Starting in the Home
Elder M. Russell Ballard has spoken about creating a
gospel-sharing home. I will discuss how to prepare to be a full-time missionary
as an elder, a sister, or a couple.
The process begins in the home long before missionary age
when parents instill in the minds and hearts of every young boy the concept of
“when I go on a mission,” not “if I go on a mission.” Children are best taught
gospel truths in the home where instruction can be adapted to the age and
capacity of each child. In the home the whole armor of truth is tailor fit to
the individual characteristics of each child. Parental teaching qualifies
children for life and prepares worthy young men for the joy of missionary
service. In the home a young girl can understand that her primary role is to be
a wife and mother. Yet as that preparation unfolds there may be an opportunity
to serve a full-time mission, provided recent counsel of the First Presidency
is followed: “Worthy single women ages twenty-one and older … may be
recommended to serve full-time missions. … These sisters can make a valuable
contribution … , but they should not be pressured to serve. Bishops should not
recommend them for missionary service if it will interfere with imminent
marriage prospects.”
Many parents are using parts of the guide Preach My Gospel
to stress the concepts that will bear fruit as their children’s testimonies
mature while they are nurtured in the home. As a young boy you can learn how to
fulfill your duty as a future priesthood bearer. You will be helped to understand
and apply important teachings of the Lord. You will be strengthened to live
worthily to be able to receive sacred temple ordinances and to serve a
full-time mission. Such experiences will develop a foundation for the later
blessing of your being a strong husband and father.
"Now Is the Time to Serve a Mission!", RICHARD G.
SCOTT, April 2006
Assigning the Missionary a Call
After finishing our mission assignment, I was called by
President Gordon B. Hinckley to serve as a Seventy in the Church. Part of my
early training as a new General Authority included an opportunity to sit with
members of the Twelve as they assigned missionaries to serve in one of the
300-plus missions of this great Church.
With the encouragement and permission of President Henry B.
Eyring, I would like to relate to you an experience, very special to me, which
I had with him several years ago when he was a member of the Quorum of the
Twelve. Each Apostle holds the keys of the kingdom and exercises them at the
direction and assignment of the President of the Church. Elder Eyring was
assigning missionaries to their fields of labor, and as part of my training, I
was invited to observe.
I joined Elder Eyring early one morning in a room where
several large computer screens had been prepared for the session. There was
also a staff member from the Missionary Department who had been assigned to
assist us that day.
First, we knelt together in prayer. I remember Elder Eyring
using very sincere words, asking the Lord to bless him to know “perfectly”
where the missionaries should be assigned. The word “perfectly” said much about
the faith that Elder Eyring exhibited that day.
As the process began, a picture of the missionary to be
assigned would come up on one of the computer screens. As each picture
appeared, to me it was as if the missionary were in the room with us. Elder
Eyring would then greet the missionary with his kind and endearing voice: “Good
morning, Elder Reier or Sister Yang. How are you today?”
He told me that in his own mind he liked to think of where
the missionaries would conclude their mission. This would aid him to know where
they were to be assigned. Elder Eyring would then study the comments from the
bishops and stake presidents, medical notes, and other issues relating to each
missionary.
He then referred to another screen which displayed areas and
missions across the world. Finally, as he was prompted by the Spirit, he would
assign the missionary to his or her field of labor.
From others of the Twelve, I have learned that this general
method is typical each week as Apostles of the Lord assign scores of
missionaries to serve throughout the world.
Having served as a missionary in my own country in the
Eastern States Mission a number of years ago, I was deeply moved by this
experience. Also, having served as a mission president, I was grateful for a
further witness in my heart that the missionaries I had received in New York
City were sent to me by revelation.
After assigning a few missionaries, Elder Eyring turned to
me as he pondered one particular missionary and said, “So, Brother Rasband,
where do you think this missionary should go?” I was startled! I quietly
suggested to Elder Eyring that I did not know and that I did not know I could
know! He looked at me directly and simply said, “Brother Rasband, pay closer
attention and you too can know!” With that, I pulled my chair a little closer
to Elder Eyring and the computer screen, and I did pay much closer attention!
A couple of other times as the process moved along, Elder
Eyring would turn to me and say, “Well, Brother Rasband, where do you feel this
missionary should go?” I would name a particular mission, and Elder Eyring
would look at me thoughtfully and say, “No, that’s not it!” He would then
continue to assign the missionaries where he had felt prompted.
As we were nearing the completion of that assignment
meeting, a picture of a certain missionary appeared on the screen. I had the
strongest prompting, the strongest of the morning, that the missionary we had
before us was to be assigned to Japan. I did not know that Elder Eyring was
going to ask me on this one, but amazingly he did. I rather tentatively and
humbly said to him, “Japan?” Elder Eyring responded immediately, “Yes, let’s go
there.” And up on the computer screen the missions of Japan appeared. I
instantly knew that the missionary was to go to the Japan Sapporo Mission.
Elder Eyring did not ask me the exact name of the mission,
but he did assign that missionary to the Japan Sapporo Mission.
Privately in my heart I was deeply touched and sincerely
grateful to the Lord for allowing me to experience the prompting to know where
that missionary should go.
At the end of the meeting Elder Eyring bore his witness to
me of the love of the Savior, which He has for each missionary assigned to go
out into the world and preach the restored gospel. He said that it is by the
great love of the Savior that His servants know where these wonderful young men
and women, senior missionaries, and senior couple missionaries are to serve. I
had a further witness that morning that every missionary called in this Church,
and assigned or reassigned to a particular mission, is called by revelation
from the Lord God Almighty through one of these, His servants.
"The Divine Call of a Missionary", RONALD A.
RASBAND, April 2010
Receiving the Mission Call Letter
An important step in the LDS Mission Call Process, and one
that is the focus of much anticipation for the future missionary as well as
family and friends, is receiving the mission call letter.
Mission Call Packet
About two to four weeks after the Church receives your
mission application, an envelope will arrive from The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints Office of the First Presidency. The packet generally contains
these items:
The Call Letter from
the Prophet
A Letter from your
Mission President
A Letter from the MTC
President
General Instructions
Checklist, including a list of clothing and other items to bring
For more information on each item in the packet, the article was found here (Mission Call Letter), a Mormon Mission Prep site.
Acceptance Letter
Included in the packet is a page that may go unnoticed at
first. It is a form, the Missionary Call Acceptance. This is a personal letter
in which the missionary, addressing the First Presidency, formally accepts his
or her missionary call. The form contains 15 lines on which the missionary
expresses feelings about the singular opportunity of serving the Lord. The
letters are usually handwritten, brief, and direct. Yet these few words speak
volumes and convey deep meaning. Behind each one is a faith-promoting story.
“My Savior has blessed me more than I ever imagined. He gave
His life for me. The least I can do is give Him two years of my life.”
The letters frequently contain expressions of faith in the
Savior and gratitude for His sacrifice. The Prophet Joseph Smith wrote, “It is
faith, and faith only, which is the moving cause of all action” (Lectures on
Faith, 1:10). Faith, to be saving faith, must center in Christ and move one to
obey Him, to follow His example. In accepting a call to serve, the missionary
is expressing sufficient faith to act on his or her beliefs. Blessings will
inevitably follow, as so many returned missionaries can testify. Faith in the
Savior becomes an anchor to the soul.
“I can’t express the happiness and joy I feel as I accept
this call to serve. I am ready and willing to commit two years of my life to
preaching the gospel.”
In the acceptance letter, many missionaries state, “I
gratefully accept my call to serve.” But I wonder how many missionaries realize
the implications of the word accept. It means to receive willingly something
given or offered; to respond favorably to; consider right and proper. It also
means to be admitted into a group or community. In a gospel sense, it implies
submission to the will of the Lord and willingness to follow the prophet, who
extends the call. The mission “call” is to serve the Lord with all one’s heart,
might, mind, and strength. The mission “assignment” is to serve in the assigned
field of labor. The acceptance letter implies willingness to accept both the
call and the assignment as the Lord’s will.
“Preparing for my mission has been a long struggle. After
deciding to serve a mission, it took almost one and one-half years to overcome
problems in my conduct.”
Some letters describe long periods of repentance, of
experiences like Alma’s, in which he was “racked with torment” and “harrowed up
by the memory of my many sins” (Alma 36:17). Gratefully, they also speak of the
“exquisite and sweet” joy that comes through repentance and forgiveness (see
Alma 36:21).
...
“Deciding to go on a mission wasn’t easy. Having a strong
passion for the game of baseball made it hard.”
Numerous acceptance letters speak of sacrifice. The young
man quoted above was well on his way to fulfilling a life-long dream to play
baseball in college, and then perhaps enjoy a career in professional baseball.
After ponderous and prayerful thought, however, the answer was certain: he was
to serve the Lord. Once the decision was made, his priorities in life became
clear.
The Prophet Joseph Smith stated, “It is through the medium
of the sacrifice of all earthly things that men do actually know that they are
doing the things that are well pleasing in the sight of God” (Lectures on
Faith, 6:7.) The thought of giving up something we dearly treasure can be
difficult, even painful. Yet the Lord abundantly compensates for any sacrifice.
...
Missionary Call Acceptance letters reveal a wealth of
spirituality and faith. My own faith is continually strengthened by those who
accept calls to serve God, who allow their love for the Lord to overshadow
their fears, and who submit willingly to the call of our living prophet. I pray
always that every eligible young man, and also every young woman who so
desires, may experience the wondrous adventure of a mission.
A Spiritual Adventure, David B. Haight, New Era, June 2000
The Principle of Becoming
Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught us most effectively about
the challenge to become something instead of just doing expected things or
performing certain actions:
“The Apostle Paul taught that the Lord’s teachings and
teachers were given that we may all attain ‘the measure of the stature of the
fulness of Christ’ (Eph. 4:13). This process requires far more than acquiring
knowledge. It is not even enough for us to be convinced of the gospel; we must
act and think so that we are converted by it. In contrast to the institutions
of the world, which teach us to know something, the gospel of Jesus Christ
challenges us to become something. …
“… It is not enough for anyone just to go through the
motions. The commandments, ordinances, and covenants of the gospel are not a
list of deposits required to be made in some heavenly account. The gospel of
Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father
desires us to become” (“The Challenge to Become,” Liahona, Jan. 2001, 40;
Ensign, Nov. 2000, 32).
Brethren, the challenge to become applies precisely and
perfectly to missionary preparation. Obviously, the process of becoming a
missionary does not require a young man to wear a white shirt and tie to school
every day or to follow the missionary guidelines for going to bed and getting
up, although most parents certainly would support that idea. But you can
increase in your desire to serve God (see D&C 4:3), and you can begin to
think as missionaries think, to read what missionaries read, to pray as
missionaries pray, and to feel what missionaries feel. You can avoid the
worldly influences that cause the Holy Ghost to withdraw, and you can grow in
confidence in recognizing and responding to spiritual promptings. Line upon
line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, you can
gradually become the missionary you hope to be and the missionary the Savior
expects.
You will not suddenly or magically be transformed into a
prepared and obedient missionary on the day you walk through the front door of
the Missionary Training Center. What you have become in the days and months and
years prior to your missionary service is what you will be in the MTC. In fact,
the nature of the transition through which you will pass in the MTC will be a
strong indicator of your progress in becoming a missionary.
As you enter the MTC, you obviously will miss your family,
and many aspects of your daily schedule will be new and challenging. But for a
young man well on his way to becoming a missionary, the basic adjustment to the
rigors of missionary work and lifestyle will not be overwhelming, burdensome,
or constraining. Thus, a key element of raising the bar includes working to
become a missionary before going on a mission.
Fathers, do you understand your role in helping your son to
become a missionary before he goes on a mission? You and your wife are key in
the process of his becoming a missionary. Priesthood and auxiliary leaders, do
you recognize your responsibility to assist parents and to help every young man
become a missionary before he goes on a mission? The bar also has been raised
for parents and for all members of the Church. Prayerful pondering of the
principle of becoming will invite inspiration tailored to the specific needs of
your son or to the young men whom you serve.
The preparation I am describing is not oriented only toward
your missionary service as a 19- or 20- or 21-year-old young man. Brethren, you
are preparing for a lifetime of missionary work. As holders of the priesthood,
we are missionaries always. If you truly progress in the process of becoming a
missionary, both before going on a mission and in the mission field, then when
the day arrives for your honorable release as a full-time missionary, you will
depart from your field of labor and return to your family—but you will never
cease your missionary service. A priesthood holder is a missionary at all times
and in all places. A missionary is who and what we are as bearers of the
priesthood and as the seed of Abraham.
"Becoming a Missionary", DAVID A. BEDNAR, October
2005
