Sister Ballard and I recently returned from an assignment to
five countries in Europe.
There we had the privilege of meeting with many of our
missionaries, perhaps some of your sons and your daughters.
Since President Monson's announcement of the lowering
of the age for our young men and our young women to serve,
I've had the privilege of meeting with
over 3,000 of them.
The light of Christ radiates in their faces, and they are
eager to move the work forward--to find, to teach, to
baptize, to activate, and to strengthen and to build the
kingdom of God.
Meeting with them, one quickly comes to know, however, that
they cannot do this work alone.
Today I want to speak to all members of the Church because
there is an urgency for each one of us to be engaged in
sharing the Gospel.
As has been quoted many times today, the Prophet Joseph
Smith declared, "After all that has been said, the
greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel."
In 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball said this: "Perhaps
the greatest reason for missionary work is to give the
world it's chance to hear and accept the Gospel.
The scriptures are replete with commands and promises and
calls and rewards for teaching the Gospel.
I use the word command deliberately for it seems to
be an insistent directive from which we, singly and
collectively, cannot escape."
In July of that same year, Sister Ballard and I left with
our children to preside over the Canada Toronto mission.
The words of President Kimball were ringing in my ears,
especially when he said: "y brethren, I wonder if we are
doing all we can.
Are we complacent in our approach to the
teaching all the world?
We have been proselyting for 144 years.
Are we prepared to lengthen our stride?
To enlarge our vision?" He also asked us to quicken our
pace, working together to build up the Church and
kingdom of God.
This past June, President Thomas S. Monson echoed
exactly the same message to members of the Church.
The President said: "Now is the time for members and
missionaries to come together . . .
[and]
labor in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him.
. . .
He has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a
multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we
will act in faith to fulfill His work." It's good, brothers
and sisters, to reflect on the teachings of the prophets from
the time of Joseph Smith to today.
They have encouraged and called upon the leadership and
the members of the Church to be anxiously engaged in
bringing the message of the Restoration of the Gospel to
all of our Heavenly Father's children in all of the world.
My message this afternoon is that the Lord is
hastening his work.
In our day, this can only be done when every member of the
Church reaches out with love to share the truths of the
restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
We need to work together in partnership with our 80,000
missionaries now serving.
Information about this great work, especially, the
assignments for the stake and ward council leaders, is
clearly outlined on the LDS.org website entitled,
"Hastening the Work of Salvation."
We know from our research that most active members of the
Church want the blessings of the gospel to be part of the
lives of others whom they love, even those whom they
have never met.
But we also know that many members hesitate to do
missionary work and share the gospel for two basic reasons.
The first one is fear.
Many members don't even pray for opportunities to share the
Gospel, fearing that they might receive divine
promptings to do something they think they are not
capable of doing.
The second reason is misunderstanding of what
missionary work is.
We know that when someone gets up to give a talk in sacrament
meeting and says, "Today I'll be talking about missionary
work," or perhaps even when Elder Ballard gets up in
general conference and says the same thing, some of you
listening may think, "Oh no, not again; we've heard this
before."
Now, we know that no one likes feeling guilty.
Perhaps you may feel that you might be asked to do
unrealistic things in your relationships
with friends or neighbors.
With the help of the Lord, let me remove any fear you or any
of our full-time missionaries may have in sharing the gospel
with others.
Make the decision to do what Jesus Christ
has asked us to do.
The Savior has said: "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek,
and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
For everyone that asketh, receiveth; and he that
seeketh, findeth; and to him that
knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you . . . if his son ask bread, will
he give him a stone?
Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If ye . . . know how to give good gifts unto your children,
how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give
good things to them that ask him?"
Brothers and sisters, fear will be replaced with faith
and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries
kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with
missionary opportunities.
Then, we must demonstrated our faith and watch for
opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our
Heavenly Father's children.
And surely, those opportunities will come.
These opportunities will never require a forced or a
contrived response.
They will flow as a natural result of our love for our
brothers and sisters.
Just be positive, and those who you speak with
will feel your love.
They will never forget that feeling though the timing may
not be right for them to embrace the Gospel.
That, too, may change in the future when their
circumstances change.
It's impossible for us to fail when we do our best, when we
are on the Lord's errand.
While the outcome is the result of the exercise of
one's agency, sharing the Gospel is our responsibility.
Trust the Lord.
He is the Good Shepherd.
He knows His sheep, and His sheep know His voice; and
today the voice of the Good Shepherd is your
voice and my voice.
And if we are not engaged, many who would hear the
message of the Restoration will be passed by.
Simply stated, it's a matter of faith and
action on our part.
The principles are pretty simple--pray, personally and
in your family, for missionary opportunities.
The Lord has said in the Doctrine and Covenants that
many people have been kept from the truth only because
they know not where to find it.
You don't have to be an outgoing person or an
eloquent, persuasive teacher.
If you have an abiding love and hope within you, the Lord
has promised, if you "lift up your voices unto this people;
speak the thoughts that [He] shall put into your hearts, .
. . you shall not be confounded before men . . .
[and]
it shall be given you . . . in the very moment, what ye shall
say." Preach My Gospel reminds all of us that "nothing
happens in missionary work until [we]
find someone to teach.
Talk with as many people as you can each day.
It is natural to be somewhat apprehensive about talking to
people, but you can pray for the faith and the strength to
be more bold in opening your mouth to proclaim the restored
gospel." (Close quote.)
You full-time missionaries, if you want to teach more, you
must talk to more people every day.
This has always been what the Lord has sent missionaries
forth to do.
The Lord knows us.
He knows we have our challenges.
I realize that some of you may feel heavy laden, but I pray
that none of us or any of you would ever feel that reaching
out in normal, pleasant ways to share the gospel would ever
be a burden.
Rather, it is a privilege!
There is no greater joy in life than being anxiously
engaged in the service of the Lord.
The key is that you be inspired of God, that you ask
Him for direction, and then go and do as the
Spirit prompts you.
When members view the work of salvation as their
responsibility alone, it can be intimidating.
When they view it as an invitation to follow the Lord
in bringing souls unto him to be taught by full-time elders
and sisters, it is inspiring, invigorating, and uplifting.
We're not asking everyone to do everything.
We're simply asking all members to pray, knowing that
if every member, young and old, will reach out to just
one between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
And what a wonderful gift to the Savior.
Two weeks ago, I received a letter from a successful
member missionary family, the Munns family of Florida.
They wrote, "Dear Elder Ballard, 30 minutes after the
worldwide broadcast on hastening the work of
salvation, we held our family missionary council.
We were thrilled to find that our teenage grandchildren
wanted to be included.
We're happy to report that since our council meeting, we
have expanded our family teaching pool by 200 percent.
We have had grandchildren bring friends to church, have
enjoyed sacrament meetings with some of our less active
friends, and have had some of our new contacts commit to
take the missionary discussions.
One of our less active sisters has not only returned to
church, but has brought new investigators with her.
No one has turned down the invitation to take the
missionary discussions.
What an exciting time to be a member of the Church." (Close
quote.)
Heed the promptings of the Spirit.
Supplicate the Lord in mighty prayer.
Become engaged in doing what you can in sharing the great
message of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I quote from another successful member missionary,
Clayton Christensen: "Every time you take someone
figuratively by the hand and introduce him or her to Jesus
Christ, you will feel how deeply our Savior loves you
and loves the person whose hand is in yours."
God bless you, brothers and sisters, to find the great joy
that comes from experiencing miracles through your faith.
As we are taught in Moroni chapter 7: "Christ hath said:
If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do
whatsoever thing is expedient in me. . . .
For it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it
is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men;
wherefore, if these things have ceased wo . . . unto the
children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all
is vain." From my own experience, I can testify to
you that the Lord will hear your prayers, and you will
have many opportunities now and for years to come to
introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to Heavenly Father's
precious children.
President Monson, we have listened.
We will all seek to find the one.
I pray that all of us may experience the great joy that
comes from missionary service, in the sacred name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, amen.