Monday, July 6, 2015

July 6, 2015

Dear family and friends,

This week was really good! Our area is improving bit by bit. We have cool new people learning about the gospel. 

One of the highlights of the week is mission leadership council and another one is the zone council.
Elder Forsyth and I were pondering how to instruct and motivate the missionaries in the zone. We received many good ideas through revelation. We had an idea to keep themselves accountable to the goals we set together. We asked them to scatter around the chapel and kneel in prayer with their companion. Then discuss how many baptism could be happen this month and write it on a piece of paper. We totalled them up to 26 baptisms. It is a wonderful goal and EVERYONE is bought in! So we will see how it goes. 

Another experience we had was that we were driving and Elder Forsyth saw our less active member on the street. We parked the car and caught him and taught him a lesson. He expressed he has had suicidal thoughts and we are God's help for him that he needed. The Spirit taught us what to say to comfort him and he is feeling better now. 

Love,
Elder Lee

My experience is featured on the mission weekly email!

July 6, 2015        
    
Dear Sisters and Elders,          
We were blessed to see four baptisms this weekend.  Each is a beloved son or daughter of our Heavenly Father having a divine nature and destiny.  May we strive to truly help them to continue the path to the temple to obtain the covenants and ordinances available only there. 
As we continue to grow in our understanding of how we can help in the whole work of salvation, we will see twenty baptisms each week.  It is coming.  We love and have faith in you.
From Alma 17:
11 And the Lord said unto them also: Go forth among the Lamanites, thy brethren, and
establish my word; yet ye shall be patient in long-suffering and afflictions, that ye may show
forth good examples unto them in me, and I will make an instrument of thee in my hands unto 
the salvation of many souls.

Let us Go Forth and Establish His Word, being Patient in Long- Suffering and Afflictions so we can be Good Examples. Then we can become an Instrument in His Hands to Bring Salvation To Many Souls. 

From our missionaries:    
God Knows You:
A lady was walking on another street. She is struggling a bit in life and she remembered how she had met missionaries in Calgary and in Paris and how they helped her gain spiritual strength. She turned the corner and looked... There we are, walking towards her. We sat down and taught her a lesson. "Do you know what that means?" "No." "It means God knows you." She definitely felt the Spirit that day.....You know what that means? It means God knows me, too!

Training Cycle Topics for May     
1.          Revelation through Prayer (PMG ch 4; ch 6)
2.          We Invite, They Commit, We Follow Up (PMG ch 1;  ch 3 lesson 1; ch 11)
3.          Missionary handbook pages 43-60

    
CHECK YOUR PROGRESS (please reply in your letter):              
1 = Never;  2 = Sometimes;  3 =  Often;  4 = Almost Always;  5 = Always
My companion and I completed putting the ward /branch vision and goals (mission plan), leadership list and current membership list in the CTM Essential Items binder”


Things to Consider:  
1.       Dear fellow missionaries, the CTM now has a once-a-month, once a  transfer standard of excellence.  The new standard is that each companionship baptizes at least one person in their area each transfer.  As we do this, we will see 1000 baptisms each year.  Think and pray about it.  This is why we came here to serve as missionaries.
2.       Keeping your covenants is essential to being a consecrated missionary. 
3.       FYI: we cannot teach inside the temple in the waiting area next to the recommend desk without the specific approval of the temple presidency.  We can teach outside the temple on the temple grounds and I strongly suggest that we do so.  We can show them them where the recommend desk is and the waiting area but we may do no teaching inside the temple.
4.       Mission prayer at 10pm on Saturday is a wonderful way to bless our mission.  Please continue this wonderful tradition.
5.       Remember that you are always a representative of the Lord.  Conduct yourself as if the Lord Himself were walking with you.  Keep your language elevated and refined so the Spirit can be strong in you.  
6.       Another word for "HELP" is "MINISTER". 

BAPTISMS July 5
Roxanne   (Fjeldsted/Mukund)
 Chris Clendenning (Lasley/Wehi/Oviatt) 
Kevin Su (Cheng/Holt/Carrol)
Annesia Persaud (Gunnell/Gibb)


STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE:  These percentages reflect PEOPLE, not numbers   
13% (14/106 Companionships) All Standards of Excellence (People advancing on each step of the escalator to baptism)
37% (39/106 Companionships) Baptismal Dates (People who have chosen their baptism and confirmation dates)
31% (33/106 Companionships) Sacrament Meeting (People who attended sacrament meeting)
45% (48/106 Companionships) Member Present Lessons (People taught with member friend present)
31% (33/106 Companionships) Progressing Investigators (People taught 2+ lessons and kept commitments)
69% (73/106 Companionships) New Investigators (People received lesson and have return appointment)

ACHIEVED ALL STANDARDS WITH A BAPTISM
Elders Wehi, Lasley and Oviatt in Don Mills South
Elders Gunnell and Gibb in Don Valley West
Elders Cheng, Holt, and Carroll in Bayview East 


ACHIEVED ALL STANDARDS WITHOUT A BAPTISM
Elders Turner and Cassens in Kitchener 2nd
Sisters Penrod and Liao in Kitchener Mandarin
Sisters Poettcker and Price in Cambridge 2nd 
Sisters Chelson and Bell in St. Catherines 
Elders Mangakahia and Sherman in Niagara YSA 
Elders Johnson and Mukund in Heartlake 
Elders Taumoepenu and Chee in Sudbury Uptown
Elders Crutchfield and Frame in Toronto YSA North
Sisters Yeap and Bott in Toronto South
Sisters Raymant and Lindquist in Don Mills East 
Elders Pumford and Meise in Trenton


So----- Let us Go Forth and Establish His Word, being Patient in Long- Suffering and Afflictions so we can be Good Examples. Then we can become an Instrument in His Hands to Bring Salvation To Many Souls.

Remember: A baptism and confirmation in every area each transfer.  Let's press forward, saints!
      
You are in our thoughts and prayers,        
President and Sister Clayton     

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