Part III. The Second Six Months: Reinforcing Vision/Skills

Overview 

            January 1979. By this time I felt I had succeeded in implanting a new vision in the hearts of the missionaries. Not my vision, but the vision of Elder Kikuchi and President Kimball. I had also helped the missionaries develop some specific new skills, techniques, and programs to enable them to begin to achieve that vision. Through the English classes, a younger target age, and other programs, most of the missionaries were now finding and teaching many more people. Through improved teaching skills, some of them were even beginning to baptize more people.

But our modest success was precarious. It was as though we were building two delicate towers: a tower of vision and a tower of skills. I felt that unless I reinforced and strengthened them, they could collapse at any time.           

My challenge now was to continue to reinforce the new vision, to reinforce the new skills, and to reinforce the modest success we were having. My challenge was to not let that modest success distract us from the achievement of our true vision: bringing in hundreds and thousands of converts. The words of President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) echoed in my mind: 

            I THINK THAT IF WE ARE ALL OF ONE MIND AND ONE HEART AND ONE PURPOSE THAT WE CAN MOVE FORWARD AND CHANGE THE IMAGE WHICH SEEMS TO BE THAT "WE ARE DOING PRETTY WELL. LET'S NOT 'ROCK THE BOAT'" (p. 21) . 

            The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need men who can dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? (p. 57). 

            I felt that if we were to raise our sights, we had to make more changes, and I felt that the individual missionary was the key. That was where the changes had to take place. Although I had some missionaries who were "dreaming of things that never were and asking, 'Why not,'" I had others who were still doing things the same as they had always done them. Near the beginning of this six-month period I wrote the following in my journal:

            I really don't know how to handle missionaries who never seem to have success. They go month after month and don't baptize anyone. It's so hard to know how to keep encouraging them. I really feel like we have a long ways to go to get the big change done in their behavior. They simply do not do what I ask them to do. They are so shackled by habits and thinking from the past that they just keep doing things the old way. How do I break the habits? (Groberg, 1978-1981). 

We had a new year ahead of us. Our goal and motto for 1979 became, "We'll do what's not been done before." And with the foundation of vision and skills from our first six months, we set out to do it. 

16. Following the Prophet's Vision 

Problem or situation. As the number of converts began to increase, not everyone was happy about it. There were conflicting influences pushing in different directions. Elder Kikuchi's enthusiasm and encouragement pushed towards doing more: this was only a beginning of what could be. Members who had caught the vision of what could and should happen wanted baptizing missionaries in their wards and branches.

But others who did not understand our vision balked at it and encouraged caution: "Numbers don't matter," they said. "Those who are going to come in will come in at their own pace. Just let things happen as they will. You can't do more than you are now doing. Take it slow and easy. .  slow. . . easy.  .  ."          .

It seemed to me to be a question of who to trust. As soon as things began to happen, many voices arose, and support could be found for almost any position. In the scriptures we read of the great conversion miracles of Ammon, Nephi, Peter, and others. Were we different today? Were the key attributes of effective missionary work different today than in the early days of the Church or during Book of Mormon times when missionaries did bring in thousands of converts? Ammon, one of the great missionaries of the Book of Mormon, said that by meeting certain conditions, anyone could bring thousands of converts in: 

            Yea, he that repenteth and exerciseth faith, and bringeth forth good works, and prayeth continually without ceasing--unto such it is given to know the mysteries of God; yea, unto such it shall be given to reveal things which never have been revealed; yea, and it shall be given unto such to bring thousands of souls to repentance, even as it has been given unto us to bring these our brethren unto repentance" (Alma 26:22). 

            Ammon explained that it required only repentance, faith, good works, and prayer. I felt that most of the missionaries knew what the first and the last items--repentance and prayer--meant. And there were many who met those conditions. But I felt that few of the missionaries understood the two in the middle--faith and good works. And I felt that these two were the more common barriers to effective missionary work. I believed that my missionaries could best meet those two conditions of having faith and good works by having, reading, believing, and acting upon the words of our prophet, Spencer W. Kimball.

Few members of the Church had President Kimball's words on missionary work. They had his conference talks, his book on repentance, and other things, but not his words on missionary work. One reason they did not have these words was because much of his counsel on missionary work had been given in talks to the general Church authorities, regional Church leaders, and mission presidents. Through my area supervisor, Elder Kikuchi, I had these words. They had affected me deeply. I decided to share them--emphasize them--with my mission. 

Action taken. (3-79) TEACH PRESIDENT KIMBALL'S WORDS TO THE MISSIONARIES. PUBLISH THEM IN THE MISSION NEWSLETTER AND IN THE PROSELYTING HANDBOOK, QUOTE FROM THEM IN ZONE CONFERENCES, IN INDIVIDUAL INTERVIEWS, AND WHEREVER ELSE IT IS APPROPRIATE. (Productivity label: Motivational.)

Like anything, if not used--if not read and pondered--these words would be of little value to us. I wanted to get the missionaries to read and ponder them regularly, like they did the scriptures. In fact, I felt they were our scriptures in a sense, because they were the words of a living prophet to us today about what we should be doing in our respective missions. I felt that as such they were more important to us than older scriptures. I also felt this reading and pondering had to be on a regular basis so the words could act like a compass for us, directing our thoughts, our feelings, our actions, and opening new visions and ideas we could only understand after we reached certain levels. This meant that besides reading and pondering them, we had to (1) believe that President Kimball's words were true, literally, and (2) believe they applied to us personally and individually, here, now, today. If we did, I felt our course was clear. President Kimball's (Kikuchi, 1981) words could lead us when he said:  

            OH, OUR BELOVED FATHER IN HEAVEN, BRING ABOUT THE DAY WHEN WE MAY BE ABLE TO BRING IN LARGE NUMBERS AS AMMON AND HIS BRETHREN DID, THOUSANDS OF CONVERSIONS, NOT DOZENS, NOT TENS OR FIVES OR ONES, THOUSANDS OF CONVERSIONS. THE LORD PROMISED IT: HE FULFILLS HIS PROMISES (p. 63). 

            May we improve the efficiency of our missionaries, each bringing thousands of converts into the Church (p. 63). 

Speaking to Mission Presidents he asked:

            IS IT POSSIBLE THAT EACH OF YOU COULD DEVELOP SOME WILFORD WOODRUFFS AND BRIGHAM YOUNGS WHO COULD BAPTIZE HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS? CAN WE RAISE OUR SIGHTS (p.96). 

            WE ARE THINKING AND HOPING FOR THOUSANDS OF CONVERSIONS BY INDIVIDUAL MISSIONARIES AND MISSIONS (p.96). 

We had to ask ourselves--the mission president and the missionaries--do we believe these words, literally? Or do we interpret them in some other way such as "He's just shooting high--talking about thousands in hopes that well bring in tens or hundreds." Or, "There aren't that number of people who will accept today. And the Church couldn't assimilate them anyway." President Kimball's (Kikuchi, 1981) response was: 

            Millions of people are anxious and willing to learn, if only they can hear the 'sound' in their own tongue and in a manner that they can grasp and understand. And we must find a way! (p. 233). 

            If your missionaries baptize thousands of converts, it will be a great challenge to the Church leaders to train and organize and indoctrinate the new converts, and we are anxious to assume that responsibility (p. 143). 

            I don't know how we would train them, but lets get them baptized first and then move as we need to (p. 122). 

    If we did believe these words, did we believe them personally and individually? Did we believe they meant us, here, now? Did we believe that we could and should carry them out? President Kimball's (1979) words were clear: 

            The basic decisions needed for us to move forward, as a people, must be made by the individual members of the Church (p. 4).

            IF WE REALLY WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, WE CAN! BUT SOMETIMES TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE, WE MUST DO THINGS DIFFERENTLY AND BETTER! (Kikuchi, 1981, p. 43). 

         Lest we had any questions about whether it was okay to "stand out" and make our mark, President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) said:

            You. . . OUGHT TO LEAVE A POSITIVE MARK WHERE YOU SERVE; your footprints ought to be in the regions in which you have served, reflecting the lengthening stride of the Kingdom (p. 44). 

            Can you see yourself as the number one man in your mission setting that part of the world on fire? (p. 138).

Again, I felt it was simply a choice of who to trust.

Results of the action. Through the influence of these words, my missionaries began to experience what I had experienced. They began to believe that these words were true, literally, and that they were meant for them personally and individually. Then it came down to doing something about them--taking some action. Interestingly, taking action was not difficult here. Reading, pondering, and believing that these words were meant for them specifically created an almost unquenchable, burning vision that compelled action. In fact, when that vision came alive in the missionaries, it became more difficult for them to sit and do nothing than to act.

And the action they took brought about the fulfillment of at least a part of the vision. That partial fulfillment then influenced them to search the words of the Prophet more intently, to thus gain an even greater vision, and so on like a rising spiral. On the other hand, I observed that those who didn't take action to carry out and begin to achieve the vision began to lose the vision instead.         

Those who did catch the vision of the words of the Prophet were enough. They began to make a difference. As President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) put it:           

            Someone has said, "There is no change, no destiny, no fate that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a consecrated, determined soul" (P. 113).

            It doesn't matter how many people don't do a thing; it's the one who does it who proves we all have the ability (P. 44). 

By having, pondering, believing and acting upon the words of President Kimball, our vision--his vision--began to be realized. Some missionaries began to carry it out, and others began to follow. As a result, thousands eventually came into the Church.

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