Preach My Gospel: Go Ye Therefore

Dear Sisters,

In her Conference address on Saturday, October 4, 2008, Sister Sylvia H. Allred, first counselor of the General Relief Society Presidency, spoke on missionary work and the great impact it can have in all of our lives. She offers us all a much needed nudge to improve in our own efforts. As so many of us realize, the dedication of one or two people can affect the futures and even the eternities of hundreds of people.

Sister Allred states:

Missionary work is the lifeblood of the Church. There is no greater work, no more important work. It blesses the lives of all those who participate in it. It will continue blessing future generations.

You might be asking yourself: How can I assist in missionary work? In what ways can I participate? There are two fundamental truths to keep in mind as you embark on the work. First, have a clear understanding that God loves all His children and desires their salvation. In Doctrine and Covenants 18:13 we read, “And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth.” Second, our message of Christ and His restored gospel is the most important gift you have to give.

As outlined in Preach My Gospel, missionary work is a four-fold endeavor: finding investigators, teaching and baptizing, fellowshipping new members, and fellowshipping and teaching less-active members.⁷ Every member of the Church—children, youth, and adults—can assist in any or all of these efforts.

Begin by being a good neighbor and a good friend. Set a example of righteousness and kindness. Let your smile radiate love, peace, and happiness. Live a gospel-centered life.

Then, be more specific in your missionary efforts. Let me suggest some ideas. You might find two or three that work for you:

• If you have children at home, help prepare them for missionary service.
• Prepare yourself for missionary service.
• Invite family and friends to listen to the missionaries or to attend our Church meetings and activities.
• Accompany the missionaries to investigators’ homes, or invite the missionaries to teach nonmembers in your home.
• Invite people to a family home evening in your home.
• Invite people to a family history center, or help them do family history research.
• Give referrals to the missionaries. Members can be the greatest and best source of referrals.
• Share your beliefs and testimony with nonmember friends and family.
• Seek for opportunities to reach out to others.
• Extend friendship to investigators and new converts.
• Give your best efforts to finding those who are seeking the truth.
• If you have family members or friends on missions, send them letters of love and encouragement, and pray for them.

You will experience joy in the fruits of your labor. A greater enthusiasm for missionary work will strengthen your entire ward or branch. The whole Church will feel the effects of your labor.

Follow the link to read the full article, or visit byu.tv to watch the Conference broadcast, then consider how you might enlarge upon the opportunities the Lord has given you for more missionary experiences.

Link of the Week: BYU.tv

Once again, General Conference has been edifying, uplifting, and a pleasure in which to participate. On BYU.tv, you can experience it again and again. Simply go to the site, select "LDS Church Broadcasts" in the row of tabs below the view screen, then choose the program you wish to view.


BYU.tv offers many programming options, including their live broadcast, the same programming available to those subscribed to Dish Network. The added advantage on the Internet is the ability to choose previous programs to watch at your leisure, not only General Conference.

Music and the Spoken Word is always enjoyable, but the program on Sunday, September 28, 2008, is particularly outstanding. The Orchestra on Temple Square performed with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, as well as two different excellent soloists. Both the message and the music are uplifting, their performance as professional as any could wish.

Take a half hour to treat yourself to this soul-soothing performance. Your family will be glad you did.

The Olde Oaks Country Fair

From Sister April Lewis:

We are hoping to call all the sisters, but I thought I would email, too. So please pass this info on to any Visiting Teachees, Visiting Teachers, friends, and/or neighbors just in case we don't get to call everyone.

Our postponed Enrichment meeting, "The Olde Oaks Country Fair", is this Thursday at 7 pm @ the Hafer road building (16331 Hafer Rd, HOUSTON,TEXAS ). We will be starting with a lesson in the Relief Society Room attached to the kitchen, then move into the Gym/Cultural hall for Dinner (baked Potatoes, salad, and toppings) and our "talent/stuff about you" tables and karaoke. If you feel so inclined, wear something suitable for an old time Country fair. We will have a lot of fun, and it will be more fun with you! Yes, you!

We will have homemade treats for those of you who make the effort to be on time. We will also have a children's class in the nursery, so please bring them if no one is available to watch them.

PLEASE BRING something that tells your sisters about you. I know you are all extremely talented and interesting women, so let us know some details about who you are and what you like to do by bringing something to show off (e.g. a book you love, your favorite shoes, a DVD/CD favorite, something you have sewn/cut/glued/hammered/scrapbooked/created in any way, and if none of those strike your fancy then -as President Uchtdorf suggested-, come and see how many smiles you can create!)

I apologize for any of you getting this twice as I am sending it to all of you in my address book, as well as the Olde Oaks Group.

Have a great day (and to help you on the way to that here is a quote from Pres. Uchtdorf's talk at Women's Conference last week)!

"Today I would like to speak to those who have ever felt inadequate, discouraged, or weary—in short, I would like to speak to all of us.

I also pray that the Holy Ghost will amplify my words and bestow upon them additional meaning, insight, and inspiration.

We know that sometimes it can be difficult to keep our heads above water. In fact, in our world of change, challenges, and checklists, sometimes it can seem nearly impossible to avoid feeling overwhelmed by emotions of suffering and sorrow.

I am not suggesting that we can simply flip a switch and stop the negative feelings that distress us. This isn’t a pep talk or an attempt to encourage those sinking in quicksand to imagine instead they are relaxing on a beach. I recognize that in all of our lives there are real concerns. I know there are hearts here today that harbor deep sorrows. Others wrestle with fears that trouble the soul. For some, loneliness is their secret trial.

These things are not insignificant.

However, I would like to speak about two principles that may help you find a path to peace, hope, and joy—even during times of trial and distress. I want to speak about God’s happiness and how each one of us can taste of it in spite of the burdens that beset us.

Let me first pose a question: What do you suppose is the greatest kind of happiness possible? For me, the answer to this question is, God’s happiness.

This leads to another question: What is our Heavenly Father’s happiness?

This may be impossible to answer because His ways are not our ways. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are [God’s] ways higher than [our] ways, and [His] thoughts [higher] than [our] thoughts.”¹

Though we cannot understand “the meaning of all things,” we do “know that [God] loveth his children”² because He has said, “Behold, this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”³

Heavenly Father is able to accomplish these two great goals—the immortality and eternal life of man—because He is a God of creation and compassion. Creating and being compassionate are two objectives that contribute to our Heavenly Father’s perfect happiness. Creating and being compassionate are two activities that we as His spirit children can and should emulate."

I love this talk; if you were unfortunate enough to miss it, please watch it or read it online ASAP. Nothing beats Pres. Uchtdorf's delivery of it, but reading it brings new insights and inspiration also.

Link of the Week: LDSChurchTemples.com

This is a really cool Church site (you'll recognize the LDS.org look) where you can reference information about the various temples around the world, "featuring news, schedules, photographs, and interesting facts of the temples of the LDS Church."

The funnest page is that for the free downloads, which feature:

• Mapping files in PDF (Adobe Reader), KML (Google Earth), and GPS coordinates (really cool if you have Garmand or other GPS devices in your vehicle). My favorite is the Google Earth feature which allows you to virtually tour the world and see the temples dot the face of the earth.
• Temples Around the World slide show and screen saver. This feature includes all the operating temples and offers the options of playing the screen saver, downloading the screen saver software for your computer's offline use, and downloading the screen saver as a video which is suitable for presentations.
• Individual screen savers featuring the Bountiful and Salt Lake Temples, with 'Inspiring Spires' and 'Temples at Twilight' coming soon.
• Temple wallpaper galleries and slide show. Each individual temple is featured with anywhere from one to 129 photographs (Salt Lake, of course). The Houston Texas Temple has 20.

What a great resource and fun way to display images of the House of the Lord in our homes!

Preach My Gospel: True Ward Family

Dear Sisters,

I really appreciate all your open hearts and open hands in helping Elder Courtright get outfitted for his mission. Your generosity knows no bounds, and I am especially grateful to you for putting aside your own concerns with the whole Ike experience to help Matt get everything he requires on that endless less. I know how deeply he appreciates it, as he expressed to me on numerous occasions. He was totally stunned that we would consider him worth the effort.

If you would like to further support him, Elder Courtright's address for the next three weeks will be:

Elder Matthew Courtright
Denver Colorado North Mission
2005 N 900 E
Provo, UT 84604

Come November, his address will be:

Elder Matthew Courtright
Denver North Colorado Mission
11172 N Huron Ste 21
Northglenn, CO 80234

Again, thanks to all for your love and support.

Penny