Elder L. Whitney Clayton, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, met on Monday 12 March with full-time missionaries from the New Zealand Wellington Mission in Christchurch, New Zealand. Elder Clayton was accompanied by his wife, Kathy Clayton.
Elder Craig A. Cardon of the Seventy, and a member of the Pacific Area Presidency, and his wife, Deborah Cardon, accompanied Elder Clayton and Sister Clayton.
Elder Clayton told all in attendance at the devotional on Monday that “the Lord is in the details of your mission.”
He encouraged them to “work like everything depends upon you, and pray like everything depends on the Lord.”
Elder Clayton urged them to talk with many people every day, wherever they went. He promised that as they do so, the Lord will help them find more people to teach who will become converted to the Lord and desire to be baptized.
When asked what she took away from the counsel given at the meeting, Sister ChristineTupou from Melbourne, Australia, said, “I learned that not only is it important to understand my potential, but to see potential in everyone we teach.”
Elder Cameron Fuller from Idaho, USA said, “My biggest takeaway was the power of promised blessings that come from obedience to the commandments.”
Among the approximately 71,000 Latter-day Saint missionaries who currently serve around the globe, 132 serve in New Zealand’s South Island and lower half of the North Island under the direction of Newman N. Soloai, president of the Wellington New Zealand Mission. He is supported by his wife, Luisa Kava Kavea ‘Etuate.
These 132 missionaries represent a diverse army of young people and some senior couples from 18 different countries.
They spend their days studying, praying, planning, working, teaching, and otherwise helping people in the communities in which they are asked to serve
They do so without pay and at their own expense, motivated by their love of God and the people with whom they associate.