Dear friends! :)
Sunday was a day I looked forward to with tremendous excitement. It was Sunday, July 14, my first Sabbath back in Utah. Now, I must say that I had two farewells scheduled for that day and ended up going to neither of them. I decided that it would have just been incredibly stressful to get to both of them since they were pretty far apart. So, I went to my alternate YSA ward, which is where I`m going when I stay in Roy over the weekend. It was fabulous and it`s definitely been a while since I`ve been to Church in Utah and attended the entire block in the same ward. Just so relaxing!
Anyways, followed by Church, I was looking forward to a fireside with Elder L. Tom Perry up in Ogden. It was for Pioneer Day. Now, something that is really a substantial difference between America and Germany that here, it is legit to celebrate things early. In this case, the Mormons of Weber County sent a message to the world that they are crazy and willing to celebrate their big holiday ten days early, with fireworks, a fireside and a crowd of roughly 10,000 on fire at Weber State`s campus for both. Of course, I was right in the middle of it.
I had only heard Apostles speak live on two previous occasions so I was really excited for this event. I was looking and thirsting for deep spiritual truths, so far away from both the previous and next General Conferences. However, at first glance, I was quite disappointed. I`m aware that there are probably a lot of people in Ogden who take great pride in their city`s history (and rightfully so), but I felt like this was all Elder Perry talked about. In the very moment it felt like he drew all his spiritual power from his special witness of Christ that he has in his heart, but never actually shared it. As someone who comes from a part of the world that is not very spoiled with visits from General Authorities (and Apostles in particular), I wish he would have said more. And other things. It seemed like an LDS historian could have said the same things as he did.Just to prepare you though, I will be a little hypocrite and employ an exceedingly great amount of history in this blog post.
When I reflected later upon some of the sentence pieces he mentioned, one Gospel truth really stood out to me. Elder Perry talked about how his generation was the generation that risked their lives on behalf of their faith and was ready to make great sacrifices for the things they believed in. In short, he challenged our generation to match up with that and stretch to demonstrate the same level of dedication.
I`m not really sure if this is what he meant to cause in me, but I had to think about some of the remarks I`ve heard very frequently (to say the least) over the last few months, especially since the October 2012 General Conference. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, our generation is the generation chosen by God to finally lead His Church out of obscurity. It is the golden generation that has been looked upon since the beginning of times by Prophets to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Savior.
We all have heard about some of the signs of the times for these latter days, but I brainstormed and found a few that are really Missionary-work related. Watch out, it`s getting awesome!
1 - When the Savior called His Disciples in the Old World, he instructed them to be "Fishers of men". Now, how does a fisher survive? Is one fish for a whole two years (say, one convert [the Missionary himself] on a Mission) enough to eat in order to gain strength? Or ought there to be more to meet basic needs? When the Savior walked the Earth and in the first years after He performed the atonement, thousands made the decision to follow Him and be baptized. We sometimes tend to think that Christ and His Disciples and the very early Church were some kind of small, isolated cultish group that stayed amongst themselves and grew to today`s size just by procreation and crusades. But not so! Acts 2 tells a different story. The original Disciples and the Missionaries of the early Church were indeed fishers of men, they baptized thousands of converts and the Body of Christ grew to a remarkable size in an even more remarkably short amount of time.
2 - Now, one dispensation forward from point number 1. On April 6, 1830, when the Church of Jesus Christ was formally reorganized, it had a whopping six members on its rolls, including names as prominent as Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery - but not very many more altogether. By the end of 1830, there were 280 members, by 1831 there were 480 and in 1832 there were 2,661. Perhaps the greatest thing about these numbers is that they came to pass with a very, very tiny Missionary force. For instance, the membership growth of 2,181 during the year of 1832 (for rough orientation, in the early Kirtland years) happened with probably not more than 20 actual Missionaries. That year, each of those Missionaries probably baptized far more than 100 converts. How did that happen and why doesn`t it seem to happen today anymore (at least not regularly)? In D&C, we repeatedly read the extended call to preach the Gospel "to the congregations of the wicked". So, what happened was basically that the Missionaries walked into another church`s service and taught them about the Restoration. Despite being rejected quite a few times, the successes of that method added up to incredible results. The Church was always just strong and large enough to be almost impossible to extinct, despite its opponents regularly trying. Also, those Missionaries were indeed fishers of men.
3 - When the first Missionaries arrived in Britain in 1837, they were even more successful than the Missionaries who preached the Gospel in the United States at the beginning of the decade. They baptized thousands of converts in Northern England, particularly in Preston and, to a lesser extent, Manchester. We often tend to believe that the late 1990s were the time when Church membership outside the United States surpassed domestic membership for the first time, but this is not quite correct. In fact, those early Missionaries to Great Britain (and also the mainland of Western Europe) were so successful that Great Britain had the most members of any country worldwide around 1840, even though this trend quickly reversed due to mass migration to America. Later, these faithful Saints from Britain were credited with playing the most important role of all members in settling the Territory of Deseret. Indeed, those Missionaries were also fishers of men.
4 - Another prophecy extended several times in the scriptures is the bringing forth of the Gospel to "the islands of the sea". Now, Great Britain is an island, though a big one. So are the islands of the South Pacific (anyone remember The Other Side of Heaven?) where Missionaries performed and still perform amazing miracles among the native population. New Zealand, where the arrival of the "white men who bring with them the truth" (who happened to be early LDS Missionaries) fulfilled a long-held prophecy of the natives, also consists of two main and a few smaller islands. Not to mention Japan. Taiwan. The Philippines. Madagascar. Papua New Guinea. Ya know, all those places where you were once able to or are still able to baptize hundreds of converts in two years, appear to be islands. It seems that often, despite some exceptions, people in island nations are more receptive to the restored Gospel than those residing elsewhere. I really can`t tell you why. I just know that Prophets told the world about this many centuries ago, and that their word holds true today (as always).
5 - Some might say that today, the fishers of men have perished. Died out. Gone extinct. That this type of thing is just not possible anymore. And I`m convinced that they were probably correct with that statement ten years ago, but not anymore today. It`s a slow process and it doesn`t happen overnight, but there are signs that the fishers of men are coming back. Probably no other place in the world ties all those prophecies above together in a better way than the small islands of Cape Verde, situated off the west coast of Africa. After Sister Raychel Horlacher, a good friend of mine, was called to serve in these islands at the beginning of the year, I got really interested in them and did some research on the Church there. The first Missionaries arrived in 1989 but were driven out only months after they came. Shortly thereafter, they returned and preached the Gospel, particularly to the youth of the islands. Many of these early converts were studying ministers of other faiths. Thousands joined the Church and after this first generation matured, the first two stakes were created recently with probably many more following in the near future. What is fascinating is that the work has been speeding up dramatically over the past two years or so (thanks to Irma Horlacher? :) ). New congregations are created nearly each month, baptisms are a very common sight on the beaches of the Atlantic Ocean and the perhaps greatest achievement is the skyrocketing number of Missionaries serving from Cape Verde. The future looks bright for the members from these wonderful islands, because the fishers of men have come again. And they will soon do so throughout the world, finding those who have been prepared to receive Christ and to come home to Him. :)
6 - Our Heavenly Father has indeed begun to speed His work. Another fallacy might be that this happened overnight (well...kind of night) on October 6, 2012, when President Monson announced the lowered Missionary age. However, through divine inspiration, the youth of the Church has been prepared for this day for years. Looking back and thinking about it, I cannot believe how surprised me and many others were by the Prophet`s announcement. Beginning in 2004, here are some of the milestones pertaining to Missionary work that prepared this chosen generation for October 6, 2012 and its aftermath: The publication of Preach My Gospel. Raising the bar of personal worthiness. The edition of the Missionary Handbook. Earlier teaching opportunities in Young Men and Young Women Programs and Seminary, including a new overall curriculum for all. Priesthood leaders` increased emphasis on splits with Priests and full-time Missionaries. The New Member lessons. "I`m A Mormon" profiles recommended for each Missionary. Reassignment of the global Missionary force away from less receptive to more receptive parts of the world. Elder Holland`s plea for more Missionaries during the October 2011 General Conference. Et cetera. The Church knew decades ago that most of those things would be necessary for this Gospel to fill the Earth one day, yet none of these changes were actually implied before 2004 when PMG came around. The reason why I think this was the case is that the youth of the Church wasn`t ready for them to happen earlier.
Not blaming or talking down at generations past, but I see in this (my own) generation a dedication, love for the Gospel, knowledge and personal readiness to share it with everyone that has been unheard of in generations past. Never before has a generation been so tempted, affected by the influences of the world, and permanently tried by the adversary to be led away from the path of truth. But also, never has a generation been so blessed by the power of obedience as much as this generation. Our Heavenly Father knew exactly what kind of opposition we would face, wherefore He reserved some of His most precious children to begin the spiritual fight in this final battle for righteousness. Looking at some of the wonderful people who surround me daily, I struggle to understand why I am one of those reserved for the last days of the latter days, but I know there is a reason for that. Dear Elder Perry, my friends and I accept your challenge. And we know that we will pass if we stay obedient. :)
Love,
-- Pascal
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