Mission:Invitations

This weekend was Stake Conference, a time twice a year when Latter-day Saints get together to listen to our local and stake leaders on inspirational subjects and to receive instruction on current issues we need to address.  Sometimes we have a visiting authority from Salt Lake City.  The other times the conferences are presided over by the stake president.  This was our first stake conference on our mission.  We had met one of the counselors in the stake presidency since he resides in our ward.  (His wife is a wonderful kind woman who has made me feel very welcome here.  She is so interesting to talk with AND she is a very crafty lady.  She always wears a hat to Church.  Hats which she has made.  Well, she says she finds the hats at yard sales then decorates them herself.  They match her outfits. I am so impressed.)

So at the Saturday evening stake conference session to which all members of the stake 18 years old and older are invited, both President and Sister B spoke.  They gave an invitation to all of us.  Since the people I want to invite live far away I thought I would issue those invitations via this blog.

Sister B said that she has just started sharing The Book of Mormon with people, an open Book of Mormon with a verse marked.  Well, she is a full-time missionary and so am I.  We both want to invite everyone to come unto Christ and find the joy and peace that comes from living His gospel.  The Book of Mormon is truly another testament of Jesus Christ, just like the Old Testament and the New Testament in the Holy Bible.  I love all three of them and read in them every day.  They make my life better.

So, in the interest of sharing Sister B's invitation with you, I am posting a picture of an open Book of Mormon.  I will tell you a story about that marked verse.  When I was seventeen years old missionaries came to our farm in Vermont and asked if they could share a message about Jesus Christ with us.  We were already Christians and somewhat active in our local church.  When these missionaries shared the story of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church He instituted while he was on the earth in mortality, they started us on a journey that has brought inexpressible joy to us, even in the midst of personal tragedies that have beset us over the years.  The joy in knowing Jesus Christ and living His gospel is unending.

So, when I started going to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I met a pretty old lady (probably not as old as I am now, actually, but she seemed old to me at the time!!!) who shared with me her favorite scripture.  It was in the book of Alma chapter 37 and verse 37.  I did not even know a person could HAVE a favorite scripture at that time!  This is the verse I am showing you because it became MY favorite scripture, too, and one I have read, and relied upon so often over the years.  Because I love this verse, I want to share it with you, my friends.

In case you cannot read the verse from this picture,  go to LDS.ORG and find the toolbar that says Scriptures.  Click on that, then click on The Book of Mormon, then the book of Alma then chapter 37 and finally verse 37.  Well, that whole chapter is good...Alma's advice to one of his sons, but it is good advice for all of us.

I find that "lying down unto the Lord" at bedtime with a final prayer, mostly of gratitude for the wonderful day just past,  helps me close out the day.

One thing that I am doing in the scriptures is reading all the verses that refer to Jesus Christ and His many attributes.  There are 63 pages of them.  If anyone wants a copy of that pdf document, email me at my regular email address and I will send it to you.  I may have issued this invitation before...it makes me smile when I read some of those verses.  Right now I am reading on the topic:  Jesus Christ, Lamb of God.

President B invited us to write down three friends who might enjoy more peace and joy in your lives, and invite you to come unto Christ in a more consistent way.  My suggestion is that you see if you can find a local missionary companionship and invite them to share the same message that missionaries shared with our family fifty years ago.  You may not decide to embrace this Church as we did, but you cannot go wrong adding time every day making a place in your life for our Savior Jesus Christ.  Perhaps the three of you that I wrote down will find yourselves in this blog post.

With loving wishes to all who read this blog post.  This is meant to help you find more joy in your own lives.  We all need to live in peace and joy.  It is found in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and Savior of us all.