Effectively
sharing the gospel in the West Indies Mission
I served in
the West Indies mission which is in the Caribbean. It is chain of islands and
also includes 3 countries in South America. I had the opportunity to serve in
four areas on three Islands Barbados ,Trinidad and, St. Lucia. I had 12
companions (one of them twice). I had lots of new food like chicken foot, mook,
pig snout, cow stomach, conch, turtle, shark, and octopus. I got thousands of
mosquito bites and had the opportunity to feel what having chickungunya was
like. If I had a baptism for every cockroach I smashed all of St. Lucia would
be baptized by now.I met a lot of great people and saw a lot of miracles.
My topic is
effectively sharing the gospel. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is Heavenly Father’s
plan for us to become like him. It contains vital principles and ordinances we
must follow to receive salvation. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what allows us
to fully access the power of the Atonement. It is only through sacred covenants
and ordinances performed by the proper priesthood authority that we can be
cleansed from our sins and be made perfect. The priesthood authority is only
found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As baptized members
of this church we have covenanted to share the gospel.
I love how Elder Bednar described our role in
this last general conference. He said “Devoted disciples of Jesus Christ always
have been and always will be valiant missionaries. A missionary is a follower
of Christ who testifies of Him as the Redeemer and proclaims the truths of His
gospel. The Church of Jesus Christ always has been and always will be a
missionary church. The individual members of the Savior’s Church have accepted
the solemn obligation to assist in fulfilling the divine commission given by
the Lord to His Apostles, as recorded in the New Testament:
“Go ye
therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
“Teaching
them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with
you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:19–20).
Latter-day
Saints take seriously this responsibility to teach all people in all nations
about the Lord Jesus Christ and His restored gospel. We believe the same Church
founded by the Savior anciently has been reestablished on the earth by Him in
the latter days. The doctrine, principles, priesthood authority, ordinances,
and covenants of His gospel are found today in His Church. We are not seeking
simply to increase the numerical size of the Church. And most importantly, we
are not attempting to coerce others to believe as we do. We are inviting them to
hear the restored truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ so they can study,
ponder, pray, and come to know for themselves if the things we are sharing with
them are true. Our desire to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with you
is a reflection of how important these truths are to us.”
As a
missionary I had the opportunity to share the gospel all day every day. I
learned a lot about how to share the gospel effectively. I chose four things
that really helped me share the gospel: Fasting, learning doctrine, using the
Book of Mormon, and the Temple.
When I
started my mission the mission president emphasized teaching members the law of
the fast and inviting them to join with us to fast for missionary work. When I
was serving in Chaguanas, Trinidad we were working with a returning less active
family who was doing great. We had been working on getting the boys the
priesthood and they had been coming for a few weeks. Fast Sunday was coming up
and we felt like we should teach them the law of the fast and missionary work.
The dad was doing a great job helping us find people to teach and we wanted to
get the whole family involved. We went up on a Saturday and fasted with them
for missionary opportunities. A few weeks later we were teaching two nieces and
a nephew several times a week. We worked with them for several months and a few
weeks after I was transferred they were baptized. It was a miracle story.
Alma 6:6
says “Nevertheless the children of God were commanded that they should gather
themselves together oft to join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the
welfare of the souls of those who knew not God.” Every month we have the
opportunity to fast and missionary opportunities is a great thing to fast for.
Elder Pratt
from the seventy gave a talk on fasting and in it he said “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to
loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the
oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isa. 58:6). If the purpose
of our fast is to be more effective in teaching the gospel and serving others
in our Church callings, we are surely striving to “undo the heavy burdens” of
others. If we are fasting and praying for the Lord’s help in our missionary
efforts, aren’t we desiring to “let the oppressed go free”?” The Lord grants
the desires of our hearts and if we truly desire to share the gospel he will
help us.
Doctrine and
Covenants 11:21 says “Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my
word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have
my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men.” As a
missionary and member it is important to study the gospel daily and use that
study time effectively. As a missionary we devote two hours a day to preparing
to teach. That time is spent studying from the scriptures and preach my gospel,
memorizing scriptures, and practicing our teaching skills. My mission president
always gave us assignments to memorize things. He gave the mission an
assignment to memorize at least two scriptures per heading in Preach my Gospel.
I love memorizing and studying so I really enjoyed it. As we all worked on our
memorizing and studying a miracle happened. Baptisms increased. Interestingly
enough when missionaries stopped memorizing baptisms decreased. I discovered
that memorizing scriptures helped me learn doctrine and I was a more effective
teacher. The scriptures were in my mind so the spirit could bring it to my
remembrance. It helped a lot when we were contacting and needed to teach on the
spot.
In the
October 2013 General Conference David M. Mckonkie said “As you dedicate
yourself to living the gospel with greater purpose than ever before and search
the scriptures, treasuring them up in your heart, the same Holy Ghost, who
revealed these words to apostles and prophets anciently, will testify to you of
their truthfulness. In essence, the Holy Ghost will reveal them anew to you.
When this happens, the words that you read are no longer only the words of
Nephi or Paul or Alma, but they become your words. Then, as you teach, the Holy
Ghost will be able to bring all things to your remembrance. Indeed, “it shall
be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say.”
We have been
given a remarkable tool to help us in our study and our efforts in sharing the
gospel. The Book of Mormon. Preach my Gospel says” The Book of Mormon combined
with the spirit is your most powerful resource in conversion”. We focused a lot
on the Book of Mormon because it is very powerful. We were teaching a man who couldn't read or write and he had been an alcoholic for many years which caused
his brain not to function well. We started sharing Book of Mormon stories with
him and we gave him a copy even though he couldn't read it. I remember he
brought it with him to church and he loved it. We would bring the picture book
and teach him stories from the Book of Mormon and it helped him learn the
principles and doctrines of the gospel in a way he could understand.
A little
before I was transferred to St. Lucia we had a zone conference on flooding the
West Indies with the Book of Mormon. When I got to St. Lucia my companion and I
were determined to do just that. It was probably one of the most effective
contacting time on my mission. We would drive to an area and park the car. Then
we would each grab four copies of the Book of Mormon each and go contacting. We
usually did this in town. A lot of people in St. Lucia are catholic. When they
saw us they would ask for one of our “Bibles”. We would then get the
opportunity to explain what the Book of Mormon was and a lot of people were
very interested in reading it. I’m not saying you need to walk around with four
copies of the Book of Mormon in your hand every day but be ready to explain
what you know and believe.
I went to
Barbados for a week on exchanges and I had a cool opportunity to teach about
the Book of Mormon. We were in a van that was pretty empty and I was sitting
next to a guy and we started talking. The other sisters were a few seats behind
me. Quickly we got to the topic of religion because he saw my tag and he wanted
to know what happened after we die. I got really excited because it was the
perfect opportunity to share about the Book of Mormon and how it answers
questions of the soul. He explained how his month old son had just died a few
days ago and they still didn’t have a cause of death. I was able to share about
the Book of Mormon, read a little with him and I left him a copy with a
favorite chapter for him to read. He was very grateful for it. I love how the
Book of Mormon can help us no matter what we are going through.
Elder Benson
taught about flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon. He said ” The time is
long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for
the many reasons which the Lord has given. In this age of the electronic media
and the mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if
we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way. The time is now! My
beloved brothers and sisters, we hardly fathom the power of the Book of Mormon,
nor the divine role it must play, nor the extent to which it must be moved.
“Few men on
earth,” said Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “either in or out of the Church, have
caught the vision of what the Book of Mormon is all about. Few are they among
men who know the part it has played and will yet play in preparing the way for
the coming of Him of whom it is a new witness. … The Book of Mormon shall so
affect men that the whole earth and all its peoples will have been influenced
and governed by it. (Millennial Messiah pp. 159, 170, 179.) We testify that it
is.
Now, my good
Saints, we have a great work to perform in a very short time. We must flood the
earth with the Book of Mormon—and get out from under God’s condemnation for
having treated it lightly. (See D&C 84:54–58.)
I have a
vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with hundreds
of passages memorized from the Book of Mormon so that they might feed the needs
of a spiritually famished world.
I have a
vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of
the Book of Mormon. Indeed, I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book
of Mormon.”
As we share
the Book of Mormon with our friends and family members we can give them
something that will bless their lives forever. My mission president explained
why it is we focus so much on the Book of Mormon. He said that “In order to be
exalted we must have an intimate testimony of Christ. The Book of Mormon is key
to knowing Christ like we need to know him.” If we want our brothers and
sisters to be exalted we need to share the Book of Mormon.
If you are unsure how to give away a copy of
the Book of Mormon, follow the counsel from Elder Nelson “Ask the Missionaries.
They can help you”. Missionaries are called to share the gospel and they have
some great ideas. They are happy to help. There was a member in St. Lucia who
would ask for five copies of the Book of Mormon every few weeks and he would
give them to people at work or in the neighborhood. He understood
the power of the Book of Mormon in conversion and every day challenges.
Our goal of sharing the gospel is not just baptizing a bunch
of people. We want to help them on the covenant pathway. As my mission president would say we don’t
just want celestial beings, we want exalted ones. We focused on helping people
see the big picture. As members of Jesus Christ’s church that has his authority,
we can make sacred covenants that allow us to be exalted if we keep them.
Families can be bound for eternity if covenants are kept. As we help our family
and friends understand the blessings they can have, they will have a greater desire to learn how
and will be motivated to make changes to receive them.
It was interesting teaching about the temple in a place
where the closest temple is a plane ride away and in a different country. The
people in the West Indies really want to go to the temple but it is expensive
and hard to get the right visas and papers. There was one family in St. Lucia
who gave up almost all they had (including their wedding rings) to get to the
temple. In Chaguanas we were working with a less active family who working to come back to church. We had a lesson on the temple with them
which was amazing. They almost made it a few years ago but things happened. They also needed to save a lot of money. We decided
to make them a temple jar and we brought it to our next lesson. They were very
excited when they got it. The dad told everyone to quiet down and said he had
something important to tell the family. He reached his hand in his pocket,
pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and threw them on the floor. He said he was done smoking and committed to put the money he would
have spent on cigarettes into the temple jar. It was important to him to have
his family sealed in the temple.
Helping others see the blessings of covenants and the temple
will soften hearts to our message.
As a missionary I had the opportunity to see the Savior
change many lives. As members of the church we have the opportunity to share
the glorious message that Jesus Christ’s church is on the Earth today and we
invite all to come and see. One of my favorite scriptures is in Doctrine and
Covenants 84:88. It says “And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I
will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my
Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you
up.” The Lord is with us and is opening hearts to the message. We just need to
go out and share it.
