Mission President Letter

 

Dear Missionary Parents: 

In addition to the letter we sent (or for some resent) we would like to express our great honor to be serving with your son/daughter at this time. We were so inspired by our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson and the apostles and officers who spoke in the recently concluded General Conference. We want to express our gratitude for your prayers and the love you show your missionary for their great work inviting all to come unto Christ.  

On April 22nd, we will move Preparation Day (P-Day) for one day and move it to either April 23, 24 or 25. Please ask your missionary what day will be their Preparation Day so you can speak to them on that day. This one-day move will allow all our missionaries to go to the St. Paul Temple before it closes for renovation beginning May through late October. We apologize if this change causes any concern. We will make any effort to make sure you have the chance to speak with your missionary. 

For the next six months, we will be reading as many of the April General Conference talks as possible. We thought making you aware of our Sunday Night Fireside study of these messages would be a good way to support your missionary by asking them what they are studying. We will send you the reading schedule as soon as we have it. 

We are grateful for many of you who read along with us in our March Madness challenge, meaning reading the Book of Mormon in the month of March. It changed our lives and deepened our testimony of this second witness of our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Here are the things we will be doing next in our mission, so you have some insight and the chance to reinforce what we are studying and focusing on. 

1.  We have a goal of 60 baptisms in a month (a faith-filled goal) and we ask for your prayers and continued support by asking your missionary how they are doing in their urgency and diligence in finding and teaching those who are ready to receive the good news of our Savior's gospel. We know we can improve in using our time more effectively. We also know that it starts with one person, one testimony and one by one. All are invited to come to Christ.

            2.  We are studying and memorizing, "The Living Christ: The Testimony of the Apostles."

3.  As stated above, read all the conference addresses given at this April General Conference before the October Conference.  

4.  We are following and keeping the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ. They are in your gospel library, and we would love your encouragement, so your missionary knows you are following them. We feel that making small course corrections to follow these principle-based standards given to us by the prophet will help us in reaching our goals of finding more people to invite to come unto Christ. You might consider reading them as well.  

Thank you for taking the time to read this letter. We plan to invite parents of departing missionaries to join us on our Sunday Night Fireside chat when they will share their departing testimonies. We will give you the zoom link to join us and the chat starts at 9 PM each Sunday night. 

We love your missionary and are so grateful and blessed to be serving with them. Thank you for your support, love, and prayers. We are stronger as we work to support each other in the wonderful opportunity to stretch and grow to become what our Savior sees in us. 

With Appreciation,

President Jeff and Sister Jeni Gochnour

Minnesota Minneapolis Mission Leaders