Hey! I`ve gotten a lot of sweet and wonderful letters
lately that I haven`t pointed out!
I got a lot of Valentines from my family, each in a
different letter. That was fun, and I loved them. They had some
cute little hearts with things they`d written on inside. My favorite one
was from Mason, which said `SHARE THE LORD.` I`m working on it, Buddy! I
also hung up one that Stephen said something about, `This card is my
blessing. It will give you eagle powers.` I`m still waiting on
those. :) I also got some great Valentines from the Mooso`s and the
Smiths with some beautiful family pictures and letters, and a valentine from
the ward that Sister Jenkins sent with notes from a lot of wonderful
people. I got some WONDERFUL Valentines from the primary which I
loved. You all brightened up my day! I love you and am so thankful!
We had big conference in Kobe this week and the sister in
the office couple, saw me and said, `It`s Sister Harris, who gets all the
mail!` Thanks for making this recognition title possible! Haha, you
will never know how much letters mean to this missionary.
This week was a busy one! A confusing one. It seemed
like it was going to be a great week, and while it wasn`t bad, it
wasn`t what we hoped it would be. In order to meet the mission goal of
seeing a baptism by March 23rd and to show the Lord our faith, we decided we
would invite EVERYONE we met with to be baptized. We prepared, we prayed, we
tried to follow the Spirit, and tried to rely on the Lord. And it didn`t work
out. Lots of appointments fell though, we got laughed at, excused, `not
yet`ed, and almost lost one of our best investigators. And that`s
okay. Stuff like that happens on missions. I`m used to stuff like
that and I`m not bothered, but we`re just not sure what to do differently or
how we can make this goal. Despite our best efforts, we still don`t have
a yakusokusha (person with a baptismal date).
We`re praying. We`re being obedient, reminding the
Lord of our faithfulness and accounting for what we could do better.
We`re following the training plan and studying it every day. We want more
than anything to see these people be baptized so they can start on the path to
eternal life! And yet... everything is the same. Nothing is
happening. Our progressing investigators are very close to becoming not
progressing, and our not progressing investigators are, well, still not
progressing. We know there`s something, and we know the Lord knows
it...we just don`t know how to figure it out! Now that we`ve passed the
date for an investigator needing to come to church 3 times, we need a
miracle. It seems like all we can do is keep moving forward, and pray for
the Lord to work a big change in one (or more) of these people`s hearts, like a
dream of seeing a child again or a revelation while
reading the Book of Mormon.
However, we`re far from hopeless. We know the Lord can
do all things. We`re just trying to believe as hard as we can that He
will! And I believe that He will.
Monday - We went to a museum and went to the
A**** family`s for Family Home Evening, like we do every Monday night.
Tuesday - Went to go teach K******* Shimai a lesson about
the Atonement and invite her to be baptized. She unfortunately, wasn`t
there, kind of a let down, but I got to see the OCEAN, and it was just about
the most beautiful thing EVER! It was a truly stunning view. And
the houses around that area look kind of like in Venice, with little canals
running between the rows of houses.
Wednesday - visited some PI`s, did some housing, and taught
my first less active lesson to M******** Shimai and her son, T*******.
Thursday - taught S******* Shimai a lesson. Didn`t go
where we planned it to go, but it went really well! She has a really
strong desire for eternal life now. Now it`s just getting her to realize
that it is not too late to change!
Friday - conference, more on that later.
Saturday - taught K*** Shimai, which started out really
well.
Sunday - church and visiting PI`s.
We had a taikai (a big conference) in Kobe like I mentioned
earlier. Elder Whiting from the 70 came to talk to us, and it was
great! Most of his training was about how to access the power of the
Atonement. My favorite bit, though, came from his wife and from Zinke
Shimai, referencing one of Elder Holland`s Talks, `Missionary Work and the
Atonement.` In it, He paraphrases Christ speaking to Peter. It`s
when Christ asks Him three times, `Do you love me?` Each time Peter,
more enthusiastically and a little bit more confusedly responding in the
affirmative. Elder Holland said that what Christ was saying was:
`What I need, Peter, are disciples, and I need them
forever. I need someone to feed my sheep and save my lambs. I need
someone to preach my gospel and defend my saints. And I need someone who
loves me, who truly, truly loves me.`
Wow. How powerful. (That bit from the talk is
now our wake up alarm.) Please go watch this on LDS.org or
something.
Click below to watch a video which includes President Holland's talk.
I want to be that disciple. I want to be that disciple who
loves the Savior, who loves Him more than anything. I want to love
Him so much that I eat, breathe, and sleep His work, that I want nothing
more than to serve Him. Of course, I already do love the Savior, more
than I can express, but it`s just not enough. When you compare it to the
amount that He loves me, it`s trifling. So that`s one of my goals for
this week, coming to love the Savior more.
Working on becoming a true disciple, hoping to help someone on the way to
eternal life,
Love you all!
The church is true!
The book is blue!
Sister Whitney
This is the church! It`s above the
Wis`dom Cafe. There`s two rooms, the Sunday school room one I sent
before, and then the sacrament room.
The sign outside the church.
The sign above the WisDom one says `Matsu
Jitsu Seito Iesu Kirisuto Kyoukai`. That`s us!
Derksen Shimai and her bike
A lovely street.
More lovely streets and a
sweet tunnel!
This tunnel is just about the coolest thing
ever. I`m a fan.
More tunnel!
Last Monday we went to a Museum and looked at a Japanese doll exhibit. Interesante. Or
should I say, omoshiroi.
More doll exhibit
stuff! The thing on the wall was really cool though.
A model of the Taj Mahal made out of bottles in front
of the Museum -- I have no idea why it`s there.
Some anko (sweet been paste)
filled treats that S******* san gave us last week. They were actually
super yummy. (Walker Shimai would be disgusted with me for saying
that. She doesn't like anko.)
Pictures from our wonderful Family Home Evening at the home of an amazing couple in our branch.
The talk Sister Harris referred to:
Missionary Work and the Atonement
From a talk given at the Provo (Utah) Missionary Training Center on 20 June 2000.The Atonement of Jesus Christ is rightfully seen as the central fact, the crucial foundation, and the chief doctrine of the plan of salvation, which we are called to teach.
The Prophet Joseph Smith once declared that all things “which pertain to our religion are only appendages” to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
1
In like manner and for the same reasons, every truth that a
missionary or member teaches is only an appendage to the central
message of all time—that Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God,
the Holy Messiah, the Promised One, the Savior and Redeemer of the
world; that He alone burst the bands of death and triumphed over the
captivity of hell; that no one of us could ever have those same
blessings without His intervention in our behalf; and that there never
shall be any “other name given nor any other way nor means whereby
salvation can come unto the children of men, [except] in and through the
name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.”
2
Our
basic message is that with a complete offering of His body, His blood,
and the anguish of His spirit, Christ atoned for the initial
transgression of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and also for the
personal sins of everyone else who would ever live in this world from
Adam to the end of time.
Some of those blessings are unconditional, such as the gift of the Resurrection.
Other of the blessings, at least the full realization of them, are very
conditional, requiring the keeping of commandments, the performance of
ordinances, and living the life of a disciple of Christ.
Either
way, the essential message of the gospel, the starting point for all
other truths, is this from the Master’s own lips: “I am the way, the
truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
3
Thus the Atonement of Christ, which makes that return to
the Father possible, is rightfully seen as the central fact, the crucial
foundation, and the chief doctrine of the great and eternal plan of
salvation—“our Heavenly Father’s plan,” which we are called to teach.
Little
wonder, then, that the Apostle Paul, the greatest missionary the world
has ever known (or at least one of them), said: “The preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it
is the power of God. … For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek
after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified.”
4
The “Good News”
Inherent in all of this is a rather simple definition of the gospel, at least when considered in its essence. The word gospel
as we use it in English comes down to us through early scriptural
language which meant literally “good news” or sometimes “glad tidings.”
The “good news” was that death and hell could be escaped, that mistakes
and sins could be overcome, that there was hope, that there was help,
that the insoluble was solved, that the enemy had been conquered. The
good news was that everyone’s tomb could one day be empty, that everyone’s soul could again be pure, that every child of God could again return to the Father who gave them life.
This
is the essence of the message delivered by every prophet who has ever
lived and every Apostle ever called to the work. It is the message we
are called to declare. It is the message of the angel who came to those
unsuspecting Judean shepherds:
“And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy [or, in other words, I bring you the gospel personified], which shall be to all people.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
5
Prerequisites for Baptism
Probably
there are very few missionaries, if any, who do not know the centrality
of this doctrine. But I have been surprised to regularly be with the
missionaries and discover that this is not something that readily comes
forward in a discussion of missionary work.
For
example, in zone conferences, which are some of the greatest teaching
moments we as General Authorities have with these young elders and
sisters, I have asked missionaries what it is they want investigators to
do as a result of their discussions with them.
“Be baptized!” is shouted forward in an absolute chorus.
“Yes,” I say, “we do want them to be baptized, but what has to precede that?”
Now they are a little leery. Aha, they think. This is a test. It is a test on the first discussion. “Read the Book of Mormon!”
someone shouts. “Pray!” an elder roars from the back of the room.
“Attend church!” one of the sisters on the front row declares. “Receive
all of the discussions!” someone else offers.
“Well,
you have pretty much covered the commitments in the first discussion,” I
say, “but what else do you want your investigators to do?”
“Be baptized!” The chorus comes a second time.
“Elders,” I plead, “you have already told me about baptism, and I am still asking!”
Well, now they are stumped. It must be commitments from the other discussions, they think. “Live the Word of Wisdom!” someone says. “Pay tithing!” another shouts. And so it goes.
I
don’t always run through this little exercise in a zone conference, but
sometimes I do. And I have to say that almost never do the missionaries
get around to identifying the two most fundamental things we want
investigators to do prior to baptism: have faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ and repent of their sins. Yet “we believe that the first
principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ; second, Repentance; [then] third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
6
A
convert’s new life is to be built upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
and His redeeming sacrifice—a conviction that He really is the Son of
God, that He lives this very moment, that He really is the door of the
sheepfold, that He alone holds the key to our salvation and exaltation.
That belief is to be followed by true repentance, repentance which shows
our desire to be clean and renewed and whole, repentance that allows us
to lay claim to the full blessings of the Atonement.
Then
comes baptism for the remission of sins. Yes, baptism is also for
membership in the Church, but that isn’t what the Prophet Joseph Smith
chose to stress in that article of faith. He stressed that it was
baptism for the remission of sins—focusing you and me, the missionary
and the investigator again on the Atonement, on salvation, on the gift
Christ gives us. This points that new convert toward the blessings of
the “good news.”
Making the Atonement Central to Missionary Work
In
an effort to keep our work closely linked to the Savior’s ministry, let
me suggest some things all of us might do to keep Christ and His
Atonement in the forefront of members’ and investigators’ consciousness.
Encourage in every way possible more spiritual Church meetings, especially sacrament
meetings. One of the great fears missionaries have at least in some
locations is taking their investigators to church. And indeed the
investigators deserve to feel essentially the same spirit in sacrament
meeting that they feel when being taught by the missionaries.
It
will also help orient investigators if missionaries will take some time
to explain the ordinance of the sacrament that investigators will be
witnessing, what it means for the renewing of baptismal covenants, that
the emblems represent the Savior’s body and blood, and so forth.
Missionaries could read to these investigators the sacramental prayers
as found in the scriptures, they could share some of the words of
favorite sacrament hymns, or they could do any number of other things
that would help these new visitors and prospective members have a
powerful learning experience when they visit a sacrament meeting.
In
like manner, do all that you can to make your baptismal services a
spiritual, Christ-centered experience. A new convert deserves to have
this be a sacred, carefully planned, and spiritually uplifting moment.
The prayers, the hymns, surely the talks that are given—all ought to be
focused on the significance of this ordinance and the Atonement of
Christ, which makes it efficacious.
Probably
no other meeting we hold in the Church has the high referral and future
baptismal harvest that a baptismal service does. Many of the
investigators who attend a baptismal service (that is, the service of
someone else being baptized) will go on to their own baptisms. That is
more likely to occur if this service is a spiritual, strong teaching
moment in which it is clear to participants and visitors alike that this
is a sacred act of faith centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, that it is
an act of repentance claiming the cleansing power of Christ, that
through His majesty and Atonement it brings a remission of sins as well
as, with confirmation, membership in His Church. Missionaries, don’t get
so consumed with the desire to record a baptism that you yourselves
forget what this baptism represents and what it must mean in the life of
this new member.
Throughout
the teaching experience, missionaries must bear testimony of the Savior
and His gift of salvation to us. Obviously you should bear testimony
regularly of all the principles you are teaching, but it is especially
important that you bear testimony of this central doctrine in the plan
of our Heavenly Father.
There
are several reasons for bearing testimony. One is that when you declare
the truth, it will bring an echo, a memory, even if it is an
unconscious memory to the investigator, that they have heard this truth
before—and of course they have. A missionary’s testimony invokes a great
legacy of testimony dating back to the councils in heaven before this
world was. There, in an earlier place, these same people heard this same
plan outlined and heard there the role that Jesus Christ would play in
their salvation.
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
7
So
the fact of the matter is investigators are not only hearing our
testimony of Christ, but they are hearing echoes of other, earlier
testimonies, including their own testimony of Him, for they were on the
side of the faithful who kept their first estate and earned the
privilege of a second estate. We must always remember that these
investigators, every man, woman, and child, were among the valiant who
once overcame Satan by the power of their testimony of Christ! So when
they hear others bear that witness of Christ’s saving mission, it has a
familiar feeling; it brings an echo of truth they themselves already
know.
Furthermore, when you bear witness of “Jesus Christ, and him crucified,”
8
to use Paul’s phrase, you invoke the power of God the Father and the Holy Ghost. The Savior Himself taught about bearing witness before any other doctrine when He visited the Nephites:
“After
this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto
you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one. …
“And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me. …
“… Whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him [the investigator] will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him [the investigator] with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
“And thus will the Father bear record of me,
and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him [the investigator] of the
Father and me; for the Father, and I, and the Holy Ghost are one. …
“…
This is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my
rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.”
9
So
why should we bear frequent and powerful testimony of Christ as Savior,
as Redeemer, as Atoning Lamb of God? Because doing so invites and
becomes part of the divine power of testimony borne by God the Father
and by the Holy Ghost, a testimony borne on wings of fire to the very
hearts of investigators. Such a divine testimony of Christ is the rock
upon which every new convert must build. Only this testimony of the
atoning Anointed, Victorious One will prevail against the gates of hell.
So saith the Son of God Himself.
Study
the scriptures conscientiously and become familiar with those passages
that teach and testify of Christ’s redeeming mission. Nothing will so
touch your heart and stir your soul like the truths of which I have been
speaking.
I
would particularly ask full-time and member missionaries to study from
and teach the Atonement of Christ out of the Book of Mormon. I say that
in a very biased way, because it was on my own mission that I came to
love the Book of Mormon and the majesty of the Son of God which is
revealed there. In its unparalleled focus on the messianic message of
the Savior of the world, the Book of Mormon is literally a new testament
or (to avoid confusion) “another testament” of Jesus Christ.
As such the book centers upon that which scriptural testaments have
always centered upon since the days of Adam and Eve: the declaration to
all that through the Atonement of the Son of God, “as thou hast fallen
thou mayest be redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.”
10
Testimonies of Book of Mormon Prophets
There
is not enough space here to convey the wonder and breadth of these Book
of Mormon sermons, but consider this from Nephi early in his ministry:
“And
the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of
naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite
him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it,
because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the
children of men.
“And
the God of our fathers, … yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and
the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself … as a man, into the hands of wicked
men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be
crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a
sepulchre, according to the words of Zenos. …
“And
all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos. And the
rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth,
many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the
Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers.”
11
Or this from Nephi at the end of his life:
“And
now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and
narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay;
for ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with
unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is
mighty to save.
“Wherefore,
ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect
brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye
shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the
end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.
“And
now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; … this is the
doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of
the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
12
Or this from Nephi’s remarkable brother Jacob, who gave a two-day sermon on the Fall and the Atonement!
“I
know … that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, …
for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become
subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might
become subject unto him.
“For
as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the
great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the
resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the
fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they
were cut off from the presence of the Lord.
“Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement. …
“O
how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape
from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and hell,
which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. …
“And
he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken
unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the
pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who
belong to the family of Adam.
“And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men. …
“And
he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his
name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be
saved in the kingdom of God.”
13
Consider this from King Benjamin:
“For
behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the
Lord Omnipotent … shall come down from heaven among the children of men,
and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst
men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the
dead, causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and
the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.
“And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
“And
lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and
fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for
behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for
the wickedness and the abominations of his people. …
“…
And even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he
hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
“And he shall rise the third day from the dead. …
“…
His blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the
transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God
concerning them, or who have ignorantly sinned.”
14
Or, as a last example, this from the great patriarch Lehi:
“Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah. …
“Behold,
he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law,
unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto
none else can the ends of the law be answered.
“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth,
that they may know that there is no flesh that can dwell in the
presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of
the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according to the flesh, and
taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass
the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
“Wherefore,
he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession
for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be
saved.”
15
Obviously,
you recognize that these samples are testimonies from just the first
pages of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps this is enough to give you a feel
for the urgent, impressive theme that runs all through that sacred
record. With its declared title-page purpose of testifying that Jesus is
the Christ, little wonder that the Book of Mormon was the first—and is
still the greatest—missionary tract of this dispensation. As Lehi says
to me and to you, “How great the importance to make these things [of the
Atonement] known unto the inhabitants of the earth.”
I
testify to you that we will change lives, including our own, if we will
teach the Atonement through the Book of Mormon as well as, of course,
from all of the other scriptures.
The Atonement and the Missionary
Almost
everything I have said here has been an aid directed toward the
missionary process, ultimately toward the investigator. May I close with
an extended testimony about how focusing on the Atonement helps
full-time and member missionaries and mission leaders.
Anyone
who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is
this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more
rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth.
We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock
to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of
pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal
font?
You
will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a
great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that
missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never
was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He
is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us
when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries
and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane.
Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two
toward the summit of Calvary.
Now,
please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere
near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and
sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and
investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know
something of this price that has been paid, will have to pay a token of
that same price.
For
that reason I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor
that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued
faithfulness is. I believe it is supposed to require some effort,
something from the depths of our soul.
If
He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed
from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass,
let it pass,”
16
then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy
thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should
remember you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater
and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The
Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly
than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are
rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a
byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known,
the only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall
and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about
your sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through
Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through
Him—the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
I
testify that the living God is our Eternal Father and that Jesus Christ
is His living and Only Begotten Son in the flesh. I testify that this
Jesus, who was slain and hanged on a tree,
17
was the chief Apostle then and is the chief Apostle now, the
Great High Priest, the chief cornerstone of His Church in this last and
greatest of all dispensations. I testify that He lives, that the whole
triumph of the gospel is that He lives, and because He does, so will we.
On
that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene first thought she saw a
gardener. Well, she did—the Gardener who cultivated Eden and who endured
Gethsemane. The Gardener who gave us the rose of Sharon, the lily of
the valley, the cedars of Lebanon, the tree of life.
I
declare Him to be the Savior of the world, the Bishop and Shepherd of
our souls, the Bright and Morning Star. I know that our garments can be
washed white only in the blood of that Lamb, slain from the foundation
of the world. I know that we are lifted up unto life because He was
lifted up unto death, that He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows,
and with His stripes we are healed. I bear witness that He was wounded
for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that He was a man
of sorrows acquainted with grief because upon Him were laid the
transgressions of us all.
18
I
bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the
brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to
the captive and open the prison doors to them that are bound.
19
I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the world.
No comments:
Post a Comment