Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke to approximately 200 missionaries in Brisbane yesterday.
He was accompanied by Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Church’s Presidency of the Seventy.
Elder Andersen encouraged the missionaries in attendance to “learn about the Saviour by serving Him.”
Elder Andersen spoke about “the merits, mercy and grace of Jesus Christ.”
At one point in the meeting Elder Andersen asked for questions and comments from the missionaries.
Elder Andersen asked: “How do you understand the Atonement of Jesus Christ?”
One young missionary replied: “By applying it.”
“How?” Elder Andersen gently pressed.
Missionary: “It provides the hope and the avenue to change. It is an indescribable feeling of peace and hope.”
Elder Andersen quoted John 11: 25: “I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”
“That is our witness,” Elder Andersen said. “We should be anxious to say it."
"Through the Atonement of Jesus Christ you can become someone, more than you thought possible. That is mercy.”
Elder Andersen promised the missionaries that if they would bear witness of Jesus Christ on their mission, that will never leave them throughout their life. “You will never forget,” he said.
He challenged those in attendance to speak the name of Jesus Christ “with more power.”
In Elder Lynn G. Robbins’ remarks, he said, “The Saviour’s best sermon was not on a mount but it was His life.”
He challenged the missionaries to work on Christ-like virtues each week. “Choose one and focus on it,” he said.
Elder Andersen is travelling with his wife, Sister Kathy Andersen.
Sister Andersen told the missionaries what a great blessing it was for her and her husband to be there. “Today you will hear the words the Saviour would have you hear,” she said.
As Elder Kevin W. Pearson, president of the Pacific Area of the Church, and his wife Sister June Pearson, are coming to the end of five years’ service in the South Pacific, Elder Andersen thanked them both. He also thanked President Lon Henderson and Sister Carrie Henderson for their service in the Australia Brisbane Mission over the last three years.
One young missionary who attended the meeting yesterday, Pavina Vichittavong, is from Laos. She has been in the mission field just a few days.
Sister Vichittavong said she enjoyed hearing Elder Andersen and the other speakers.
She was especially touched, she said, by what she heard and felt about the Atonement of Jesus Christ. “We can repent, we can be good, and we can become like Jesus Christ,” she said.
Elder Lose Siliili, from Melbourne, said the experience increased his desire to “serve our Father in Heaven and to be close to Him.”
Elder Tyler Johnson, from Arizona, United States, said the meeting was “a wonderful experience to be in the presence of an Apostle and to learn more about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how through the merits, mercy and grace of our Saviour we can one day return to live with Him and be clean and perfect just as He is.”
Watch an introductory video about Latter-day Saint missionaries: