Lesson for October 13, 2013

Relief Society Lesson October 23, 2013 Our lesson was given by Maggie Kopp, “Missionary Work to Reach Every Heart.” Maggie remembered a talk when she was young on missionary work that had an object lesson with folding your arms. We always fold our arms in a specific way and to do the opposite feels weird. She asked who had served missions or had missionary experiences, either formally or informally. The lesson was taken from a talk by Lorenzo Snow to missionaries. How do we apply what missionaries are taught to our missions. He was at a point in his life when he had to decide between serving a mission or going to school. He leaned toward going to school, but he felt he had a duty to serve a mission and he served many missions up until he was 71 years old. Sisters share how they were called. Vira Bahr was a convert who felt she needed to share what she had learned about the gospel. Sister Linda Campbell and her husband served a mission locally after he retired because his eyesight was bad. While they served, he had surgery and his eyesight was restored. They felt it was a blessing. Amy Young went to a meeting and came away with a strong feeling that she should serve a mission. Irma Lopez said her neighbors noticed that they always got up and got ready for church, instead of doing sports, so it was their example that caught their attention. Sharing the gospel is a commandment and the early saints were committed to doing it. President Snow said that just after they settled in Utah in their poverty, they turned their attention to sharing the gospel and sent people on missions through great hardship. Sisters shared obstacles they had to overcome. Linda Campbell said that when you do it, you lose the fear of sharing. Even her granddaughter Tori shared by wearing her CTR ring and her friend and family were baptized and sealed in the temple. Emily Campbell said they learned that sharing their lives with their friends and saying this is who I am let people know about the Church. One sister told about a neighbor who heard anti-Mormon stuff from her minister. This sister said that through teaching this woman to make bread and sew, the woman saw that the sister believed in Christ and lived her religion? Sister Bahr said she had to learn to rectify incorrect beliefs. She also said we can give donations to the missionary fund. She said in her country, Ukraine, young people cannot save enough to go on missions. Heather Cantrell said in South Africa she carried a Book of Mormon everywhere with her and gave away copies all the time. She found that just saying, “Read it and pray about it.” She found out fifteen years later that a friend had joined and sent the missionaries to Heather to tell her. Another sister told of using social media and commenting about gospel things that happen. Sister Hickman said the missionaries a have to spend a certain amount of time on Facebook. Sister Cook said that being a good example to relatives on Facebook and sharing what she does daily on Facebook. Maggie said she tries to share with relatives. Linda Campbell said that a person who needs to be reached can be placed there by the Lord. Adele Hickman said that when she was doing family history she had people from Germany telling her to contact Mormons, because they know what to do with family history. Maggie told of a friend who decided to share the gospel and she applied the scriptures to her life so she decided to tell scripture stories to people who came to her with problems. That was OK and worked really well and helped her make friends with several people. The virtue lies in missionaries being willing to obey the commandments. Sister Bell said that moving from Iowa to Utah made her lax in sharing the gospel. She realizes that she has neighbors who don’t come to church, so she can share with them. She shouldn’t be afraid to share with anyone. Maggie said we all need to strengthen each other. Irma Lopez said we can do missionary work in our homes and neighborhood. Out of a ward with 400 people, we will have only 100 come to church.