Taipei. We spent the night in the mission housing, then the next day we listened to Elder Bednar and asked questions at mission conference. It was amazing. Both nights he let the audience ask questions and answer them. The time went by really fast, and I was totally intrigued. It was a really spiritually uplifting time. He said a lot of things that I need to improve on. OH! and after mission conference, a man in the front, so some kind of bishop or VIP in Taiwan who had spent the last week with Elder Bednar turned to me and was like "Sister Bruno, so nice to meet you!" Or something to that effect...so basically from the conversation with him I found out he is a nice man from Taiwan...who happens to know me through my online blog. EMBARRASSING. I mean, he was nice, he said he had wanted to answer some of my questions about Taiwan he had seen, but it was still embarrassing. And the second time some stranger told me they had seen my Taiwan blog. Gaaah.

But I want to send videos from the MTC and pictures so I'll do a quick quick thing on what Elder Bednar talked about...he told us that our goals as missionaries were to eventually have our members be independent in their faith. That they relied on the Lord and not the missionaries or anyone else. I think that was something really good to hear at the beginning of my mission, because he said we need to teach our investigators one by one...like Jesus did when he let people feel his wounds one by one...it was unique for everyone. So right now before I've ever been able to coherently teach a lesson in Chinese, I already want to be able to make my lessons unique to individuals, because E. Bednar is right, the gospel is a unique experience for everyone, everyone gains and individual testimony, so we need to let our investigators do that by giving them lessons unique to their needs.

And then the other biggest highlight I'll mention is he talked a lot about the natural man, both to the members Sunday night and to us missionaries Monday. He mentioned the scripture about the natural man being an enemy to God when a sweet Chinese girl asked how she could be bold yet meek, and he told her that you could be bold because you KNOW the work you are doing is of God, so you aren't scared to do it, but meek because you know it is the Lord's work and you are weak and dependant on him. And he told the missionaries that we needed to teach the lesson, bring the spirit...and then GET OUT OF THE WAY. To get our natural man out of the way of the investigators feeling the spirit. To teach them not just applications, but the principles and correct doctrine behind applications so they understand what they are doing and why...he mentioned how this is necessary to teach children as well, otherwise they won't understand and be more likely to fall away because they don't have as strong of spiritual power to withstand if they don't understand the doctrine and principle behind the things they are asked to do.

Oh and to Michael, (and my other Priesthood holding readers) a question was asked by a sister about the keys of ministering angels...and E. Bednar said that God won't send literal angels to do stuff that worthy priesthood holders can do, because the priesthood holders have the keys of ministering angels...so then he said that the Young Men's responsibility is to strenghten members, so you remember that is your responsibility, so make sure to serve the people who need help when they give you an opportunity and make sure to see if there is anything the missionaries can have you do like visiting inactive members or something so that they can spend their time on teaching lessons! Because the priesthood is really amazing and you are blessed to have it! A lot of people don't have the influence of the priesthood in their lives yet...and that's where I come in with my other fellow missionaries...telling people about it!

Also, give missionaries referrals! Like L. Tom Perry said in conference, a lot of time is spent looking. It would be really great if more referrals were given by members, try to pray about who would recieve the gospel in their lives that you know, and give the missionaries their information.

In other words, it rains a lot here, I'm always soaking wet when I come home, I'm either drenched in sweat because it was a hot day, and we cover 2 wards area (because we are sisters, and there are 2 companionships of elders in each ward, but we cover the 4 companionships areas! ...in Taiwan sisters teach girls and elders teach boys...well we both teach families, but for singles, it always works like that, we give our male contacts when we have them to elders, and vice versa so the sisters have a lot of appointments since our area is bigger and we have a lot of inactivity, and we try to go see inactives a lot because sometimes all they need is to know nobody cares)...or I am soaking wet. Weather here is def tropical! It's burning outside when it's not raining...but the rain comes a LARGE majority of the days. But i'll probably miss being drenched when summer comes and it's so hot it's ridiculous. haha.

Yeah now i'm going to try to send pictures, so I'll end with that. Taiwan is unique. The food my vegetarian companion eats is really not good to me yet, but I hear most Chinese food is an acquired taste, so maybe by the end of my mission I'll be sad to leave the food...but so far i've only been daring enough to try pigs feet (yes, not vegetarian, it was at a members, and my comp. didn't try it..haha) and dofu. They were both not so good, but bearable. Pigs foot more than dofu. Everyone wants their own businesses, so we have a lot of options and I've only been here a week, so not tried a lot...but i've also had some of the best food of my life here as well. Really good scones and these things that have bread on the outside and sausage inside, no idea the names for foods yet, maybe baozi? Not sure. Anyways yeah...it's fun. It's def. not like American food! I paid a little extra for my cereal and milk to have every morning for breakfast, but it was worth it to me to have one meal I'm used to a day :).

OH, and one last thing, as we were leaving temple tours last night, we ran into a boy who is in the top 14 of the Taiwanese version of American Idol, Super Idol. His name is Benji, Pan jie ming. I wish I knew how to type characters on a Chinese keyboard, but I can't. If you can figure out how to find the right characters, you can watch him on Youtube. He's LDS from Utah. I was going to have Desi tell me if he sang any good, but then I couldn't figure out how to use bopo mofo..

only 9 minutes to try to send pictures! bye!

Fu Jiemei

Members As Finders: When Did It Start?

I wondered when the concept that members are responsible for finding new members started. I don't really see the terminology until the last thirty or forty years. I fell across the following statement back in 1975 describing what Spencer W. Kimball said about members as finders.

Speaking of the “lengthening stride” of the missionary work thus far among the earth’s 4 billion inhabitants, President Kimball said, “Our progress has really been a miracle, but we have merely scratched the surface.” He emphasized the fact that our most important goal is to make it possible for all people to achieve eternal life by taking the gospel to them.

As one means of achieving this goal, President Kimball suggested increasing missionary productivity and “the perfection of their performance.” As another means, however, he once again recalled President David O. McKay’s great challenge: “Every member a missionary.”

Stating that it is unrealistic to expect that 19,000—or even 100,000—missionaries could cover the whole globe, President Kimball called upon priesthood leaders to teach every family in the Church to assume their responsibility for family-to-family friendshiping in cooperation with full-time missionaries. “Members should be finders,” he said.

“If only two million of the Latter-day Saints energetically and fully accepted the challenge of President McKay … certainly we could extend our efforts … and build the kingdom and eventually knock at every door.”

I wonder if anyone knows of anything sooner. I know that David A. Bednar really pushed the idea recently. Many mission presidents including Stephen L. McConkie of the South Carolina Columbia Mission are using it as a platform in their talks. Does anyone know if it predates David O. McKay since that is who Spencer W. Kimball cites?