Sept 16, 2013

The Elder Poe Report              

               This week was a challenging and unique week as far as missionary work goes, and it was painful as far as biking goes. On Tuesday of this week Elder Hyde, one of my roommates, and me were on splits into Elder Hyde’s biking area. As I was cruising along the cracked sidewalks of Middleburg Heights Ohio out of nowhere a rather sizeable rock jumps out in front of me, determined to show the rock what was what I proceed to assault said rock with my bicycle, unfortunately the rock proved the victor as upon impact I pulled off an impressive half front flip with my bike. As I was in the air my bicycle went one direction and myself went another, covering about 5 feet of ground before I met an unmerciful ground, on the positive side no bones were broken and no serious injury has been sustained except for a rather large bruise on my left upper arm, that was the low point of the week, as of right now though I have almost fully recovered and should be fine.

               This Friday, the 13, was the ward BBQ. As is befitting of such an unlucky day as the dawn broke we saw a rather large wall of solid gray clouds moving our direction and bringing with them a very cold breeze. As the day progressed the clouds marched unhindered across the sky dropping the temperature down into the low 60s. Undaunted however we showed up at 4:30 at the site of the BBQ and began to prepare what needed to be made ready for the guests. As the minutes went by we were anxiously awaiting for people to start showing up. As it got closer to the appointed starting time, I began to be nervous, as nobody was there that hadn’t been involved in the preparation. In my heart I said a little prayer to the Lord asking for assurance, and as I finished I got a very calming sensation enter into my heart and I knew that it was going to be alright. Finally people started coming in droves and the activity was a success, there were many less active members, and part member families that came to the BBQ the weather held off on a down pour until the conclusion of the BBQ and it was a wonderful time to be had by all. To me it was a powerful reminder that this is the Lord’s work and He is hastening it.

               The other exciting event that happened this week was we had another wonderful appointment with David. David was a potential investigator found by the Elders in the area before us, we had stopped by once on a whim and he had been home, he was interested, we taught him the entire first lesson and he committed to being baptized. After that we weren’t able to meet with him for over 2 weeks and spent much of the time playing phone tag, however after much persistence we were able to get in contact with David and have another appointment with him on Saturday. We actually had the appointment in a rather crowded restaurant as David’s mother is not a huge fan of the church. As we met with David we got to know him a little better and realized how truly prepared he is for the Gospel, he had lived in Texas for a while and met many LDS people down there and he had always felt there was something different about them, he always expressed how he didn’t think divorce was the answer and that he thinks God put us in families for a reason, and so many other ideas that seem to be so in line with what the true Gospel of Christ is. It was amazing, even though we were in a busy restaurant with lots of noisy people and many distractions, the Spirit was still there to testify of the truth of our message and it was able to help us all come closer to Christ.

               The experience with David also taught me another very important lesson, of never giving up on those that we have been called to help and work with. We spent weeks trying to get something lined up with David and each time it fell through, we began to get a little discouraged and wonder how sincere he was, however a thought came into my head at one point, how the Saviour never gives up on us, no matter how many times we stumble, fall, or move backwards, every time the Saviour is there trying to help us as best He can to turn back to Him, and every time we turn to Him he loving has His arms open to welcome us back and find healing and hope.

               I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, I know that He is the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. I know this with a conviction that no force on earth will separate from this knowledge. I have an equally firm knowledge that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, He was called and commissioned by Jesus Christ to restore Christ’s church on the Earth again in the last days, and I know all other people can come to know this as well if they will read the Book of Mormon, ponder in their hearts the message it contains, and then ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if it is true. I testify of these things as one called to represent Jesus Christ and His Church, in His blessed name. Amen.

The Report of Elder Hunter Poe

Sept 9, 2013

The Elder Poe Report      

               This week was an exciting one in the mission field. This week Elder Fiefia and I discovered a part of the Word of Wisdom that is currently missing in most copies of the Doctrine and Covenants it reads thusly “thou shalt not partake of sushi at a five dollar all you can eat Chinese buffet, and those who do so will be afflicted with grievous pains of the stomach and posterior.” We had Zone Training Meeting on Saturday, following which the zone went out to lunch, at an all you can eat Chinese buffet wherein Elder Fiefia in attempting to sample everything they had to offer inadvertently knocked himself out of commission for the rest of Saturday due to what we believe is sushi at a cheap Asian buffet. So that is a warning to all out there.

               In addition this week was not the most productive in terms of numbers; we labored long and hard in an attempt to secure appointments but to no avail unfortunately. It has been a powerful lesson in trusting in the Lord’s timing. For those not aware Joseph Smith prophesied that the land of the Kirtland Ohio would be built up again prior to the second advent of the Saviour, the night before this prophet of God was martyred he asserted that the prophecy had yet to be fulfilled. This means that I know that one day soon Ohio will be built up as a powerful stronghold of God’s kingdom in the Latter Days, unfortunately it does not appear that this week the Strongsville area of the Ohio Cleveland was quite ready to start construction, insofar as adding new people to the kingdom.

               This Sunday though was a wonderful day in bringing back one of the lost sheep of the Lord. There is a wonderful less active member we have been working with, Sister Marge, for the past two or three weeks, our initial visit was not incredibly productive as Sister Marge didn’t quite seem to feel the Spirit as strongly as we hoped, and she is quite the talker, I mean to the point where you sometimes have to just interrupt her mid sentence if you want to keep the discussion focused on the Gospel. Despite that we had another lesson with her this week wherein she revealed that she had stopped attending church at approximately the same time her father passed away. As we found out this information we got the prompting to start discussing family history work and temples as well, although it was a little difficult to keep the discussion focused, we did help invite the Spirit in to the room very strongly and were able to bear powerful testimony of the Plan of Salvation, following the closing prayer, my companion, myself, and the young man that was accompanying us all sang Families Can Be Together Forever, for Sister Marge before departing. The Spirit was incredibly strong as we ended and I was feeling a little bit teary eyed. This Sunday Sister Marge came to church it filled me with such happiness to see her back at church,  she was very welcomed back into the ward, and she seemed to have really enjoyed it as she stayed for the entire three hour block. Personally when we had left the lesson that Wednesday evening I didn’t think it had gone that well, but the Lord will touch the hearts of those who are ready even if we don’t always think He has.

               One other piece item of mention for this upcoming week is the Strongsville Ward Food Drive and BBQ. Several weeks ago I reported that as a Strongsville District that we had come up with the idea of a ward talent show to allow an opportunity for people to invite their friends to see more of the church, and through the process of bureaucracy and councils the idea eventually got morphed into the Strongsville Ward Food Drive and BBQ, which I am totally okay with as it is still moving the ward for missionary work. I will let everyone know how that goes next week.

               In conclusion I know that Jesus Christ is the Saviour and Redeemer of the world, that he walked the streets of ancient Israel, healing the sick, granting sight to the blind, cleansing the lepers, and even raising the dead. I know that although he lived a perfect and sinless life he took upon himself all of our sins and infirmities so that we might have an opportunity to live with Him again. After suffering beyond mortal comprehension He was arrested on false charges, convicted by a power hungry court, and then crucified to satisfy an angry mob. I know also though that death was not the end of His life, but rather the beginning of His glory, for He arose from the grave on the third day, claiming a total victory over the powers of death and hell, allowing each of us to be ransomed from sin and Satan if we will turn to Him. I know also that in His resurrected, immortal, and glorified state, Jesus Christ then appeared to Joseph Smith and called Him to be the prophet of God to usher in the dispensation of the fullness of time. I know also that I have been called by divine authority, through revelation, to serve in the mission where my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ personally appeared, and I know that any person can come to this same knowledge if they will read the Book of Mormon, and then ask God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if it is true.

Sincerely,
Elder Hunter D. Poe

August 26, 2013

  This week was a wonderful week in the Ohio Cleveland Mission. On Tuesday we had a wonderful opportunity to meet with a new family in the ward, the Storm family. It was a wonderful experience to see the joy that families can find through the Gospel, the Storm family have been members their entire life, but they are fairly young with two young children and when we went over and taught them the lesson it was incredibly touching to see how the parents were encouraging them with answers and asking them questions about things they were learning in their own family scripture study. I just wish every family I talked to could see how the Gospel could bless their family so much.

               Wednesday was a wonderful day in missionary work as well, we had an opportunity on Wednesday to give a blessing to Rick, a less active member of the ward, as he was leaving town for several days, and in addition before we left I got the prompting to give him a Book of Mormon and ask him to give it to someone while he was out on his trip. I don’t know what will come of it, but I know that anything that inspires us to do good and act more like Christ would is of God.

               So Saturday is one of those day that is less exciting in missionary work. When we got down to plan Friday evening we realized that we had no appointments, except for correlation early in the morning, so we planned a day full of stopping by and tracting, and that is how the day fell out we spent hour after hour tracting, and this was one of the warmer days to boot. I loved every minute of it though, I know that it isn’t an incredibly effective way of finding new persons that would like to hear the news of the Gospel but I love the opportunity to get to a door and bear testimony to someone of the fact that Christ loves us, that He has a plan for each of us, that He has called another prophet in these latter days, and that He gave us the Book of Mormon to bless us.

               Saturday was definitely a wonderful day though, not because of the many hours of tracting, but the day prior I had asked my Fearless District Leader and Companion Elder Fiefia, for a blessing because I felt like I should get one. That Saturday evening convinced me of the true power of the Priesthood and of Priesthood blessings, the things Elder Fiefia told me answered questions that there was no way for him to know I had, I know that God has restored the priesthood authority on the Earth and that it truly is the power given to man to act in the name of God, I would encourage every worthy priesthood holder that reads this to offer their family member a blessing this week, it will be a powerful experience for all involved, I would also encourage any Priesthood holder that at this time is not currently worthy to get worthy to give blessings, this world needs every single priesthood holder it can get right now and we can’t afford to have them being out wandering in forbidden paths when right now we are fighting an all out war with Satan, and outnumbered over 100 to 1 I might add.

               Sunday evening was the capstone of the week, but unfortunately didn’t end well. We had an appointment with a wonderful less active, part member family, it was the first time we had actually been able to get in with them to have a lesson. As we sat down with the mother and father, the children were absent, we started talking with them and got to know them a little bit, then we shared with them the blessings the Gospel brings to each one of us, how it can help them, we got to testify of the fact that there is a prophet on the Earth again today and that Christ has restored His Church and that they will find greater happiness through it than anything else, that it would bless their family, and their home, we laid everything the Gospel would bring them out for them; at this time the Sprit was so strong you could almost feel the Saviour in the room. Then we asked them the question, if they would want to continue to learn about the Gospel and avail themselves of the blessings that are just within their reach, they considered it for a minute, then two. Apart from when you issue someone the baptismal invitation, this is pretty much the most suspenseful moment in missionary work,  it is like when you are just about to find out if your team is going to win the super bowl, this is everything you work for and study for and prepare for is to help people to come closer to Christ. Then she answered and said she felt that her Cahtolic upbringing had sufficiently helped her come close to Christ. If anyone within a 20 mile radius had the power to read minds they would’ve heard a very loud NNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOO coming from my brain. I wish that they would’ve taken advantage of the opportunity that was presented them, but they have their agency, I know though that a seed was planted, let us hope the soil is ready to receive it.

               In conclusion this week went well, I know that God lives, that he loves and knows each one of us. I know that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world, and has healing for every person that will come unto him, for his yoke truly is easy and is burden is light. I know that Christ has again restored His church on the earth again and that it does have the divine priesthood authority that can only be given from God. I also know that any person can come to know these same things if they will read the Book of Mormon, ponder in their minds the message it contains, and then asks God the Eternal Father in the name of Christ if it is true.

O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous … will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted that I may heal you?

3 Nephi 9:13

The Report of Elder Hunter Poe

August 12, 2013

The Elder Poe Report

              

               This week was an exciting and interesting. This week I saw the Lord’s church in action and some powerful lessons on the importance of trust in the Lord.

               We will start with the bad news of this week. David unfortunately was not there yesterday for the appointment we are not sure why, but we will try getting back in contact with him soon. In addition we had two less active members this week tell us they would prefer not to have any contact with us or the church anymore. So that really stunk in the extreme, but people were given their agency and they are free to use it, that is what we fought a war in heaven over was whether or not we would have that agency. That makes it all the worst that people seem to be so willing to give up their agency to a substance or behavior because it is making them slightly happy for the time. I really just wish I could help people see that the Gospel of Christ can free them from worry, sin, and remorse. That is what the Gospel of Christ is here for, to make us free and happy.

               Yesterday I saw what was nothing short of the Lord working a miracle for the benefit of his children. There is a man, we will call him Les, in our ward who is a little bit elderly and several months ago had a serious stroke that brought about a speech and memory impairment, as well as some degree of physical disability. During church you could tell that he was not doing very well, another member of the ward Robert saw that, and he could relate as he had a similar experience occur to him several years ago. After church we got a call from Robert asking us if we would be able to come with him to go talk to Les and see how he is doing, we immediately accepted and later that evening went to see Les, who we talked with for a while and who was doing better after we left. The thing that really struck me though is that one brother of the church saw another one of his brothers struggling and acted as Christ would’ve to comfort him, because he cared and loved him. Isn’t that what we covenanted at baptism, to mourn with those that mourn and comfort those that stand in need of comfort? Additionally this showed me why we really have the home teaching program, home and visiting teaching is more than just visiting once a month and sharing a lesson, it is loving another family and caring and looking out for them and helping them come closer to Christ. It is really about loving another family as the Saviour would, how blessed are the members of this Church that we have the opportunity to serve each other selflessly and exercise the saintly virtue of Charity.

               The final experience was more of a weeklong learning experience. At a certain point this week I was feeling a little down on myself, due to a previous day spent mostly in tracting without fruit being brought forth and several other items this week that were aforementioned. I expressed my sentiment to my companions and they helped me to see that this work is not necessarily about convincing others of the truthfulness of what we have but rather finding those who will receive us as it says in D&C 42:8. As  it says in 2 Nephi 12:3  “many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob” it doesn’t say let’s go convince other people to come up to the house of the Lord  because of how good it will be for them but rather that they will have a desire to. God is preparing people to receive the message but not all of the people are being prepared all the time to accept the Gospel, like a good friend said to me shortly before I departed and reminded me in an email. We aren’t teaching people anything new everyone we teach already knows everything we are telling them they were taught it in the Pre-Earth Life (not the Pre-Existence, that is for you Parke family) they just forgot it for a while. Our duty as missionaries is to create an environment in which the Spirit can be present to bring these things to their remembrance.

               I know that God is our loving Heavenly Father, I know that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to work an infinite and all powerful atonement, and that through it all mankind can saved through Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and Enduring to the End. I know also that all these truths were restored through Joseph Smith, who was called of God to be the prophet, seer, and revelator that opened the dispensation of the fullness of times. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is God’s church once again restored on the earth again in these last days and it is lead and guided by Thomas S. Monson under the direction and guidance of Jesus Christ.

The Report of Elder Hunter Poe

August 5, 2013

The Elder Poe Report

               This week has been an interesting week full of many exciting challenges and opportunities. In short prayer and fasting works, the scriptures are the word of God written specifically for you.

               So the first big incident that caused a problem this week was that on Wednesday we went in to visit a less active member and although I had my planner when I got out of the car when we returned to the car after the brief appointment my planner was nowhere to be found, even after a diligent search. This was incredibly unfortunate as I have the memory of a goldfish if something isn’t written down, and so we had to rely for most of the week on Elder Fiefia’s planner all week, but it was a valuable lesson to me about the importance of having a remote backup.

               The big awesome news this week is that we found a wonderful new investigator from Texas named David. It all started Saturday evening, our mission president decided that this fast Sunday that as a mission we were going to fast that those persons who have a baptismal date in August will be able to keep those dates, and that those of us who don’t have investigators will be able to find new investigators. So on Saturday evening we opened our fast with a prayer crying mightily upon the Lord that we would be able to find persons that are open and receptive to the Gospel and that those persons who had a baptismal date for August would be able to keep it. The following day (Sunday) we had an appointment at 1:30 with a wonderful young Indian lady named Guyetreah scheduled. I was really excited for this appointment because I figured this would be when the Lord answered our prayers and we would be able to teach her entire family and commit all of them to baptism. But then to my utter disappointment when we went there, no one was home. It was incredibly sad and depressing. However as we were about to drive home, a random person popped into my head. You see several months ago I went on exchanges with my district leader into the Strongsville  West Area that I am now in, and while there we had done a little bit of tracting and found this guy who was really nice and had even given us some bottles of water while we were out, he had lived in Texas for a while and gotten in an accident and was in the hospital for a while and the missionaries had been some of the only people to visit him while he was in the hospital. At the time me and my district leader had talked to him he hadn’t really seemed interested but we left a restoration pamphlet with him and told him he could visit mormon.org  if he wanted to learn more, and left it at that. Yesterday though he popped into my head, and I could see in my mind the exact street he lived on, and I got the prompting we should go visit that house. So acting in faith and trusting in the promptings of the Spirit we went and visited that house. That same young man, David was his name, answered the door and said that he had read through the Restoration pamphlet and thought that it all made sense and sounded true. We then taught him a wonderful first lesson, which was not at all because of us, but rather the Spirit guided and led that lesson to address it to exactly what David needed to hear. The Spirit was super strong as we taught a simple first lesson on the doorstep but the faith that was exercised by all involved parties allowed miracles to be wrought, David committed to pray to know if Joseph Smith was a prophet and when we extended the baptismal invitation he accepted it, and we now have a return appointment with him for this next Sunday it was wonderful to gain a surer knowledge that the Lord will answer any prayer we offer up to him in righteousness, not necessarily in our time or our way but He will make sure that the answer is for our good and benefit. I would encourage everyone that reads this to as it says in Malachi “prove [the Lord] now herewith if, [the Lord] will not open the windows of heaven, and pour out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” God has promised that anything we ask in the name of Christ will be answered unto us. As it says in Alma 17, the sons of Mosiah had “given themselves to much prayer and fasting;” and through this they were given the power to bring forth the works of the Almighty God. 

               I know fasting and prayer works, I know that there is a hoard of blessings the Lord wants to pour down upon our heads but can’t until we ask, to preserve our agency, I know that he loves us and I know that He cannot lie, Christ has promised us that whatsoever we ask the Father in His name will be given unto us. When we exert the faith to trust in the promises of God there will be no thing on this earth that we will not be able to do, there will be no knowledge that God will keep hidden from us and we will be confident knowing that we will stand on the right hand of God at the great and terrible day of the coming of the Lord and what else matters except that.

               God loves all of us His Son Jesus Christ loves us just as much and He wrought an infinite and eternal atonement so that all of us can be free from fear, worry and guilt if we will trust in Him and strive to do his works. This knowledge was restored through Joseph Smith who was called as a prophet of God to bring forth the fullness of the Gospel in these last days, and President Thomas Monson is the continuation of that line, and Christ is as the helm of His Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The Report of Elder Hunter D. Poe

July 29 2013

The Elder Poe Report

               This was a good week where I learned the power of prayer, and fasting, as well as I am seeing the miracles that can be done when the pure love of Christ is manifested through us.

               The first big thing that I wanted to discuss this week was the power of prayer. One morning me and Elder Fiefia and myself had a half an hour to plan for early in the day, where we didn’t want to leave the apartment because we were short on miles, and had to come back to the apartment anyway right after. So because of a wonderful district meeting we had earlier that week about the power of prayer we decided we were going to spend a solid half an hour praying and asking for the Lord’s help and guidance for the work in our area. We were going to pray specifically for help with finding persons that would be open to being taught, because right now we have one non member we are teaching right now and we haven’t been able to get a hold of her for over a week almost. So we got down on our knees individually and prayed for thirty minutes, and during that time we weren’t just talking to God, we were waiting for responses and in the words of President Hinckley spoke with him as one man speaketh to another. After some discussion we realized part of the problem might be the relative uncreativity of how we have been going about finding people. Knocking doors isn’t real original, so we discussed it a little more, then my companion Elder Fiefia received the inspiration to suggest we put together a talent show, and thus was born the idea of the Strongsville Ward talent show. So the Strongsville District of the Ohio Cleveland Mission, will be orchestrating the Strongsville Ward back to school talent show on Friday September 13^th. (Fanfare and applause) Although this is a monumental task and will require nothing short of a miracle to pull it off we are already seeing the miracles starting to pour out, as the Lord has stretched out his arm to hasten his work.  We came up with this idea Saturday morning and had to get it ready to present before the Ward Council the following day, coordinating between six different missionaries, yet we managed to do it, we planned out a lot of the work that would need to be done, and diagrammed it out. The next major hurdle was going to be getting the approval and backing of the Ward because without the Ward behind the idea it was going to go south faster than a Swallow with a coconut in the winter, however we prayed to ask the Lord to help us know how to present this in such a manner that the ward would find it a great idea, and when we had our turn at ward council we brought it forth and although there were some initial concerns the entire ward council decided to back it and the work of the Lord now continues to roll forward. All that started from a simple prayer offered up in faith trusting in the promises of the Lord.  Prayer works, it is one of the single most important things in this world, it is an opportunity to consult with the All Powerful Omniscient Architect of the Universe to help you with your personal problems that you are having in your life, and call upon His divine aid, knowing that He has said that whatsoever thing we ask in the name of His Son will be given us. I really don’t know how anyone can not truly pray.

               Another slightly more comical event this week was as we were out tracting we knocked on a door where a little nine year old boy answered the door. From the back his father yelled “Who is it” we introduced ourselves and the boy yells back “missionaries” the father in the back then responds “Tell them that we’re not interested and they are a cult that needs to learn who Jesus really is.” The little boy then looked at us, particularly Elder Fiefia with a pretty scared look. It may in a small part be due to the fact that Elder Fiefia is a large Tongan gentleman, very large, in fact enough that he is going to be playing for a fairly prestigious football university upon his return home. We just told him to have a nice day though and spared the boy the rather frightening experience of telling Elder Fiefia he was wrong. Although the event was humorous it was also saddening to see someone be spreading such anger and misunderstanding through such a small child, and already indoctrinating intolerance.  It is sad.

               One final note I wanted to hit on was how the when we start seeing things as they really are, everything changes. Once we look beyond these brief 80 years on earth, and look rather to the fact that we are creatures of eternity it will alter us forever, the people whom you interact with each day are not just your neighbors and coworkers, rather these are persons that the Saviour loved enough to suffer and bleed for, they are beings of eternities, they each have the potential to become like unto God and heir to all the Father hath. The next person you see I challenge you to view them for a moment as what they really are divine children of God, your literal brother or sister of spirit, then ask yourself would that change the way you treat them if you could see them like that constantly. Furthermore that perspective helps us view more accurately the trials of this life. They are not hardships inflicted upon us by a cold and uncaring universe, rather every struggle we go through was specifically laid out and planned for us by the Master Refiner to help us best grow into who we are meant to become throughout the eternities.

               So in short, God loves us, He loves every person reading this, He loves every person we pass on the street, He loved us so much that He sent His Only Begotten Son down to earth to suffer and atone for our sins, so that each of us could return to have the fullness of joy that He has. Our Savior loves every one of us so much that He endured every pain and hurt we ever have or ever will endure, he also has endured every sickness and infirmity, every broken heart, every ounce of guilt we have felt from sin, because He loves us. He will never leave us alone, abandoned, or forgotten, He knows each one of us by name and personally, all of our fears and desires, all of our favorite foods, and least favorite colors, He knows that, and whenever we want to feel His unbounded love, or feel His comforting Spirit the only thing we must do, is kneel down and pour out our whole soul to Him, speak with Him honestly and earnestly, and He will answer He will let us know that we are loved that we are valuable and that He is there.

The Report of Elder Hunter D. Poe

July 22, 2013

The Elder Poe Report

               So this is the beginning of week two of my third transfer now and things are still going great if taking a little time to pick up. I have had several interesting lessons learned this week, but basically the entire week can be recapped as follows. Stop by someone who isn’t home, tract, repeat until 8:30ish. Elder Fiefia and I are “shotgunning” the area, it means that neither of us has ever been in it before, and due to that we have been spending most of the week trying to find new people to teach, trying to get appointments set up with the people that the previous missionaries were teaching, and getting into the homes of less active members.

               This leads me to one of the first lessons that I learned this week, the importance of record keeping. For those who haven’t served on a mission each area has what is called an area book, basically a big ole honking binder that has information about people that the previous missionaries have been working with as well as names and contact information for people in the ward you need to keep in contact with and several other important pieces of information. If a missionary does not keep this up to date and accurate it can cause very severe problems for the missionaries that come in next as they have no reference for who to contact for what, or how those they are working with are progressing along, meaning that people will fall through the cracks and not have an opportunity to receive the fullness of the Gospel. In addition this week I was reading the part of the Book of Mormon where the people of Nephi flee the land of their fathers and come across the people of Zarahemla, because the Nephites had kept a record of their fathers, and had the plates of brass they were able to preserve the writings and teachings of the prophets and consequently were not left to dwindle in unbelief, whereas the Nephites because they had preserved and handed down the records were able to continue to have additional light and knowledge and receive instruction from God concerning the things that they should do. The point of all of this is that we should record the knowledge and information we get in our study of the scriptures and other spiritual experiences we have in life so that we can remember the tender mercies of the Lord in our life as well so that our children will one day be able to see our faith and our diligence in serving the Lord and will be able to have their own testimonies be strengthened by ours.

               Another slightly more humorous experience that occurred was at a large fair that occurred in our area this week. As a missionary I love fairs because that means a lot of people all in one location that are generally less defensive than they are in their home and are expecting to get handed free stuff, all of which adds up to a wonderful opportunity to share the good news of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with a lot of people. Unfortunately when we got there we talked to several people and then some police officers showed up and told us that it was actually technically a “private” event and the ladn we were on had been rented and that we weren’t allowed to proselyte at the fair. Being good law abiding citizens we did leave, and proceeded to contact around the fair, however as soon as we stepped foot off the fairgrounds it started to rain, not heavy but enough to be annoying. I won’t say that it happened because they cast out the Lord’s servants but I also don’t believe in coincidences so take it at what you will.

               Other than that one important thing I learned was how a vital component of missionary work is patience. Like I said this week was not an incredibly productive one in terms of teaching people and helping people receive the Gospel, and there was a large amount of time spent doing not so pleasant tracting, however I had faith in the Lord that as long as we are diligent in doing His will he will promise to bless us and grant unto us the desires of our hearts. As a result although little was accomplished last week by a miracle we have gotten half a dozen appointments set up for this week within the last couple of days of the week. With that I know that when we place our faith and trust in the Lord He will always make sure that it works out in the end. In fact my mother gave me one of my favorite sayings of all times “It will all work out in the end, and if it hasn’t worked out it isn’t the end” this is ultimately the most important thing is if we live our lives in accordance with the Gospel of Jesus Christ because if we do, it will work out.

               One other experience I feel prompted to share is something that happened in my quarterly interview with my mission president this week. Lately I have been feeling like I have been struggling with some problems of self doubt and feeling like I am not being a good missionary because there are many areas which I could need to improve significantly on as a disciple of Jesus Christ and as a missionary, but in my interview President Vellinga told me that Heavenly Father loves me, and that he is proud of me and what I am doing. I know that God cannot lie and this brought an overwhelming sense of peace to me and has helped me become more confident in myself and what I can do with the Lord’s help, it also brings to mind something Elder Holland said this most recent general conference. “So be kind regarding human frailty—your own as well as that of those who serve with you in a Church led by volunteer, mortal men and women. Except in the case of His only perfect Begotten Son, imperfect people are all God has ever had to work with” This really helps me realize that God doesn’t want a perfect people overnight, he will mold us and help us learn in the way that will be best for us, our only responsibility is only to try to be obedient and be more like Christ and we will become joint heirs with Christ possessor of all the Father has.

               I know that God lives, I know that Jesus Christ is at the head of the Church that bears His name, and that every part of it from the prophet at the head to the president of the every deacons quorum receives and is guided by revelation that comes directly from Him. This is His work he leads, guides and hastens it, (especially through the ICS department) and there will come a day when all those who have been faithful unto Him will receive all the blessings of Eternal Life.

D&C 1:38

What I the Lord have spoken I have spoken and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth shall pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same.

The Report of Elder Hunter D. Poe