Elder Beal,
I believe in the power of one. It only takes one match to start a forest fire, one goal to win a championship game, one light bulb to illuminate a room, one prayer from a 14 year old, unlearned boy, to restore the gospel to the Earth once more. You are just one disciple serving as a full time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We cannot comprehend all the good our influence in the world has. The ripple effect goes beyond our vision capabilities. A lot of crazy has happened this week, but I won't bore you with the mundane details. The main thing that is important is for you to know that we love and adore you. We miss you, but wouldn't want you anywhere else at this time. We KNOW that you have been called of God, we know that you know it, and we know that God knows it. Keep up the great work, keep smiling and loving His precious children.
Today in Gospel Doctrine we were studying the prophet Abinidi. His testimony was firm and unshakable even unto death. We only know of one conversion during his ministry; Alma, who had amazing success teaching the words he heard from Abinidi. I shared the story below that President Hinckley once shared.
Gordon B. Hinckley:
“You don’t know how much good you can do; you can’t foresee the results of the effort you put in. Years ago, President Charles A. Callis, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, but who previously was president of the Southern States Mission for twenty-five years, told me this story. He said that he had a missionary in the southern [United States] who came in to get his release at the conclusion of his mission. His mission president said to him, ‘Have you had a good mission?’
“He said, ‘No.’
“‘How is that?’
Gordon B. Hinckley:
“You don’t know how much good you can do; you can’t foresee the results of the effort you put in. Years ago, President Charles A. Callis, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, but who previously was president of the Southern States Mission for twenty-five years, told me this story. He said that he had a missionary in the southern [United States] who came in to get his release at the conclusion of his mission. His mission president said to him, ‘Have you had a good mission?’
“He said, ‘No.’
“‘How is that?’
“‘Well, I haven’t had any results from my work. I have wasted my time and my father’s money. It’s been a waste of time.’
“Brother Callis said, ‘Haven’t you baptized anyone?’
“He said, ‘I baptized only one person during the two years that I have been here. That was a twelve-year-old boy up in the back hollows of Tennessee.’
“He went home with a sense of failure. Brother Callis said, ‘I decided to follow that boy who had been baptized. I wanted to know what became of him. …
“… ‘I followed him through the years. He became the Sunday School Superintendent, and he eventually became the branch president. He married. He moved off the little tenant farm on which he and his parents before him had lived and got a piece of ground of his own and made it fruitful. He became the district president. He sold that piece of ground in Tennessee and moved to Idaho and bought a farm along the Snake River and prospered there. His children grew. They went on missions. They came home. They had children of their own who went on missions.’
Love Always,
“Brother Callis said, ‘Haven’t you baptized anyone?’
“He said, ‘I baptized only one person during the two years that I have been here. That was a twelve-year-old boy up in the back hollows of Tennessee.’
“He went home with a sense of failure. Brother Callis said, ‘I decided to follow that boy who had been baptized. I wanted to know what became of him. …
“… ‘I followed him through the years. He became the Sunday School Superintendent, and he eventually became the branch president. He married. He moved off the little tenant farm on which he and his parents before him had lived and got a piece of ground of his own and made it fruitful. He became the district president. He sold that piece of ground in Tennessee and moved to Idaho and bought a farm along the Snake River and prospered there. His children grew. They went on missions. They came home. They had children of their own who went on missions.’
“Brother Callis continued, ‘I’ve just spent a week up in Idaho looking up every member of that family that I could find and talking to them about their missionary service. I discovered that, as the result of the baptism of that one little boy in the back hollows of Tennessee by a missionary who thought he had failed, more than 1,100 people have come into the Church.’
“You never can foretell the consequences of your work, my beloved brethren and sisters, when you serve as missionaries” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 360–61).
“You never can foretell the consequences of your work, my beloved brethren and sisters, when you serve as missionaries” (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley [1997], 360–61).
Love Always,
Mom
Wow.! That was a really good talk Mom. The work is going good, we have a couple of Dates of baptism for some of our investigators. I know that if I only get one baptism that it will bring blessings. I'm here for a reason and if it to do Gods will then that's all I need. Before I didn't have a testimony of hardly anything, but now I know with all my heart that God lives and that The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints is Gods only true and perfect church on the Earth. This Saturday me and my companion are going to have an island tour! And I'm really excited. The guy that takes us is awesome he speaks English and he loves the Missionaries the only bad part is that he is in active, but we're working on that. Mom I love it here and I'm so glad that I'm in Fuerteventura! I've seen some of the best people in my life here and I'm happy. I miss the Family and Home life but I know that someone here is waiting for me. I love you and I will see you on the flip side Jack!!
Elder Beal
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