This message was prepared while serving as a missionary in Viña del Mar, Chile. It was never delivered in a public setting.
Serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an incredible thing. As a disclaimer, most things about a mission are indescribable and can only be experienced as a missionary, but I am writing this message in an effort to get you all to think about exactly what it is you have to look forward to, and what it is going to take to make the most of it. For many of you, serving a mission may seem part of the distant future, but the amount of time to prepare is short when you realize the magnitude of the calling and assignment you are to fulfill. I can tell you all right now that it is not worth it to get into the mission field and wish you had made more of the time you had before you left.
With President Thomas S. Monson’s historic announcement regarding the lowering of the minimum age requirement for missionaries,1 I believe that the Lord is expecting a much greater response. We have seen the amazing impact this change has had in the Chile Viña del Mar mission during the past several months as the numbers of missionaries arriving to the mission have dramatically increased. From recent conversations I have had with mission leaders, there are rumors suggesting that the number of Sister missionaries in the field is expected to drastically increase from some 14% to more than 50% of the global missionary force! The Provo Missionary Training Center (MTC), with a capacity of around 2,000 when I was there, has projections of needing to accommodate more than 8,000 missionaries as soon as August [2013].2 So what is your verdict? Have you made the decision to rise to the call?
I want to share a few principles and practices that I have found absolutely invaluable as I have reflected on mission preparation and how they apply to real-life missionary work. A lot of them are things that I did, and some are things that I should have done. I encourage you all to take note and apply them as you see fit. The sooner you begin preparing your minds and spirits for missionary service, the sooner Heavenly Father will give you opportunities and experiences in your lives to be instruments in His hands to help “bring the world His truth.”3
A few years ago when I walked the halls of American Fork Junior High and American Fork High School, I was fortunate to be part of a group of friends that shared the same goals and values that I do as they related to life in the church (generally). It is quite easy, living in norther Utah County, to do this. In reality, I never regularly associated with any peers who were not members of the Church. The environment I chose to put myself in always seemed to help me and my desire to live righteously. In that regard, I have been extraordinarily blessed. Every single one of my friends, as far as I recall, had plans to serve a mission, make correct choices, and someday marry in the temple. This commonality of righteous desires strengthened our friendship and always kept our activities in accordance with the standards outlined in the For the Strength of Youth booklet. Never once did I miss out on a fun time, and never once was I tempted by my friends to do anything that would compromise my integrity or commitment to living the gospel. This was of paramount influence for me and really made a difference during my high school years.
So, my first bit of counsel has to do with exactly what I just told you: Make good friends with righteous desires, high standards, and goals complimentary to yours goals. In living and applying the gospel of Jesus Christ, there is always strength in numbers. Now, as of this writing, as far as I am aware, every young man from my larger group of friends from high school, with the exception of one, are either serving missions, actively planning on serving missions, or have already returned home honorably. Some of them are even married or engaged to be married very soon. I know that in those vital, formative years of our lives as youth, we strengthened one another, and now we are seeing the results as we all move on with our lives. It reminds me of the account in the Book of Mormon when Alma the Younger was again reunited with his brethren, the sons of Mosiah, after many years of being away on missions in distant lands.
2 Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; Therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they 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.4
I know that one day I will see my “brethren in the Lord” again, and, like unto Alma, great will be my joy. I challenge you all to do the same. Start today to associate with the best people you can.
I want to take a moment and examine a little further what made Alma and the sons of Mosiah the extraordinary missionaries that they were. Along with what we read in Alma about “…waxing strong in the knowledge of the truth” and “…searching the scriptures diligently,” the next important principle that young people need to do as they prepare for missionary service is that of effectively studying the doctrine of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ in the scriptures and the words of modern prophets.
I remember one Christmas Eve, before my family moved to American Fork, when my dad had us all in the living room to give us a special gift that he had prepared. He started by explaining to us his love for the scriptures and bearing a powerful testimony. He then handed each of us children a wrapped picture frame and we all proceeded to open them at the same time. Each picture frame contained a different work of art depicting a setting from the ministry of Jesus Christ with a scripture printed below it. My dad had specifically chosen each picture and scripture for each one of us kids in the family. It was a scripture that applied to us individually, alluding to his desires for us, what he wanted us to work on, or a bit of counsel specifically directed on a personal level as inspired. I do not remember what everyone else received, but to this day and forever more I will not forget mine. Set on a blue matte background in a wood frame, a picture of Jesus teaching the children was accompanied by a very special verse of scripture that we find in the Doctrine and Covenants:
118 And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.5
As a child of maybe 9 or 10 years old, I did not comprehend the magnitude of the effect that this scripture would have on my life. But that is one of the many wonderful things about a mission: It helps you to realize things. Perhaps my dad just randomly decided to give that frame to me. Maybe he wrapped it and got confused and it ended up in my hands when it should have gone to one of my siblings. Or better yet, he was inspired. Either way, I know that Heavenly Father was teaching me the importance of study and learning and also developing my passion for teaching. My dad probably doesn’t know the effect that that small gift on that obscure Christmas Even had on me, and he might not even remember giving us those pictures, but I will always be grateful for what he did and for the profound lessons that he so often taught me.
You will find in the MTC and also in the mission field that there is a lot of time dedicated to study. In the MTC (based on my experience, at least), you will have more than five hours a day in addition to normal class time to study personally or in your companionships. In the mission field, following the missionary handbook, you have two to three hours to study every day, even more when you are being trained and if you get to train another missionary. That means that in a two-year mission, you will have upwards of 1,820 hours of study, or nearly seventy-six whole days of your mission dedicated purely to studying the gospel. And even after that, you will find that there is still not enough time to study everything that you need or want to, especially when your love for the scriptures increases — which it inevitably will, or at least should.
My mission president once told us that when an investigator fails to keep commitments, it is because of a lack of understanding, and their lack of understanding comes from a lack of effective teaching, and ineffective teaching comes as a direct result of ineffective study. In short, productive study makes effective teachers, and effective teachers are successful missionaries. This is so true. I invite you all to continue or start to effectively study the scriptures coupled with the words of modern prophets. I urge you to become familiar with stories and memorize where various scriptures are. Scripture Mastery is a great place to start, but it is not the end. Each Scripture Mastery verse is designed to help future missionaries. Read the Book of Mormon and make sure that you know that it is true, whether you have always known or if you think you might need some help. The mission is not the best place to wait on an answer about the truthfulness of these things. Too much is required of you and the spiritual demands too great to be wondering if you are doing the right thing. It would be like starting a running race with your shoes tied together. Likewise, you should obtain a copy of Preach My Gospel and become familiar with its contents. One of the first things that my mission president tells new missionaries when they arrive in the Chile Viña del Mar mission is that ours is a Preach My Gospel mission, and I am sure that yours will be too. Use all of the resources that the Church has given us. I promise that as you do, your love for studying will increase, your knowledge will increase, your faith in and love for the Savior will increase, and your testimony will be strengthened. Miracles come from the diligent submissiveness to the teachings of Christ and the prophets. I love a passage in Jacob that reads:
2 Oh all ye that are pure in heart, lift up your heads and receive the pleasing word of God, and feast upon His love, for ye may, if your hearts are firm, forever.6
As we gain knowledge through diligent study, we know from our experience in school that we are tested. In other words, we are expected to learn, study, and use what we have learned. I would hope that all of you are or plan to be enrolled in Seminary. I can tell you all right now that Seminary is one of Heavenly Father’s biggest blessings for us as youth to help us prepare for and serve missions if we allow it to be. Please do not just sign up for it as released-time to sleep or skip class. I did my fair share of that, and I regret it. It is literally a free hour to learn the gospel; and the effect it can have on your day is indescribable. And, like I mentioned, every hour you can spend studying the gospel is precious. I study all the time and I wish I could study more. Like many things though, Seminary is what you make of it. I encourage you all to get involved. Mark up your scriptures and do the assignments.
Every lesson is prayerfully and thoughtfully prepared by your teachers. My mother is an excellent example of this type of preparation that teachers go through. I remember on several occasions seeing her working late into the night preparing lessons for her Seminary classes. She truly cares for the students that she teaches. Almost all of her letters and e-mails to me have a part of something that she is studying or lessons she is preparing, all for the sake of making Seminary an edifying and uplifting experience for everyone, and I know that it is the same with your teachers. To not listen just wouldn’t be fair. It is their job to teach you, and your privilege to learn, so go and learn and graduate. It is a great feeling and the knowledge you gain and the experiences you have will bless your life as you grow together with your friends in the gospel.
The next indispensably integral part of missionary preparation is learning how to work and work hard. I can also tell you all right now that the mission is not what you think it is. I remember my first week when I arrived here in Chile, I was walking down the street with my trainer thinking, “Wow…there is really nothing glamorous about being a missionary. It is a lot of hard work!” You can prepare yourself for this work by applying the following principles:
- Find something that motivates you. As a missionary stopping people in the street and knocking doors all day, you will find that it is easy to lose momentum after a few No’s and slammed doors. This is normal. However, you can choose how you handle it and what you do next. To help you, you must find something that motivates you. Something that is exciting. This could be your hopes for another progressing investigator you have, study time, a delicious meal at a member’s house, activities, or after a long hot day, maybe just an ice-cold bottle of soda pop and watching the sunset. This will help you not only on the mission, but in your life as well. There is always something to look forward to, and where there is a will, Heavenly Father provides a way.
- Learn to follow instructions. My mission president is a 6-foot, 3-inch Argentine man of German descent with broad shoulders, a sharp nose, and cutting blue eyes. He cares about us, but he wants things done right and nothing less. He follows the Savior and is an instrument in helping us know and do His will. I am sure you all know that missionaries must follow a very specific set of rules and instructions. We have a very defined and unique purpose that we are instructed to remember in everything that we do. We are promised that as we follow and obey the rules established by the prophets and our mission presidents, and as we follow the instructions we are given, we will be successful. When I was a kid, I used to love building things with Legos, and many of you know that in order to make the toy on the box, you must specifically follow the instructions provided within it. Missionary work, as well as our quest for eternal life, is no different. Piece by piece we build, following the instructions that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have provided us. The sooner you learn to do that and do it well, the better off you will be.
- Learn to work well with others. Jesus gave us the clear direction that we are to “…go forth, in the power of [His] Spirit, preaching [His] Gospel, two by two….”7 We have likewise been commanded to marry, have families, participate in Church organizations, and serve others. To be successful in all of these things, it takes hard work. But fortunately, our relationships with others are things that can help us most in life. On my mission, I have been blessed with several companions that have taught me many things pertaining to working with others, I’ll just leave it at that. On your missions, you will have companions that are people you wouldn’t have otherwise even chosen as a friend, and just like that, you are living with them and spending twenty-four hours a day with them. You teach with them. And between the two of you, the Spirit must be present in order to testify to investigators and to guide you in harmony. It is a big learning curve, especially for someone like me who usually prefers the peace and tranquility that accompanies solitude and riding solo.
As executive secretary of the Chile Viña del Mar mission, I get to give an orientation presentation to all of the new missionaries when they arrive here fresh from the MTC. In this presentation, there is a part specifically outlining the companionship where I talk about three things that improve your relationships with others. Simply enough, they are love, protection, and service. What does love mean? To care for someone more than yourself. Protect? Not only does this refer to physical protection, but spiritual protection as well. If you can be a person that people are comfortable and safe around, the more people you will have on your team. When it comes to service, the golden rule has never changed. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. With that unity, you can develop with your companion, the tasks you have to complete will become much easier.
I was able to learn many things about working with others as a member of the American Fork High School drumline for four years. In marching band, you have a group of people working in harmony and rhythm to perform a polished production. Like a well-oiled machine, all the parts have to work together. Drummers on a drumline have to play exactly together to create the clean sound that is expected if you want to win. That takes a lot of practice, unity, and a lot of hard work! But like any sports team or other performing arts group, missionaries work together to bring people unto Christ. Every week, we have district meetings in which usually three to four pairs of missionaries get together and talk about their investigators and their needs. We learn of what other missionaries are doing and pray for their success. All of it is a team effort and Christ is our captain. The sooner we can understand the importance of working well with others in every aspect of life, the more successful we will be and the happier we will live. God never intended for us to be or do this alone.
In the end, there are hundreds of ideas and concepts that make up a comprehensive list of mission preparation tips, and obviously I can’t say all of them. But I am not quite finished yet! God knows better than us all that a mission is not a time to be perfect, but a time to learn and grow under the pure direction of the Spirit if we allow it to direct us. I testify that the Lord will mold you into who He wants you to be if you allow yourself to be molded.
With every principle of the gospel, there are two ways of doing things. The first is known as just getting it done. Many times, without even knowing it, we could be going through the motions. Perhaps we didn’t understand baptism very well when we were eight years old and haven’t taken the time to study about it. Maybe we have just gone to church over the years because our family goes, and we read the scriptures because our mothers are going to ask us about it. For a while, I admit that is exactly what I thought. But the second way of doing things in the gospel completely changed my mind. The key to doing things in the gospel is magnifying them in all that you do. What sets magnification apart from just doing it are little things called the details; the little things that we all know.
How can one make personal prayer more meaningful? How can we better our reading of the scriptures and our understanding of why we live the gospel and not just the what? How can we make going to church a spiritual experience that gives us the extra spiritual strength we need throughout the week? The answers to these questions are in the details that each of them independently implies. On your missions, you will need to explain these things to people as you help them make changes in their lives. The details hopefully become very clear as you serve your missions, but try now to think about them. Magnify what you do in the Church and you will be blessed. On your missions, you will find that the Spirit is not with you in those extra minutes that you sleep in, or when you ignore promptings or forfeit opportunities to serve. You need that Spirit. If we are obedient, as President Monson charged recently at the April 2013 General Conference, and if we heed and live the details of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the Spirit will be with us,8 He will lift your heads higher, help you walk faster, and whisper in the ears of those you teach in a perfect language. God knows who you are and what you do and what your mission is. He will provide if we remember to magnify our responsibility even down to the details.
When new missionaries come to my mission, they receive a binder that we prepare filled with information about the mission. It contains things like the specific rules, procedures, and other important administrative aspects of the mission. In the back of the binder are ten General Conference talks that my mission president has selected from various speakers on various topics. I feel sorry to admit that it wasn’t until I became executive secretary of the mission nine months after I got here that I actually read them. In the talks, I came across several things that I have to mention. On the very first page of this selection of talks is a list given by Elder Carlos A. Amado of the Seventy, who at the time was serving as president of the Chile area. The list is titled, “17 Keys to Success.”9 I have handpicked a few of them for the sake of relevance, but I encourage you to consider every one of these keys and how they can apply to missionary preparation. Some of them are more obvious than others, but to clarify, I added a short summary in my own words after each key.
- Be a follower of Jesus Christ. This means acting upon His example and becoming “fishers of men.”10
- Follow the first principles of the Gospel. We know them as faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.
- Help investigators to trust in Jesus Christ. We do this by living Christ-centered lives.
- Lovingly serve priesthood leaders. Sustain, follow, and accept assignments willingly.
- Love Preach My Gospel and use it. We must become familiar with what the Lord has revealed to His servants to help us in our missionary work.
- Respond without hesitation to the whispers of the Spirit. Try to become familiar also to what the still, small voice sounds like.
- Do everything simply and don’t complicate the work.
- Focus on daily prayer; conversion takes time. This will strengthen your relationship with Heavenly Father.
- Challenge using the Book of Mormon. You will learn of the power that the Book of Mormon has. When you do, use it!
I found every one of these points to be eye opening in their own way, and I have been doing this mission thing for a while now. Although these keys were given to specifically bring us success as missionaries, I decided that they can be applied to mission preparation and strengthening your own testimony throughout your life. What I thought was the most profound was the very first key that Elder Amado gave us: Be a follower of Jesus Christ. Christ gave us an invitation when he said, “…come, follow me.”11 We must start by following Him and living His gospel. Then we will see miracles, we will have guidance in our lives, and we will feel true happiness. And when the time comes for you to sport the black tag, you will be able to help people follow Christ as well. Think about these things, and do them!
I have mentioned many things as I have written this, and it has taken me quite some time to get this far writing piece by piece in my spare time (which is obviously limited as a missionary), but I want to conclude by bearing my testimony that these things are true. I know that through diligent preparation, you will be better missionaries. You will be better prepared for what the Lord has in store for you. I still work on all these things and it is a lifelong process. But I want you all to know that I have sincerely prayed and meditated about what I should share, and I hope that what I have said will be of help to you. Before I conclude, there is one more thing that I want to share.
In the collection of talks I mentioned that we provide to new missionaries in the Chile Viña del Mar mission, there is a talk by James E. Faust from the April 1996 General Conference titled, “What I Want My Son to Know Before He Leaves on his Mission.”12 I invite you all to revisit this talk and study it thoroughly. In this talk, President Faust gives us ten things we all need to know as missionaries. I won’t go into detail and comment on each of them, but I will list them in the order that he gives them:
- You will be under call from the Lord Jesus Christ
- Your mission president is the Lord’s representative
- Hard work is more important than intellect
- Forget yourself in His service
- Never permit contention in your companionship
- Keep your bodies clean and healthy and your living quarters clean
- Learn to love and serve the people among whom you work
- Study, ponder, and teach from the scriptures; especially the New Testament and the Book of Mormon
- You must know that Lucifer will oppose you and be prepared for his opposition
- Your own personal testimony is the sharpest arrow in your quiver
I bear you my testimony that I know that all of this is true, inspired counsel. Remember them and the contribution you make in the army of God will be invaluable. I know that this is God’s work and that this is His true Church. I know that missionary work is His divine way not only to bring more of His children unto Him, but also to strengthen the future leaders of the Church as so many young people experience everything that a mission is. I want you all to do yourselves the favor of serving a mission. Just recently my mission president said in a quiet moment, there is a reason why God is calling so many missionaries — and he is right. That each one of you become one of them is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
References
- Monson, Thomas S. “Welcome to Conference,” Ensign, November, 2012, 5.
- There is no verifiable source for these projections, just anecdotal conversation.
- “We’ll Bring the World His Truth (Army of Helaman), Children’s Songbook, 172.
- Alma 17:2
- Doctrine and Covenants 88:118
- Jacob 3:2
- Doctrine and Covenants 42:6
- Monson, Thomas S. “Obedience Brings Blessings,” Ensign, May, 2013, 89.
- No citation available.
- Matthew 4:19
- Luke 18:22
- Faust, James E. “What I Want My Son to Know Before He Leaves on his Mission,” Ensign, May, 1996, 40.
Dillon Boss 