Letter to the Missionaries 9-11-12

Letter to the Missionaries 9-11-12

 

Dear Elders, Sisters and wonderful Senior couples,

You all are always on my mind and in my prayers.  I love you all!  All week I have been thinking about you and about all that each one of you are doing.  Thank you.  It can be really hard out there!  So here is something to give you some food for thought.

President Monson:  “As we go about living from day to day, it is almost inevitable that our faith will be challenged.  We may at times find ourselves surrounded by others and yet standing in the minority or even standing alone concerning what is acceptable and what is not.  So we have the moral courage to stand firm for our beliefs, even if by so doing we must stand alone?”

16 WAYS SATAN ATTACKS:

1.    He tries to blur our vision of why we’re here… on our mission or even on earth.

2.    He whispers that there is plenty of time to pull our spiritual lives together later.

3.    He feeds our vanity:  spend your time getting recognition and power

4.    He tells us that we are not worth much, and loves when we compare ourselves to others.

5.    He encourages us to judge and evaluate one another.

6.    He tells us that life should be easy and fun, and if not the gospel is not working

7.    He’s gradually numbing our morality:  music, computer, movies, books, and our tolerance level for evil increases.

8.   He wants us separated from each other.  To stop caring and nurturing one another in person.

9.    He wants us hung up on perfection, so we are frustrated and hopeless.

10. He loves it when we rely on others testimonies instead of gaining our own spiritual strength.

11. He tells the world that religion is restrictive and boring

12. He wants us to get hung up on unanswered questions

13. He has launched an all-out attack on women and their roll.

14. He is devouring marriages and families

15. He has others ridicule and mock religion. He will do anything to make us feel ashamed, embarrassed or to have doubts.

16. He tells us that the ‘natural man’ is good for us. He tells us that we should give in to our natural desires and do what we want.  He wants us to be a slave of our appetites. He wants us to be his.

 

President Monson: “It is up to you to keep your testimony alive.  Satan will try with all his might to destroy it.  Throughout your entire life you will need to nurture it.  As with the flame of a brightly burning fire, your testimony- if not continually fed- will fade to glowing embers and then cool completely.  You must not let this happen.”

 

I ask each one of you to please read and ponder the 16 ways Satan can shake our faith. (and I am sure that there are many more) I ask each one of you to understand that you can withstand anything that he throws your way.  You can do it.  Let us all go forward in faith, standing firm and looking our challenges square in the eye.  We climb every mountain one step at a time. But the peak is always in sight.  I love you!

Sister Alba

 

Letter to the Missionaries 9-2-12

Letter from President Alba

 Our time is now and it’s right here.   

 

In Ecclesiastes 3:1 we learn:

 

“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.”

 

What a glorious time it is for us to know that our season is right now and that our time, our purpose is under the direction of heaven.  We have all been called to be here at this time.   Think that there are over 340 missions throughout the world and the Lord through His prophet has called us to be here for the time we are assigned to serve.

 

What are we doing with the time that is really not ours but is directed by the Heavens?  What are we doing with the talents that are really not ours but have been graciously given to us to be used as His stewards while there is yet time.  Our time here is so very short and there is a very specific purpose for that amount of time as well. 

 

I am so proud of each one of you and for your decision to accept this call from God.  Most importantly I am grateful for you willingness to serve where you are assigned.  Know that the decision to assign you with a certain person or the decision to assign you to a certain area comes after a lot of prayer and fasting.  It comes after imploring with God that I do the right thing.  It comes after a lot of thought and rethought and at times even after wrestling with the Spirit to understand the will of God.

 

It is with this in mind that I petition for you to include us in your prayers that we may be guided by inspiration as to who each of you will serve with as well as where you will each serve.  If you do this, you will have the same impression that we have and you will receive whatever assignment is given to you with great joy and anticipation.  I work so hard to move ahead after the holy confirmation of the Spirit.  To fully understand the will of God takes a great deal of effort and I want you to know that the decisions that are made are not just random thoughts or decisions taken lightly.

 

Next week, many of you will be asked to move and continue the work of God, the Lord of the Harvest.  Some of us will be called to prepare new ground that it may be fertile and ready to plant the seeds of the Gospel.  Others will be called to nourish young tender seedlings that are ready to break forth through the fertile ground of faith, hope, charity and love.  Yet others are called to give strength to those tender shoots that have sprung up from the ground to gently and lovingly water and fertilize with prayer, scripture study and to strengthen with your own testimonies.  Others will be engaged in strengthening mature plants through lovingly supporting young tender testimonies that have been borne.  Also, some of you will be called to pluck the ripe fruit that others have so lovingly helped along the way.  Harvesting and putting away for a time when the fruit will be needed is required as we serve in new areas.  And others are called to work with those mature plants that will need pruning and so that they can also produce fruit in future seasons. 

 

Our Savior was involved in every facet of planting, strengthening and plucking fruit fit for the Kingdom.  So likewise we should do like He has showed us in helping the fruit to be ready for His taking and His pleasure.  He wants us to be engaged in a good cause and dear Elders and Sisters, there is no greater cause that we can be involved in at this stage of our lives than to be called in the service of the Master gardener and husbandman.

 

I hope that each one of us realizes the importance of each stage  - from preparation to the harvest and that we would do our part with great love and joy as we dedicate our entire mission to help with the aspect of bringing glory to God while in His service.  There will be time to rest from our labors and know that God will pay those who are worthy of the labor we provide.  We cannot cheat Him.  He will not accept any fraudulent service.  He will closely watch what we do to ensure that we do it with all our heart, might, mind and strength so that the Holy Spirit will justify and accept our true devotion.

 

Let us spend the season working together through all stages of the harvest and bring fruit to He who directs this great work.  Let us exercise greater faith in finding, increase our teaching with great might in testimony, faith and charity.  Let us raise our hope that it becomes brighter yet.  Let us rejoice together as we watch our brothers and sisters go through the process of this law – the law of the harvest.  Let us double of efforts as we more fully apply ourselves to this great work of God.

 

I love each one of you and I want you to know that I pray for you all day and my thoughts are constantly fixed on you that you might have joy in this great service.

 

With great love and admiration for all that you do. 

 



DURING ZONE LEADER COUNCIL OUR MISSIONARIES ENJOY PRESIDENT ALBA'S REMARKS

OUR ZONE LEADERS PARTICIPATING IN SISTER ALBA'S REMARKS

President Alba