Letter to the missionaries: President Alba 7-7-13

Mission Letter 7-7-13

 

The cause of Zion

 

We are all here for the cause of Zion.  Each of us has accepted a sacred call from God through His prophet, Thomas S. Monson, to be here and to represent the Lord in all things that we do.

 

I am grateful for the opportunity that I have to serve along side with you.  I do hold this privilege dear and sacred.  Each of you has been placed under Sister Alba’s and my care for the period of time that you serve here in the California Santa Rosa Mission. 

 

I know that each of you has contact with friends and family that may be serving in other missions.  I am grateful for modern technology that allows us to have instantaneous answers to questions or requests that may come our way.  It can also be a distraction as we try to compare what we do here and what we are asked to do to what is happening or not happening in other missions.  I take great pride and love in doing all I can to lead this work here in the California Santa Rosa Mission.  I do have a firm belief that it is the best mission in the world and that we do have the most obedient missionaries anywhere.  I also want you to know that there is no other place that I would rather be and I hope that you feel the same way too.

 

The Hastening is happening everywhere, specially here in our mission, we will strive to be the best that we can by having exact obedience to the commandments and to all the mission rules.  We are obedient and we will obey.

 

There may be some that may fool themselves into believing that it’s OK to not be completely obedient or that it doesn’t matter if I am or not.  I tell you that if anyone is of this opinion your cause is not the cause of Zion and it will be extremely difficult to fully enjoy our missionary experience together.  Others may say that it doesn’t matter because I will be going home soon or that what I do won’t matter at all so whatever I give no matter how small or large is acceptable – we are asked to give it our all – all our heart, all our might, all our mind and all our strength.  Anything lacking these four things is short of what we are asked to do.

 

Our cause is to be for Zion and to be a Zion like people.  People throughout time have looked for places like Shangri-La, Atlantis or for other lost cities that once had a dream of idealistic societies.  The scriptures share with us a glimpse of a very real place - the City of Enoch (See Moses 7):

 

18 And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.

 19 And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even Zion.

 20 And it came to pass that Enoch talked with the Lord; and he said unto the Lord: Surely Zion shall dwell in safety forever. But the Lord said unto Enoch: Zion have I blessed, but the residue of the people have I cursed.

 21 And it came to pass that the Lord showed unto Enoch all the inhabitants of the earth; and he beheld, and lo, Zion, in process of time, was taken up into heaven. And the Lord said unto Enoch: Behold mine abode forever.

 23 And after that Zion was taken up into heaven, Enoch beheld, and lo, call the nations of the earth were before him;

 24 And there came generation upon generation; and Enoch was high and lifted up, even in the bosom of the Father, and of the Son of Man; and behold, the power of Satan was upon all the face of the earth.

 25 And he saw angels descending out of heaven; and he heard a loud voice saying: Wo, wo be unto the inhabitants of the earth.

 26 And he beheld Satan; and he had a great chain in his hand, and it veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness; and he looked up and caughed, and his angels rejoiced.

 27 And Enoch beheld angels descending out of heaven, bearing testimony of the Father and Son; and the Holy Ghost fell on many, and they were caught up by the powers of heaven into Zion.

Is is therefore our wonderful and great responsibility to take the cause of Zion upon us and to build up a righteous people who will meet this great city when it is returned upon the earth.  Is this not a great cause?  Can you join in this great cause to build a Zion-like mission in all that we do?  Can you find Zion-like people of God?  Yes, they are all around us and as it speaks in verse 27, the angels are descending every day and night to bear testimony of what we do.

 

I am grateful for each of you and for the miracles that we are seeing.  Each of us can be partakers and participants of this great work. 

 

Those lost cities of Atlantis and Shangri La live only in the minds of people but those who are Zion-like are the ones that will dwell with God.  It is our wonderful privilege to find them and bring them to Zion – the pure in heart.

 

Love,

 

President Alba

 

PS – I invite all to prepare ourselves so that when we come to Zone Conference we may be taught by the Spirit and that we may learn those things that are particularly needed individually as well as collectively.  Pray for those who will teach and train that we may only say and do those things that God would have us share with you.  Most importantly pray for each of us who will attend that we may diligently prepare and come with open minds and hearts to be taught by the Spirit.

Missionary Letter from Sister ALba

URGENCY…THE TIME IS NOW…AND OUR TIME IS SHORT

 

Dear Elders and Sisters,

As I knelt with all of you across the mission in our hour of mighty prayer, I felt your strong spirits, I felt your strength and I felt our unity of purpose like no other time in the past. Did you feel it also? Our mission is on the rise and it is you who are lifting it up. Hold on tight, because we are ready to take off into heights “never before imagined” in this mission… just as Elder Perry promised us in April.

“I promise you that if you use the training and skills that you have been taught and use the ward and the stake resources that….The windows of heaven will open and you will see blessings that you never before imagined.”

That is the promise given to us… the California Santa Rosa Mission.  We have been praying non-stop since Sept. for the windows of heaven to open for us. Now, we have received a promise from an apostle of the Lord that it will happen.  This is not a coincidence.  It is a direct answer to our prayers.  Please recognize this and be grateful and believe.  Our time is now and our time is short. Every day needs to go from one of common place to one of excited urgency.  Every day we should hit the ground running to keep up.  Every day should be packed from one end to the other with finding, teaching, inviting and helping others come unto Christ.  Every day we should remember our purpose in all we do…for we are truly servants of Jesus Christ and we are helping fulfill God’s purpose, which is … “to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”  How grand is that?  What a blessing it is to be here representing the Savior of the world.

We must do our part for the promise to be fulfilled… we must use the new skills and training and we must use the ward resources.  Focus your mission these things and we will… witness blessings never before imagined!

Continue in obedience dear Elders and Sisters.  We are becoming the most obedient mission on the earth today and the blessings cannot be held back.

Have more faith, for faith precedes the miracle.  Believe in the 101.  Believe in the opening of the windows of heaven.  Believe in the promise… and have hope when you have difficult days filled with discouragement.  For hope is the understanding that all of God’s promises will be fulfilled.

As I knelt in prayer and talked to Heavenly Father I was enveloped with peace.  All will be well.  We are ready for this.  We can and we will do it. But it will take every one of us, in unity of focus, prayer, fasting, obedience, diligence and with a sense of urgency to bring it about. Are you on the rocket train?  If not, the time is now.  It is not too late. Don’t be left behind and thereby miss out on the experience of being on board.  Will you someday tell your children about ‘The Hastening’ and that you were a part of it?  Will you one day tell them about the California Santa Rosa Mission rocket train…about the vision of the 101…the miracles… the changes… the windows of heaven opening??  Will you say… I was there… I was a part of that….and it all happened because of faith and obedience?

D&C 34:3-10

“Who so loved the world that he gave his own life, that as many as would believe might become the sons of God.  Wherefore you are my son;

And blessed are you because you have believed;

And more blessed are you because you are called of me to preach my gospel-

To lift up your voice as with the sound of a trump, both long and loud, and cry repentance unto a crooked and perverse generation, preparing the way of the Lord for his second coming.

For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, the time is soon at hand that I shall come in a cloud with power and great glory.

And it shall be a great day at the time of my coming, for all nations shall tremble.

But before that great day shall come, the sun shall be darkened, and moon be turned unto blood; and the stars shall refuse their shining, and some shall fall, and great destructions await the wicked.

Wherefore, lift up your voice and spare not, for the Lord God hath spoken; therefore prophesy, and it shall be given by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

The time is now and the time is now short….it is time for URGENCY IN THE WORK OF THE LORD and you are the ones who have been saved to be here now. Fulfill the measure of your creation.

We can do it… together.

With all my love, Sister Alba

 

 

 

 

Missionary Letter 5-5-13

Mission Letter 5-5-13

Today, I would like to address the following principle in our search for happiness and joy – on our journey to Life Eternal – Recognizing and follow the Example of our Leaders.

Joseph Fielding Smith, as President of the Church, made the following significant promise:

“I think there is one thing which we should have exceedingly clear in our minds. Neither the President of the Church, nor the First Presidency, nor the united voice of the First Presidency and the Twelve will ever lead the Saints astray or send forth counsel to the world that is contrary to the mind and will of the Lord.

“An individual may fall by the wayside, or have views, or give counsel which falls short of what the Lord intends. But the voice of the First Presidency and the united voice of those others who hold with them the keys of the kingdom shall always guide the Saints and the world in those paths where the Lord wants them to be. . . .

“I testify that if we shall look to the First Presidency and follow their counsel and direction, no power on earth can stay or change our course as a church, and as individuals we shall gain peace in this life and be inheritors of eternal glory in the world to come.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1972, p. 99; or Ensign, July 1972, p. 88.)

Because of the power of modern revelation, we are so fortunate to have leaders who follow the direction of the Holy Ghost.  I testify to each of you that the Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints today has Latter-day prophets, seers and revelators who are chosen by God and directed in all things by Him and His Son Jesus Christ and they will never lead us astray because He will never lead us astray.

I have received a witness of divine callings of the Servants of God and I’m amazed at the blessings this brings.  I believe that counsel give to us by our Priesthood leaders are given under the direction of the Spirit and I have also found that when I follow it, there is safety and peace in my life knowing that I have been obedient to the counsel given.  By doing this, I exercise my faith of “things not seen” and rely that the Lord will not allow me to fail under any circumstance.  I find that even when I’m at odds with the counsel given to me by my Priesthood leaders that if I willingly submit to that counsel that I am obedient and that my life will be richly blessed.  Some may call this a blind faith – call it what you may, it is by faith that we receive power to obey all of God’s commandments – especially when it pertains to eternal life.  Take the blind out and it is still faith.  When at times I did not follow counsel specifically given to my circumstances, there was so much that I lost – most of all I lost the tender and quiet promptings and whisperings of the spirit and just as important, my desire to follow other counsel given was lost.  It was not until I repented and straightened my life to be in complete harmony with the counsel given that things were put right once again and peace and serenity came to my restless soul once again.

This knowledge has sustained me throughout my life.  God will not allow us to go astray if our desire is to return to His presence and to live with him.  We must recognize and follow the example of our leaders and especially the counsel they give us, this is what we should do in order to continue on our path in this life to Eternal Life and most importantly for us to receive the blessings of our loving Heavenly Father and so that we might have peace and happiness in our lives.

When I was serving as bishop, a sister in our ward came to me very concerned at the behavior of her teen aged son.  It certainly was troubling to hear the things that this young man was doing and involved in.  He loved computers and he had one in his room and had all the access to the internet and he was in deep trouble.  The Spirit revealed to me that unless this access to so much filth was taken away, the soul of this young man was in real danger of being lost.  I strongly recommended to this troubled mother that the computer be taken away, “just throw it away, it’s not worth it” is what I said to her – to this day, I remember her response “Bishop, this is the only thing he loves and if I take this away, he will hate me forever.”  This young man, because of his mother’s refusal to take away the computer fell in a terribly wrong path and has never returned to the paths God prescribed for us.  This mother is now totally inactive.  I know that if counsel would have been followed, the outcome would have been totally different and happiness, peace and joy would have been the result.  I still pray that one day they will have the desire to be rescued.  “whether by my own voice or the voice of my servants, it is the same.”

I love the following statement:

 “The Presidency, in directing the Church and its affairs and in counseling the people, do so under the directing power of this ‘light and truth.’ When a man and the Presidency are both directed on the same subject by ‘light and truth,’ there can be no conflict. And so, my brethren, all who are out of harmony in any degree with the Presidency have need to repent and to seek the Lord for forgiveness and to put themselves in full harmony.” (In Conference Report, Apr. 1942, pp. 19–20.)

This truth I know, that if we are out of harmony in any degree with our leaders that in truth it is us who are out of harmony.  

Further, President Romney stated:

“In response to a contention that to follow such a course, [i.e., to follow the First Presidency] is tantamount to surrendering one’s ‘moral agency,’ suppose a person were in a forest with his vision limited by the denseness of the growth about him. Would he be surrendering his agency in following the directions of one who stands on a lookout tower, commanding an unobstructed view? To me, our leaders are true watchmen on the towers of Zion, and those who follow their counsel are exercising their agency just as freely as would be the man in the forest. For I accept as fact, without any reservation, that this Church is headed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that He, through the men whom He chooses and appoints to lead His people, gives it active direction. I believe that He communicates to them His will, and that they, enjoying His spirit, counsel us.

“The Savior Himself gave us the great example on this point. As He labored and suffered under the weight of the sins of this world in the accomplishment of the great atonement, He cried out in the agony of His soul, ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: Nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.’ (Matt. 26:39.) And so saying, He subjected Himself to the will of His Father in the consummation of His supreme mission. Who will say that in so doing He surrendered His free agency?” (Marion G. Romney, in Conference Report, Apr. 1942, p. 20.)

So, whose life do I want to emulate?  We should follow our faithful leaders, those who have been chosen and ordained of God and who are examples of Christlike qualities and attributes.  I love it when I’m around my leaders, I receive such joy and peace and I truly feel the love of our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.

When at odds with what we should do, let us first look to what our leaders are doing and saying, then apply those things they do and we will never go astray.  We will always be on the path to eternal life and our life will be full of purpose.  We will never go wrong or go astray and we are on our way to life eternal.

Love,

President Alba

Letter to the missionaries 4-29-13

Missionary Letter 4-29-2013

 

Divine Nature of Love and Service

 

Once we understand who we are and most importantly whose we are, we are then in a position to fully understand that love and service are essential to understanding God’s purpose and therefore our purpose.

 

Service requires sacrifice; loving service on the other hand is a joy and a privilege for us as sons and daughters of a loving Heavenly Father.  When we lovingly serve others, the drudgery and the temporal nature of service disappears and is then replaced by acts of true discipleship or in other words, we develop charity – the pure love of Christ.  If we go through the motions of serving others, and not see the divinity of it, we are truly missing a spiritual and enduring experience.

 

Consider the following:

 

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16

 

The reason why God does what he does is purely out of love – even to giving his only begotten Son to suffer for all – even for those who would not accept Him.  Our devotion to service should be in the same attitude of love.  When we love those whom we serve, we don’t mind doing anything that is required to help them be happy.  There is no sacrifice too large that we would not want to do for their welfare.  The opposite is also true – if don’t love someone, we don’t want to serve them and when we do, it’s not a joyous or happy experience because we truly don’t want to be there.

 

Elder Ballard shared the following:

 

“It is only when we love God and Christ with all of our hearts, souls, and minds that we are able to share this love with our neighbors through acts of kindness and service—the way that the Savior would love and serve all of us if He were among us today.

“When this pure love of Christ—or charity—envelops us, we think, feel, and act more like Heavenly Father and Jesus would think, feel, and act. Our motivation and heartfelt desire are like unto that of the Savior. He shared this desire with His Apostles on the eve of His Crucifixion. He said:

 

“A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

 “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”  John 13:34

 

Loving others is not just a nice suggestion but the Lord Himself speaks of this as a new commandment.  If we don’t love others, then we are not keeping the commandments of God – simple as that.

 

Later, the Lord stated something very deep about love:  “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

 “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”  John 15:13

We are not expected to lay down our lives but if called upon, we should all be willing to do it – we have already covenanted to do so in the Holy Temple.  The Lord also calls us His friends and then qualifies it by stating that we are His friends if we do whatsoever He commands us.  Are we desirous to be His friends?  If so, what are we willing to do for Him and at what price?

Moroni teaches us that when we have charity, we are possessors of everlasting love (Moroni 8:17) – what does that mean exactly?   God is everlasting and His love for us is therefore everlasting so as we develop charity like He does, our love for others becomes His love through us.  We are then conduits of His love for His children as we love and serve others.  That is how God demonstrates His love for us – through us, His Servants.

So it is that we must offer our love and serve in the Kingdom of God so that we can qualify for the greatest blessings in Heaven.  I often wonder how my sacrifice can compare to the many Saints who gave their very lives for the cause of Zion!  How can my small sacrifice compare to the great sacrifices offered by true sons and daughters of God?

 

I have come to realize that I cannot compare what I give to those who also gave so much until I have given all that I can.  ALL is a huge requirement!  So far from what I’m at times willing to do, not that I’m not capable to do it, it’s just that I’m not quite willing to do it?  Why?  Maybe my love for the Savior does not run as deep as I thought it did!   Maybe my love for worldly things is much greater than my love for God!  Maybe in my selfish and prideful way I think that I’m already doing enough?  Maybe. … maybe.  No!  There cannot be any more maybes, but we should act in all faith and love and serve God’s children because we love Him. 

 

I leave with you the Lord’s thoughtful question to Peter:  “. …lovest thou me more then these?”

 

I testify to you that as we lose ourselves in serving and loving God’s children we will in the end find ourselves and the greatest of all communions will be ours – the communion or intimate fellowship and association with the Gods!

 

Let me therefore serve you so that I can show you the love that I have for the Savior and for each of you.

 

My loyalty and love,

 President Alba

Letter To the Missionaries 4-14-13

 

From Sister Alba

 

 

Letter to the Missionaries, April 14, 2013

ARISE AND BE GREAT

Dear Elders, Sisters and MOST wonderful seniors,

We love you! We have had another amazing week with all of you. Zone conferences were just the best.  We loved your participation, your enthusiasm, your shared insights and your strong spirits.  This really is the ‘greatest mission on the earth’, you proved it!

I was impressed by your wisdom and understanding. As President Alba and I have come to know the mission better, we realize that the impressions we received for this mission before we even got here are proving to be true and beyond our greatest expectations. Not only is this the ‘greatest mission on the earth’ but we have the greatest missionaries….hands down.

What a blessing. What an experience to be a part of it.  However, where much is given much is expected in return. We, as a mission have gone through a time of purification, and sanctification.  We have gone through the process of learning together and much change.  We understand our purpose better and on a deeper level. 

Our purpose as a missionary is: To invite others to come unto Christ through faith in Jesus Christ, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end…in other words, we give them access to the atonement through the ordinances and thereby we are helping fulfill God’s grand purpose, “To bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.”

It is no accident that we are all assigned to serve in this mission.  Each one of us is here for a reason… at this time.  We are ready as a mission to take another step forward; we are ready to stretch just a little further.

I Challenge you;

“To be the most obedient mission on the earth today.”

We can do this. We are ready. I challenge you to raise you light high for all the other missions to follow.  I challenge you to set the standard across the world.  I challenge you to be like Helaman’s 2000…but we will be the Lord’s 200.  I challenge you to stand a little taller, walk a little straighter, and act a little better and in every way to be a true disciple of Christ.  You are His disciples.  You are His.

Let us ask ourselves this question in times of challenge… “What would a disciple of Christ do?”  And then do it.  For that is who you are.

I promise you that if we choose to be the most obedient mission on the earth that the windows of heaven will open in a way that we cannot even imagine… That blessings will rain down upon us…  That we will stand as an Ensign to all the world… That you will take part in one of the greatest moments ever on the earth.  You… the Lord’s 200…right here in Ca. Santa Rosa mission.  I tell you, you are ready.  You can do this.  You were made to do this.

Let us pour out our hearts daily to the Lord for His help in this.  Let us ask Him to send us His angels to help us.  And then go forward in faith.  Be ready to stand in the wind and the storms that will come but trust in the Lord… for His might will prevail.  We will see miracles on the right and on the left in the front and in the back …everywhere we turn.

I testify in the name of Jesus Christ that obedience is the way home to God.  And right here and now it is our sword and our shield and our victory will come through it and by it…By obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Let us all, ‘ARISE AND BE GREAT’

With great love, Sister Alba

 

P.S. President Alba asked me to remind you of his challenge for you.

President’s Challenge:

That each companionship baptism someone by Mother’s Day.  Will you find, teach, commit and baptize someone by Mother’s Day?

 

 

March 3rd, 2013  Dear Elders and Sisters of the California Santa Rosa Mission – fellow servants of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

David A. Feitz shared the following in the October 2011 special edition dedicated to the Book of Mormon.

“One evening my missionary companion and I knocked on the door of a young man who was an international student studying at one of London’s many universities. He invited us in, and we explained that we were missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He seemed eager to learn more about the Restoration of the gospel, so we testified of the Prophet Joseph Smith and told him about a sacred book from our Heavenly Father called the Book of Mormon. We emphasized that it was sacred because it testifies of Jesus Christ.

We explained that he could know for himself of its truthfulness and offered to give him a copy. As I handed the Book of Mormon to him, he got up from his chair and left the room without saying a word. I held the Book of Mormon in my hand momentarily, and my companion and I looked at each other in puzzled silence, wondering what to do. I put the book down on the table.

We could see our young friend in the kitchen washing his hands and drying them on a fresh towel. He came back into the room and picked up the Book of Mormon from the table and simply said, “My people always wash their hands before they touch something sacred.” Tears came to my eyes as I watched this young man open the Book of Mormon for the first time and turn its sacred pages with his clean hands.

Alma taught that the scriptures are sacred and are preserved to bring souls to salvation. He declared to his son Helaman, “God has entrusted you with these things, which are sacred, which he has kept sacred, and also which he will keep and preserve for a wise purpose in him, that he may show forth his power unto future generations” (Alma 37:14).

I was sent on a mission to teach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, yet I was the one being taught by this young man with his clean hands. In many cultures—including my own—it isn’t necessary to wash our hands before reading the scriptures, but his simple gesture of respect was a reverent and powerful reminder of the sacredness of the Book of Mormon.”

 

I wonder if we treasure this wonderful book of holy writ with the reverence and love that I deserves?  I wonder if we reverence the things we read in it and apply them in our lives so that we too can “come closer” to Christ as Joseph Smith so beautifully described?

 

President Ezra Taft Benson warns us that we don’t take this marvelous book too lightly.  He stated: (The Book of Mormon – Keystone to our Religion)

 

“In 1829, the Lord warned the Saints that they are not to trifle with sacred things (see D&C 6:12). Surely the Book of Mormon is a sacred thing, and yet many trifle with it, or in other words, take it lightly, treat it as though it is of little importance.

“In 1832, as some early missionaries returned from their fields of labor, the Lord reproved them for treating the Book of Mormon lightly. As a result of that attitude, he said, their minds had been darkened. Not only had treating this sacred book lightly brought a loss of light to themselves, it had also brought the whole Church under condemnation, even all the children of Zion. And then the Lord said, “And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new covenant, even the Book of Mormon” (D&C 84:54–57).  (Italics added for emphasis)

“If the early Saints were rebuked for treating the Book of Mormon lightly, are we under any less condemnation if we do the same? The Lord Himself bears testimony that it is of eternal significance. Can a small number of us bring the whole Church under condemnation because we trifle with sacred things? What will we say at the Judgment when we stand before Him and meet His probing gaze if we are among those described as forgetting the new covenant?”

 

Often times, I see copies of the Book of Mormon on the floor or just here and there – are we not holding this sacred work with the reverence that it needs?

 

I have asked each of you to always hold a copy of the Book of Mormon in your hand when we are out in public and I ask that we recommit ourselves to doing this.  There is a great power that this brings to us and to those we teach.  It is the power to convince all that Jesus is the Christ; that His church – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints contains the fullness of the gospel; it holds truths that can be found no where else; it has convincing power that Joseph Smith is the prophet of the Restoration.

 

Let us hold this precious and marvelous book with reverence, let us study it’s precepts every day.  Most importantly, let each of us recommit ourselves to live the truths that are given us.  President Benson continues:

 

“Mormon himself said, “Yea, I speak unto you, ye remnant of the house of Israel” (Mormon 7:1). And Moroni, the last of the inspired writers, actually saw our day and time. “Behold,” he said, “the Lord hath shown unto me great and marvelous things concerning that which must shortly come, at that day when these things shall come forth among you.

“Behold, I speak unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing” (Mormon 8:34–35).

If they saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, “Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Moroni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age?”

 

What an inspiration!  I love to the Book of Mormon.  I testify to each of you of the sacredness of this Holy Book and that in it is the power to convince men and women to the truthfulness of the Restored Gospel – even to the conversion of our own souls.

 

Love to all,

 

President Alba

Letter to the Missionaries Feb. 10, 2013

 

Dear Elders and Sisters,

 It has been an amazing two weeks as we have traveled throughout most of the mission for interviews.  We love you all so much and we know how hard you are working, thank you.   We love your enthusiasm and your smiles which warm our hearts.  We love to be with you.  We love to feel of your power and testimony.  Do you realize the light that you carry with you? 

This morning President Alba showed me this scripture while sitting in church.  D&C 97:8-9“Verily I say unto you, all among them who know their hearts are honest, and are broken, and their spirits contrite, and are willing to observe their covenants by sacrifice which I, the Lord, shall command-they are accepted of me.  For I, the Lord, will cause them to bring forth as a very fruitful tree which is planted in a goodly land, by a pure stream, that yieldeth much precious fruit.”

This is what we are seeing.  Sanctification, purification, humility, obedience, hard work, patience, and sacrifice.  And all these are accepted of the Lord and they are bringing forth the precious fruits. You… are the ‘pure’ stream.  We, as a mission are growing nearer to God and He is drawing near to us. The blessings are coming and will continue to come as we continue on in obedience.

My dear partners in this vineyard.  What a time it is to be working shoulder to shoulder with you in this the kingdom of the Lord. What a time to be welcoming more laborers in the field to our vineyard. What a time to stand a little taller and to reach a little higher.  What a time to be a light for those who are already here and for those who are destined to join with us. We have asked you to shine a little brighter so that none will lose their way.  What a time it is.  This is your time…but really every moment is the Lord’s time.

I love each and every one of you.  Together we will harvest the precious fruit.     Love, Sister Alba