Walls Came Tumbling Down

Dear Missionaries,

I recently had the opportunity of interviewing a woman for baptism. This experience taught me, once again, of the power of our message to turn people inside out – to fundamentally change their minds about who they are and the purpose of life. And it reminded me that “coming unto Christ” means much, much more than simply getting baptized.

This good woman is now in her sixties. She was raised in a good family, but she did not honor her parents. She resented her mother’s focus on family and husband. She felt that her mother was living a traditional “house-wife” life without any vision or purpose. She wanted nothing of this lifestyle and distanced herself physically and emotionally from her parents.

Although she attended Catholic schools and received an excellent education, she did not believe in God and identified herself as an atheist.

She was blessed with great intelligence and used this to become a university professor of mathematics. With her intellectual abilities, she criticized anyone who was religious, for she saw this as a weakness and a fairy tale. She surrounded herself with many equally intelligent university friends who held similar beliefs. She exuded confidence and conviction. She was not shy about her beliefs.

She adopted a liberal philosophy and lived a very worldly life. She was a feminist and supported abortion rights. She had no need for God in her life – and she tried to convince others that her views were correct. Not only did she have no need for religion, but she also readily criticized those who honored the founding principles of the United States. She saw this as old-fashioned and no longer relevant.

A few years ago both of her parents became quite ill, with physical and mental disabilities. She was required to move home to take care of them. But this was not an act of charity – it was a family duty, without any desire. She resented her parent’s illnesses and the imposition it caused for her life.

Both parents eventually died. And then this woman was diagnosed with cancer. A goddaughter came to live with her during her illness. Life became difficult. A friend suggested they check out the Mormon Church. The goddaughter, a woman in her thirties, went to Mormon.org and studied the basic information about the church. She chatted online with missionaries at Mormon.org. She requested information.

Two missionaries arrived at their door about five weeks ago with the requested information. They were invited in. They began to teach the lessons from Preach My Gospel. These lessons contain the essential doctrines, principles and commandments. They are what the living prophets and apostles have directed missionaries to teach. The lessons are organized to help others clearly understand the doctrines of Christ.

These missionaries did not have advanced degrees in mathematics. They were just a pair of regular Mormon missionaries who replace their fear with faith. They knew they had a great responsibility to teach from the heart and by the Spirit. They were willing to be “led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which [they] should do” (1 Nephi 4:6).

And they opened their mouths and taught the older woman that, “God is our Heavenly Father. We are his children. He loves us.”

These simple words express truths that are more important than the air we breathe and the water we drink. Man can exist, but he cannot truly “live”, without acceptance of these truths. With these simple words, conveyed by two missionaries, came unexpected, but undeniable, personal revelation to the heart and mind of this woman. She knew these words were true!

And the walls came tumbling down. The years and years of self-deception, self-indulgence and self-protection all began to crumble. These simple words had more power than the trumpets and shouting at the walls of Jericho. “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat” (Joshua 6:20).

This good woman began to feast upon the words of Christ. She loved the lessons from the missionaries. She read and studied the Book of Mormon. Her outlook on everything began to change. She accepted their invitation to make and keep commitments. This process introduces one to the principle of repentance and the blessings of Christ’s Atonement.

But the joy of learning about the restored gospel was also accompanied by great personal pain. For it was through her repentance process that she was awakened to a “lively sense of [her] own guilt, which doth cause [her] to shrink from the presence of the Lord, and doth fill [her] breast with guilt, and pain, and anguish” (see Mosiah 2:38).

As she related to me her life story, tears came quickly. And then her body shook and convulsed. Grief enveloped her. The many missed opportunities to love, serve and give caused physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pain. Her parents are gone – how can she ever express her sorrow and seek their forgiveness? Her strong (but wrong) example – over many years – influenced others to follow her ill begotten path. How can she go back and tell them that she was wrong? So many sorrows, so much pain!

And then she related to me that the two missionaries taught her about Jesus Christ’s Atonement. She knew that Christians believe that Christ died on the cross for men’s sins. But she had never been taught that Jesus suffered for our individual sins, pains and afflictions in the Garden of Gethsemane. When she learned of this, she knew it must be true. Her understanding of Christ became enlarged and enlightened. She changed her mind about Christ and accepted Him as the Son of God and as her Savior and Redeemer.

And she now believes that “Christ promises to forgive our sins on the condition that we accept Him by exercising faith in Him, repenting, receiving baptism by immersion and the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and striving faithfully to keep His commandments to the end of our lives.” She believes that “we are relieved of the burden of guilt and shame, and through Jesus Christ we become worthy to return to the presence of God.” (See Preach My Gospel, page 52).

This good woman has been turned inside out. She has come unto Christ and has become a new creature! As missionaries we enthusiastically sustain these words of Joseph Smith, “After all that has been said, [our] greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.”

Elders and Sisters – How does this happen? How do two young men -- with no advanced education, with just a limited amount of “real life” experience, with no knowledge of this woman’s prior history – help a good woman in her sixties make an 180 degree change in her life? Professional psychologists would say it isn’t possible. Ministers, preachers and priests of other religions would find fault with this story. Intellectuals would say she had lost her mind and had gone “soft” due to illness.

Here’s what I know: I know that the purpose of life is to know, love, serve and obey God. And also to gain a complete understanding of why we are here on earth. And then to eagerly and anxiously come to Christ in word and deed so that we can gain freedom from sin and self-imprisonment, and once free we can serve humanity by bringing others, throughout our lives, to the same truth and understanding. In so doing we will be contributing to the establishment of the Kingdom of God. I know that when this becomes our purpose and our passion that we are literally guided, protected, empowered and fueled by God. This is how the good woman in this story and I found ourselves together for a baptismal interview.

And the walls came a tumbling down,

President Murray

The Mail Must Get Through

March 16, 2009

Dear Missionaries,

Back in 1896 when the New York City General Post Office was being designed, the architectural firm came up with the idea of engraving an old saying all around the outside of the building. This building is now a national historic landmark and bears the inscription: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays (prevents) these couriers (messengers) from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

These words were originally written about 2500 years ago by the Greek historian, Herodotus when he was observing a war between the Greeks and Persians in about 500 B.C. The Persians had their own “mail men” who road horses and continued their services in all kinds of weather and war.

Here in PPM – in 2009 – we are engaged in a war. A war for the minds and hearts of all mankind. And we are a highly trained force of couriers – messengers. The work is hard and sometimes thankless. Our message, delivered hundreds of times each day with prayer, fasting and faith so often goes unwanted and unanswered. But I am forever grateful for the noble Elders and Sisters of our small army who never give up because "neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays (prevents) these couriers (messengers) from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Here is some battlefield news from five of your fellow couriers reporting on their appointed rounds from last week:


Courier #1: "We have so many people in the ward who love to come out teaching and who are always searching for missionary opportunities. We have gone to seminary and taught a lesson to the high school kids about how to invite their friends to learn more and things such as that. From that we have three kids who have given us referrals and one girl who invited her friend to seminary, family home evening and now to have her and the rest of the friends family meet with us to hear the message of the restoration! These youth continue to amaze me! They are so far ahead of myself when I was their age."

Courier #2: "Last week we went on exchanges with the Assistants, and one of them suggested that we raise our goals on investigators found each week. We typically set a goal of 5 or 6 new investigators each week. Elder Bosshardt encouraged us to increase it to 15. We were surprised at this suggestion, because we felt that it was extremely hard to get 5-6 a week. But, leaders are inspired and so we went with the number 13 this week. Its astounding the influence this new goal has had. We promised the Lord on Monday that we would do everything we could to get 13, and He has supported this goal. We’re doing almost the same amount of work as last week, but our expectations are higher and therefore the blessings are as well. We have seen miracle after miracle in the midst of attempting this new goal."

Courier #3: "Well, this week was good, we had found a girl last Friday and she was at the beginning, well the only way to put it is, a punk. She told my companion that she was Muslim, and then Buddhist and then her boyfriend let us in and then she started acting more normal. We had asked her some soul searching questions and she would just say, "I really don’t know". And then she started acting serious. We talked to her about her goals and she told us she was in school but wanted to quit and she was looking for a job. Ends up she is trying to overcome some serious addictive behaviors and has needed someone to help her out. She has no spiritual support from anyone in her life, but wants some and wonders why there are so many different churches. She came to the Addiction Recovery Program and loved it and I know the exact member who we are going to be using to fellowship her. I really think that they are gospel soul mates. Both having gone down the same track and both and seeking a true friend. I have so much love for this new investigator that I feel more like I know how the Savior feels when he sees one of his sheep run astray."

Courier #4: "This last Monday our 8:30 pm appointment fell out and then we tried our back up plans but nobody was at home. We had five minutes before we needed to return to our apartment, so we decided to knock some doors. We knocked on five doors and the last one let us in and we met a couple. They were so interested and we taught a little bit of the restoration and when we finished the woman said,
“Guys, can I tell you something?” And then she started crying and she told us that she was praying and crying to the Lord the night before for help because she wanted to come closer to God. I felt the spirit so strong when she said that and I wanted to cry with her, because I really knew that God sent us to her house that night. What I learned was that having our lines in the water as much as possible God truly blesses us even when we just have five minutes left."

Courier #5: "It’s so good to be a missionary President. We’ve seen the miracles of Christian service this week. We were tracting 6 days ago and my super-Spirit sensitive companion suddenly felt like we shouldn’t be on this street. We prayed and pondered and just started walking. We couldn’t determine what we were supposed to be doing. We thought of people in the area, stopbacks, former investigators, recent converts... BING ... recent converts: Sister _______!!! Sister _______ had been inactive and in a deep depression for about 2 months, and had totally shut out the entire world on her house. She didn’t answer the door, didn’t answer the phone, we think she lost her job and she was so depressed. All she did was lay on the couch. We’d attempted twice before to meet with her, and nothing ever happened. But because of the spiritual prompting, we gave it another shot.

What then happened was nothing short of a miracle. Sister _______ opened the door straightaway to reveal a house in complete and total disarray, nothing having been cleaned for weeks. We offered to help clean it for her. We did so for 2 hours. She was overjoyed. We set up another time to clean it again later in the week. We worked a whole morning there with her visiting teacher and cleaned the entire place. I had no idea that so many things would get dirty if they weren’t cleaned; we cleaned and scrubbed virtually every item in the home it seems like. Almost 10 trash bags of trash were thrown out and at the end of it all, the dank, dark feeling in her home was gone, the windows and blinds were open with a light breeze and the rays of the sun coming in, and we taught a powerful lesson that God will only help those who help themselves. Her whole demeanor was changed. She was happy; the depression was dispelled. She came to church this past Sunday, and has had contact with the ward again almost every day since then."

Elders and Sisters, the above stories come from all around the mission. “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays (prevents) these couriers (messengers) from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.” Remember that we are the couriers of the most important message on earth.

Going postal for missionary work,

President Murray

Preparing Investigators for Baptism

Dear Missionaries,

Were you surprised to discover that becoming a good missionary requires you to become a good teacher? To be a good teacher you must become a trusted friend of the person you are teaching. You must have faith and confidence that the things you are teaching are true and will improve the investigator’s life. Your investigator will hear the words you are saying – and this is very important. But even more important is that they will feel of your interest in them. Your investigator can quickly tell if you are genuinely interested in their eternal well being and happiness.

Prior to your mission, you were set apart by your stake president as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints assigned to labor in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission (PPM). Because of the nature of your calling as a missionary, you can depend upon the Holy Ghost as your constant companion. This allows you to take a true leap of faith as you say things and do things all designed to help others come to Christ.

Do not overcomplicate your assignment! Keep it simple! The purpose of your teaching is to help others develop faith in Jesus Christ and repent of their sins.

This is completely consistent with the process used by the prophet Alma in the year 147BC when he ordained a new group of priests: “And it came to pass that Alma, having authority from God, ordained priests; even one priest to every fifty of their number did he ordain to preach unto them, and to teach them concerning the things pertaining to the kingdom of God … He commanded them that they should preach nothing save it were repentance and faith on the Lord” (Alma 18:18, 20).

As a teacher you are presenting and teaching Heavenly Father’s “Plan of Happiness”. You then testify that what you have taught is true. And you invite this person to (1) study what you have taught; (2) pray to God to find out if it is true and (3) to begin making changes in their life, thus signaling a heart-felt desire to “come unto Christ”. The process of studying, praying and changing requires continual encouragement, follow-up, goal-setting, helping, testifying, coaching, friendship and leadership – all from you! This is what good teachers do if they are truly interested in helping their investigators “come unto Christ”.

It is an exciting day when your investigator is ready for a baptismal interview! As Mormon taught, “the first fruits of repentance is baptism” (Moroni 8:25). The baptismal interview is the way established by the Church to ensure that each candidate meets the Lord’s standards for baptism and is prepared to receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Prior to scheduling the baptismal interview, it is the responsibility of the missionaries who are teaching the investigators to assure that the PPM Prepared Investigator Standard is met. Never deliver an unprepared investigator to a district leader for a baptismal interview! Every single item in the Prepared Investigator Standard must be met prior to the baptismal interview. If you feel that an exception is warranted, speak to your district leader before the interview is schedule and he will discuss your request with the zone leaders and me.

Why are we so strict about the Prepared Investigator Standard? It is because of our mission’s goal. Our goal is to help Build the Church. Our job as missionaries is to make sure that our investigator’s have a strong internal desire to come unto Christ. This desire is manifested by the outward signs of repentance, change, sacrifice and personal improvement. If they are unwilling or unable to make these changes before baptism, then there is no evidence that they will change after they are baptized.
And in PPM we will never baptize a person “into inactivity”. President Hinckley stated this very directly and very strongly when he said, “To the missionaries, I repeat, it will do no good for you to baptize someone and have that individual fall away from the Church shortly thereafter. What have you accomplished? You may have labored long and hard, you may have fasted and prayed as you taught a particular individual the gospel. But if he does not remain active in the Church, all of you labor has been in vain. The whole process counts for nothing.” (Find the Lambs, Feed the Sheep, May 1999)

The Prepared Investigator Standard assures that we have done our job as teachers. The standard was developed as a teaching standard for our missionaries, and not as a required checklist for our investigators! It is an internal document that should not be shared with investigators. You and your companion should use it as a vital tool when preparing lessons and planning for your investigators. Like the Word of Wisdom (see D&C 89), it has been “adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all [missionaries], who are or can be called [missionaries].”

The Prepared Investigator Standard assures that we fulfill the expectations presented on page 204 of Preach My Gospel – “Qualifications of Baptism”. These expectations are outlined below:

Doctrine and Covenants 20:37 (make sure you’ve marked this verse in your scriptures)
• Humble themselves before God.
• Desire to be baptized.
• Come forth with a broken heart and contrite spirit.
• Repent of all their sins.
• Be willing to take upon them the name of Christ.
• Have a determination to serve Christ to the end.
• Manifest by their works that they have received the Spirit of Christ unto a remission of their sins.

First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve:
• Make sufficient changes in their lives to qualify as commanded in D&C 20:37.
• Develop faith in Christ.
• Repent of transgressions.
• Live the principles of moral worthiness.
• Live the Word of Wisdom.
• Commit to pay tithing.
• Receive all the missionary lessons (lessons 1-4 and associated commitments).
• Meet the bishop or branch president.
• Attend several sacrament meetings.

Included in this week’s Sickle Thruster is a copy of the Prepared Investigator Standard. Please make sure you and your companion review this carefully in a Companionship Study this week. Pay particular attention to the very last sentence: “The fulltime missionaries are to use all parts of the Teaching Record and should review it with the District Leader or Zone Leader prior to a baptismal interview.” I do not believe this is being done on a regular basis in PPM. Let’s make sure that we’re filling out a Teaching Record for each and every investigator. And then let’s also make sure that the DL or ZL reviews this record prior to doing a baptismal interview.

There is great joy in seeing our investigators change in preparation for their baptisms! We know – and we can testify of this – that hearts are softened and minds are changed as we make and keep commitments designed to draw us ever closer to our Savior. When our investigators “go and do” by exercising faith unto repentance, they experience first hand the joy of the gospel fruit that is “desirable to make one happy” (1 Nephi 8:9).

19 And behold, I have given you the law and the commandments of my Father, that ye shall (1) believe in me, and that ye shall (2) repent of your sins, and (3) come unto me with a broken heart and a contrite spirit. Behold, ye have the commandments before you, and the law is fulfilled.
20 Therefore come unto me and be ye saved; for verily I say unto you, that except ye shall keep my commandments, which I have commanded you at this time, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. 3 Nephi 12:19-20

Let us have faith in our ability to be the teachers our investigators deserve and may we prepare them not only for baptism, but for a Latter-day life!

President Murray

Winning Friends and Influencing People

March 2, 2009

Dear Missionaries,

In 1936, over fifty years before most of you were born, a man named Dale Carnegie wrote a small but powerful book entitled How to Win Friends and Influence People. Carnegie (1888-1955) was a pioneer in public speaking and personality development. He became famous by showing others how to become successful. His book How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies and has been translated into many languages. Two of his most famous rules for personal success are, "Believe that you will succeed, and you will," and "Learn to love, respect and enjoy other people."

One of our Preach My Gospel study assignments for this transfer is Chapter 9, How Do I Find People to Teach? We know that the Lord is preparing people to receive our message and that He will lead us to them. But we cannot expect these people to instantly come our way. We have to become experts in communications and human relations, otherwise golden opportunities will slip through our hands and our planners, time and time again. Once we understand people, people will want to understand us!

Your calling is to invite others to come unto Christ. You are inviting others to change the direction of their life and to adopt a new belief system. This requires many changes in the life of the investigator. And change is difficult. For most people change in habits of thinking and acting will initially be experienced as difficult, unpleasant, forced, unnatural and anxiety-provoking. To the investigator with a contrite spirit and a broken heart, the Holy Ghost will confirm that these changes are necessary and important. The Holy Ghost will clear up bad thinking and will point to the path of happiness and peace of mind. But even with this heavenly help, making and keeping life changing commitments is very difficult!

Sadly, most whom we invite to come unto Christ will turn down our invitation. In fact most will never even allow us to offer the invitation! In a typical week we’ll talk to 7,000 – 8,000 new people. Of these only 5-7 end up getting baptized.

If we can “win more friends” and “influence more people”, we will become more effective as missionaries. Before a stranger becomes an investigator there must be a break-through in personal trust. The stranger decides to trust the missionary. There is such a limited amount of time to create this trust. But if we can improve our understanding of what it takes to “win more friends”, then we will have an opportunity to “influence more people”. This can lead to a breakthrough in missionary effectiveness.

For most missionaries this is a new concept. In high school you did not purposely go about trying to “win more friends”. In fact it’s kind of hard to explain how you got your friends. They were…well…um…your friends! Some of you had a handful of friends and some had a ton of friends. The acquisition of high school friends was typically an unconscious activity. It just seemed to happen.

As a missionary you are expected to be wide awake and fully conscious as you go about your daily work striving to “win more friends”.

Not only should we be interested in winning more investigators as friends, but we should be equally interested in winning more active members and leaders as friends. This must become a proactive effort throughout your mission. Do not expect active members and leaders to knock on your door, seeking friendship and offering their time and talents. They will always respect you because of your calling as a missionary. Unless you’ve created a trusting relationship, you won’t be able to count them as members of your missionary team. And if you’re unable to influence their behavior, then you will not be able to help develop investigators and retain recent converts.

Once you have created a trusting relationship with a new friend – AN INVESTIGATOR – your next step is to help them make and keep new commitments. This requires you to become an expert in using gospel principles to help influence people towards a better life. Remember what you learned above about how hard it is to change!

The author LDS author John Bytheway teaches the importance of being a good friend: “A friend is someone who makes it easier for you to reach your fullest potential. Happy people build, lift, encourage, and motivate, and being in their company always makes you want to be better too.” Is this the way you approach each investigator and active member? Is this the way you choose to treat your companion? Are you willing to invest all that it takes to become a good friend?

In Dale Carnegie’s best selling book, How to Win Friends and Influence People, he provides valuable tips for every PPM missionary in four important areas. Here are his tips that will help you sharpen your sickle as you become more effective in winning more friends and influencing more people on your mission.

I. Fundamental techniques for creating positive relationships
1. Never criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.

II. Six ways to make people like you (and your message)
1. Become genuinely interested in other people.
2. Smile.
3. Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5. Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6. Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

III. Win people to your way of thinking (the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ)
1. The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
2. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
4. Begin in a friendly way.
5. Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
6. Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
7. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
8. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
9. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
10. Appeal to the nobler motives.
11. Dramatize your ideas.
12. Throw down a challenge.

IV. How to change people without giving offense or arousing resentment
A missionary’s job includes changing your investigator’s attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
1. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3. Talk about your own mistakes before rebuking the other person.
4. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5. Let the other person save face.
6. Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

Dale Carnegie was not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His best selling book was not designed to help Mormon missionaries improve their effectiveness. But truth is truth, wherever it is found. The scriptures plainly teach this: “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith” (D&C 88:118).

As you seek to improve your skills in working with others (investigators and members), your mind will begin to see things and think about things in new ways. The Lord is so willing to bless and help every missionary who seeks to know and do “His will”. And as you learn how to win friends and influence others you will find greater joy in the journey and confidence in your abilities. Two great blessings worth achieving!

Your friend,

Pres. Murray