Georgia Atlanta Mission: President and Sister Needs

Friday Devotional: Newnan Sister McKee and Sister Jacobia Mark 10:49-50... And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee. 50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus. Sometimes we all feel like we are falling, things go wrong, or are just hard. What can we do about it? In Come Follow Me this week, Elder Uchtdorf said, "Every person, young and old, has had his own personal experience with falling. Falling is what we mortals do. But as long as we are willing to rise up again and continue on the path toward the spiritual goals God has given us, we can learn something from failure and become better and happier as a result. ... my dear friends, there will be times when you think you cannot continue on. Trust the Savior and His love. With faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the power and hope of the restored gospel, you will be able to walk tall and continue on." Missionary work doesn't always go the way we think it should. People don't call us back, appointments fall through, etc... however, we can rise and come to Jesus. He is always there. During quarantine, we went through a really difficult time. Members wouldn't help us, or call us back. We reached out to the gray dots in our area book, but no one would answer. It was hard to keep going. One day, one lady answered. She was such a miracle. Her family had been taught but she hadn't. We were able to teach her. Jump ahead....when church started again, that whole family was at church. Have faith to keep pushing through! When you get to the end of your finding time, and you are winding down. Keep pushing to make one or two more calls. Stretch just little bit more. This is our way of showing our faith and efforts to our Heavenly Father. As we make this added effort, it will create miracles!!!

Tuesday's devotional: Elder Mobley and Elder Jackman We want to talk about an important topic. We want to reference the talk from conference from Michelle D. Craig. ... We need to see ourselves and others as the Savior does. "My dear sisters and brothers, you too can pray for the Lord to open your eyes to see things you would not normally see. Seeing Ourselves as God Sees Us Perhaps the most important things for us to see clearly are who God is and who we really aresons and daughters of heavenly parents, with a divine nature and eternal destiny. Ask God to reveal these truths to you, along with how He feels about you. The more you understand your true identity and purpose, soul deep, the more it will influence everything in your life. Seeing Others Understanding how God sees us prepares the way to help us see others as He does. Columnist David Brooks said: Many of our society’s great problems flow from people not feeling seen and known. [There is a] core trait that we all have to get better at[, and that] is the trait of seeing each other deeply and being deeply seen. Jesus Christ sees people deeply. He sees individuals, their needs, and who they can become. Where others saw fishermen, sinners, or publicans, Jesus saw disciples; where others saw a man possessed by devils, Jesus looked past the outward distress, acknowledged the man, and healed him." We also like the words of the song from "Prince of Egypt" called "Look through heaven's eyes" A lake of gold in the desert sand Is less than a cool fresh spring And to one lost sheep, a shepherd boy Is greater than the richest king If a man loses everything he owns Has he truly lost his worth? Or is it the beginning Of a new and brighter birth? So how do you measure the worth of a man In wealth or strength or size? In how much he gained or how much he gave? The answer will come The answer will come to him who tries To look at his life through heaven's eyes It is so important always, but especially as missionaries, to see ourselves as He does. Our potential, our purpose, our talents, abilities, etc... Then we look at those around us and also see them the way the Savior does! We see their potential, their importance. We can do this through the power of the Holy Ghost! We can work to have this gift. The Lord will help us see others through His eyes if we ask Him. Our challenge to you is to strive for this gift....to be able to look through heaven's eyes to see all around us as the Children of God.

It's time to be with our wonderful missionaries again at zone conference! We love our missionaries! Started with our Powder Springs Zone...

Friday Devotional Macon Sister Green and Sister Clark We wanted to share this poem:...Continue reading

We received two new missionaries yesterday! Sister Gates and Elder Augulis. We are so grateful to have them here with us in the Georgia Atlanta Mission! Welcome to Georgia!

Tuesday Devotional: Conyers Sister Edwards and Sister Jensen We have been studying the section in Preach My Gospel about diligence. It defines diligence as:... "steady, consistent, earnest, and energetic effort in doing the Lord's work. The Lord expects you to work diligently--persistently and with great effort and care. A diligent missionary works effectively and efficiently. Diligence in missionary work is an expression of your love for the Lord and His work. When you are diligent, you find joy and satisfaction in your work. Steadiness and consistence....is doing your best each and every day. It is making every day a GREAT day! It is setting and reaching towards our goals. Earnest and energetic...is excited about the work we are doing! We should be excited to share this message that we carry. It is a message of hope and love. Russell M. Nelson has said that sometimes we have a question mark when we should have an exclamation point, when our mission calls are issued. We need to show energetic and earnest excitement and love for the Lord's children. Sometimes we even have to "fake it until you make it". In D&C 103:35-36 35 Therefore, as I said unto you, ask and ye shall receive; pray earnestly that peradventure my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., may go with you, and preside in the midst of my people, and organize my kingdom upon the consecrated land, and establish the children of Zion upon the laws and commandments which have been and which shall be given unto you. 36 All victory and glory is brought to pass unto you through your diligence, faithfulness, and prayers of faith. (Read this and add your companions name and the name of the mission in it instead). We are growing His church here. We get personal blessings when we do these things. It says in the scriptures: "all victory and glory is brought to you" as we are steady, consistent, earnest and energetic. Elder Bruce R. McConkie (191585) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles gave this explanation: Nephi made God his partner. If he failed to get the plates, it meant God had failed. And because God does not fail, it was incumbent upon Nephi to get the plates or lay down his life in the attempt (in Conference Report, Apr. 1982,) We want to invite you to pick one of these 4 points and work on it this week. As we do we know this, we will be able to accomplish the Lord's work and find more joy in our service.

Friday Devotional: Fayetteville Sister Smith and Sister Williams We would like to share some thoughts about justice and mercy. Some our favorite topics.... Luke 6:36 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful During the MTC, I challenged myself to read the Book of Mormon. During that time, it stood out to me just how merciful God is. Mercy is so important in our journey of faith, repentance, and baptism. It is the only way we can return home, is through the that mercy. During this recent General Conference Elder Renland stated, "Without the blessings that come from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, we can never do enough or be enough by ourselves. The good news, though, is that because of and through Jesus Christ we can become enough.7 All people will be saved from physical death by the grace of God, through the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ.8 And if we turn our hearts to God, salvation from spiritual death is available to all through the Atonement of [Jesus] Christ by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel. It is only through the atonement of our Savior and His mercy that we can return home again. We also have the amazing opportunity to share this message of mercy and hope with others. Heavenly Father wants us back. We are here to give people that good news of the gospel. We have the privilege and ability to share this message. We can share a message with them, that they may not even know they need. What an amazing message it is!

Along with welcoming new missionaries comes the unfortunate part of having to send missionaries home as well! We were so sad to say goodby to this group! Well done! We will miss you! Elders Harrick, Lopez, Marker, Ostler, Richins, Findlay, Hunt, Lindhardt, Jones, Farley, Bown, Cole, Gurr, Miller, Daniel, Young, Wilhelm, Russell, Bateman, Cope Sisters Williams, Yates, Waite, Phelps, Horton, Edwards... Senior Couple: Elder and Sister VanCour

What a busy week it has been! We have welcomed in a great new group of missionaries to the Georgia Atlanta Mission! Welcome Elders Bowen, Cardoza, Ethington, Clark, Smith, Lenox, Pace, Stallings, Davis, Chapple, Crabtree, Earl, Gould, Harlan, Hunt, Tonumaipe'a, McLaughlin and Sisters Smith, Winder, Lustig, Williams, Phillips, Good We are so excited to have you here as part of the GAM-ily!

Atlanta Zone Devotional: Elder Walker Elder McAuthur... We just enjoyed General Conference, and want to share a couple of thoughts: 3 Nephi 29:2 2 And ye may know that the words of the Lord, which have been spoken by the holy prophets, shall all be fulfilled" President Nelson during this General Conference stated, let God prevail.4 Thus the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul! "The word willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel. We all have our agency. We can choose to be of Israel, or not. We can choose to let God prevail in our lives, or not. We can choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our lives, or not. as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or latter-day covenant Israel, we have been charged to assist the Lord with this pivotal work. When we speak of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, we are referring, of course, to missionary, temple, and family history work. We are also referring to building faith and testimony in the hearts of those with whom we live, work, and serve. Anytime we do anything that helps anyoneon either side of the veilto make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel." This is the most important work on earth right now. After conference I always fill fulfilled but also sometimes I feel a little discouraged. Sometimes it feels like a lot to keep up with or unrealistic to do everything that is asked. April 1971 Marvin J. Ashton We have not failed until we have quit trying. As long as we are working diligently with love, patience, and long-suffering, despite the odds or the apparent lack of progress, we are not classified as failures in the home. We only start to fail when we give up on a son, daughter, mother, or father. --or ourselves!! We haven't failed on our mission, in our missionary work or on our lives until we quit trying! We need to keep diligently striving, with love, to keep going, keep reaching out, keep trying. If we do, at the end, we will be ok. We will be considered a success. Keep going! Be patient with yourself. Stick to it...even when it gets hard! When we stand before our maker it will all be worth it!

Friday's devotional (sorry for the delay): Powder Springs Elder Hobbs and Elder Frost:... We want to share some thoughts from Elder Bednar's talk from conference: "periodic tests absolutely are essential to learning. An effective test helps us to compare what we need to know with what we actually know about a specific subject; it also provides a standard against which we can evaluate our learning and development. Likewise, tests in the school of mortality are a vital element of our eternal progression. Interestingly, however, the word test is not found even one time in the scriptural text of the standard works in English. Rather, words such as prove, examine, and try are used to describe various patterns of demonstrating appropriately our spiritual knowledge about, understanding of, and devotion to our Heavenly Father’s eternal plan of happiness and our capacity to seek for the blessings of the Savior’s Atonement." So let's do a self-evaluation: l l salesman l see miracles l ----------------------x=love l l rebellion l fraternity l y=expectation We need to have high love and high expectation to see the miracles our Savior has waiting for us. Helaman 10:4-5 4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. 5 And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word, for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will. Invitation: Be like Nephi to have high expectation and love for the people we are serving here in Georgia and for ourselves and our companions. As we do we will see miracles!

Finished up zone conferences this last week with Conyers and Fayetteville! Always love being with these missionaries!

Tuesday Devotional: Elder and Sister Roper After the Savior's resurrection, 5-6 of the apostles went bak t fishing. They fished all day and night. After an unsuccessful night of fishing, they notice a stranger on the shore. They don't know who he is, but he calls to them and tells them to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. ... These were experienced fishermen. They didn't know what experience the stranger had. However, they listen and cast their nets to the other side of the boat. As they do, we know they were filled with so many fish they were unable to pull them all into the boat. This stranger had asked them to do something different. We have been asked by our leaders to do many things differently. Sometimes it's our mission leaders, sometimes it's other church leaders. We have been asked to cast our nets on the other side of the boat. To do things differently. This takes faith. Faith takes courage! We have been asked to wear masks. It takes courage to do face book finding. It takes faith to do ministering with members. We have leaders who are guided to tell us what we need to do. We need to cast our nets where we are asked to cast them. As we do, we will receive a multitude of blessings. Move forward. We can be mad about being here, about change and refuse to accept it or we can be willing to try. Be willing to cast our nets in a different place and go where we are asked to go. As we make an effort, we will be guided as we do so!