HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! It's tomorrow! I've forgotten how old everyone is back home so I'm just going to say happy 37th.
So hello!
This week has been another crazy one, but this time it's also been filled with awesome meetings. I'm going to preach a little bit today, but at least I'm sending a couple pictures so it'll be worth reading through the sermon to get to the pictures at the bottom.
So we had ZLC yesterday, and our mission has been changed again! This calling of Zone Leader has taught me a lot about how revelation works. I mentioned this in a previous email, but ever since becoming a leader over entire zones, the revelation I have been receiving has been amazing. I have found that as I have diligently sought the Lord's will for my missionaries through study and prayer, the windows of heaven have been opened wide. Each ZLC for the past 6 months, where new policies are announced and put into effect, I have found that the revelation I recently received on a zone level, was now being implemented on a mission level. I have been amazing at how congruent the revelation has been between me and my leaders. Speaking of which, the revelation which Elder Rogers and I received and implemented last month in our zone, has also been received by the mission president and is now being officially implemented in the whole mission, and perhaps Philippines.
The Church has previously defined less active members according to the frequency of church attendance. Going to church is a very important part of our spirituality, but it alone does not get us to exaltation. As missionaries of Christ's church, we don't really care about numbers at all; we care about the salvation of our brothers and sisters. In that light, the definition of less active has been changed. Statistically speaking, in the last year, as a rescue mission in Cebu, we brought back over 3500 members (meaning the came to church for 4 consecutive Sundays), but at the end of the year sacrament attendance only went up by 700-800. Why the huge difference? We can liken it to a bucket with holes in it. We may be constantly pouring water into our bucket, but as long as the container we are attempting to fill has holes in it, the water is just going to continue to run out. The bucket is our church, and the water represents the members here who have such a hard time staying active. We are now taking a break from pouring more and more water in the bucket, and are now solving the leakage problem. So what do we do in order to patch up our bucket? We start patching up the church, and helping our "active" members actually become converted to the gospel, and understand how Christ has instructed us to run His church through loving and serving our fellowmen, while obeying with exactness.
In this sense, every single member has now become "less-active." Not less active in the sense of physical presence at church, but in the sense of spiritual preparedness to meet God. God cannot look upon sin with the least degree of allowance (D&C 1:31). Our necessity to live the celestial law (D&C 88:22) applies just as much to people who go to church as those who don't. Let's think about our standing before God on a celestial level. Can you imagine standing before God after attending church every Sunday of your life but turning down calling after calling because you were shy? How about living a mostly valiant life, but you just couldn't ever find the faith to pay tithing? Or parents who never tried to hold regular FHE with their family because it was "hard"? The Lord will not accept our excuses, and we will be so embarrassed to be in the presence of One so Holy and Pure that we will beg to dismiss ourselves from His presence. (see Alma 12:14 and Mormon 9:3). I testify that virtually every member whether active or inactive at church is less-active in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Matt 7:13-14 applies just as much to members as it does to non-members. The rewards of the celestial kingdom are far above that which we are able to perceive or even imagine. Do you think that obtaining these rewards would require anything less than everything we posses? Even many active members of the church are not where they need to be in order to be called "valiant" and obtain eternal life.
Therefore, we are redefining "less-active" to include... everyone. We will now fill our planners beginning with church leaders, and work our way down through the whole church. If you aren't doing family scripture study, we are going to help you. No regular FHE? We've got what you need in the way of love, new ideas, and doctrine to help convert you more and help you see how important this really is! Having trouble getting leaders to PEC or Ward Council, we'll be visiting all of them and committing them to repent and enjoy the satisfaction and happiness that comes from serving your fellowmen. This is an inspired movement of the mission, and I can already testify of the immense blessings we have seen in Talisay the past couple months through applying this in our area. Our ward has gone from 70 members at church to 120+ each week, the leaders are faithfully holding all their meetings, visiting and home teaching, and getting people back to church even on their own. We are not out serving the Lord for numbers, we are here for His work and His glory. Let's begin with those elect who will hear his voice right inside the church, and when we have everyone on the straight and narrow, and the bucket is all patched up, we'll shift our focus back to pouring more water in.
This is not to say that we won't be teaching non-members anymore, quite the contrary. We will be focusing as well on really converting our members to the point where they won't be able to stand the thought of a friend not having the opportunity to partake of such joy that the gospel brings. We will be seeking referrals from every single member we visit, and we plan to have more work than even all the new missionaries can handle within a few months.
So that's what we've got going for us out here on this side of the world. It's exciting stuff. I've really come to realize how important obedience is, and how big a part we have in making Christ's atonement effectual in our lives. We have a lot to work for, but I testify that it will all be worth it. We need to live the law of the kingdom in which we desire to spend eternity in (DC 78:7).
I love you all. I am so thankful to have parents who have been so valiant in raising me and my siblings. I have had to change my life a whole lot here on the mission in order to feel comfortable imagining myself standing before Christ, but I can now testify that I am ready to see my Savior again. This work is His work, and it is amazing even to the filling of my soul with joy and thanksgiving. I am excited to continue the work back home in a few months.
I love you all so much.
Love,
Elder Garver
P.S. I got some pictures for you :) There is a member in our zone who loves feeding missionaries. That has been a huge blessing of being assigned in the city. Yay American food!
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