Part VI. The Fifth Six Months: Refining the Vision

Overview 

July 1980. I had one year left on my mission. From seeing the growth we had made, I might have felt complacent and satisfied. I didn't. While I was happy with the progress we had made, I felt we were still far from our vision of what we had set out to accomplish. I worried that our success so far might make us lose sight of our larger vision and keep us from reaching it. From my journal (Groberg, 1978-1981): 

            Sunday was a big disappointment. We were doing quite well during the week then on Sunday with 99 [baptisms] scheduled, we had rain, wind, earthquakes, and only 37 baptisms! What a big disappointment. We really tried, but the task was bigger than our faith.  

We had a Zone Leaders' conference and discussed how we could move on beyond the barrier of "500" and really bring in and retain thousands each month (July 1, 1980). 

            Elder Kikuchi was continuously encouraging us to build the Church in Japan:

            I spent the day with Elder Kikuchi. We had the two stake presidents and the regional representative here at the Church Administration Building to discuss plans for building up the Church here. Elder Kikuchi is behind the growth 100% and is pushing for division of the two stakes we now have into 6 stakes by October! We may need a little longer (Groberg, 1978-1981, July 8, 1980). 

I was influenced by the words of the Prophet, President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981), on not being complacent:  

            WE HAVE MADE MUCH PROGRESS: WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR IT ALL, BUT WE HAVEN'T BEGUN TO DO ENOUGH (p. 174). 

            We can count our growing membership. We can count the increasing numbers of stakes. These numbers thrill us, as they indicate the progress we are making and remind us, likewise, that we must achieve in even more major ways in the years ahead (General Conference, April 1980). 

            Now we can hardly be content with our record. WE MUST FIND WAYS TO INSPIRE AND TEACH BETTER WAYS OF DOING MISSIONARY WORK (p. 121). 

            Japan has raised the productivity of oysters from 600 pounds per acre under natural conditions up to 32 tons or 64,000 pounds per acre under a special culture. THIS IS MORE THAN A HUNDRED FOLD INCREASE. NOW IF WE COULD TAKE OUR DELIGHTFUL, FRESH, SPIRITUAL YOUNG MEN AND LADIES AND CULTIVATE THEM TO THE POINT WHERE AN INCREASE OF 100 TIMES WERE POSSIBLE FOR THEM, THAT WOULD CERTAINLY BE THE DAY (p. 98). 

            I suppose if I have learned anything in life, it is that we are to keep moving, keep trying--as long as we breathe! If we do, we will be surprised at how much more can still be done (P. 267). 

I saw that there was much more to be done in the Tokyo South Mission, and I felt that increasing the vision of the missionaries was still the key to getting it done. I felt I had to "find ways to inspire and teach better ways of doing missionary work" to my missionaries.  

37. Emphasizing "Individual Missions" of Missionaries 

Problem or situation. There was no particular problem associated with this action. Rather, it was a deeper realization on my part that everything that happened in the mission happened on an individual level. Though we talked of the "mission" doing this or that, in reality, the "mission" didn't do anything. Neither did zones, districts, or companions. It was all individual missionaries. President Kimball (Kikuchi, 1981) had referred to this "individual performance": 

            LET US LIFT OUR SIGHTS WITH REGARD TO OUR PERSONAL PERFORMANCE. IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIFT OUR SIGHTS WITH REGARD TO THE CHURCH WITHOUT LIFTING OUR SIGHTS WITH REGARD TO INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE. THE PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH IS THE COMBINED PROGRESS OF ALL OF THOSE WHO ARE CARRYING FORWARD THE WORK (p. 153). 

Certainly there was much cooperation, teamwork, and harmony at all levels in the mission, often expressed as the "mission working well together" or the "companion set working as a team," but perhaps these were misnomers. It seemed the truer description was that "individual missionaries" worked well together in the mission, zones, districts, and companion sets." This difference might seem like a difference in semantics only, but I felt it was more than that. It was the difference in the entity that was addressed, worked with, motivated, and held accountable. If that entity were the organization, at any level, then it was as though the things that were said and done fell in between the missionaries. But if that entity were the individual missionary, not the group of which he was a member, then the things that were done and said fell on each individual and pierced the heart of each one.

President Benson (1976) had emphasized the need for mission presidents to build their missionaries' personal visions about their missions:  

            In your interviews with them [the missionaries], emphasize that success will be theirs; that they are going to be successful; that they are coming into the mission field at a time of harvest; that the Lord has prepared this mission field for them and for the laborers who would be in it. Emphasize to them that they are not expected to fail, that the Lord calls nobody to fail, but to succeed and this they should understand fully (p. 6).

Action taken. (5-80) EMPHASIZE THE PERSONAL AND INDIVIDUAL MISSION OF EACH MISSIONARY. (Productivity label: Motivational.)  

I had long felt a deep sense of "personal mission" in my own calling as mission president. Before leaving for the mission field I had written the following in my journal (Groberg, 1978-1981): 

            In all humility, I feel that the Lord is sending me to be an instrument in His hand to initiate a great harvest among His children upon the isles of Japan --a marvelous work and a wonder which will bring tens of thousands of these choice people into the Church. I don't just have a call to be a mission president, but I have a special calling to turn the whole missionary effort in Japan around. My assignment is not just to preside over a mission, but to discover effective ways for doing the work and succeeding at it. My assignment and mission is to multiply the number of converts coming into the Church in Japan by at least ten fold! (June 1978) 

I saw and felt a similar vision about the missionaries who were sent to me. I felt they had special missions just as I had--as a group, certainly, but more so as individual missionaries.

While I had always tried to treat my missionaries as individuals, I had not truly seen through to the vast and often untapped potential of each one. Over a period of time I realized that the individual's vision of his "personal mission" and "personal responsibility" were at the heart and soul and center of what we were doing, and that the potential for accomplishing my mission--the "mission" of our mission--could only exist in the individual hearts of missionaries. When I began to understand this, my approach to the missionaries changed.

My question to myself was, "How do I build individual vision in the hearts of my missionaries?" After much pondering over this question, the answer became clear: before I could build vision in my missionaries, I first had to see the vision myself, the vision of what each of my missionaries, as individuals, could accomplish. I found that I could not implant or build a vision in a missionary which I did not see, feel, and believe myself. Therefore, most of the work on this problem or situation was work with myself. The more I could see, feel, and believe in the missionaries, the better I could build that vision in them. The specific actions were less important than my outlook.

It is difficult to explain what external changes I made in this area. There were many changes, but they were changes in thinking and feeling rather than overt action. Of course overt actions were affected, but they were affected in a myriad of small 'ways which my attempts to describe fail to capture. I can best explain this change by saying that in individual discussions and interviews, in district and zone meetings, in all-mission conferences, and in all situations, the things that were said and done, even when they were to the whole mission, were directed to missionaries as individuals.

President Kimball's (Kikuchi, 1981) words concerning individual missionaries began to take on new meaning. He seemed to direct his words to individuals: 

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

            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). 

            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). 

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

I likened the l38th section of the Doctrine and Covenants to my individual missionaries: 

            I observed that they were among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the beginning. . . . Even before they were born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world of spirits and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men (D&C 138:55-56).

            Results of the action. The spirit of the mission began to flourish as it never had before. It was as though I had tapped into the heart and soul of power and potential for good. As my vision of the individual missionaries began to change, so did their visions of themselves. As my actions towards them began to change, subtly, so did their actions towards each other and towards their investigators. Thoughts such as "If it is to be, it is up to me" began to flourish. There was less relying on someone else to do it. Anyway, for someone else to do it did not fulfill their own "personal mission."

The change I observed most graphically was the change from an outward to an inward orientation: rather than looking outward for someone else to do something (solve a problem, make a breakthrough, show what could be done, etc.), missionaries began to look inward--each person to himself--to do what needed to be done. Several of them referred to the story of Esther (one of the examples I had used) in expressing their feelings about their own personal missions: "And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14).

The missionaries' letters began to reflect this new personal vision (Missionary Letters, 1978-1981): 

            I can't recall a more inspiring meeting ever, than the closing session of the mission conference last Tuesday. The human inclination is to doubt one's ability to accomplish all that is expected, but the spirit tells me that I don't have to try to do it alone.  

            I could really feel tremendous power by contemplating the things said at conference. always remember the great spirit that we all as we stood and sang the mission song at conference. 

            Wow, what a great conference! It really boosted me up. There was so much spirit and wisdom there. I am keeping my promise to continue to obey all the rules exactly, and I am happy doing. Working hard is a terrific, exhilarating experience. 

            We were so blessed to have such a productive month as we did in July. The Lord has truly blessed me and my companion this past month. We know however, that we could have had many more [baptisms]. I think the biggest single factor in our success last month was our faith. We had confidence that we could do it. I see no limits on the success we can have. It's all up to us.

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