Called to Serve in Your Own Back Yard

By Lu Ann Brobst Staheli


President David O. McKay said, “Every member a missionary,” President Spencer W. Kimball told us to “Lengthen our stride,” and President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “as members we can assist them {the missionaries} in finding and teaching investigators.” But what if you don’t know how to teach the gospel? What if you’ve never been on full time mission? What if you’re afraid to approach your neighbor about the teachings of the Church? Surely the messages from the prophets weren’t meant for me, you think.

As much as we might like to avoid it, every member of the Church has been called on a lifelong mission—to warn our neighbor and to strengthen our own testimonies by sharing them with others. For some of us, the mission field is no farther away than our own backyard. We have been called to forewarn those in our neighborhood, community, or even within our own families—those people we already love.

But how do we approach gospel subjects without appearing too preachy? How do we bring up the subject of attending church without seeming too pushy? Here are a few things I’ve done that have been successful at bringing others into a better understanding of the Church, and sometimes into full membership as well.

Speak about the Church as a natural part of your life. Tell your neighbors about the activities you attend, lessons you heard, and the gospel truths you’ve learned. Don’t try to preach to them about why your message is right when you share these things. Let people see the gospel light that will shine through you as you talk naturally about those principles that are important in your life.

Tell them about your family history research. Everyone has someone interesting in their ancestry, even if it’s just great-grandma whose recipe you use when making homemade jam. Invite them to the local family history center, show them how to use familysearch.org, ask them to volunteer time to aid in the online indexing program.

Look for common interests. There are so many things about the Church that we have in common with those not of the LDS faith. Let these work for you in introducing the gospel. Discuss your family. Share music that is both sacred and popular in the Mormon culture. Have you read an interesting book—maybe an LDS novel or one that demonstrates the values you hold? Share it with your non-LDS friends. Talk about gardening, food storage, or emergency preparedness. Anything that opens a door to a gospel-centered topic, yet also lets the neighbor know more about you.

Validate your neighbor in his or her own religious beliefs. Show respect for what they believe to be true. Show a natural, honest curiosity and attempt to understand what they feel and understand. Tell them how wonderful it is that they participate in their own church activities. A negative attitude about another’s convictions will not serve to show them the knowledge you have or help in the conversion process. More people are converted through love and understanding than will ever be through telling someone they are wrong, especially in something as personal and sacred to them as their own religious beliefs.

Invite them, without pressure, to appropriate events. There is so much happening today in the Church with humanitarian aid. Perhaps you have a neighbor or relative who could share a talent which would help with this cause. Maybe they want to learn a skill being taught in an upcoming Relief Society homemaking evening. Take them to a musical fireside or to a ward party. Let them meet other members of the Church on a more neutral ground than in the chapel on a Sunday.

Be creative. If you listen to the Spirit, ideas will come to you. Don’t reject this inspiration because of your own fears. Few people will turn against you if you share your feelings about the Church in an attitude of love. If you keep a prayer in your heart, more ideas will flow to you as the proper situation arrives.

Remain sincere in the things you say, and always be their friend, no matter what your non-member friends may decide. Not every person you meet who is a non-member will immediately convert to the Church, but that shouldn’t change your attitude and interest in them. Continue to be their friend. Learn as much from them as you hope they learn from you.

Remember, when it comes to sharing the gospel, we are reminded in the Doctrine and Covenants, “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father!”

What You Repeatedly Hear You Will Eventually Believe

By Lu Ann Brobst Staheli

Perhaps you’ve heard the line often attributed to Adolph Hitler: If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. Based on the source alone, you might be hesitant to believe it is true, but, like it or not, the idea is sound.

Politicians use repetition all the time to sway our vote. Vote for me. I’ll solve all your problems. My opponent believes. . .(insert an option here that the people won't like). Then the campaign runs that commercial repeatedly on every form of media at their disposal, pounding the negative idea into our heads until there is no way we will vote for the other guy, unless we do because we’ve heard the other candidate's name so often in the negative campaigning that it's the one embedded into our memory once we reach the polls.

According to the advertising industry, a potential client needs to see your ads at least seven times before they'll act on it. Only seven times and the new information is in your long-term memory forever. Consider the new song you hear on the radio. The first few times you might hum along, catching a phrase or two that sticks with you. Usually the first words you remember are the oft-repeated chorus. Eventually you learn the rest of the words, sometimes whether you want to or not. I'm sure each of us knows the lyrics to a song we can't stand—-The Lion Sleeps Tonight—-and finds the words stuck in our heads the rest of the day anytime we run across the song out of happenstance.

The things we hear repeatedly bore into our minds and become a solid part of who we are. Too often the things we hear come from our own minds, and they are usually negative. When we assign ourselves negative labels—-You’re fat. You're too stupid. You can't do that.—-we can be guilty of stopping our own progression toward the goals we want and the potential within us. We become our own worst enemy.

But what can we do to turn our lives around? How can we change that little negative voice with so much power into a force for good within our own minds?

Believe.

Think and Grow Rich author Napoleon Hill once said, “Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.” Protestant preacher and author Norman Vincent Peale (The Power of Positive Thinking) said, “Change your thoughts, and you change your world.” We are even told in the New Testament book of Matthew: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”

Did you catch that? All things. Not just some things, yet how many times have we been guilty of picking and choosing those scriptures we will believe and those we do not? If we believe part of the scriptures to be true, then why not all? As we learn in Proverbs 3: 4-5, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.”


Change the negative thoughts in your head to those which are more positive, and you will find your life begins to change for the better. Trust and believe that you can lose weight, and you’ll find your actions become more supportive of that goal. Tell yourself you can learn whatever it is you need to know, and you’ll find a sudden hunger for knowledge that can be gained through reading or taking courses. If you want to change an aspect of your life or relationships, you can do that, if you only believe in yourself and you are willing to put forth the effort to do so.

Find those positive affirmations that work best for you and repeat them often. Act as if the things you say are true. Then watch the changes that come about in your life, and perhaps in the lives of the people around you. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish, if you only believe.

The Good Husband

By Lu Ann Staheli

Husbands are commanded: “… love your wives, even as Christ also loveth the church, and gave himself for it.” (Ephesians 5:25) Perhaps because we were older when we married, or maybe because my husband had good parents, or simply because of the man my husband grew to be from his life experiences, but when it comes to loving husbands, I am truly blessed. I have one of those husbands who gives freely of himself to ensure that I know how much he cares for me.

Our years together have not always been easy. Occasional squabbles, misunderstandings, and differing philosophies of handling money, parenting, and interacting with extended family have come to us just like they do with everyone else, but through each trial, we continue to have mutual respect and love for one another.

We live in a world that seems to have forgotten the principles of common courtesy. Unfortunately, it’s all too easy for the rudeness that surrounds us to slip into our homes and relationships if we aren’t careful. Love begets love, and unless we remain aware of the ways we treat each other, we may find ourselves moving apart instead of staying together. This can also be true within families and friendships, not just with romantic relationships and marriages.

As equal partners, wives can take the lead in keeping relationships strong by helping her husband become the good husband she hoped for when she married.

1. Be friends. My mother always told me “marry your best friend,” and it was great advice. If you aren’t good friends, the kind who can simply sit together and enjoy the company, then you’ll soon find it easier to slip away from the closeness a marriage needs to survive. Remind yourselves of those fun things you used to do before you were married, before there were children, monthly bills, and other obligations that took you away from time spent together. Plan at least fifteen minutes to talk with each other each day. Schedule this into your planner and consider it sacred time. Do the same for a weekly or bi-monthly date. This time is important, and it keeps the two of you closer for those days once the children have married and gone.

2. Tell him what you need. Men are not mind-readers, and all too often women assume their husband already knows how they feel. When you don’t share your feelings with your husband, he will often either remain unaware or completely misinterpret what you are thinking. Either way, his reaction, or lack thereof, can force a wedge between the two of you. Men like to fix things; women want to be listened to, not lectured at. Let your husband know when you need a listening ear, someone to bounce ideas off of, or just a place to vent, rather than having him step in and try to fix it for you. Tell him right from the start what you need, before you dive into expressing your emotions.

3. Let him be the hunter and gatherer. Men were born to provide for their family, and even if you make more money than he does, let him take the lead when it comes to going forth and bringing home the provisions. My husband does the grocery shopping, but even if yours leaves this task for you ask him what he would like for meals. At family time, have your husband call the children together for meals, family prayer, and other family-oriented activities. As the head of the family, this is part of his job, to gather his tribe.

4. Let him make mistakes without tearing down his ego. Probably the most common negative image wives have borne throughout history is that of being a nag. You know the adage: You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. When we treat our husbands with respect, they give us respect in return. Nagging is not a quality of respect.

5. Be the Good Wife. Know what your husband wants from you. Despite the fact that those June Cleaver days are far behind us, husbands still have expectations for their wives. They like to see us look nice, smell nice, and talk nice. They don’t want to come home to a frump, a schlump, or a grump. Take a few minutes before your husband is due home to tidy yourself up, put on a happy face, and welcome him home. A husband who is greeted rather than attacked at the door will try harder to be a better husband for you.

Because I am a wife, I speak to wives, although these same suggestions can be applied in some respects to dating relationships, friendships, or other situations in which women must communicate with men.

As in all things, we get back what we give, and giving yourself as a good wife will do more to get you back a good husband than anything. In the words of the Lord, “love one another, as I have loved you,” and the world, and your family, will be a better place.

Simplify as You Magnify

By Lu Ann Staheli

It often seems the more ways we invent to simplify our lives, the more complicated our lives become. Technology allows us to make contact with others from almost anywhere, resulting in less time away from the concerns of work. Household appliances reduce the workload, while giving us an opportunity to use even more specialized equipment to complete each task. Automobiles are high tech, ready to tell us when every fuel, oil, and air level must be checked, meaning we spend additional time taking the car in to have those indicator lights turned off. Life has become a rat race all in the process of simplification.

It’s no wonder we sigh when we hear church leaders tell us to “magnify our callings.” To members of the priesthood, the late Elder Delbert L. Stapley of the Quorum of the Twelve once observed: “There are two main requirements of this oath and covenant. First is faithfulness . . . The second … is to magnify one’s calling. To magnify is to honor, to exalt and glorify, and cause to be held in greater esteem or respect. It also means to increase the importance of, to enlarge and make greater.”

Enlarge and make greater—two words that sound like more work. Is this a call to add one more thing—one more obligation—to our already busy lives? Does it mean we must make the simple hard or the plain glorified? How can members of the priesthood—and the sisters who support them—magnify their callings as husbands, fathers, providers of service in the church, and wage earners, without being lost in the charge to magnify? When it comes to matters of spirituality, perhaps the answer really is to simplify.

President Marion G. Romney, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, once said, “In order to magnify our callings in the priesthood, three things at least are necessary: One is that we have a motivating desire to do so. Another is that we search and ponder the words of eternal life. And a third is that we pray.” Those three things alone are enough to put all members of the church on the path to magnifying not only our callings, but the quality of our lives.

President Gordon B. Hinckley adds, “When we live up to our high and holy calling, when we show love for God through service to fellowmen, when we use our strength and talents to build faith and spread truth, we magnify our priesthood.

“We magnify our priesthood and enlarge our calling when we serve with diligence and enthusiasm in those responsibilities to which we are called by proper authority. We magnify our calling, we enlarge the potential of our priesthood when we reach out to those in distress and give strength to those who falter. We magnify our calling when we walk with honesty and integrity. We honor our priesthood and magnify its influence when we walk in virtue and fidelity.”

Magnifying your calling doesn’t mean adding embellishments to presentations of gospel truths. It doesn’t mean holding a meeting just to have a meeting. It doesn’t mean home or visiting teaching becoming one more obligation that must be fulfilled. Magnifying your calling applies mostly to what happens inside each of us during the process. The benefits we reap by helping others are pleasant byproducts of completing the charge the Lord has given us to magnify.

If we want to magnify our callings as husbands or wives, fathers or mothers, providers of service in the church and community, wage earners and nurturers, we can do so without becoming lost in the charge to magnify. Use the four concepts introduced by President Romney and President Hinckley—have a motivating desire, search and ponder the words of eternal life, pray, and give service to your fellowmen—as the litmus test when deciding what to do to truly magnify each calling, both in the church and life in general. If whatever is calling you to act passes the test, then you are doing as the Lord has asked. If not, then perhaps this desire isn’t really right for you.

We all have obligations that become time wasters, activities that pull us away from the simple life. Look carefully at everything you do. Are there ways you can simplify? Is there a point where, even in a worthwhile activity, you have done too much? To be closer to the Lord, we must have time to look inside ourselves. Our church callings should not pull us away from that time, but give us opportunity to draw closer to the One who gave the calling.

Again, President Hinckley has said, “To each of us the Lord has said, ‘Magnify your calling.’ It is not always easy. But it is always rewarding.”

Giving Thanks

by Lu Ann Staheli

The Christmas season provides a great opportunity for us to express gratitude for all the gifts we receive, both temporal and spiritual. As the gospel topics library reminds us, “Gratitude is a feeling of appreciation and thankfulness for blessings or benefits we have received. As we cultivate a grateful attitude, we are more likely to be happy and spiritually strong. We should regularly express our gratitude to God for the blessings He gives us and to others for the kind acts they do for us.”

But expressing gratitude by giving thanks seems to have slipped from the basic manners of our society. A more narcissistic generation of me, me, me has taken on the attitude of entitlement, that others are there to serve them, and that expressing gratitude of any kind is a sign of weakness. The more genteel culture of yesteryear seems to have been overtaken by the rush of the information age, leaving us in the wake of rudeness and unreasonable demands.

But we don’t need to stay there. We’ve been told, “Be in the world, not of it.” We can take small steps to bring back common courtesy and enrich our own lives as a result. To quote a popular song, “If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.”

Here are five ways each of us can make that change:

Say Thank You. Although saying thank you should be the easiest part of expressing gratitude, it often seems this simple gesture is too often forgotten. Become aware of everything that is done for you throughout a single day by your spouse, children, friends, co-workers, service workers, and your Father in Heaven. When I started keeping a gratitude journal, I thought I’d never be able to fill in five things to be grateful for each day. Now I could fill those slots a hundredfold. Take the time to give thanks for even the smallest assistance and you will see more blessings come into your life.

Accept Favors Graciously. It’s all too easy to attempt to negate the kindness of others. When someone offers you a compliment, thank them without explaining why you feel unpraiseworthy. This was one of the best pieces of advice I have ever been given. Learning to only say thank you was not easy, but the change in the way it has made me feel after the praise, and the response from the givers, has proven time and again that the advice was sage. When others offer assistance, fight the urge to refuse help because of your pride. Know that the service you receive will bless not only you as the receiver, but the giver as well. Do not deny others those blessings. Your turn will come soon enough.

Return the Kindness. And when it does, return the kindness without having to be asked. Look for ways you can be of assistance. The smallest favor may be of great worth to he who receives. One of the most memorable things a visiting teacher did for me was to take my young children out for pizza while I was recovering from the flu. The undisturbed hour toward my recovery and my hungry children being fed was worth far more to me than the cost of the meal. What can you do to make your neighbor’s burden lighter? Sometimes all it takes is a smile or a kind word.

Show Your Gratitude. You may think taking a plate of cookies or a bouquet of flowers to someone is too Molly Mormon, but an expression of gratitude for favors done is still a nice thing to do. One of the things my mother taught me was to always express your gratitude in writing. I’ve seen formal thank you notes fade away from gift-giving at an all-too rapid pace. Even if postage costs prohibit the formality of a card following birthday, graduation, and wedding presents, a personalized e-mail costs the receiver nothing but time. Of course, a sincere thank you in person is also appropriate.

Pay It Forward. The Lord blesses us all with abundance. Look for ways you can share that wealth all year round. Additional donations on your tithes and offerings, time spent on service projects, even serving in the temple are ways to show your gratitude to the Lord, and to bless the lives of others. Just like the character Trevor McKinney found in the book of the same name, putting only three good deeds out into the universe and asking others to do the same can cause a ripple effect of staggering proportions in a short amount of time. Three good deeds a month from each of us would bring an abundance of spiritual gifts into the world.

As we read in Doctrine and Covenants 78:19, "He who receiveth all things with thankfulness shall be made glorious". Giving thanks can and should become a part of our everyday lives. We owe it to others; we owe it to God; and we owe it to ourselves.

Lu Ann Staheli is the author of When Hearts Conjoin and a member of the Wolf Hollow 1st Ward, Spanish Fork Utah South Stake.