“It’s good to hear your voice again!”

Earlier this week I woke up before four a.m. feeling completely overwhelmed.  It had been a crazy week - medical problems exploding all over the mission, transfers messed up by cancelled flights for incoming missionaries, sobering family news to convey to blissfully unaware missionaries, elders in shock over an apartment break-in and robbery, and too many foundering members and leaders I am counseling with who have been avoiding my calls.  I lay tossing for a few hours, trying to sort out how I could face the day, feeling completely inadequate to deal with even a subset of the challenges.

Eventually, Michelle rolled over and asked me what the problem was. I gave her a core dump, concluding, “I can’t do this!”.  She agreed (all too quickly), and asked why it took me so long to figure that out.  She then got up, announced she was getting dressed to go exercise and leaving me to have a sincere talk with my Heavenly Father. “Do it out loud, you really need a good talk with Him.” And she closed the door and was gone.

I have learned through the years to listen and harken to my better half, particularly when she uses that tone.  So I knelt down and started vocally talking with my Father.  I used to begin serious prayers, blessings or ordinations by quickly laying out a mental map of what I should cover or address before starting out.  I have since learned that the best approach is to mentally pick up a broom and quickly sweep away all vestiges of my own thoughts and desires, then dive in. I use this mental exercise as a crutch to suppress my own agenda, which opens me much better to His thoughts.

So I just started talking, trying to let the spirit lead my words. I poured out my heart, expressing my gratitude for all the help I had received over the years and particularly in this doozy of a calling - from inspired leaders, the scriptures, conference talks, my wife and spiritual promptings.  I then launched into how frustrated I felt at trying to juggle so many balls at once, often dealing with people who all needed my undivided time all at once, and trying to guide and lead others when it seemed that some of them have radically different priorities. As I pleaded for help, I heard, or rather felt a voice or impression in my mind: “It’s good to hear your voice again.  I really like talking with you.  I have many of my children who are ready and hoping to talk with you right now.  Why don’t you get up, grab your phone and start calling them?”

I glanced at the clock, I had only been on my knees about 10 minutes and it was not quite 7am.  A bit early to call most people, but who am I to argue?  So for the next 45 minutes I launched into a series of calls, connecting with every single person on my worry list, including several who hadn’t answered calls, emails or texts for over a week.  None of the calls took more than five minutes.  With those brief calls, I cleared out virtually everything on my “anguish punch-list” from the night before.  And everyone I talked to told me how much they needed to hear from me, and how much they all appreciated me calling them at that moment.

Like the Savior telling his apostles to cast their nets on the other side of the boat and they were immediately filled despite the fact that they had labored throughout the night with no results, the Lord is directing this work and He knows when and how and to reach each of His children.

Ask, seek and knock.  Pretty simple.

“Strengthen Thy Stakes and Enlarge Thy Borders”

The final chapter in the Book of Mormon, chapter 10 of Moroni contains several wonderful missionary scriptures.  Verses 3-5 promise readers that they can know the truth of the book by pondering and asking God with a sincere heart and real intent and verse 32 contains a great description of our purpose as missionaries, with Moroni’s invitation for all to “come unto Christ and be perfected in him.”

But just before that verse, the Lord lays out His framework for taking His gospel unto the world. In verse 31, He admonishes: “And awake, and arise from the dust, O Jerusalem; yea, and put on thy beautiful garments, O daughter of Zion; and strengthen thy stakes and enlarge thy borders forever... that the covenants of the Eternal Father which he hath made unto thee, O house of Israel, may be fulfilled.”

Reading this verse last week, I realized it perfectly describes the Church at this very moment in Liberia.

• Jerusalem, the House of Israel and Zion all refer to the the Lord’s people, or His Church.  
• The “covenants of the Eternal Father” are the blessings that enable His people to achieve His greatest gift - exaltation, which is available the through the ordinances of His holy temples.  
• The priesthood keys needed to enter His temples and to administer those saving ordinances reside within each stake of Zion. 

One year ago, Liberia had no stakes.  The Bushrod Island Stake was created last November and the Monrovia Stake in May of this year.  We received notice this week that on December 9, the Caldwell and Paynesville Stakes will be created, making four brand-new Liberia stakes in the Monrovia metro area, all created in a period of just 13 months.  Over 90 percent of the members in Liberia will now be living in fully-organized stakes of Zion led by local leaders, which is nothing short of amazing.

We also just received approval to begin to “enlarge the borders” of the Church in Liberia, which is currently concentrated almost exclusively in Monrovia, the capital city.  This month, the Area Presidency approved our request to open Buchanan for the preaching of the gospel.  Next month, we will send missionaries to begin proselyting in that coastal city, the third largest in Liberia, located two-and-a-half hours southeast from us.  We hope to soon create a branch there, the first one organized outside of Monrovia in ten years.

These two events mark a pivotal point in the maturity and growth of the Church in Liberia. They also clearly witness Elder Bednar's message that our call to Liberia was to serve at the focal point of the Restoration at this point in history and that we were sent to extend the marvelous spread of the gospel here and to build a foundation for future generations of saints and missionaries who will, in turn, bless the entire Church through their pure, uncluttered application of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  We're livin' the dream!