A Sure Foundation

Dear Family,

As I sat waiting for the Mission Tour Zone Conference to begin, surrounded by great missionaries who are truly ready to work, I didn't know what was about to happen. Elder Gavarret of the Seventy was presiding. We opened the meeting with hymn 5, then had an amazing spiritual thought from one of the sisters in my district, Sis Nkenyane from South Africa. A very intelligent and well read sister. Immediately following that spiritual thought, Elder Adams got up to continue the conference, but Pres cut him off and said he would like to take a few minutes. Pres Shulz proceeded to talk very small about how important Preach My Gospel has become, then said, "I would like to ask Elder Hair, Sis Nagasou, and Elder Brown (Nigeria) to come up and tell us by using the scriptures, how important the Preach My Gospel manual is in the work, and what you have learned from it. Having no idea what I was going to say in front of 60 missionaries, Pres and Sis Shulz, and Elder and Sis Gavarret, I grabbed my scriptures and went up to the front. I don't remember exactly what I said, but I used Helaman 5:12 and shared my testimony of PMG, the foundation of our best teaching. I expressed gratitude for being able to focus on PMG along with my other studies. I know I can learn a lot more from it.

As I listened to Elder Adams in the Zone Conference speak of the love he feels for the people, I too recognized how much I love the Ghanaians as well. I remember my Temple Recommend interview in Rexburg with Pres Henry J. Eyring. He sat me down, and we conversed small, talking about each other's families and where I would be serving, and then he jumped right into the interview which went fast. Then he asked if I had any questions for him. I said, "Pres Eyring, I know you served a mission in Japan and as a mission president there as well. Is there something that you really wanted all of your missionaries to know?" He told me that as a young missionary he was very obedient, sometimes waking up early to study more etc.. However, the one thing that he said he regretted, was not loving the people enough. Surprised by his response, I asked him what he thought I should do in order to love the people enough. He simply responded, "Pray as though everything depended on the Lord, work as though everything depended on you." As I evaluate myself every day, I continue to find flaws and try to work on them. Improving in all areas of life is not an easy task, but it is made easier as you work at it each and every day.

We have been trying to get our investigators to attend church and keep their commitments. I remember counsel we received asking us to make the Book of Mormon more of a focus in our efforts. As I thought about all of our investigators, I realized that none of them had a firm enough testimony in my mind, of the Book of Mormon. They love the New Testament as I do, but as they gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon, their love and knowledge of the Bible will only grow stronger.

The family is the smallest unit in the church and the most important. You can not build a house without a foundation and we as a family are that foundation. I would like to make a small request. This week, can everyone in the family re read their Patriarchal Blessings and share their testimonies and inputs as to how we as a family are doing on making our family unit what it needs to be.

I love you all very much. Amanda, I almost broke down in tears as I saw you in a beautiful African dress. I love you all!

Elder Hair