More Advice for Prospective Missionaries
October 15, 2012
Temples
OH! So, when I was super sad about hearing of only 2 new temples being announced—sad only because they didn’t announce RIO—I was STILL able to cheer for Ryan Evans, who is serving in Tuscon, AZ; AND Parker Steed, who served in Peru; AND LaNaya Comsa who is serving around there [Ecuador]; AND my awesomely devoted missionary cousin, Dalton Johnson, who has recently received his mission call to Peru. GO TEAM!
BAHAHA!!! They ran out of PMG [Preach My Gospel] in the BYU bookstore. There are accumulating numbers of them in the Missionary Library here because most people leave them as they go home or give them to their Brazilian missionaries.
KRISTI!
Kristi, oh boy, I’m SUPER excited for you! GIRL POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don’t know just how excited I am to have heard about the call for more missionaries and that I am HERE already BEING a missionary. This is my advice. The Lord doesn’t need educated elders or smart sisters. He needs humble humans. He needs spiritual saints. He needs an army of Armageddon who know how to listen to AND follow the directions of the Spirit. He needs animated youth to teach the rising generation just how much the gospel blesses families and how standards protect and alleviate you from the traps of the world. You all are so blessed—you don’t even know—to have a mother who loves you and a father who comes home and sleeps in the same house at night. You are SO lucky to have been born in the covenant of love made in the House of the Lord. You are so privileged to have the technology to spread the gospel at the click of a button. Do as President Monson directed and remember to count your blessings and not take them for granted.
The real mission prep you need has already passed you by: Seminary, family home evening, Sunday School, and baptism. You have already taken part of the blessing of making covenants with the Lord. One thing that is the most important before your mission is to be worthy to enter the temple and make even more dedicated covenants with your Father in Heaven. You will literally be in His house. You will be His servant: figuratively washing the pans, dusting, mopping, preparing for the Second Coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. Go to the temple as frequently as is possible, because how can you help others come unto Christ if you don’t do so yourself? The temple is there so you will get to know the order, time (really… time stops in the temple and on a mission), and Majesty of our Heavenly Father. How will we want to live with Heavenly Father if we don’t get to know Him now? Just like how we wouldn’t want to live with a stranger, we won’t want to live with God if we don’t know Him, love Him, and serve Him. Be like Samuel and heed the call of the Lord. Say, “Speak, for thy servant heareth.”
Also keep in mind that salvation is not a cheap experience. Just as your investigators will have to make painful sacrifices, you too will participate in sacrificing your:
OH! So, when I was super sad about hearing of only 2 new temples being announced—sad only because they didn’t announce RIO—I was STILL able to cheer for Ryan Evans, who is serving in Tuscon, AZ; AND Parker Steed, who served in Peru; AND LaNaya Comsa who is serving around there [Ecuador]; AND my awesomely devoted missionary cousin, Dalton Johnson, who has recently received his mission call to Peru. GO TEAM!
BAHAHA!!! They ran out of PMG [Preach My Gospel] in the BYU bookstore. There are accumulating numbers of them in the Missionary Library here because most people leave them as they go home or give them to their Brazilian missionaries.
KRISTI!
Kristi, oh boy, I’m SUPER excited for you! GIRL POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You don’t know just how excited I am to have heard about the call for more missionaries and that I am HERE already BEING a missionary. This is my advice. The Lord doesn’t need educated elders or smart sisters. He needs humble humans. He needs spiritual saints. He needs an army of Armageddon who know how to listen to AND follow the directions of the Spirit. He needs animated youth to teach the rising generation just how much the gospel blesses families and how standards protect and alleviate you from the traps of the world. You all are so blessed—you don’t even know—to have a mother who loves you and a father who comes home and sleeps in the same house at night. You are SO lucky to have been born in the covenant of love made in the House of the Lord. You are so privileged to have the technology to spread the gospel at the click of a button. Do as President Monson directed and remember to count your blessings and not take them for granted.
The real mission prep you need has already passed you by: Seminary, family home evening, Sunday School, and baptism. You have already taken part of the blessing of making covenants with the Lord. One thing that is the most important before your mission is to be worthy to enter the temple and make even more dedicated covenants with your Father in Heaven. You will literally be in His house. You will be His servant: figuratively washing the pans, dusting, mopping, preparing for the Second Coming of His Son, Jesus Christ. Go to the temple as frequently as is possible, because how can you help others come unto Christ if you don’t do so yourself? The temple is there so you will get to know the order, time (really… time stops in the temple and on a mission), and Majesty of our Heavenly Father. How will we want to live with Heavenly Father if we don’t get to know Him now? Just like how we wouldn’t want to live with a stranger, we won’t want to live with God if we don’t know Him, love Him, and serve Him. Be like Samuel and heed the call of the Lord. Say, “Speak, for thy servant heareth.”
Also keep in mind that salvation is not a cheap experience. Just as your investigators will have to make painful sacrifices, you too will participate in sacrificing your:
heart;
might; mind; and strength. |
(You will cry over your investigators and feel like your heart is breaking.)
(You will come home every day and be just TIRED… more tired than a “man, I just had a hard workout” tired. I mean a “shoot dang, I’m getting old” tired.) (You will be drained... like “finals week but for 2 years” drained.) (At the end of the day, you will be able to evaluate your work based on how tired you are because you will be drained... and if you’re not drained, you didn’t do all that was possible to do that day.) |
I don’t know if I have already said this, but QUESTIONS are the ANSWERS to life. Really. I keep finding more questions than answers when I am studying; but, as long as I note them, think about them, and pray about them, the answers come trickling in. The key, I’ve found, is not to get bothered by them. When investigators have doubts, that’s actually a natural reaction; and, in fact, the way they decide to treat these doubts is where we can see if they are open to change and to learn.
Sorry this is a cuckoo email. GOOD luck grouping it together. LOVE YOU!