Monday, June 15, 2015

Mission Newsletter

Patience can Accomplish Marvelous Things
President and Sister Packer
Ukraine Kyiv Mission
15 June 2015

Elders and Sisters,
This week’s letter will be shorter because of many appendices. I am including notes from the last two Leadership Councils so that you will all be kept in the loop. Today, nearly 20 years later, a portion of my setting apart blessing as a missionary was fulfilled. There were times after my mission when I wondered why it hadn’t been fulfilled while serving. Sometimes I even thought I had failed in some way or another. As time went by after my mission, it ceased to bother me and I decided for myself that it had been fulfilled in a way that was unknown to me. Today this part of the blessing was fulfilled exactly as it was pronounced upon my head 20 years ago. “Patience is the capacity to endure delay, trouble, opposition, or suffering without becoming angry, frustrated or anxious. It is the ability to do God’s will and accept His timing” (Preach My Gospel). When we have patience we can accomplish marvelous things. Patience requires diligence and consistency. Remember Alma the older who said, “But remember the iniquity of king Noah and his priests; and I myself was caught in a snare, and did many things which were abominable in the sight of the Lord, which caused me sore repentance; Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth.” (Mosiah 23: 9-10). Alma worked with and watched over the saints. They had all had a change of heart and were righteous. Nevertheless the Lord seeth fit to chasten his people; yea, he trieth their patience and their faith.”(Mosiah 23:21) These people were captured by the Lamanites and put into bondage and forced to do hard labor and were not even allowed to pray. They prayed in their hearts for help from the Father and continued to be faithful. In return, the Lord promised to eventually free them from bondage; He also promised to make them stronger while they were still under bondage. The scriptures describe these people at this time, “And it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort, for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.” (Mosiah 24:16) The same promise applies to all who come unto the Savior with a struggle they are trying to overcome. It may be an addiction, it may be persecution by family or friends for investigating the church, it may be a lost job, or sorrow for a loved one lost. Whatever our struggle, let us have patience and faith that the Lord will deliver us. Let us plead for and believe that He will help us while we struggle and while we patiently and hopefully wait for deliverance. We love you! Press forward!
Love,
President and Sister Packer

Quote:
Life is full of difficulties, some minor and others of a more serious nature. There seems to be an unending supply of challenges for one and all. Our problem is that we often expect instantaneous solutions to such challenges, forgetting that frequently the heavenly virtue of patience is required..
(Preach My Gospel pg.120) 


Mission Leadership Council notes 5-15-15
Excerpt of a talk from President Hinckley
  •   Be grateful for the ride, even though along the way we will get bumps and scratches and bruises
  •   Missionary work can be good, and challenging
    Using the Book of Mormon better
1st lesson (about 20 min)
o Teach them the pamphlet, don’t give them a Book of Mormon yet
o Invite them to see mormon.org 2nd lesson
o Read last two paragraphs of the Introduction of the Book of Mormon
o Start reading with the investigator from the Introduction of the First Book of Nephi and into 1Nephi 1, stop
and show how it applies to them
o Model how they’ll receive revelation through the Book of Mormon when they read alone
Later lessons
o Don’t simply ask if they read, ask what they learned and how it will effect them (see chart below) o Ex: What did you learn about being a better mom?
Asking better questions
Type of Question Recall
Compare Contrast

Cause and Effect Example to Idea Idea to Example Evaluate
Example
What happened when Nephi and his brothers went back the city?
How was Nephi’s experience similar to the brother of Jared’s experience with the stones? How is Nephi’s and the brother of Jared’s experience different?
What motivated Nephi to go back for the plates?
What can we learn from the brother of Jared’s experience with the stones?
Give an example when faith preceded a miracle
How can Nephi’s experience help us?
What can we learn about your situation from Nephi’s experience in getting the plates?
2 Nephi 9 is a good chapter to use to help people resolve their questions
We need to figure out how to use the Book of Mormon as the primary source for teaching during lessons, rather than using verses as ‘decoration’ during the lesson
Activity for language or companionship study
o Goal: to understand the core meaning of a verse
o Can be done with 2 to 4 people
o 1st person: Asks a question about the verse
o 2nd person: Answers the question
o 3rd person: Clarifies something that could be difficult to understand in the verse (ex. The meaning of
certain words, or context)
o 4th person: Predicts what will be discussed, based on the verse (ex. The verse says , I bet we we’ll talk
about )
o 1st person: Summarizes verse

Mission Leadership Counsel notes 6-5-15
Qualities of leaders
  • Examples from scriptures: King Benjamin, Moroni, D&C 4
  • What kind of leaders are we? Need to ask ourselves often, and seek scriptures for examples to follow
  • People don’t care how much we know, until they know how much we care
  • The problems that we have with others are often the same thing we don’t like about ourselves
  • We need to be careful with what we say, because it is easy to be misunderstood
o Leaders live in a glass house, have to try and always be at your best
  • In our mission, we are going through growing pains because we are appropriately correcting each other, and
    Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders have more power to help their zones, i.e. they can set up exchanges
    for two different companionships to switch based on skills they see in the zone
  • Leaders should be perceived as servants, washing other’s feet
  • The most important calling in this mission is missionary
    Story from Sister Packer’s Dad
  • One of his jobs was a Sheppard and he had thousands of sheep. For every winter, they had to move the sheep
    several miles to a different place. A part of this path they used was along a road by a river, and one year there was a huge hole in the road. They were driving the sheep from the back of the flock, so the first sheep in the front fell into the hole and many others following them fell in as well, and in the end many sheep died. If they were in front of the sheep, they could have lead them and saved them, rather than just pushing from the back
    Gossip
  • Gossip was the biggest currency in the mission when the Packers arrived
  • The problem has gotten better, but still exists
  • Gossip is a problem that is hurting the Church at large
  • Scriptures about gossip and rumors:
o Helaman 16:22-23
o 3 Nephi 1:22
Example from Les Miserables
o Jean Valjean, main character, was imprisoned for many years for stealing a loaf of bread. After serving his term, he struggled with his identity and didn’t know if he was a convict or a good man. Society and gossip told him he was a convict, which is not what the Gospel teaches
There are huge blessings when we learn confidentiality
District meetings
  • Zone leaders may start attending district meetings more often
  • District meeting is a time to allocate resources within the district to best help investigators
o Ex. If someone teaches the Plan of Salvation really well and your investigator has questions about it, then Zone Leaders may approve an exchange to have that missionary come and teach that lesson
  • 70% of the time should be spent discussing investigators and their needs and roleplaying help.
  • 30% of the time should be spent doctrine, improving language, etc...
    Mission Rule
It is a rule that we are supposed to speak on ВЫ with members of the opposite sex. That is the only additional
rule to the white handbook. 

Sunday, June 14, 2015

sister fedas's baptism

June 8, 2015


Dearest Family in the whole wide world,

This week was crazy. I was only in Cherkassy 4 days of the week. So what was I doing the other 3 you ask?! Well, we went up to Kyiv on Wednesday morning and did a split. I was with the STL sisters and Sister Fedas went with some other Sisters. I got to teach English there and talk to a lot of people it was the best. Thursday me and Sister Fedas met back up at another Zone Conference. It was seriously such an incredible zone conference and it already made me want to change. 

I had the thought that I have not completely given myself to God to let Him work as He will with me. I need to change. Already! I prayed and promised God to give myself completely to Him. I only have so many more months to be able to do this. So I prayed and promised God to stop thinking of myself so much. I am on a mission for a total of a year and a half. Do I want to waste His time? Do I want to have regrets? The work we have been doing is good. But I also feel I am holding part of myself back and that makes it so the miracles can not happen. I figure what is the harm in just speaking- in just letting myself be completely His, because even if I make a million mistakes in the language or whatever it is God will make up for it if I just try completely. sometimes I think, maybe I shouldn't talk to this person because they may not want the message, so what is the harm in just trying, if they don't want it it is just one more step. It is not about me. I didn't come on a mission for me so I am not quite sure why I have had so many thoughts about just me. I know that if I just completely dedicate myself to God, He will bless and trust us with His children that He HAS prepared even here in Cherkassy. I have faith. Because I know that He is working here and I have not worked hard enough. Those are kind of my thoughts this week of how I want to change and hope the "stereo type" of this city can change also. It is an amazing place and we have to just give ourselves to God so that He can continue His work here. 

President Packer is absolutely amazing and we so needed this conference as a mission. We set the most amazing goal also. We have usually had about 28 new investigators in a week between all the missionaries here but after hours of studying and working on our mission Thursday we decided to take a real leap of faith. Me and Sister Fedas are going to find 2 new investigators here in Cherkassy by Sunday and as a total for the mission instead of 28 we went up to 78. I know that if we plan and work as hard as we can with faith that GOD with help us with this great task. There are people here who are ready and the culture of this mission needs to change because we are not doing enough. I am pumped to work SO HARD. At this point I am ready to give it my all. Everything I have got. I don't mind sore feet and sore legs. I do not mind some tears with the language. But we will find the people the Lord is preparing in the country of Ukraine. I just know it. So I am feeling a whole lot of excitement about changing and about being SO DILIGENT no matter how long or what it takes because I want to do this for God.

Friday President gave Sister Fedas and I permission to go to Zhytomyr (a city north of Kyiv) for a baptism of a mom and a daughter. That was an incredible thing to be a part of. It was so inspirational to see this mom and daughter who have completely changed their lives comes to God all because they want to. And the turn out of people from this branch was amazing. Right now there are no Sister's serving there. But I really hope one day I can go back. I talked to everyone for hours and hours all by myself in Russian (without sister Fedas's help). When we went to leave the people were so sad. It was the sweetest thing. One girl made me play the piano for her and she recorded it. 
(mom I can't remember my DYW piece can you send me it through email? like a copy so I can print it?)
Anyway seing this baptism was incredible and it really got me so pumped to just do this work. When they both went down under the water I just felt God smiling from heaven. 2 more souls found God!!!! I am so happy.

It was a really incredible week. The hardest part was when our investigator called and told us he got an answer about truth and that the Book of Mormon is not true or the word of God. I prayed about it and I really felt like everything will be ok. Patience and love are so key to this work and I feel that we need to have patience and need to love Andre and that everything will be ok. We met with him again and he felt better and came to church but called upset again yesterday. I was able to ask just one question. I said, "Andre, do you have the desire to know God and Jesus Christ better?" He said of course! I told him "Then you need to have patience. We are here to help you come closer to Christ and to God and you can only do that if you pray if you are patient." It was awesome and I just bore my testimony to him and he calmed down. Please pray for him. I feel it will just take time with him and some clarifaction but I know this is where he is supposed to be.

I have 2 favors to ask. Will you as a family pray everyday for me to have the gift of tongues? I know real power comes from prayer and you are my family and God will help me as we kneel together and pray everyday for this gift. Maybe you already do, but I just wanted to ask because I need this gift. I am working hard. 
The other favor is to just love each other so much and have a great summer. I hope the boys realize how important it is to love each other and to cheer each other on. When you leave home and you don't have your family around you realize how much every moment meant and means. Don't waste any moments with useless contention because you are the only people you have and you are the best people in the whole world. I love you so much. I also know that the more peace and love there is at home the better I can work here in Ukraine too. They way you act and treat each other really does effect the way I work here so it is important you are always living in a way and treating others in a way that the Savior would. 

I love you guys so much!!! have a wonderful week. I am sorry I left stuff out I do not know how I can possibly write everything I need to! It is craziness!

I love you!!! LET'S DO THIS!!! :) 

Love Сестра Кэррен

Я люблю тебя

Also another silly thing here is they were wedding rings on their right hand so everyone kept asking if I was married so I had to move my CTR ring to my left hand and now I feel like I am married ahahah. 


Reunited in Kyiv with Sister Rubio


Zhytomyr (Sister Fedas's first area)


I got to go to a baptism in Zhytomyr. A lady and her daugher that Sister Fedas taught for a long long time are finally members!




missionary work

June 1, 2015

Dear Family, 

I am realizing here in Cherkassy just how much missionary work is not numbers and is not baptismal dates. Of course that is so important, but something amazing I have been able to realize here what missionary work really means to me. Missionary work is service, it is smiling and trying to talk to everyone, to make someones day better by telling them there is someone who loves them and is there- always. Something I love about how Christ taught was how slow he went. He was never in a rush. He had basically 3 years to save the world yet, he took his time. He loved every person, he went to the ones most would have passed by. He is our ultimate example. Here in Cherkassy it has been different than I first expected missionary work to be. But I am learning to love it, and we are searching for investigators always. One really cool thing that happened was last week a man we met on the street and gave a Family Proclamation pamphlet came to church! We started to teach him and he is so receptive. He has so many questions about baptism that he has just brought up on his own. It has been such a blessing and privilege to meet him and teach him with the members we are involving. The hard part is agency! People all have it and they can all decide wether or not they want to learn more about God, but today he called saying he does not want to meet anymore, will still come to church but doesn't want lessons because he is not feeling peace. The hard part about this is it makes me sad! I of course respect his agency but I also know what an amazing thing the gospel is and how much peace and happiness it brings. I do not want to give up on him yet so I called him after personal study to give him Alma 36 to read. It is an amazing chapter that helps me immesensly. I hope he will want to continue to meet and progress, because I know that he really does want to he is just a little bit nervous and that is normal. He is religios and just loves our church so I am praying for him! His name is Andre just by the way :) 

Today two chapters in the Bible have really hit me. John 15 and 16. I have felt a lot of the feelings described in this chapter. Is it weird that since my mission I have felt greater sorrow (already) than I have before, but also greater happiness? Maybe that is part of the setting apart from the world but it is crazy to me! On a mission I think we learn a lot about what the Father must feel when men hate him, reject him, and his son and his blessings and his words, yet somehow he still is joyful. Immensely so! right now that is what I am trying to work on. Being joyful in all things, even when we are hated of men for the name of christ. Because it makes me sad. I know this is all for good, and we are planting many seeds, making an impact for the name of Christ. But imagining the pain he must feel after suffering for each individual when they just don't want Him, or even hate Him. He is such an amazing example! Many days I get on my knees and have to ask God how to find the peace and the joy when it seems no one wants to hear the message we have. It is not about me, but it hurts me to see people not wanting something that could change their entire life. I am praying for the Spirit and for the comfort, and for the Spirit for these people that we may be guided to the ones who need the message and are waiting. We will keep trying to find! I truly do feel like Alma 36:24 says. After realizing how much the Savior had done for him, Alma wanted nothing more than to work and to bring people to God. And he found immense joy through the atonement. It is pretty amazing!

OK. So I had a very NEW and interesting experience this week. Here they have big cities and then villages on the outskirts. SO. We went to visit a former investigator in an village this week. The experience was something I NEVER imagined. Kind of like a farm, but with a crazy Russian woman and CRAZY things happening. I know. I am so silly. But it was out of this world for me. I never thought I would maybe pass out, and I almost did!!!!!!!! 

We also visited the sweet grandma that had the spider in her hair last time we went. She is the sweetest and honestly breaks my heart. She is inactive only because she does not come to church. She has a desire to. But she is old and can not move around very well, and taxis are too expensive for her so she can not get herself to the church. Sunday we visited her and we gave her a message from Elder Nelson (because he came to the Russian missions and spoke-but no I did not get to see him). this sweet woman named Valentina cried and kissed my cheek. These people are amazing. There is a lot of opposition here but there is also so much good. I will keep working and keep praying for this beautiful place. I know that God is here. 

I wish you could all come here and experience this with me because the things I am able to see and the things I am feeling and learning are just out of this world. I never expected this and I know that it just continues to get better and better.

I love you guys so much. It makes me so happy to hear about what goes on at home. Know I miss you a lot, but I am also trying not to be so homesick. I can keep pushing through. I mean I AM a KARREN aren't I?! (with the ball blood too) ;P I love you guys so much.The shave ice shake looks amazing. I LOVE the poster and Carso's face is just the cutest! Have fun in Powell. I hope nobody dies, but since I am not there I know that everything will be fine. Ha! 

Have a wonderful week. I feel your prayers. Thank you! I need it. I hope you are doing well!!!! REMEMBER THAT I LOVE YOU!!!

LOVE! Cectpa Karren 

PS: This week we will have two days in Kyiv (on a split) and then Thursday will be another Zone conference! Craziness. It will be fun to work there though. I am excited. Keep working hard ok?! You guys are my examples! I LOVE YOU!

First time with borscht made by Sister Fedas herself!

Crazy Village "Village of Dengee" (The Village of Money). 

my initial culture shock...
May 27, 2016

The Village of Dengee (Money): My Initial Culture Shock

"Today was one giant adventure. We left the house at 9 am, got on a bus and drove out of Cherkassy to this place in the middle of nowhere. Seriously, I was so confused when the bus stopped in the middle of miles and miles of trees and nothing else in any direction. We started to walk and walk and walk and Sister Fedas randomly just turned down some tiny dirt path and suddenly I could see in the distance- little houses and large gardens.
We met with a woman named Tamara who seemed normal at first… We went to her home talking away and she showed us her “garden”/FARM and her small house. Her neighbors were all out in nothing or skimpy clothing gardening as well. She has 3 HUGE and I mean, ginormous gardens and chickens also.
We started helping her weed her green onion garden. Pretty soon she offered us lace shirts and “shorts” to wear and tan in to work. I wanted to die. NO! Then she kept putting all different kinds of hats on my head and I did not want them… Anyway we worked and I still felt a bit sick from the day before, so I when I would stand up I would see black dots in my eyes. It was so hot, but I loved helping and bonding with my companion.
Then came the weirdest part of the day… She feeds us strawberries in the shade during a small break. This woman is 60 something and she is wearing almost nothing. Suddenly there is another old woman talking with her and us. I am hot and not feeling so well, still sick from the day before and Tamara offers me dirty water (I would gladly drink it, except it is not allowed because it would make me so sick). I am trying to soak it all in and not be in this culture shock thing and I look to my left and right next to the table is a chicken-DEAD that just minutes ago Tamara was petting and letting us touch and talk to.  It is headless and there is so much blood pooling in this bucket and she is pouring boiling water on it and plucking feathers and gutting it and it has so many eggs coming out of it and she is offering me food and such with the same hands and knife that she is using to gut the bloody chicken and I started to see stars. I have never been squeamish, but they are all talking so fast in Russian. I almost passed out. My companion finally looks at me, seeing I am completely white and asks, “Are you ok?” I was completely overwhelmed but needed to be ok. We went back to weeding and before we left she made us stay and eat. She obviously loves green onions a lot because she made us eggs with lots of oil on top of a large bed of green onions all cooked together. Then we snacked on fresh green onions and other herbs and spices straight from her garden.

Turns out she did not want to hear more about the gospel and that is ok. We served and helped in some way, and I kind of freaked out but I made it through it. We left with a giant bag of potatoes, jam, pickles, something else in a jar, cucumbers, green onions, spices, etc. She was a very kind and generous woman but it was a crazy day."


Turtle Cake for Doodle

My place

a gift from god

May 25, 2015



FAMILY!!!

Week 2 in Ukraine. I am incredibly happy to be here. The first week was great but a lot more painful than I expected. Again this week I am being taught by my Heavenly Father everyday. He really is right there. I have never felt his presence so strongly as I have here. 

This week I had the impression to go through the area book and I found this old couple who was taught a year ago by missionaries and I just felt we needed to call them. So we did and he told us he would call back. A day later he really did and we went to teach them. the old man is the cutest ever. He dressed up in a suit and his eyebrows are like 3 inches off his face. HUGE. I love it so much. We taught them about the Plan of Salvation and it was amazing. He understood and just felt everything so strongly. His wife is very provoslavnic and she felt the spirit too but is very much involved with her church (her family are the priests). but I think that we have some real potential with them. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.

Also we visited 2 families and I love them. the kids are so cute here. What they do for fun is they make these little rubberband bracelets and this 9 year old Nikita made one for me. He reminds me of Bridger and I can't even handle it. He said the prayer for family home evening and I just started bawling. This is a family that is in the covenant and this little boy understand so much about why the gospel is so important. I understood his prayer too which was a big deal and it was so sincere and I just know Heavenly Father loves him. So I cried. The food here is great. They drink so much TEA. I guess I will just have to get used to it. (Don't worry it is fruit tea so it is allowed(;). 

Things with my companion are better. It is hard I think for native people to open up right away and she didn't really know who I was and so I think it was difficult for her and she is really ready to go home. But when they are nice they are SO nice! things are better and she told me that she loves me! so everything is great. I am learning how to be tough. And I do love her. It is good training and every time it gets hard and she is a little bit gruff with me I just have to think about how the Savior would train me and I know that he loves me and I try not to make big mistakes but he does forgive me when I make mistakes. I love Cherkassy. It is crazy because though there are hard moments I can not picture myself doing this without Cectpa Fedas! She will be gone in 4 weeks and I just don't know enough. 

God really trusts us with this work. I am learning SO MUCH!!!!!! He really is there every second. I know that. I CAN LITERALLY FEEL IT. He is the one directing and giving us the strength how to do this. It is something I just did't really understand before. 

There are some hard things I am realizing. It literally pains me when I feel so strongly someone needs the gospel and I watch them turn away. It happens so often but this week I had two specific instances where my heart ached and I cried. One is a 26 ish man who comes to english every week. He has heard a lot about the church. He is a historian and he just doesn't believe in god. I feel so strongly to bear my testimony to him every time I see him. We teach about the gospel in english class and he even prayed in class. But after he just told us he just doesn't need the gospel. I sat on the floor in the church and burst into tears because I know that God loves him and wants him to come. I imagine this is how god feels when we just decide to do it all on our own, because he knows how much happier we could be and he wants us to come home. so every time people turn away I believe he sheds a tear and always knows they may still come. but it still hurts. It doesn't hurt because I am sad for me but because the spirit literally tells me when someone needs it and they turn away. Cectpa Fedas gave me an analogy. she never cooked, never knew how and never would. she would watch her mom cook but never help and always said she would never cook. She never cooked, until the day she NEEDED to, and now she is an incredible cook. That is like a lot of people who first turn away. this man is here in the church twice a week, being taught the gospel, he is in the kitchen watching us cook, but he may not cook until the moment he needs to.
Also the other heart breaking moment. We were tracting in this large DOM (home) and one little boy answered the door and went and got his mom. We told her we are missionaries and then started telling her about your message. she told us she didn't need it. When she closed the door my heart broke when I heard what the little boy said. He said, "Why did you tell them we don't need them mom? We do." He was probably 10. It is ok though because we never fail when we work our hardest. For some people they need many many steps in order to accept and find God. So I don't mind rejection because it may just take time. 

We are doing well here and I love it so much. It is so green. There are fruit trees everywhere and green plants and flowers literally ALL OVER. It is one of teh prettiest places to be. 

I love D&C 6:34-37

Thank you for the prayers and the emails EVERYONE. You strengthen me. I hope you are all doing well. I LOVE YOU WITH MY WHOLE HEART.

I am always being trained4ukraine. And I am so glad. Now is the time to let God mold me into who I need to be. WE CAN DO THIS! Have an amazing week. I will too. Oh and hey if you want to learn a fun little saying in Russian google translate silly goose. I use this daily and it is so much better in RUSSIAN! I LOVE THIS WORK.

It is a gift from God. 

Love
Cectpa Karren 

Members in Cherkasssy. Triputen family whom I love!

Cecpta Fedas and Me


Nikita age 9 made me a colored rubber band bracelet


My happy place. My favorite park in Cherkassy.

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Mission Newsletter

Boldness not Overbearance
President and Sister Packer
Ukraine Kyiv Mission 
7 June 2015

Elders and Sisters,
Finding new people to teach is central to what we do. “Nothing else happens until we find someone to teach. There is really nothing more that I can add to what is already in Preach My Gospel, but I do want to break us free from the ruts we are in with a few highlights from this Chapter as well as give you permission to be a little more creative than you have been in the past. Being conservative is important in this work, but it can paralyze us because we fear making mistakes and not accomplish anything. Elder Porters comment a few weeks ago about, “If you haven’t almost been arrested you probably aren’t doing this work right.” he said in jest, but there is something to his point. We need to take more risks in finding people to teach. This absolutely does not mean that we pester people until they seek legal means to stop this work. The scripture “Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness.in Russian it is “ Проявляй смелость, но не наглость; а также смотри, чтобы ты обуздывал все свои страсти, дабы ты был преисполнен любви; смотри, чтобы ты воздерживался от праздности.” I don’t understand “overbearance”, but I do understand the word “наглость”. We are not here to annoy people; we are here to share with them the most important message they will ever hear and we do it with the meekness and gentleness Christ showed. (Matt. 11:29) It is not possible to gain the other attributes of Christ of faith, hope, and charity without the attribute of humility and meekness. (Moroni 7:43-44) Elder Maxwell said of meekness:
Granted, none of us likes, or should like, to be disregarded, to be silenced, to see a flawed argument prevail, or to endure a gratuitous discourtesy. But such circumstances seldom constitute that field of action from which meekness calls upon us to retire gracefully. Unfortunately, we usually do battle, unmeekly, over far less justifiable things, such as “turf”.
Just what is this “turf” we insist on defending almost at the slightest provocation? If it is real estate, this will not rise with us in the resurrection. If it is concern over the opinions of us held by others, there is only One opinion of us that really matters. Besides, the opinions of others will only be lowered if we go on an ego tantrum. If “turf” is status, we should not be overly concerned with today’s organizational charts. Who cares now about the pecking order in the Sanhedrin in 31 A.D., though so many cared so much at the time? Where are those now who worried so much over losing their places in the synagogues? (See John 12:42.)...
The meek use power and authority properly, no doubt because their gentleness and meekness reflect a love unfeigned, a genuine caring. The influence they exercise flows from a deep concern: “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.” (D&C 121:41.).... Yes, there are real costs associated with meekness. A significant down payment must be made. It can come from our sufficient supply of pride. We must also be willing to endure the subsequent erosion of unbecoming ego. Furthermore, our hearts will be broken in order that they might be rebuilt. As Ezekiel said, one’s task is to “make you a new heart and a new spirit.” (Ezek. 18:31.) There is no way that such dismantling, such erosion, such rebuilding can occur without real cost in pain, pride, adjustments, and even some dismay. Yet since we cannot be “acceptable before God save [we are] meek and lowly in heart” (Moro. 7:44), the reality of that awesome requirement must be heeded! Better to save one’s soul than to save one’s face.
So what does this mean for us in our finding? We go forth confidently and meekly. We don’t contact people who are having a conversation on their cell phone. We don’t interrupt two people who are in the middle of a conversation. When we are told “no I am not interested” we do not continue to push. We do not argue or force. It does mean we are confident inviting people to repent and to be baptized. We are not ashamed of our message and we share it openly and honestly with all whom we meet. We go about this work in the way the Savior himself would go about it. We remember Him in all that we do and say. We do what He would do. Thanks for all you do!
Love,
President and Sister Packer

Quote:
Use boldness, but not overbearance; and also see that ye bridle all your passions, that ye may be filled with love; see that ye refrain from idleness.
(Alma 38:12)