Vancouver Mission Star
This message was written by President and Sister Middleton. It also appears in the Vancouver Star, the weekly newsletter of the Vancouver Mission. It is sent to each companionship throughout the mission.
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WONDERFUL MISSIONARY IDEAS
Finding Success Through Well-Planned, Spiritual Personal Finding; Following the Star Reminders, by Elders Young Ho Hea (and Woong Hyun Choi)
“The Korean work is going great in Port Coquitlam. This transfer my companion, Elder Choi, and I made some additional goals based upon our zone theme for this transfer: ‘Go extra miles,’ One of the goals we set up in our companionship is to strive to find the Lord’s elect through daily personal finding. At the beginning of the transfer, we tried to come up with ideas for how to work effectively in the Korean work. It was hard to brainstorm ideas because the missionaries have to take creative approaches to Korean missionary work for Koreans due to the unique characteristics of the Korean community in Vancouver. Even though the number of Korean people immigrating from Korea is increasing, the percentage of Korean people in the Lower Mainland is still small. Moreover, most of the Korean people in our area already attend other churches, giving various reasons why they do; however, they say the main reason why they go to church is to socialize with other Koreans, or to gather information about jobs and immigration processes in Canada.
“We tried to do daily tracting but we knew that some residential areas where many Korean people live have been tracted over and over, and it is not easy to find the Korean population by randomly tracting an area. Since the last transfer, I have personally been praying to Heavenly Father to ask how we can work smart and hard at the same time, and the answer was daily personal finding. It was surprising that the answer was on the reminders that we see at the bottom of the Vancouver Star. Because it was hard to find Korean people that we can actually stop and talk to about the gospel, daily personal finding was an amazing idea.
“Elder Choi and I decided to do personal finding for 1 to 2½ hours at least, every day. Accomplishing this goal was not easy since we had to keep up with teaching all the investigators and teaching English class every Tuesday and Thursday. Honestly speaking when we first decided to do this I had a small doubt in my mind that we could really do it. I prayed to Heavenly Father to give me strength to accomplish our goals. Heavenly Father answered my prayer, and we could do it with focusing on our most promising investigators. Since we teach the 50:50 program (30 minutes teaching English and 30 minutes gospel lessons) some investigators tried to take advantage of us for learning English, and we boldly told them that our job as missionaries is to share the message of the restored gospel, NOT to just teach English to people all the time. Some of them threatened us by saying they will not meet with us anymore, but we said it is their agency to drop us and we know that the message of the gospel to gain eternal salvation is more important than it is to learn conversational English. We know that they will come back when they are interested in the welfare of souls, and we are getting new names and phone numbers through focusing daily on personal finding. I had no doubt that we could effectively succeed.
“There are a few things we focused on to do this:
1. Start to share the unique message of the restored gospel as soon as the person stops to listen to us. If the person doesn’t show any interest, give him/her a Pass Along Card and quickly move on to the next person. If the person wants to learn more, depending on what the Spirit tells us, share the first Vision, give a brief overview of a Restoration lesson or get a number and invite them to Church.
2. Try to set up an appointment after we get a phone number.
3. Be home by 8:30 p.m. and have an intense planning session every day. We found that scheduling 1–2½ hours for proselyting before setting up appointments with investigators helped us. Also, Heavenly Father helped us meet investigators at other times than the times we scheduled for proselyting.”
Editor’s Note: We see no reason why the 1-2 ½ hours of focused, hard driving Personal Finding won’t work as well for the English, Spanish, or Chinese missionaries as it has for Elders Hea and Choi. For all of us: become like Abish in Alma 19, who ran from house to house with the message of the gospel, who was used as a role model for us all by Elder Marcus Nash during his tour of our mission earlier this year.
Bishop Frank Penny of the Fraser Ward leads by Personal Example, by Sisters Dionne Oliver (and Kimberly Wilcox)
“Bishop Frank Penny of Fraser Ward is awesome! He instituted a program in our ward designed to encourage the members to each do missionary work. First of all, Bishop Penny has asked all members to give an invitation to ‘come and see’ to everyone they meet. Then, Bishop Penny will follow-up with the appropriate auxiliary and priesthood leaders, who in turn will involve their group. Follow-ups in quorums or auxiliary classes are being done by passing a sheet on which all invitations given out will be written, and then sharing the giving of the invitation as a missionary moment in the class. Our ward has a goal of having fifty invitations given out by our members by the end of this month. Bishop Penny expects to lead by example and he expects that the leadership will urge all ward leaders and members to invite their friends and acquaintances as Bishop Penny does. Every PEC meeting Bishop Penny will tell of the invitations he gave. Also, our Ward Mission Leader, Darryl Anderson, has made it a goal to give 3 invitations a week!
“Bishop Penny also called several ward missionaries with whom we can start to do exchanges. We are planning to give a PMG to each of our ward missionaries to help them be more effective in their calling. Seeing how the leadership works together to help the ward, and noting their willingness to go the extra mile, is truly inspiring us and will inspire all ward members to do the same. I know that the Lord will bless us, that all our hard work will bear fruit.”
New Mission Reading Schedule
We will complete reading the Doctrine and Covenants by September 23, 2007. Let us all start the Pearl of Great Price read together on Monday, September 24th. Read with your companion for knowledge, inspiration and fun, then let’s complete the read and begin the PMG reading schedule on Monday, Oct. 15, 2007. Enjoy!
Our most heartfelt thanks go to all our full-time missionaries, and to the hundreds of members in BC who are stepping forth boldly to become the inviting member missionaries asked for by the Lord. We love you!
President and Sister Middleton
(Check off weekly whether you have achieved each of the eight goals below.)
q Ask for a referral name in every conversation with a member or non-member alike… “Will you bring an acquaintance on a Spiritual Tour?”
q Challenge members to Set-A-Date for a Spiritual Tour or a Church event which can be coupled with a Spiritual Tour with their non-member friend at least 3 times yearly.
q Our goal is to find at least one new investigator daily.
q Our goal is to teach 15 or more full lessons weekly…
q …with at least 3 Spiritual Tours weekly.
q Extend at least one baptismal invitation and commitment each week.
q Remember our mission goal: 10 Gospel contacts per day per missionary outside our usual finding and teaching duties. That includes a Gospel message to everyone you see.
q As weekly goals are set for each Key Indicator, pray for inspiration, and set goals that are lofty yet achievable. Our ultimate long-term goal is for at least 3 baptisms per companionship per transfer.
“Bear one another’s burdens,.…mourn with those that mourn,…comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and…stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in,…that ye may have eternal life.” (Mosiah 18:8-9)
The Coveted “Off the Hook” Award:
(Week-ending September 16, 2007)
In Recognition of the following:
Baptisms Year to Date:
Abbotsford Zone (19 Baptisms)
Baptisms this week:
Prince George (2)
Investigators with a Baptismal Date:
Vancouver Language Zone (6Baptismal Dates)
Investigators Attending Sacrament Meeting:
Abbotsford Zone (21 Investigators at Sacrament Meeting)
Lessons with a Member Present:
Abbotsford Zone (30Lessons with a Member Present)
Other Lessons:
Vancouver Language Zone (356)
Progressing Investigators:
Surrey Language Zone (20 Progressing Investigators)
New Investigators:
Abbotsford Zone (19 New Investigators)
Full Lessons:
Surrey Language Zone (Average of 22 Full Lessons)
Full lessons to Non-Member:
Vancouver Language Zone (18.6 NM Full)
COMPANIONSHIPS:
Elders LaSalle and Terry: 3 investigators at sacrament, 4 with a member present, 32 other, 6 referrals received, 18 full
Elders Hea and Mun: 2 with a baptismal date, 5 investigators at sacrament, 140 other, 5 progressing, 3 spiritual tours, 34 full
Elders Pugsley and Carlisle: 3 at sacrament, 23 other, 23 full, 10 full to non-members
Elders Wilhite and Brown: 4 at sacrament, 7 with a member present, 28 other, 5 progressing, 23 full, 11 full to non-members
Elders Bristow and Banks: 6 at sacrament, 10 with a member present, 40 other, 4 non-member tours, 19 full
Elders Fisher and Lassetter: 3 at sacrament, 9 with a member present, 35 other, 5 progressing, 7 new investigators, 22 full
Elders Godfrey and Jenkins: 2 at sacrament, 3 with a member present, 30 other, 18 full
Elders Anderson and Klekas: 1 baptized, 1 confirmed, 1 with a date, 17 other, 3 progressing, 19 full, 10 full to non-members
Elders Johnson and Peck: 119 other, 5 progressing, 33 full, 22 to non-members
Elders Strum and Choi: 171 other, 27 full, 27 full to non-members
Honorable Mentions:
Elders Glass and Stevenson: 5 at sacrament, 18 full Sisters Whiting and Dalling: 30 other, 18 full Elders Harrison and Shaw: 7 at sacrament, 5 progressing Elders Feinga and Pack: 4 with a date, 52 other Elders Collin and Curtis: 70 other, 30 full, 26 to non-member Elders Zmoos and Liu: 6 at sacrament, 72 other, 23 full Sisters Wilcox and Nibley: 91 other
Elders Beins and Marianno: 42 other, 19 full, 3 new investigators Elders Thompson, Bowles, Cornwell: 1 baptized, 1 confirmed, 4 at sacrament, 17 full Elders Ward and Taylor: 34 other, 20 full
Congratulations on your accomplishments this week!
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