News Story

Members of Pacific Area Presidency Visit with Missionaries

Elder Ian S. Ardern explains why Church leaders meet with missionaries

In the following message, Elder Ian S. Ardern explains why leaders in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meet with missionaries around the world.

We have sixteen missions in the Pacific Area and three of them are in New Zealand.

This week, Elder and Sister Nattress visited in person with the missionaries in the Hamilton Mission and Sister Ardern and I did likewise with the missionaries in the Wellington Mission.

Elder-and-Sister-Ardern-with-members-of-the-New-Zealand-Wellington-Mission,-January-2021.
Elder and Sister Ardern with members of the New Zealand Wellington Mission, January 2021.© 2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
  

  

Each Pacific Area mission, each year, receives at least one visit from a member of the Area Presidency. The pandemic has meant that last year some of the visits were virtual and that will possibly happen this year as well.

There are currently 120 young missionaries serving in the Wellington Mission under the leadership of President and Sister Thomson. We are grateful for all of the 1,456 missionaries currently serving in the Pacific Area. The vast majority of them are from the Pacific and therefore bring with them the added advantage to missionary work of growing up in the Pacific. They know the people they serve.

Our mission visits are to encourage the missionaries to continually:

• Find, teach, and baptize, as was directed by the Saviour who said to his disciples, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them” (Matthew 28:19).

• Learn, live, and teach the doctrine of Christ.

• Achieve a deeper faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive His image in their countenances as they become more like Him.

Elder-and-Sister-Ardern-with-President-and-Sister-Thomson-and-missionaries-from-the-New-Zealand-Wellington-Mission.-January-2021.
Elder and Sister Ardern with President and Sister Thomson and missionaries from the New Zealand Wellington Mission. January 2021.2021 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.
  

We are grateful for the member support of the missionaries. We see it in the prayers offered on their behalf, the meals provided, the welcome they receive as they arrive in a new ward or branch, the encouraging words you share with them and the invitations some of you extend to them to visit with your friends.

The number of missionaries serving from the Pacific has declined in the last year and we need to turn that around. We invite all young men of age to fulfill their duty to serve an honourable full time mission and extend an invitation to sisters who choose to serve. The mighty army of God in the Pacific is in need of reinforcements and there are mission presidents and wives who eagerly await you.

Elder Ian S. Ardern

Pacific Area President

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

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