I knew I recognized his name —he played quarterback at BYU years ago.
“This work is not going to move forward in the Lord’s intended way without us.”
He’s big on using the exclamation point.
What would you do if the prophet of the Lord really called you? Well, he has! President Thomas S. Monson, as he did once again this morning, has called each one of us to a very important work. He said, “Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him.”
Have we been listening?
All over the world, stakes, districts, and missions are experiencing a new level of energy, as the Savior’s declaration to Joseph Smith in 1832 is being fulfilled: “Behold, I will hasten my work in its time.”
Brothers and sisters, that time is now! I feel it, and I’m sure you do also.
I wanted to put my excitement and my faith in Jesus Christ into action. When I played football, I thought in terms of game plans. There was no question going into a contest that if our team was prepared with the right plays, we were going to be successful. However, I recently spoke with BYU’s legendary coach LaVell Edwards about our game plans, and he said, “I didn’t care what play you called just as long as we scored a touchdown!” As one of his quarterbacks, I thought it was much more complex than that, but maybe his simple philosophy is the reason he has a stadium named after him.
May I share with you a game plan I’ve felt impressed to implement after praying, reading chapter 13 of Preach My Gospel, and pondering past experiences? I invite you to consider these three points as you think about your own plan.
- Specifically pray to bring someone closer to the Savior and His gospel every day.
- Pray for the missionaries serving in your area and their investigators by name every day. The only way to do this is to greet them, look at their badge, call them by name, and ask them who they are teaching.
- Invite a friend to an activity in or out of your home.
The Savior has taught me a subtle lesson in my personal gospel learning which, I believe, applies beautifully to “the hastening.” When I’m emotionally charged about something, it shows in my writing and often ends in an exclamation point that by definition conveys a “strong feeling [or an] indication of major significance.”
I became intrigued as scriptures about “the gathering” which ended with this punctuation mark started popping up …
Research suggests there are 65 passages showing this kind of strong missionary emotion.
I asked the stake president to tell me the story of the shoes.
He said:
“These are shoes of a young convert to the Church whose family situation was strained, yet he was determined to serve a successful mission and did so in Guatemala. Upon his return I met with him to extend an honorable release and saw his shoes were worn out. This young man had given his all to the Lord without much, if any, family support.
“He noticed I was staring at his shoes and asked me, ‘President, is anything wrong?’
“I responded, ‘No, Elder, everything is right! Can I have those shoes?’”
The stake president continued: “My respect and love for this returning missionary was overwhelming! I wanted to memorialize the experience, so I had his shoes bronzed. It is a reminder to me when I walk into this office of the effort we all must give regardless of our circumstances. The verse was from Isaiah: ‘How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!’ (Isaiah 52:7).”
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