Sunday Report

Sunday's lesson was Chapter 33, Missionary Work, given by Sister Pringle. Adding a touch of spring time with a lovely green table cloth and beautiful yellow tulips that heralded Spring, inside if not outside, Sharon did a wonderful job of integrating the missionary material with Mother's Day as she emphasized the role that we as sisters can play in this most important aspect of the Lord's church.

We should begin by being a missionary today, looking for any opportunity to mention the gospel and the impact it has on our lives, to those we come in contact with each day. We must realize that as we live the gospel we are serving as examples to those around us even if we are not aware of it. To be ready to share the gospel we must study the gospel and be sure in our knowledge of what we believe as Latter-day Saints. We must be willing to seek help in our missionary efforts, from Heavenly Father through prayer, from the missionaries as we find those who are willing to learn more about the Church, from friends who can help us fellowship an investigator, and especially from the Spirit so that we will know what to say and how and when to say it.

We must find the courage to refer friends to the full time missionaries, and support them as they are taught by those missionaries. We must be prepared to make literature available that can help answer questions investigators may have, including being able to refer them to the many assets that the Church has on line. We must learn to love people, so that we will naturally want to share this gospel with them, that they, too, can begin their journey toward exaltation. We should be prepared for missionary service perhaps later in our lives, being financially and physically able to serve when the time comes. We can help to support missionary work financially.

As mothers in Israel we can prepare missionaries in our families by faithfully holding FHE and scripture study, and family prayer. We can, with our children, show love and interest in our neighbors by serving and extending friendship. We can be sure that our children have basic skills that will help them survive on their own when the time comes for them to serve missions, such as money management, cooking and laundry skills, basic cleaning skills,etc. We can encourage them to become fluent in a foreign language. We can help them learn to have respect for authority and a desire to be obedient. We must help them to learn the value of honest labor and the joy that comes from extending effort to accomplish something worthwhile. We can encourage them to care for their physical bodies as temples of God that they might be morally clean and worthy and physically able to serve as a full time missionaries where ever the Lord will desire them to serve. We need to teach them the social skills necessary to help them succeed as representatives of the Lord and the Church to people throughout the world, and so they will be able to live in harmony with fellow missionary companions.

Our Heavenly Father will help us in our efforts to be missionaries and to prepare our families to serve as missionaries if we desire to help move the work forward. We have been promised great blessings for our missionary efforts, and they will bring us great joy.

Next week Chapter #34 "Developing Our Talents" will be given by Traci Cline.

Have a great week and look for opportunities to share the gospel, even in small ways.

~The Relief Society Presidency