Elder Henry B. Eyring
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
The Lord trusts His true disciples. He sends prepared people to His prepared
servants.
All of us who are under the baptismal covenant
have promised to offer the gospel to others.1 Sometimes, fear of rejection or of giving offense
looms before us like an impassable obstacle. Yet some members clear that barrier
with ease. I have observed them carefully in my travels. I can picture some
of them now.
Saturday is a market day across the world. In the countryside
of Ghana, in Ecuador, and in the Philippine Islands, countless people bring
the produce of their farms and their handicrafts to a town to sell. They talk
with those they meet on the road. And they visit with those near them as they
wait for someone to buy. Much of the talk is about the struggles of existence,
of breaking out of poverty, and sometimes about danger.
Among those on the roads and in the markets are
Latter-day Saints. Much of their talk with those they meet would be the
same as you would
hear anywhere in the world. "Where are you from?" "Is that
your son with you?" "How many children do you have?" But there
will be a difference in the Latter-day Saints. It would be noticeable in
their
eyes as much as in their words. They listen carefully with the look of someone
who cares about the answers to questions and who cares about the person.
If the conversation lasts more than a few minutes,
it would turn to things that matter deeply to both of them. They would
talk of what
they believe brings happiness and what brings sadness. And the talk would
turn to hopes for this life and the next. The Latter-day Saint would express
quiet assurance. Not every time, but sometimes, the Latter-day Saint would
be asked, "Why are you so much at peace?" "How do you know
these things you say you know?"
And then there would come a quiet answer. Perhaps it would
be about Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, appearing to the young
boy Joseph Smith. It might be about the resurrected Savior's loving ministry,
as described in the Book of Mormon, to common people who had faith in Him
and who loved Him as we do.
If you could hear such a conversation, which
reaches spiritual things in a marketplace or on a street, you might ask: "How could I do
that? How could I become better at sharing my faith with those who do not
yet feel what I feel?" It is a question for each of us who are members.
That same question is on the mind of every bishop and branch president in
the Church who now has the charge to lead missionary work among his people.
The answer to that question is at the heart of the harvest which will come.
I've studied carefully and prayerfully some who are remarkably
faithful and effective witnesses of the Savior and His Church. Their stories
are inspiring. One humble man was called as the president of a tiny branch.
There were so few members he could not see how the branch could function.
He walked into a grove of trees to pray. He asked God what he should do. An
answer came. He and the few members began inviting friends to join with them.
In a year, hundreds had come into the waters of baptism and become fellow
citizens in the Lord's Church.
I know a man who travels almost every week in his work. On
any day there are missionaries somewhere in the world teaching someone he
met. There is another man who seems undeterred by how many he must speak to
before any of them wish to be taught by the missionaries. He doesn't count
the cost in his effort but only the happiness of those whose lives are changed.
There is no single pattern in what they do. There is no common
technique. Some always carry a Book of Mormon to give away. Others set a date
to find someone for the missionaries to teach. Another has found questions
which draw out feelings about what matters most in life to a person. Each
has prayed to know what to do. They each seem to get a different answer, suited
especially to them and to the people they meet.
But in one way they are all alike. It is this: they have a
common way of seeing who they are. They can do what they have been inspired
to do because of who they are. To do what we are to do, we will have to become
like them in at least two ways. First, they feel that they are the beloved
children of a loving Heavenly Father. Because of that they turn to Him easily
and often in prayer. They expect to receive His personal direction. They obey
in meekness and humility, as the children of a perfect parent. He is close
to them.
Second, they are the grateful disciples of the
resurrected Jesus Christ. They know for themselves that the Atonement is
real and necessary
for all. They have felt cleansed through baptism by those in authority and
the receipt of the Holy Ghost for themselves. And because of the peace
they
have experienced, they are like the sons of Mosiah, "desirous that salvation
should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human
soul should perish; yea, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure
endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."2
Those who speak easily and often of the restored gospel prize
what it has meant to them. They think of that great blessing often. It is
the memory of the gift they have received which makes them eager for others
to receive it. They have felt the love of the Savior. For them these words
are their daily, hourly reality:
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love
casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made
perfect in love.
"We love him, because he first loved us."3
Even having felt that love, the true disciple sometimes feels
anxiety. The Apostle John was clear about that: fear will be gone when we
are made perfect in love. We can pray for that gift of perfect love.
We can pray with confidence that we can feel the Savior's love for us and
for all we meet. He loved us and them enough to pay the price of all our sins.
It is one thing to believe that. It is something far more to have our hearts
changed to feel it every moment. The command to pray to feel the Savior's
love is also a promise. Listen:
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, if ye have
not charity, ye are nothing, for charity never faileth. Wherefore, cleave
unto charity,
which is the greatest of all, for all things must fail—
"But charity is the pure love of Christ,
and it endureth forever; and whoso is found possessed of it at the last
day, it shall be well
with him.
"Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto
the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this
love, which
he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ;
that ye may become the sons of God; that when he shall appear we shall
be
like him, for we shall see him as he is; that we may have this hope; that
we may be purified even as he is pure."4
The Lord trusts His true disciples. He sends prepared people
to His prepared servants. You have had the experience, as have I, of meeting
people where you were sure the meeting could not have been by chance.
I have a friend who prays every day to meet someone
who is prepared to receive the gospel. He carries with him a copy of the
Book of
Mormon. The night before a short trip recently, he decided not to take a
copy with him but instead to carry what is called a pass-along card. But
in the
morning, a spiritual impression came: "Take a Book of Mormon with you." He
put one in his bag.
A woman he knew sat next to him on the plane,
and he wondered, "Is this the one?" She rode with him again on the return trip. Now
he thought, "How should I bring the gospel up?"
Instead, she said to him, "You pay tithing to your Church,
don't you?" He said that he did. She said that she was supposed to pay
tithing to her church but she didn't. And then she said, "What is this
about the Book of Mormon?" He explained that it was scripture, another
witness of Jesus Christ, translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. She seemed
interested. So he reached down into his bag and said: "I was impressed
to bring this book with me. I think it is for you."
She began to read it. As they parted, she said, "You
and I are going to have to have more conversations about this." What
my friend could not know, but God did, was that she was looking for a church.
God knew she had watched my friend and wondered what about his church made
him so happy. God knew she would ask about the Book of Mormon, and He knew
she would be willing to be taught by the missionaries. She was prepared.
So
was my friend. And so can you and I be.
Your worthiness and your desire will shine in your face and
your eyes. You will be excited about the Lord's Church and His work, and it
will show. You will be His disciple 24 hours a day in every situation. You
won't need to build up your courage for one great moment to speak to someone
and then retreat. The fact that most people are not interested in the restored
gospel will have little bearing on what you do and say. Speaking what you
believe will be part of what you are.
My father was like that. He was a scientist.
He lectured to audiences in countries around the world. Once I read a talk
he had given to
a large scientific convention. In it, he referred to creation and a Creator
as he talked about his science. I knew that few, if any, in that audience
would have shared his faith. So I said to him with wonder and admiration, "Dad, you bore your testimony." He looked at me with surprise on
his face and said, "Did I?"
He had not even known that he was being brave. He simply said
what he knew was true. When he bore testimony, even those who rejected it
knew it came not by design but because it was part of him. He was what he
was, wherever he was.
That is the mark of every person who is bold and effective
in sharing the gospel. They see themselves as children of a loving, living
Father in Heaven. And they see themselves as disciples of Jesus Christ. It
takes no discipline for them to pray. They do it naturally. It is no special
effort to remember the Savior. His love for them and theirs for Him is always
with them. That is who they are and how they see themselves and see those
around them.
Now that may seem to us to require a great change, but we
can be confident that it will come. The change in individual members is happening
across the Church in every nation. This is the great time foreseen by prophets
since the Creation. The restored gospel will go to every nation. The Savior
sent these words to the Prophet Joseph Smith:
"I have sent forth mine angel flying through
the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, who hath appeared unto
some and
hath committed it unto man, who shall appear unto many that dwell on the
earth.
"And this gospel shall be preached unto
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people."5
Whatever tumults occur, we can know that God will set bounds
to fulfill His promises. He, not just men, has the ultimate control of nations
and of events to allow His purposes to be fulfilled. Among every people and
every nation there will be raised up those who serve with absolute assurance
that they are children of God and who have become purified disciples of the
resurrected Christ in His Church.
A few years ago I spoke to the missionaries in the training
center in Japan. I promised them then that a great day would dawn in that
nation. I said that there would be a great increase in the members speaking
eagerly to those they met of their testimony of the restored gospel. My thought
then was that the courage to speak would come from an increased admiration
for the Church in that land. I know now that the great miracle, a mighty change,
will come inside the members, not in the world around them.
They and members across the earth will love and listen and
talk and testify out of changed hearts. Bishops and branch presidents will
lead them by example. The harvest of souls will be great, and it will be safe
in the Lord's hands.6
To be part of that miracle, you must not wait until you feel
closer to Heavenly Father or until you are sure that you have been purified
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. Pray for the chance to encounter people
who sense there could be something better in their lives. Pray to know what
you should do to help them. Your prayers will be answered. You will meet people
prepared by the Lord. You will find yourself feeling and saying things beyond
your past experience. And then in time you will feel yourself drawing closer
to your Heavenly Father, and you will feel the cleansing and the forgiveness
the Savior promises His faithful witnesses. And you will feel His approval,
knowing you have done what He asked of you, because He loves you and trusts
you.
I am grateful to live in such a time. I am grateful to know
that you and I are loved children of a glorified Heavenly Father. I testify
that Jesus is the Christ, that He is my Savior and yours and the Savior of
all the people you will ever meet. The Father and the Son came to the Prophet
Joseph Smith. The keys of the priesthood were restored, and the last, great
gathering has begun. I know that is true.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
NOTES
1. See D&C 88:81; Mosiah 18:9.
2. Mosiah 28:3.
3. 1 John
4:18–19.
4. Moroni
7:46–48.
5. D&C 133:36–37.
6. See D&C 50:41–42.
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