"In the
mission
over which I presided, there was a small branch; it
consisted of two families. I had been invited to be the
speaker
at one of the
meetings. I was not accustomed to such small branches; the
ward over which
I presided had l,050 people. That Sunday we went into the
place where the
Saints met. It was a rented hall. We didn't meet on
the main floor; we met in
a room (in) the basement, about nine people in all.
"After the
meeting,
the branch president asked if he could visit with me.
He said, "We would like to have a chapel in our branch." I said,
'Someday.’
Then he opened a copy of one of the Church magazines and showed
me pictures
of chapels of Australia and New Zealand. He said, 'This is
the one we would like
to build,' and he pointed to a building that would house maybe
four
hundred people,
that would cost far more money than they had.
"I said, 'Oh, you
will not be able to afford that until you have several hundred
members.' He said, 'We intend to have many hundreds of
members.'
And then he
asked me if I would send six missionaries into his branch.
He indicated that his
family would personally share the gospel with the city, and this
he did.
"One day, with
the missionaries in his little store, he said, 'Elders, let's pray.'
And they got down upon their knees and prayed. This branch
president then said,
'This is the greatest day in the city of St. Thomas. This
is the day when the gospel
shall really begin to be preached with effectiveness in this
city.
This is the day when
we begin to build our new chapel.'
"The missionaries
asked, ‘Whom are we going to teach? We have no
investigators.' The branch president said, 'Hand me
the telephone directory.' And
he turned to the back of the directory where men of all
professions
were listed. He
said, 'If we are going to build a new chapel, we need an
architect who is a Mormon.
And since we don't have an architect who is a member of
this
branch, we must
convert one.' Then he went down the list and
said,
'Who shall be the first Mormon
architect in St. Thomas?' And he identified a
name.
Then he continued with a
contractor or builder, and a plumber, and an electrician, and
a doctor, and a lawyer.
Then he personally went to each and invited him into his home
so that the
missionaries might present the message and he and his family could
bear testimony
after the missionaries had given their message.
"What was the
result
of that sharing? I am God's witness that in the three
years that I served in eastern Canada, I saw that branch
grow from two families to
a branch of almost 300 members. They constructed
their
beautiful chapel. I
attended the meeting where that building held perhaps four
hundred persons. What was the secret? It was the
attitude 'we can achieve
our goal.'"
Because we have a knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and
know that we are
spirit children of God, we should be the most positive
thinking
people in the world.
We know that our loving Father in Heaven has put us on
earth
to succeed, not to
fail. Our thoughts control our attitudes, and our
attitudes
control our lives. By
living the gospel of Jesus Christ, we develop positive
attitudes.
Positive attitudes
can create happiness, peace, and contentment. The solution
lies within each of us to
be more positive and optimistic.
1. How can a negative attitude limit progress?
2. How do our attitudes influence others?
3. How would our lives be improved if we really
understood
how much our attitudes control us?
4. How does prayer help keep our attitudes
positive?
(3 Nephi 18:15)
5. How does a combination of prayer and fasting give us strength to control our attitudes? (Helaman 3:35)
6. If negative attitudes are influencing us, how can reading the scriptures bring a change in our lives? (Helaman 15:7)
7. When we receive direction and counsel from Church
leaders,
how should it influence our
attitudes?
(D&C 68:4)
8. How closely tied are our thoughts and our attitudes?
(Mark 7:21-23).
9. How closely tied are our attitudes and our behavior?
10. How closely tied is our behavior and our exaltation?