MCV: Members Capturing the Vision!

When I first arrived here in Oregon, my mission president said something that I thought was oober profound and so I must share!:)

He said "You(talking to us missionaries), are not the full time missionaries. You are not from here. You only live here for 18-24 months. You may be serving a full-time mission, but you are not the full-time missionaries. The members are. The members in the wards and branches where you serve are the full-timers! They live here! They are raising their children here! They have non-member and less-active friends here!"  

I LOVE  THAT!!! Yes, I spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for 18 months doing the Lord's work, but I will go home. And the same applies to missionaries everywhere. They will go home. So it is the member's job to help bring the people that they know and love the knowledge of the restored gospel! 

And as more amazing evidence that our beloved mission president is inspired, he has - through revelation from our Father in Heaven - come up with 4 steps to help members in their missionary efforts! We call it Members Capturing the Vision or because here in the OEM(Oregon Eugene Mission) we like acronyms, MCV. :)

1.) Pray! 
Pray for a missionary experience! Pray for the guidance to know what to say when that missionary opportunity comes(because it will come), pray for the Holy Ghost to be with you, pray for your less-active/non-member friends and family. Pray for a missionary experience! :)

2.) Faith!
You have the faith that Heavenly Father will help you when that missionary experience comes, because trust me, that is one prayer that Heavenly Father will grant a yes to! :) Have faith that Heavenly Father is going to guide your words and help you to know that you are doing the right thing! Faith that God will grant you the courage to talk to your friends about the gospel. Have faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

3.) Talk! 
Talking is the easy part! ;)  Talk to your friends, your family, your co-workers, your classmates. Just open your mouth! :) So many people (myself included) when their friends ask what they did that weekend, they say, "oh, nothin' just sat around my house..." and similar comments. WHY ON EARTH ARE WE DOING THIS!!! :) We are all given a beautiful, golden opportunity to share the biggest most important thing in our lives (it should be the biggest, most important thing in our lives...) and we totally flush it down a drain! It is just as easy to say, "Oh well I had a pretty cool discussion about eternal families at church on Sunday."  That's all there is to it. You don't have to teach them the 5 lessons, that's my job (hehehe :). Just share a little bit of the amazing knowledge we have about Christ's restored gospel.  

4.) Invite! 
We as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have the opportunity to be a part of such an awesome organization! We have worship services, we have Relief Society, we have Primary, we have the Young Men/Young Women program, we have Activity Days, we have Cub Scouts, we have Boy Scouts of America, we have sports activities, we have craft activities, we have singles activities, we have couples activities, we have family activities, we have events for young men and women, old men and women and all the in-between men and women!!!! We are truly blessed to have a plethora of different things that we can engage in and it's all because we are members of an amazing church organization and yet we are hesitant to share it! Gah!!! Share the wealth of love that we have in the church with your friends and families and invite them to different activities that you go to.  The success is in the invite, whether they say yes or not is just a bonus! :)

Alright, now I'll get off my soap box, and you all will go out and share this amazingness with those you love! :) Good night!

Love, Sister Petersen