2021!

Happy New Year!

This was the first year in a long time that I did not actually stay up for the new year. We got to watch the ball drop in New York at 10:00, and we celebrated and went to bed. Our mission president told us that we would be grateful for that trick when we have kids who want to stay up but we're finishing school or working two jobs or something like that.

We had zone conference this week, and we combined with the Brighton zone, so I got to see my trainer again! (Although he showed up 20 minutes late when we were supposed to be half an hour early) He thought it started at a different time apparently. Zone conference was awesome though! We had a ton of cool trainings, but my favorite by far was President Blake's. He gave us some great advice and then we did an activity.

He had us each go stand in a spot to show where we were assigned. (Africa, Asia, North America, etc) He then had us rearrange to show where we needed to go based on the population of the world and how many missionaries we need there. We had 45 missionaries in that meeting, which he said was the number of missionaries in the two missions in India, which contains a quarter of the world's population. We only had 2 missionaries in there that were assigned somewhere in Asia, so he had 28 of the 45 missionaries go stand in Asia so we could see how much we needed to change.

We're really starting to change missionary work because we need to be way more efficient about it. We need to take 90% of our missionaries here in North America and send them out while still doing the work here just as well. This means we need every ward to be missionary minded. There's a few things that you guys can do to become great member missionaries!

Use your social media to spread the Gospel by posting something you learned in church, a video, a favorite talk, or by liking pages with gospel content so that Facebook will recommend them to your friends. Minister to those going through hard times: they need to feel cared for, and many who dislike the church for one reason or another may change their hearts through your efforts to love them. Lastly, invite people to come! You have the opportunity to invite friends and neighbors to support you anytime you give a talk, do a musical number, or participate in any way. This has never been easier than now because of technology: many will say no, but " how great shall be your joy with [the one]" who comes!

I want to close by saying I know it's easy for me to focus on this while I'm out here, and I know all of you have a lot going on. However, I have seen miracles come from members participating in the work in any way. Your Heavenly Father has put you where you are now for a reason, and you can be the light that someone needs in their life. I ask that you just pick one thing to do better on this week, and I can promise that you will see your own personal miracle come from it if you're looking. I know this gospel is true, that it brings joy, and that it can bless the lives of those around you. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.