Transcript
We have seen miracles. We have seen people who change completely their lives. [SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH]
It's changed the way I think about missionary work. Before they didn't really want anything to do with me, or us, and our tag that says Jesus Christ on it. But now they're interested and they like what we're offering, and they like to talk to us. [SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH]
It helps me, as a bishop, to be able to dispatch people to the right resources, and it's all kind of in one location.
The concept of this center really started while I was serving as a stake president in Leon Stake. I was very involved with the missionaries, with the mission president, and trying to look for ways to help more people come to Christ, to strengthen our stake and our wards. We have these treasures that exist in the Church, and are well known to the Church community. The Family Resource Center, the genius of it is it creates this bridge to open up these treasures to not just within the Church, but to the community that surrounds us. There are many resources that we offer here, such as self-reliance classes, the addiction recovery courses. We also offer family history consulting. We offer the Bible Study class. We offer language courses. [SPEAKING NON-ENGLISH]
Some of these resources were done here in the center, such as family history and language courses. Some are done by the units throughout the wards in Paris. And we connect the registrants with units, so that they can participate. For years, we have seen the different departments of the Church working alone. And this new approach is like, only one work: to bring souls to the Lord. The advisory council that we work with and have formed here is with the local unit. We have a member of the bishopric, a member of the elders quorum presidency, and a member of the Relief Society presidency. We discuss, How can the ward and the missionaries work best together to invite people to participate in the resources that we offer here? Not just missionary work, but also members. How can members be blessed by this? And then we ask for their feedback. What are other things that you think we can be doing here in the center? The Savior, when He called His disciples, He gave them two directives. The first was to preach and the second was, He told them to bless and serve others, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils. When we help someone who is unemployed find a job, we're raising from the dead a hope that has been lost. And when we help someone overcome an addiction, we're casting out a very real devil.