Setting Dates, Becoming
Desperate, and Winning the Trust of the Lord
Contributed by Pierre Koncurat
Last December I prayerfully set a date as counseled by Elder Ballard a number of years ago. As my wife and I talked about it, she reminded me that we have done that several times before with no success. We had tried to identify people that we could friendship. We gave out Books of Mormon. We tried to set an example for the nonmembers we knew. Eventually we asked friends over for dinner and showed them a church video. They became very upset and told us never to try to force our religion on them. Fortunately, they are still very dear friends of ours.
We always knew that we must keep trying, possibly changing our approach to missionary work. As mission counselor I felt the heavy responsibility to set an example for members to follow. I gave out a couple of Books of Mormon to neighbors but was very uncomfortable in calling them and asking what they thought of the books. My wife and I kept praying daily, as well as occasionally fasting, for missionary opportunities .
In January our mission president gave me a copy of "Leading Missionary Work in the Stake and the Ward" which had been given to our stake presidents by an area seventy. After reading it and also reading the “Seven Lessons for Sharing the Gospel” Ensign article (Feb. 2005), I became very excited about the approach I should have been using all along. I shared copies of the Ensign article with missionaries and ward mission leaders, and pointed our high counselors over missionary work to the http://missionaryleaders.org website. A number of those who received the information got very excited, but not all as I had hoped. I believe that some just didn't take the time to read the material and consider how it should be used.
In the meantime, I kept trying to intentionally bring up the church in as many conversations with nonmembers as I could. I must say that there were still opportunities that I missed due to my own personal reluctance and fear.
Then it happened. On Saturday January 17, 2009 the temperature dropped down to three degrees (Fahrenheit) during the night. When our daughter tried to take a shower, there was no water in the second story bathroom. We had frozen pipes somewhere in the house. By around 4:00 PM, my wife screamed as she heard water gushing inside a wall and running down a large window in her den. We shut off the water main to the house and got temporary help.
On Tuesday, we were able to get a contractor/plumber, Frank, and his associate Steve to start the repair job. I tried to think of ways to bring up the church in conversation but was not successful. It looked like the job would take the better part of the next day, so I planned again to find an appropriate way to bring up the church. The next day, I was attending a zone conference in Philadelphia. At a break, I called home to see how the work was progressing, and my wife informed me that the workers were almost through and would be leaving soon. I left the zone conference and rushed home for my last opportunity to be a member missionary. Soon after I arrived home, I mentioned as they were leaving, "I just got back from spending the morning with about sixty Mormon missionaries." Frank said, "Oh! My wife's mother used to be a Mormon." I asked "what about your wife?" He said she used to go to the Mormon church, but she had gone back to the Catholics. He said, however, she recently had attended the Mormon church again. I asked him if he had ever listened to the missionaries, and he said, "No," but they had been to their home for a visit. I asked him if I could visit him with them. He said “maybe we could all come here - and have dinner, too?” (He just took the words out of my mouth.)
Soon Frank, his wife and three daughters were in our home for dinner and a lesson with the missionaries. He has since had two other lessons and has attended church twice. Whether or not Frank is baptized, I consider this experience a success. Frank has agency to accept or reject the message.
I know that if we are serious about setting a date and praying daily for missionary experiences, we will get them. We need to have the faith to have intentional church conversations as often as we can. This is an indication to the Lord that we are serious about what we are praying for. I know that we will have opportunities to invite people to hear the message of the restoration if we ask for it and follow the prompting of the Holy Ghost.
