Inoch no Michi, April 2012

Dear Sisters and Elders of the Japan Nagoya Mission

It has been thrilling to feel the excitement and explosion of success in the last two weeks. Yakusokushas are at an all time high at 33. In just over a week our yakusokushas nearly doubled! We were at 17 and just nine days later we were at 34. That spurt of growth was exhilarating as my phone vibrated multiple times every day informing me of another new yakusokusha.

 We are becoming master teachers and master planners and therefore worthy of the trust of our Heavenly Father and His Son. Entrusting us with double the number of yakusokushas is evidence of that trust. Our challenge is to continue the upward trend while helping our current investigators to progress by keeping commitments and gaining testimonies.

Keeping commitments is an essential part of investigator progression. From the time Preach My Gospel  was first introduced I loved these words on page 198. “An effective missionary teaches, testifies and invites…this includes making promises…” There is power in that pattern. Teach. Testify. Invite. Promise.

Whenever I think about that pattern, my mind is lead to the definition of a Prophet. Here is a portion from the Bible Dictionary. “The work of a Hebrew prophet was to act as God’s messenger and make (teach) known God’s will (invite)….He was to be, above all, a preacher of righteousness (testify)…As a general rule a prophet is a forthteller (promise)…In a general sense a prophet is anyone that has a testimony of Jesus Christ by the Holy Ghost.”

We are authorized representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are His messengers, we teach as He directs. We make His will known in the lives of those we teach by inviting them to make and keep commitments. We are preachers of righteousness as we testify of Him and His doctrine in our lessons. An effective missionary is a forthteller—telling what will come forth if people keep their commitments—promising desirable blessings for keeping commandments. We have testimonies of Jesus Christ and those testimonies are continually nurtured and strengthened by the Holy Ghost. When we are master teachers we fulfill our role as prophet in our assigned areas.

As we work to be able prophets in our assigned areas we will have greater success when we follow the pattern of power outlined in Preach My Gospel. When we teach, testify, invite and promise people will accept us in greater numbers, our investigators will make more rapid progress as they actively seek the blessings we promise in His name. More of our Father’s children will be brought into His fold and we will continue to feel the exhilaration that comes from missionary labors.

I pray that we will be blessed with the prophetic power to teach, testify, invite and promise. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

President Baird