Dear Parents and Loved Ones of Missionaries,
Attached is the most recent edition of the Focal Point of the Texas Houston East Mission. The one message we want to convey to you today is to express our continued gratitude to you for these wonderful missionaries that you prepared to serve their Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what meeting we are in with the missionaries we see such goodness, tenderness and growth in them. We have all shapes and sizes coming from diverse backgrounds and experiences. Regardless of backgrounds and experiences we see the same thing happening again and again. When they forget themselves and focus on the Savior’s work, they find themselves and they find themselves to be more capable missionaries and people. They may not see it at the time but we see it and we marvel at the changes. One of the most touching testimonies I heard at the end of a long training meeting was from a missionary who has been in Texas for one year. He stated that he just barely came on a mission, “I barely made it” but through tears of gratitude for the Savior and His Atonement, he has great “joy” in serving.
We continue to emphasize obedience at all times and with all things, large and small so their faith will grow and blessings will follow. We have emphasized two wonderful statements of faith and obedience. The first is from Joseph Smith, the second is by Elder Bruce R. McConkie:
“Faith moves us to some kind of mental or physical action. A lack of faith leads one to despair, which comes because of iniquity. Where there is true faith there are miracles, visions, dreams, healings and all the gifts of God which he gives to his children.” And “Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. It is always given when righteousness is present, and the greater the measure of obedience to Gods laws the greater will be the endowment of faith.”
We are also emphasizing that we don’t want obedience for obedience sake. A missionary or a person can be compliant and change behavior for a season but not change their character nor will faith necessarily increase. When the missionary goes from “have to” to “want to” of their own free will and choice, then faith strengthens as we read in Alma 37:40, the two statements above come into force and miracles follow. Your continued encouragement of your missionary to be faithful during the difficult times of rejection and disappointment and to be obedient to the will of the Lord is appreciated. We must tell you that we believe we have a tender and obedient mission at this time. We feel so good about these missionaries.
We say the following with every letter and you must grow tired of it, but we love your missionary. We love all of them. We have such faith in them. We trust them. Thank you for your goodness and support. We give you our continued love and appreciation.
President and Sister Crawford
Here is the August newsletter for the mission (There is a picture of Elder Viitanen is in this newsletter):
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