Missionary Work and the Atonement

By Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
From a talk given at the Provo (Utah) Missionary Training Center on 20 June 2000.
The Atonement of Jesus Christ is rightfully seen as the central fact, the crucial foundation, and the chief doctrine of the plan of salvation, which we
are called to teach.
The Prophet Joseph Smith once declared that all things “which pertain to our religion are only appendages” to the Atonement of Jesus Christ.1 In
like manner and for the same reasons, every truth that a missionary or member teaches is only an appendage to the central message of all time—
that Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, the Holy Messiah, the Promised One, the Savior and Redeemer of the world; that He alone
burst the bands of death and triumphed over the captivity of hell; that no one of us could ever have those same blessings without His intervention
in our behalf; and that there never shall be any “other name given nor any other way nor means whereby salvation can come unto the children of
men, [except] in and through the name of Christ, the Lord Omnipotent.”2
Our basic message is that with a complete offering of His body, His blood, and the anguish of His spirit, Christ atoned for the initial transgression of
Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and also for the personal sins of everyone else who would ever live in this world from Adam to the end of
time.
Some of those blessings are unconditional, such as the gift of the Resurrection. Other of the blessings, at least the full realization of them, are very
conditional, requiring the keeping of commandments, the performance of ordinances, and living the life of a disciple of Christ.
Either way, the essential message of the gospel, the starting point for all other truths, is this from the Master’s own lips: “I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”3 Thus the Atonement of Christ, which makes that return to the Father possible, is
rightfully seen as the central fact, the crucial foundation, and the chief doctrine of the great and eternal plan of salvation—“our Heavenly Father’s
plan,” which we are called to teach.
Little wonder, then, that the Apostle Paul, the greatest missionary the world has ever known (or at least one of them), said: “The preaching of the
cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. … For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after
wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified.”4

The “Good News”

Inherent in all of this is a rather simple definition of the gospel, at least when considered in its essence. The word gospel as we use it in English
comes down to us through early scriptural language which meant literally “good news” or sometimes “glad tidings.” The “good news” was that
death and hell could be escaped, that mistakes and sins could be overcome, that there was hope, that there was help, that the insoluble was
solved, that the enemy had been conquered. The good news was that everyone’s tomb could one day be empty, that everyone’s soul could again
be pure, that everychild of God could again return to the Father who gave them life.
This is the essence of the message delivered by every prophet who has ever lived and every Apostle ever called to the work. It is the message we
are called to declare. It is the message of the angel who came to those unsuspecting Judean shepherds:
“And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
“And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy [or, in other words, I bring you the gospel personified],
which shall be to all people.
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” 5

Prerequisites for Baptism

Probably there are very few missionaries, if any, who do not know the centrality of this doctrine. But I have been surprised to regularly be with the
missionaries and discover that this is not something that readily comes forward in a discussion of missionary work.
For example, in zone conferences, which are some of the greatest teaching moments we as General Authorities have with these young elders and
sisters, I have asked missionaries what it is they want investigators to do as a result of their discussions with them.
“Be baptized!” is shouted forward in an absolute chorus.
“Yes,” I say, “we do want them to be baptized, but what has to precede that?”
Now they are a little leery. Aha, they think. This is a test. It is a test on the first discussion. “Read the Book of Mormon!” someone shouts. “Pray!” an
elder roars from the back of the room. “Attend church!” one of the sisters on the front row declares. “Receive all of the discussions!” someone else
offers.
“Well, you have pretty much covered the commitments in the first discussion,” I say, “but what else do you want your investigators to do?”
“Be baptized!” The chorus comes a second time.
“Elders,” I plead, “you have already told me about baptism, and I am still asking!”
Well, now they are stumped. It must be commitments from the other discussions, they think. “Live the Word of Wisdom!” someone says. “Pay
tithing!” another shouts. And so it goes.

I don’t always run through this little exercise in a zone conference, but sometimes I do. And I have to say that almost never do the missionaries get
around to identifying the two most fundamental things we want investigators to do prior to baptism: have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repent
of their sins. Yet “we believe that the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, Repentance;
[then] third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.”6

A convert’s new life is to be built upon faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His redeeming sacrifice—a conviction that He really is the Son of God, that
He lives this very moment, that He really is the door of the sheepfold, that He alone holds the key to our salvation and exaltation. That belief is to
be followed by true repentance, repentance which shows our desire to be clean and renewed and whole, repentance that allows us to lay claim to
the full blessings of the Atonement.

Then comes baptism for the remission of sins. Yes, baptism is also for membership in the Church, but that isn’t what the Prophet Joseph Smith
chose to stress in that article of faith. He stressed that it was baptism for the remission of sins—focusing you and me, the missionary and the
investigator again on the Atonement, on salvation, on the gift Christ gives us. This points that new convert toward the blessings of the “good
news.”

Making the Atonement Central to Missionary Work

In an effort to keep our work closely linked to the Savior’s ministry, let me suggest some things all of us might do to keep Christ and His Atonement
in the forefront of members’ and investigators’ consciousness.
Encourage in every way possible more spiritual Church meetings, especially sacrament meetings. One of the great fears missionaries have at least
in some locations is taking their investigators to church. And indeed the investigators deserve to feel essentially the same spirit in sacrament
meeting that they feel when being taught by the missionaries.
It will also help orient investigators if missionaries will take some time to explain the ordinance of the sacrament that investigators will be
witnessing, what it means for the renewing of baptismal covenants, that the emblems represent the Savior’s body and blood, and so forth.
Missionaries could read to these investigators the sacramental prayers as found in the scriptures, they could share some of the words of favorite
sacrament hymns, or they could do any number of other things that would help these new visitors and prospective members have a powerful
learning experience when they visit a sacrament meeting.
In like manner, do all that you can to make your baptismal services a spiritual, Christ-centered experience. A new convert deserves to have this be a
sacred, carefully planned, and spiritually uplifting moment. The prayers, the hymns, surely the talks that are given—all ought to be focused on the
significance of this ordinance and the Atonement of Christ, which makes it efficacious.
Probably no other meeting we hold in the Church has the high referral and future baptismal harvest that a baptismal service does. Many of the
investigators who attend a baptismal service (that is, the service of someone else being baptized) will go on to their own baptisms. That is more
likely to occur if this service is a spiritual, strong teaching moment in which it is clear to participants and visitors alike that this is a sacred act of
faith centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, that it is an act of repentance claiming the cleansing power of Christ, that through His majesty and
Atonement it brings a remission of sins as well as, with confirmation, membership in His Church. Missionaries, don’t get so consumed with the
desire to record a baptism that you yourselves forget what this baptism represents and what it must mean in the life of this new member.
Throughout the teaching experience, missionaries must bear testimony of the Savior and His gift of salvation to us. Obviously you should bear
testimony regularly of all the principles you are teaching, but it is especially important that you bear testimony of this central doctrine in the plan of
our Heavenly Father.
There are several reasons for bearing testimony. One is that when you declare the truth, it will bring an echo, a memory, even if it is an
unconscious memory to the investigator, that they have heard this truth before—and of course they have. A missionary’s testimony invokes a great
legacy of testimony dating back to the councils in heaven before this world was. There, in an earlier place, these same people heard this same plan
outlined and heard there the role that Jesus Christ would play in their salvation.
“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the
accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”7
So the fact of the matter is investigators are not only hearing our testimony of Christ, but they are hearing echoes of other, earlier testimonies,
including their own testimony of Him, for they were on the side of the faithful who kept their first estate and earned the privilege of a second
estate. We must always remember that these investigators, every man, woman, and child, were among the valiant who once overcame Satan by
the power of their testimony of Christ! So when they hear others bear that witness of Christ’s saving mission, it has a familiar feeling; it brings an
echo of truth they themselves already know.
Furthermore, when you bear witness of “Jesus Christ, and him crucified,”8 to use Paul’s phrase, you invoke the power of God the Father and the
Holy Ghost. The Savior Himself taught about bearing witness before any other doctrine when He visited the Nephites:
“After this manner shall ye baptize in my name; for behold, verily I say unto you, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost are one. …
“And this is my doctrine, and it is the doctrine which the Father hath given unto me. …
“… Whoso believeth in me believeth in the Father also; and unto him [the investigator] will the Father bear record of me, for he will visit him [the
investigator] with fire and with the Holy Ghost.
“And thus will the Father bear record of me, and the Holy Ghost will bear record unto him [the investigator] of the Father and me; for the Father,
and I, and the Holy Ghost are one. …
“… This is my doctrine, and whoso buildeth upon this buildeth upon my rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against them.”9
So why should we bear frequent and powerful testimony of Christ as Savior, as Redeemer, as Atoning Lamb of God? Because doing so invites and
becomes part of the divine power of testimony borne by God the Father and by the Holy Ghost, a testimony borne on wings of fire to the very
hearts of investigators. Such a divine testimony of Christ is the rock upon which every new convert must build. Only this testimony of the atoning
Anointed, Victorious One will prevail against the gates of hell. So saith the Son of God Himself.
Study the scriptures conscientiously and become familiar with those passages that teach and testify of Christ’s redeeming mission. Nothing will so
touch your heart and stir your soul like the truths of which I have been speaking.
I would particularly ask full-time and member missionaries to study from and teach the Atonement of Christ out of the Book of Mormon. I say that
in a very biased way, because it was on my own mission that I came to love the Book of Mormon and the majesty of the Son of God which is
revealed there. In its unparalleled focus on the messianic message of the Savior of the world, the Book of Mormon is literally a new testament or
(to avoid confusion) “another testament” of Jesus Christ. As such the book centers upon that which scriptural testaments have always centered
upon since the days of Adam and Eve: the declaration to all that through the Atonement of the Son of God, “as thou hast fallen thou mayest be
redeemed, and all mankind, even as many as will.”10
Testimonies of Book of Mormon Prophets
There is not enough space here to convey the wonder and breadth of these Book of Mormon sermons, but consider this from Nephi early in his
ministry:
“And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite
him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of
men.
“And the God of our fathers, … yea, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, yieldeth himself … as a man, into the hands of wicked
men, to be lifted up, according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified, according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre,
according to the words of Zenos. …
“And all these things must surely come, saith the prophet Zenos. And the rocks of the earth must rend; and because of the groanings of the earth,
many of the kings of the isles of the sea shall be wrought upon by the Spirit of God, to exclaim: The God of nature suffers.”11
Or this from Nephi at the end of his life:
“And now, my beloved brethren, after ye have gotten into this strait and narrow path, I would ask if all is done? Behold, I say unto you, Nay; for ye
have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him, relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.
“Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.
Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal
life.
“And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; … this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”12
Or this from Nephi’s remarkable brother Jacob, who gave a two-day sermon on the Fall and the Atonement!
“I know … that in the body he shall show himself unto those at Jerusalem, … for it behooveth the great Creator that he suffereth himself to become
subject unto man in the flesh, and die for all men, that all men might become subject unto him.
“For as death hath passed upon all men, to fulfil the merciful plan of the great Creator, there must needs be a power of resurrection, and the
resurrection must needs come unto man by reason of the fall; and the fall came by reason of transgression; and because man became fallen they
were cut off from the presence of the Lord.
“Wherefore, it must needs be an infinite atonement. …
“O how great the goodness of our God, who prepareth a way for our escape from the grasp of this awful monster; yea, that monster, death and
hell, which I call the death of the body, and also the death of the spirit. …
“And he cometh into the world that he may save all men if they will hearken unto his voice; for behold, he suffereth the pains of all men, yea, the
pains of every living creature, both men, women, and children, who belong to the family of Adam.
“And he suffereth this that the resurrection might pass upon all men. …
“And he commandeth all men that they must repent, and be baptized in his name, having perfect faith in the Holy One of Israel, or they cannot be
saved in the kingdom of God.”13
Consider this from King Benjamin:
“For behold, the time cometh, and is not far distant, that with power, the Lord Omnipotent … shall come down from heaven among the children of
men, and shall dwell in a tabernacle of clay, and shall go forth amongst men, working mighty miracles, such as healing the sick, raising the dead,
causing the lame to walk, the blind to receive their sight, and the deaf to hear, and curing all manner of diseases.
“And he shall cast out devils, or the evil spirits which dwell in the hearts of the children of men.
“And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer, except it be unto death; for
behold, blood cometh from every pore, so great shall be his anguish for the wickedness and the abominations of his people. …
“… And even after all this they shall consider him a man, and say that he hath a devil, and shall scourge him, and shall crucify him.
“And he shall rise the third day from the dead. …
“… His blood atoneth for the sins of those who have fallen by the transgression of Adam, who have died not knowing the will of God concerning
them, or who have ignorantly sinned.”14
Or, as a last example, this from the great patriarch Lehi:
“Wherefore, redemption cometh in and through the Holy Messiah. …
“Behold, he offereth himself a sacrifice for sin, to answer the ends of the law, unto all those who have a broken heart and a contrite spirit; and unto
none else can the ends of the law be answered.
“Wherefore, how great the importance to make these things known unto the inhabitants of the earth, that they may know that there is no flesh
that can dwell in the presence of God, save it be through the merits, and mercy, and grace of the Holy Messiah, who layeth down his life according
to the flesh, and taketh it again by the power of the Spirit, that he may bring to pass the resurrection of the dead, being the first that should rise.
“Wherefore, he is the firstfruits unto God, inasmuch as he shall make intercession for all the children of men; and they that believe in him shall be
saved.”15
Obviously, you recognize that these samples are testimonies from just the first pages of the Book of Mormon. Perhaps this is enough to give you a
feel for the urgent, impressive theme that runs all through that sacred record. With its declared title-page purpose of testifying that Jesus is the
Christ, little wonder that the Book of Mormon was the first—and is still the greatest—missionary tract of this dispensation. As Lehi says to me and
to you, “How great the importance to make these things [of the Atonement] known unto the inhabitants of the earth.”
I testify to you that we will change lives, including our own, if we will teach the Atonement through the Book of Mormon as well as, of course, from
all of the other scriptures.
The Atonement and the Missionary
Almost everything I have said here has been an aid directed toward the missionary process, ultimately toward the investigator. May I close with an
extended testimony about how focusing on the Atonement helps full-time and member missionaries and mission leaders.
Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, Why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be
more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just
flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that
missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the
truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that
missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a
step or two toward the summit of Calvary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand. I’m not talking about anything anywhere near what Christ experienced. That would be presumptuous and
sacrilegious. But I believe that missionaries and investigators, to come to the truth, to come to salvation, to know something of this price that has
been paid, will have to pay a token of that same price.
For that reason, I don’t believe missionary work has ever been easy, nor that conversion is, nor that retention is, nor that continued faithfulness is. I
believe it is supposed to require some effort, something from the depths of our soul.
If He could come forward in the night, kneel down, fall on His face, bleed from every pore, and cry, “Abba, Father (Papa), if this cup can pass, let it
pass,”16 then little wonder that salvation is not a whimsical or easy thing for us. If you wonder if there isn’t an easier way, you should remember
you are not the first one to ask that. Someone a lot greater and a lot grander asked a long time ago if there wasn’t an easier way.
The Atonement will carry the missionaries perhaps even more importantly than it will carry the investigators. When you struggle, when you are
rejected, when you are spit upon and cast out and made a hiss and a byword, you are standing with the best life this world has ever known, the
only pure and perfect life ever lived. You have reason to stand tall and be grateful that the Living Son of the Living God knows all about your
sorrows and afflictions. The only way to salvation is through Gethsemane and on to Calvary. The only way to eternity is through Him—the Way, the
Truth, and the Life.
I testify that the living God is our Eternal Father and that Jesus Christ is His living and Only Begotten Son in the flesh. I testify that this Jesus, who
was slain and hanged on a tree,17was the chief Apostle then and is the chief Apostle now, the Great High Priest, the chief cornerstone of His Church
in this last and greatest of all dispensations. I testify that He lives, that the whole triumph of the gospel is that He lives, and because He does, so will
we.
On that first Resurrection Sunday, Mary Magdalene first thought she saw a gardener. Well, she did—the Gardener who cultivated Eden and who
endured Gethsemane. The Gardener who gave us the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valley, the cedars of Lebanon, the tree of life.
I declare Him to be the Savior of the world, the Bishop and Shepherd of our souls, the Bright and Morning Star. I know that our garments can be
washed white only in the blood of that Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. I know that we are lifted up unto life because He was lifted up
unto death, that He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows, and with His stripes we are healed. I bear witness that He was wounded for our
transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that He was a man of sorrows acquainted with grief because upon Him were laid the transgressions of
us all.18
I bear witness that He came from God as a God to bind up the brokenhearted, to dry the tears from every eye, to proclaim liberty to the captive
and open the prison doors to them that are bound.19 I promise that because of your faithful response to the call to spread the gospel, He will bind
up your broken hearts, dry your tears, and set you and your families free. That is my missionary promise to you and your missionary message to the
world.
Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary

BY ELDER DAVID A. BEDNAR

Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

I am delighted to be with you in this sacred setting. Thank you for your faithfulness, for your preparation, and for your goodness. The entire world
will be influenced for good because of you and the work of the Lord in which you are now and will continue to be engaged.
I bring to you the love and blessings of President Thomas S. Monson, his counselors, and of all my associates in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
An Apostle is first, foremost, and always a missionary. For that reason, I am especially pleased to greet you as fellow servants in this magnificent
latter-day work.
The topic I have chosen to address in this devotional is “Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary.” I will begin by briefly defining what a Preach My
Gospel missionary is and then describing five fundamental requirements for becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries.
I earnestly pray the Holy Ghost will inspire and help each of us to learn what is needful in our lives as we consider together this important topic.

What Is a Preach My Gospel Missionary?

A Preach My Gospel missionary is a servant of the Lord, called by prophecy and authorized by the laying on of hands, who proclaims the Savior’s
everlasting and restored gospel (see D&C 68:1) in His way (see D&C 50:13–14, 17–24).

Please note the similarity between this definition and your overarching purpose as a missionary described in Preach My Gospel: “Invite others to
come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the
gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end” (Preach My Gospel, 1).

The prophet Mormon used slightly different language to describe the essence of a Preach My Gospel missionary in his generation: “Behold, I am a
disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people, that they might have everlasting life”
(3 Nephi 5:13).

Thus, elders and sisters, the basic purpose and functions of missionaries always have been and always will be the same. Today we frequently use
the term “a Preach My Gospel missionary,” but the sacred responsibility to proclaim authoritatively the gospel and administer the saving
ordinances has been in operation since Adam was driven from the Garden of Eden and will continue until “the Great Jehovah shall say the work is
done” (Joseph Smith, in History of the Church, 4:540).

Requirements to Become Preach My Gospel Missionaries

I now want to discuss five basic requirements for becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries. Preach My Gospel missionaries:
1. Understand that they serve and represent Jesus Christ.
2. Are worthy.
3. Treasure up the words of eternal life.
4. Understand the Holy Ghost is the ultimate and true teacher.
5. Understand teaching is much more than talking and telling.

Requirement #1: Preach My Gospel missionaries understand that they serve and represent Jesus Christ.

Preach My Gospel missionaries know and understand whom they represent, why they serve, and what they are to do. Full-time missionaries are
called to serve and properly set apart “by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof” (Articles of
Faith 1:5). In this sacred calling, we are servants and representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pledged in the waters of baptism our willingness
to take upon ourselves His name. We pray to our Heavenly Father in His name. By virtue of the holy priesthood, the brethren perform saving
ordinances and bless in His name. And as full-time missionaries, we bear witness of His name and of the reality, divinity, and mission of Jesus Christ
to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people (see D&C 133:37). We authoritatively “bind up the law and seal up the testimony” (D&C 88:84) among
the inhabitants of the earth in preparation for the Second Coming of the Savior.
We love the Lord. We serve Him. We follow Him. We represent Him.
As we serve, we do not represent our families, our friends, our branches or wards, or our communities or nations. Rather, we represent Him. His
purposes must be our purposes. His interests should be our interests. His work should be our work. His ways should be our ways. His will
increasingly should become our will.
As representatives of the Redeemer, we preach the fundamental doctrines and principles of His restored gospel simply and clearly. We do not
present personal opinions or speculation. We do not dwell upon the unknowable mysteries in our personal study or in lessons with investigators.
We proclaim and testify of simple restored truth in the Lord’s way and by the power of His Spirit.
Preach My Gospel missionaries understand that the responsibility to represent the Savior and to bear testimony of Him never ends. When the day
arrives for an honorable release as a full-time missionary, you will depart from a field of labor and return to your family—but you will not cease
being and becoming a missionary. A release as a full-time missionary is a call to serve as a lifelong missionary. And Preach My Gospel missionaries
honor, always, this sacred obligation.
Please remember Him in all that you think, in all that you do, and in all that you strive to become, and represent Him appropriately to all of
Heavenly Father’s children with whom you interact now and always.
Requirement #2: Preach My Gospel missionaries are worthy.
In the 18th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer the calling and mission
of the Twelve Apostles in the latter days. The revelation includes this direct and powerful admonition: “You must walk uprightly before me and sin
not” (v. 31). This inspired instruction applies equally to you. Thus, an essential prerequisite to becoming Preach My Gospel missionaries is personal
worthiness before the Savior.
Proclaiming the gospel is priesthood work and is dependent upon the powers of heaven.
“The rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and … the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled
only upon the principles of righteousness.
“That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise
control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of men, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw
themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man” (D&C 121:36–37).
The fact that proclaiming the gospel is a priesthood responsibility and duty does not in any way overlook nor minimize the consecrated service of
you faithful sisters. Rather, it highlights the divine authority by which this holy work is governed and directed and emphasizes the sacred obligation
that rests upon all men who receive the holy priesthood (see Abraham 2:8–11). I thank you sisters for all you have done and will yet do to build and
strengthen the Lord’s kingdom.
Now, let me state several simple truths just as clearly as I know how.
• We are authorized representatives of the Redeemer and Savior of the world.
• We are called to declare His restored and everlasting gospel.
• We cannot be stained with the spots of the world and authoritatively represent Him and act with power in His holy name.
• We cannot help others to overcome the bondage of sin if we ourselves are entangled in sin (see D&C 88:86).
• We cannot help others learn to repent if we ourselves have not learned to repent properly and completely.
• We can proclaim and preach with power only that which we are striving to become.
• We will be held accountable before God for our righteous desires and worthiness to act as His agents.
Elders and sisters, we obviously are not required presently to be perfect. But we are commanded to be clean and to walk uprightly before the
Redeemer of Israel. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord” (D&C 38:42).

Repentance is a principle of hope and healing—not of discouragement and despair. Repentance indeed is humbling—but not frightening.
Repentance is simultaneously demanding and comforting, rigorous and soothing. Repentance is a priceless gift made possible through the
Atonement of Him whom we love, serve, and follow. As we exercise faith in the Savior and apply the principle of repentance in our own lives, we
become new creatures in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17), “have no more disposition to do evil” (Mosiah 5:2), and are filled with a desire to “serve
him with all [our] heart, might, mind and strength” (D&C 4:2; see also D&C 59:5).

If you have committed serious sins, I declare my apostolic witness that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and sincere repentance you have
been or can again be made clean and worthy—even “clean every whit” (John 13:10). “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18).

Within the sound of my voice are elders and sisters who yet need fully to repent. The time is now. Please, please, please do not procrastinate the
day of your repentance.

Within the sound of my voice are elders and sisters who have repented and are continuing to repent and who wonder if they have done all that is
necessary to be accepted of the Lord (see D&C 97:8). Please remember, the Lord requires you to be clean but not perfect. The Holy Ghost
operating again in your life is the surest indicator of forgiveness by the Lord because “the Spirit of the Lord doth not dwell in unholy temples”
(Helaman 4:24). And recognize that the mandate to “forgive all men” (D&C 64:10) includes forgiving yourself.

My beloved elders and sisters and couples, as you become clean vessels you can with appropriate assurance invite all to come unto Christ
(see Moroni 10:30–32), to receive the ordinances of salvation, and to endure in faith to the end.

Preach My Gospel missionaries are covenant-honoring and commandment-obeying disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please always remember Him
and be pure and worthy to represent Him.

Requirement #3: Preach My Gospel missionaries treasure up the words of eternal life.

In the early days of this dispensation, the Lord counseled His missionaries to “treasure up in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be
given you in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man” (D&C 84:85). I invite you to consider the importance of the active
admonition to “treasure up.”

Treasuring up the words of eternal life is more than merely studying or memorizing, just as “feasting upon the word[s] of Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20;
see also 2 Nephi 32:3) is more than simply sampling or snacking. Treasuring up suggests to me focusing and working, exploring and absorbing,
pondering and praying, applying and learning, valuing and appreciating, and enjoying and relishing. (Do you have a favorite dessert or treat in
which you take great delight and pleasure? That is exactly what I mean by “relish.”)

Recall how the sons of Mosiah—four truly remarkable missionaries named Ammon, Aaron, Omner, and Himni—“had waxed strong in the
knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the
word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of
revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God” (Alma 17:2–3). These valiant missionaries truly treasured up
continually the words of eternal life.

And because the sons of Mosiah did not neglect or simply go through the motions of individual and companion scripture study, because the
doctrines and principles of the gospel were confirmed in their hearts as true by the power of the Holy Ghost, because this spiritual knowledge and
understanding penetrated deep into their own souls, they became Preach My Gospel missionaries. As Ammon described:

“Yea, I know that I am nothing; as to my strength I am weak; therefore I will not boast of myself, but I will boast of my God, for in his strength I can
do all things; yea, behold, many mighty miracles we have wrought in this land, for which we will praise his name forever.

“Behold, how many thousands of our brethren has he loosed from the pains of hell; and they are brought to sing redeeming love, and this because
of the power of his word which is in us, therefore have we not great reason to rejoice?” (Alma 26:12–13; emphasis added).

Ammon was a Preach My Gospel missionary who treasured up continually the words of eternal life and had the power of the word in him. And you
and I need to follow the example of Ammon.

As representatives of the Savior, you and I have the ongoing responsibility to work diligently and to implant in our hearts and minds the
fundamental doctrines and principles of the restored gospel, especially from the Book of Mormon. As we do so, the promised blessing is that the
Holy Ghost will “bring all things to [our] remembrance” (John 14:26) and empower us as we teach and testify. But, elders and sisters, the Spirit can
work with and through us only if we give Him something with which to work. He cannot help us remember things we have not learned.

“And now, as the preaching of the word had a great tendency to lead the people to do that which was just—yea, it had had more powerful effect
upon the minds of the people than the sword, or anything else, which had happened unto them—therefore Alma thought it was expedient that
they should try the virtue of the word of God” (Alma 31:5; emphasis added).

Preach My Gospel missionaries treasure up continually the words of eternal life, they rely upon the virtue of the word, and they have the power of
the word in them. Please always remember Him, always be worthy to represent Him, and treasure up and rely upon the virtue of the word.

Requirement #4: Preach My Gospel missionaries understand the Holy Ghost is the ultimate and true teacher.

The Holy Ghost is the third member of the Godhead, and He is the witness of all truth and the ultimate and true teacher. We should always
remember that the Spirit of the Lord can enter into an investigator’s heart, when invited through sincere desire and faithfulness, and confirm the
truthfulness of the doctrines we preach and the principles he or she is endeavoring to learn and live. Indeed, you and I as missionaries have the
responsibility to preach the gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter, as a prerequisite for the learning by faith that is obtained only by and through
the Holy Ghost (see D&C 50:14). But the lessons we teach and the testimonies we bear are preparatory to an investigator acting and learning for
himself or herself.
As missionaries, one of our most important roles is to invite investigators to exercise their moral agency and act in accordance with the teachings of
the Savior. Making and keeping spiritual commitments, such as praying for a witness of the truth, studying and praying about the Book of Mormon,
attending Church meetings, and keeping the commandments, require an investigator to exercise faith, to act, and to change.
Regardless of how worthy we are and how earnestly we serve, you and I simply cannot push or force truth into the hearts of investigators.
Teaching, exhorting, explaining, and testifying, as important as they are, can never convey to an investigator a witness of the truthfulness of the
restored gospel. Our best efforts can only bring the message of truth unto the heart (see 2 Nephi 33:1). Ultimately, an investigator needs to act in
righteousness and thereby invite the truth into his or her own heart. Only in this way can honest seekers of truth and new converts develop the
spiritual capacity to find answers for themselves and “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places” (Mosiah 18:9).
Preach My Gospel missionaries obviously must learn to teach by the power of the Spirit. Of equal importance, however, is the responsibility to help
investigators learn by faith and by the power of the Holy Ghost. In this regard, you and I are much like the long, thin strands of glass used to create
fiber optic cables through which light signals are transmitted over very long distances. Just as the glass in these cables must be pure to conduct the
light efficiently and effectively, so we should become and remain worthy conduits through whom the Spirit of the Lord can operate. But elders and
sisters, we must be careful to remember in our service that we are conduits and channels; we are not the light. “For it is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you” (Matthew 10:20).
This work is never about me and it is never about you. We need to do all in our power to fulfill our missionary responsibility and simultaneously
“get out of the way” so the Holy Ghost can perform His sacred function and work. In fact, anything you or I do as representatives of the Savior that
knowingly and intentionally draws attention to self—in the messages we present, in the methods we use, or in our personal demeanor and
appearance—is a form of priestcraft that inhibits the teaching effectiveness of the Holy Ghost.
“Doth he preach it by the Spirit of truth or some other way? And if it be by some other way it is not of God” (D&C 50:17–18).
For example, goals are worthwhile and help in accomplishing the Lord’s work. But if we achieve goals primarily to receive praise and recognition
from our families and friends, from other missionaries, or from Church leaders, then we are practicing priestcraft—and we need to repent. Preach
My Gospel missionaries are focused upon helping Heavenly Father’s children worthily receive the covenants and ordinances necessary to return to
Him, and they are not focused on compiling impressive statistics that supposedly make them look good.
Righteous influence is important in building the Lord’s kingdom on the earth. But if we aspire to leadership positions in the mission and believe the
principal measure of a missionary’s success is reflected in serving as a district or zone leader or as an assistant to the president, then we are seeking
to gratify our pride and vain ambitions—and we need to repent. Preach My Gospel missionaries serve well wherever and whenever they are
assigned and are not unduly concerned about prominence, position, or prestige.
Persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness and meekness, and love unfeigned (see D&C 121:41) are the Lord’s ways of inviting all to come unto Him. But
if we preach, invite, and testify in ways that control, manipulate, or exploit an investigator, then we are exercising unrighteousness dominion and
compulsion— and we need to repent. Preach My Gospel missionaries strive to accomplish the Lord’s work the Lord’s way—and do not stubbornly
insist on doing things their own way. As John the Baptist testified, “He [the Lord] must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).
Strive to apply in your ministry this timeless counsel from Paul:
“And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
“And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
“And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:
“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5).
Preach My Gospel missionaries understand the Holy Ghost is the ultimate and true teacher, consistently do their best to “get out of the way,” and
avoid and overcome priestcraft, vanity, and unrighteous dominion as they serve and represent the Lord.
Please always remember Him, be worthy to represent Him, treasure up His word, and allow the ultimate and true teacher, the Holy Ghost, to
witness of all truth.

Requirement #5: Preach My Gospel missionaries understand teaching is much more than talking and telling.
As the Savior sat on the Mount of Olives over against the temple with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, He declared: “And the gospel must first be
published among all nations. But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye
premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost” (Mark 13:10–11).
This same pattern for preaching was reiterated repeatedly by the Savior in the early days of this dispensation as He instructed missionaries to
“open your mouths and they shall be filled” (D&C 33:8, 10) and to “lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your
hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men; for it shall be given you in the very hour, yea, in the very moment, what ye shall say” (D&C
100:5–6).
Please notice in these scriptural instructions the important sequence of first acting in faith (“open your mouths” or “lift up your voices”) before
receiving a promised blessing (“they shall be filled”; “you will not be confounded”). Interestingly, many of us routinely seek for precisely the
opposite; we pray and ask for the blessing so we can act in faith (first fill our mouths so we can open them). But that is not the Lord’s way or
pattern. Faith precedes the miracle, and “ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith” (Ether 12:6).
These scriptures emphasize a most demanding and exacting pattern for preaching and helping investigators to learn truth. Preach My
Gospel missionaries know we do not teach lessons; we teach people. We do not merely recite or present memorized messages about gospel topics.
We invite seekers of truth to experience the mighty change of heart. We understand that talking and telling alone are not teaching.
Preaching the gospel the Lord’s way includes observing and listening and discerning as prerequisites to talking. The sequence of these four
interrelated processes is significant. Please note that active observing and listening precede discerning and that observing, listening, and discerning
come before speaking. Employing this pattern enables missionaries to identify and teach to the needs of investigators.
As we observe, listen, and discern, we can be given “in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man” (D&C 84:85)—the truths to
emphasize and the answers to give that will meet the specific needs of a particular investigator. Only by observing, listening, and discerning can we
be guided by the Spirit to say and do the things that will be most helpful to those whom we serve.
I hope you are beginning to appreciate why (1) understanding whom we represent, (2) worthiness, (3) treasuring up, and (4) getting “out of the
way” so the Holy Ghost can teach are essential to using effectively the Lord’s pattern of preaching.
Mormon, the principal compiler of the Book of Mormon, is described as being “quick to observe” (Mormon 1:2). Recall that Ammaron counseled
the youthful Mormon to both remember and record all of the things he had observed concerning his people (see Mormon 1:1–5). His ability to
look, to notice, to respond, and to obey provides an impressive example for us to study and follow.
Being quick to observe is a vital preparation to receive the spiritual gift of discernment. Discernment is seeing with spiritual eyes and feeling with
the heart—seeing and feeling the falsehood of an idea, the goodness in another person, or the next principle that is needed to aid an investigator.
Discerning is hearing with spiritual ears and feeling with the heart—hearing and feeling the unspoken concern in a comment or question, the
truthfulness of a testimony or doctrine, or the assurance and peace that come by the power of the Holy Ghost.
I frequently have heard President Boyd K. Packer counsel members and priesthood leaders: “If all you know is what you see with your natural eyes
and hear with your natural ears, then you will not know very much.” His penetrating observation should help all of us to appropriately desire and
seek for these spiritual gifts of observing, listening, and discerning.
Many of us have learned to teach without conscientiously observing, listening, or discerning. We simply talk and tell. Missionaries who talk without
observing, listening, and discerning teach neither lessons nor people. Rather, they talk to themselves in front of investigators.
Preach My Gospel missionaries act in faith and are guided by the Spirit to help investigators learn truth. Please always remember Him, be worthy to
represent Him, treasure up His word, allow the Holy Ghost to witness all truth, and observe, listen, and discern as you testify of Jesus Christ to
honest seekers of truth.
You Can Do This!
You may listen to and ponder my message, look around at this vast army of missionaries, and believe that all of the other elders and sisters and
couples are doing and will do what I have been describing. But you may be wondering if you can do it! Please listen. You can do this!
Several years ago I was invited to counsel a man who was struggling to live the Word of Wisdom. We met and talked about his challenges following
a Saturday evening session of a stake conference. As I walked into the stake president’s office and greeted this man, I shook his hand and drew him
close to me. I then said, “I am an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and He sent me to this stake this weekend to tell you that you can do this. The
Savior knows you can do this. As His servant, I know you can do this. And as His representative, I promise you will have His help.” The man was
sincere and conscientious in applying the principles we discussed and was blessed to make great progress in keeping the commandments.
If I had the wish of my heart, I would take a few moments with each of you individually. I would shake your hand, draw you close, look you in the
eyes, and say, “You can do this! The Lord you represent and serve knows you can do this. I know you can do this. And as His servant, I promise you
will have His help. Please remember always that with His help and in His strength, you can do this!”
I love you and pray you truly will become powerful and effective representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ. To you, my fellow servants, I declare my
apostolic witness that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ live. I know and witness Jesus is the Christ, the Only Begotten Son of the Eternal Father; He
is our Savior and Redeemer. I testify the Father and the Son appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove and that the fulness of the
gospel has been restored to the earth in these latter days. The Book of Mormon is the word of God. I witness priesthood authority and keys also
have been returned to the earth by heavenly messengers. I know President Thomas S. Monson is the senior Apostle and the only person on the
earth who both holds and is authorized to exercise all priesthood keys. My beloved associates in this work, all of these things are true; they are all
true.
I invoke upon you every spiritual capacity and blessing that you may need to more fully understand that you represent and serve the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I promise that as you strive to become what you need to become, you will recognize and respond in faith to His voice and guidance. You
can do this!
I declare my witness and invoke these blessings and promises upon you in the sacred name of Him whom we serve and represent, even the Lord
Jesus Christ, amen.
What I Want My Son to Know before He Leaves on His Mission
President James E. Faust
My beloved brethren, the responsibility of speaking to the priesthood of the Church is overwhelming. I feel honored to be numbered one of you. It
is a great blessing to hold the priesthood of God. I earnestly seek your faith and prayers.
This evening I would like to speak to you wonderful young men about 10 things that I would like my son or my grandson to know before he leaves
on his mission.
First, you will be under call from the Lord Jesus Christ. What a marvelous thing it is to have the confidence of the Lord, your bishop, stake
president, all of the General Authorities, and President Hinckley to honor you with a call. You will be a servant of the living God and an ambassador
of the Church.
Most of our missionaries are young and inexperienced in the ways of the world. Nevertheless, the Lord said: “He that is ordained of God and sent
forth, the same is appointed to be the greatest, notwithstanding he is the least and the servant of all.”1
Despite our shortcomings and our inadequacies, we need to be reminded that the God who called you to serve is the “possessor of all things; for all
things are subject unto him, both in heaven and on the earth, the life and the light, the Spirit and the power, sent forth by the will of the Father
through Jesus Christ, his Son.
“But no man is possessor of all things except he be purified and cleansed from all sin.” 2
Second, your mission president is the Lord’s representative. Do not criticize or demean him, privately or publicly. If you will respect his authority,
be obedient, humble, teachable, and follow the mission rules, you will be a successful missionary. For instance, one of the hardest rules to follow is
to get up in the morning when your mission president directs. Many young men think the best time to sleep is in the morning. I’m grateful to my
obedient senior companion, Elder William Grant Bangerter, who would set the alarm clock to get up early. When the alarm went off, it would
jangle my nerves. In the winter it was dark, damp, and cold, and we never had any hot water for bathing or showering. He would cheerfully shower
in that cold water; I would start to shiver as soon as he got out of the shower. I could not do anything but follow his example, but I have to confess
that I was not quite as cheerful because my teeth were chattering.
Third, hard work is more important than intellect. Remember the Lord’s words in the Doctrine and Covenants:
“Wherefore, I call upon the weak things of the world, those who are unlearned and despised, to thrash the nations by the power of my Spirit;
“And their arm shall be my arm, and I will be their shield and their buckler; and I will gird up their loins, and they shall fight manfully for me.”3
President Ezra Taft Benson once said: “One of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work. If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets
the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people; and he will be happy. There will be no
homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. That’s the secret—work,
work, work. There is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work.”4
One of the Brethren reported being in a missionary testimony meeting when a young elder, who was not given much to speaking, said: “I am
enjoying my work. I guess that is all I can expect. I can’t enjoy what I don’t do!”
When President N. Eldon Tanner presided over the West European Mission some years ago, his slogan was “Have a good time.” One day he said to
a group of missionaries in Germany, “I would like you all to have a good time.” After the meeting, one of the missionaries came up to him and said:
“President Tanner, I don’t think that it is quite fair for you to tell the missionaries to have a good time. You know, the only way they can have a
good time is to do their work.” President Tanner said, “Well, go have a good time.”5
Fourth, forget yourself in His service. The Lord said, “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.”6 If you
will lose yourself in missionary service, you will find indescribable joy.
Nothing you do as a missionary should get in the way of your important message: not your dress, not your hair length, your attitude; not your
deportment; and not your girlfriend at home. I do not wish to be insensitive to the natural affections between a fine young man and a lovely young
woman. However, if a missionary receives a letter from his girlfriend stating that her affections for him have changed—we used to call that a “Dear
John letter”; some of us have gotten those—I commend the good counsel given some years ago by Elder LeGrand Richards, who said, “There’s a
new group of girls every year! And the new group is just as good as the old group.”
You young men are properly concerned about finding your place in this unsettled world. However, when you are called as a full-time representative
of the Lord, you should “serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.”7
Fifth, never permit contention in your companionships. Some of your missionary companions will be your life’s dearest friends. Be the kind of
companion you would like to be with. Be unselfish in your relationship with your companions. When there is contention, the Spirit of the Lord will
depart, regardless of who is at fault.
Each of us is an individual with unique strengths and talents, different from any other person in the world. Each of us has weaknesses. In a
harmonious companionship, there is teamwork—where one is weak, the other is strong. As a boy, I learned to drive a team of horses. If one horse
was balky, the other could not pull the load alone. So it is in a missionary companionship. Each must pull his share of the load.
Sixth, keep your bodies clean and healthy and your living quarters clean. It is very important that you eat properly and get adequate sleep so that
you can maintain good health. If you become ill, not only can you not do the work, but you will also become a burden on your companion.
Remember, also, that keeping your person and your living quarters neat and clean is conducive to enjoying the Spirit.
As a representative of the Lord, your personal appearance is very important. You, the Church, and your message will be judged in part by your
cleanliness and neatness. People will be reluctant to invite you into their homes if you are unkempt.
Seventh, learn to love and serve the people among whom you work. You should pray daily for them that the Lord will fill you with love as you
serve them. If you do not love them, you will have difficulty teaching them.
A lonely young Persian student was in Munich, struggling to find meaning to life in postwar Europe. He heard a knock at the door one day, and two
Mormon missionaries stood before him. He was not the least interested in religion. The only thing that interested him about these two young men
was their accent. He had mastered four languages, but English was not one of them.
He invited them in, but as soon as they began their discussion, he cautioned, “I don’t want to hear about God, nor how your religion got started. I
only want to know one thing: what do you people do for one another?”
He waited as the elders exchanged glances. Finally, one of them said softly, “We love one another.”
Nothing the missionary could have said would have been more electrifying than this simple utterance, for the Holy Ghost immediately bore witness
that these missionaries were true servants of the Lord. Shortly thereafter, he was baptized into the Church. 8
Eighth, study, ponder, and teach from the scriptures, especially the Book of Mormon and the New Testament. Know the truth so well that you
can state it clearly. B. H. Roberts wrote, “To be known, the truth must be stated and the clearer and more complete the statement is, the better the
opportunity will the Holy Spirit have for testifying to the souls of men that the work is true.”9 You cannot convert people beyond your own
conversion. The Book of Mormon, together with your testimony of it, are powerful instruments of conversion.
Elder F. Burton Howard of the Seventy acquaints us with a strong testimony of the converting power of the Book of Mormon: Sister Celia Cruz
Ayala of the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission decided to give the Book of Mormon to a friend. She wrapped it in attractive paper and set out to deliver
her present.
On the way she was attacked by a bandit who stole her purse and with it the wrapped copy of the Book of Mormon. A few days later she received
this letter:
Mrs. Cruz:
Forgive me, forgive me. You will never know how sorry I am for attacking you. But because of it, my life has changed and will continue to change.
That book [the Book of Mormon] has helped me in my life. The dream of that man of God has shaken me. … I am returning your five pesos for I
can’t spend them. I want you to know that you seemed to have a radiance about you. That light seemed to stop me [from harming you, so] I ran
away instead.
I want you to know that you will see me again, but when you do, you won’t recognize me, for I will be your brother. … Here, where I live, I have to
find the Lord and go to the church you belong to.
The message you wrote in that book brought tears to my eyes. Since Wednesday night I have not been able to stop reading it. I have prayed and
asked God to forgive me, [and] I ask you to forgive me. … I thought your wrapped gift was something I could sell. [Instead,] it has made me want to
make my life over. Forgive me, forgive me, I beg you.
Your absent friend.10
Such is the conversion power of the Book of Mormon.
Now I would counsel you young men as you enter your missionary service to forget the mysteries. Speaking of the mysteries reminds me of the
man who got up to talk and said, “I will now proceed to expound upon that which the Lord has not yet seen fit to reveal!” Mysteries include those
matters that are speculative. They are things which have not been revealed or are beyond our understanding. It is the plain, simple truth confirmed
by the Spirit that converts when accompanied by the testimony of a humble servant of the Lord.
Ninth, you must know that Lucifer will oppose you, and be prepared for his opposition. Do not be surprised. He wants you to fail.
Discouragement is one of the devil’s tools. Have courage and go forward. Recognize that the gospel has been preached with some pain and sorrow
from the very beginning of time. Do not expect that your experience will be otherwise. President Wilford Woodruff recounted the difficulties of
early missionary work:
“In my early missions, when preaching in the Southern States—Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky—I have waded swamps and rivers and have
walked seventy miles or more without eating. In those days we counted it a blessing to go into a place where there was a Latter-day Saint. I went
once 150 miles to see one; and when I got there he had apostatized, and tried to kill me. Then, after travelling seventy-two miles without food, I sat
down to eat my meal with a Missouri mobocrat, and he damning and cursing me all the time. … In those days we might travel hundreds and
hundreds of miles and you could not find a Latter-day Saint.”11
Tenth, your own personal testimony is the strongest arrow in your quiver. I have often related that in the early days of the missionary work in
Brazil, where we now have over half a million members of the Church, we did not have the Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, or the
Doctrine and Covenants translated into the Portuguese language. All we had were the Bible, a few tracts, our personal testimonies concerning the
Restoration of the gospel and the Joseph Smith story, and our testimony of the living prophet. The harvest was not great. However, some of those
who were baptized have for three generations remained faithful because they were touched by the powerful testimonies of humble missionaries
almost 60 years ago. Now, you cannot be responsible for whether or not those you teach will accept your testimony and join the Church. Do not
feel that you must obtain a quota of baptisms to be successful. An old saying teaches that you can count the number of seeds in a single apple, but
you can’t count the number of apples in a single seed. The harvest is the Lord’s. Your responsibility is to thrust in the sickle. The Doctrine and
Covenants clearly records what is required of those who enter into the waters of baptism:
“All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits, and witness
before the church that they have truly repented of all their sins, and are willing to take upon them the name of Jesus Christ, having a determination
to serve him to the end, and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be
received by baptism into his church.”12
If you have the Holy Spirit resting upon you, and you speak by that Spirit the words of the Lord as contained in the holy scriptures and as outlined
by his living prophets, God will ratify your message in the hearts of those who are hearing you.
Now, my dear young friends, missionary work is not easy. In fact, it is often quite difficult, but the Lord is the greatest paymaster in the world.
Dedicated missionary service is one of life’s most fulfilling experiences. This is in large measure because of the divine agency which flows so richly
from the Lord to His humble and obedient servants to bless the lives of others. I know this because I have seen it manifested in the lives of
thousands and have felt it in my own life.
May the priesthood of God be prepared and worthy for any calls that may come, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
 Missionaries Are a Treasure of the Church

Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita

I am thankful that missionaries are called by the Lord, that they respond to that call, and that they are serving throughout the world.
One night a number of years ago, a newly called missionary named Elder Swan and his Japanese senior companion came to visit our home.
Fortunately I was home, so I invited them in. When I greeted them at the door, my eyes were drawn to the coat that Elder Swan was wearing.
Without thinking, I said to him, “That sure is a nice coat you are wearing!” However, it wasn’t a new coat, and it was rather faded. I assumed that
the coat was one that a previous missionary had left behind in the missionary apartment.
Elder Swan immediately responded to my words, and it was completely the opposite of what I had been thinking. In halting Japanese he replied,
“Yes, this is a good coat. My father wore this coat when he served as a missionary in Japan over 20 years ago.”
His father had served in the Japan Okayama Mission. And when his son was leaving to serve a mission in Japan, he had given his coat to him. This
picture shows that coat that two generations of Elder Swans wore in Japan.
I was touched when I heard Elder Swan’s words. And I now understood why Elder Swan wore his father’s coat while he was proselyting. Elder Swan
had embarked on his mission having inherited his father’s love for Japan and its people.
I am sure that some of you have experienced something similar to this. A number of missionaries serving in Japan have told me that their fathers,
their mothers, their grandfathers, or their uncles have also served missions in Japan.
I would like to express my sincere love, respect, and feeling of thankfulness for all the returned missionaries who have served around the world. I
am sure that those you helped convert have not forgotten you. “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings
… !”1
I am one of those converts. I was converted at 17, when I was a high school student. The missionary who performed my baptism was an Elder Rupp
from Idaho. He was recently released as a stake president in Idaho. I have not seen him since I was newly baptized, but I have exchanged e-mails
with him and talked to him by telephone. I have never forgotten him. His kind, smiling face is etched into my memory. He was so happy when he
learned that I was doing well.
When I was 17, I didn’t really have a good understanding of the messages that the missionaries had been teaching me. However, I had a special
feeling about the missionaries, and I wanted to become like them. And I felt their deep and abiding love.
Let me tell you about the day I was baptized. It was July 15, and it was a very hot day. A woman was also baptized that day. The baptismal font had
been handmade by the missionaries, and it wasn’t much to look at.
We were confirmed right after we were baptized. First, the sister was confirmed by Elder Lloyd. I sat down with the other members, closed my
eyes, and quietly listened. Elder Lloyd confirmed her and then began to pronounce a blessing on her. However, Elder Lloyd stopped talking, so I
opened my eyes and looked at him with an intent gaze.
Even today I can clearly remember that scene. Elder Lloyd’s eyes were overflowing with tears. And for the first time in my life, I experienced being
enveloped in the Holy Spirit. And through the Holy Spirit I gained a sure knowledge that Elder Lloyd loved us and that God loved us.
Then it was my turn to be confirmed. Again it was Elder Lloyd. He placed his hands on top of my head and confirmed me a member of the Church,
bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost, and then began pronouncing a blessing. And again he stopped talking. However, I now understood what was
happening. I truly knew through the Holy Ghost that the missionaries loved me and that God loved me.
I would now like to say a few words to the missionaries currently serving missions around the world. Your attitudes and the love that you show
toward others are very significant messages. Even though I didn’t immediately grasp all the doctrines that the missionaries taught me, I felt of their
great love, and their many acts of kindness taught me important lessons. Your message is a message of love, a message of hope, and a message of
faith. Your attitude and your actions invite the Spirit, and the Spirit enables us to understand the things that are important. What I want to convey
to you is that through your love, you are imparting the love of God. You are a treasure of this Church. I am so very thankful to all of you for your
sacrifice and your dedication.
I also would like to talk to you future missionaries. In my own family, four of our children have served missions, and our fifth missionary will enter
the Provo Missionary Training Center at the end of this month. Next year our youngest is planning to serve a mission after graduating from high
school.
So I speak to my sons and to all of you preparing to serve missions. It is necessary to bring three things with you on your mission:
1. A desire to preach the gospel. The Lord wants you to search for His sheep and seek them out.2 People all over the world are waiting for you. Please
go quickly to where they are. No one strives harder than missionaries to go to the rescue of others. I am one of those rescued.
2. Develop your testimony. The Lord requires your “heart and a willing mind.”3
3. Love others, just like Elder Swan, who brought his father’s coat and his father’s love for Japan and its people with him on his mission.
And for those of you who don’t know how to prepare to serve a mission, please go and see your bishop. I know that he will help you.
I am thankful that missionaries are called by the Lord, that they respond to that call, and that they are serving throughout the world. Let me say to
all of you beloved returned missionaries: I am truly thankful for all your efforts. You are a treasure of this Church. And may you always continue to
be missionaries and act like disciples of Christ.

I testify that we are our Father in Heaven’s children, that He loves us, and that He sent His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, so that we can again return to
His presence. I say these things in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Feed My Sheep – MTC Talk – Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

This talk was given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on January 11, 2011. It’s entitled “Feed My Sheep” and was a
precursor to the talk that he gave in General Conference.
What a privilege to be here. I love being at the MTC. I told these people earlier in a little informal and inadequate dinner remark that there’s
nothing I’d rather do, and nowhere I’d rather be than with Missionaries. And in Missionary service, and in performing Missionary labor, and doing
things with the Missionary department. The mechanism and the structure that, under the direction of the prophet to call you on a mission, guide
your Mission while you’re out there, works with your Mission Presidents. I want you to have a good experience; provide you with things like Preach
My Gospel and all the other helps that we can give you.

I’ve gone around this earth. I guess I’ve said this in every congregation I’ve ever been in, certainly any congregation with Missionaries, which is
numbering quite a few now, after all these years. But I suppose on more or less, probably literally, every continent, and many of the nations of
those continents, I have testified to Missionaries like you that my Mission meant everything to me in my life. Everything. No young man could have
served a Mission and been more effected by it than I was.

I hope you will feel the same. And what I say to you tonight is assuming that you’re going to feel that, and that I’ll be terrifically disappointed if you
don’t. But I want your Mission to mean as much to you as mine meant to me. I came from a family that did not have any tradition of Missionary
service. At least not any immediate sense, ’til you get back to some ancestor somewhere. But I didn’t have any immediate role models. I didn’t
really know what a Mission was. I didn’t know much about what clothing you took, and we weren’t nearly as organized and orchestrated. This is a
long time ago, by the way. We just landed the arch when I got my call.

But I don’t even know whether we had a clothing list. I don’t know, and I didn’t have much of anybody to check with. I didn’t have a big brother, or
a big sister, or a father, or mother, or anybody who’d been on a Mission. And to have gone as ignorant, and innocent, and confused, and befuddled,
and mystified as I was, and to have had the experience that I had in two years. To have forever and ever and ever affected my life evermore, is
more than I will ever be able to thank my Father in Heaven for. In this long list of things I can’t thank Him for in this Church, in the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, beginning first of all and above all else, for the Atonement and gift of His Son.

But so closely related to that was the chance to go talk about it. To go and learn about it. To go start to have some feelings about it, for the first
time in my life. I’d gone through Primary. I’d come up through the Aaronic Priesthood. I’d gone to Seminary. I did the things you did, and I didn’t
know anymore than you know, which is saying a lot. Or maybe it’s saying a little. But to have entered that intense period of my life, and to have felt
what I felt, and to have come home and had it shape every significant thing that has happened to me since. I really mean that and I really testify of
that. Every good thing that’s happened to me in 50 years – 49 years since a Mission – every good thing that’s happened to me came somehow
through the portal of that little 24-months – Elder, in beloved… Where’s the man who gave the prayer? Elder, in jolly old England.

I am so grateful and I care very very much about your intention to serve that way and to have it affect your marriage and your choices about
education and your world’s work. And how you raise your children. And what you want to do in the community. And the responsibilities you fill in
the Church. I want you to feel the same way. I’m gonna, I’m actually gonna end up talking about that, so I don’t want to say more about it now, but
thank you for representing those marvelously formative and powerful moments in my life. When so much changed, and so much happened, and so
much was permanent, and embraced forever more. I’m grateful. I’m grateful for the Missionary program of the Church, and I want you to come
home feeling about it the way I did, and the way I do.

I want to talk with you a little bit about the moment in time that you’ve come to a Mission. The progress that the Church has made, the
development that the Church has made in it’s Missionary movement, and it’s Missionary policies, and it’s Missionary materials, and why you are so
fortunate. I particularly want to stress that you have come to a Mission in the era of Preach My Gospel.

You should be thoroughly conversant with that from the minute you walked into this building, and certainly ongoing as you go out into your
Mission field. But I want to just give you this much of a backdrop to that history and I’m grateful that Elder Hinckley is here, and I’m grateful that his
sister Kathlene Hinckley Walker is here, because Preach My Gospel was born. And it probably developed over a long time. I suppose a lot of people
had thoughts and ideas and feelings about it. But Preach My Gospel was really born in the modern sense, the day that President Hinckley stood
before a group of prospective Mission Presidents and said, in effect, (this is President Gordon B. Hinckley, father of these two I’ve mentioned) and
said in effect, said it more discretely than this, more carefully than this, but what he said was, “Somethings wrong with our Missionary program.
Somethings not right.”

And what prompted him to say it was Missionaries who come home, and fail to remain active in the Church. And when he talked about that, it
went through my heart like a javelin, because he articulated what I had always felt, but had never somehow been able to say, or focus on, or realize
I was feeling it. But when he talked about that tragedy in his life, with some emotion, and your father was not given to showing a lot of emotion.
But when he said that with emotion about any Missionary who could go do what we’re asking you to do, and come home and not be faithful to
that very doctrine, and those very covenants, and those very principles, and those very ordinances, something is manifestly wrong. And it took a
while, and it took a lot of work by a marvelous department, many of whom are represented here and in the immediate audience, a lot of starting
and stopping and reviewing and talking and rehearsing, but out of that experience was born Preach My Gospel.

With this fundamental proposition, it’s said better in the book, and it’d be said better by, I’m sure other General Authorities, but from me, the
message of Preach My Gospel to you tonight is, that the fundamental change that was made and how we do Missionary work is, that we need to
convert you, and thenyou figure out how to convert investigators. And for 100 years or more, we had been leaping to the investigator. We had
been saying from day one, “What does the investigator need? What does the investigator got to have?” And that’s still true. We still have to ask
that. We still have to know what the investigator needs to know, and what the investigator needs to feel, and what the investigator needs to do in
order to come into the Church, and for us to have a successful Mission. But we were leaping to that. We were sort of jumping over a hurdle to get
to that, and failed to recognize the hurdle that President Hinckley, and I’m sure many many others before him laid the ground work for, to say,
“There’s something before you get to the investigator. You’ve got to get to the Missionary.”

And so the idea of a memorized discussion, wrote mechanical lessons, they were great lessons. It’s the era of my Mission. I memorized those
lessons. I memorized every single solitary word of those lessons. They were quite effective. Probably better than anything we’d done before that.
We had some focus. We got it down to a reasonable number. There was uniformity throughout the Church. We called it the “Uniform Plan for
Teaching the Gospel.” But it still wasn’t enough, because somehow in the cases that were being identified, (and any case would be too many
cases). And I guess there were a lot, you’d know a few, and I’d know a few, where somehow we’d been able to throw the switch and say the words
that had come in one ear and out the other, or in both ears and out our mouth, but somehow had never gotten down here. That the Gospel had
never been down here in the heart of the Missionary.

And so we were saying, in effect, to investigators, “Come in and sit down and be quiet. I’m gonna tell you what I’m here to tell you. I don’t care
whether your mother just died, or whether your son is on drugs. I don’t care whether you’re in the middle of a divorce, or whether you just had a
car wreck. Sit down! I’ve got a message, and I’m going to tell you.” Well, we’ve learned since then that that might work, and that it might not work.
And most of the time, it didn’t work. And that you have to go where the investigator is, before you can get the investigator to come where you are.
You’ve got to go find where that investigator is, in his or her life, or their family, or their marriage, or their childhood, or their education, or their
economic frustration. You’ve gotta find some knowing legitimate loving identification with that person, and then say, “Come with me to the Sacred
Grove.” Then say, “Come with me to the garden of Gethsemane.” Then say, ultimately, “Come with me to Calvary.” But we were assuming a little
too much that people were going to join us on that journey with or without our interest and identification with what they were feeling, and what
they were going through.

Elder Allen, Brother Steve Allen, our managing director who is in the audience tonight, and one of the brilliant brilliant administrators in this
Church, has done with his team. All of whom, many of whom, are in the audience tonight, have done studies over the years. And we learn these
horrible facts. We actually hired people. We hired people to listen to Missionaries. We paid a firm to act like they were investigators, so that we
could learn what an investigator thinks our missionaries are doing, accomplishing, or not accomplishing. And do you know what most of them said?
Most of them said, “If I hadn’t been paid to listen to them, I would have thrown them out of the house.” Which is often what happens, when
they’re not being paid.

With this in mind that they would manufacture these, they had manufactured them, because they were hired. They were supposed to be,
supposed to act like investigators, so they’d make up stories. And when the Missionaries would start, they’d say, “Well, tonight’s not a good night,
because I just received word that my father may not live through the night. I just received that word,” or some such story. And then the test was,
well, what do the Missionaries do with that? Do they even hear that? Does it even register that somebody just said, they have just been notified
that their Dad is dying? Or is it just, “Well, that’s nice. Now, Brother Brown…” and you’re launched off into this first message that you’re gonna
give? Whatever. Or, you know, somebody would say, “This isn’t a good time to talk. This isn’t a good week for Missionaries to come. My son been
expelled from school. He’s 15. I don’t know what to do with him. I’m a single Mother. I don’t know what to do with this boy. This is not a time for
Missionaries.”

Well, might that not be a time for Missionaries? It certainly ought to be a time for Missionaries, as the other situations should have been a situation
for Missionaries, as any situation ought to be a time for Missionaries, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see. But that’s the part that, that for so
long, seemed to be missing. And it’s the part that President Hinckley picked up on and commissioned, then the Missionary Executive Counsel, and
its Missionary department, to start to wrestle with this and say, “How can we do better?”

And thus, Preach My Gospel was born. With this premise – which I’m repeating, but for emphasis – Elders and Sisters, we felt if we could get it in
you, if you could get it in your heart, and you could listen to these people with your heart, you could see them not as objects for baptism, or a
statistical zone rendering report on Sunday night. If you could see these as children of God with real lives, and real needs, and real hopes, and real
dreams, and real heartaches, and listen, and pray, and be lead by the Spirit to know what to say… If you would study hard enough to know the
gospel and know what to say, we would see Missionary work begin to be – and certainly in the life of the Missionary – we would see Missionary
work begin to be what God intended it to be.

Told the wonderful little story. I’ll give a 30-second synopsis of a longer story of Wallas Toronto, proselyting in Czechoslovakia – I was gonna say the
Czech Republic, it was Czechoslovakia then. Proselyting in Czechoslovakia, between the two wars. After World World I and before the rise of Hitler
in World War II. And these two Missionaries knocked on a door, it opened about that far, and a woman looked out, saw who they were, and
slammed the door. Somebody deft a foot and, deft of heart at least, didn’t quite get their toe in the door, but they refused to leave.

And by the way, be a little persistent! Now, be courteous. Be thoughtful. Don’t be insensitive, but Sister Holland’s got an Avon lady that’s more
persistent than you are! She’s there every week, and she’s just selling mascara! Okay? Be a little persistent! Don’t take “No” for an answer. How
many times did the Savior have to come to the Nephites? How many times does He come to the temple in bountiful to announce who He is and the
advent that he’s going to make and appear before them? He has to tell them three times. You may have to go back to a door. You may have to go
back to an investigator. You may have to find another way to get back into that heart. Don’t give up too easy.

Well, okay, these Elders weren’t going to give up easy. And so they knocked on the door. Knocked on the door again and again. Finally, she opened
again. And said, in her Czech – and their Czech wasn’t very good – but she told them to leave. And they said, “What have we done? We’re young
men. We’re innocent. We’re just visitors here. What have we done? We came to give a message. We came to express good will. What did we do?”
And she said, “You’re ministers, aren’t you?” And they said, “Yes, we areministers.” She said, “That’s enough. That’s enough for me. That’s all.” And
starts to slam the door again. This time, they did get a toe in the door. “Why? What’s wrong with ministers? What’s wrong with us? Tell us what.
Tell us why.”

Well something touched her heart. I’m sure the Spirit of the Lord. I’m sure the persistence of these Missionaries, a little bit. And she started to tell
a longer story, the quick version of which is that she had had a daughter, lost a daughter. I don’t know where the Father was. I guess there was a
Father, but if he was killed in the war, I don’t know, but there’s no father in the home. And she has a baby girl, little girl, and at about age 3, lost the
baby. And in total grief, and in total distress – and again, if it’s in the context of the war or what, I don’t know – but she went to her local minister
and asked for help, and asked for consolation, and asked for counsel, asked for what you ask a Minister for, when you’ve had a moment of
bereavement and grief and tragedy in your life.

And the minister said – now this is the report that the Missionaries got, and I’m leaving it to you as to the accuracy of it. It seems a little harsh, but
it’s the way they reported it and the way she said it to them – that he turned on her and said, “I don’t have anything to do with you. I don’t have
anything to say to you. That little girl is in hell, and so are you, eventually, because you didn’t have her baptized. You haven’t darkened the door of
this Church, and you come staggering down here at your moment of loss, and expect something? Well you’re not going to get it.” And turned her
away.

I can’t quite imagine that, but that’s the report. And it was severe enough, and honest enough, or at least accurate enough that she left saying two
things, “I will never ever ever darken the door of this Church again.” And number two, “I will never speak to a minister again in time of need, or in
time of delight. In time of joy or in time of sorrow. I will never speak to a minister again.” So that’s why she said, “Are you ministers?” And they
said, “Yes.” and she slams the door.

Well what would you do, Elders? Sisters, what would you do if you’re Elder Holland, and you’ve got six memorized discussions, and you know them
in order? And you have to give one before you give two, and you have to give two before you give three, and you have to have your companion
ready to do his part, because you only know your part when you’re a new Missionary, and on and on and on and all the drama. What would you
do? Well I’ll tell you what Wallas Toronto did in 1928. Long time before my Missionary plan or yours. He said, in his broken Czech, “Would you like
us to tell you where your daughter is?”

And later on, this woman said, “For the first time in my life, I felt the Spirit of the Lord.” And she opened the door – didn’t let them in, this is still a
doorstep conversation, persistent Missionaries. This is still a doorstep exchange – she opens a little wider and says, “I’d give anything to know
where my daughter is.” And Wallas Toronto, halting, feeble, broken Czech student that he was, 21 years old or so, opened the Book of Mormon
and on the doorstep reads to her, in the best Czech he can muster, from the 8th Chapter of Moroni. Mormon’s great letter to his son, about the
curse of infant baptism, and why children are saved by the grace of God in the Atonement of Christ, in their innocence, and swept into the Kingdom
of Heaven on the mercy and majesty on the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fifty years later, when Elder Hinckley’s son and my son were companions in the Czech Republic, there was a tradition still alive about this sister. She
was not living, as I understand it, and as I gather it. But there was a tradition still alive in that land of this woman, who had since past away, but
whose gift to the Church was still legendary among the Saints, and at least some of the Missionaries heard about it, of going out of World War I,
through this experience of joining the Church, and then the closure to Czechoslovakia again, because as you’ll recall in history, Czechoslovakia was
one of the first places to fall in the rise of Nazism in the 30s and then onto World War II. And then in the aftermath of World War II, Communism
and the division of Europe. So they had 75 years or so, I don’t know, all told, of War-to-War to occupation-to-occupation, and through it all, this
little sister and a few handful of sisters like her, because there wasn’t much Priesthood, kept the Church alive and the little flicker of a flame of faith
burning in Czechoslovakia. Until finally, in our day, that Mission could be re-opened, and our sons and some of you – some in this room must be
going to the Czech Republic, or to Czechoslovakia, or nearby – and a new day dawned and the Church would grow again on the strength of little
sisters who kept their tithing in a mason jar. Who prayed and longed and yearned for the day that any Priesthood leader, anywhere nearby, could
come and administer the Sacrament. And that they’d say their prayers and do their duty and be the best they could, even in severely restricted
circumstances, with horribly restricted religious freedom.

I don’t know who that sister is. I don’t even know her name. I don’t know how, I don’t know how much of that legend is legend and how it will be
seen on into the next 40 or 50 or 60 years. But I know those stories are repeated all over this world, on the strength of a Missionary who had the
sense to know what was in Moroni 8.

Now that’s why it’s got to be in the hearts of the Missionaries. That’s the leap we were making, and honestly so, but a leap that was inadequate to
somehow say, “Let’s give you this prepackaged information so that you can immediately give it to the investigator.” Well we don’t always know
what the investigator needs. At least from headquarters, we don’t know. You’re gonna know. But we don’t know. So Preach My Gospel is an
attempt to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ into your life. And don’t you ever return from your Mission and fail to measure up what you’ve gone out
there to say.

How can you ever look an investigator in the eye again? How can you ever look a companion in the eye again? How can you look at a member, or a
priesthood leader, or a primary teacher, or a new convert struggling just to hang onto the gospel… How can you possibly go do this, and say this,
and say you believe it, and say you’re emissaries of the Lord Jesus Christ?

You’re witnesses called to serve, called to serve! I’ve sung that song ten thousand times! And you are! And I have to say, “So what? So when? For
how long? For how much?” I’m still going to return to that before I finish.

But for me, that’s the one lesson that I want you to learn. Beyond all the details, beyond all the instruction that you’re going to get, here in the
MTC, and in the Mission field, that’s the fundamental thing that I want you to carry away, into the field, out of the MTC, and into your labor; is that
your supposed to get this before we have any hope in the world that the investigators can get it. And that it’s in your heart, and you care enough to
learn the gospel and follow the spirit, and be prepared to go where the investigator is.

To find the investigator here, and pull this one in, and find that investigator there, and pull this one in, and to do this work the way the ancients did
it. That’s real Missionary work. That’s Peter, James, and John. That’s Alma and Amulek. That’s Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel. That’s
the way the ancients did it. And I believe with all my heart, in these Latter-days, in this greatest of all dispensations, we’re getting closer to doing it
the way the Ancients did it. And I pray that you’ll succeed in that.

There are three things – well, there are a lot of things. There are a lot of things that we’ve learned in the department in that Missionaries don’t do
very well. Frankly, Missionaries do miraculously, marvelously well. It’s one of the wonders of the world that we ask you to do what you do and you
do it so well. But as we try to teach to this, and as we try to emphasize two or three things, let me just say, there are a couple of things, three things
for tonight, that I’d have you watch for in the next few weeks, in the next few months. And try and take advantage of while you’re here, and take
advantage of when you start in the field.

Number one is, we learn that Missionaries don’t study very well. Now, that doesn’t mean that you don’t read the pages. It doesn’t mean that
you’re probably not pretty loyal, I hope you’re loyal, to mission rules, and mission outlines, and Preach My Gospel, that you’re going to have a
study period. You’re going to have some private study, and you’re going to have some companionship study. But in this new era, Elders and Sisters,
studying takes on a whole new meaning. Certainly a larger meaning, and impact, and mission, and message than when I was a Missionary. You have
to be an infinitely Missionary than I and my companions were, and that people in this Church have been for decades.
If you’re going to be this personally responsive, personally prepared, deeply endowed, deeply en-viewed, powerful teacher, you’re going to have to
work at that. And that means study. Now, that’s why we want you to get up in the morning. I hate talking about obedience. But you probably, since
obedience is the first law of everything, and I remind you of your temple experience, I remind you of your life experience, I remind you for what’s
certainly going to be your Mission experience. Tell me how your obedience is, and I’ll tell you right now how your Mission is going to be. It’s as
eternal as anything I can ever say to you.

And something as simple as getting up in the morning. We’re not just trying to be more mean to you than your mothers. We’re not trying to just
make life miserable for you. Not bring you, you know, you’re little tea and crumpets. Well, I can’t bring you tea, but… You know? If we make you
get up and work hard, and start early, there’s a reason for that. It is because you have to study.

We have to members of the twelve. Two Russells in the Quorum of the Twelve. If you wanted heart surgery for your mother, would you want Elder
Nelson to do it, or Elder Ballard to do it? Both Russells and both wonderful wonderful men. Any body got any choice? Anybody got any…? I won’t
ask for a vote, but I suspect if you know anything about it, you’re probably saying, “Well, if I get a choice, I’ll take Elder Nelson.” Well that’s not to
be unkind to Elder Ballard. He’s got a Swiss army knife, too. He can go in there and, you know. He can flip that thing out. But you say, “Probably,
thanks, but no thanks. I’d like to go with Elder Nelson.” Why? One simple solitary reason. Both good men, both high priests, both wonderful – now
I’m not talking about a spiritual ministry. I’m making a little parable here – You want Elder Nelson, because he’s practiced. You want him, because
he’s done it 10,000 times before he did it to your mother. He knows what a good heart looks like, and he knows what a bad heart looks like. He
knows when an aorta is working and when it’s not. He knows when a valve is functioning, and when it’s not. He knows when a hearts diseased and
when it’s not. He’s seen it. He’s studied it. He’s lived with it. He’s sat in a dormitory room somewhere with his feet in cold water so that he could
study those medical books, when your mother was wheeled into the room. That’s who your investigators deserve.

We do not apologize for asking you to study. And we do not apologize for asking you to study in the Preach My Gospel era, because we cannot tell
you now what your investigators are going to need. I can’t tell you that on any given day, it’s going to be Moroni 8. Moroni 8 wasn’t anywhere in
the plan! That’s obvious. You’re going to have to know this, and do it, and have it in your heart. And there’s no substitute for that. And you’re going
to have to have companionship study. By the way, when you’re disobedient, when you do waste the morning, and when you are undisciplined, the
first thing that will be lost is companionship study. Trust me. I know. I know. I know you. I know Missions. I know Missionaries. You’ll probably try to
find a little breakfast, you may get a little personal study in, you’re try and get a quick prayer said, but you’re not going to have the time to sit down
and rehearse together, study together, what you’re going to do as a companionship.

And we teach in this gospel, two-by-two. No lesson is going to be given alone. And you have to study. And you have to study together. That’s even
tougher than just putting your feet in cold water and studying a medical book. You’ve gotta have two guys there. Two Elders, two Sisters, with feet
in cold water, sharing the medical book, to figure out how you’re going to do this.

Studying has taken on a new higher order of significance in the days of Preach my Gospel, because we want you to know the gospel. You’re going
to have to know where to go. You’re going to have to have your outlines and there’s a good basis, there’s a good solid sequence of lessons and
principles to be covered, but you’re gonna have to be alert. And family X is not necessarily going to get what family Y got. And family Z is going to
get something else altogether. And that’s going to be from 2:00 in the afternoon to 6:00 at night, and 8:00 at night. And you’re going to do that on
the same day.

Not me. In the old days, boy, they would have gotten the same thing. Same switch, same message. Just put it on overdrive, and let it fly. Well, no
wonder you’re going to be more successful than we were. And no wonder that the world needs you to be more successful than we were, than any
generation of Missionaries that’s been.

The other thing we’ve learned, another thing we’ve learned about Missionaries is, they don’t prepare very well. Do you know what preparing
meant when I was a Missionary? Do you know what preparing meant? Preparing meant the ominous decision of where we were going to tract that
day. That was the entire sum total of our plan. What street will we walk down today? Boy, that took… We had to be geniuses to master that, you
know? Boy, it required looking at a map, and knowing a street name.

Well, what does preparation mean, and what does planning mean for you? It means all of this that I’m saying about study and more. What does the
Jones family need? What does the Gonzalez family need? What does the Kawaski family need? What do these people need? And where are we?
And how did the last lesson go? And what are we going to do for the next lesson? And what part are you going to do? And what part am I going to
do? And we’d better get on our knees again and see what the Lord can say to us about this process. That is planning with a capital ‘P’ in the age of
Preach My Gospel. Review of how it went with your investigators, note taking, and review when you get home that night, and review before you go
out the next morning, and big planning weekly. And it makes District Meetings more significant, and Zone Conferences more significant. We’re
talking about real people, with real needs, and the real challenge of getting people baptized and converted in a world that’s getting farther, and
farther, and farther away from Christian commitment.

You’ve got to be so much better than I ever was. And planning has got to take on some significance about how you use your time, and where in the
city you’re going to be. And if you’ve got some free time, what are you going to do? And what’s your area book like? And how do you fall back?
Those are things that just were sort of abstractions from me. Maybe somebody had said something about them, but they didn’t mean very much.
Well they’ve got to mean something to you.

The last thing, and the most serious thing that we’ve found that Missionaries don’t do very well, is teach for commitment. You haven’t had much
experience teaching. We don’t give you much experience. You haven’t done much teaching in this Church by the time you’re 19. You might have
done a little. You might have had a Primary assignment, or substituted in a priesthood class or something, but you haven’t done much. And here,
we expect you, to overnight, as it were, become master teachers of the most important message that people will hear in their entire lives.

Well we’re devoting ourselves as a Missionary department and as a Missionary executive counsel, this year, and the past recent year, and the roll-
out that will already be existing in your Missions when you get there and MTCs by this Summer when you’re little brother or little sister get to
those MTCs, we will be trying to help you be better teachers. Not simply better students. It’s going to require good study. It’s going to require good
planning. But then finally, when you’re knee-to-knee, and face-to-face in a home with an investigator, you’ve got to come through. You’ve got to
deliver the goods. And they’re going to have to feel what they feel, and learn what they learn, so much that they will make the commitment to join
this Church and keep the covenants that they’ll make with God, right through to the temple and to eternal life.

What a miracle that that ever happens. What an absolute miracle that it could ever happen. And it can’t without this new Missionary living by the
Spirit, pleading and putting everything on the line. Every effort to study. Every effort to prepare. Every effort to teach with skill, and power, and
authority; power and authority being the phrase that’s always used in the Book of Mormon: “They taught with power and authority.” We seldom
teach with either power or authority. We don’t act like we have any authority, and we hardly dare even summon any enthusiasm to suggest we’ve
got any power. And then we wonder why the Red Sea doesn’t part. You know, “Where’s the 8,000, Ammon?”

We can get better at this. We can do better at this. We can grow into this. But it’s going to take a masterful, modern, 21st century, last and greatest
of all dispensations kind of a Missionary to do it. And I love you for accepting the call. I love you for believing and knowing that you can do it,
because this is God’s work. The Spirit of the Lord is the key essential, ultimate ingredient. That’s why the medical school analogy isn’t very good.
Because you get to be a 1st-grade surgeon the first day you’re in the Mission field. If you have the Spirit of the Lord with you and you’re putting
your heart on the line to from that first day on just be the kind of Missionary you’re supposed to be, including an honest effort to study, including
an honest effort to plan, including an honest effort to teach with enthusiasm and conviction and heart-felt honesty.

That doesn’t require any educational certificate. It doesn’t require any external pronouncement by some secular society. The Spirit of the Lord
itself will pronounce that gift upon your head and endow that mantel of authority on your shoulders from the first day. From the very first day. If
you’re as honest as we’re pleading with you to be, in a day when you’ve gotta be the best Missionaries this Church has ever had. That’s what
you’ve gotta be.

We have a world in trouble and if we understand these scriptures, it’s not over yet. The last days for all of its greatness and grandeur in the
dispensation for the Church, it’s not going to be a pretty picture for the world generally. And we’ll be affected by that. We are affected by it. We’re
in that world. And you’re God’s answer. You’re the hope of Israel. You are the hope of Israel. And you’re 19 years old. Or 20, or 21, or 22, or
whatever. I stand all amazed at what a Missionary is in this Church. And what God would somehow know, and have the confidence to believe could
be done with people like you, and people like me. It’s a marvelous work and a wonder.

Let me close with the point that I began with, about you. Contrary to the parlots of the day, this is about you. I’ve thought long and hard about the
apostleship. I’m not going to go into that tonight, but sometime seated around a living room fire with some popcorn or some hot chocolate, we’ll
talk about calls to the apostleship. But setting that aside, it’s prompted me to read everything I could read about apostles; ancient or modern, just
to try to learn. Just to try to come to grips with it. That’s the part I’ll leave to tell you another day.

But in so reviewing that, I’ve been drawn again and again and again to Peter, the chief apostle, still the chief apostle. The apostle that brings the
Melchizedek priesthood and the apostolic keys back to the earth, this dispensation, Peter has a premiere roll in the apostleship and the
Melchizedek priesthood work of this world.
But when the Savior had lived his life and pursued His ministry, and had gone, Peter was as bereft as most of you feel right now. And if you don’t
feel bereft now, wait until you get into the Mission field for the first 24-hours. Then give me a jingle. You’ll know what I’m talking about, okay? And
he knew, he somehow knew he was in charge. He knew he was the President of the Church, so to speak. Whatever the senior apostle would have
been. But now Jesus is gone, he’s been crucified, the tomb is empty, he and John ran to the tomb, and it was empty, and this cascade of experience
has tumbled down on them in a few hours, a couple of days at best.

And then people are saying, “Well what do we do now?” I don’t know that anybody had ever asked that question, because frankly, they never got
it. They weren’t literally, truly, what, look, they had been in the Church at best 36 months? Can you imagine picking a quorum of the twelve out of
new converts, who have not been in the Church in any case longer than 36 months? We have to give them a little credit, and a little courtesy that
they were doing any portion of what they were doing.

But they didn’t get a lot of this. He kept saying, “I’m going.” He kept giving parables. He kept talking about how people would destroy the temple in
three days, and He’d build it back up. Well they didn’t understand any better than the Pharisees what He meant. Everyone thought He was talking
about the temple itself. They thought, “Well, I guess He can build the temple back up…,” and they just didn’t get it. And He kept trying to be sweet
and gentle and prophetic, but they were young, and green, and that’s why they kept saying, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.”
And now they’re gone, and people turn to the new Eleven, turn to Peter and say, “Well, what do we do?”

And what does he say? “Well, it’s been a great 36 months. This last little while has been terrific, and all of it was pretty good. We saw great
teachings. We saw wonderful miracles. We saw healings. There we were on the mount of beatitudes. We saw Him walk on the water.” – Peter
probably wasn’t so bold as to say that he had actually, for a moment or two, but they’ve got all those memories. And he says, “Wasn’t it great?
Wasn’t it terrific? Let’s go fishing.”

He didn’t know what to do. It’s over. He’s gone. Maybe they thought somehow this was going to turn into this political Messiah, too. Maybe good
orthodox Jews that they were once, and probably still are a little bit, maybe they thought, “Well, whatever we thought the Messiah-ship was, I
guess it’s gonna be something else. Let’s go fish. Let’s go do the thing we know to do. That’s what we were doing when He found us, so let’s go.”
And they did. And they went back to Galilee, and fished. And I guess life was going to go on.

But something happened. It’s early morning, they fished all night, they’ve caught nothing. You fish at night on the sea of Galilee. They’ve caught
nothing. Zero. Zilch. Nothing. Nada. No fish. And in the distance, because the sight is quite clear on a lake, and the sound is very good across the
surface of a lake, they see a figure, who has made a little fire. And calls out to them and says, “How’s your fishing gone?” And they said, “Lousy. It’s
been terrible.” (You’re going to have days like that.) They said, “It’s been a disaster. We haven’t got anything.”

And He said, “Well, uh, cast your net over on the right side of the boat.” And I’m sure there was somebody there who said, “Oh well, now, who is
this? Who is this that’s got such a cute idea about how to fish after we’ve been at it all night, and is going to tell us out here, laboring as we are,
there he is safely on the beach, we’re out here in these boats, He’s going to tell us how to…” I don’t know if someone said that, but I bet someone
did.

But reluctantly, and maybe out of desperation, needing a catch – they are, after all, now back to doing what they used to do, and if they’re going to
fish, they’ve got to fish – they cast their net over to the right side of the boat, and they can’t pull the catch in. It starts to sink the ship, one of the
miracles being that the nets didn’t break, there were so many fish. They couldn’t get the fish in the boat. And John said, “It’s Him. It’s Him.”

And Peter, sweet Peter, who didn’t know better than to say, “Let’s do what we know how to do.” Sweet people who cuts people’s ears off, and
then they have to be put back on, and… Sweet, loyal, devoted Peter, looked at John, heard what he said, looked at the shore, saw the Master, and
bailed over the edge of the boat. And said, “The rest of you can row if you want, I’m going in.” And he just started going to shore.

Well they arrived. The Savior and this marvelous act of courtesy has fixed their breakfast. He’s built a little fire, and cooked some fish. Just a little
passing thought on His magnificence – they’re going to be hungry, they haven’t had a good night, and I’m going to fix their breakfast. And they
followed his feet, and then Jesus starts this little interrogation, and with this, I close.

“Peter, do you love me more than you love these fish in this net here, and these boats, and these oars?”

And Peter said, “Yes, I do love you, more than these.”

And a second time, Jesus says, “Peter, do you love me more than you love these fish, and your nets, and your battered old boat?”
And a little distressed at that, Peter said, “Yes, I do. I said I did. I do.”
And the Savior probably took a deep breath and smiled and looked Peter right in the eye. And though He didn’t verbalize it, apparently He was
conveying to Peter, “May I now say to you for the third time, do you love me?” And Peter is very very sensitive about threes right now.
And Jesus says, really in effect, “Okay,” for the last time, “do you love me more than these? Than what you do? And what you’ve just been doing?”
And Peter says, “I do. I do love you. More than anything.”

And that is the moment that Peter became the great apostle. Forget the denials, whatever they were. Forget the cut off ears. Forget the
impetuousness. Forget the confusion. Forget not knowing more than to come back to fish. Right here, face-to-face, again from the honesty of his
heart he said, “I do love you, more than anything.”

And to that, the Savior of the world said, “Then feed my sheep! I have asked you before to leave your nets. And I’m asking you again, and I don’t
want to ask you a third time. When I said, ‘Leave your nets,’ it was forever. When I asked you to follow me, it was forever. When I asked you to be
an apostle, it was forever. When I asked you to be a Missionary, it was forever. When I asked you to see this through to the end, it was because it’s
not over ’til it’s over. Now forget your nets, and forget the fish, and jettison your boat, and throw those oars away for the second time, and feed
my sheep. We’re in this ’til the end.”

And that’s the day Peter strode into eternity, and became the man within hours, within days at the very least. When people plead that they could
be taken into the street and left on their cot in hopes the shadow of Peter would pass over them. That’s the Peter that he became with that little
confrontation on the shore. And the issue is for all time and eternity, “Do. You. Love. Me? Do you love me?”

Elders and Sisters in this MTC congregation, do you love Him? You cannot get there from here. You cannot be what you have to be. You cannot say
what you have to say. You cannot become the Missionaries, the witnesses, the emissaries, the bastions and sentinels of truth that you’re
supposed… You can’t do it, unless you love Him. It is the first and great of all the commandments, the greatest of all commandments, the first
commandment.

You need to decide tonight whether you’re on a coarse that’s committed to the idea that you really do love God. You really do love the Savior. And
if you do, and I know you do, and I pray you do, and we’ll all do this together, we’ll all march into the future together, but when you do, and when
you say that, and when you believe that, then you’re call is to feed His sheep, forever.

Now, can you understand why you must never and may never and can never come back? It will never be the same again. Peter, you can’t go home.
You can’t go back to fish. You can’t go back to Galilee. You can’t go back to boats. It’s over. It is a new life, a new day, a new time. This Mission
marks that hour in your life. You cannot go back. And if you do, you will break my heart, and you will break the heart of God himself. If you turn
your back on the gospel of Jesus Christ, which you have pledged your life, or at least these next two years or eighteen months, to teach. But my
point is that it isn’t just eighteen months, and it isn’t just two years. And I stand here at 49 years and counting, and say, I pray that it’s never ever
ever over for me. And I pray that it’s never ever over for you.

And if you are ever tempted on your Mission, or after, to leave this faith, or commit a transgression, or to walk away from the covenants you’ve
made, and the honesty of your heart – not assuming that you’re going to be perfect, and knowing that we’re all going to have to repent every day
of our lives about something – but you’re coarse needs to be true. You need to stay the coarse. You need to see it through. You can’t go back.
You’ve left your nets, and you’re going to feed sheep. You’re going to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, for time and eternity.

Boy, that’s weighty to put on the shoulders of a 19 year old sitting in Provo, Utah. Or a 21 year old, or whatever you are. But that’s about what this
adds up to be. “Do you love me? Well then, feed my sheep. And do it forever.”

May you do so, successfully, and with God’s love and mine. And the Holy Spirit to attend you, because you cannot possibly succeed without it. God
bless you, on the greatest venture of your life, that should shape and will shape, if you allow it to shape, every great experience you’re ever going
to have for the rest of this life, and as much of the next one as I know anything about. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Becoming A Consecrated Missionary – Tad R. Callister

Posted on July 26, 2013 By Matheson

Given by Elder Tad R. Callister, of the Seventy, in the Provo Missionary Training Center on October 7, 2008

Many years ago I entered the Mission Training Center as a young enthusiastic missionary. The training was shorter and simpler then, but the spirit
was just as powerful. I have long forgotten most of what was said, but an observation made by the president of the Mission Training Center struck
me and has remained with me to this day. He said in essence: “Every mission has a number of good, even great missionaries, but most missions
only have about five or so consecrated missionaries – those who are willing to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice.”

Today I believe we have many more such consecrated missionaries. But to those of you who are not quite there, but would like to be, it is you to
whom I would like to speak today – about becoming a consecrated missionary.

What is a Consecrated Missionary?

What is a consecrated missionary? It is a missionary who is willing to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice and to hold nothing back. It is a
willingness to give every ounce of energy, every conscious thought, and every drop of passion to this work – to submit our will to God’s will
whatever it may be. Every missionary who has been to the temple has covenanted to consecrate his all. The book of Omni records the depth and
breadth of that covenant: “Yea, come unto me, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him” (Omni 1:26).

The law of consecration is the law of the temple, it is the law of the celestial kingdom, and it is the law of a celestial mission.

Parley P. Pratt was such a consecrated missionary. He had served as a missionary for more than 25 years of almost constant labors. He had just
returned from his latest mission in Chile. He was hopeful that he could now remain at home and enjoy his family, but such expectations were short
lived. President Brigham Young called him to serve yet another mission– this time in the eastern states. One can imagine the feelings that must
have swelled up in Parley’s heart. Perhaps he thought, “Haven’t I given all that a mortal could be expected to give? Don’t I deserve to spend some
time with my family and friends? Can’t I just relax for a while?”

But Parley P. Pratt was a consecrated missionary. On September 7, 1856, shortly after learning of his call by Brigham Young, he offered the
following tender reflections and prophetic insights: “I have desired, after travelling for twenty-five or twenty-six years, mostly abroad, to stay at
home and minister among the people of God, and take care of my family; but God’s will be done, and not mine. If it is the will of God that I should
spend my days in proclaiming this Gospel and bearing testimony of these things, I shall think myself highly privileged and honored. And when the
Spirit of God is upon me, I think it matters but very little what I suffer, what I sacrificed–whether I secure the honor or dishonor of men, or where I
die, if it so be that I can keep the faith, fight the good fight, and finish my course with joy. I have all eternity before me, in which to enjoy myself.”
(Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, p. xxv.)

Sometimes there is a temptation to withhold part of the offering. Such was the case with Ananias and Sapphira, his wife. The scriptures tell us that
they sold a piece of land. Under the law of consecration they were to turn over the entire sale proceeds to the church, but secretly they kept back
part of the price. The consequence was devastating – they were struck dead (Acts 5:1-10). Sometimes good men, perhaps even great men, can’t
quite bring themselves to put everything on the altar of sacrifice, and in the course lose their eternal lives. So it was with the rich young ruler. He
had kept the commandments from his youth up. Then the Savior declared, “Yet lackest thou one thing. Sell all thou hast and distribute unto the
poor…and come follow me.” But it was too much to ask, and he went away sorrowful, unwilling to put his all on the sacrificial altar.

Peter, overhearing the conversation and understanding there could be no shortcuts to eternal life, no holding back, declared in contrast: “We have
left all and followed thee” (Luke 18:18-28). Perhaps we have one or two things which we lack, that we hold back from the sacrificial altar, that
prevent us from becoming a consecrated missionary. May I discuss some of those, so that hopefully we too might become like Peter and leave our
all on the altar of sacrifice.

Put On the Altar of Sacrifice Any Disobedience.

First, a consecrated missionary puts on the altar of sacrifice any streak of disobedience he may possess, however large or small it may be. He has an
unrelenting quest to be exactly obedient. King Lamoni recognized that Ammon was a consecrated missionary, for he said: “Even he doth remember
all my commandments to execute them” (Alma 18:10).
When I first entered the field as a mission president, I met several times with a missionary who was struggling with obedience. One day in
frustration he blurted out: “What then is it you want me to do?” I replied: “You have missed the point. It is not what I want you to do, it should be
what do you want to do?” There was a moment of silence and then he made this insightful observation: “You are not just asking me to change my
behavior; you are asking me to change my nature.” He was so right.

If you only change your behavior, then you will be the same person you were when you left home, subject to the same problems that plagued
you then. But if you change your nature you will go home a new man or woman, with the power and discipline to conquer your old Goliaths. If you
only get up at 6:30 am because your companion does, you have merely changed your behavior. If you get up whether or not he does, you
have changed your nature. If you speak good words but entertain bad thoughts, you have only changed your behavior. If you also change your
thoughts you have also changed your nature.

With the Lord’s help we can transform our natures. King Benjamin gave the key as to how we can do it. We must become “submissive, meek,
humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father.”
(Mos 3:19).

That is the key – to submit our will to God’s will.

One missionary, upon going home told me that he slept in one morning. His companion said to him, “It’s time to get out of bed.” This missionary
responded, “I don’t want to.” His companion replied, “It’s not about what you want, it’s about what the Lord wants.” The missionary said; “I have
never forgotten that – a mission is about that the Lord wants, not what I want.”

A consecrated nature will cause us to be obedient, not because we have to, but because we want to. Such a nature may cause us to change the
music we listen to; it may cause some to be more positive in their speech, or more exacting in following the morning schedule or more diligent in
their studies. Whatever it is, the consecrated missionary will read the white handbook with enthusiasm, anxious to obey and follow every rule with
exactness, knowing that it is not a book of restraints, but a book of blessings. He will have an overarching, burning desire to do the Lord’s will, not
his.

Leave Our Fears on the Sacrificial Altar

Second, consecrated missionaries leave their fears on the sacrificial altar and open their mouths with everyone. This will be one of your great
challenges in the mission field. It sometimes separates the consecrated missionaries from the good missionaries. I recognize there may be multiple
reasons why someone doesn’t open his mouth at all times and in all places – why he holds back a part of the offering. It could be a timid
personality, or a fear of man, or a streak of laziness, but whatever the excuse may be, it must eventually be overcome. It never outweighs the
Savior’s command which states: “And thou must open thy mouth at all times.” (DC 28:16). This injunction is repeated again and again in the
scriptures.

On another occasion the Lord said, “At all times and in all places he shall open his mouth and declare my gospel as with the voice of a trump both
day and night.” And then comes the promise to those who do: “And I will give unto him strength such as is not known among men” (DC 24:12).

Sometimes in life we just have to square our shoulders and do it. There is no magic pill that makes us courageous, no passage of time that
strengthens us, no memorized approach that emboldens us. We are left only with the compelling counsel of King Benjamin: “And now, if ye believe
all these things, see that you do them” (Mosiah 4:19).

Years ago my grandfather was serving as the president of the Rotterdam Branch in Holland. He told of a woman who came to him destitute, who
had earned the equivalent of an American quarter for the entire week. She asked if she needed to pay tithing. He looked at her for a minute in her
impoverished condition, and then said: “Sister, if this were my church, I would not take your tithing. But it is not my church; it is the Lord’s church,
and tithing is a principle upon which blessings of the Lord are predicated.” (LeGrand Richards Speaks, P. 185.) She paid her tithing.

If I could as a Mission President, I would have exempted some missionaries who struggled with opening their mouth. I knew how hard it was for
them, but I couldn’t. The command to open one’s mouth is not my command. It is not the command of Preach My Gospel, it is not the command of
the missionary department, it is the command of the Lord who has spoken on this subject again and again through his living prophets. Sometimes
we have to be like Nephi and say, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments
unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them” (1 Ne 3:7).
Eventually we must do more than tell the stories of the Book of Mormon; we must live them.

The Lord, in speaking to a group of departing missionaries (like you), told them five times to “preach by the way” (DC 52:10-27). We preach by the
way when we talk to people in the parking lots, when we speak with people in elevators, when we speak to people in the stores or on the bus or at
the gas stations. Consecrated missionaries preach by the way at all times and in all places, both day and night. Sometimes we have missionaries
who are so worried about offending people that in the process they never ever save them.

I had an assistant who used to say, “If you want to baptize a few people you talk to a few people, if you want to baptize a lot of people you talk to a
lot of people and if you want to baptize everyone you can, you talk to everyone you can.” But the Lord gave an even further reason for opening our
mouths. He declared: “And it shall be given thee from the time thou shalt go [out of thy apartment in the morning], until the time thou shalt return
[to thy apartment in the evening] what thou shalt do”. (DC 28:15-16). In other words, you will have the spirit from the moment you leave your
apartment until the moment you return to your apartment if you do what is required in verse 16: “And thou must open thy mouth at all times,
declaring my gospel with the sound of rejoicing. Amen.”

The reason it is so important to open our mouths is that every time we do so we exercise faith, and every time we exercise faith we invite the spirit
and miracles into our lives. Consecrated missionaries open their mouth with everyone.

Put Our Romantic Passions on the Table

Third, a consecrated missionary puts his romantic passions on the altar of sacrifice; he has a locked heart and a focused mind. He is never
flirtatious, he does not have an eye on the cute BYU coed or the friendly young single adult, nor is his prime focus with the young women after
sacrament meeting. He is not obsessed with his girl friend back home. He rises above all of that.

In my day the white handbook contained this all-inclusive statement: “Put out of your mind all thoughts of home, school, your girl and worldly
things.” It was a powerful reminder that our mission was the sole focus of our mind and the sole passion of our heart. As hard as it may be, the
consecrated missionary disciplines his passions. His eye is riveted to this work. He is like the thoroughbred horse with his blinders on. He races
ahead, seeing only track and finish. If an inappropriate thought enters his mind, he drives it out with a hymn or scripture. His mind does not go with
the flow. Rather, there is an active, concerted, conscientious effort to keep his mind pure and clean.

When David saw Bathsheba on the rooftop, he continued to watch – that was his downfall. When Joseph was tempted by Pharaoh’s wife, the
scriptures say: “[He] got him out” (Gen 39:12), and that was his salvation. It is no different with our minds. Alma taught this principle to his son
Corianton, who had unfortunately unlocked his heart to the harlot Isabel. Alma scolded his son severely and said, “Yea, she did steal away the
hearts of many, but this was no excuse for thee, my son.” And then he gave him the remedy to be a consecrated missionary, “go no more after the
lusts of your eyes, but cross [or discipline] yourself in all these things.” (Alma 39:4,9).

You young missionaries who enter the field, will be surrounded, almost immersed, by those in immodest clothing, by suggestive billboards, by
magazines and papers that have lost all sense of moral decency. If you garnish your thoughts with virtue unceasingly (DC 121:45) the consequences
will be monumental in your life. As a missionary you will have confidence that the Lord will hear and answer your prayers. The Lord himself
promised: “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God.” (DC 121:45) In addition,
when you go home and date, you may not only have a romantic courtship, but one that is also clean and wholesome. And when you are married
you will be a loyal and true spouse. If every action is preceded by a thought, then every consecrated missionary must first have a clean and
consecrated mind.

Give Up Pride
Fourth, a consecrated missionary gives up his pride on the sacrificial altar. The Lord made it clear, “And no one can assist in this work except he be
humble and full of love” (DC 12:8). Pride manifests itself in many ways – one way is disloyalty to those who are our leaders.

Loyalty is much more than a reluctant submissiveness. It is an active pursuit, not only to follow the counsel of our leaders, but to seek their counsel.
A consecrated missionary hungers and thirsts for instruction as to how he can be better, and how fortunate we are to have so many missionaries in
the world who manifest that spirit. Again and again missionaries would ask me in the field, “President, what can I do to be a better missionary.”
And oh, how they became so.
Pride may manifest itself in jealousy of companions. I think of one of the finest elders of our mission. I never heard him say “I.” It was always “we”
or “my companion did this” or “my companion did that.” Though his words always credited someone else, somehow you always knew he was the
driving force behind it all. Pride may manifest itself in a reluctance to confess our sins. We may be too embarrassed to do so, or fearful of the
consequences or unrealistically hoping the sin will somehow vanish if we serve an honorable mission. But at the root of each of those excuses is
pride.

On one occasion a missionary came to me with a belated confession. I asked him what motivated him to come. He responded: “I finally disclosed to
my companion that I had something to confess to the President, but I didn’t want to go home. Then my companion said something that struck me
to the very core. “Elder,” he said, “there is something even more important than your mission.” Somewhat surprised I replied, “What is that?” Then
came his answer: “Repentance – repentance is more important than your mission.” The young Elder who sat before me said, “President, I knew he
was right. And that is why I am here. I want to repent.” Not too long ago I received an invitation to attend his temple sealing.

Some have honestly asked, “When should I confess?” When the sin is of such a serious magnitude that it may trigger a disciplinary proceeding or
continues to linger in our minds so that we cannot have peace. If we then fail to confess, our spiritual horizons become limited. It is like being
surrounded by a circular, impenetrable wall. In such a circumstance, we have some limited room in which to move, but we are trapped. We will
look in vain for a slit through which we can squeeze, an opening through which we can pass, an end around which we can travel. There are no end
runs, no secret openings, no hidden passages. Serving a faithful mission does not obviate confession; months and years of abstinence no not erase
its need; one-on-one pleading with the Lord is not a substitute. Somewhere, sometime, somehow one must face the wall square up and climb it.
That is confession. When we do this our spiritual horizons become unlimited and we become entitled to the promise of the Lord. “Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).

Pride may manifest itself in a defensive attitude or a multitude of excuses. On one occasion I reprimanded a missionary for an act of blatant
disobedience. He started to offer excuses; finally I said, “If you want to offer excuses I cannot help you. If you are willing to acknowledge the wrong,
I will work with you and we can build for a constructive future on a sure and solid foundation.” That day he had to choose between rationalization
and repentance. Fortunately he chose the latter.

One night I was with an Elder Choi and Elder McClellan. We were talking to a mother who was reluctant to let her 17-year-old son be baptized. For
at least ten minutes of the conversation she chastised these elders severely, and literally “raked them over the coals.” No doubt they were
embarrassed, perhaps even offended, particularly since their mission president was present. In my estimation they had done nothing wrong.
Instead, they were taking an undeserved whipping of substantial proportions. I thought, will they fight back, will they argue, will they defend their
position? To their credit there was no argument, no excuses – simply the humble response that they were trying to do what was best for her son
and if in any way they had failed to do so they were sorry. They were not trying to win an argument. They were trying to save a soul. With that
humble spirit, her heart softened, and finally she agreed that she would listen more carefully to the message her son was being taught. They were
consecrated missionaries – every ounce of their pride had been put on the altar of sacrifice.

We Put our Negativism and Sarcasm on the Table.

Fifth, consecrated missionaries are willing to give up any negativism or sarcasm. Instead they are optimistic and positive. They have a 24-hour
smile. They live the invitation of the Savior, “Be of good cheer I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). There is not a negative bone in their
bodies. There is no rejection at the door or on the street that can dim their enthusiasm. They are willing to pay the price of repeated rejection for
the hope of a single conversion. Whatever the world throws at them, they throw back a smile, because they know they have the gospel of Jesus
Christ.

Consecrated missionaries are like Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young, who left for their missions to England. Their families were poverty stricken,
they were sick, and there was little food available for the ensuing months. Heber and Brigham, finally able to raise themselves from their own sick
beds, kissed their wives and started on their journey. Brigham recorded: “It seemed to me as though my very inmost parts would melt within me at
the thought of leaving my family in such a condition.” (Men With a Mission, p. 71.) But before they were out of sight, Brigham directed the
teamster to stop. He and Heber mustered all their strength to stand, they raised their hats over their heads three times and shouted, “Hurrah,
hurrah, hurrah for Israel.” We have such consecrated missionaries who can shout “Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah for Israel” even when they are
bombarded with rejection, or illness, or disappointment – who have unwavering faith in the promise of Paul: “let us not be weary in well doing; for
in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” (Gal 6:9).

Extra-Milers
Consecrated missionaries are extra-milers. They put on the table of sacrifice every ounce of their energy, every hour of every day. When Roger
Bannister broke the four minute mile, he collapsed at the finish line into the hands of his well-wishers. A journalist, sensing all that was involved in
that historic moment wrote: “The runner, open-mouthed, thin-legged, knowing only pace and goal, spending his strength so that the finish, at one
mile, there was nothing more.” For a consecrated missionary there is nothing more to give at the end of the day. He has put it all on the altar of
sacrifice.Consecrated missionaries are missionaries who would finish the marathon. They are missionaries who would go the full fifteen rounds.
They are missionaries who carry no white flags.

Years ago at family night we would have wrestling as part of the evening activities – our children loved it. When the kids were little I would
sometimes hold them down and ask, “Do you give up?” At first they would say, “Yes Dad, I give up.” Then I would say, “No, you never give up, you
never give up.” As time would pass and I would ask the question again, they would quickly reply, “No, Dad I never give up.” Consecrated
missionaries never give up on the Lord’s work. They never throw in the towel. They would have made it from Palmyra to Salt Lake Valley. Nothing
would have weeded them out along the way. For you see, they had unwavering faith.

Consecrated missionaries are out of the apartment by 10:00 a.m. They do not come back before 9:00 p.m., except for lunch or dinner. They speak
to everyone. They knock at one more door. There is a quickness in their pace and an urgency in their work. You can see it in their faces.

Years ago I was a young missionary in Washington DC. I was on an exchange with an Elder Hafen. It was a bike area. We had an appointment across
town but the rain started to pour. He asked, “Should I cancel the appointment?” I replied, “This is your area, you make the decision. “He thought
for a moment and then replied, “Let’s ride.” I love those words – “Let’s ride” – rain, sleet, snow, it doesn’t matter – “Let’s ride.” That is the spirit of
a consecrated missionary.

When consecrated missionaries are exhausted and nothing is left, they rely upon their faith, and the reserve tanks of energy somehow carry them
through the day. They too become recipients of the promise to Joseph Smith: “In temporal labors thou shalt not have strength for this is not thy
calling.” But then the promise: “Thou shall devote all thy service in Zion; and in this thou shalt have strength” (DC 24:7-9).

What Does it Cost to Become a Consecrated Missionary?

What is the cost to become a consecrated missionary? Some time ago I saw a movie on the life of Martin Luther. He was about to be tried for
heresy. Shortly before he was to meet with the Court of Inquisition, his spiritual mentor (a monk who had trained him and loved him) was cutting
his hair with a razor. At one point the monk reprimanded Luther for having turned the world upside down, leading the world in revolt – Protestants
against Catholics.

Then in a stirring moment, Luther grasps his arm and asks: “You wanted me to change the world. Did you think there would be no cost?” You young
missionaries came out here to change the world, to change lives, but there is a cost. It costs everything that you have on the altar of sacrifice –
your fears, your pride, your laziness, your disobedience, your weaknesses; we cannot hold anything back. When you came to the mission field you
burned the bridges behind you, you burned the ships in the harbor. There is no retreat to your former life. You cannot have one foot at home and
one foot in the mission field.

That is a certain formula for frustration. The Lord demands our whole soul on the sacrificial altar. That is the price we must pay, and when we do,
we then become instruments in the hands of God.

What Is the Power of a Consecrated Missionary?

What is the power of a consecrated missionary? Suppose I were to give you the
following options, which would you choose?

-100 mediocre missionaries or 80 consecrated missionaries?

-100 mediocre missionaries or 50 consecrated missionaries?
-100 mediocre missionaries or 20 consecrated missionaries?
-100 mediocre missionaries or 2 consecrated missionaries?
(by the way, the names of those consecrated missionaries are Alma and Ammon)

Nephi realized that power comes with consecration, not numbers. Laman and Lemuel could never understand this. They could not comprehend
how they could get the brass plates. After all they said, “How is it possible that the Lord will deliver Laban into our hands. Behold he is a mighty
man, and he can command fifty, yea, even he can slay fifty, then why not us.” For them it was all about numbers – 50 was more than 4, therefore
they could not prevail. But for Nephi, man’s power was inconsequential. It was only the Lord’s power that counted. He replied: “For behold he
[God] is mightier than all the earth, then why not mightier than Laban and his fifty, yea, or even his tens of thousands” (1 Ne 4:1). The power of a
consecrated missionary is without limit. It is manifested in so many ways. As to Nephi (son of Nephi), the scriptures tell us his words were so
powerful, that for his detractors, “it were not possible that they could disbelieve his words” (3 Ne 7:18). When the sons of Mosiah preached the
gospel, the scriptures declare: “They taught with power and authority of God” (Alma 17:3). And as to those consecrated missionaries who thrust in
their sickle with all their souls, the Lord promised: “your sins are forgiven you” (DC 31:5). Those are the powers and blessings of a
consecrated missionary, and that is why the Prophet Joseph said; “it is not the multitude of preachers that is to bring about the glorious
millennium; but it is those who are ‘called, and chosen, and faithful.” (TPJ 42). In essence – the consecrated.

Consecrated Missionaries Serve the Savior Because They Love Him.

What is the driving, motivating force for a consecrated missionary? It is the Savior and His Atonement. If we fail to be obedient, if we fail to be
humble, if we fail to be fearless, perhaps we intellectually understand the Atonement, but somehow we fail to grasp the underlying love of his
sacrifice. Once we feel that, as well as understand it, we will be driven to give our all. We will realize that our all is a small repayment for his all.

Becoming a Consecrated Missionary.

Each of us might appropriately ask, “What lack I yet to become a consecrated missionary?” There is no escaping it. God will demand our all. If we
are shy or reserved – God will compel us to change, to be bold. He will jerk us out of our comfort zone again and again. If we are lazy or idle, he will
push us and pull us even when we are exhausted. If we are disobedient, he will press us until we have a child-like submissiveness. He will not let us
be content with our weaknesses.

Whatever the weakness may be that holds us back from becoming a consecrated missionary, the Lord has promised that if we have faith in him,
and humble ourselves before him, that he will make weak things become strong unto us (Ether 12:26-27). I believe that. I do not believe there is
one missionary whose weaknesses are greater than the potential strengths within him. Why? – because each of us is a son and daughter of God,
with his divine nature and divine potential woven into the very fabric of our souls. I do not think the Lord expects immediate perfection of us, but I
do believe he expects immediate progress, and with that progress comes consecration. I believe that he recognizes and appreciates every step we
take forward, however small it may be, striving to put our whole souls on the altar of sacrifice. At first, consecration may seem like Mt. Everest,
unconquerable, unapproachable, unassailable, but every step we take forward, however minute it may seem, furthers our ascent, until one day we
have attained the summit.

May we not be content with being a good, even a great missionary, when we have the capacity to be consecrated missionaries. Mormon declared
with boldness: “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of him to declare his word among his people that they
might have everlasting life” (2 Ne 5:13). May it be so with each of us, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
The Greatest Generation of Missionaries

Elder M. Russell Ballard

We call upon you, our young brethren of the Aaronic Priesthood, to rise up, to measure up, and to be fully prepared to serve the Lord.

In one of the most powerful and instructive stories from the Book of Mormon, the people of Ammon had covenanted never again to take up
weapons for the shedding of blood. But “when they saw the danger, and the many afflictions … which the Nephites bore for them, they were
moved with compassion and were desirous to take up arms in the defence of their country” (Alma 53:13). Helaman and his brethren persuaded
them to honor their covenant with the Lord.
The scriptural account doesn’t tell us who first pointed out that their sons had not made the same covenant their parents had made. I like to think
that it was one of the young men who suggested the possibility that he and his peers be allowed to “take up arms, and [call] themselves Nephites.
“And they entered into a covenant to fight for the liberty of the Nephites, yea, to protect the land unto the laying down of their lives” (Alma 53:16–
17).
This was an extraordinary task for a group of 2,000 young men, but they were extraordinary young men. According to the scriptural record: “They
were exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity; but behold, this was not all—they were men who were true at all times in
whatsoever thing they were entrusted.
“Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma
53:20–21).
The rest of the story tells how these young men fought valiantly against the much older and much more experienced Lamanite army. According to
their leader, Helaman, “They … fought as if with the strength of God; … and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did
frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war” (Alma 56:56).
Imagine that! These inexperienced young men were so spiritually and physically prepared, and so powerful, that they frightened their foes into
surrendering! Although all 2,000 of the young men were wounded in battle at one time or another, not one was killed (see Alma 57:25). Again
quoting Helaman, “And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught
to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power” (Alma 57:26).
Brethren, today we are fighting a battle that in many ways is more perilous, more fraught with danger than the battle between the Nephites and
the Lamanites. Our enemy is cunning and resourceful. We fight against Lucifer, the father of all lies, the enemy of all that is good and right and
holy. Truly we live in a time of which Paul prophesied, when “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers,
disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
“… lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Tim. 3:2–5).
Does this sound familiar, brethren? To me it sounds like a night of prime-time television.
These are “perilous times.” We battle literally for the souls of men. The enemy is unforgiving and relentless. He is taking eternal prisoners at an
alarming rate. And he shows no sign of letting up.
While we are profoundly grateful for the many members of the Church who are doing great things in the battle for truth and right, I must honestly
tell you it still is not enough. We need much more help. And so, as the people of Ammon looked to their sons for reinforcement in the war against
the Lamanites, we look to you, my young brethren of the Aaronic Priesthood. We need you. Like Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors, you also are
the spirit sons of God, and you too can be endowed with power to build up and defend His kingdom. We need you to make sacred covenants, just
as they did. We need you to be meticulously obedient and faithful, just as they were.

What we need now is the greatest generation of missionaries in the history of the Church. We need worthy, qualified, spiritually energized
missionaries who, like Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors, are “exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity” and who are
“true at all times in whatsoever thing they [are] entrusted” (Alma 53:20).

Listen to those words, my young brethren: valiant, courage, strength, active, true. We don’t need spiritually weak and semicommitted young men.
We don’t need you to just fill a position; we need your whole heart and soul. We need vibrant, thinking, passionate missionaries who know how to
listen to and respond to the whisperings of the Holy Spirit. This isn’t a time for spiritual weaklings. We cannot send you on a mission to be
reactivated, reformed, or to receive a testimony. We just don’t have time for that. We need you to be filled with “faith, hope, charity and love, with
an eye single to the glory of God” (D&C 4:5).

As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I call upon you to begin right now—tonight—to be fully and completely worthy. Resolve and commit to
yourselves and to God that from this moment forward you will strive diligently to keep your hearts, hands, and minds pure and unsullied from any
kind of moral transgression. Resolve to avoid pornography as you would avoid the most insidious disease, for that is precisely what it is. Resolve to
completely abstain from tobacco, alcohol, and illegal drugs. Resolve to be honest. Resolve to be good citizens and to abide by the laws of the land
in which you live. Resolve that from this night forward you will never defile your body or use language that is vulgar and unbecoming to a bearer of
the priesthood.

And that is not all we expect of you, my young brethren. We expect you to have an understanding and a solid testimony of the restored gospel of
Jesus Christ. We expect you to work hard. We expect you to be covenant makers and covenant keepers. We expect you to be missionaries to match
our glorious message.

Now these are high standards. We understand that, but we do not apologize for them. They reflect the Lord’s standards for you to receive the
Melchizedek Priesthood, to enter the temple, to serve as missionaries, and to be righteous husbands and fathers. There’s nothing new in them,
nothing you haven’t heard before. But tonight we call upon you, our young brethren of the Aaronic Priesthood, to rise up, to measure up, and to be
fully prepared to serve the Lord.

Many of you are already on this track, and we commend you for your worthiness and determination. For those of you who are not, let tonight be
the beginning of your preparation process. If you find yourself wanting in worthiness, resolve to make the appropriate changes—beginning right
now. If you think you need to talk to your father and your bishop about any sins you may have committed, don’t wait; do it now. They will help you
to repent and change so you can take your place as a member of the greatest generation of missionaries.

Please understand this: the bar that is the standard for missionary service is being raised. The day of the “repent and go” missionary is over. You
know what I’m talking about, don’t you, my young brothers? Some young men have the mistaken idea that they can be involved in sinful behavior
and then repent when they’re 18 1/2 so they can go on their mission at 19. While it is true that you can repent of sins, you may or you may not
qualify to serve. It is far better to keep yourselves clean and pure and valiant by doing such simple things as:

 Developing a meaningful prayer relationship with your Heavenly Father.

 Keeping the Sabbath day holy.
 Working and putting part of your earnings in a savings account.
 Paying a full and honest tithing.
 Limiting the amount of time spent playing computer games. How many kills you can make in a minute with a computer game will have
zero effect on your capacity to be a good missionary.
 Giving the Lord more of your time by studying the scriptures and gaining an understanding of the marvelous message of the Restoration
that we have for the world.
 Serving others and sharing your testimony with them.

Now, fathers, you have a vital role in this preparation process. We know that the most profound influence on helping young men prepare for the
Melchizedek Priesthood, marriage, and fatherhood is the family. If your sons understand the basic doctrines required to become a faithful father,
they will surely be ready to serve as a full-time missionary. Unfortunately, far too many fathers abdicate this eternal responsibility. You may
assume that the bishop and the seminary, Sunday School, and Young Men teachers and leaders are in a better position to motivate and inspire
your sons than you are. That simply is not the case. While ecclesiastical leaders are important to your son’s priesthood and missionary preparation,
the Church exists as a resource to you. It is not a substitute for your inspired teaching, guidance, and correction.

Consequently, if we are “raising the bar” for your sons to serve as missionaries, that means we are also “raising the bar” for you. If we expect more
of them, that means we expect more of you and your wife as well. Remember, Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors were faithful because “they had
been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21)—and that instruction came in their homes.
Some fathers don’t think they have the right to ask worthiness questions of their children. They think that is the purview of the bishop alone.
Fathers, not only do you have the right to know the worthiness of your children, you have the responsibility. It is your duty to know how your
children are doing with regards to their spiritual well-being and progression. You need to monitor carefully the issues and concerns they share with
you. Ask specific questions of your children regarding their worthiness, and refuse to settle for anything less than specific answers.

Too often our bishops have to instruct youth to talk to their parents about problems they are having. That procedure should actually flow the other
direction. Parents should be so intimately aware of what is going on in their children’s lives that they know about the problems before the bishop
does. They should be counseling with their children and going with them to their bishops if that becomes necessary for complete repentance. As
divinely appointed judges in Israel, the bishop and the stake president determine worthiness and resolve concerns on behalf of the Church; but,
fathers, you have an eternal responsibility for the spiritual welfare of your children. Please assume your rightful place as counselor, adviser, and
priesthood leader in preparing your sons to bear the Melchizedek Priesthood and to serve as missionaries.
Now, a word to you bishops. I realize there are many young men who don’t have a faithful father in their home. In these cases, use the resources of
the Church to see that these Aaronic Priesthood holders are taught by Melchizedek Priesthood brethren who can help them to prepare for their
future priesthood service. Upon you bishops and you stake presidents rests the responsibility to recommend only those young men and women
whom you judge to be spiritually, physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared to face today’s realities of missionary work. Brethren, judge wisely
and remember: not every young man needs to be called to serve away from his home; some may best serve under your direction as ward
missionaries.
To those of you who are currently serving as full-time missionaries, we thank you for your service. Tonight is a good time for each of you to take a
close look at your performance; and if you are not measuring up, your mission president will help you make the necessary changes to be an
effective, dedicated servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally, to those of you who have already served, please remember that you were released from your missions but not from the Church. You spent
two years as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ. We expect you to always look and act like one of His disciples. Look the part. Act the part.
Don’t follow worldly trends and fashions. You are better than that. If you have slipped, then do what is necessary to regain your spiritual balance.
The rules for happiness and success after your mission are pretty much the same as they were during your mission: pray hard, work hard, and be
obedient. Get busy now and find your eternal companion to enjoy life with. Serve the Lord together, and raise up the next great generation.My
brethren, I have spoken plainly tonight. I hope you can feel the love and the concern that emanates from the First Presidency and the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles and other Church leaders as we ask you to prepare now to join us in taking the blessings of the restored gospel to all the
people on the earth. Each one of you is precious, and we want you to be successful and secure in the battle for the souls of our Heavenly Father’s
children. May God bless you with the courage to be “true at all times” (Alma 53:20) and with the vision to realize who you are and what the Lord
has for you to do, I pray in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
TO A M ISSIONARY SON
Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander

My dear brethren, what a wonderful feeling it is to be in the presence of worthy priesthood holders tonight! Among us are many young men. Thou
gh some of you are still waiting for your nineteenth birthday, others have already received your call to serve a full-
time mission. It is to you that I would like to direct a few of my thoughts this evening.

On May 15 of this year, an event occurred in our home that is repeated literally hundreds of times per week in Latter-
day Saint homes throughout the Church. After a period of anxious anticipation, a letter from the prophet containing a mission call for our son Bradl
ey arrived. This was the third such letter that we have received in our family, but each time really is the first time. The letter arrived on a day when
mission business had me away from home, so the unopened letter sat on Brad’s desk in the mission home in Vienna, Austria, until late that night. Fi
nally the moment arrived, and we were all gathered together—Mom, Dad, younger brother Stephen, and, of course, Bradley.

As in many families, there is also a sort of tradition in our family that accompanies the opening of a mission call. Each of us handled the envelope, t
urning it in our hands and holding it up to the light as if we could somehow discern its contents. Each of us took a piece of paper and recorded our
own predictions for Bradley’s call: Japan, New Zealand, and France. Then there was the inevitable fumbling at opening the envelope, extending the
excitement for all of us. The letter was at last in Brad’s hands: “Dear Elder Neuenschwander, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The C
hurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Poland Warsaw Mission.”

Tears flow easily at such moments, perhaps for different reasons. Mom’s eyes are moist at the thought of another son leaving the nest and facing t
he world. Dad recalls so vividly a day long ago when he received his call to serve in Finland. Stephen understands that this last departure of older br
others means that he will finally be the oldest at home, but his tears also mean a quiet commitment that his letter will not be far behind.

There were phone calls to returned missionary brothers at home in America, each happy but playfully disappointed that Brad’s call was not to New
Mexico or Munich, where they had served. Grandparents were thrilled that yet another grandson was worthy to serve the Lord.

Busy days of preparation began. July 10 came all too soon, and it was time for Brad to leave. Bidding farewell to a missionary son, as many of you k
now, at the MTC definitely does not get easier with practice.

In our quiet moments, Brad and I spoke of his mission. For four years he had watched missionaries come and go through the mission home. Some h
ad even gone to Poland. Yet there are things I would share with him and with you as this great missionary experience now becomes his.

You Make Your Mission Successful

Your mission will be exactly what you decide to make it. Your excellent mission president, President Whipple, and good missionary companions will
help you along the way, but keep in mind that you are the central and decisive factor in the success of your own mission. Your young but strong sh
oulders bear the responsibility of the call you willingly and happily accepted. You have seen missionaries in a variety of countries and circumstances
. You have also observed that in rather similar situations one missionary is successful, another a little less so. The difference lay in the attitude and
desire of the individual missionary. Make the inevitable challenges of missionary work steppingstones for your own spiritual growth. Determine no
w that nothing will keep you from magnifying with honor your missionary call.

Simplify Your Life

As most missionaries, Brad, you come from school years, rich in their variety of choice and activity. But your success as a missionary will depend, in
part, on your ability to simplify your life and focus on the purpose of your call. You now move from a life centered on your own needs to one concer
ned with the welfare of others. Some missionaries struggle, not wanting to let go of the past and consequently never fully committing themselves t
o the labor at hand. There is no way a successful missionary can have one foot in the world and one in his missionary labors. Successful missionarie
s make that transition. They leave behind everything that may distract them from their primary purpose. Resist bringing extra luggage with you into
the mission field, both in your suitcase and in your mind.

Be Teachable
Whatever calling you hold in the Church, someone will always preside over you. That person will teach and encourage you in your responsibilities.
Brad, be wise enough and humble enough to learn from them. Elder Boyd K. Packer taught us new mission presidents in 1987 that if we would lear
n to be silent, the Brethren could teach us a lot. I considered it good advice, and I have learned since that in the mission field, as well as in all Churc
h callings, a person who can be taught is also one who can be trusted.

Be Obedient
Mission rules are important in the same way commandments are important. We all need to keep them, understanding that they give us strength, d
irection, and limits. The smart missionary will learn the intent of the rules and make them work for him. Your mission is a time of discipline and sing
le-minded focus. You will be required to go without some things common to your current life-
style: music, TV, videos, novels, even girls. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, Brad, but then again, there is nothing wrong with food e
ither, unless you are fasting, in which case even a teaspoon of water is improper.

Stay with the Scriptures

Missionaries sometimes feel they need doctrinal reference books to enhance their understanding of the gospel. Believe me, Brad, they are not nec
essary for your gospel study in the mission field. Make the scriptures the basic doctrinal textbook of your mission. The Lord has told his elders: “Tea
ch the children of men the things which I have put into your hands by the power of my Spirit;
“And ye are to be taught from on high. Sanctify yourselves and ye shall be endowed with power, that ye may give even as I have spoken.” (D&C 43:
15–16.) You will find the Lord to be a man of his word. The promise he extends to you as a missionary is true.

Respect the Title You Hold

There are few men in the Church who are referred to as “Elder,” but one is you—a full-
time missionary. Respect that title, Brad; refer to it with reverence. Many men have brought honor to it, including your brothers. You do the same.

Keep a Proper Perspective

The real success of a mission is not measured on a chart—
it is etched in your heart and in the hearts of those whose lives are eternally changed because of you. Share your testimony often. I have seen nothi
ng in a missionary that exerts more power and positive influence than the bearing of pure and simple testimony. Your testimony is the first step in t
he conversion of those whom you teach. Have courage to invite others to change their lives and come to Christ through obedience to the principles
and ordinances of the gospel.
The Lord taught the Nephites: “Now this is the commandment: Repent, all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, th
at ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day.
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, this is my gospel.” (3 Ne. 27:20–21.)
Bless the lives of others with your priesthood and your presence.
Brad, love every minute of your service to those wonderful Polish people. Love their country, their food, customs, language, and heritage. They will
enrich your life and understanding.
The work in which you are engaged is true. You are teaching the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the promise of salvation to all who will listen a
nd accept your message. Of this I bear my witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
“The Miracle of a Mission” – Elder Holland – MTC Talk – October 28, 2000

Brothers and Sisters, we feel it an immense privilege. I’m so proud of you. I’m so grateful that you’ve served. Maybe that’s the most important
thing I can say to you. Tonight we don’t have a lot of time. There are 101 things that I would like to say. I wish we could, you probably don’t wish it,
but I wish we could stay all night. And I do this humbly, this informally, and as lovingly as I know how to do. In the time that we have I’ll hit a couple
of highlights and key things that I think you need to remember and hope you will.

More importantly maybe than anything, at least more basic than anything else that I would say to you, is my expression and my personal love for
you. I’m authorized to represent President Hinckley, President Monson, and President Faust, the Quorum of the Twelve and all the General
Authorities; and I think literally and truly I’m authorized to represent the Lord Himself. I’m called to be His witness, His representative, and to speak
by His right and His power, not of our own. Nothing of our own strength or privilege and preparation. We don’t have anything else. The only thing
that matters, the only real preparation and spirit of authorization happens from Heaven. The same with you. You get that from the same source.
But, I think in light of that authorization which sent you into the mission field, I have the same authorization to come to this MTC and to tell you
that God loves you, is aware of you, and knows your name, knows your call and your mission field, knows your companion, knows your mission
President. He knows the lessons you’re going to have and the challenges you’re going to face. We do love you for serving.

I’m grateful for the way you look. It’s very important that the messenger be worthy of the message. We ask you to look a certain way and act a
certain way because of the message. This is more important than anything you’ve ever done in your life. However, we feel . . . and I’m sure you’ve
been wondering . . . however significant your lives may have been . . . and I’m sure you’ve done very important things, . . . this is higher and holier
and more sacred and more eternal than anything you’ve ever done. It is by definition the most important thing you can do in the world, in time or
eternity. For this reason, you are engaged in the saving of the human soul. And that is the highest and holiest work in the universe.

That is the thing that God Himself said was His work and glory. It is the purpose for which the Savior came to the earth and gave His life and was
resurrected to open those possibilities and promises of Eternal Life. It is the purpose for which every prophet has lived and every apostle has
spoken. It is the purpose for which every missionary since Adam and Eve has gone forth to declare the truth. You join those ranks! You join that
brotherhood and sisterhood and it is as I said by definition, by theology, it is the most important thing you can do.

There will be other ways you will do this. There will be other ways you will do the most important thing in the world, not the least of which is to be
a parent—that will engage you in the saving of the human soul. More tender because you get to raise that human soul and love it and take it on
into eternity, but it will still be the same work in God’s eyes and in the records of Heaven and the economy of the Plan of Salvation. This work and
parental work and church service for the rest of your lives and temple service will forever bring you into the eternal ranks of the work of angels, the
work of the Priesthood, the work of the prophets and apostles, for as long as they have lived. And so forgive us if we are very serious with you
about this.

It’s kind of “grown-up time.” This isn’t the seminary council. This isn’t being president of the teacher’s quorum or the laurel class, important as that
is. We send you to the temple, we give you the most important covenants a man or a woman can make on the face of this planet at 19 or 21, and
we invite you to come and do the work that God Himself has

labored over and toiled over and wept over and pursued since before the beginning of time, since before the foundation of the world. It’s fairly
serious business and it doesn’t mean depressing and it doesn’t mean discouraging. It doesn’t mean that you can’t be happy. But we are giving. As
General Authorities, we’re giving everything we know to this. For as long as we live we will be bearing testimony of the divinity of the Church, and
of the salvation of the Lord and of the Restoration of the gospel and of God’s love for His children. Until I cannot move my lips one more time, that
is what we will do.

We’re asking you to join us in that for two years. We’re asking you to carry one leg of the race, one relay of the baton for two years’ time, or 18
months, as the case for the sisters, and to join President Hinckley and President Faust and President Monson and President Packer and all the
brethren. And again I say, you only have to let your imagination move in the way that Sister Holland has suggested, that you join all the other
prophets who have ever lived in doing this. It is a relatively short period of time. It may not seem short to you, but it is short to us who are doing
this work for 40 or 45 years. We just thank you. We love you. We are honored and grateful that you have come. If fifteen of us had to do it alone, it
would be a very, very hard work. If three members of the First Presidency and Twelve Apostles of the Quorum had to do the work you’re doing, it
would kill us off sooner than it’s going to kill us. So, it is a very personal expression of gratitude that we make. Thank you for serving.

In doing that, I represent your Father, your Dad, your little brothers and your little sisters, your aunts, and your uncles, and your bishop and
everybody who loves you and everybody who prays for you. You’re the most prayed for people on the face of the earth. I really believe that. I do
not believe, collectively speaking, that there is any body of people that’s any collective circle of individuals are prayed for on the face of the earth
than the LDS missionaries. I don’t think that other churches have the organizations we have or the missionary force to pray about and to pray for,
and they’re not organized enough in their ecclesiastical organization to do the praying if they had the missionaries. And I used to think that you
were the second, that the President of the Church was first, that he was the most prayed for man on the earth and you were second. But I’ve
repented of that because I’ve never heard anybody pray for the President of the Church, who did not in the same breath, pray for the missionaries.
So, it’s you and President Hinckley, neck and neck all the way down the line. And take comfort in that, take great satisfaction in that—I do!

There are days when I really need to know that each and every member prays for the Brethren. Hard days, long days, challenging days,
troublesome days when Lucifer is real, when evil is rampant and problems abound and the Church is confronted, or the missionaries struggle, or
the mission has a problem, or the people in their homes are having difficulties, or families are being torn apart. There are lots of reasons for us as
General Authorities to get heartaches and to shed tears, and we take great consolation in the fact that the members of the Church pray for us.

And I really want to thank you for that, and I want you to know that we return the favor. That every Thursday of our lives, this is beyond our
personal prayers, (Sister Holland and I pray for you personally.) That every Thursday of your life and of mine we pray for you in the Temple, and I
want you to know that we have a little prayer experience in the temple, as General Authorities, just the First Presidency and the Quorum of the
Twelve, until the Brethren come in at Conference time, and then it’s everyone! Every week we have an experience. I don’t need to detail all the
sanctity of it to you, but suffice it to say, it includes a prayer at a prayer alter, and it’s led by the President of the Church. It’s led by Gordon B.
Hinckley, and you are prayed for. And on days when it’s hard, on days when it’s tough, and if you’re particularly new, on days when you’re
homesick, you just know that the most beloved man I know in all this world prays for you because you’re the teammates! You’re understanding
something of what we do, and for that reason we really understand what you do, and we’re kind of in it together. Maybe the folks back home do or
don’t know so much about it. Maybe your little brother or little sister don’t really comprehend what a mission is. Really, nobody who hasn’t been
on a mission understands. But nevertheless, from the President of the Church right down to the newest members anywhere who learns to pray and
learns what a missionary is, you have that tremendous support and love and encouragement, and I’m authorized, I think, to speak for all of them,
to speak for your family.

Some of you out here are new, and by definition, all of you are within nine weeks in this experience. Don’t be discouraged. Now that may be easy
to say and hard for you to understand. The culture is new, the language is new, and you have every right and every reason, at least every
understandable reason, to be homesick. Everybody’s been there, and if it gives you any encouragement, just remember that I did this once too, and
that no young man in the history of the world could have been more affected by a mission than I was.

My father was a convert and my mother had not served a mission, as sisters usually didn’t then. No one in my family had ever gone on a mission. I
didn’t know the clothing to buy. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know anything about it. I knew zero about a mission, but I knew that I wanted to
go, and I knew that I wanted to serve. As inadequate as I was, as unprepared as I was . . . I didn’t look right; I didn’t act right; I didn’t know anything
about it. We didn’t have an MTC, and I don’t remember people or even remember a sheet telling us what clothing to bring. I don’t know, I had a
suit my brother handed down to me. You could shave by it! You could hang it up and it glistened, it was so worn and so shiny. I had that suit and a
green corduroy suit with matching vest and okra lining. Boy, if you think my Mission President’s eyes didn’t pop out! What did I know? That’s all I
owned, and my Mom said that I would probably be okay, and that’s what I took.

In two years my life was changed forever and forever and forever. Everything I hold dear, everything I cherish in one way or another, I owe to the
experience that converged from my childhood, my lovely parents, and my good home. Converged and passed into my soul on a mission. Everything
— my marriage to Sister Holland, my children, the fact that they have been on missions and all married in the temple and now are raising children
to go on missions and be married in the temple, my education, and my chance to have a profession in education, my church assignments—
everything that has ever blessed me I owe to the gospel, collectively, broadly, and to my mission specifically.

So don’t worry about being homesick. Don’t worry about being new. Don’t worry about the language. None of that matters. It will not matter. God
loves you and this is the truth and you can do it! Just reach down, pull up your socks, and go to work. This is a time for you to go out. I plead with
you. I plead with you, in the case of the Elders, to have a 24-month mission! Not 23, not 22, not 19, not 16, not 14...to have a 24-month mission!
Sisters, have an 18-month mission—not 15, not 11, not 6. Start fast. Run hard, and to the tape! You can rest later.

I played for a state championship basketball team once, and we weren’t supposed to be there, and we weren’t supposed to be able to play. We
were a rag-tag bunch from a very small school where there was hardly enough guys to put on jerseys. And somehow we made it to the
championship game. And I remember the coach saying at half time, when

we were behind...he came into the locker room and said, “I know you’re tired. We don’t have a lot of substitutes—we hardly have any. I know
you’re tired. I know you’re giving it everything you’ve got, but the next 20 minutes is the most important 20 minutes of your high school career.
Twenty minutes is all I’m asking, and then we’ll rest forever! Give me all you’ve got for 20 more minutes! Let’s go out there and do that.” And we
did, and it worked, and we won. It was great, but matters not at all, matters not one iota. I don’t think I ever thought about it much in the forty-
plus years since that happened. But in the gospel, I mean if it can matter for a high school ball game or a track meet or a dance review or a
symphony recital, it can matter for things like that, that pass away in the night and dissolve in the air, how much more should that spirit of
commitment count in the Gospel of Jesus Christ! We’re just asking for that slice.

Most of you had a reasonably comfortable life up to the call, and you can just have the most terrific, relaxed, wonderful life after, but right now we
want you to run all the way, every day, every step until this is over. To give the Lord a full 24-month or 18-month mission, for your sake, for the
church’s sake, for integrity’s sake, for the prophet’s sake. I can tell you he’s doing it! Ninety-one years old, (he will be ninety-one in June), ninety-
one years old and going all day, every day, everywhere, all the time until he drops!

His only council to us, and he’s willing to do the same, he says, “Look, you know, you don’t work hard enough, you don’t go far enough, you don’t
do enough,” (here we all are dying), he says, “Look, I don’t have sympathy for you. If you die, you die.” And clearly that’s his theory. I mean, that’s
his position. He just said, “Look, what use are we then, what do we do at our level, at our time in life, with our calls...what else is there? We will just
give and give and give until we are taken.” And we don’t want you taken. We don’t want you to pass out. We don’t want you to ruin your health.
We just want two years from you. We just want 18 months from you. So start now. Just don’t look back. Just put your face to the sun and put your
shoulder into this work, and give it everything you’ve got and savor every day! Now if anyone wants to go home, talk to me. I will not let you! I will
throw my life before the barred door. I have chains in every room. I have skyhooks and cables. I have things you’ve never seen before. If you think
President Palmer’s tough on you, you haven’t seen anything yet! If you have any feeling about going home, you cannot. You must not. Not for the
Church’s sake, the Church wouldn’t miss you that fast! You cannot go for your sake!

Look at me and listen to me and see the fire in my eyes and the flame in my soul! You cannot ever go home! You’ve got to know what this means to
me, what it has meant to my life, what is has meant to my family. The first missionary to go—a 180 degree turn for our entire family and its
generations—to receive the gospel and go on a mission! I would do anything to keep a missionary in the mission field. I would hang on, I would
grab your leg, I would twist your ankle, I would put a full nelson and a judo chop, and whatever it takes. I would make an absolute fool out of
myself, which is about what I’m describing, just to have you know how much it matters. And someday, and someday soon, it won’t be long; you’ll
laugh about the homesickness and smile about the necessitudes of the MTC or the shock of the culture, or the strangeness of the language. Every
day and every way it will get better! That doesn’t necessarily mean that it will get easier, but it will get better.

This is hard work. It is the hardest work you will ever do. That’s why I say this is the most important work you will ever do. I think those two go
together. It’s hard work, but every day, in every way, it will get better, and you will feel the Spirit of the Lord. You’ll know He loves you, and the
language will come, and baptisms will come, and you will make new friendships, both with your companions and with investigators and with ward
members and branch members and people with whom you serve. And someday, sometime, you will come back, husbands and wives, you will come
back and preside over these missions, or you will send your sons or your daughters to serve in the same missions. You will tell them stories of those
legends of your life in the mission field.

Plan right now! Plan right now for the stories you will tell your children about your mission. Live right now in every way to look them in the eye and
put them on your knee and rock them on your lap and tell them as I am telling you, that you loved every day of your mission. That you worked your
head off! That you’ve never worked so hard in your life. That you were tired and sweaty and dirty and hungry and you knew how Paul felt and you
knew how Peter felt and you knew how Mormon felt and you knew how Moroni felt. And I promise you that your children will remember and
never forget it, and they will cherish it and hold it dear for their mission and so the generations go. So life is lived and this dispensation is pursued,
and the Kingdom comes and Christ does arrive, whenever that

is.

Live now for those generations. Live now for the deacons and beehive girls who will one day have you return and sit up and watch you in
Sacrament Meeting, who don’t have a blessed idea what a mission is, and have no idea what it means to go to Manaus or Belem or Belo Horizonte
or Porto Alegre or wherever. And then you look them in the eye and say that they too can serve, that they’ve got to go take their turn in the relay
race of eternity. They’ve got to step up and pace out their two years or eighteen months. You live right now in a way that you can pierce their
hearts and touch their lives.

Without a big brother or father or an uncle to set an example for me in the mission field, at the very time I was wondering about a mission, I had no
particular history or tradition to propel me that way or move me that way. A friend of mine a little older, just the way you have younger friends
waiting at home, came back from his mission and testified of the hard work and real growth and problems and troubles and fun and laughter and
tears and the whole package, and I was spellbound! I really think that day . . . I was 17 years old, near enough to start to think about, “Well, am I or
aren’t I?”, and I think that day is the day I decided to go on a mission. I started to take the steps towards one. You have such a legacy to give.
Already you’re just the newest of the new, you’re the newest team on the squad. Already from day one, you take your place with what is, I guess,
the grandest fraternity or sisterhood, or brotherhood and sisterhood, in the Church—that of a missionary. It is the largest collective association of
which people are known in this Church. He or she was a missionary! And the expectations are so high, people really believe you to be perfect. They
want you to be perfect.

When I was at BYU and had new converts come, and sometimes their feelings were hurt, or sometimes something happened that wasn’t
appropriate, and I would talk to them and this precious convert would say, “But she was a returned missionary,” or “He was a returned
missionary,” as if to say, “You know, gosh, I thought I was with Moroni. I thought I was with Wilford Woodruff.” They have a right—everybody has a
right—the Church has a right to see us that way, collectively, even if that is a tremendous burden to bear, and it is. It’s an overwhelming burden to
bear. But the Church has a right, and these kids have a right—your little brothers and your little sisters have a right—to just think you’re perfect—

that you’re out there doing something, and they don’t know exactly what. I know that all my life growing up, I heard “tracting”, which is knocking
doors, and I thought they were saying “tracking”, like Indians through the woods, and I wondered, “What are the missionaries doing tracking?” But
it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter what misconceptions exist, you just have an obligation to let people think you’re perfect. And I do think you’re
perfect. I think you’re perfect because you’ve chosen to serve.

I know that some of you are struggling. I could see it in your eyes when I shook your hands. That’s what we do when we shake your hands—we
interview you. And thank heavens for this calling—you can do it that fast! I can sit down with President Palmer now and identify the Elders and
Sisters that we probably need to talk with a little bit. It’s okay, you’re all right, it’s no problem, but I can tell the ones that are struggling and just
know that even then, even with that, we think you’re perfect because everyone struggles.

When President Hinckley stands and talks about his mission, as he did with me when I had a chance to write an article on him for the Ensign when
he was made the President of the Church. . . I had the wonderful privilege to write the article on him for the Church magazine. I interviewed him
and all he wanted to talk about was his mission, as if nothing else had ever happened! And in a way he’s trying to say what I’m saying—that nothing
would have happened if it hadn’t been for that.
He got on his mission and hated it! I don’t know if he hated it, but he felt troubled by it. He was a little older, he’d finished college, it was the
Depression, he didn’t have any money, his mother had just died, and he’d been through school because he didn’t have any money to go on a
mission. So he’d go one more year and one more year. So he was a little older—he was 23, 24 years old when he went on his mission, and he had
ambition, and he had things to do, and certainly wanted to save money, and his Dad had sacrificed to send him. He said, “If you go on a mission,
your brothers and I will keep you on your mission.” And his mother, who had died, had saved a little bit of her house money, just a little bit of
grocery money, and a little bit of her laundry money, and whatever, and she saved it, only a few dollars, but she saved it and left it for him after she
died. And he was so touched by that that he went on his mission.

But he got out there and he found what you found. It was hard work, just miserably hard work. And the days were long and sometimes it was cold
and sometimes it was hot and the people rejected him. In his day he stood on a little soapbox, and he couldn’t . . . and they made fun of him and
teased him and pointed and nullified the local Mormon missionaries. It was a nightmare for his first six to eight weeks, about like you would be,
and he wrote his Dad and he said, “Dad, I’m coming home. I’m wasting my time and your money, and it’s just not paying off, and I’m coming
home.” His Dad blazed a letter back! And President Hinckley said he had to read it wearing asbestos gloves. His father fired him a one-sentence
letter back! “DEAR GORDON, FORGET YOURSELF AND GET TO WORK! LOVE, FATHER.” And he said the “love” was sort of figurative in that letter;
that is what fathers are supposed to say. He said he went upstairs to his little apartment in Preston, England, and he knelt down and said, “I guess
I’m supposed to stay. I guess I’m supposed to be on this mission. So help me. Help me serve. Help me work. Help me learn what I’m supposed to
learn.” And then he said with tears rolling down his cheeks, the President of the Church, “That is the day when my life changed forever!”

Where would we be today without Gordon B. Hinckley? Well, I can tell you one thing—that Gordon B. Hinckley wouldn’t be the President of the
Church if he hadn’t stayed on his mission. What for you and for me and for the Church and for destiny, what was hanging in the balance that day,
that even somebody like President Hinckley, young Gordon Hinckley, wondered whether a mission was worth it or not. Because his Dad and a
mission President and a companion and you and me and people who love him, figuratively speaking said, “You’d better stay there. This is a chance
of a lifetime. This is the work of eternity. Don’t lose it now. Don’t blow it now. Give it all you’ve got.” Because of that, we have the President of the
Church. We have the 103rd temple to dedicate in six more weeks. We have 60,000 missionaries around the world. We have a destiny and a
dispensation in which he stands with Joseph and Brigham and John and Wilford and Lorenzo and Heber and George Albert and David and on and
on to this fifteenth successor in an unbroken chair of prophets in this, the greatest dispensation in the history of the world.

Well, look, if President Hinckley can struggle, you can struggle. If President Hinckley can wonder whether it’s worth it, you can wonder. You just
forget it, just say it and get on with it. Just write it in your journal and keep moving. Gordon, forget yourself. Go to work! And that’s collectively the
message that God would give to all of us.

Remember above all, that this is a spiritual work. It’s the most important thing you can remember all your life. You cannot have a mission and you
will not succeed on this mission and you won’t be happy and you won’t lose your homesickness and you won’t get the language and you won’t be
acclimatized to the culture until you give your life over to God and say, “This is Thy work and I’m only the instrument. I’m on the pencil, but you’ve
got to do the writing.” That is the most important thing for a missionary to learn ever. Section 50, a verse you all memorize and I hope you
remember all your life, “Unto what you were ordained (or in the case of the sisters, unto what you were set apart by somebody who was
ordained), to preach my gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter, and if it is not taught that way, it is not God’s way.” If it is not taught that way, it
is some other way, and any other way is not of God. You can’t do it your own way. Don’t even try. That’s part of the worry—you don’t have to do it,
you can’t do it, you shouldn’t do it. Stop worrying that you have to do this. This is God’s work! He will watch you! He will answer your prayers! He
has legions of angels and teams of chariots to run to your aid this very hour. He will bless you! This is His work, but you have to do it His way! That’s
the contract.

I shared with the missionaries in Sao Paulo yesterday the story of Moses leading the children of Israel who had to ask that question saying, “Lord,
I’ll do this. I’ll take on Pharaoh, I’ll face the soothsayers, witches and doctors and the serpents, and we’ll get blood running in the river, and we’ll
part the Red Sea, but I can’t do it alone. I couldn’t even try. I’m the least adequate man alive. I can’t even talk. I need a companion to translate for
me. I can’t do any of this, but we’ll do it, parting the Red Sea and crossing the River Jordan and claiming our inheritance, but I have to know that
you will go with us. I have to know that you’ll be the divine comforter in this missionary service. Otherwise, we can’t go. We’re not even going to
leave Cairo. We’re just going to stay here. We’re just going to stay here and stack bricks. We can’t do it. There is no way that we can fight Pharaoh
or fate or sand dunes or water unless the very power of heaven, unless the power of Almighty God is resting on our shoulders and in our hearts.

That is a legitimate request to make of a missionary, and it is a legitimate answer that God gives saying, “You’re on! That’s a deal! You don’t have to
wonder about me. Worry about yourself. Don’t worry about me—I can do it!” And He can! And He does! You will succeed in this work. You will
succeed at this work because it is God’s to do, and all you have to do is

say, “Here, use me. Take me. Just point me in the right direction. Where’s the tape and I’ll head for it? I’ll give you all I’ve got for two years.” And
that’s all a missionary has to do, and technically all a missionary can do. And that’s all that God wants and He’ll do the work and He’ll give you the
words to say and the language to say it and the testimony to bear and the places to go and the doors to knock on and the people to inquire of on
the street. He’ll do all of that if you will pledge to live by the Spirit and be obedient and testify by the Holy Ghost and do the work His way.

Forgive us if we ask so much about obedience. We ask so much about rules. It’s because we’ve been at this for 170 years, just in this dispensation
alone. We know what it takes to succeed. We’ve tried all the other ways. We’ve seen all the other ways that don’t work. We’ve had all the
missionaries who have tried to do it their own way. And after 170 years, trust us that the information is pretty well in, and the documentation is
pretty clear, starting with the declaration in the scriptures themselves. That we are called to preach the gospel by the Spirit, even the Comforter,
and there is no other way and any other way is not of God. If you would just be that comfortable, actually it takes a lot of pressure off. It takes an
incredible amount of pressure off of us individually. To just say it really is His work and He’ll do it and He can do it and He’s always done it and He
will do it! These are His children to save. This is His work. He will do it, but He’s got to have an obedient and spiritually hungry missionary!

Do not look tired—this work can be done. That has been the work of all the dispensations since the beginning of time, and that’s the request that’s
being made—accomplish! I love you. I love looking at you. I love seeing you. I know how you feel. I was once one of you and without this
understanding once. Somehow, someday, somewhere, some of you will be asked to do this, and by that I don’t necessarily just mean the
Apostleship, but preside over missions, preside over Stakes, preside over Relief Societies, be parents and raise kids and do that later part to build
the kingdom that you’re starting to build now.

I’ve been your age and you haven’t been mine, but I do remember what it was like to sit here and have dreams and fears and hopes and wonder,
wonder if you were about to do it, wonder if you’d be happy, wonder if you would work hard, wonder if you could succeed. Now, 38 years and one
month later I tell you that it was the most important thing that ever happened to me in my life, that it’s brought so many blessings that have

now become important and now take their place in my life, but which would not have happened, I’m absolutely confident they would not have
happened, if it had not been for the privilege of a mission.

I love you. I testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose witness I am called to bear. I’ve born witness all my life, now I am a witness and so are you, for
these two years we’re alike. All day, every day, full-time, full-bore, all we know and all we can do and all we can believe and all we can declare in
the name of Christ, salvation of the children of men and the true and living Church. For these two years and these 18 months we’re alike. We’re all
witnesses called. Mine goes a little longer, and I have some keys you don’t have. I belong to a quorum you don’t belong to, but in spirit and in
effort, in the good we’re trying to do, and in the testimony we’re trying to bear, we’re the same. Part of your life is part of mine. Maybe that’s why I
love you so much.

You look like future leaders of the Church, to testify of the divinity of this Church, of this work, and of God’s love, of His reality and His appearance
to the Prophet Joseph Smith. And if there is anyone in the room who’s struggling with a testimony, you have one — mine! I’m giving my life to this.
You’re giving two years. I’m giving my life! Everything I own, everything I possess is on the line. I would not come to Sao Paulo to tell you a fairy
tale. I wouldn’t wear myself into the ground, nor would President Hinckley do the same for something we did not know beyond a shadow of a
doubt was God’s almighty truth! Give me a little more credit than that! I’m not an absolutely stupid man. This is the truth! And I’m giving
everything that I know to give for that declaration.

I had a missionary ask me once if I would give my life for the Church. I said, “Elder, I am giving my life for the Church.” I know what he meant. What
he meant was, “Would you die for it?” Well, that’s the easy part. That’s a snap! On some days it looks really appealing. That’s the easy part, to die
for it. Well, what God needs is people who will live for it, people who will go the distance, people who are in this race we’re talking about that will
go all the way to the tape. And some may die along the way and that’s wonderful, but He needs people who will finish the work. He needs people
who will wrap this up, and that’s the pledge I make to you, and that’s the pledge He asked. We’re in this together.

I wish we could give you all a hug. Sister Holland could hug the sisters, and I could hug the elders, but we don’t have time to do that either. But
figuratively know that we would. Know that we do. Know that we love you and admire you and live for the day we’ll all be together in some big
missionary reunion in heaven and we’ll invite Paul over and Peter and Isaiah and Alma and we’ll just have a good time talking about missionary
service. It’s a great Brotherhood and Sisterhood and I express my love to you and declare the divinity of this work in the sacred, holy and
redeeming name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen.
Lock Your Heart – Spencer W. Kimball
If there are problems in the mission that you can give me light on so that I can help your President and help you, that’s what I’d like. if there are
situations that are difficult, if there are problems that are unknown – let me give you one example:
In one of the missions I found a bad situation. One or two missionaries had been breaking rules (as the President has talked about this morning).
They began to break some rules. All they did was go over to a certain home every Sunday night for a dinner. The President didn’t know anything
about it. It wasn’t very serious; they should have been home studying, but it was a regular thing every week. After a little while these missionaries
were
bringing others and pretty soon they were dancing on Sunday night, a few of them. Then they were doing a little flirting and then a few of
them
 got to playing cards there every Sunday night. And then they were dancing in the dark with some of the Saint’s girls!
The next thing we knew there was an excommunication. I came there and
 the things were revealed. I found that where there was only one boy
who had actually gone to the extreme where he had to be excommunicated, there were about eighteen missionaries in this area who had followed
like sheep over the ledge. They had not intended to do anything wrong, but they had just kind of followed the leadership. They had gone there to
the meals – and they had gotten into little flirtations – not too deeply, but the thing is that there were eighteen missionaries who knew that this
boy had gone too far. They knew that he was necking and petting but not one of them would ever tell! When I interviewed them and visited with
them I said, “Why didn’t you tell the President that conditions were bad?” One of them said, “Well, That’s none of my business! This Elder can do
as he pleases! If he wants to wreck his mission, that’s okay with me, it’s his business, it’s his mission! If he wants to ruin his life that’s up to him. It’s
his-life!!”
And then I said to these Elders, “Well what about your missions? Isn’t this your mission, too? Isn’t this your church, too? Are you willing that one
person nullify all that you’ve done here? You’ve spent 20 months down here, Elder, and you have been working reasonably hard and at times you
have done remarkably good work. Are you willing that one scandal – one scandal in this out-of-the-world place – will neutralize all that you’ve
done? All of your efforts? That’s what happens! Are you willing to do that?” He said, “Well I hadn’t thought of it like that.” Well, but that’s what
happened, isn’t it, Elders? This is your mission! This is your Church! One scandal in a community is enough to annihilate the work of all of you,
maybe all the work you do cumulatively- for all your two years – neutralized by one scandal in the community! Do you think that you have a
loyalty? Where are your loyalties? Are you loyal to yourself? Are you loyal-to your companion? Are you willing to let him go on, and on, and on, and
on, until he breaks his neck?
When he was excommunicated it was a sad day in that mission because he was a fine young man and all the missionaries loved him, and some of
them were weeping that day. I remember! Some of them were weeping tears! Their brother was being excommunicated from the Church and sent
home in disgrace!
And then I said to them, “Elders! Do you know who excommunicated this boy? Not me; not your President; not the Elder’s court. It was you!! You
excommunicated your brother! How? Well, if you’d have said, ‘Elder, lets not do that! That disturbs our whole program. We lose spirituality, all of
us, when things like this happen.’ Now suppose that he didn’t yield and you said to him again, ‘Elder, you shouldn’t do that! We can’t be doing
those kinds of things!’ And then suppose you’d gone a third time and said, ‘Elder, I’m sorry, if you don’t desist I’m going to have to report to the
Mission President because I’m not going to have you destroy my work! I’ve worked too hard to have it all go to the wind! I’m going to tell the
President, not as a tattletale, but I’m going to report to the President so that he can protect the whole program, if you don’t desist!’”
You see there is nothing ugly about that, is there? That’s the way it should be because our loyalty is first to the Lord, to the Church, to the mission,
to the World, isn’t it?
One more little incident that is connected: In one United States mission one day a neighbor came into the home of a new member. The neighbor
was not a member, but she came and she was used to just walking in through the door- you know, she didn’t always knock! So she came over to
this home this day and she saw her friend, the Latter-day Saint sister, sitting on a chair here and an Elder at her feet- this will shock you- trimming
her toe-nails or painting her toe-nails, or something! Well, now that isn’t an unpardonable sin, but it was indiscreet, wasn’t it? Even if there was
nothing else that happened, just the fact that he was sitting on the floor and that he didn’t have on his tie and coat, and here was a woman partly
dressed, and here he was painting her toe-nails or doing something! Anyway. that city was closed, absolutely closed to missionary work for 20
years! Do you think missionaries could go in that city? Why of course they couldn’t! Because there was still the memory of this indiscretion! They
hadn’t committed sin; at least, I’m quite sure he had never committed immorality. I think it wasn’t any more than an ugly indiscretion. It was ugly
enough, wasn’t it? It was what it led to, you see?
That’s why I say this mission belongs to you. There are 150 of you and this mission belongs to all of you. If anything happens to any part of this
mission it gets a black eye! It makes it more difficult to do anything! And it makes it more difficult for you to go into the homes where they have
heard ugly things about the Church. That’s why one Elder isn’t by himself. He can’t be a loner, He has got to fit into the program, hasn’t he? And
everyone of you is interested. Everyone!! And you can’t afford to let your companion, or anyone you know, do anything very serious because it all
brings trouble to you and to the whole program, Well, think about that a little, because some people say, “I’m not going to be a stool pigeon! I’m
not going to tattle! I’m not going to be telling on people!” It isn’t that at all! It’s a reporting just like if you saw a couple of robbers going into your
neighbor’s home. Would you say, “Well, it’s up to them! It’s up to my neighbors!” No! ! We’d become involved! We’d rush to the telephone, we’d
call the police! In every case, wouldn’t we?
If we saw somebody being injured, being killed – like in New York sometime ago, a girl was stabbed and cut all to pieces by some maniac, and there
were many people who saw it and did nothing about it! She yelled for help, screamed for help, said, “He’s killing me!!” But nobody would move!
They didn’t even call the police and there she lay, finally dead, on the street! Nobody would involve themselves. It’s time we would begin to get
involved when involvement is proper. And when any missionary in any mission begins to break mission rules, it’s time that all his companions
should become involved! It doesn’t mean that they take over. It doesn’t mean that they get ugly and mean. It just means that they are interested
and involved. There is a nice way to do it! I tell you there wouldn’t be very many broken rules if one missionary would just say to the other,
“Brother, lets not do that! Let’s don’t do that! ‘Let’s don’t stand there and talk to those girls! That isn’t good!” And if we stop it when it’s fresh –
when it’s
young you can stop it – but when it gets deeply entrenched, that sin is awfully hard to dig out. And many times we have to send missionaries home
to their families in disgrace, with excommunication frequently, because maybe their companions didn’t love them enough! Maybe their
companions weren’t helpful enough to say, “Well, now, you’re getting off the line just a little here! Let’s don’t do that! Let’s get busy and do this,
and this, and this!”
This is one program and we are all concerned about it. These mission rules, you see, are very important. We’ve had 137 years of experience. Now
that ought to be enough experience to prove something, shouldn’t it?
Through 137 years we have come to the conclusion that if two people will stay together the chances for sin or serious trouble are reduced about
98%. Once in a great while two companions will both go sour at the same time, but it isn’t the usual thing. If missionaries will, when they leave Salt
Lake City, the Mission Home – the day they are set apart – if they will just lock their hearts! If they’ve got a girl in there that’s all right, lock her in!
But if you haven’t got one in, then lock it against all other girls of every description! And the same applies for young women, too. I am talking
mainly to you Elders. You lock your heart and leave the key at home. And you never open it here! It’s impossible to fall in love with someone unless
you open your heart! Your heart is the only organ that has any ability to get into love, you see, and when a missionary says, “I just fell in love with a
girl!” Well, that’s as silly as it can be! Nobody does, nobody ever did!
So we just don’t fall in love unless we are fooling around. We never fall in a crater unless we are somewhere near the edge of it. I have been up to
Vesuvius and on a number of craters and volcanoes and I know you just don’t ever fall in a crater, unless you are on the edge of it. And so you just
keep your hearts locked! I said lock them in Salt Lake when you leave the Mission Home and don’t give a thought to it. But if you go around say,
“Well, she is kind of a pretty girl! She surely is a sweet little thing! She’s a nice girl! I’d like to talk to her- I’d just like to visit with her!” Well, you are
in for trouble and that trouble can bring you a lifetime of trouble and a lifetime of regrets if you continue on with it.
So, can I impress that again? LOCK YOUR HEARTS and leave the key at home! Wherever you live, leave the key home with your folks. And your
heart – it’s only that part of it that deals with people generally that you open up. We just can’t tolerate it, can we? We can’t individually; we can’t
totally. Someone said, “Well, is there any harm to marry a Mexican girl if you are working in Mexico! “No, that isn’t any crime, but it proves that
some missionary has had his heart open! He has unlocked it! Is it wrong to marry a German girl when you have been on a German mission? Why
no, there is no crime in that, if you met her some other way. But when you meet her in the mission field and you have opened your heart, I tell you
it isn’t right, and you have shortchanged your mission! Just keep your hearts locked. Your whole thought should be missionary work. How can I
make it more plain and more important than that? I’d like to because there is no reason whatever for any missionary to ever become involved, not
even in a decent way, with any girl in the mission field. It isn’t the place! You guaranteed, you promised! You went through the Temple! You
remember what you did in the Temple? Remember you promised you’d do all the things the brethren request of you, to live the commandments.
That’s one of the commandments when you go into the mission field: “Thou shalt not flirt! Thou shalt not associate with young women in the
mission field – or anyone else for that matter – on any other basis than the proselyting basis.” You promised, and you would not want to break a
promise you made before the Lord in the Holy Temple of the Lord. And when you wrote, the letter of acceptance to President McKay that was
implied in it. You knew of course – every missionary knows –
that he isn’t going out to court, that he isn’t going out to find a wife! He’s got plenty of opportunity when he gets home, and the mission field isn’t
the place.
Sometimes we find a young man who has not been popular at home; he has been very, very backward at home and he hasn’t had many dates. So
when he gets out into the mission field and somebody flatters him a little- some girl shows a lot of interest in him – why he’s flattered. He thinks all
at once, “Well, that’s whom I should marry!” Well, I say this once more by repetition and for emphasis, you LOCK YOUR HEARTS and if you haven’t
done so, do it now and send the key back! You will not permit any impression, no romantic thought or impression in your mind. For two years you
have given yourself to the Lord, totally, to teach the Gospel to the world. When you have done this perfectly for two years and then you go home,
you are infinitely more attractive, more able, more dignified, more mature to make those important decisions for your life in the matter of
personages to enjoy eternity with you.
Well, I didn’t intend to get on to that, either, but I’ve been on it, and I hope I have not been offensive in it at all. I hope you got the spirit of it.
Should you know of any problems that are aborning, problems that are beginning to develop, some missionary who is getting off the track, some
group that is getting a little careless about mission rules, you can talk to them in a sweet kindly way. If they persist, then there is something else to
do and you have a loyalty to it.
God bless you missionaries and I hope to visit with you a little longer later.