A Note from Logan's Mission President

May 5, 2014

Dear Elders and Sisters:

Sometimes missionaries wonder why they are not able to achieve their baptismal goals in a given month. They will set a goal to baptize four or five people, but at the end of the month they will have baptized only one or none.  While it is difficult to provide one answer to the many different questions that arise, there is an answer I have felt that I wanted to spend a little time writing about in my letter today.

First of all, I am very pleased with so many of you. You are working hard, working smart, striving to be worthy, and are learning to identify and to receive the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you--- I feel blessed to be serving with so many faithful elders and sisters.  

While our Heavenly Father wants us to reach our goals and to bless as many people as possible, there is another being who does not. In the following statement, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, identifies this being and one of the tools he uses to prevent us from achieving the goals and moving the work of the Lord forward:

Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people. It is distraction. He would have good people fill life with “good things” so there is no room for the essential ones. Have you unconsciously been caught in that trap? (Ensign, May 2001, p. 7)

It is important to note in this statement that Elder Scott identifies “Satan” as the one who is tempting us to be distracted from doing what is “essential” in fulfilling our roles as missionaries. It is also significant to note that the adversary tempts us to use “good things” as a distraction from doing better things. One of the great lessons of life we can learn from this is that something doesn’t have to be evil to be wrong.  

An example of this is a missionary companionship who spends a Sunday or Monday evening at Church member’s home enjoying a meal and the company of a wonderful family. This isn’t necessarily an “evil” way to spend an evening, but it is not the way the Lord would have them spend their time. To do so is to allow a good activity to get in the way of one that is better.

Elder John A. Widtsoe, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve many years ago, likened the choices we are often asked to make to the choice Adam and Eve made in the Garden of Eden:

In life all must choose at times. Sometimes, two possibilities are good; neither is evil. Usually, however, one is of greater import than the other. When in doubt, each must choose that which concerns the good of others -- the greater law -- rather than that which chiefly benefits ourselves -- the lesser law. The greater must be balanced against the lesser. The greater must be chosen whether it be law or thing. That was the choice made in Eden.  (Evidences and Reconciliations, p. 194)

I am pleased to report that for the most part we as a mission have moved beyond many of the serious sins of the past. The challenge now, however, is that we need to avoid spending time doing the “good things” that do not directly lead to accomplishing our purpose of bringing souls to Christ.

I once served with a missionary who loved to study the doctrines of the gospel. He had the reputation as being one of the smartest missionaries in our mission and of knowing the scriptures better than anyone. The sad thing about this missionary, however, is that he rarely baptized anyone. While he was the one to call if you needed help preparing for a “Bible bash” with the Jehovah Witnesses or the evangelicals, but he could never “seal the deal” when it came to baptizing people.

As I got to know him, the reasons for his lack of success in the baptismal font became clear--- he spent most of his time in the apartment studying. He had allowed a good thing (studying) to get in the way of doing better things (contacting, teaching and baptizing). It is important that each of us take an honest look at how we spend our time as missionaries. Are we allowing good things to get in the way of doing better things? Could we even be allowing ourselves to be spending time with good people, when we could be contacting, teaching, and baptizing the elect?

I’m concerned that some of our missionaries pass the day visiting and working with people who aren’t really progressing. These visits are nice, but they are distractions. Such visits give you the feeling that you are working, but in reality they are an excuse for not contacting, teaching, and baptizing those whom the Lord has prepared. Sometimes missionaries fear working with “the elect” because they ask difficult questions. Don’t allow the adversary to deceive you. The Lord will help you answer those difficult questions. These people are the future of the Church and will also help you become the man or woman the Lord wants you to be.

Be very careful about how and with whom you spend your precious time.

There is a phrase in the Doctrine and Covenants we should each spend some time pondering as it relates to our qualifications for being successful missionaries: “And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work” (D&C 4:5). Having “an eye single to the glory of God” means that we do not have any other interest than to do God’s work in His way.

I do, however, want to give a caution before going on. It is possible that our own “righteousness” can also be a distraction from doing the Lord’s work. I once had a missionary call me about a some contention he and another missionary were having over which side of the street they should ride their bikes. One of the missionaries was insisting they ride their bikes on the left and not the right side of the street because riding on the right side would mean they were outside their proselyting area. His companion wanted to ride on the right side of the street because it was safer. While I appreciate this missionary wanting to practice “exact obedience” I worry that his motives had more to do with showing others how “obedient” he was than in doing the Lord’s work.  Such practices were and are typical of those who are “looking beyond the mark” (Jacob 4:14). If the adversary sees that he can’t be successful in getting us fall short of the mark through disobedience, he will tempt us to go beyond in the same way he destroyed the ancient Pharisees. They took the commandments beyond what the Lord intended.

Another unique example is the missionary companionship that meets their baptismal goal early in the month and relaxes the remaining weeks. Or, the missionary who has worked hard and been successful the first 22 or 16 months of his or her mission, but uses their success as a justification to “get tired” the last two. These missionaries are like the ancient Nephites who stopped practicing the Law of Moses because the signs of the Savior’s birth had occurred. What they didn’t understand was that the Law of Moses wasn’t fulfilled until the Savior had given his life (see 3 Nephi 1:24-25).  Each of must learn to faithfully endure to the end.

The principle of not allowing “good things” to get in the way of doing “better things” is one of the reasons the Book of Mormon prophet Alma gave up his political position as the chief judge to devote his full time to the ministry as “high priest over the church” (Alma 4:18). In the Book of Mormon we read:

“Alma delivered up the judgment-seat to Nephihah, and confined himself wholly to the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to the testimony of the word, according to the spirit of revelation and prophecy” (Alma 4:20).

We too need to do a little better job of giving ourselves “wholly” to the work we have been called to do. Be careful about spending too much time at the homes of Church members or even in the homes of investigators who are not progressing. Shopping, sleeping, resting, eating, texting and/or talking to friends, time at the internet café, letter writing, thinking about home, reading books that aren't a part of the missionary library, cleaning and repairing your bike, playing games, zone activities, listening to music, taking pictures, studying, etc., can all be distractions if we are not wise.

I learned many years ago what a distraction cell phones can be. On one occasion I was trying to finish writing a book by a certain deadline, but it seemed that I was just so busy with my duties as a professor, church leader, husband, and father that I just couldn’t seem to find the time I needed to finish the book. It seemed that my cell phone was always ringing or there was always a call I had to make. One day I went to the university library and found an office where I wouldn’t be disturbed. What I didn’t realize was that while it appeared that my cell phone was working, it wasn’t. Calls couldn’t come in. I got more work done in one day than I had in the previous five.

I’m going to work on not allowing my cell phone to be a distraction and suggest you do the same. I know missionaries who are constantly sending and receiving texts throughout the day that they really should not be sending and receiving. Such a focus takes away from your ability to receive direction from God through the Holy Ghost. Call and text only when you need to do so to accomplish the Lord’s work.  I specifically suggest that you allow yourself some study time that is uninterrupted. Allow yourself to truly become “immersed” in the scriptures.

The prayer of King Lamoni’s father contains a wonderful example of what we must be willing to do if we truly desire to be the missionaries the Lord would have us be:

“O God, Aaron hath told me that there is a God; and if thou art God, wilt thou make thyself known unto me, and I will give away all my sins to know thee . . .” (Alma 22:18, emphasis added).

King Lamoni’s father was willing to give away his sins to know God and to do God’s will. I pray each of will do the same. Remember that sin is defined as follows: “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin” (James 4:17). Anytime we allow ourselves to become distracted from doing what the Lord would have us do, we are allowing ourselves to walk a path that leads away from accomplishing God’s purpose for as individuals and as a mission.

Let’s each of us examine our lives and seek the Lord’s guidance to help us to identify and avoid the distractions that are keeping us away from achieving the goals the Lord would have us accomplish.

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught:

“You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others.” (BYU Devotional, Sept. 17, 1996)

Thank you for being so very good. I pray that each of us will strive to focus on doing the work the Lord has called us to do and to avoid those things that distract us from accomplishing or divine purpose to “bring souls to Christ.” I will conclude with the words of a latter-day day apostle, Elder M. Russell Ballard:

We don't need spiritually weak and semi-committed young men. We don't need you to just fill a position; we need your whole heart and soul. We need vibrant, thinking, passionate missionaries who know how to listen to and respond to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. This isn't a time for spiritual weaklings. We cannot send you on a mission to be reactivated, reformed, or to receive a testimony. We just don't have time for that. We need you to be filled with "faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God" (D&C 4:5). (The Greatest Generation of Missionaries, Ensign, November 2002, p. 46)

Much love to all, 

President Judd

President Daniel K Judd

Ghana Accra Mission

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

# 6 Tenth Avenue, East Ridge, Accra, Ghana

Cell Phone: 233 2443 205 09