What is the Purpose of a Missionary
"Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end." (Preach My Gospel Manual)
Missionaries receive no bonus, rewards or status when someone accepts their message. Its interesting to note in the stated purpose, it says nothing about converting just inviting. Having said that, the greatest joy a missionary has, is seeing someone accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, because they know how much happiness it will bring that person.
This week Elders Teal and Dixon mark their mission half way date and also had the privilege of being involved in the baptism of their new friend. The Larnaca Branch Mission Leader introduced his friend to the missionaries a few weeks ago and together they have been teaching him the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. This marks an historic step in the Church history of Cyprus, as we believe it is the first time a Cypriot has baptised a Cypriot.
Thanks to Elder Dixon's parents for their photo contributions to this weeks blog !
"My hand is pretty much back to normal now, it's a little stiff in the index finger and thumb but not a big problem! and I'm fantastic! I'm absolutely fantastic, not just okay!"
"The baptism on Saturday was great, and yesterday I did the confirmation in sacrament meeting"
This week Elder Teals best friend from home received his mission call to Poland.
"And Josef's call is amazing! I've just emailed him about it, he's s excited! It's perfect for him, he'll love it. We laughed about how between the two of us we'll have just about the two most useful languages in Europe!"
"We had ice cream sundaes using the stuff I received in the parcel last week and they were really nice."
"I'm grateful for the fun we had today and also that P has understood our teaching and prepared himself for baptism."
"We have some things to study and to prepare for the meeting with Elder Dyches next week. Including to ponder the difference between an exactly obedient missionary to a consecrated missionary."
"We had a lesson with A, the man who came to church on Sunday. It went really well, we weren't able to cover all of the material but he felt a lot more comfortable with us afterwards. We had P with us and he helped us in the lesson."
"We went to institute so I could translate for P and we learnt about Porter Rockwell and also how in section 130 it talks about the relation between space and time about a century before Einsteins theory of relativity which is quite impressive to think about. It was also quite interesting to translate it into Greek."
"We had the second lesson with A and it went really well. He said he feels peace when he reads from The Book of Mormon and believes that it's true, and the same when he comes to church. He understood what we taught about the Restoration and we set a baptismal date for August 15th. He is a really humble guy and willing to learn. I'm grateful for the opportunity to teach people that the Lord has prepared to hear His message."
From Home
It is amazing how fast this year has gone for us as parents,. We put together a package for him that he received this week. Our Eldest daughter is our package and theme coordinator! In among the package was a set of pictures we took of family and friends, here are some of them...As always clicking on any picture makes it bigger. Elder Teal has had fun showing these to his Cypriot friends.
"I received the package for the one year mark this week! Thanks! We'll buy some ice cream to go with the stuff today haha! The ties are really nice! And the pants are nice too, but they don't have belt loops! I didn't realise until I had already tried them on, seen that they fit and taken off the labels, so I don't really know what to do with them now!
And Panayitis and Georgia enjoyed looking through the pictures! It was really nice! It was a little bit strange as I've always being thinking of my time here as counting up (been here a month, been here 6 months etc.) and it was strange to see it from the other point of view, of counting down!"
Thoughts
Twelve months ago we thought that 2 years was an eternity, but surprisingly this year has passed really quickly. If you are about to send a son or daughter on a mission, we know just how hard it is, we have had those moments of missing our son, wondering where he is, which town, even which country he is in! We have shed several tears as we have prayed for his safety and success each morning and night. But even more we have been thrilled by his attitude and faith. There is no where we would rather he be right now, than serving the Lord and the people of Greece and Cyprus.
You can keep him for another 12 months, but then we would like him back please!
