The Mission is Lighting on Fire!

Hi everyone!

This has been probably the most pivotal week of my mission so far. Last week seems like it was a different life. This mission is changing, but it is so positive.

 

On Wednesday Elder C and I took the 6 hour train down to Bucuresti, so that we could be there for the mission leadership council, which started at 7 the next morning. And we finally met President Ivory. He is on fire, and came into this mission already running. Literally, that is the first thing we did with him. We went on a run in a park near the mission home before starting the meeting.

The council was a day and a half long, and we came back to Sibiu Friday afternoon. But so much has changed in this mission.

President Ivory is very focused on turning this mission around. We may have had very low numbers in the past, but this mission will now be the most positive mission on the planet. He has told that to all the new incoming missionaries in the MTC, and I am totally on board. We as zone leaders have been given a big responsibility to help our missionaries get on board, and we are ready. We are entering a new era of missionary work in Romania.

There is another very big change. Formerly, our main focus as missionaries has been finding investigators to teach and baptize, and if we didn't have those, hitting the streets or blocks for hours on end, waiting to find a prepared person. President Ivory was impressed with our diligence and discipline, but we are going to go about things a smarter way now.

There will now be a three way focus in the mission, and all three parts will have equal importance. First, potential converts, second, less active members, and third, active members. They all receive the same energy that we would put into a progressing investigator. This is going to be huge for the church in Romania! This is exactly what we need! The church here is new and struggling, and needs nourishment if it is going to grow. We are going to focus on helping our members mature in the gospel, make it to the temple,and become pillars of strength in the church here. We are preparing for the day when there will be stakes and wards across Romania. We need to look at the long term picture. It will happen. It happened in Italy, even if it took 41 years to get a stake. Romania is already far ahead of that pace. We can do it here too, and one day, like in Italy, we will have a temple.

I am super excited to start working with all my might to help the members in Sibiu grow and progress.  We can help these people become firmly planted in the gospel. And once we accomplish that, the baptisms will come. As we bring the spirit of the gospel of Jesus Christ to these people, they will have the power to bring their family and friends the restored truths of the gospel. As the church becomes strong and stable here, growth will be a natural result.

President Ivory's third point is integrity. President Ivory is not interested in creating new rules. We have the white handbook, and we know what is right and what is wrong. We will create a culture of integrity in this mission, President Ivory will not have to worry about rules so much. We as zone leaders have been given a much larger responsibility now. President Ivory wants to spend more time traveling the country and working with us in person. So there is a proper chain of authority now, through the district leaders and zone leaders. Few issues should make it all the way to president, since he trusts our judgement as zone leaders. He has put great trust in us. I know that I will be supported in this task, however, and I will not fail in my assignment. I am committed to be an example to our zone in my obedience and commitment to the new direction this mission is taking,

Sorry for the length of this letter, but big things are happening here. My mission will never be the same. It is going to be so much better. I feel inspired, energized, and full of faith. The Lord is watching over this mission. Only a few months ago, President Uchtdorf said that Romania was at a tipping point, and I feel that we are about to see huge things here. God truly has a plan for this mission, and his work will move forward. I feel truly privileged to serve as a zone leader in this critical time for our mission.

Thank you so much for reading! 

Elder Lybbert