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| Source The single most important thing you can do to prepare for a call to serve is to become a missionary long before you go on a mission.... In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going to church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark. The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit, the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is possible for a young man to go on a mission and not become a missionary, and this is not what the Lord requires or what the Church needs. |
All of us who have received the holy priesthood bear the
sacred obligation to bless the nations and families of the earth by proclaiming
the gospel and inviting all to receive by proper authority the ordinances of
salvation. Many of us have served as full-time missionaries, some of us
presently are serving as full-time missionaries, and all of us now are serving
and will continue to serve as lifelong missionaries. We are missionaries every
day in our families, in our schools, in our places of employment, and in our
communities. Regardless of our age, experience, or station in life, we are all
missionaries.
Proclaiming the gospel is not an activity in which we
periodically and temporarily engage. And our labors as missionaries certainly
are not confined to the short period of time devoted to full-time missionary
service in our youth or in our mature years. Rather, the obligation to proclaim
the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is inherent in the oath and covenant of the
priesthood into which we enter. Missionary work essentially is a priesthood
responsibility, and all of us who hold the priesthood are the Lord’s authorized
servants on the earth and are missionaries at all times and in all places—and
we always will be. Our very identity as holders of the priesthood and the seed
of Abraham is in large measure defined by the responsibility to proclaim the
gospel.
My message tonight is applicable to all of us in our
priesthood duty to proclaim the gospel. My specific purpose in this priesthood
meeting, however, is to talk candidly with the young men of the Church who are
preparing for the call to serve as missionaries. The principles I will discuss
with you are both simple and spiritually significant, and they should cause us
to ponder, to evaluate, and to improve. I pray for the companionship of the
Holy Ghost for me and for you as we consider together this important subject.
A Frequently Asked Question
In meetings with young members of the Church around the
world, I often invite those in attendance to ask questions. One of the
questions I am asked most frequently by young men is this: “What can I do to
prepare most effectively to serve as a full-time missionary?” Such a sincere question
deserves a serious response.
My dear young brethren, the single most important thing you
can do to prepare for a call to serve is to become a missionary long before you
go on a mission. Please notice that in my answer I emphasized becoming rather than
going. Let me explain what I mean.
In our customary Church vocabulary, we often speak of going
to church, going to the temple, and going on a mission. Let me be so bold as to
suggest that our rather routine emphasis on going misses the mark.
The issue is not going to church; rather, the issue is
worshipping and renewing covenants as we attend church. The issue is not going
to or through the temple; rather, the issue is having in our hearts the spirit,
the covenants, and the ordinances of the Lord’s house. The issue is not going
on a mission; rather, the issue is becoming a missionary and serving throughout
our entire life with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength. It is
possible for a young man to go on a mission and not become a missionary, and
this is not what the Lord requires or what the Church needs.
My earnest hope for each of you young men is that you will
not simply go on a mission—but that you will become missionaries long before
you submit your mission papers, long before you receive a call to serve, long
before you are set apart by your stake president, and long before you enter the
MTC.
The Principle of Becoming
Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught us most effectively about
the challenge to become something instead of just doing expected things or
performing certain actions:
“The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and
teachers were given that we may all attain ‘the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring
knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must
act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions
of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ
challenges us to become something. …
“… It is not enough for anyone just to go through the
motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a
list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of
Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father
desires us to become” (“The Challenge to Become,” Liahona, Jan. 2001, 40;
Ensign, Nov. 2000, 32).
Brethren, the challenge to become applies precisely and
perfectly to missionary preparation. Obviously, the process of becoming a
missionary does not require a young man to wear a white shirt and tie to school
every day or to follow the missionary guidelines for going to bed and getting
up, although most parents certainly would support that idea. But you can
increase in your desire to serve God (see D&C 4:3), and you can begin to
think as missionaries think, to read what missionaries read, to pray as missionaries
pray, and to feel what missionaries feel. You can avoid the worldly influences
that cause the Holy Ghost to withdraw, and you can grow in confidence in
recognizing and responding to spiritual promptings. Line upon line and precept
upon precept, here a little and there a little, you can gradually become the
missionary you hope to be and the missionary the Savior expects.
You will not suddenly or magically be transformed into a
prepared and obedient missionary on the day you walk through the front door of
the Missionary Training Center. What you have become in the days and months and
years prior to your missionary service is what you will be in the MTC. In fact,
the nature of the transition through which you will pass in the MTC will be a
strong indicator of your progress in becoming a missionary.
As you enter the MTC, you obviously will miss your family,
and many aspects of your daily schedule will be new and challenging. But for a
young man well on his way to becoming a missionary, the basic adjustment to the
rigors of missionary work and lifestyle will not be overwhelming, burdensome,
or constraining. Thus, a key element of raising the bar includes working to
become a missionary before going on a mission.
Fathers, do you understand your role in helping your son to
become a missionary before he goes on a mission? You and your wife are key in
the process of his becoming a missionary. Priesthood and auxiliary leaders, do
you recognize your responsibility to assist parents and to help every young man
become a missionary before he goes on a mission? The bar also has been raised
for parents and for all members of the Church. Prayerful pondering of the
principle of becoming will invite inspiration tailored to the specific needs of
your son or to the young men whom you serve.
The preparation I am describing is not oriented only toward
your missionary service as a 19- or 20- or 21-year-old young man. Brethren, you
are preparing for a lifetime of missionary work. As holders of the priesthood,
we are missionaries always. If you truly progress in the process of becoming a
missionary, both before going on a mission and in the mission field, then when
the day arrives for your honorable release as a full-time missionary, you will
depart from your field of labor and return to your family—but you will never
cease your missionary service. A priesthood holder is a missionary at all times
and in all places. A missionary is who and what we are as bearers of the
priesthood and as the seed of Abraham.
The Seed of Abraham
The heirs of all the promises and covenants made by God to
Abraham are referred to as the seed of Abraham (see Bible Dictionary, “Seed of
Abraham,” 771). These blessings are obtained only by obedience to the laws and
ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Brethren, the process of becoming a
missionary is directly related to understanding who we are as the seed of
Abraham.
Abraham was a great prophet who desired righteousness and
was obedient to all of the commandments he received from God, including the command
to offer as a sacrifice his precious son, Isaac. Because of his steadfastness
and obedience, Abraham is often referred to as the father of the faithful, and
Heavenly Father established a covenant with and promised great blessings to
Abraham and his posterity:
“Because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son:
“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I
will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is
upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be
blessed; because thou has obeyed my voice” (Gen. 22:16–18).
Thus, Abraham was promised a great posterity and that the
nations of the earth would be blessed through that posterity.
How are the nations of the earth blessed through the seed of
Abraham? The answer to this important question is found in the book of Abraham:
“And I will make of thee [Abraham] a great nation, and I
will bless thee above measure, and make thy name great among all nations, and
thou shalt be a blessing unto thy seed after thee, that in their hands they
shall bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all nations;
“And I will bless them through thy name; for as many as
receive this Gospel shall be called after thy name, and shall be accounted thy
seed, and shall rise up and bless thee, as their father” (Abr. 2:9–10).
We learn in these verses that Abraham’s faithful heirs would
have the blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the authority of the
priesthood. Thus, the phrase “bear this ministry and Priesthood unto all
nations” refers to the responsibility to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ
and to invite all to receive by proper priesthood authority the ordinances of
salvation. Truly, great responsibility rests upon the seed of Abraham in these
latter days.
How do these promises and blessings relate to us today?
Either by literal lineage or adoption, every man and boy within the sound of my
voice tonight is a rightful heir to the promises made by God to Abraham. We are
the seed of Abraham. One of the primary reasons we receive a patriarchal
blessing is to help us more fully understand who we are as the posterity of
Abraham and to recognize the responsibility that rests upon us.
My beloved brethren, you and I, today and always, are to
bless all peoples in all the nations of the earth. You and I, today and always,
are to bear witness of Jesus Christ and declare the message of the Restoration.
You and I, today and always, are to invite all to receive the ordinances of
salvation. Proclaiming the gospel is not a part-time priesthood obligation. It
is not simply an activity in which we engage for a limited time or an
assignment we must complete as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. Rather, missionary work is a manifestation of our spiritual
identity and heritage. We were foreordained in the premortal existence and born
into mortality to fulfill the covenant and promise God made to Abraham. We are
here upon the earth at this time to magnify the priesthood and to preach the
gospel. That is who we are, and that is why we are here—today and always.
You may enjoy music, athletics, or be mechanically inclined,
and someday you may work in a trade or a profession or in the arts. As
important as such activities and occupations can be, they do not define who we
are. First and foremost, we are spiritual beings. We are sons of God and the seed
of Abraham:
“For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two
priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are
sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.
“They become the sons of Moses and of Aaron and the seed of
Abraham, and the church and kingdom, and the elect of God” (D&C 84:33–34).
My dear brethren, we have been given much, and much is
required of us. May you young men more fully understand who you are as the seed
of Abraham and become missionaries long before you go on a mission. After
coming back to your homes and families, may you returned missionaries always be
missionaries. And may all of us rise up as men of God and bless the nations of
the earth with greater testimony and spiritual power than we ever have before.
I declare my witness that Jesus is the Christ, our Savior
and Redeemer. I know that He lives! And I witness that we, as holders of the
priesthood, are His representatives in the glorious work of proclaiming His
gospel, today and always. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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