メリディアン
日本語
帰還宣教師から
From Returned Missionaries
Dwayne N. Andersen-Excerpts from Autobiography
Mission President continued
DEVELOPMENT OF THE PRIESTHOOD
The emphasis of the mission was on baptisms when I arrived in 1962. However, the attendance at church did not seem to increase. I felt impressed that three things needed attention: (1) number of male baptisms needed to increase; (2) emphasis must be placed on conversion rather than baptism; and (3) a need to increase the number of priesthood holders. Thanks to the strong inspiration from the Lord I began to make some changes.
(1) Increasing Male Baptisms.
I required the elders to work ONLY with male investigators and to turn their female contacts to the local missionaries or the lady missionaries. Previously, the elders were concentrating on young girls from ages 14 years and up. They were the easiest to get baptized. This had made a gulf between branch members and the missionaries. These young girls were harder to fellowship and more apt to fall out when their favorite elder was transferred. In 1962 only 42% of the mission baptisms were males. By 1964 the male baptisms increased to 53%.
(2) To Change the Emphasis from Baptisms to Conversions.
We developed three fellowshipping lessons that helped keep the converts in the church and for the male members to receive the priesthood. This emphasis on conversions decreased the baptisms from 1399 in 1962 to about 500 in 1965. The number of baptisms decreased, but we were baptizing the kind of people who would stay in the church.
(3) Increase the Priesthood Holders.
There were two misconceptions that needed to be changed. The Japanese concept was that the person really had to prove himself, so they had new male converts wait a year to be made a deacon. Then a year between each priesthood advancement, so it was about four or five years before one could become an elder. As a result, many lost interest and dropped out of the church. The other misconception was that if someone were made an Elder, he would have the same priesthood as the Branch President, and would challenge the Branch President’s position. It took some education to change these misconceptions. I felt impressed to teach them that if a male was worthy to be baptized and was over 12 years of age that he was qualified to be ordained a deacon shortly thereafter. Then, by fellowshipping the older male converts, they would be given about three or four months in each of the Aaronic priesthood offices. This made it possible that a male convert could be advanced to an elder within a year. Such a program had a great effect on both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthood. By the end of 1962 there were 313 Aaronic priesthood ordinations. By 1964, the number of Aaronic priesthood ordinations reached 632. In 1963 there were 749 male converts. During that year, 279 had become deacons, which was 37% of the male baptisms receiving the Aaronic priesthood before their first year in the church. As a comparison, I will report the condition of half of 1965, which was the year of my release.
During the first seven months of 1965, there were 128 male baptisms. Of this number, 112 were ordained deacons shortly after baptism. This amounted to 87% receiving the priesthood after baptism. Just for interest, we had one deacon’s quorum organized during my time. From the start of my mission I was also impressed with the need for increasing the Melchizedek priesthood so the church would have a stronger foundation upon which to build. There had been, as I recall, about five ordinations to the office of an elder, in the first seven months of 1962 (before I arrived.) There were many wonderful male members over 19 years of age who were still in the Aaronic priesthood. I turned to educating the branch presidents with the importance of preparing these young men for the Melchizedek priesthood. As a result, there were 17 males ordained to an elder in the last five months of 1962. Because of the spirit that compelled me, I challenged the branch presidents and missionaries to set a goal of 100 ordinations to the office of elder in the year 1963. We missed our goal by ordaining 97 young men to become elders. In the following year there were 81 ordinations to elder. This brought enthusiasm and strength to every branch in the mission. At the time I was released, we had made four quorums of elders, two among the Japanese, and two among the servicemen’s elders.