Letters from Paul and reed

NOTE:  On the outside of the envelope from Paul Gibson in Idaho:

If you think I may have said anything that would possibly offend one of my friends, please don’t’ print or just say what you want.

   Alma 29:14-17

   Most Elders thought all Sisters would be ugly—they got quite a surprise.

   Hi-Are you home?

Dear Bro. Parker,                         July 19, 1990

   I know that you like to hear this sort of thing in writing so here it is:  YES!! Yes Bro. Parker, I will do my darndest to go to the temple once a week for the rest of my life.  When I’m incredibly wealthy and take my wife to Europe for 2 months, I’ll go eight times before I leave.  I guess I am pretty selfish, I want all the blessings I can get.

   One of the things I’ve learned here, just confirms what I’ve always thought.  When you (or me) are done with something leave it.  One should never try to reclaim the past.  The Lord gives us a certain time to do (or experience) something and when that time is up we need to stop.  Example:  My DL has a girlfriend “waiting” for him.  This is no normal Boyfriend/Girlfriend situation.  When he didn’t get anything from her within the first 5 days his life was miserable.  He won’t even consider “his woman” on a date with another guy—it’s so funny—his face gets BRIGHT RED when one of our single teachers asks what she looks like.  See, Pexton is a good missionary, but if he could keep his mind focused on what is going on now instead of what happened before he left the Lord would take care of everything and he would be an Awesome missionary.  Believe me, I’m not saying having a girlfriend is a bad thing.  It’s just he needs to work on his priorities—understand?

   Well, I’m enjoying the MTC—nice place to visit if you know what I mean.  The food gave me problems for the first couple of days but my Companion has yet to achieve “regularity.”  Our class schedule is packed but I adjust fairly easily and it is all quite similar to the Sunday schedule we kept when I was first a ZL.  Those 7:00 a.m. meetings at the Visitors’ Center really helped to train me for mission life.

   I’ve been put in a district with a bunch of Elders going to Atlanta and a couple of sisters going to Tempe (not Visitors’ Center).  At first I couldn’t figure out why they didn’t put me with the Boise bound district, but I just thought “the Lord will do what He wants” and now I’m the District’s Temple Leader (and the only one who can do everything w/o prompting).  I never told my Branch President about the Youth Guides or my love for the temple (he didn’t ask) so just think how inspired he is.

   Well—I’m out of paper and I’m too lazy to keep writing, so, until we meet again at the Holy Temple—(I’ll be the one sleeping)—

   Elder Paul Gibson

Dear Bob:  (and Brethren)              6/25/90

   I’m back.  It has been a little delay, but I hope you enjoy these.  I also wanted to tell you thanks, Bob, for all your excellent work.  I am just filled with inspiration as I read the GUIDElines.  You don’t know what a great help these have been to me to hear from the brethren around the world.

   The quote for the month:

            Life itself is a race, marked by a start and a finish.  It is what we learn during the race, and how we apply it, that determines whether our participation has had particular value.  If we learn from each success, and each failure, and improve ourselves, then, at the end, we will have fulfilled our potential and performed well.

                        (Dr. Ponche)

Vol II – The Transformation of An Individual

   How does a person really change?  All of our training is focused on changing ourselves to become more effective teachers of the gospel.  We continue to improve ourselves to be more sanctified and developed stewards to labor in His fields.  But do we really understand the change of our friends that are affected by contact with the Spirit?  How can we be effective missionaries if we do not understand what our friends (investigators) are experiencing?

   Let us try to understand the transformation that forms within an individual.  If we each think about our own experiences with our friends, many factors make up the conversion of a soul.  These changes are also common to any transformation that happens within us.  These can be grouped together in the following way:

   1.  Interest – Each person is different and unique on how to begin interest in the gospel.  We are always searching for a better more effective means of this (usually called finding).  Our best method has been, and always will be to live close to the Lord, and His perfect wisdom about His children.

   2.  Research – Next, interest rises to investigate the gospel (listening to the lessons).  Paul Dunn said, “Religion is caught, not taught.”  This is the place to build the foundations of a subject that affects not only their life here on this world, but their eternal salvation.

   3.  Testing – Through learning, curiosity and THE BENEFITS sparks within us to really know for ourselves about it.  This is the great change people make of accepting and keeping commitments.  Remember, “Convince a man of what he wants, and he will move heaven and earth to get it.”  Also, keep in mind that our friends will only live up to the level that we do.

   4.  Experience – We can read about, or hear about it, but until it happens to ourselves we will never truly accept it as our own.  An experience with the gospel MUST happen though a spiritual experience.  This happens when the spirit touches the spirit to begin to speak in a higher language that rises above our physical bounds.  Because our friends have never known about these spiritual experiences, recognition only comes when we point it out.

   5.  Living – What they experience must become part of their lives to effect change.  If they apply what they learn, then and only then will they grow and progress towards man’s greatest potential.  “If we give up everything we have for eternal life, it would be the best bargain we could ever make.”

   We, as missionaries, can be the catalyst in the first three steps.  ONLY THE SPIRIT can make the fourth step.  Then within the fifth step, the individual’s own action is required.  The experience with the Spirit is what motivates the individual to change his life.  We are the vessel that is to bring the ability to feel the Spirit to them.  In other words, as you have heard so many times, only through the influence of the Spirit are people changed.  And the influence of the Spirit requires our personal worthiness.  Let us be aware of our own personal righteousness as the Lord’s servants.

   Within an individual keep in mind many outside influences are very prevalent.  Many of the more important are friends, family, society, and government.  All are people.  These you cannot effect directly, but indirectly we can shape the mind of our friends to bring within themselves a testimony that is not affected by these.  But the wonder of this is as your friends are changed, they begin to affect all the people around them.  For “when thou art converted, [thy will] strengthen thy brethren: (Luke 22:32).

   Jesus Christ, the example to us all explained this conversion.  The philosophy of the world is to take the people out of the slums and they will change.  Christ though, our example, showed real conversion by taking the slums out of the people and they will change themselves.

   We are the beginning of an individual’s conversion.  We have within us the power, but many times we doubt ourselves.  With the Lord’s help the vision of an earthly Zion can be accomplished.  I challenge you to it.

   Brothers, thanks for all your great letters.  I feel great after each one.  I can see the growth that a mission has brought about in you.  I love you.

P.S.  Bob, I’m using WordPerfect also.  Just slightly faster than the stone-age pen and paper.  Should I send these on disk?

Bob:

   This is to you personally.  I have included copies of some information that has been a strength to me on my mission.  Maybe there is a use for it in the Youth Guide Program?

   I also have a few hundred of the best quotes I have found on computer.  I will send you the quotes on disk when I finish them!  I also want to send you a tape and some pictures soon – you should enjoy them!

   One note to what we have done in the Kobe Mission.  As you are aware of in missionary work there are Missionaries, District Leaders, Zone Leaders [APs] and the President.  Well, with your knowledge of business and people it doesn’t take long to figure out what a mess a bureaucracy is.  We have completely eliminated the District Leaders and Zone Leaders in our mission.  We have also taken out the APs from the mission home and moved them into the field (why have the best missionaries sitting on a chair all day?).  There are now 8 Field AP’s (FAP’s).  They “basically” take the place of Zone Leaders, but with more vision and contact to the President.  We are gearing up to accomplish the promise by Elder Kikuchi for 300-400 baptisms a month for our mission.  If I haven’t told you, he was here a few weeks ago and after hearing our President dispel the mission vision, he promised in the name of Christ that if we followed the advice of our President we will see 300-400 baptisms in OUR mission time.  Now that is power from God.

   Also, we have focused our mission to develop the most prepared missionaries.  We have some excellent training videos from the Church.  I am sure if you called the Church, or talked to the Temple President, he would be able to supply you with the excellent raining and missionary media available from the Church.  There are some excellent things available. They are all free, of course, for missionary work.

   Also, there is an excellent book that the President has every missionary read here.  It is called As A Man Thinketh by James Allen.  It deals with many of the same principles as the movie we talked about, Dead Poet’s Society.  This talks about the belief in yourself – establishing a vision to accomplish what you really want to.

   Oh, another idea just came to mind.  Why don’t you show Labor of Love at a SNTM, and step through it and analyze what that movie really means to us and the world?  There are a great many of hidden truths within that video.

   Thanks for your example.  You are truly able to call yourself a Member Missionary.  My prayers are with you.

   Love, reed