Jason's Sacrament Talk - Importance of Ministering

Introduction
I want to start out by quoting an old Maori proverb:
“He aha te mea nui o te Ao? He tangata, He tangata, He tangata!”

What does it mean? You’ll have to listen all the way to the end to find out. So sorry if I put you to sleep, you’ll miss out. I want to read the last letter from my son Tyrell. He is serving in the Raleigh North Carolina Mission.

Letter from Tyrell
Hey everyone! This week was the hardest working week I've ever had on my mission so far. Elder Cox and I worked sooooo hard! We knocked about 7 hours everyday whether it was downpouring rain or blazing hot it mattered not. Plus we were on bikes for the week to.  We've definitely been seeing the blessings from all the work we've put in this week. We have been working with a less active family called the Tejedas. They have an 8 year old son who they would like to get baptized so we have been teaching him the lessons. Sister Tejeda is Puerto Rican and she makes some pretty good chicken. We found a young Egyptian Muslim lady who is struggling to keep the roof over her head and people abusing her property. She recognized us because missionaries had knocked into her a year ago and offered her a book of Mormon, she said they also offered to help her but she declined. Her name is Iman and she is from Egypt. She started crying when telling us all the things she's been going through. She said ever since she moved to America her daughters have gone astray and believes now she is being punished for it. Her house is built on a slope and so whenever it rains it carries debris and sludge and just makes a mess everywhere. She's made walls and ditches to try and divert the water but whenever she is gone people come by and destroy everything. I really felt sorrow and compassion for her and offered help. She asked us, why would you want to help me? We comforted her by telling her that God loves her, and sometimes he puts us in rough situations only so we can learn, draw closer to him, and ultimately become who he wants us to become. I asked her what she was seeking most for in life, and she said "Peace. Peace in this world, and peace with God." I promised her peace if she gave us a chance, and she accepted. We biked back a couple days later, the day she told us to come back and it was pouring rain. She was so surprised to see that we kept our word, and actually came back to help. She couldn't believe how nice we were being. We ended up building a cinder block wall behind her house to block the sludge, and than we found shelter on her porch and talked for a good hour sharing beliefs and all that. We bore our testimonies, and I offered to pray for her. She was overcome by the Spirit while I was praying and began to cry, the rain also stopped while I was praying and the sun shone on us. It was a tender mercy and a testimony builder for me that God really does care about us. We have a lot more good things happening, but sadly I'm out of time! The work is really picking up in Fuquay! God is good, and the church is still true!
Love ya'll
Elder Wihongi

So it sounds like he is doing well and doing a lot of good. Whether the Egyptian lady ends up being taught the lessons or not, the Lord had compassion for her and sent his missionaries to minister to her. It was an example of the importance of ministering which is the topic of my remarks today. We all seek peace in our lives just as she does and we can be the instruments in the hands of the Lord to help bring a small measure of peace into the lives of others. And if we can help point a person’s life towards Christ then we know there will be hope for a peace that is not of this world, as the Savior says,

“27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

For that reason only I could close my remarks now about the importance of ministering but I’ll continue...Just to bring a little peace for the Bishopric right now.

Letter 
Some of my remarks are taken from a talk called Personal Ministry by Sister Bonnie Parkin who was the General Relief Society President from 2002-2007. She shared a letter in this talk.

Dear Sister Parkin,

We fly quite a bit, and when we got our boarding passes, we had been upgraded to first class. This has never happened before, and may not again, but it was a little exciting.

As I was getting on the plane, I saw to my left a young woman in military uniform. The thought immediately came to me, “You need to give her your seat.” It was quite a strong impression, and one I could not ignore. So, not being totally obedient, I went to my seat and put my bag down and sat down. I could not sit there though, and I walked back to talk to the stewards. I told them I wanted to give my seat to someone I had seen while getting on. Then I went back to get my bag.

I stood by the stewards until this young woman boarded the plane, and I pointed her out. They stopped her and informed her that I wanted to give her my seat. She was very appreciative, and I told her that I appreciated all she did for our country and I was happy to do this. I found out her seat assignment and went back and settled in.

About halfway through the flight this young woman came back to my seat and thanked me again. She kept calling me ma’am and telling me how grateful she was for this kindness. Then she handed me a little piece of paper and walked back to her seat. The note said, “Ma’am, I just wanted to say thank you so much! You helped me out in my hour of need. This soldier is forever thankful for your kindness. I am heading home to attend my mother’s funeral. She passed away yesterday in a car accident. I thought God left me and punished me for something, but through this He gave me an angel to help my travel. Thank you. Here is a little something that helped me out. Now I’m passing it to you.” Enclosed with the note was a little metal cross that said, “God loves you.”

The letter concludes:

I am so grateful that I listened to the Holy Ghost and acted on that prompting. I don’t know her name or where she was going. I really only know that she was a soldier. But I know that Heavenly Father knows her name and where she was going and that she was hurting. He wanted her to know that He loves her and was comforting her at this difficult time. I know that Heavenly Father loves me, too, and that He trusts me. It was such a simple thing to do. I guess that is what most service is—very simple things.

My son’s experience and this sister’s experience shows us how Heavenly Father knows each of his children and so much wants to help in our time of need. It also shows that He needs willing hands and hearts to do his work. And it doesn’t need to involve difficult things but usually very simple things as this sister pointed out.

Change
As you know from the last General Conference that Home teaching and Visiting Teaching have been replaced with ministering. Elder Holland said this about the change in the last conference:
Brothers and sisters, as the work of quorums and auxiliaries matures institutionally, it follows that we should mature personally as well—individually rising above any mechanical, function-without-feeling routine to the heartfelt discipleship articulated by the Savior at the conclusion of His earthly ministry. As He prepared to leave His still-innocent and somewhat-confused little band of followers, He did not list a dozen administrative steps they had to take or hand them a fistful of reports to be filled out in triplicate. No, He summarized their task in one fundamental commandment: “Love one another; as I have loved you. … By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”4

This is one of the Frequently Asked Questions posted on the Ministering website.

How is ministering similar to and different from home teaching and visiting teaching?
Ministering is similar to home teaching and visiting teaching in that each household will have priesthood brethren—ministering brothers—to minister to and care for the family or individuals who live there (see D&C 20:47, 59). Each adult sister will have members of the Relief Society—ministering sisters—to minister to and care for her...
In addition, some requirements of home teaching and visiting teaching have been adjusted to help members minister with greater focus on meeting needs. No longer must contacts always be formal visits. They can take place at home, at church, or in any setting that is safe, convenient, and reachable. As Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught: “[What] matters most is how you have blessed and cared for those within your stewardship, which has virtually nothing to do with a specific calendar or a particular location. What matters is that you love your people and are fulfilling the commandment ‘to watch over the church always.’”3

In short, ministering is led by the Spirit, it is flexible, and it is customized to the needs of each member.

3Jeffrey R. Holland, “Emissaries to the Church,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2016, 62.

I feel this change will help us to develop a ministering mind set. Both those experiences weren’t with people they were assigned to minister to but were with people they came across during their day, although my son was actively seeking for people to minister to. As we minister to our assigned families in small, simple but loving ways I think we’ll realize we can do the same thing in our other circles of influence and minister as the opportunity arises as we go about our lives.

Sister Parkin said this:
Most ministering opportunities are spontaneous, not planned in advance. Much of the Savior’s ministering seemed almost incidental, happening while He was on His way to somewhere else—while He was doing something else. Chapter 9 of the Gospel of Matthew is an amazing illustration of that.

Early in the chapter, the Savior disembarked a ship. A man with palsy was brought to Him. Jesus stopped and healed him. Then Jesus had a discussion with the Pharisees and a man interrupted, saying his daughter had died. So Jesus left to assist the man. On His way, a woman touched His garment. Jesus healed her. He continued on His way and raised the girl from the dead. As He departed her home, two blind men followed Him, and He healed them. As He continued on His way, He cast the devil from a man possessed. All of this took place in one chapter! He gave us the example of ministering as He went.

Another FAQ from the website.

How is ministering led by the Spirit?
As members minister, they seek inspiration to know how best to reach out to others and meet their needs. Would a scheduled visit and regular phone calls to an older sister who lives alone provide the connection she needs? Would an invitation to a less-active young adult to participate in a community project be the most helpful contact? Would supporting a youth’s soccer game help both the youth and her parents? Would texting someone a hope-filled scripture help lighten his burdens? Would a note or card or email show helpful concern? What would the Savior have His servants do? Finding inspired answers to such questions and using all available methods for making contact with those they are assigned is central to inspired ministering. To provide Christlike service, ministering brothers and sisters cannot rely on routine visits or predetermined messages; they seek inspiration and counsel with family members to best care for those to whom they are assigned—using the time and resources they have.

Sister Parkin shared this story in her talk:
My daughter-in-law’s mother, Susan, was a wonderful seamstress. President Kimball lived in their ward. One Sunday, Susan noticed that he had a new suit. Her father had recently returned from a trip to New York and had brought her some exquisite silk fabric. Susan thought that fabric would make a handsome tie to go with President Kimball’s new suit. So on Monday she made the tie. She wrapped it in tissue paper and walked up the block to President Kimball’s home.
On her way to the front door, she suddenly stopped and thought, “Who am I to make a tie for the prophet? He probably has plenty of them.” Deciding she had made a mistake, she turned to leave.
Just then Sister Kimball opened the front door and said, “Oh, Susan!”
Stumbling all over herself, Susan said, “I saw President Kimball in his new suit on Sunday. Dad just brought me some silk from New York . . . and so I made him a tie.”
Before Susan could continue, Sister Kimball stopped her, took hold of her shoulders, and said: “Susan, never suppress a generous thought.”
Susan didn’t have an assignment to make that tie. She wasn’t hired to do so. Despite feeling a bit hesitant, she did it because it felt right. Susan had a quiet sense of mission to serve others.

If you have a good thought, a generous thought, don’t brush it off. Follow through with it whether it’s someone you are assigned to minister to or not. It could have only come from the spirit. Moroni taught us this in Moroni 7.

13 But behold, that which is of God inviteth and enticeth to do good continually; wherefore, every thing which inviteth and enticeth to do good, and to love God, and to serve him, is inspired of God.

So as Sister Kimball taught, “Never suppress a generous thought.” You can feel confident that it is inspired of God.

So back to the old Maori proverb:
“He aha te mea nui o te Ao? He tangata, He tangata, He tangata!”
What it the most important thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people!”

I know God lives and loves each one of us. We each are what is most important to him and that should tell you how important ministering is. I know Jesus is our Savior and can bring peace into our lives as we turn to Him. I know God can use us to bless others as we minister.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.