Member Missionary Work 9: Ure Missionary Farewell and Homecoming; and Other MIssionary Ideas

We bounced over the hill to Cupertino for church in our old ward.  Caroline Ure was presenting her homecoming speech, and Adam Ure his farewell.  They are brother and sister, and they shared a week home together.  Both talked on the theme of missionary work, and both quoted preach my gospel, first page: Your Purpose: 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.
Caroline focused on the atonement as part of the duties of a missionary; inviting others to take of the atonement of Jesus Christ.  (Preach my Gospel p 1)  It gives you something to think about, to keep the gospel simple.  People must be invited to come to Christ.
It was also good to see people we know, and also see how the ward has changed.  Charity, Anthony and Camberly Rose were there.  It is fun to see Camberly and Tony interact.  She loves to smile at him.  We didn't stay long after the meetin, I still needed to teach my class.
The Sunday school class theme was the covenant of Abraham.  I was surprised to learn that this covenant applies to us as much as Abraham.  We are promised in this life, a land, a large posterity, the Gospel and the priesthood.  Eternally we are promised Celestial life, eternal marriage and posterity, and exaltation and eternal life.  However our responsibilities are to Help all God's children receive the gospel, and obey the commandments.  We need to invite all to the feast of the gospel.

The final place where I was taught about missionary work was priesthood.  The theme was a talk by M. Russel Ballard: "Put Your Trust in the Lord."  He quoted a letter he had received "Dear Elder Ballard, 30 minutes after the worldwide broadcast on hastening the work of salvation, we held our family missionary council. We were thrilled to find that our teenage grandchildren wanted to be included. We’re happy to report that since our council meeting, we have expanded our family teaching pool by 200 percent.

“We have had grandchildren bring friends to church, have enjoyed sacrament meetings with some of our less-active friends, and have had some of our new contacts commit to take the missionary discussions. One of our less-active sisters has not only returned to church but has brought new investigators with her.

“No one has turned down the invitation to take the missionary discussions. What an exciting time to be a member of this Church" (personal letter, Aug. 15, 2013).  Our ward mission leader indicated we have been challenged to have a similar family meeting, and to establish a family missionary plan.  This is my next step, that and to get the book by Clayton Christensen on being a member missionary.