Elder and Sister Terence M. Vinson of the Presidency of the Seventy
Tuesday devotional, May 7, 2019
Elder and Sister Terence M. Vinson of the Presidency of the Seventy, Tuesday, May 7, 2019
1/ Sister Vinson
- Two elders were rejected at a door by a woman who boldly told them to never knock on her door again. Not long thereafter, they were inspired to knock on her door again. They promised her that if she read their pamphlet she would know if was true, and they were going to fast for her to do so. She said, “If you are silly enough to skip meals for such a silly reason, then I will read your pamphlet.” She felt the spirit as she read the pamphlet and eventually joined the church. Not long thereafter some missionaries asked her if she had a friend or relative who might enjoy hearing about the gospel. She referred them to her aunt, who turned out to the be Sister Vinson’s mother. The first two courageous missionaries who went back to a door from which they were rejected were responsible for hundreds of souls eventually coming into the church.
- Sister Vinson related that she married a Catholic (the future Elder Vinson) and it took 4 months for him to join the church, but only after many questions and discussions.
- The Vinsons served for several years in Africa in area presidencies, and they met a missionary who was discouraged. Something that Elder Vinson said in a talk helped this missionary greatly. The elder wrote home to his grandfather about this experience, and the connection was made that this grandfather was the missionary that taught Sister Vinson’s family all those years ago in Australia. A joyous reunion eventually took place between this missionary and Sister Vinson. “How great shall be your joy if you bring one soul unto me in the Kingdom of my Father.”
2/ Elder Vinson
- I love the missionaries who taught me the gospel so many years ago. I am jealous of your calling to be full-time missionaries. I didn’t have that opportunity as a young man.
- I want to emphasize repentance tonight, as taught by our prophet, President Nelson. Here are some of his instructions:
- Go forth and teach repentance with power and authority.
- Repentance means turning to the Lord with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
- Repentance should occur DAILY!
- Repentance is not a punishment. Jesus stands with open arms, waiting to heal, forgive, cleanse, strengthen, sanctify, purify.
- Repentance means changing a little bit every day, being better today than you were yesterday.
- Repentance is not an event, but a process.
- You can only teach repentance if you are repenting yourself, every day.
- Stop doing the small things that you shouldn’t do, and begin doing the small things you should do.
- Teach repentance and nothing else.
- Repentance opens access to the gifts of the Atonement of Christ.
- Alma 32 talks about swelling in your breast, enlarging of your soul, enlightening of your mind, and deliciousness of the spirit (S-E-E-D).
- My conversion was not based on the intellect, but on the spirit. The intellectual conversion came after the spiritual conversion.
- Be hungry to learn. I love the gospel, and I love learning more and more about it. I love my Savior.
- I was rejected by my family when I joined the church at age 23, but there has since been a reconciliation.
- We named our sons Benjamin, Caleb, and Joshua. I love the story of Caleb and Joshua. They were 2 of the 12 spies that were sent into Canaan by Moses. The other 10 gave negative reports, but Caleb and Joshua were positive and said the Israelites should occupy the land. The Israelites shied away and thus had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness, one year for every day that the spies were in Canaan. Caleb eventually said that he wholly followed the Lord his God. Give me the mountain where the giants lived; that is the area I want to occupy. In other words, don’t give me the easy, soft assignment – give me the greatest challenge! Who will be the ‘giants’ during your missionary service? How will you face them? Will you be one of the 10 weak spies, or one of the two brave spies?
- I love the Lord more than I love my wife, and my wife loves the Lord more than she loves me. We would have it no other way!
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