Hey Family.
This week rocked my world! It started with a stress
attack. Wednesday morning we had MLC (missionary leadership council).
It is the monthly meeting with President Senior, Sister Senior, the
assistants, the zone leaders, and the sister training leaders. The last
month's goals are reported and then President and the assistants give training.
Well the days leading up to MLC were busy business. We had loads to
do! We had the Social Media elders make an inspirational video (it's hecka
dayz inspirational (aka I'll be inspired for hecka dayz)) and a training video
where we dissected this new finding approach. Then we had to burn the
videos onto 30 DVDs for all the district leaders. Nutshell: Monday and
Tuesday were long days in the office.
The Meeting: I now know that I am Michael Emory
Creer's true son and that I wasn't adopted. Why? Because I started
getting emotional! I don't know if anyone noticed really, but I was
pretty amazed at how easily my rock-like stoicism was crumbling. The
topic of the day: Baptism. Repentance and baptism. We talked
about the importance of baptism. Throughout the meeting there were
moments where I felt illuminated by the Spirit. I felt wonderful. I
knew that the direction we were about to go was the direction God wanted.
And it made me get all choked up! Turns out I do have
feelings...weird. We split into groups and gave each group a question
that they were to answer with a verse of scripture. The questions: 1 What
was the first thing Christ taught when He appeared to the Nephites? 2
What was the first thing Christ taught after being baptized? 3 What was
Christ's last instruction to His Apostles before ascending to Heaven? 4
What did Christ tell Saul to do when he appeared to him on the road to
Damascus? What did Saul do when he got there and was healed by Ananias?
5 When does the Father speak to us? What are the circumstances and what
does it teach us about what the Father thinks is important? 6 What
question lead to the restoration of the priesthood? 7 What are the first
fruits of repentance? All these scriptures helped me see that baptism is
crucial. It is beautiful. And God thinks it is incredibly
important. So why don't we? The new plan: Invite everyone to
be baptized. We watched a video of E. Campbell and E. Engle (same group
as me) inviting everyone they meet to be baptized. Within 20 seconds of
conversation they invite them to be baptized on a specific date. And it
works. Most people say no. So when they do, they move on. But
by asking everyone to be baptized they know who is ready and willing (aka
elect) and who is not. It is a new way to sift through the masses of
people to the truly prepared of God. It is super effective. Then
President Senior introduced the inspirational video. We watched it.
Everyone was speechless. The Spirit was so warm I felt like He was
setting up camp in the middle of the room roasting mallows over the fire.
It was brilliant.
The training in action: To help every companionship
see a baptism this month we sent a battalion into one district to help them
find solid investigators. There were about 20 missionaries in this one
area of Bangkok. We rampaged. By the end of the day 34 people had
agreed to be baptized on the 30th of this month. 34. One day, 34 people.
Oh baby. I met this cat that was money. As soon as he said
yes he wanted to be baptized I asked him if he worked on Sunday. Nope.
Do you smoke? no. Do you drink? no. How 'bout coffee?
yes. Alright well here is a pamphlet that will help you quit and
we'll meet you tomorrow to explain more. He said he'd meet again.
This new technique of finding is genius. It is all about inviting
them to repent immediately. Find where they can repent and then invite
them to do it. This morning while studying with E. Davies we compared it
to a seed. When we share the gospel we are planting a seed in someone's
heart. Each heart will have weeds that grow up trying to choke the seed
we plant. When you see the weeds do you wait a week before you pull them
out? No. That's dumb. You pull them out immediately so the
seed can be nourished and grow better, faster, stronger (sly allusion to Daft
Punk). I wish I was working like this my entire mission. Oh how
effective I could have been.
Well, turns out I get really passionate about repentance and
baptism. Who knew?
Other news: I bought a new suit today. I
searched everywhere for some zebra fabric that would work for the lining.
Couldn't find it. Bummed out of my mind! Maybe next time I go
suit shopping I'll have more luck. Did I get shorts cut too? Well,
I'll just leave you in suspense. And yes Mom, I forgot my password for
BYU. Yikes.
Much Love
Elder M. Riley Creer
The Only assistant that has a cackle laugh
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