"The Work Of Salvation" ~

 

Today has been a sweet Sabbath Day. It has been an inspiring afternoon. We watched a special World Wide training conference: "The Work of Salvation". My husband and I have been involved with missionary endeavors throughout our lives. Our parents served missions and my husband's parents more than one mission. My husband and I have served more than one mission and are presently Inner City Missionaries for our church. Presently, this is a part time mission but we hope in the near future to apply for a full time mission. In our church we have many different kinds of missions such as humanitarian, service, LDS Visitor centers, Seminary and Institute, temple and proselyting missions.  Within our own family we have had a total of 4 of our 6 children serve 2 year missions and all of our son-in-laws have served, also. Here are the areas that we have all served in: Northern California, Des Moines, Iowa, Washington DC North, Costa Rica, Venezuela, New Zealand, Arizona, Chili, Las Vegas, Nevada and Spokane, Washington.
Friends have asked us why we serve missions and there are a multitude of answers but my own personal reason is to help individuals come unto Christ and believe in Him, and follow Him.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is the path to true happiness. I know this to me true in my own life.

Many people asked the questions, "Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going?" The Plan of Salvation gives us the answers to those questions.
From the book: "Preach My Gospel the following statement will clarify what we believe.
"We believe that God is the Father of our spirits. We are literally His children, and He loves us. We lived as spirit children of our Father in Heaven before we were born on this earth. We were not however, like our Heavenly Father, nor could we ever become like Him and enjoy all of the blessings that He enjoys without the experience of living in mortality with a physical body.
God has a purpose for us. He has provided a perfect plan to accomplish His  purpose. We understand and accepted this plan before we came to earth.
Jesus Christ is central to God's plan. through His Atonement, Jesus Christ fulfilled His Father's purpose and made it possible for each of us to enjoy immortality and eternal life. Satan, or the devil is an enemy to that plan.
Agency, or the ability to choose, is one of God's greatest gifts to His children. Our eternal progression depends on how we use this gift. We must choose whether to follow Jesus Christ or follow Satan." There are so many beautiful teachings within the church. We believe that Family is central to this plan.
Missionary work is going forward at a rapid pace. The Lord is hastening His work.
As of December 2011, statistical report; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints there were 347 Missions throughout the world, and 58,990 fulltime missionaries both young men and young women ages 19 to 21 +.  
Our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson at our General Conference of October 2012 announced that they were lowering the missionary age to 18 years for young men and 19 years for young women. Since that announcement there has been a huge increase in the number of missionaries.  As of a special broadcast today there are 405 missions throughout the world. We now have 70,000 missionaries ages 18 years to 20 plus years. By the end of this year they are projecting 85,000 missionaries in the field.



Here is a link for this conference: http://bcove.me/appf66hg.