"How great shall be your joy ..." Doctrine and Covenants 18:15

 

(Replica of the Christus, an 1833 white Carrara marble statue of the resurrected Jesus Christ by Bertel Thorvaldsen located in the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark. The one pictured is located in the Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah)

"Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." 3 Nephi 5:13

It has been a while since my last post. Some of that is a function of how busy missionary life is and some of it is a function of some of the repetitive aspects of missionary life. The natural cycle of a mission is 6 weeks and I feel like Anne and I are getting into the rhythm of the 6-week cycle. We are, conservatively, working about 76 hours a week trying to plan, organize, minister, and administer to the needs of the mission and the approximately 180 missionaries currently serving in the Utah Salt Lake City mission.

We received a great bunch of new missionaries from all around the world, 16 in total. Two came from Tonga, one from Guatemala, one from El Salvador, and one from Mexico. The others came from various parts of the United States.

We lost 15 missionaries, who completed their 18- or 24-month missionary assignment. The following quote from Sister Natalie Larson (bottom/left in the picture below) at the final dinner and testimony meeting sums up the thoughts and expressions of most of the missionaries going home with her: "it has not been easy ... but it has been worth it!"


The year-end reports were finalized and we were happy to see that 728 persons entered into a covenant relationship with their Savior Jesus Christ through the waters of baptism and receipt of the gift of the Holy Ghost this past year. We hope to see 1,000 or more souls do the same in 2023 in this mission. Here is a representation of some of those baptized this past year.











It has remained cold and Anne and I are still not quite re-acclimated to the cold weather and snow. But it is beautiful (when the inversion clears out of the valley).



"Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God; for behold, the Lord your Redeemer suffered death in the flesh; wherefore he suffered the pain of all men, that all men might repent and come unto him. And he hath risen again from the dead, that he might bring all men unto him, on conditions of repentance. And how great is his joy in the soul that repenteth! Wherefore, you are called to cry repentance unto this people. And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!" Doctrine and Covenants 18:10-16

Comments

  1. jacquelin munnsFebruary 21, 2023 at 12:38 AM

    So amazing to see our friends leading this mission that is changing lives for the best good possible!

    ReplyDelete

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