David O. McKay European Mission President pitching horseshoes with Elder Mickey Oswald 1924The men who preside over our missions are chosen generally from the rank and file of the Church. They are businessmen, contractors, ranchers, college professors, lawyers, physicians and surgeons, dentists, and members of other professions. When the call comes to any such, no matter what his responsibilities or circumstances, seldom if ever does he offer an excuse but, as Samuel of old, replies: "Speak, for thy servant heareth," [1 Samuel 3:10] even though such acceptance means a financial sacrifice and sometimes the loss of political preferment. (David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, p. 129).
As a mission president, you will be set apart by a member of the First Presidency of the Church or of the Council of the Twelve to stand foursquare on your own feet with your advisor and supervisor to do the important work in this great day.
You become a kind of creator, taking new people who have been differently trained and making them great leaders and inspired family people, to love the Lord, the Master.
It will be your privilege to take hundreds of boys, barely out of their swaddling clothes, sometimes spoiled and pampered boys, and to change their lives. Yes, to change their lives, to make their lives richer and more meaningful.
You become a creator in the sense that you take the unimproved, untrained, uninspired, sometimes selfish young men, and in two years make of them adults, sons of God. You will take of these young men, unpolished shafts, and make them smooth and attractive. You will, in fact, make of these young men hunters and fishers as spoken of by Jeremiah, for you will act with the Missionary Committee and for the Lord wherein he said: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." (Jeremiah 16:16). You will inspire them that they may so for the Lord what he did when he was on the earth. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976).
What is it that would cause a man to set aside his personal pursuits, to interrupt his business or professional activities, to yield in political preference, often to give up seniority, often retirement benefits, to go anywhere on earth, without question and without any unusual compensation or persuasion—-no compensation materially—simply to preside over a mission?
I recall a few years ago I was supervising the missions in western Europe. We needed a mission president with a certain language proficiency. Several names were brought forward, but none of them seemed to be right. Then one of the Brethren remembered that he had met a man—I think it was in Korea—several years before. He was a member of the Church who was in the customs service. Somehow just the mention of that name and the Spirit confirmed it. He was called, by virtue of the time pressures, by telephone to preside over the mission. I visited him a few weeks later. He was living in Washington, D.C. He was within reach of the number one office in his category. His lifetime had been spent progressing through the ranks, thinking that perhaps one day he would stand at the head of that division. His senior officer had indicated that because of a health problem he would retire early and that this man was being recommended for that position. It was just at that time that the telephone call came.
I wanted to get acquainted with him and was invited to stay overnight. He brought me a message from his superior. The message was this: “Tell that Brother Packer of yours that you’re no missionary; I’ve worked with you for 30 years, and you haven’t converted me. Tell them they’re making a mistake. And you’re making a mistake. You’re a fool.” (I’m leaving out one word.) “If you will give up your retirement and all that you’ve reached for—why? Why would you do it?”
Simple answer: he’d been called. We live to know, in this church, that the response to a call does not depend on the testimony and witness of the one who delivers the call. It depends, rather, on the testimony and witness of the one who receives it.
It was very interesting. We were looking for a man who spoke French. It was not until after he was in the mission field, and we had some opportunities and responsibilities relating to some of the problems of some members we had in Spain, that we discovered that he wrote and spoke Spanish fluently. I suppose if we’d searched through the Church for a man who spoke French, spoke Spanish, and had had some diplomatic experience, particularly as it related to customs work, we would have gone afar in the world and not found him. Yet it was through the “chance” memory of one of the Brethren that he’d met a man a few years before in Korea who spoke French that he was found. (Boyd K. Packer, Called of God by Prophecy,” New Era, [September 1978]: 33).
To cite another far-reaching miracle, there is no rational way to explain why young men and women give a year and a half to two years of their lives in the middle of their education and marriage eligibility to suffer the hardships incident to an inconvenient and highly disciplined pattern of missionary service to their fellowmen. Other miracles occur in funding missions by missionaries or families too poor to do so but who do so anyway.
Still another miracle is the way missionaries are protected during their labors. Of course we have fatalities among our young missionaries—-about three to six per year over the last decade—all of them tragic. But the official death rates for comparable-age young men and women in the United States are eight times higher than the death rates of our missionaries. In other words, our young men and women are eight times safer in the mission field than the general population of their peers at home. In view of the hazards of missionary labor, this mortality record is nothing less than a miracle. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Miracles,” Ensign, [June 2001]: 6).
To cite another far-reaching miracle, there is no rational way to explain why young men and women give a year and a half to two years of their lives in the middle of their education and marriage eligibility to suffer the hardships incident to an inconvenient and highly disciplined pattern of missionary service to their fellowmen. Other miracles occur in funding missions by missionaries or families too poor to do so but who do so anyway.
Still another miracle is the way missionaries are protected during their labors. Of course we have fatalities among our young missionaries—-about three to six per year over the last decade—all of them tragic. But the official death rates for comparable-age young men and women in the United States are eight times higher than the death rates of our missionaries. In other words, our young men and women are eight times safer in the mission field than the general population of their peers at home. In view of the hazards of missionary labor, this mortality record is nothing less than a miracle. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Miracles,” Ensign, [June 2001]: 6).
[A] factor that substantially blesses missionaries so that they may be productive in their sacred service is the caliber of men we have presiding over the missions. Those who serve in these capacities are not novices; they and their wives are mature brothers and sisters of broad experience. They stand as leaders and advisers, teaching the young missionaries and counseling older couples who come to them, protecting them from pitfalls into which they might stumble. (Gordon B. Hinckley, "We Have A Work To Do," Ensign, (January 1988): 5).
The first scene: A mission president is called on very short notice to replace a mission president who has died. The faithful wife, in one case, brings her husband's body home, while the other sister, just out of surgery, willingly responds to the call to join her husband far from home. Each sister handles her stern challenge trustingly, sweetly, and without murmuring. They understand that sin is the only real tragedy!
A second snapshot: A young mission president, his wife, and five children in Spartan circumstances. Water must be boiled and placed in their van as they drive for hours under a scorching sun to be with scattered missionaries and Saints. Adopted children from another culture are now in a home which is developing a celestial culture, where the mother is the children's only school teacher. Uncomplainingly, this family goes effectively about their labors--quite innocent of how special they are! They know they are included in this reassuring declaration: "all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God." (D&C 101:16). (Neal A. Maxwell, CR A'83, Ensign, [May 1983]: 11).
It may be proper for me to state at this time, for the information of the Elders, and also for the information of the local authorities of the Church, as well as the fathers and mothers and kindred of the Elders who are out in the world preaching the Gospel, that the Presidents of all the Missions are under strict instructions from the Presidency of the Church to guard carefully the health of the Elders that are laboring under their direction.
These Presidents of Missions are also under instructions to send home any and all Elders whose health or whose other circumstances may make it necessary for them to return. We are frequently inquired of by parents relative to the health of Young men who are out preaching the Gospel, and we invariably inform them that the Presidents of Missions are carefully guarding the welfare of their sons, and if anything serious occurs to them, making it necessary for them to return home, it will be promptly attended to, and they need not worry about their boys on that account.
And while I am on my feet, I would like to exhort the Elders who are upon missions, and those who shall go upon missions in the future, not to allow the thought to enter their hearts that they will be criticized or be made to suffer in their character or their standing in the Church because their health will not permit them to fill a two or three years’ mission abroad. We would like them rather to feel in themselves a wholesome aversion to coming home without having filled an honorable mission, when their health and other conditions permit them to do so; and if they have any reluctance about coming home at all, before completing their mission, it should be based upon this principle.
These men that are appointed to preside over the missions are men of intelligence and of heart, men who are filled with affection for their fellow laborers, and they will see to it that none of the Elders are left in their fields of labor to suffer, if it can be avoided. So, brethren and sisters, you need not worry at in regard to these matters. (Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report, 9 October 1904).
You are not ordinary people. You have been selected from numerous great men and women, and we deem you and your wives to be very special leaders in the kingdom. We expect to turn over to you a goodly share of the missionaries for your care and keeping and training, about 150 to 200 in each one of your missions. They are promising young men and women, and we expect that you, by example and precept, will give them a careful training and leadership which will make them faithful, able, efficient, well-trained leaders in Church government for the rest of their lives. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 1).
During the next few years you sisters will be known as Sister So-and-so, the mission president's wife--not the mission mother. The following thoughts may have crossed your minds. "What am I supposed to do?" "How can I support my husband?" "How does the call to my husband involve me?" Now, may I counsel you sisters in ten specific areas.
You will each be set apart as a missionary companion to your husband. As a companion, you will be a vital force in his success and well being. You are to be ever present with a listening ear, an understanding and prayerful heart, and an enthusiastic spirit. You must be prayerful and continually seek the guidance and strength of the Holy Ghost; not only for yourself, but for your husband, your children, the missionaries, the members, and the investigators.
You have no direct responsibility for supervising auxiliaries. However, if you have expertise in some of these areas, you may offer counsel and assistance as directed by your husband in his calling as mission president, but your first duty is to your husband and children.
You should always be in full agreement with the counsel and policies that your husband is setting in the mission. You must not counsel the missionaries over your husband's head. You must not run the zone conferences--no long talks, etc. If your husband is out of town, the missionaries should know that you, and not the assistants or zone leaders, are in charge of the mission home, but in the proselyting program, the assistants are in charge in the absence of the mission president.
You should always be well groomed and properly dressed. Your skirts should be flared, pleated, or gathered for the sake of modesty when you are seated. Your daughters should never wear bikinis, short skirts, short shorts, tight pants, halters, or low-cut dresses. You should avoid having rock music played in the mission home, in the mission president's car or staff cars.
You should assist your husband in seeing that he has his food, sleep, and exercise and that his clothes are prepared in case he is suddenly called out of town. You should be dedicated to keeping him happy. You should also guard your own health and conserve your energy and strength.
Studying the scriptures daily is essential to your own spirituality and well being.
You should put your husband and family first and the missionaries second, but do everything you can for the missionaries. Do not mother or baby them, but, in your own way, teach them correct principles, such as proper manners--how to be gentlemen and ladies. Teach them how to take care of their health, how to cook and eat the proper foods, how to take care of themselves when they are sick. You will be in an excellent position to provide encouragement to missionaries. Know who your missionaries are and what they are doing. Send birthday cards and acknowledge special achievements or occasions in their lives. Take a special interest in the missionaries and their needs. Call them by name. Address them as "Elder and Sister". . .never by their first names. Seek ways to continually build them up.
If asked to, you should be willing to accept outside speaking engagements (standards nights, etc.), and should only use Church teachings for reference and not your own personal views.
You should be very careful how you spend your household budget.
The mission home should be kept beautiful and clean. Missionaries, members, and investigators should always be welcome (within reason). Yours is the responsibility to create a lovely spirit in the mission home.
My dear sisters the Lord loves you and expects great things of you. May you be faithful in the sacred trust He has placed in you. We love you and trust you as handmaidens of the Lord and missionary companions to your husbands. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Some of you will go to missions where there is an abundance of leadership and where the area is already organized into stakes, where you will be almost exclusively doing proselyting work, while some of you will go to missions not yet fully develop, where you will have not only the missionary work buy the organizational, ecclesiastical work. You start with converts and then families and then branches and then districts and then stakes, and yours is a tremendously important work. You mission Presidents are sent out, not to make new records primarily or to build statistical towers, but to fulfill the commandment of the Lord given on the Mount of Olives to his eleven apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 2).
Millions of people have spoken of Paul and Peter and James and John. You new mission Presidents are to be trusted now with these many precious souls, local and foreign and it will be your privilege to lead these numerous missionaries to the fountain of truth unsullied, unfolded in the majesty of light and splendor from the opening heavens in all the simplicity of its nature. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
Your work will not be judged by how many baptisms you put on the records of the Church, but by how many converts you have—-how many are still active after a few years. No one is thoroughly converted until he sees the power of God resting upon this church, until he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the present leadership of the Church is directed by the Lord. The new member must do his spiritual housekeeping and be prepared to receive the witness of the Spirit. After that he must work to keep his testimony alive, because it is as fragile as an orchid: it will die if he departs from gospel principles and activity in the Church.
You are being sent out to teach your missionaries to convert the world. Teach them the simple principles of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The answer is found in the scriptures:
“And this is my gospel—-repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom” (D&C 39:6). (Harold B. Lee, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1973).
If you will ponder it in your mind, you will come up, in my judgment, with the conclusion that we could bring immeasurably more people into the Church than we are now doing. We could fellowship more than we are now fellowshipping; in practice this could be five or ten or twenty times as many as we are now baptizing. Perhaps in due course it should be 24 times or 100 times as many as at present. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mission Presidents' Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Now, a word about mission presidents. Their philosophy is that of a teacher who says, “No one fails in my class.” They’re responsible for the missionaries’ success. Every missionary wants success, and the mission president shows how to achieve success.
He helps each missionary to work, but more significant yet, he helps each one to work effectively so that the kingdom of God will grow under his inspired direction. Remember: “I am with you always,” said the Lord (Matthew 28:20). In addition, the great promise found in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants is yours: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (v. 88). (Thomas S. Monson, “The Five M’s of Missionary Work,” New Era, [March 2007]: 45).
A few years ago I heard an illuminating admission by a mission president. He was an educator by profession. When he left his professional position and took up his duties as a mission president, he brought large stacks of professional materials on training and leadership. He intended to use these materials to help his missionaries. At his first mission leadership meeting, he assigned several zone leaders to present some of these materials to the assembled missionaries.
As the meeting wore on, the mission president sensed that something important was missing. He realized, he told me later, that he was trying to accomplish his mission leadership training by following a professional model instead of by doing it in the Lord's way. He stopped a missionary in the middle of his presentation, apologized to him and to the group for making the wrong assignment, and asked a missionary to bear his testimony. As they went forward this new way, the Spirit of the Lord settled over the meeting. Testimonies and resolves were strengthened, and the necessary leadership training was given. The mission president had learned the importance of doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way. (Dallin H. Oaks, The Lord's Way, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991, pp.1-2).
I asked one of the brethren once how he was getting along in a certain mission, and he said, "It's wonderful mission, wonderful missionaries. They are doing everything but preaching the gospel." There are so many leaks of time and effort that the net product is greatly reduced. Each mission president should study prayerfully his own program and be sure that there are no leaks these wonderful missionaries give to the Lord. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 4).
Now, a word about the mission itself. Build an esprit de corps in your mission. It doesn’t matter which one it is or where it is. We were in Canada. I didn’t know anything about Canada, but I did a little reading. I found out that Canada was the only place the Prophet Joseph Smith ever went outside of his own country. That’s also where the early elders of the Church went to prepare for their mission to Great Britain. I let our missionaries know that. Sister Monson pointed out that Brigham Young went to Kingston, Ontario, and labored 30 days, walking through snow hip deep, and converted and baptized 40 people. I made sure our missionaries knew that. Parley P. Pratt, in answer to a referral, finding a man from England named John Taylor no more than 20 miles from Toronto, brought him into the Church, and be became the third President of the Church. All of those things we would weave into the history, the goals and objectives of our missionaries. (Thomas S. Monson, “The Five M’s of Missionary Work,” New Era [March 2007]: 45).
I hope, my brothers and sisters, that you can infuse your missionaries with the spirit of capturing every great opportunity that comes their way.... They will have disappointments; you’ll have disappointments. Discouragement can become contagious. You must rise above it and lift those about you. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “First Presidency Trains Mission Presidents,” Ensign, [September 1999]: 76).
You are going to get discouraged in this service. I have no doubt of it. I hope you do. It will humble you down a bit. There will be no arrogance in the face of discouragement. But look ahead, my dear brethren and sisters, look ahead to the years down the line and see the flowering of your effort. Because as surely as the sun rises in the morning, this work will come into flower in the missions where you serve. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 2000).
We hope you Presidents will organize carefully and well. Do not over-fill your office force. Do not use your missionaries for messengers commonly, more than is absolutely necessary. You are responsible for their time and for their efforts. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 13).
We don't give our testimony, and lives in death in the same manner that Joseph Smith, the martyred Prophet, gave his life. Rather, we give testimony by devoted service in our lives each day to live and to strengthen others. If your missionaries can understand this principle of the gospel, it will make them successful not only on their missions but for the rest of their lives. (Robert D. Hales," Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
In the early days of the Church, the brethren asked the Prophet what they could do which would be of the greatest worth. The Prophet through revelation gave the response of the Lord:
“And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father” (D&C 15:6; see also D&C 16:6).
I like that language—-that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to do missionary work. The thing of most worth is not the buildings we have. It is not this great building or the other buildings in this area. It is not the BYU campus. It is not the welfare program. It is not the educational program of the Church. It is not any of these things. The thing which is of most worth, as the Lord has repeatedly declared in revelation, is the teaching of the gospel of Christ to those who know not its saving message.
You are not going out into a sidebar activity. You are going out to do that which the Lord has said is the most important activity of all of the many activities of His work. God bless you. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 2000).
In your work as mission presidents, most of you will work in the midst of the stakes of Zion. The system has been provided for the members of those stakes to warn their neighbors, but it will require your close attention if your missionaries are to teach those who are found. You must assiduously cultivate the stake presidents and work out your plans with them in harmony. It is not for you to direct them, but it is for you to become one with them so that the body may become perfect. No more can missionary work be effectively handled independent of the stakes and districts. Finding and teaching must perfectly complement each other. Those who have been warned must find those who need to be taught by the stake and full-time missionaries. The success of your effort will largely depend upon your relationship to the stake president. Make him your friend. He is responsible for his sheepfold, just as you are for yours. The sheep he presides over will work with you if they hear his voice giving instructions and pointing the way. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
The full-time mission president holds the keys for convert baptisms. Under his direction, full-time missionaries have primary responsibility for teaching investigators. However, the bishops oversee the progress and friendshipping of investigators as they are being taught. The ward mission plan is carried out under the president authority of the bishop. The mission president meets regularly with stake presidents to make sure that full-time missionaries cooperate with local priesthood leaders. He coordinates proselyting efforts and offers to help the stake president provide instruction in the principles and practices of missionary work. (Preach my Gospel: A guide to missionary service. Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 2004, p. 217).
The promise I want you to carry in your minds and in your hearts and to instill within your missionaries is in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 88. “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” On disappointing days, if you just read that promise, the Spirit will enlighten your soul and you will be doubly prepared to move forward with that great band of missionaries. (Thomas S. Monson, “New Mission Presidents Instructed,” Ensign, [September 1997]: 76).
Each of you will have a wonderful experience and work very hard, perhaps harder than you have ever worked in your lives, but you will gain deeper satisfaction as you do so. Your burden will be lightened by the Spirit of the Lord. You will be motivated by that Spirit, and you will do things you thought you were never capable of accomplishing. I don’t hesitate to promise that if you observe them, you will be blessed in your work and in your ministry. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Mission Presidents Instructed,” Ensign, [September 1997]: 76).
A convert is a ‘precious person.’ He or she will make a tremendous decision in coming into the Church. Retention will primarily be the work of the local wards and branches. However, you have a very, very important part in this. Your missionaries must be sure that conversion is real, that it is life-changing, that it is something that is to last forever and go on through generations...There is no point in baptizing people if they do not become solid members of the Church. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar. Church News, 4 July 1998).
I feel that we must use a goal program and let every missionary make his own goal. In the past it seems the mission presidents and sometimes visitors have set goals for people and that isn’t quite right. I believe the mission president should not set the goals for the individual missionaries. Let them have the privilege and the responsibility. (Spencer W. Kimball, Regional Representatives’ Seminar, October 1974.)
Help your missionaries see that they must come to love the things the Lord loves. Their obedience, their service, their commitment will then grow from love for the Lord and not from fear, or habit, or desire to measure up to parents' expectations.
This begins to stretch their hearts to love God's children. . . . Let us never forget that love is the essence and evidence of a true disciple. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, [Mission Presidents’ Seminar], Church News, [30 June 1990]: 4).
Your challenge is, with all the power, faith, and enthusiasm of your souls, to create such a conversion in the hearts of your great, full-time missionaries that they will wish they could extend themselves beyond the powers of just being a mortal, to be an instrument in the hands of God, and to have the great joy of bringing souls to repentance and to a knowledge of the gospel of our Lord and Savior. (L. Tom Perry, "Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
We hope that you will love your missionaries and cause them to love you, for love turns the wheels of this world. Make them your sons and daughters as did Paul make his fellow workers. He said of them, Timothy and others,"...my own son in the faith...my own beloved son..."
I hope that all are your beloved sons, for love will develop far more than critical leadership. I wish that every missionary would love his mission president as I did Samuel O. Bennion, who presided over me, for though I somewhat feared him, I respected his judgment, accepted his recommendations and did my utmost to sustain him fully. I loved my mission president. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 5).
We send you with love and our prayers and our respect and our confidence, charging you to love your missionaries and work with them. Take care of them. Do not give up on them. Work with them. Love them into activity. Love them into righteousness. Love them into obedience. Be a father to them. Be as a mother to them. Be kind to them. They will never forget you. They will remember you all the days of their lives. They will name their children after you. They will send you wedding invitations, more than you want to receive. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 2000).
These young missionaries are precious, fresh, new, unsullied, and impressionable. It is our hope that you may be able to return every one of them without exception to his home at the termination of his mission with a strong testimony and a clean upright life. He will grow up and love you as his parents, mission president, and his wife, as I have loved my mission president all of my life. These budding flowers will become completed buildings, completed workers. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
Now, your responsibility is more than merely to train and assign. Have your missionaries love you, not merely respect you. Make them want to visit with you and to confess to you, if that be necessary, and to eagerly accept your directions. Remember your interviews with them. They should be individual and comprehensive, coupled with great understanding and affection. They should be private and confidential, and you will find many bits of information that should never be relayed to or through your assistants. I have seen that done in missionaries, and that is not proper. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 6).
You mission presidencies, in your preparation, need to take time between each of your assignments to go to the emery stone and sharpen your ax. When I was a little boy, the pain of my life was the haying time when the numerous knives of the mowing machine has to be sharpened, when my older brother sat and held the blades to the emery stone while I stood on my feet and turned the great emery stone until my back ached and my legs were tired and my hands were blistered. I was glad when I was older and could sit on the seat and hold the knives against the stone while someone else turned it.
The beloved preacher said, "If the iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge, then must he put two more strings." (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1974).
Speaking of the motivating of people, and getting them to work, that's our responsibility--to give. Eloquent sermons may brighten the life; to use expressive words may stimulate; but the evidence of our greatness, the proof of our effectiveness is in the area of motivation, to get them to do something.
I think Brother Simpson brought me a little card which is on my desk yet: "Do it!" And I like the thought that is behind it, and I think you need to have one of them on your desk, and when an idea comes to you, get busy and "Do it!" And find a way, if there isn't already one.
If we can stir our leaders in the stakes and the missions to set higher goals and encourage them in their accomplishments, we have proved our mettle. If we can stir missionary leaders to get their missionaries to awaken their souls and then, in turn, to motivate the people to believe and repent; then we have achieved. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 1978).
Many years ago, on an assignment to Tahiti, I was talking to our mission president, President Raymond Baudin, about the Tahitian people. They are known as some of the greatest seafaring people in all the world. Brother Baudin, who speaks French and Tahitian but little English, was trying to describe to me the secret of the success of the Tahitian sea captains. He said, “They are amazing. The weather may be terrible, the vessels may be leaky, there may be no navigational aids except their inner feelings and the stars in the heavens, but they pray and they go.” He repeated that phrase three times. There is a lesson in that statement. We need to pray, and then we need to act. Both are important. (Thomas S. Monson, “They Pray and They Go,” Liahona, [Jul 2002]: 54).
You will accomplish a work that is far beyond your greatest dream to touch the hearts of your missionaries that you supervise, to strengthen the witness and testimony of your own children, those that are with us and those that are home, and to forge of you instruments worthy of representing the Lord, Jesus Christ, to the areas of the world to which you are assigned. ("Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
It will be your responsibility to not only tell your missionaries how but to show them how. You who are highly motivated, you should proceed with proselyting yourselves; each of you should be a great proselyter and accept every opportunity, this in addition to your direction of your missionaries. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 6).
It will be your responsibility to see that the missionaries are inspired, motivated, and indoctrinated. It will be your responsibility to see that the schedules are stimulating and productive. It will be your responsibility to see that your missionaries do not waste time and that you do not use the missionaries generally for errand boys of extra, unnecessary work. There must not be a waste of manpower; there should not be six or eight or ten missionaries in the mission home doing the work there when three or four can do it. Missionaries in the office should also be proselyting missionaries in every mission. Sometimes the productive work of missionaries is diluted as would be a liquid poured into a sieve. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 4).
You must see that their time is so carefully monitored that they will not have time not opportunity to become casual. Too many visitors sometimes visit your missions. I think there are times when you would be in the right way to excuse yourself from them. People from the Church who come sightseeing and want somebody to take them around--you have not the time. You have a big job to do, to bring the gospel to all the people in your area. You cannot be nursemaids or guest leaders to take people around and show the sights. There has been a tendency to do that in many places, and the president seems to feel many times that he had the obligation to take them around or have his missionaries do it. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 13).
You are not going out on a sightseeing tour nor to travel, but to take the message of salvation and exaltation to the multitudes of people in the world, to gather the elect from the four quarters of the earth. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 2).
You are not going to overwork your missionaries. There are few missionaries, if ever any, that have been destroyed by overwork. They have been destroyed by over worry and too little work and by immoralities and other things, but generally not by overwork. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 5).
It means that once you have learned the will of the Lord you exercise voluntary obedience. It means you act in a spirit of unity, not in a spirit of grudging compliance.
Inspired initiative means you seek the Lord’s guidance to carry out the approved program. I would emphasize that inspiration comes most freely when you seek it in behalf of [serving] others. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction,” Ensign, [September 1992]: 74–75).
This, then, is one of your responsibilities as a mission president--not only to train and inspire and teach the missionaries, but to recruit them. You have many people in many of your missions who are eligible for missionary service. It is your responsibility to recruit missionaries in proper order. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 10).
I hope you will teach your missionaries to study the scriptures as well as the lessons. Encourage them to learn the scriptures, to memorize some. I hope you will teach your missionaries tithing and that you will keep them reminded of it. They are exempt from tithing when they have no income, and most of them have no income except that which is given to them for their missions, but there are sometimes missionaries who have income that is separate and which continues on through their missions. They gave a few head of cattle or they have some interest-bearing programs and they should not forget their tithing. They shouldn't get out of the habit of paying tithing. They pay it to their bishops, of course. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 8).
I pay my tithing on the means I send my boys. They do not need to tithe it again, but can do so if they desire to. One who is on a mission is not as a rule earning money, but souls. However, if he has an income from flocks, herds, farms, or stocks and bonds or rents, he should pay his tithing on any and all of these (and on gifts). An elder is not expected to give one tenth while on a mission, but the whole of his time and talent. (Joseph F. Smith, From Prophet to Son: Advice of Joseph F. Smith to His Missionary Sons, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981, p. 120).
When I was a mission president, I told my missionaries that I would give anything if I had the power to cause them to thirst and hunger after the things of the Spirit as much as they did for three square meals a day. And anybody who has been a mission president knows that there is not enough food in the world to fill the missionaries. If you don’t believe that, may I share part of a letter received not long ago that illustrates my point:
“Our dinner with the missionaries and investigators was scheduled for Wednesday night at 7:00. I started cooking Tuesday evening, continued early Wednesday morning, came home for lunch and continued, then finished Wednesday evening. It was all ready by 7:00. The missionaries came at 7:10 alone. They had looked everywhere for our investigators but were unable to find them. I invited them in, indicating we would eat without them.
“Eat is a loose term with a twenty-year-old, hungry missionary. The larger of the two missionaries ate eight bowls of chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. They finished a basket of crackers with the soup. Next came cabbage salad, with two dinner-plate-size servings for each. The next course was spaghetti with meat sauce. Three large servings and four pieces of garlic bread were followed by another bowl of soup. Dessert was root beer floats which I served in sixteen-ounce cups with two large scoops of ice cream. The meal was completed by two large servings of fruit—watermelon and pineapple. After the meal, the elders assured me that the best part was that I knew how to cook healthy.”
And the amazing thing is that the missionaries are hungry again just a few hours later. As a people we like to pull our chair up to the table for breakfast and there eat Cheerios or whatever. Then we enjoy lunch, and we feed our physical being again at dinnertime. Somehow we must begin to worry as much—-if not more—-about feeding our spirit as we do about catering to the demands of the physical body when it is hungry. (M. Russell Ballard, (M. Russell Ballard, When Thou Art Converted [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001], pp. 65-66).
Now brethren and sisters, speaking again for a moment on the callings that come to us and the support we receive from our friends, speaking now directly to you mission presidents and your lovely wives and to all who are called to serve. May I sound the note of warning, warning against the wiles of the adversary, warning against the danger inherent in authority and power. Let us not become heady or high-minded because of the success that may come to us, the success that is coming to the Church. Let us as individuals and as a group be humble. Mission Presidents, both at home and abroad, are praised and honored and rightly so, but I counsel you to be deaf to applause. (Hugh B. Brown, Continuing the Quest, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1961, p. 60).
President Harold B. Lee once instructed a group of new mission presidents to "save the missionaries and they will save the people." The key to saving anyone is to love them. It is still true that "a person doesn't care how much you know as long as he knows how much you care." (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 June 1986).
Each year a number of men are called to preside over missions. In each case this requires the man's wife and family to accompany him to some distant place and live there for three years. This is a matter of great importance to the family. If the husband accepts the call he must leave his occupation, making such arrangements as he can to obtain a leave of absence from his employer or to find someone to carry on his business. Sometimes the later reentry into his employment is left unsettled. He gives up political preference, his other interests, and his hobbies. He turns away from every worldly ambition in accepting the call.
His wife is equally affected. Her home, the garden, her social position, perhaps some of her family will be left behind for the years of the call. Frequently the call comes at a time when there is the promise of marriage for one of the children, or the coming of grandchildren. The probability of that the parents will not be present during these very important occasions in the lives of their children. Children who accompany the parents are affected too, sometimes more deeply and personally than are the parents. After several years of struggle a young man may have just made the athletic team. Or a young woman perhaps has achieved some position in the school or community that is very desirable to her.
What does a person do when he is asked to set aside every personal interest and go away for three years on call of the servants of the Lord? That depends on how he regards his covenants.
I have met mission presidents and their wives in the training session prior to their departure and have met them in the distant parts of the world in the mission field. I never fail to be impressed with one thought. We are here to be tested. Who will pass the test? Are there men and are there women and are there children in the world who will turn aside from all that they hold dear to respond to a call from the Lord? Is there such dedication in the world? Insofar as these mission presidents and their families are concerned, the question has to that time been answered.
We covenant with the Lord to devote our time, talents, and means to His kingdom. (Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980, pp.163-164).
I think there is great value in the mission president giving each of his missionaries a permanent "stay on target" checklist, folding to the size of his temple recommend, which the missionary should always keep in his wallet and refer to often, signed on the back with a personal note by his mission president. The philosophy of a mission president should be, "Once you're my missionary, you're always my missionary," and he should be as concerned about his missionaries' salvation after their missions as during their missions. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
There needs to be continual follow-up by the mission president to be sure that his missionaries are getting local newspaper publicity regarding their proselyting activities. We are not interested in publicity just for publicity's sake, but every time a transfer takes place, a new proselyting program is introduced, or a special Church meeting is to be held, our missionaries should go immediately to the local newspapers and give them a story, with pictures if possible. Many, many doors have been opened because of this simple, but effective approach to public relations. It also has a good effect on investigators and adds pride in the work on the part of the local members. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
"That the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers" (D&C 1:23). As I reflect on the great contribution by the elders of this dispensation in bringing the gospel to their fellowmen, I think of their great fortitude, sacrifice and boldness. Many of the early elders left their families without any support to go into the field of labor. I think of mission presidents who have sacrificed businesses to go. I think of the tremendous financial sacrifices of families today in sending their sons and daughters into the mission fields. Certainly the efforts of thousands in this dispensation who have served are without precedent. And yet, it is not enough. We need to do more in opening the doors of countries so the elders can enter with our message. (Ezra Taft Benson, "The World is our Mission," Salt Lake City, Utah, 6 June 1980).
The Lord will bless you as you look upon each of these young men and women as your son or daughter. I always feel comforted when a mission president has a son or daughter in another mission. All of a sudden, he is much more understanding of what missionaries will do, and much more anxious to save the missionary, rather than transfer him somewhere else. Take care of these precious missionaries. (Thomas S. Monson, [Mission Presidents’ Seminar], Church News, [30 June 1990]: 7).
I bear witness to you that we're led by a prophet and that indeed; the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest and most beautiful pearl that we shall ever experience by feel, by sight, by hearing. Let us remember that the great trait of the Savior's which will guide you in the darkest day on your mission, as well as the brightest sunlit day, is the principle of love. Please keep this uppermost in all of your activities, and you will return as Brigham Young said, "Bearing your sheaves with you."
I bear witness to you that love is the "balm of Gilead,”. . . the formula for success for any mission president and his wife called today, yesterday or who will be called tomorrow. (Thomas S. Monson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Church News, [30 June 1990]: 7).
May our testimonies ring forth with power and authority and conviction concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith—the greatest prophet who ever lived—-and concerning the Book of Mormon which he brought forth. The prayers that ascend to heaven in your behalf and in behalf of your missionaries literally number in the millions, and those prayers will be answered. (James E. Faust, “New Mission Presidents Trained,” Ensign, [September 1998]: 79–80).
Teach correct principles to missionaries and you will bless their lives forever. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 June 1986).
President Robert Stout in the Japan Kobe Mission has stressed member-missionary work in a fresh way under the direction of his executive administrator...and with the help of his regional representatives; he has involved members and particularly the local priesthood leaders who are asked to be the first to refer their friends to the missionaries to teach further. In this mission, 90 percent of their referrals come from the just-baptized new members. This is a mission which was baptizing around 25 a month a year or so ago. There were 144 baptisms in May and there should be 200 this, the month of June. This is with the involvement of leaders and members in the stakes. Furthermore, President Stout is using group teaching so that those prospective members who are being taught are asked to bring in their friends to be taught simultaneously. This permits the Japanese to work with their natural circles of friends in a very effective way. Local priesthood leaders and members are excited by this solid growth. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 22 June 1979).
A few years ago, I was afforded the privilege to serve as a mission president and became intimately acquainted with more than four hundred missionaries. We had one young missionary who was very ill. After weeks of hospitalization, as the doctor prepared to undertake extremely serious and complicated surgery, he asked that we send for the missionary's mother and father. He advised there was a possibility the patient would not survive the surgery.
The parents came. Late one evening, the father and I entered a hospital room in Toronto, Canada, placed our hands upon the head of the young missionary, and gave him a blessing. What happened following that blessing was a testimony to me.
The missionary was in a six-bed ward in the hospital. The other beds were occupied by five men with a variety of illnesses. The morning of his surgery, the nurse came into the room with the breakfast these men normally ate. She took a tray over to the patient in bed number one and said, "Fried eggs this morning, and I have an extra portion for you!"
The occupant of bed number one had suffered an accident with his lawnmower. Other than an injured toe, he was well physically. He said to the nurse, "I'll not be eating this morning."
"All right, we shall give your breakfast to your partner in bed number two."
As she approached that patient, he said, "I think I'll not eat this morning."
Each of the five young men declined breakfast. The young lady exclaimed, "Other mornings you eat us out of house and home, and today not one of you wants to eat! What is the reason?"
Then the man who occupied bed number six answered: "You see, bed number three is empty. Our friend is in the operating room under the surgeon's hands. He needs all the help he can get. He is a missionary for his church, and while we have been patients in this ward he has talked to us about the principles of his church--principles of prayer, of faith, of fasting wherein we call upon the Lord for blessings." He continued, "We don't know much about the Mormon Church, but we have learned a great deal about our friend; and we are fasting for him today."
The operation was a success. When I attempted to pay the doctor, he countered, "Why, it would be dishonest for me to accept a fee. I have never before performed surgery when my hands seemed to be guided by a Power which was other than my own. No," he said, "I wouldn't take a fee for the surgery which someone on high literally helped me to perform." (Thomas S. Monson, CR A'84, Ensign, [May 1984]: 18).
In recent months I have had the opportunity of speaking with sixty-three men and extending to them calls to serve as Presidents of missions. One cannot have such an experience without coming to recognize the depth of faith found in the hearts of this people. Husbands and wives and children, at the call of the Church, are willing to leave the comforts of their homes, the association of their friends and loved ones, and their employment to go out to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brethren, the work of the Lord is advancing as much as at any time in its history and every more rapidly. As individuals we may fail in our part in it, but if we do so God will raise up others to take our places, for he will not permit this work to fail. (Gordon B. Hinckley, CR A'84, Ensign, [May 1984]: 48).
My coming to conference while serving as a full-time mission president makes me feel somewhat like an army field commander who has been summoned home from the front lines to report on conditions of the war to the commander in chief, joint chiefs of staff, and other general officers.
The war is not a hot one where there are guns and armaments; but the struggle between the forces of righteousness and of evil for the souls of our Heavenly Father's children is intense, and the conflict is very real.
From my front-line position in the mission field I can personally testify that the enemy is well trained in the arts of eternal warfare. The army of the devil exploits all kinds of sinful practices, and promotes his cause through every kind of printed, audio, and visual means. Perhaps the most cunning of all their methods is the spirit of apathy and indifference that they use to penetrate the minds and the hearts of mankind, to dull their feelings towards God, His Son Jesus Christ, and His church.
The great prophet Mormon taught: "Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil and continually." (Moroni 7:12.)
Based on my experience, I believe that if the Saints and missionaries are to build up the Church at the much faster rate that President Kimball has called for, we must all strive to prepare ourselves to become better gospel teachers. I often see the great joy that comes into the life of the new member of the Church when he is baptized. At each baptismal service I am reminded of the tremendous amount of individual preparation that is required by both member and missionary to bring about the conversion of one soul. (M. Russell Ballard, Jr., CR O'76, Ensign, [November 1976]: 86).
I would like to share with you a story without sharing any names. I have a very good friend who was the chief executive officer and principal owner of a very large corporation. He was called to preside over a mission. Like so many of our wonderful men who have great skills, capabilities, when the call came from the Lord, he did not question. He had thought enough through his life that it was instantaneous in his mind to accept the call.
But what was to happen to the business, what was to happen to this great enterprise? Situations and management worked out for the best, but in three years lots of things can happen to a business when the guiding light is not there on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately some of the assets of the company were sold. But toward the end of the mission of this great man, an opportunity arose. Within days after his release he was back in business with a program far bigger than anything he had before he was called to be a mission president. He is presently bringing into being one of the major corporations to be based in the state of Utah.
How did he do that? I suppose he learned from the mistakes he made through his life, but, most importantly, he had learned to think straight. When the second opportunity came up, it was easier for him to define, to determine, to make decisions, and to move forward with that second opportunity. (M. Russell Ballard, "Let Us Think Straight," BYU 1983-84 Fireside and Devotional Speeches, Provo: University Publications, 1984, pp. 34-35).
There is nothing in our whole church operation which is as personal as a proselyting program. A mission president must be personally involved. There is no program that ties in more firmly to the inclinations, desires, and aptitudes of a single person than the proselyting program. Missionaries will do what a mission president encourages them to do. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps To More And Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Of course, every six to eight weeks, you will be interviewing each missionary at zone conference. These personal interviews and counseling sessions are vital to a missionary's success. He will feel of your genuine love for him, your trust in him, and your expectations of him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Give sincere praise and encouragement. If discipline is ever necessary, discipline the missionary with love and not by degrading him. Be a good listener. Encourage him to tell you what is in his heart. Be genuinely concerned about his welfare. Make notes of items discussed in interviews that you wish to follow up on in future sessions. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
You can share your genuine love and concern for your missionaries in other ways: Read carefully his weekly letters to you. This reading should never be delegated to anyone. Read these letters with the Spirit and with discernment. A short follow-up letter from you to a particular missionary speaks volumes.
Always make your own transfers of missionaries. You can receive helpful suggestions from your assistants, but because you know best the missionaries and their needs, you should personally make the transfers. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
As a missionary comes to the close of his mission, your final interview with him should be a spiritual experience for both of you. Let him know how much you appreciate his missionary service, how much you love him, and how proud you are of him. Let him know that he will always be your missionary and that you expect him to continue to be an excellent member of the Church all of his life and to live as he has taught others to live. And let him know that as you meet him again in the months and years ahead, your greatest concern for him will always be "Are you faithful?"
Yes, I would challenge you to love your missionaries with all your heart and to be genuinely concerned about their spiritual welfare, now and always. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Motivate your missionaries. Let your missionaries know they are engaged in the greatest work in all the world--saving the souls of our Father in Heaven's children. Let them know they have been called by inspiration and revelation to your mission at this time for a sacred and holy purpose--for truly they have. Let them hear from your lips that they are serving exactly where the Lord wants them, that for them they are in the best mission of the Church, that you have every confidence in them and great expectations for them, that they cannot fail in this work, and that they have been called to succeed and succeed they will. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Your missionaries need to know exactly the purpose of their being in the mission field, which is to save souls, to baptize converts, and to bring converted families into the Lord's Church. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Let them know that it is a time of harvest in your mission and not a time of gleaning, and that if they are true and faithful, they will literally be instruments in the hands of the Lord in bringing souls unto Him. Remind them of the Apostle Paul's statement that in the conversion process some missionaries will plant, some will water, and some will baptize. Assure them that in your mission you are not concerned with who gets the credit for the baptisms because "God [gives] the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). They need to know that all you are concerned about, as their mission president, is that they have a burning desire to bring souls unto Him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Let them know of the joy that will fill their hearts when they have taught an investigator with love and with the Spirit, when they have given the baptismal challenge by the Spirit, and when they have seen a wonderful family enter into the waters of baptism. Let them feel of the great missionary spirit of Ammon, who brought thousands of converts into the Church and then exclaimed: "My joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God" (Alma 26:11). (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Let them feel of the spirit of the modern day challenging and testifying missionary who prays every morning to "lead me this day to a family that I can fulfill my purpose. I will testify unto them by thy power without hesitancy or fear and will lead them by the power of the Spirit to baptism into thy kingdom." (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Yes, motivate your missionaries to good works. Expect excellence in their performance. Run a mission that is disciplined but abounds with love--a mission that is on fire, but is sensitive to the individual needs of missionaries. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Motivate your missionaries to labor with all their heart, might, mind and strength--for that is where the joy is--to go home at the end of each day "tired in the Lord" to be renewed by the Lord in the morning. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Motivate your missionaries to be obedient—not because they have to but because they want to in order to receive the blessings of the Lord and to be effective instruments in saving His children. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Teach your missionaries correct principles. Do this in your orientation with new missionaries. Do this in your zone conferences. Do this in your personal interviews with your missionaries. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Talk to the missionaries about the influence of words that are communicated by the Spirit. The only hope they will ever have as a missionary is to convey the words of the gospel as directed by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. (Jeffrey R. Holland, More astonishing in preaching gospel: Missionary success comes with teaching by power and authority,” Church News [Saturday, January 26, 2008]: 4).
Teach them from the scriptures. Teach them to love the scriptures and to get their answers from the standard works. There are great verses of scripture that have particular application to missionary work. Alma 26:22 is an example of one of the greatest. Here Ammon is rejoicing in the success the Lord has blessed him with in his missionary work among the Lamanites. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Missionary work is not easy. It is the most demanding, the most compelling, the most exhausting, and yet, with it all, the most happy and joyful work in all the world.
But it requires work. If your missionaries really work, they will get the Spirit. If they get the Spirit, they will teach by the Spirit and if they teach by the Spirit, they will be instruments in the hands of the Lord in bringing thousands of souls unto Him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
The principle of not aspiring to positions in the mission field is taught well in Mark 9:34-35 and Matthew 23:11-12. Missionaries should be taught that it doesn't matter where they serve, but how. Position doesn't save anyone, but faithfulness does. Aspiring to positions of responsibility can destroy the spirit of the mission as well as the spirit of a missionary. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Accelerate member-missionary work in your mission. Our members need to understand their responsibility to do missionary work and then do it. You, as the mission president, and your missionaries need to help them fulfill their missionary responsibility. I fully endorse the words of President Spencer W. Kimball: "Do we really believe in revelation? Then why cannot we accept fully as the revealed word of God the revelation of the Prophet-President David O. McKay, wherein he brought to the Church and to the world this valuable Church slogan, `Every member a missionary.'
. . .How else could the Lord expect to perform His work except through the Saints who have covenanted to serve Him? You and I have made such a covenant. Will we honor our sacred covenant? (Ezra Taft Benson, Regional Representatives’ Seminar, 30 September 1977, pp. 3-4).
No more can missionary work be effectively handled independent of the stakes and wards or with poor correlation. You must personally work closely with the stake Presidents’ in your mission. It is not for you to direct them, but it is for you to become one with them in perfect correlation. In addition to regularly scheduled meetings with these brethren, I would encourage you to respond to invitations to attend stake conferences and sacrament meetings whenever possible. Talk about missionary work enthusiastically whenever you are asked to speak. Always be positive. Challenge the members to do their missionary work, but challenge them with love and not criticism. Do it by motivating them, not by berating them. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Retention will primarily be the work of the local wards and branches. However, you have a very, very important part in this. Your missionaries must be sure that conversion is real, that it is life-changing, that it is something that is to last forever and go on through generations. Nobody gains when there is baptism without retention. The missionary loses, and while the Church gains statistically, the membership suffers, really, and the enthusiasm of the convert turns to ashes. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Mission Presidents Trained,” Ensign, [September 1998]: 79–80).
Mission presidents and regional representatives must realize that you can never light a candle unless there is A SPARK FROM WITHIN YOURSELF. You can never give the priesthood unless you have it. You can never convey enthusiasm without a liberal supply. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1974).
Mission Presidents, you should be the spark plug wherever you go on your mission. Whenever you meet with members and stake and ward leaders, share your excitement about missionary work. Let them know you and your missionaries are there to serve them. I promise you that you will more than double your convert baptisms if your full-time missionaries and members and leaders in the stakes and wards correlate missionary work as they should and work together in harmony. I issue you that challenge! (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
The strength of a missionary's Book of Mormon-based testimony cannot be measured--it has tremendous converting power. Teach missionaries to use the Book of Mormon with investigators as a key step in conversion. As missionaries and investigators read the scriptures, the heavens will be open to them, and they can learn, not only what they are studying, but what the Lord would teach them. (Richard G. Scott, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Church News, [30 June 1990]: 4).
With all my heart I challenge you to use the Book of Mormon in your missions as the great converter. You know how I feel about the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. At the recent April general conference of the Church, the Book of Mormon was one of the major themes in all of my addresses as well as others of the Brethren.
I referred to section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Every mission president should understand the background of that section and its implications to us today. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
It is the responsibility of mission Presidents to help their missionaries understand themselves in relation to their calling to preach the gospel, and to help them set and accomplish effective goals. However, goals and quotas should not be imposed upon missionaries. The guiding principle here was given by the Lord in Section 58 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. (D&C 58:26-28).
There is a difference between a missionary stating the number of investigators he hopes to baptize and imposing on him a stated number of baptisms by district, zone, or mission leaders. Instead of setting goals or quotas for missionaries, mission presidents should help missionaries learn to set realistic goals of their own. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
I want to talk to mission Presidents for a moment. Some years ago there grew an error in the method of proselyting, and thousands of people were baptized who were not converted. This raised the eyebrows of the Brethren in Salt Lake. We asked them, the mission Presidents at that time, not to do that anymore. We want people to have a testimony. We want them to understand something about the gospel. But when we showed concern about these numerous improper baptisms, the pendulum swung all the way across, and there were many of the mission Presidents that felt they shouldn't discuss the possibilities and the goals for the future. That's the trouble with pendulums; they nearly always swing all the way or the other direction.
We expect that every year there will be a great increase in the conversions and baptisms, and we hope you mission Presidents will take that into account. We do believe in goals. Why, we live by goals. When we are in athletics we always have a goal. When we go to school, we have the goal of graduation and degrees. Why, our total existence is a goal. You're going to eternal life. That's the greatest goal in the world. We are not against goals, but we don't want you mission Presidents to set up quotas for your missionaries. Inspire them to set up their own goals and to make them high enough to challenge their very best efforts. (Spencer W. Kimball, Buenos Aires Area Conference, 9 March 1975, p. 53).
I am not convinced that mission Presidents should ever set goals for missionaries. They may set goals for their mission if they like and for themselves, but let the missionaries set goals for themselves and then the president will praise and give them adulation for succeeding in the goals which they set. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975).
Missionaries should have goals but they should not be imposed by the mission president, his assistants or the zone leaders. I am persuaded that the missionaries will be more dedicated to their work, will be more committed, if they have set their own goals, and happier in their labors than if goals are imposed upon them. The best motivation is self-motivation. (James E. Faust, New Mission Presidents' Seminar, 21 June 1996).
There are a number of good reasons for encouraging a missionary to develop his own goals. Once he makes an honest appraisal of his strengths and weaknesses, the missionary is in the best position to decide what he must do to become more effective. Goals set by a mission president might not be realistic for some missionaries. Moreover, goals imposed by another may offend or discourage the missionary. Most important, the missionary is entitled to inspiration in choosing his personal goals; and when he has sought the Lord through prayer and meditation, he will be motivated best by those goals he selects himself and commits himself to attain. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
President [Spencer W.] Kimball expressed the hope that we might have "better interviews, more searching interviews...." Through effective personal priesthood interviews, a mission president can do much to help his missionaries set worthwhile goals. He can help a missionary understand the obstacles that might stand in the way of effective missionary work--obstacles such as bad personal habits, unclean thoughts, or inadequate knowledge of the scriptures and the discussions. When the missionary can recognize these obstacles, he can set about overcoming them through progressive personal goals. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
In some few cases you will have to teach your missionaries how to repent and then be close enough to them that they will feel free in coming to you for help.
The... thing the missionary will have to do to gain spirituality is to pray sincerely, with real intent, and ask for forgiveness. He must also ask in faith for the Spirit to bless and be with him. The missionary's prayer must be offered with the same desire as the one offered by Enos in the Book of Mormon. Of his prayer we read, “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens (Enos 1:4). (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
There will be times when your missionaries may become discouraged with the work. Missionary work is not easy work and Satan will take every opportunity to discourage a missionary. When these moments come, the yoke they are called to bear may seem heavy and unbearable.
The Lord has given us a key by which we can overcome discouragement and you should teach this to your missionaries.
Our Savior extended an invitation to us when He said, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30.)
In olden days the purpose of a yoke was to get oxen pulling evenly together in a united effort. In a sense, our Savior has a load to pull; a cause to move forward. He has asked us to become yoked with Him to help move His gospel forward unto all those who will accept. "...my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Teach your missionaries that their work will be light or easy to bear no matter how difficult it becomes if the burden they bear is the work of Jesus Christ. As they approach their work in this spirit they will be able to see all problems as challenges and not stumbling blocks. And most important of all, they will increase in spirituality. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The questions arise, "How can I help my missionaries serve successful missions?" "How can I help them to lengthen their strides and raise their sights?"
As the mission president, you must teach your missionaries how to be successful.
There are several areas that a missionary needs to be concerned with in order to be successful. First, he must develop a real deep spirituality. The Spirit is the most important matter in this glorious work. In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 42, verse 14, the Lord gives us a great law about teaching His gospel. He said, "And the Spirit shall be given you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach." (D&C 42:14).
To be a successful missionary one must have the Spirit of the Lord. We are also taught that the Spirit will not dwell in unclean tabernacles. Therefore, one of the first things a missionary must do to gain spirituality is to make sure his own personal life is in order. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The mission president can encourage his missionaries to establish goals which will most effectively move them toward the great goal of the missionary program--to bring the gospel to all of our Father's children. The mission president should help his missionaries understand the importance of preaching the gospel to families, of introducing people to the blessings of family home evening, and of encouraging fathers to take the lead in bringing their families to the truth. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
Each mission president should also develop his own personal goals and goals for the mission as a whole. The mission goals should be in harmony with the goals of the missionaries and the mission president should make them known to the missionaries. He might well ask the missionaries to help him achieve his goals just as he helps them achieve theirs. In the process of setting goals and carrying them out, mission Presidents should remember to work within the framework of priesthood correlation. It is important that you establish a close relationship with stake or district priesthood leaders if you are to have their full cooperation. If there are established stakes in your mission, get acquainted with the stake president as soon as possible and offer assistance in missionary work. Attend stake conferences and sacrament meetings whenever possible. Talk missionary work enthusiastically everywhere. Attend regional meetings and offer assistance in the missionary phase of the regional meeting. Invite stake missionaries and leaders to zone conference to share the enthusiasm and testimonies borne there. Encourage the stake president to make suggestions on how missionary work can be improved in his stake area. Encourage your assistants and zone leaders to develop a good working relationship with stake mission leaders. Do not forget to express appreciation for the cooperation you receive from local priesthood leaders. A letter or telephone call of appreciation is always appropriate. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
Help your missionaries to become successful in the area of teaching. As missionaries learn to teach with power and conviction, they will have many opportunities to see converted souls enter the waters of baptism.
To help your missionaries become master teachers, encourage them to study and learn their discussions so well that when they teach, they teach from the heart.
Encourage them to search the scriptures so that they can support all they say from the word of God.
Teach your missionaries to seek the power and influence of the Holy Ghost in their teaching. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Your missionaries are in the field to testify of the greatest event that has transpired in this world since the resurrection of the Master, the coming of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to the boy prophet. They are out to testify of a new volume of scripture, a new witness for Christ. If they are to testify effectively, they must have a testimony of the truth. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Greater emphasis should be given by mission Presidents to the kind of welcome and orientation their new missionaries receive when they arrive in the mission field. As an example, the spirit of a mission is immediately conveyed to the new elder by the way he is greeted at the plane. How he is received by the mission president and his wife, and the spirit that is conveyed by the mission family and by the mission staff have a tremendous impact on a new missionary. Mission Presidents should be fully and personally involved in the orientation of their new missionaries and should spend ample time in addressing them as a group and interviewing them individually. The new missionaries need to feel the spirit and love and concern of the man who will be leading them for the next two years, and this responsibility should not be delegated. It is important that mission Presidents do all in their power to first save their missionaries. Then, their missionaries will be capable of saving others. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The staff should greet the missionaries with open arms, with love in their hearts, with "Elder, or Sister, welcome to the greatest mission in the Church. It's great to have you with us. We're delighted you're here. You're going to love it." How much better is that than to try to lord it over the new missionaries or make them feel that they are "greenies," that the staff knows everything and the new missionaries know little or nothing about missionary work. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The new missionaries need to know exactly the purpose for being in the mission field--which is to save souls, to baptize converts, to bring converted families into His Church. Special emphasis should be given to particular scriptures which explain this holy calling, such as Doctrine and Covenants, sections 15 and 16, and Alma 26:22. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Fourteen years ago, President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) gave a landmark address in general conference titled “Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon.” In this masterful discourse, he called the Church to repentance and gave us his prophetic vision of the role the Book of Mormon must play in our lives and in the Church. I wish to remind you of that vision. Also, I want to discuss how well we have followed his counsel these many years later. How are we doing in flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon? President Benson taught:
“The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to ‘sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out [His] elect.’ (Moses 7:62.) This sacred volume of scripture needs to become more central in our preaching, our teaching, and our missionary work. … “The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for the many reasons which the Lord has given. In this age of electronic media and the mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way....
“… We hardly fathom the power of the Book of Mormon, nor the divine role it must play, nor the extent to which it must be moved....
“I challenge our mission leaders to show their missionaries how to challenge their contacts to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Missionaries need to know how to use the Book of Mormon to arouse mankind’s interest in studying it, and they need to show how it answers the great questions of the soul. Missionaries need to read with those they teach various passages from the Book of Mormon on gospel subjects....
“I challenge all of us to prayerfully consider steps that we can personally take to bring this new witness for Christ more fully into our own lives and into a world that so desperately needs it....
“I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with [marvelous testimonies of this sacred book] so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world.
“I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon.
“Indeed, I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon” (Ensign, Nov. 1988, 4–6).
We need to have that same vision if we are to be successful in fulfilling the Lord’s wishes. We may be doing fine in terms of quantity, but how about in terms of quality? I believe there is much room for improvement. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “The Book of Mormon: The Heart of Missionary Proselyting,” Ensign, [September 2002]:13;Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Provo Missionary Training Center, 23 June 1999).
In your interviews with them, emphasize that success will be theirs; that they are going to be successful; that they are coming into the mission field at a time of harvest; that the Lord has prepared this mission field for them and for the laborers who would be in it. Emphasize to them that they are not expected to fail, that the Lord calls nobody to fail, but to succeed and this they should understand fully. Quote to them the statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 113).” (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
We do not expect every missionary to get 200 or 32 or 82, but we expect him to do his utmost and to have his sights raised. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976).
With the Spirit, you and your missionaries will perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field. Conversion itself is a miracle, and only by the Spirit will we ever realize the harvest of convert baptisms that the Lord expects of us. (Ezra Taft Benson, “New Mission Presidents Counseled,” Ensign, [September 1987]: 78).
The setting of personal baptismal goals by missionaries should be explained in detail with specific illustrations and testimonies of others' successes. Mission Presidents need to be converted to goal-setting themselves, in all phases of missionary work, before they will be capable of converting their missionaries to this concept. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Did you hear the word thousands? … Not hundreds, not dozens, not tens, but thousands. … The Lord … knows what these words mean, and when he uses the word thousands, he means thousands. And that’s ten hundred in a thousand! (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1978.)
Missionaries should be taught by their mission Presidents to love the scriptures. Presidents should refer to the scriptures often and draw from them personal applications to their missionaries and to missionary work. A missionary should come to internalize and love special scriptures which give him inspiration and motivation. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Missionaries should have a standard of performance or excellence to which they ascribe and to which they commit. This should be spelled out in specific terms and held up as the minimum standard by which all missionaries are expected to perform. Missionaries should take pride in being in "the best mission in the Church," and being "missionaries of excellence," as defined through inspiration from their mission president. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Wilford Woodruff baptized two thousand people on his mission in England in a short few months and … Heber C. Kimball baptized 1,800 in a few months. … There are hundreds of other brethren who have baptized tens and fifties and hundreds during their missions. Is it possible that each of you could develop some Wilford Woodruffs and Brigham Youngs who could baptize hundreds and thousands? Can we raise our sights?” (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1975.)
There should be definite guidelines set by the mission president on the proper relationship that should exist between the members and the missionaries. Too many missionaries are neutralized, and occasionally lost, because of over-solicitous members, member sisters who "mother" the missionaries, and socializing occurring between missionaries and members. Because of the importance of members and missionaries working effectively together on the member missionary program, it is vital that missionaries maintain the proper missionary image and have the reputation as great proselyting elders and not just "good guys." The greatest help members can be to a missionary is not to feed him, but to give him names of their friends so he can teach them with the Spirit in their homes and challenge them with the wonderful members helping to fellowship. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
When we try to find causes for our lack of greater progress in missionary work, I suggest that we ponder what happened at the Last Supper when the Savior indicated that one present would betray Him. The disciples did not look or point at each other, but all responded with a very quick question, ‘Lord, is it I?’ (Matt. 26:22.)
Let us all assume that we might be part of the reason that the work does not go on as well as we think it should. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1979.)
The white Missionary Handbook, published by the First Presidency, should be given great emphasis by the mission president to his missionaries. Not only should it be highlighted in the orientation of his new missionaries, but it should be referred to often in zone conferences and district motivation and development meetings.
Personally, I would recommend that the mission president establish a personal reading schedule for his missionaries and have them, as companions, read from the handbook daily. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
A mission president should be careful in the music which is played by his missionaries. Some mission Presidents strongly recommend that only Tabernacle Choir music be played and listened to by missionaries. There is ample evidence that rock music is offensive to the spirit and affects adversely the spirituality of the missionaries and thus the success of the proselyting work. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
If movies are allowed by a mission president, I would definitely recommend that missionaries only be allowed to see "G" rated shows (stateside code), even using wisdom within this practice, and then the mission president deciding how often they are to be seen and under what conditions. A missionary should never permit himself to see a movie or cheap literature, or hear music that tends to interfere with or which dampens the spirit of missionary work. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Greater emphasis needs to be given by mission Presidents in the effective preparation and prayerful selection of senior companions. This calling, in many respects, is the most important calling in the mission. Mission Presidents need to outline specific responsibilities and duties of senior companions and their relationship with their junior companions. The magnitude of their call should be explained to them both in writing and verbally. Possibly never will a mission president who is effective, pray more sincerely than on the selection of senior companions, especially senior companions to new missionaries. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
There should be regular indoctrination by the mission president of his missionaries on the undesirability of aspiring to positions of leadership in the mission. Phrases such as "It doesn't matter where you serve, but how," and "Position doesn't save anyone, but faithfulness does," ought to be emphasized periodically. Mission politics and aspiring to office can destroy the spirit of a mission, as well as destroy missionaries, and can, at times, be vicious. The mission president needs to take the lead in counseling missionaries in this area. I had been discussing this point with a group of missionaries in Innsbruck, Austria back in 1965 when at the end of a meeting, one of the fine missionaries handed me a little card on which I found the following:
MY LITTLE PLACE
"Father, where shall I work today?"
and my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed me out a tiny spot
and said, "Tend that for me."
I answered quickly, "Oh no, not that!
Why no one would ever see
No matter how well my work was done,
Not that little place for me.
And the words He spoke, they were not stern,
He answered me tenderly,
Ah, little one, search that heart of thine;
art thou working for them or me?
Nazareth was a little place,
and so was Galilee."
(Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
It is my feeling that all leaders (district leaders, zone leaders, assistants) should be rotated back into full-time proselyting activities at least a few weeks, if not months, before the end of their mission. This will strengthen the mission and will highlight the most important missionary calling of all, which is a full-time proselyting elder, who is spending his complete efforts in finding, teaching, and baptizing. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
A mission president should insist that some of his excellent missionaries are serving on his staff. The mission home and office should not be a rehabilitation center, sick bay, or a country club. It should represent the hardest working, most efficient organization in the mission. The staff members should have a great spirit of dedication and unity and should work in perfect harmony with the mission president and his wife and family. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
I strongly recommend that a mission president correspond with all of his missionaries through periodic circular letters (not a monthly publication). This can help build a great spirit in the mission. If the letters are written with the spirit of love and encouragement, they will help tremendously in keeping the enthusiasm of the missionaries high and help them to remain faithful and effective. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Greater attention needs to be given to the effective release of missionaries from the field as they come to the close of their missions. If at all possible, there should be a final meeting of these missionaries in the mission home, personal interviews held by the mission president, and a special testimony meeting where each of the returning missionaries bears his testimony. The president should give warm but strong personal counsel to his returning missionaries. There is a special brochure, "The Returned Missionary," which will offer some suggestions to you and other priesthood leaders to guide these young men and women. Your returning missionaries should be encouraged to attend the semi-annual missionary reunions held in Salt Lake or Provo. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Missionaries, you must learn to love the scriptures. Mission Presidents, you can help your missionaries by referring to the scriptures often and by personally showing them the application of the scriptures in missionary work. Do this and missionaries will come to love certain scriptures which give them inspiration and motivation. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
As a family, you need to be models in deportment, attitude, dress, and, of course, missionary work and spirit.
Your spirituality will be the single most important asset you have as a missionary team. The Lord has revealed to this dispensation the requirements for a successful missionary team.
And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen. (D&C 4:5-7).
"What manner of men [and women] ought ye to be?" asked the Savior. His answer: "Verily, I say unto you, even as I am!" (3 Nephi 27:27.)
There will be many decisions which you, the mission president, will need to make on the basis of revelation. You will need to be close to the Lord, close to the Spirit. One of the areas where you will really need inspiration is in the selection of senior companions. This calling--this responsibility, in many respects, is the most important calling in the mission. Often the selection of the senior companion to a new missionary will determine his attitude, study and work pattern for the balance of his mission. We urge you to be very prayerful in this matter. Follow the promptings of the Spirit. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
We've heard many fine reports on the contributions of the wives as companions to their mission president husbands. Besides the Lord, you're his greatest asset. Together the three of you form a great team. I would urge you to pray for your husband, pray for the missionaries. Don't hesitate to share with your husband suggestions that will improve the mission and strengthen relationships between him and the missionaries or priesthood leaders. There will be times when your husband will need your encouragement. Be sensitive to those occasions to give him that love and encouragement. He cannot succeed without the help of the Lord. He also cannot succeed without your help. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
As we have called missionaries, also branch and district presidencies and others to positions of leadership and responsibility, we have pointed out to them that "often men are called not for what they are, but for what they may become." Now, it is an easy thing to give advice and counsel like that. Sometimes those words come back to us, so in giving counsel it might be well to keep in mind this adage, to "let our words be sweet and tender because tomorrow we might have to eat them." (Henry D. Taylor, Conference Report, April 1958, p. 122).
All leaders (district leaders, zone leaders, assistants) should lead out in missionary work by having contacts of their own. This will strengthen the mission and will highlight the most important missionary calling of all, which is that of a full-time proselyting elder, who is spending his complete efforts in finding, teaching, and baptizing. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
Teach your missionaries that their work will be light and easy to bear if they will be dependent on the Lord and work. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
You new Presidents have some very real challenges to see that new converts are properly integrated into the Church. Your work is not done until the new convert has been totally integrated into Church activity and the ward or branch has assumed their role of fellowshipping and home teaching. The challenge we face in this area is a serious one. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
Now you are going out...not merely to make friends for the Church, though that is important, but to properly convert and baptize.... Notice the quote...“He that believeth and is baptized must be saved.” (Mark 16:16.) Not he that heareth, but he that believeth and is baptized.
Brethren, the spirit of this work is urgency, and we must imbue...our Saints with the spirit of now. NOW. We are not justified in waiting for the natural, slow process of bringing people into the Church. We must move rather hastily. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1975).
When all the mechanics of missionary work have been discussed, mastered, and utilized, there is no message so important, none so new as the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, our master and our King, whose holy name is the name of the Church we go out to represent. . . . the Lord will not let you down if you walk with faith and humility.
You will be trained in greater depth than any generation of mission presidents before you were ever trained. Your fears, your concerns, [your] sacrifices are not new. They have been felt by those who have similarly gone forth since the earliest days of the Church.
I hope that each of you presidents and leaders will carry in your hearts a flame of faith and knowledge from which the candles of those who serve under you will catch a light and become of the very essence of their testimonies of the work. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction,” Ensign, [September 1992]: 74–75).
You must train your missionaries to focus on real conversion of non-members. This may be done as the investigators understand the concept of service they are expected to give, and that male members, ages 12 and older, understand that they will receive the priesthood after baptism, which provides them with opportunities to serve others. These concepts are explained in the missionary discussion. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
Please do not confuse this straightforward emphasis on missionary work with mere statistics. Our concerns are with souls, not statistics. We desire growth because that will mean that we are reaching our Father’s children who desperately need the gospel and the Church in that light.... We have been doing in our missionary efforts a good work, but it is not good enough. It is time to stir ourselves, and then we can stir others....
When we think of our alternatives in conversion rates as being either hasty and numerous baptisms on the one hand, or the slow, snail-like growth of the Church on the other hand, we are displaying too little faith in the Lord and even in ourselves. Those are not our only choices! ...
Sometimes [when] we give you exhortations of this kind, there may be a tendency to feel as though it just can’t be done; but we can baptize more people and we can do it in a very solid and stable way. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1979).
If we are to solve problems of retaining new converts, we must have a correlated effort to do so between mission and stake leaders. You must work very closely with stake and ward leaders to solve the problem. Do not become fractious with stake and ward leaders. Do not ignore or merely endure these leaders. You can't afford to do that. We're dealing with souls--precious souls, whose worth is great in the sight of God. We cannot afford to allow "personality conflicts" to adversely affect a harmonious integration effort. Please be mindful of this. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
There will be many decisions which you, the mission president, will need to make on the basis of revelation. You will need to be close to the Lord, close to the Spirit. One of the areas where you will really need inspiration is in the selection of senior companions. This calling, in many respects, is the most important calling in the mission. Often the selection of the senior companion to a new missionary will determine his attitude, study and work pattern for the balance of his mission. We urge you to be very prayerful in this matter. Follow the promptings of the Spirit. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
As I look back on several decades of close personal involvement with the missionary program of the Church, certain things seem to stand out from all the others.
FIRST, the Church seems to grow most rapidly where we are best known and where we have a high concentration of Church members. This is why we stress the member-missionary effort as a must in order to obtain the major growth which now is possible.
SECOND, we have had sudden spurts of success in missionary work based upon high pressure and gimmicks, but the real sustained growth such as we have achieved in several places in the world is almost always a result of solid proselyting in which the full-time mission president and his missionaries work very closely together.
THIRD, missionaries are happiest when they are succeeding, just as is the case with all the rest of us. When missionaries are not succeeding in baptizing, they will tend to search for substitutes for success. Please don't force them into measuring their success by hours of tracting, gospel conversations, Books of Mormon distributed, etc.
FOURTH, we generally do better where the general population is larger and offers a greater field for labor and when we build outward from the centers of strength, which in our day, is where our stakes are. In this connection, please build the relationship between yourselves as a mission president and the regional Representatives and the stake presidents in your area. They and the members must not only do more of the finding of the prospective members of the Church whom your missionaries will teach, but they must later receive, love, and train these new members so that appropriate levels of retention are realized.
FIFTH, missionaries watch the mission president to see whether or not he is a true missionary. When missionaries see a president who knows how to be bold, they will take the exhortation seriously. If missionaries feel they are simply tending or that you are merely serving time instead of serving the Lord, they will adjust their attitudes downward, also.
Now, I pray the Lord to bless you as you embark upon this glorious and demanding assignment. I express once again the thanks and gratitude for all your willingness and for your service. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 22, 1979).
I challenge you to enjoy your call and to magnify it completely. Be happy and joyful in the service of the Lord. Love missionary work with all your heart. I promise you that as you magnify your call this will be the sweetest and most glorious experience you have had in Church service to this time. I have known mission Presidents who returned after three years who would go out again the next day if we would just call them. I promise you that this call will be the most satisfying you could ever have if you truly magnify it.
Just think, your wife will be your constant companion for three years, assisting you in this glorious work. Her call to be your companion is as inspired a call as yours.
Some of you will take members of your family with you. Involve them in this great experience that will be yours. Your call is really a family call, and you should enjoy it together as a family. As your family catches the missionary spirit, they too will rejoice in your calling. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Cultivate a Christ-like spirit in the mission home, one of genuine warmth and peace and harmony, and its influence will extend throughout the mission. Select members of your office staff and assistants to the president who not only have skills and abilities but who also depend upon the Spirit and bring to their positions spirituality and harmony. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
The Spirit is the most important thing in this work. I challenge you to be guided by it in all of your comings and goings in the mission field. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
In your enthusiasm to increase the flock, be careful you don't lose the shepherds. The Lord spoke about leaving the ninety and nine and going out to save the one; I am thinking in reverse order. You are asking the one to go out and get the ninety and nine, but be sure you don't lose the one. God bless you, my brethren and sisters. God bless the missionaries. One of the most effective techniques of your work is that which you are employing and asking your missionaries to employ, that of bearing testimony. (Hugh B. Brown, Continuing the Quest, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1961, p. 65).
I challenge you mission Presidents to be guided by the Spirit. I have said so many times to my Brethren that the Spirit is the most important single element in this work. With the Spirit, magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field. Without the Spirit you will never succeed regardless of your talent and ability. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Love your missionaries. I mean really love them. Love them unconditionally regardless of their habits or background. Love them with a Christ-like love. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Do not fail to let your missionaries know that they are not filling a two-year assignment, but this is only a prelude to the lifetime of proselyting that they must so completely gear their lives to, that there will never be any slowing of the process. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
Your missionaries should also feel your excitement for the work. Radiate an enthusiasm for missionary work that will become contagious throughout the mission. And work hard. That's where the real joy is. Remember Doctrine and Covenants, section four, doesn't just apply to young missionaries. It also applies to mission Presidents: "O ye that embark in the service of God; see that ye serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." (D&C 4:2). Be single-minded in your commitment to your calling. Forget about your business enterprises back home. Put blinders on and concentrate all of your time and effort and talent on your mission. The Apostle Paul declared: "This one thing I do" (Philippians 3:13), and you have just one marvelous thing to do for three years and that's the most important work in all the world--missionary work. Give it all you've got and you will have true joy. As you come to the close of your mission, don't run out of steam. Sprint to the end.
Yes, take good care of your health, stay close to your family, but work diligently and with love for our Father in Heaven and for the salvation of His children. Be a mission president of excellence.
That's my challenge to you--enjoy your mission, love it, magnify it completely. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
In Section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation that “behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
“Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.” (D&C 4:1–2.)...
[A] significant feature of this revelation, and of others given about the same period, is the naming of essential qualifications of those who were to participate in the bringing about of this marvelous work. These qualifications were not the possession of wealth, not social distinction, not political preferment, not military achievement, not nobility of birth; but a desire to serve God with all your “heart, might, mind and strength”—spiritual qualities that contribute to nobility of soul. I repeat: No popularity, no wealth, no theological training in church government—yet “a marvelous work [was] about to come forth among the children of men.” (David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1966, 86.).
Now, you have met here today to be strengthened, to be uplifted, to be encouraged, to be helped, to make of yourselves a better missionary. I hope that every one of you, when you leave here today, will say to yourself, ”I am going to try a little harder. I am going to give a little more to it. I am not going to worry about sending those e-mails home every 36 hours. Once a week I will write to my folks, yes, but I am not going to worry about home.” You have a father and mother to look after home; you don’t need to. You are here to represent the Lord. “I am going to work a little harder and then try a little harder. Maybe I can’t memorize the lessons. Maybe I don’t have it in my head to memorize the lessons.” Well, do your best. It will be important that you do so, but do it in such a way that you can be flexible. If you feel inspired to give lesson number 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, don’t regret it. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Philadelphia Pennsylvania Missionary Meeting, 25 October 2002 quoted in Discourses of President Gordon B. Hinckley Volume 2: 2000-2004 Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005, pp. 370-371).
I would like to share with you a story without sharing any names. I have a very good friend who was the chief executive officer and principal owner of a very large corporation. He was called to preside over a mission. Like so many of our wonderful men who have great skills, capabilities, when the call came from the Lord, he did not question. He had thought enough through his life that it was instantaneous in his mind to accept the call.
But what was to happen to the business, what was to happen to this great enterprise? Situations and management worked out for the best, but in three years lots of things can happen to a business when the guiding light is not there on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately some of the assets of the company were sold. But toward the end of the mission of this great man, an opportunity arose. Within days after his release he was back in business with a program far bigger than anything he had before he was called to be a mission president. He is presently bringing into being one of the major corporations to be based in the state of Utah.
How did he do that? I suppose he learned from the mistakes he made through his life, but, most importantly, he had learned to think straight. When the second opportunity came up, it was easier for him to define, to determine, to make decisions, and to move forward with that second opportunity. (M. Russell Ballard, "Let Us Think Straight," BYU 1983-84 Fireside and Devotional Speeches, Provo: University Publications, 1984, pp. 34-35).
Take these young missionaries and. . .teach them of the Savior. Help them learn through humble prayer and faithfulness to develop a testimony of him whom we represent. Baptisms would flourish if they knew who he was and is. (David B. Haight, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Church News, [8 July 1989]: 7).
Mission Presidents, teach correct principles to your missionaries and you will bless their lives forever. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Never forget that you are training young people, not only for the work of this year or the next 18 months, but for the remainder of their lives. I hope you will teach them not only the gospel, I hope you will motivate them to work not only with industry and integrity, but that they will also learn civility in their relationships with others, good manners, and love for the people among whom they labor.
Missionaries should also develop love for and dependence upon God, their eternal Father, and the risen Lord in whose name they serve. (Gordon B. Hinckley," Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
The Son of God came into this world not to condemn the world, but to save it.
God will not forsake us if we come unto Him in faith. He is not sending us out to fail, but to succeed. “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God will take thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.” (D&C 112:10.)
Of course there will be personal benefits. These will come in proportion to the degree of selflessness evidenced in service. Lose yourselves in the work, so that your lives might be filled with light.
You husbands and wives must become great exemplars before your missionaries in following this standard. It is a constant challenge to keep the eye of the missionary on the glory of Him whom he serves. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “News of the Church,” Ensign, [September 1990]: 74).
I have a good friend who was the chief executive officer and principal owner of a large corporation. He was known and respected for his business abilities, and his family enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle because of his success. He developed his skills, capabilities, and interests in many areas, and a promising future lay before him. He could have done just about anything with his life, gone just abut anywhere, and continued to be more and more successful. Eventually, however, he was called to preside over one of the missions of the Church. When the call came from the Lord, he did not even pause a moment to question. He had been able to maintain balance in his life—-that “equilibrium” of which Brigham Young spoke—-and accepted the call without hesitation.
But what was to happen to the business? What would become of this great enterprise he had worked so hard to build? He worked things out the best he could, and then he left his business for three years to serve the Lord.
Three years is a long time in the business world, and a lot can happen to a company while the person who has been its guiding light is gone—most of it is not good. The company struggled in the man’s absence, and some its assets eventually had to be sold. But toward the end of his mission, a new opportunity arose for my friend.
Within days of his release, he was back in business with something bigger, more satisfying, and more financially rewarding than anything he had worked with before his mission. (M. Russell Ballard, When Thou Art Converted [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001], p. 49).
This is the work of the Lord that we are doing. We're called to go out and be his servants, special servants, and to give all our time and energy. What a glorious thing it is to give all of your time to the Lord, to have no other responsibilities and that, it seems to me, is one reason why mission Presidents are so devoted. They have had this experience to not have a worry about their finances or other things and they have grown and developed. The Lord has given us the command. The Lord has said this is our duty. So we go forward with this in our minds. May the Lord bless you brethren and sisters. We call down upon you the blessings of heaven as you move from this place to your missions. It is true. There is no question about it. The Lord lives and his Father lives and he watches all our doings and he will appreciate it and show his appreciation for it. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
President Jay Quealy was seriously injured while he was presiding here. He went over to see what time the missionaries were getting up on the island and it was raining and he foolishly rode a scooter, which they were permitted to do in those days. He got on a road where there was some pea gravel and skidded right into a police van. Of all the vehicles to hit, he picked the worst one he could have done. It threw him right up over the hood and into the windshield. He broke both legs, an arm, and some ribs.
I came over here then to look after the mission for a time. He says (I do not say this) that when I administered to him I said that he would walk again on his natural legs and be unimpaired in his work. The doctors said he had gangrene in his legs and they would have to take them off. He said, “No, I won’t let you take them off. I was given a promise by a servant of the Lord that I would walk again with my natural legs.
Now, I do not remember that, but he did and spoke of it. The nurses, wonderful Chinese nurses, massaged his legs and the gangrene miraculously cleared and until the time of his death he walked on his natural legs. I have seen miracles here by the power of the priesthood and by the power of faith. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Hong Kong Missionary Meeting, 25 May 1996).
The challenge is now ours to move forward through a wide-open window of opportunity at an ever-accelerated rate,” Elder Perry charged the assembly. “I am certain that is what the Lord expects of us. He has opened the door; we are now expected to carry the gospel message into all the lands that are now available to us. I am sure He expects us to build solidly with a foundation of true conversions that will allow the fruit to remain and ripen. (L. Tom Perry, “News of the Church,” Ensign, [September 1990]: 74).
My beloved co-workers, you face the happiest years of your lives....I've tasted the joy of missionary work. There is no work in all the world that can bring an individual greater joy and happiness. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
As a mission president, you will be set apart by a member of the First Presidency of the Church or of the Council of the Twelve to stand foursquare on your own feet with your advisor and supervisor to do the important work in this great day.
You become a kind of creator, taking new people who have been differently trained and making them great leaders and inspired family people, to love the Lord, the Master.
It will be your privilege to take hundreds of boys, barely out of their swaddling clothes, sometimes spoiled and pampered boys, and to change their lives. Yes, to change their lives, to make their lives richer and more meaningful.
You become a creator in the sense that you take the unimproved, untrained, uninspired, sometimes selfish young men, and in two years make of them adults, sons of God. You will take of these young men, unpolished shafts, and make them smooth and attractive. You will, in fact, make of these young men hunters and fishers as spoken of by Jeremiah, for you will act with the Missionary Committee and for the Lord wherein he said: "Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the Lord, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks." (Jeremiah 16:16). You will inspire them that they may so for the Lord what he did when he was on the earth. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976).
What is it that would cause a man to set aside his personal pursuits, to interrupt his business or professional activities, to yield in political preference, often to give up seniority, often retirement benefits, to go anywhere on earth, without question and without any unusual compensation or persuasion—-no compensation materially—simply to preside over a mission?
I recall a few years ago I was supervising the missions in western Europe. We needed a mission president with a certain language proficiency. Several names were brought forward, but none of them seemed to be right. Then one of the Brethren remembered that he had met a man—I think it was in Korea—several years before. He was a member of the Church who was in the customs service. Somehow just the mention of that name and the Spirit confirmed it. He was called, by virtue of the time pressures, by telephone to preside over the mission. I visited him a few weeks later. He was living in Washington, D.C. He was within reach of the number one office in his category. His lifetime had been spent progressing through the ranks, thinking that perhaps one day he would stand at the head of that division. His senior officer had indicated that because of a health problem he would retire early and that this man was being recommended for that position. It was just at that time that the telephone call came.
I wanted to get acquainted with him and was invited to stay overnight. He brought me a message from his superior. The message was this: “Tell that Brother Packer of yours that you’re no missionary; I’ve worked with you for 30 years, and you haven’t converted me. Tell them they’re making a mistake. And you’re making a mistake. You’re a fool.” (I’m leaving out one word.) “If you will give up your retirement and all that you’ve reached for—why? Why would you do it?”
Simple answer: he’d been called. We live to know, in this church, that the response to a call does not depend on the testimony and witness of the one who delivers the call. It depends, rather, on the testimony and witness of the one who receives it.
It was very interesting. We were looking for a man who spoke French. It was not until after he was in the mission field, and we had some opportunities and responsibilities relating to some of the problems of some members we had in Spain, that we discovered that he wrote and spoke Spanish fluently. I suppose if we’d searched through the Church for a man who spoke French, spoke Spanish, and had had some diplomatic experience, particularly as it related to customs work, we would have gone afar in the world and not found him. Yet it was through the “chance” memory of one of the Brethren that he’d met a man a few years before in Korea who spoke French that he was found. (Boyd K. Packer, Called of God by Prophecy,” New Era, [September 1978]: 33).
To cite another far-reaching miracle, there is no rational way to explain why young men and women give a year and a half to two years of their lives in the middle of their education and marriage eligibility to suffer the hardships incident to an inconvenient and highly disciplined pattern of missionary service to their fellowmen. Other miracles occur in funding missions by missionaries or families too poor to do so but who do so anyway.
Still another miracle is the way missionaries are protected during their labors. Of course we have fatalities among our young missionaries—-about three to six per year over the last decade—all of them tragic. But the official death rates for comparable-age young men and women in the United States are eight times higher than the death rates of our missionaries. In other words, our young men and women are eight times safer in the mission field than the general population of their peers at home. In view of the hazards of missionary labor, this mortality record is nothing less than a miracle. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Miracles,” Ensign, [June 2001]: 6).
To cite another far-reaching miracle, there is no rational way to explain why young men and women give a year and a half to two years of their lives in the middle of their education and marriage eligibility to suffer the hardships incident to an inconvenient and highly disciplined pattern of missionary service to their fellowmen. Other miracles occur in funding missions by missionaries or families too poor to do so but who do so anyway.
Still another miracle is the way missionaries are protected during their labors. Of course we have fatalities among our young missionaries—-about three to six per year over the last decade—all of them tragic. But the official death rates for comparable-age young men and women in the United States are eight times higher than the death rates of our missionaries. In other words, our young men and women are eight times safer in the mission field than the general population of their peers at home. In view of the hazards of missionary labor, this mortality record is nothing less than a miracle. (Dallin H. Oaks, “Miracles,” Ensign, [June 2001]: 6).
[A] factor that substantially blesses missionaries so that they may be productive in their sacred service is the caliber of men we have presiding over the missions. Those who serve in these capacities are not novices; they and their wives are mature brothers and sisters of broad experience. They stand as leaders and advisers, teaching the young missionaries and counseling older couples who come to them, protecting them from pitfalls into which they might stumble. (Gordon B. Hinckley, "We Have A Work To Do," Ensign, (January 1988): 5).
The first scene: A mission president is called on very short notice to replace a mission president who has died. The faithful wife, in one case, brings her husband's body home, while the other sister, just out of surgery, willingly responds to the call to join her husband far from home. Each sister handles her stern challenge trustingly, sweetly, and without murmuring. They understand that sin is the only real tragedy!
A second snapshot: A young mission president, his wife, and five children in Spartan circumstances. Water must be boiled and placed in their van as they drive for hours under a scorching sun to be with scattered missionaries and Saints. Adopted children from another culture are now in a home which is developing a celestial culture, where the mother is the children's only school teacher. Uncomplainingly, this family goes effectively about their labors--quite innocent of how special they are! They know they are included in this reassuring declaration: "all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God." (D&C 101:16). (Neal A. Maxwell, CR A'83, Ensign, [May 1983]: 11).
It may be proper for me to state at this time, for the information of the Elders, and also for the information of the local authorities of the Church, as well as the fathers and mothers and kindred of the Elders who are out in the world preaching the Gospel, that the Presidents of all the Missions are under strict instructions from the Presidency of the Church to guard carefully the health of the Elders that are laboring under their direction.
These Presidents of Missions are also under instructions to send home any and all Elders whose health or whose other circumstances may make it necessary for them to return. We are frequently inquired of by parents relative to the health of Young men who are out preaching the Gospel, and we invariably inform them that the Presidents of Missions are carefully guarding the welfare of their sons, and if anything serious occurs to them, making it necessary for them to return home, it will be promptly attended to, and they need not worry about their boys on that account.
And while I am on my feet, I would like to exhort the Elders who are upon missions, and those who shall go upon missions in the future, not to allow the thought to enter their hearts that they will be criticized or be made to suffer in their character or their standing in the Church because their health will not permit them to fill a two or three years’ mission abroad. We would like them rather to feel in themselves a wholesome aversion to coming home without having filled an honorable mission, when their health and other conditions permit them to do so; and if they have any reluctance about coming home at all, before completing their mission, it should be based upon this principle.
These men that are appointed to preside over the missions are men of intelligence and of heart, men who are filled with affection for their fellow laborers, and they will see to it that none of the Elders are left in their fields of labor to suffer, if it can be avoided. So, brethren and sisters, you need not worry at in regard to these matters. (Joseph F. Smith, Conference Report, 9 October 1904).
You are not ordinary people. You have been selected from numerous great men and women, and we deem you and your wives to be very special leaders in the kingdom. We expect to turn over to you a goodly share of the missionaries for your care and keeping and training, about 150 to 200 in each one of your missions. They are promising young men and women, and we expect that you, by example and precept, will give them a careful training and leadership which will make them faithful, able, efficient, well-trained leaders in Church government for the rest of their lives. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 1).
During the next few years you sisters will be known as Sister So-and-so, the mission president's wife--not the mission mother. The following thoughts may have crossed your minds. "What am I supposed to do?" "How can I support my husband?" "How does the call to my husband involve me?" Now, may I counsel you sisters in ten specific areas.
You will each be set apart as a missionary companion to your husband. As a companion, you will be a vital force in his success and well being. You are to be ever present with a listening ear, an understanding and prayerful heart, and an enthusiastic spirit. You must be prayerful and continually seek the guidance and strength of the Holy Ghost; not only for yourself, but for your husband, your children, the missionaries, the members, and the investigators.
You have no direct responsibility for supervising auxiliaries. However, if you have expertise in some of these areas, you may offer counsel and assistance as directed by your husband in his calling as mission president, but your first duty is to your husband and children.
You should always be in full agreement with the counsel and policies that your husband is setting in the mission. You must not counsel the missionaries over your husband's head. You must not run the zone conferences--no long talks, etc. If your husband is out of town, the missionaries should know that you, and not the assistants or zone leaders, are in charge of the mission home, but in the proselyting program, the assistants are in charge in the absence of the mission president.
You should always be well groomed and properly dressed. Your skirts should be flared, pleated, or gathered for the sake of modesty when you are seated. Your daughters should never wear bikinis, short skirts, short shorts, tight pants, halters, or low-cut dresses. You should avoid having rock music played in the mission home, in the mission president's car or staff cars.
You should assist your husband in seeing that he has his food, sleep, and exercise and that his clothes are prepared in case he is suddenly called out of town. You should be dedicated to keeping him happy. You should also guard your own health and conserve your energy and strength.
Studying the scriptures daily is essential to your own spirituality and well being.
You should put your husband and family first and the missionaries second, but do everything you can for the missionaries. Do not mother or baby them, but, in your own way, teach them correct principles, such as proper manners--how to be gentlemen and ladies. Teach them how to take care of their health, how to cook and eat the proper foods, how to take care of themselves when they are sick. You will be in an excellent position to provide encouragement to missionaries. Know who your missionaries are and what they are doing. Send birthday cards and acknowledge special achievements or occasions in their lives. Take a special interest in the missionaries and their needs. Call them by name. Address them as "Elder and Sister". . .never by their first names. Seek ways to continually build them up.
If asked to, you should be willing to accept outside speaking engagements (standards nights, etc.), and should only use Church teachings for reference and not your own personal views.
You should be very careful how you spend your household budget.
The mission home should be kept beautiful and clean. Missionaries, members, and investigators should always be welcome (within reason). Yours is the responsibility to create a lovely spirit in the mission home.
My dear sisters the Lord loves you and expects great things of you. May you be faithful in the sacred trust He has placed in you. We love you and trust you as handmaidens of the Lord and missionary companions to your husbands. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Some of you will go to missions where there is an abundance of leadership and where the area is already organized into stakes, where you will be almost exclusively doing proselyting work, while some of you will go to missions not yet fully develop, where you will have not only the missionary work buy the organizational, ecclesiastical work. You start with converts and then families and then branches and then districts and then stakes, and yours is a tremendously important work. You mission Presidents are sent out, not to make new records primarily or to build statistical towers, but to fulfill the commandment of the Lord given on the Mount of Olives to his eleven apostles: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 2).
Millions of people have spoken of Paul and Peter and James and John. You new mission Presidents are to be trusted now with these many precious souls, local and foreign and it will be your privilege to lead these numerous missionaries to the fountain of truth unsullied, unfolded in the majesty of light and splendor from the opening heavens in all the simplicity of its nature. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
Your work will not be judged by how many baptisms you put on the records of the Church, but by how many converts you have—-how many are still active after a few years. No one is thoroughly converted until he sees the power of God resting upon this church, until he knows that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and that the present leadership of the Church is directed by the Lord. The new member must do his spiritual housekeeping and be prepared to receive the witness of the Spirit. After that he must work to keep his testimony alive, because it is as fragile as an orchid: it will die if he departs from gospel principles and activity in the Church.
You are being sent out to teach your missionaries to convert the world. Teach them the simple principles of the gospel. And what is the gospel? The answer is found in the scriptures:
“And this is my gospel—-repentance and baptism by water, and then cometh the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost, even the Comforter, which showeth all things, and teacheth the peaceable things of the kingdom” (D&C 39:6). (Harold B. Lee, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1973).
If you will ponder it in your mind, you will come up, in my judgment, with the conclusion that we could bring immeasurably more people into the Church than we are now doing. We could fellowship more than we are now fellowshipping; in practice this could be five or ten or twenty times as many as we are now baptizing. Perhaps in due course it should be 24 times or 100 times as many as at present. (Bruce R. McConkie, Mission Presidents' Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Now, a word about mission presidents. Their philosophy is that of a teacher who says, “No one fails in my class.” They’re responsible for the missionaries’ success. Every missionary wants success, and the mission president shows how to achieve success.
He helps each missionary to work, but more significant yet, he helps each one to work effectively so that the kingdom of God will grow under his inspired direction. Remember: “I am with you always,” said the Lord (Matthew 28:20). In addition, the great promise found in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants is yours: “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up” (v. 88). (Thomas S. Monson, “The Five M’s of Missionary Work,” New Era, [March 2007]: 45).
A few years ago I heard an illuminating admission by a mission president. He was an educator by profession. When he left his professional position and took up his duties as a mission president, he brought large stacks of professional materials on training and leadership. He intended to use these materials to help his missionaries. At his first mission leadership meeting, he assigned several zone leaders to present some of these materials to the assembled missionaries.
As the meeting wore on, the mission president sensed that something important was missing. He realized, he told me later, that he was trying to accomplish his mission leadership training by following a professional model instead of by doing it in the Lord's way. He stopped a missionary in the middle of his presentation, apologized to him and to the group for making the wrong assignment, and asked a missionary to bear his testimony. As they went forward this new way, the Spirit of the Lord settled over the meeting. Testimonies and resolves were strengthened, and the necessary leadership training was given. The mission president had learned the importance of doing the Lord's work in the Lord's way. (Dallin H. Oaks, The Lord's Way, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1991, pp.1-2).
I asked one of the brethren once how he was getting along in a certain mission, and he said, "It's wonderful mission, wonderful missionaries. They are doing everything but preaching the gospel." There are so many leaks of time and effort that the net product is greatly reduced. Each mission president should study prayerfully his own program and be sure that there are no leaks these wonderful missionaries give to the Lord. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 4).
Now, a word about the mission itself. Build an esprit de corps in your mission. It doesn’t matter which one it is or where it is. We were in Canada. I didn’t know anything about Canada, but I did a little reading. I found out that Canada was the only place the Prophet Joseph Smith ever went outside of his own country. That’s also where the early elders of the Church went to prepare for their mission to Great Britain. I let our missionaries know that. Sister Monson pointed out that Brigham Young went to Kingston, Ontario, and labored 30 days, walking through snow hip deep, and converted and baptized 40 people. I made sure our missionaries knew that. Parley P. Pratt, in answer to a referral, finding a man from England named John Taylor no more than 20 miles from Toronto, brought him into the Church, and be became the third President of the Church. All of those things we would weave into the history, the goals and objectives of our missionaries. (Thomas S. Monson, “The Five M’s of Missionary Work,” New Era [March 2007]: 45).
I hope, my brothers and sisters, that you can infuse your missionaries with the spirit of capturing every great opportunity that comes their way.... They will have disappointments; you’ll have disappointments. Discouragement can become contagious. You must rise above it and lift those about you. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “First Presidency Trains Mission Presidents,” Ensign, [September 1999]: 76).
You are going to get discouraged in this service. I have no doubt of it. I hope you do. It will humble you down a bit. There will be no arrogance in the face of discouragement. But look ahead, my dear brethren and sisters, look ahead to the years down the line and see the flowering of your effort. Because as surely as the sun rises in the morning, this work will come into flower in the missions where you serve. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 2000).
We hope you Presidents will organize carefully and well. Do not over-fill your office force. Do not use your missionaries for messengers commonly, more than is absolutely necessary. You are responsible for their time and for their efforts. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 13).
We don't give our testimony, and lives in death in the same manner that Joseph Smith, the martyred Prophet, gave his life. Rather, we give testimony by devoted service in our lives each day to live and to strengthen others. If your missionaries can understand this principle of the gospel, it will make them successful not only on their missions but for the rest of their lives. (Robert D. Hales," Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
In the early days of the Church, the brethren asked the Prophet what they could do which would be of the greatest worth. The Prophet through revelation gave the response of the Lord:
“And now, behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father” (D&C 15:6; see also D&C 16:6).
I like that language—-that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to do missionary work. The thing of most worth is not the buildings we have. It is not this great building or the other buildings in this area. It is not the BYU campus. It is not the welfare program. It is not the educational program of the Church. It is not any of these things. The thing which is of most worth, as the Lord has repeatedly declared in revelation, is the teaching of the gospel of Christ to those who know not its saving message.
You are not going out into a sidebar activity. You are going out to do that which the Lord has said is the most important activity of all of the many activities of His work. God bless you. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 2000).
In your work as mission presidents, most of you will work in the midst of the stakes of Zion. The system has been provided for the members of those stakes to warn their neighbors, but it will require your close attention if your missionaries are to teach those who are found. You must assiduously cultivate the stake presidents and work out your plans with them in harmony. It is not for you to direct them, but it is for you to become one with them so that the body may become perfect. No more can missionary work be effectively handled independent of the stakes and districts. Finding and teaching must perfectly complement each other. Those who have been warned must find those who need to be taught by the stake and full-time missionaries. The success of your effort will largely depend upon your relationship to the stake president. Make him your friend. He is responsible for his sheepfold, just as you are for yours. The sheep he presides over will work with you if they hear his voice giving instructions and pointing the way. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
The full-time mission president holds the keys for convert baptisms. Under his direction, full-time missionaries have primary responsibility for teaching investigators. However, the bishops oversee the progress and friendshipping of investigators as they are being taught. The ward mission plan is carried out under the president authority of the bishop. The mission president meets regularly with stake presidents to make sure that full-time missionaries cooperate with local priesthood leaders. He coordinates proselyting efforts and offers to help the stake president provide instruction in the principles and practices of missionary work. (Preach my Gospel: A guide to missionary service. Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 2004, p. 217).
The promise I want you to carry in your minds and in your hearts and to instill within your missionaries is in the 84th section of the Doctrine and Covenants, verse 88. “I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up.” On disappointing days, if you just read that promise, the Spirit will enlighten your soul and you will be doubly prepared to move forward with that great band of missionaries. (Thomas S. Monson, “New Mission Presidents Instructed,” Ensign, [September 1997]: 76).
Each of you will have a wonderful experience and work very hard, perhaps harder than you have ever worked in your lives, but you will gain deeper satisfaction as you do so. Your burden will be lightened by the Spirit of the Lord. You will be motivated by that Spirit, and you will do things you thought you were never capable of accomplishing. I don’t hesitate to promise that if you observe them, you will be blessed in your work and in your ministry. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Mission Presidents Instructed,” Ensign, [September 1997]: 76).
A convert is a ‘precious person.’ He or she will make a tremendous decision in coming into the Church. Retention will primarily be the work of the local wards and branches. However, you have a very, very important part in this. Your missionaries must be sure that conversion is real, that it is life-changing, that it is something that is to last forever and go on through generations...There is no point in baptizing people if they do not become solid members of the Church. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar. Church News, 4 July 1998).
I feel that we must use a goal program and let every missionary make his own goal. In the past it seems the mission presidents and sometimes visitors have set goals for people and that isn’t quite right. I believe the mission president should not set the goals for the individual missionaries. Let them have the privilege and the responsibility. (Spencer W. Kimball, Regional Representatives’ Seminar, October 1974.)
Help your missionaries see that they must come to love the things the Lord loves. Their obedience, their service, their commitment will then grow from love for the Lord and not from fear, or habit, or desire to measure up to parents' expectations.
This begins to stretch their hearts to love God's children. . . . Let us never forget that love is the essence and evidence of a true disciple. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, [Mission Presidents’ Seminar], Church News, [30 June 1990]: 4).
Your challenge is, with all the power, faith, and enthusiasm of your souls, to create such a conversion in the hearts of your great, full-time missionaries that they will wish they could extend themselves beyond the powers of just being a mortal, to be an instrument in the hands of God, and to have the great joy of bringing souls to repentance and to a knowledge of the gospel of our Lord and Savior. (L. Tom Perry, "Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
We hope that you will love your missionaries and cause them to love you, for love turns the wheels of this world. Make them your sons and daughters as did Paul make his fellow workers. He said of them, Timothy and others,"...my own son in the faith...my own beloved son..."
I hope that all are your beloved sons, for love will develop far more than critical leadership. I wish that every missionary would love his mission president as I did Samuel O. Bennion, who presided over me, for though I somewhat feared him, I respected his judgment, accepted his recommendations and did my utmost to sustain him fully. I loved my mission president. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 5).
We send you with love and our prayers and our respect and our confidence, charging you to love your missionaries and work with them. Take care of them. Do not give up on them. Work with them. Love them into activity. Love them into righteousness. Love them into obedience. Be a father to them. Be as a mother to them. Be kind to them. They will never forget you. They will remember you all the days of their lives. They will name their children after you. They will send you wedding invitations, more than you want to receive. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 2000).
These young missionaries are precious, fresh, new, unsullied, and impressionable. It is our hope that you may be able to return every one of them without exception to his home at the termination of his mission with a strong testimony and a clean upright life. He will grow up and love you as his parents, mission president, and his wife, as I have loved my mission president all of my life. These budding flowers will become completed buildings, completed workers. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
Now, your responsibility is more than merely to train and assign. Have your missionaries love you, not merely respect you. Make them want to visit with you and to confess to you, if that be necessary, and to eagerly accept your directions. Remember your interviews with them. They should be individual and comprehensive, coupled with great understanding and affection. They should be private and confidential, and you will find many bits of information that should never be relayed to or through your assistants. I have seen that done in missionaries, and that is not proper. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 6).
You mission presidencies, in your preparation, need to take time between each of your assignments to go to the emery stone and sharpen your ax. When I was a little boy, the pain of my life was the haying time when the numerous knives of the mowing machine has to be sharpened, when my older brother sat and held the blades to the emery stone while I stood on my feet and turned the great emery stone until my back ached and my legs were tired and my hands were blistered. I was glad when I was older and could sit on the seat and hold the knives against the stone while someone else turned it.
The beloved preacher said, "If the iron be blunt and he do not whet the edge, then must he put two more strings." (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1974).
Speaking of the motivating of people, and getting them to work, that's our responsibility--to give. Eloquent sermons may brighten the life; to use expressive words may stimulate; but the evidence of our greatness, the proof of our effectiveness is in the area of motivation, to get them to do something.
I think Brother Simpson brought me a little card which is on my desk yet: "Do it!" And I like the thought that is behind it, and I think you need to have one of them on your desk, and when an idea comes to you, get busy and "Do it!" And find a way, if there isn't already one.
If we can stir our leaders in the stakes and the missions to set higher goals and encourage them in their accomplishments, we have proved our mettle. If we can stir missionary leaders to get their missionaries to awaken their souls and then, in turn, to motivate the people to believe and repent; then we have achieved. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 23 June 1978).
Many years ago, on an assignment to Tahiti, I was talking to our mission president, President Raymond Baudin, about the Tahitian people. They are known as some of the greatest seafaring people in all the world. Brother Baudin, who speaks French and Tahitian but little English, was trying to describe to me the secret of the success of the Tahitian sea captains. He said, “They are amazing. The weather may be terrible, the vessels may be leaky, there may be no navigational aids except their inner feelings and the stars in the heavens, but they pray and they go.” He repeated that phrase three times. There is a lesson in that statement. We need to pray, and then we need to act. Both are important. (Thomas S. Monson, “They Pray and They Go,” Liahona, [Jul 2002]: 54).
You will accomplish a work that is far beyond your greatest dream to touch the hearts of your missionaries that you supervise, to strengthen the witness and testimony of your own children, those that are with us and those that are home, and to forge of you instruments worthy of representing the Lord, Jesus Christ, to the areas of the world to which you are assigned. ("Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
It will be your responsibility to not only tell your missionaries how but to show them how. You who are highly motivated, you should proceed with proselyting yourselves; each of you should be a great proselyter and accept every opportunity, this in addition to your direction of your missionaries. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 6).
It will be your responsibility to see that the missionaries are inspired, motivated, and indoctrinated. It will be your responsibility to see that the schedules are stimulating and productive. It will be your responsibility to see that your missionaries do not waste time and that you do not use the missionaries generally for errand boys of extra, unnecessary work. There must not be a waste of manpower; there should not be six or eight or ten missionaries in the mission home doing the work there when three or four can do it. Missionaries in the office should also be proselyting missionaries in every mission. Sometimes the productive work of missionaries is diluted as would be a liquid poured into a sieve. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 4).
You must see that their time is so carefully monitored that they will not have time not opportunity to become casual. Too many visitors sometimes visit your missions. I think there are times when you would be in the right way to excuse yourself from them. People from the Church who come sightseeing and want somebody to take them around--you have not the time. You have a big job to do, to bring the gospel to all the people in your area. You cannot be nursemaids or guest leaders to take people around and show the sights. There has been a tendency to do that in many places, and the president seems to feel many times that he had the obligation to take them around or have his missionaries do it. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 13).
You are not going out on a sightseeing tour nor to travel, but to take the message of salvation and exaltation to the multitudes of people in the world, to gather the elect from the four quarters of the earth. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 2).
You are not going to overwork your missionaries. There are few missionaries, if ever any, that have been destroyed by overwork. They have been destroyed by over worry and too little work and by immoralities and other things, but generally not by overwork. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 5).
It means that once you have learned the will of the Lord you exercise voluntary obedience. It means you act in a spirit of unity, not in a spirit of grudging compliance.
Inspired initiative means you seek the Lord’s guidance to carry out the approved program. I would emphasize that inspiration comes most freely when you seek it in behalf of [serving] others. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction,” Ensign, [September 1992]: 74–75).
This, then, is one of your responsibilities as a mission president--not only to train and inspire and teach the missionaries, but to recruit them. You have many people in many of your missions who are eligible for missionary service. It is your responsibility to recruit missionaries in proper order. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976, p. 10).
I hope you will teach your missionaries to study the scriptures as well as the lessons. Encourage them to learn the scriptures, to memorize some. I hope you will teach your missionaries tithing and that you will keep them reminded of it. They are exempt from tithing when they have no income, and most of them have no income except that which is given to them for their missions, but there are sometimes missionaries who have income that is separate and which continues on through their missions. They gave a few head of cattle or they have some interest-bearing programs and they should not forget their tithing. They shouldn't get out of the habit of paying tithing. They pay it to their bishops, of course. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975, p. 8).
I pay my tithing on the means I send my boys. They do not need to tithe it again, but can do so if they desire to. One who is on a mission is not as a rule earning money, but souls. However, if he has an income from flocks, herds, farms, or stocks and bonds or rents, he should pay his tithing on any and all of these (and on gifts). An elder is not expected to give one tenth while on a mission, but the whole of his time and talent. (Joseph F. Smith, From Prophet to Son: Advice of Joseph F. Smith to His Missionary Sons, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1981, p. 120).
When I was a mission president, I told my missionaries that I would give anything if I had the power to cause them to thirst and hunger after the things of the Spirit as much as they did for three square meals a day. And anybody who has been a mission president knows that there is not enough food in the world to fill the missionaries. If you don’t believe that, may I share part of a letter received not long ago that illustrates my point:
“Our dinner with the missionaries and investigators was scheduled for Wednesday night at 7:00. I started cooking Tuesday evening, continued early Wednesday morning, came home for lunch and continued, then finished Wednesday evening. It was all ready by 7:00. The missionaries came at 7:10 alone. They had looked everywhere for our investigators but were unable to find them. I invited them in, indicating we would eat without them.
“Eat is a loose term with a twenty-year-old, hungry missionary. The larger of the two missionaries ate eight bowls of chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. They finished a basket of crackers with the soup. Next came cabbage salad, with two dinner-plate-size servings for each. The next course was spaghetti with meat sauce. Three large servings and four pieces of garlic bread were followed by another bowl of soup. Dessert was root beer floats which I served in sixteen-ounce cups with two large scoops of ice cream. The meal was completed by two large servings of fruit—watermelon and pineapple. After the meal, the elders assured me that the best part was that I knew how to cook healthy.”
And the amazing thing is that the missionaries are hungry again just a few hours later. As a people we like to pull our chair up to the table for breakfast and there eat Cheerios or whatever. Then we enjoy lunch, and we feed our physical being again at dinnertime. Somehow we must begin to worry as much—-if not more—-about feeding our spirit as we do about catering to the demands of the physical body when it is hungry. (M. Russell Ballard, (M. Russell Ballard, When Thou Art Converted [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001], pp. 65-66).
Now brethren and sisters, speaking again for a moment on the callings that come to us and the support we receive from our friends, speaking now directly to you mission presidents and your lovely wives and to all who are called to serve. May I sound the note of warning, warning against the wiles of the adversary, warning against the danger inherent in authority and power. Let us not become heady or high-minded because of the success that may come to us, the success that is coming to the Church. Let us as individuals and as a group be humble. Mission Presidents, both at home and abroad, are praised and honored and rightly so, but I counsel you to be deaf to applause. (Hugh B. Brown, Continuing the Quest, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1961, p. 60).
President Harold B. Lee once instructed a group of new mission presidents to "save the missionaries and they will save the people." The key to saving anyone is to love them. It is still true that "a person doesn't care how much you know as long as he knows how much you care." (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 June 1986).
Each year a number of men are called to preside over missions. In each case this requires the man's wife and family to accompany him to some distant place and live there for three years. This is a matter of great importance to the family. If the husband accepts the call he must leave his occupation, making such arrangements as he can to obtain a leave of absence from his employer or to find someone to carry on his business. Sometimes the later reentry into his employment is left unsettled. He gives up political preference, his other interests, and his hobbies. He turns away from every worldly ambition in accepting the call.
His wife is equally affected. Her home, the garden, her social position, perhaps some of her family will be left behind for the years of the call. Frequently the call comes at a time when there is the promise of marriage for one of the children, or the coming of grandchildren. The probability of that the parents will not be present during these very important occasions in the lives of their children. Children who accompany the parents are affected too, sometimes more deeply and personally than are the parents. After several years of struggle a young man may have just made the athletic team. Or a young woman perhaps has achieved some position in the school or community that is very desirable to her.
What does a person do when he is asked to set aside every personal interest and go away for three years on call of the servants of the Lord? That depends on how he regards his covenants.
I have met mission presidents and their wives in the training session prior to their departure and have met them in the distant parts of the world in the mission field. I never fail to be impressed with one thought. We are here to be tested. Who will pass the test? Are there men and are there women and are there children in the world who will turn aside from all that they hold dear to respond to a call from the Lord? Is there such dedication in the world? Insofar as these mission presidents and their families are concerned, the question has to that time been answered.
We covenant with the Lord to devote our time, talents, and means to His kingdom. (Boyd K. Packer, The Holy Temple, Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980, pp.163-164).
I think there is great value in the mission president giving each of his missionaries a permanent "stay on target" checklist, folding to the size of his temple recommend, which the missionary should always keep in his wallet and refer to often, signed on the back with a personal note by his mission president. The philosophy of a mission president should be, "Once you're my missionary, you're always my missionary," and he should be as concerned about his missionaries' salvation after their missions as during their missions. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
There needs to be continual follow-up by the mission president to be sure that his missionaries are getting local newspaper publicity regarding their proselyting activities. We are not interested in publicity just for publicity's sake, but every time a transfer takes place, a new proselyting program is introduced, or a special Church meeting is to be held, our missionaries should go immediately to the local newspapers and give them a story, with pictures if possible. Many, many doors have been opened because of this simple, but effective approach to public relations. It also has a good effect on investigators and adds pride in the work on the part of the local members. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
"That the fullness of my gospel might be proclaimed by the weak and the simple unto the ends of the world, and before kings and rulers" (D&C 1:23). As I reflect on the great contribution by the elders of this dispensation in bringing the gospel to their fellowmen, I think of their great fortitude, sacrifice and boldness. Many of the early elders left their families without any support to go into the field of labor. I think of mission presidents who have sacrificed businesses to go. I think of the tremendous financial sacrifices of families today in sending their sons and daughters into the mission fields. Certainly the efforts of thousands in this dispensation who have served are without precedent. And yet, it is not enough. We need to do more in opening the doors of countries so the elders can enter with our message. (Ezra Taft Benson, "The World is our Mission," Salt Lake City, Utah, 6 June 1980).
The Lord will bless you as you look upon each of these young men and women as your son or daughter. I always feel comforted when a mission president has a son or daughter in another mission. All of a sudden, he is much more understanding of what missionaries will do, and much more anxious to save the missionary, rather than transfer him somewhere else. Take care of these precious missionaries. (Thomas S. Monson, [Mission Presidents’ Seminar], Church News, [30 June 1990]: 7).
I bear witness to you that we're led by a prophet and that indeed; the gospel of Jesus Christ is the greatest and most beautiful pearl that we shall ever experience by feel, by sight, by hearing. Let us remember that the great trait of the Savior's which will guide you in the darkest day on your mission, as well as the brightest sunlit day, is the principle of love. Please keep this uppermost in all of your activities, and you will return as Brigham Young said, "Bearing your sheaves with you."
I bear witness to you that love is the "balm of Gilead,”. . . the formula for success for any mission president and his wife called today, yesterday or who will be called tomorrow. (Thomas S. Monson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Church News, [30 June 1990]: 7).
May our testimonies ring forth with power and authority and conviction concerning the Prophet Joseph Smith—the greatest prophet who ever lived—-and concerning the Book of Mormon which he brought forth. The prayers that ascend to heaven in your behalf and in behalf of your missionaries literally number in the millions, and those prayers will be answered. (James E. Faust, “New Mission Presidents Trained,” Ensign, [September 1998]: 79–80).
Teach correct principles to missionaries and you will bless their lives forever. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Salt Lake City, Utah, 25 June 1986).
President Robert Stout in the Japan Kobe Mission has stressed member-missionary work in a fresh way under the direction of his executive administrator...and with the help of his regional representatives; he has involved members and particularly the local priesthood leaders who are asked to be the first to refer their friends to the missionaries to teach further. In this mission, 90 percent of their referrals come from the just-baptized new members. This is a mission which was baptizing around 25 a month a year or so ago. There were 144 baptisms in May and there should be 200 this, the month of June. This is with the involvement of leaders and members in the stakes. Furthermore, President Stout is using group teaching so that those prospective members who are being taught are asked to bring in their friends to be taught simultaneously. This permits the Japanese to work with their natural circles of friends in a very effective way. Local priesthood leaders and members are excited by this solid growth. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 22 June 1979).
A few years ago, I was afforded the privilege to serve as a mission president and became intimately acquainted with more than four hundred missionaries. We had one young missionary who was very ill. After weeks of hospitalization, as the doctor prepared to undertake extremely serious and complicated surgery, he asked that we send for the missionary's mother and father. He advised there was a possibility the patient would not survive the surgery.
The parents came. Late one evening, the father and I entered a hospital room in Toronto, Canada, placed our hands upon the head of the young missionary, and gave him a blessing. What happened following that blessing was a testimony to me.
The missionary was in a six-bed ward in the hospital. The other beds were occupied by five men with a variety of illnesses. The morning of his surgery, the nurse came into the room with the breakfast these men normally ate. She took a tray over to the patient in bed number one and said, "Fried eggs this morning, and I have an extra portion for you!"
The occupant of bed number one had suffered an accident with his lawnmower. Other than an injured toe, he was well physically. He said to the nurse, "I'll not be eating this morning."
"All right, we shall give your breakfast to your partner in bed number two."
As she approached that patient, he said, "I think I'll not eat this morning."
Each of the five young men declined breakfast. The young lady exclaimed, "Other mornings you eat us out of house and home, and today not one of you wants to eat! What is the reason?"
Then the man who occupied bed number six answered: "You see, bed number three is empty. Our friend is in the operating room under the surgeon's hands. He needs all the help he can get. He is a missionary for his church, and while we have been patients in this ward he has talked to us about the principles of his church--principles of prayer, of faith, of fasting wherein we call upon the Lord for blessings." He continued, "We don't know much about the Mormon Church, but we have learned a great deal about our friend; and we are fasting for him today."
The operation was a success. When I attempted to pay the doctor, he countered, "Why, it would be dishonest for me to accept a fee. I have never before performed surgery when my hands seemed to be guided by a Power which was other than my own. No," he said, "I wouldn't take a fee for the surgery which someone on high literally helped me to perform." (Thomas S. Monson, CR A'84, Ensign, [May 1984]: 18).
In recent months I have had the opportunity of speaking with sixty-three men and extending to them calls to serve as Presidents of missions. One cannot have such an experience without coming to recognize the depth of faith found in the hearts of this people. Husbands and wives and children, at the call of the Church, are willing to leave the comforts of their homes, the association of their friends and loved ones, and their employment to go out to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Brethren, the work of the Lord is advancing as much as at any time in its history and every more rapidly. As individuals we may fail in our part in it, but if we do so God will raise up others to take our places, for he will not permit this work to fail. (Gordon B. Hinckley, CR A'84, Ensign, [May 1984]: 48).
My coming to conference while serving as a full-time mission president makes me feel somewhat like an army field commander who has been summoned home from the front lines to report on conditions of the war to the commander in chief, joint chiefs of staff, and other general officers.
The war is not a hot one where there are guns and armaments; but the struggle between the forces of righteousness and of evil for the souls of our Heavenly Father's children is intense, and the conflict is very real.
From my front-line position in the mission field I can personally testify that the enemy is well trained in the arts of eternal warfare. The army of the devil exploits all kinds of sinful practices, and promotes his cause through every kind of printed, audio, and visual means. Perhaps the most cunning of all their methods is the spirit of apathy and indifference that they use to penetrate the minds and the hearts of mankind, to dull their feelings towards God, His Son Jesus Christ, and His church.
The great prophet Mormon taught: "Wherefore, all things which are good cometh of God; and that which is evil cometh of the devil; for the devil is an enemy unto God, and fighteth against him continually, and inviteth and enticeth to sin, and to do that which is evil and continually." (Moroni 7:12.)
Based on my experience, I believe that if the Saints and missionaries are to build up the Church at the much faster rate that President Kimball has called for, we must all strive to prepare ourselves to become better gospel teachers. I often see the great joy that comes into the life of the new member of the Church when he is baptized. At each baptismal service I am reminded of the tremendous amount of individual preparation that is required by both member and missionary to bring about the conversion of one soul. (M. Russell Ballard, Jr., CR O'76, Ensign, [November 1976]: 86).
I would like to share with you a story without sharing any names. I have a very good friend who was the chief executive officer and principal owner of a very large corporation. He was called to preside over a mission. Like so many of our wonderful men who have great skills, capabilities, when the call came from the Lord, he did not question. He had thought enough through his life that it was instantaneous in his mind to accept the call.
But what was to happen to the business, what was to happen to this great enterprise? Situations and management worked out for the best, but in three years lots of things can happen to a business when the guiding light is not there on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately some of the assets of the company were sold. But toward the end of the mission of this great man, an opportunity arose. Within days after his release he was back in business with a program far bigger than anything he had before he was called to be a mission president. He is presently bringing into being one of the major corporations to be based in the state of Utah.
How did he do that? I suppose he learned from the mistakes he made through his life, but, most importantly, he had learned to think straight. When the second opportunity came up, it was easier for him to define, to determine, to make decisions, and to move forward with that second opportunity. (M. Russell Ballard, "Let Us Think Straight," BYU 1983-84 Fireside and Devotional Speeches, Provo: University Publications, 1984, pp. 34-35).
There is nothing in our whole church operation which is as personal as a proselyting program. A mission president must be personally involved. There is no program that ties in more firmly to the inclinations, desires, and aptitudes of a single person than the proselyting program. Missionaries will do what a mission president encourages them to do. (Bruce R. McConkie, "Seven Steps To More And Better Converts," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Of course, every six to eight weeks, you will be interviewing each missionary at zone conference. These personal interviews and counseling sessions are vital to a missionary's success. He will feel of your genuine love for him, your trust in him, and your expectations of him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Give sincere praise and encouragement. If discipline is ever necessary, discipline the missionary with love and not by degrading him. Be a good listener. Encourage him to tell you what is in his heart. Be genuinely concerned about his welfare. Make notes of items discussed in interviews that you wish to follow up on in future sessions. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
You can share your genuine love and concern for your missionaries in other ways: Read carefully his weekly letters to you. This reading should never be delegated to anyone. Read these letters with the Spirit and with discernment. A short follow-up letter from you to a particular missionary speaks volumes.
Always make your own transfers of missionaries. You can receive helpful suggestions from your assistants, but because you know best the missionaries and their needs, you should personally make the transfers. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
As a missionary comes to the close of his mission, your final interview with him should be a spiritual experience for both of you. Let him know how much you appreciate his missionary service, how much you love him, and how proud you are of him. Let him know that he will always be your missionary and that you expect him to continue to be an excellent member of the Church all of his life and to live as he has taught others to live. And let him know that as you meet him again in the months and years ahead, your greatest concern for him will always be "Are you faithful?"
Yes, I would challenge you to love your missionaries with all your heart and to be genuinely concerned about their spiritual welfare, now and always. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Motivate your missionaries. Let your missionaries know they are engaged in the greatest work in all the world--saving the souls of our Father in Heaven's children. Let them know they have been called by inspiration and revelation to your mission at this time for a sacred and holy purpose--for truly they have. Let them hear from your lips that they are serving exactly where the Lord wants them, that for them they are in the best mission of the Church, that you have every confidence in them and great expectations for them, that they cannot fail in this work, and that they have been called to succeed and succeed they will. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Your missionaries need to know exactly the purpose of their being in the mission field, which is to save souls, to baptize converts, and to bring converted families into the Lord's Church. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Let them know that it is a time of harvest in your mission and not a time of gleaning, and that if they are true and faithful, they will literally be instruments in the hands of the Lord in bringing souls unto Him. Remind them of the Apostle Paul's statement that in the conversion process some missionaries will plant, some will water, and some will baptize. Assure them that in your mission you are not concerned with who gets the credit for the baptisms because "God [gives] the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6). They need to know that all you are concerned about, as their mission president, is that they have a burning desire to bring souls unto Him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Let them know of the joy that will fill their hearts when they have taught an investigator with love and with the Spirit, when they have given the baptismal challenge by the Spirit, and when they have seen a wonderful family enter into the waters of baptism. Let them feel of the great missionary spirit of Ammon, who brought thousands of converts into the Church and then exclaimed: "My joy is full, yea, my heart is brim with joy, and I will rejoice in my God" (Alma 26:11). (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Let them feel of the spirit of the modern day challenging and testifying missionary who prays every morning to "lead me this day to a family that I can fulfill my purpose. I will testify unto them by thy power without hesitancy or fear and will lead them by the power of the Spirit to baptism into thy kingdom." (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Yes, motivate your missionaries to good works. Expect excellence in their performance. Run a mission that is disciplined but abounds with love--a mission that is on fire, but is sensitive to the individual needs of missionaries. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Motivate your missionaries to labor with all their heart, might, mind and strength--for that is where the joy is--to go home at the end of each day "tired in the Lord" to be renewed by the Lord in the morning. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Motivate your missionaries to be obedient—not because they have to but because they want to in order to receive the blessings of the Lord and to be effective instruments in saving His children. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Teach your missionaries correct principles. Do this in your orientation with new missionaries. Do this in your zone conferences. Do this in your personal interviews with your missionaries. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Talk to the missionaries about the influence of words that are communicated by the Spirit. The only hope they will ever have as a missionary is to convey the words of the gospel as directed by the Spirit of the Holy Ghost. (Jeffrey R. Holland, More astonishing in preaching gospel: Missionary success comes with teaching by power and authority,” Church News [Saturday, January 26, 2008]: 4).
Teach them from the scriptures. Teach them to love the scriptures and to get their answers from the standard works. There are great verses of scripture that have particular application to missionary work. Alma 26:22 is an example of one of the greatest. Here Ammon is rejoicing in the success the Lord has blessed him with in his missionary work among the Lamanites. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Missionary work is not easy. It is the most demanding, the most compelling, the most exhausting, and yet, with it all, the most happy and joyful work in all the world.
But it requires work. If your missionaries really work, they will get the Spirit. If they get the Spirit, they will teach by the Spirit and if they teach by the Spirit, they will be instruments in the hands of the Lord in bringing thousands of souls unto Him. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
The principle of not aspiring to positions in the mission field is taught well in Mark 9:34-35 and Matthew 23:11-12. Missionaries should be taught that it doesn't matter where they serve, but how. Position doesn't save anyone, but faithfulness does. Aspiring to positions of responsibility can destroy the spirit of the mission as well as the spirit of a missionary. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Accelerate member-missionary work in your mission. Our members need to understand their responsibility to do missionary work and then do it. You, as the mission president, and your missionaries need to help them fulfill their missionary responsibility. I fully endorse the words of President Spencer W. Kimball: "Do we really believe in revelation? Then why cannot we accept fully as the revealed word of God the revelation of the Prophet-President David O. McKay, wherein he brought to the Church and to the world this valuable Church slogan, `Every member a missionary.'
. . .How else could the Lord expect to perform His work except through the Saints who have covenanted to serve Him? You and I have made such a covenant. Will we honor our sacred covenant? (Ezra Taft Benson, Regional Representatives’ Seminar, 30 September 1977, pp. 3-4).
No more can missionary work be effectively handled independent of the stakes and wards or with poor correlation. You must personally work closely with the stake Presidents’ in your mission. It is not for you to direct them, but it is for you to become one with them in perfect correlation. In addition to regularly scheduled meetings with these brethren, I would encourage you to respond to invitations to attend stake conferences and sacrament meetings whenever possible. Talk about missionary work enthusiastically whenever you are asked to speak. Always be positive. Challenge the members to do their missionary work, but challenge them with love and not criticism. Do it by motivating them, not by berating them. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Retention will primarily be the work of the local wards and branches. However, you have a very, very important part in this. Your missionaries must be sure that conversion is real, that it is life-changing, that it is something that is to last forever and go on through generations. Nobody gains when there is baptism without retention. The missionary loses, and while the Church gains statistically, the membership suffers, really, and the enthusiasm of the convert turns to ashes. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Mission Presidents Trained,” Ensign, [September 1998]: 79–80).
Mission presidents and regional representatives must realize that you can never light a candle unless there is A SPARK FROM WITHIN YOURSELF. You can never give the priesthood unless you have it. You can never convey enthusiasm without a liberal supply. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27 June 1974).
Mission Presidents, you should be the spark plug wherever you go on your mission. Whenever you meet with members and stake and ward leaders, share your excitement about missionary work. Let them know you and your missionaries are there to serve them. I promise you that you will more than double your convert baptisms if your full-time missionaries and members and leaders in the stakes and wards correlate missionary work as they should and work together in harmony. I issue you that challenge! (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
The strength of a missionary's Book of Mormon-based testimony cannot be measured--it has tremendous converting power. Teach missionaries to use the Book of Mormon with investigators as a key step in conversion. As missionaries and investigators read the scriptures, the heavens will be open to them, and they can learn, not only what they are studying, but what the Lord would teach them. (Richard G. Scott, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Church News, [30 June 1990]: 4).
With all my heart I challenge you to use the Book of Mormon in your missions as the great converter. You know how I feel about the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. At the recent April general conference of the Church, the Book of Mormon was one of the major themes in all of my addresses as well as others of the Brethren.
I referred to section 84 of the Doctrine and Covenants. Every mission president should understand the background of that section and its implications to us today. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
It is the responsibility of mission Presidents to help their missionaries understand themselves in relation to their calling to preach the gospel, and to help them set and accomplish effective goals. However, goals and quotas should not be imposed upon missionaries. The guiding principle here was given by the Lord in Section 58 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is compelled in all things, the same is a slothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.
Verily I say, men should be anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;
For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves. (D&C 58:26-28).
There is a difference between a missionary stating the number of investigators he hopes to baptize and imposing on him a stated number of baptisms by district, zone, or mission leaders. Instead of setting goals or quotas for missionaries, mission presidents should help missionaries learn to set realistic goals of their own. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
I want to talk to mission Presidents for a moment. Some years ago there grew an error in the method of proselyting, and thousands of people were baptized who were not converted. This raised the eyebrows of the Brethren in Salt Lake. We asked them, the mission Presidents at that time, not to do that anymore. We want people to have a testimony. We want them to understand something about the gospel. But when we showed concern about these numerous improper baptisms, the pendulum swung all the way across, and there were many of the mission Presidents that felt they shouldn't discuss the possibilities and the goals for the future. That's the trouble with pendulums; they nearly always swing all the way or the other direction.
We expect that every year there will be a great increase in the conversions and baptisms, and we hope you mission Presidents will take that into account. We do believe in goals. Why, we live by goals. When we are in athletics we always have a goal. When we go to school, we have the goal of graduation and degrees. Why, our total existence is a goal. You're going to eternal life. That's the greatest goal in the world. We are not against goals, but we don't want you mission Presidents to set up quotas for your missionaries. Inspire them to set up their own goals and to make them high enough to challenge their very best efforts. (Spencer W. Kimball, Buenos Aires Area Conference, 9 March 1975, p. 53).
I am not convinced that mission Presidents should ever set goals for missionaries. They may set goals for their mission if they like and for themselves, but let the missionaries set goals for themselves and then the president will praise and give them adulation for succeeding in the goals which they set. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1975).
Missionaries should have goals but they should not be imposed by the mission president, his assistants or the zone leaders. I am persuaded that the missionaries will be more dedicated to their work, will be more committed, if they have set their own goals, and happier in their labors than if goals are imposed upon them. The best motivation is self-motivation. (James E. Faust, New Mission Presidents' Seminar, 21 June 1996).
There are a number of good reasons for encouraging a missionary to develop his own goals. Once he makes an honest appraisal of his strengths and weaknesses, the missionary is in the best position to decide what he must do to become more effective. Goals set by a mission president might not be realistic for some missionaries. Moreover, goals imposed by another may offend or discourage the missionary. Most important, the missionary is entitled to inspiration in choosing his personal goals; and when he has sought the Lord through prayer and meditation, he will be motivated best by those goals he selects himself and commits himself to attain. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
President [Spencer W.] Kimball expressed the hope that we might have "better interviews, more searching interviews...." Through effective personal priesthood interviews, a mission president can do much to help his missionaries set worthwhile goals. He can help a missionary understand the obstacles that might stand in the way of effective missionary work--obstacles such as bad personal habits, unclean thoughts, or inadequate knowledge of the scriptures and the discussions. When the missionary can recognize these obstacles, he can set about overcoming them through progressive personal goals. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
In some few cases you will have to teach your missionaries how to repent and then be close enough to them that they will feel free in coming to you for help.
The... thing the missionary will have to do to gain spirituality is to pray sincerely, with real intent, and ask for forgiveness. He must also ask in faith for the Spirit to bless and be with him. The missionary's prayer must be offered with the same desire as the one offered by Enos in the Book of Mormon. Of his prayer we read, “And my soul hungered; and I kneeled down before my Maker, and cried unto him in mighty prayer and supplication for mine own soul; and all day long did I cry unto him; yea, and when the night came I did still raise my voice high that it reached the heavens (Enos 1:4). (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
There will be times when your missionaries may become discouraged with the work. Missionary work is not easy work and Satan will take every opportunity to discourage a missionary. When these moments come, the yoke they are called to bear may seem heavy and unbearable.
The Lord has given us a key by which we can overcome discouragement and you should teach this to your missionaries.
Our Savior extended an invitation to us when He said, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30.)
In olden days the purpose of a yoke was to get oxen pulling evenly together in a united effort. In a sense, our Savior has a load to pull; a cause to move forward. He has asked us to become yoked with Him to help move His gospel forward unto all those who will accept. "...my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."
Teach your missionaries that their work will be light or easy to bear no matter how difficult it becomes if the burden they bear is the work of Jesus Christ. As they approach their work in this spirit they will be able to see all problems as challenges and not stumbling blocks. And most important of all, they will increase in spirituality. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The questions arise, "How can I help my missionaries serve successful missions?" "How can I help them to lengthen their strides and raise their sights?"
As the mission president, you must teach your missionaries how to be successful.
There are several areas that a missionary needs to be concerned with in order to be successful. First, he must develop a real deep spirituality. The Spirit is the most important matter in this glorious work. In the Doctrine and Covenants, section 42, verse 14, the Lord gives us a great law about teaching His gospel. He said, "And the Spirit shall be given you by the prayer of faith; and if ye receive not the Spirit ye shall not teach." (D&C 42:14).
To be a successful missionary one must have the Spirit of the Lord. We are also taught that the Spirit will not dwell in unclean tabernacles. Therefore, one of the first things a missionary must do to gain spirituality is to make sure his own personal life is in order. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The mission president can encourage his missionaries to establish goals which will most effectively move them toward the great goal of the missionary program--to bring the gospel to all of our Father's children. The mission president should help his missionaries understand the importance of preaching the gospel to families, of introducing people to the blessings of family home evening, and of encouraging fathers to take the lead in bringing their families to the truth. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
Each mission president should also develop his own personal goals and goals for the mission as a whole. The mission goals should be in harmony with the goals of the missionaries and the mission president should make them known to the missionaries. He might well ask the missionaries to help him achieve his goals just as he helps them achieve theirs. In the process of setting goals and carrying them out, mission Presidents should remember to work within the framework of priesthood correlation. It is important that you establish a close relationship with stake or district priesthood leaders if you are to have their full cooperation. If there are established stakes in your mission, get acquainted with the stake president as soon as possible and offer assistance in missionary work. Attend stake conferences and sacrament meetings whenever possible. Talk missionary work enthusiastically everywhere. Attend regional meetings and offer assistance in the missionary phase of the regional meeting. Invite stake missionaries and leaders to zone conference to share the enthusiasm and testimonies borne there. Encourage the stake president to make suggestions on how missionary work can be improved in his stake area. Encourage your assistants and zone leaders to develop a good working relationship with stake mission leaders. Do not forget to express appreciation for the cooperation you receive from local priesthood leaders. A letter or telephone call of appreciation is always appropriate. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 27-28 June 1974).
Help your missionaries to become successful in the area of teaching. As missionaries learn to teach with power and conviction, they will have many opportunities to see converted souls enter the waters of baptism.
To help your missionaries become master teachers, encourage them to study and learn their discussions so well that when they teach, they teach from the heart.
Encourage them to search the scriptures so that they can support all they say from the word of God.
Teach your missionaries to seek the power and influence of the Holy Ghost in their teaching. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Your missionaries are in the field to testify of the greatest event that has transpired in this world since the resurrection of the Master, the coming of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ to the boy prophet. They are out to testify of a new volume of scripture, a new witness for Christ. If they are to testify effectively, they must have a testimony of the truth. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Greater emphasis should be given by mission Presidents to the kind of welcome and orientation their new missionaries receive when they arrive in the mission field. As an example, the spirit of a mission is immediately conveyed to the new elder by the way he is greeted at the plane. How he is received by the mission president and his wife, and the spirit that is conveyed by the mission family and by the mission staff have a tremendous impact on a new missionary. Mission Presidents should be fully and personally involved in the orientation of their new missionaries and should spend ample time in addressing them as a group and interviewing them individually. The new missionaries need to feel the spirit and love and concern of the man who will be leading them for the next two years, and this responsibility should not be delegated. It is important that mission Presidents do all in their power to first save their missionaries. Then, their missionaries will be capable of saving others. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The staff should greet the missionaries with open arms, with love in their hearts, with "Elder, or Sister, welcome to the greatest mission in the Church. It's great to have you with us. We're delighted you're here. You're going to love it." How much better is that than to try to lord it over the new missionaries or make them feel that they are "greenies," that the staff knows everything and the new missionaries know little or nothing about missionary work. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
The new missionaries need to know exactly the purpose for being in the mission field--which is to save souls, to baptize converts, to bring converted families into His Church. Special emphasis should be given to particular scriptures which explain this holy calling, such as Doctrine and Covenants, sections 15 and 16, and Alma 26:22. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Fourteen years ago, President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) gave a landmark address in general conference titled “Flooding the Earth with the Book of Mormon.” In this masterful discourse, he called the Church to repentance and gave us his prophetic vision of the role the Book of Mormon must play in our lives and in the Church. I wish to remind you of that vision. Also, I want to discuss how well we have followed his counsel these many years later. How are we doing in flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon? President Benson taught:
“The Book of Mormon is the instrument that God designed to ‘sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out [His] elect.’ (Moses 7:62.) This sacred volume of scripture needs to become more central in our preaching, our teaching, and our missionary work. … “The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon for the many reasons which the Lord has given. In this age of electronic media and the mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way....
“… We hardly fathom the power of the Book of Mormon, nor the divine role it must play, nor the extent to which it must be moved....
“I challenge our mission leaders to show their missionaries how to challenge their contacts to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Missionaries need to know how to use the Book of Mormon to arouse mankind’s interest in studying it, and they need to show how it answers the great questions of the soul. Missionaries need to read with those they teach various passages from the Book of Mormon on gospel subjects....
“I challenge all of us to prayerfully consider steps that we can personally take to bring this new witness for Christ more fully into our own lives and into a world that so desperately needs it....
“I have a vision of thousands of missionaries going into the mission field with [marvelous testimonies of this sacred book] so that they might feed the needs of a spiritually famished world.
“I have a vision of the whole Church getting nearer to God by abiding by the precepts of the Book of Mormon.
“Indeed, I have a vision of flooding the earth with the Book of Mormon” (Ensign, Nov. 1988, 4–6).
We need to have that same vision if we are to be successful in fulfilling the Lord’s wishes. We may be doing fine in terms of quantity, but how about in terms of quality? I believe there is much room for improvement. (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “The Book of Mormon: The Heart of Missionary Proselyting,” Ensign, [September 2002]:13;Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Provo Missionary Training Center, 23 June 1999).
In your interviews with them, emphasize that success will be theirs; that they are going to be successful; that they are coming into the mission field at a time of harvest; that the Lord has prepared this mission field for them and for the laborers who would be in it. Emphasize to them that they are not expected to fail, that the Lord calls nobody to fail, but to succeed and this they should understand fully. Quote to them the statement of the Prophet Joseph Smith, "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 113).” (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
We do not expect every missionary to get 200 or 32 or 82, but we expect him to do his utmost and to have his sights raised. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1976).
With the Spirit, you and your missionaries will perform miracles for the Lord in the mission field. Conversion itself is a miracle, and only by the Spirit will we ever realize the harvest of convert baptisms that the Lord expects of us. (Ezra Taft Benson, “New Mission Presidents Counseled,” Ensign, [September 1987]: 78).
The setting of personal baptismal goals by missionaries should be explained in detail with specific illustrations and testimonies of others' successes. Mission Presidents need to be converted to goal-setting themselves, in all phases of missionary work, before they will be capable of converting their missionaries to this concept. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Did you hear the word thousands? … Not hundreds, not dozens, not tens, but thousands. … The Lord … knows what these words mean, and when he uses the word thousands, he means thousands. And that’s ten hundred in a thousand! (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1978.)
Missionaries should be taught by their mission Presidents to love the scriptures. Presidents should refer to the scriptures often and draw from them personal applications to their missionaries and to missionary work. A missionary should come to internalize and love special scriptures which give him inspiration and motivation. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Missionaries should have a standard of performance or excellence to which they ascribe and to which they commit. This should be spelled out in specific terms and held up as the minimum standard by which all missionaries are expected to perform. Missionaries should take pride in being in "the best mission in the Church," and being "missionaries of excellence," as defined through inspiration from their mission president. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Wilford Woodruff baptized two thousand people on his mission in England in a short few months and … Heber C. Kimball baptized 1,800 in a few months. … There are hundreds of other brethren who have baptized tens and fifties and hundreds during their missions. Is it possible that each of you could develop some Wilford Woodruffs and Brigham Youngs who could baptize hundreds and thousands? Can we raise our sights?” (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1975.)
There should be definite guidelines set by the mission president on the proper relationship that should exist between the members and the missionaries. Too many missionaries are neutralized, and occasionally lost, because of over-solicitous members, member sisters who "mother" the missionaries, and socializing occurring between missionaries and members. Because of the importance of members and missionaries working effectively together on the member missionary program, it is vital that missionaries maintain the proper missionary image and have the reputation as great proselyting elders and not just "good guys." The greatest help members can be to a missionary is not to feed him, but to give him names of their friends so he can teach them with the Spirit in their homes and challenge them with the wonderful members helping to fellowship. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
When we try to find causes for our lack of greater progress in missionary work, I suggest that we ponder what happened at the Last Supper when the Savior indicated that one present would betray Him. The disciples did not look or point at each other, but all responded with a very quick question, ‘Lord, is it I?’ (Matt. 26:22.)
Let us all assume that we might be part of the reason that the work does not go on as well as we think it should. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1979.)
The white Missionary Handbook, published by the First Presidency, should be given great emphasis by the mission president to his missionaries. Not only should it be highlighted in the orientation of his new missionaries, but it should be referred to often in zone conferences and district motivation and development meetings.
Personally, I would recommend that the mission president establish a personal reading schedule for his missionaries and have them, as companions, read from the handbook daily. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
A mission president should be careful in the music which is played by his missionaries. Some mission Presidents strongly recommend that only Tabernacle Choir music be played and listened to by missionaries. There is ample evidence that rock music is offensive to the spirit and affects adversely the spirituality of the missionaries and thus the success of the proselyting work. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
If movies are allowed by a mission president, I would definitely recommend that missionaries only be allowed to see "G" rated shows (stateside code), even using wisdom within this practice, and then the mission president deciding how often they are to be seen and under what conditions. A missionary should never permit himself to see a movie or cheap literature, or hear music that tends to interfere with or which dampens the spirit of missionary work. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Greater emphasis needs to be given by mission Presidents in the effective preparation and prayerful selection of senior companions. This calling, in many respects, is the most important calling in the mission. Mission Presidents need to outline specific responsibilities and duties of senior companions and their relationship with their junior companions. The magnitude of their call should be explained to them both in writing and verbally. Possibly never will a mission president who is effective, pray more sincerely than on the selection of senior companions, especially senior companions to new missionaries. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
There should be regular indoctrination by the mission president of his missionaries on the undesirability of aspiring to positions of leadership in the mission. Phrases such as "It doesn't matter where you serve, but how," and "Position doesn't save anyone, but faithfulness does," ought to be emphasized periodically. Mission politics and aspiring to office can destroy the spirit of a mission, as well as destroy missionaries, and can, at times, be vicious. The mission president needs to take the lead in counseling missionaries in this area. I had been discussing this point with a group of missionaries in Innsbruck, Austria back in 1965 when at the end of a meeting, one of the fine missionaries handed me a little card on which I found the following:
MY LITTLE PLACE
"Father, where shall I work today?"
and my love flowed warm and free.
Then He pointed me out a tiny spot
and said, "Tend that for me."
I answered quickly, "Oh no, not that!
Why no one would ever see
No matter how well my work was done,
Not that little place for me.
And the words He spoke, they were not stern,
He answered me tenderly,
Ah, little one, search that heart of thine;
art thou working for them or me?
Nazareth was a little place,
and so was Galilee."
(Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
It is my feeling that all leaders (district leaders, zone leaders, assistants) should be rotated back into full-time proselyting activities at least a few weeks, if not months, before the end of their mission. This will strengthen the mission and will highlight the most important missionary calling of all, which is a full-time proselyting elder, who is spending his complete efforts in finding, teaching, and baptizing. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
A mission president should insist that some of his excellent missionaries are serving on his staff. The mission home and office should not be a rehabilitation center, sick bay, or a country club. It should represent the hardest working, most efficient organization in the mission. The staff members should have a great spirit of dedication and unity and should work in perfect harmony with the mission president and his wife and family. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
I strongly recommend that a mission president correspond with all of his missionaries through periodic circular letters (not a monthly publication). This can help build a great spirit in the mission. If the letters are written with the spirit of love and encouragement, they will help tremendously in keeping the enthusiasm of the missionaries high and help them to remain faithful and effective. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Greater attention needs to be given to the effective release of missionaries from the field as they come to the close of their missions. If at all possible, there should be a final meeting of these missionaries in the mission home, personal interviews held by the mission president, and a special testimony meeting where each of the returning missionaries bears his testimony. The president should give warm but strong personal counsel to his returning missionaries. There is a special brochure, "The Returned Missionary," which will offer some suggestions to you and other priesthood leaders to guide these young men and women. Your returning missionaries should be encouraged to attend the semi-annual missionary reunions held in Salt Lake or Provo. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 21 June 1975).
Missionaries, you must learn to love the scriptures. Mission Presidents, you can help your missionaries by referring to the scriptures often and by personally showing them the application of the scriptures in missionary work. Do this and missionaries will come to love certain scriptures which give them inspiration and motivation. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
As a family, you need to be models in deportment, attitude, dress, and, of course, missionary work and spirit.
Your spirituality will be the single most important asset you have as a missionary team. The Lord has revealed to this dispensation the requirements for a successful missionary team.
And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.
Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.
Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen. (D&C 4:5-7).
"What manner of men [and women] ought ye to be?" asked the Savior. His answer: "Verily, I say unto you, even as I am!" (3 Nephi 27:27.)
There will be many decisions which you, the mission president, will need to make on the basis of revelation. You will need to be close to the Lord, close to the Spirit. One of the areas where you will really need inspiration is in the selection of senior companions. This calling--this responsibility, in many respects, is the most important calling in the mission. Often the selection of the senior companion to a new missionary will determine his attitude, study and work pattern for the balance of his mission. We urge you to be very prayerful in this matter. Follow the promptings of the Spirit. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
We've heard many fine reports on the contributions of the wives as companions to their mission president husbands. Besides the Lord, you're his greatest asset. Together the three of you form a great team. I would urge you to pray for your husband, pray for the missionaries. Don't hesitate to share with your husband suggestions that will improve the mission and strengthen relationships between him and the missionaries or priesthood leaders. There will be times when your husband will need your encouragement. Be sensitive to those occasions to give him that love and encouragement. He cannot succeed without the help of the Lord. He also cannot succeed without your help. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
As we have called missionaries, also branch and district presidencies and others to positions of leadership and responsibility, we have pointed out to them that "often men are called not for what they are, but for what they may become." Now, it is an easy thing to give advice and counsel like that. Sometimes those words come back to us, so in giving counsel it might be well to keep in mind this adage, to "let our words be sweet and tender because tomorrow we might have to eat them." (Henry D. Taylor, Conference Report, April 1958, p. 122).
All leaders (district leaders, zone leaders, assistants) should lead out in missionary work by having contacts of their own. This will strengthen the mission and will highlight the most important missionary calling of all, which is that of a full-time proselyting elder, who is spending his complete efforts in finding, teaching, and baptizing. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
Teach your missionaries that their work will be light and easy to bear if they will be dependent on the Lord and work. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
You new Presidents have some very real challenges to see that new converts are properly integrated into the Church. Your work is not done until the new convert has been totally integrated into Church activity and the ward or branch has assumed their role of fellowshipping and home teaching. The challenge we face in this area is a serious one. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
Now you are going out...not merely to make friends for the Church, though that is important, but to properly convert and baptize.... Notice the quote...“He that believeth and is baptized must be saved.” (Mark 16:16.) Not he that heareth, but he that believeth and is baptized.
Brethren, the spirit of this work is urgency, and we must imbue...our Saints with the spirit of now. NOW. We are not justified in waiting for the natural, slow process of bringing people into the Church. We must move rather hastily. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1975).
When all the mechanics of missionary work have been discussed, mastered, and utilized, there is no message so important, none so new as the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ, our master and our King, whose holy name is the name of the Church we go out to represent. . . . the Lord will not let you down if you walk with faith and humility.
You will be trained in greater depth than any generation of mission presidents before you were ever trained. Your fears, your concerns, [your] sacrifices are not new. They have been felt by those who have similarly gone forth since the earliest days of the Church.
I hope that each of you presidents and leaders will carry in your hearts a flame of faith and knowledge from which the candles of those who serve under you will catch a light and become of the very essence of their testimonies of the work. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “New Mission Presidents Receive Instruction,” Ensign, [September 1992]: 74–75).
You must train your missionaries to focus on real conversion of non-members. This may be done as the investigators understand the concept of service they are expected to give, and that male members, ages 12 and older, understand that they will receive the priesthood after baptism, which provides them with opportunities to serve others. These concepts are explained in the missionary discussion. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
Please do not confuse this straightforward emphasis on missionary work with mere statistics. Our concerns are with souls, not statistics. We desire growth because that will mean that we are reaching our Father’s children who desperately need the gospel and the Church in that light.... We have been doing in our missionary efforts a good work, but it is not good enough. It is time to stir ourselves, and then we can stir others....
When we think of our alternatives in conversion rates as being either hasty and numerous baptisms on the one hand, or the slow, snail-like growth of the Church on the other hand, we are displaying too little faith in the Lord and even in ourselves. Those are not our only choices! ...
Sometimes [when] we give you exhortations of this kind, there may be a tendency to feel as though it just can’t be done; but we can baptize more people and we can do it in a very solid and stable way. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1979).
If we are to solve problems of retaining new converts, we must have a correlated effort to do so between mission and stake leaders. You must work very closely with stake and ward leaders to solve the problem. Do not become fractious with stake and ward leaders. Do not ignore or merely endure these leaders. You can't afford to do that. We're dealing with souls--precious souls, whose worth is great in the sight of God. We cannot afford to allow "personality conflicts" to adversely affect a harmonious integration effort. Please be mindful of this. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
There will be many decisions which you, the mission president, will need to make on the basis of revelation. You will need to be close to the Lord, close to the Spirit. One of the areas where you will really need inspiration is in the selection of senior companions. This calling, in many respects, is the most important calling in the mission. Often the selection of the senior companion to a new missionary will determine his attitude, study and work pattern for the balance of his mission. We urge you to be very prayerful in this matter. Follow the promptings of the Spirit. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Success as a Mission President," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1978).
As I look back on several decades of close personal involvement with the missionary program of the Church, certain things seem to stand out from all the others.
FIRST, the Church seems to grow most rapidly where we are best known and where we have a high concentration of Church members. This is why we stress the member-missionary effort as a must in order to obtain the major growth which now is possible.
SECOND, we have had sudden spurts of success in missionary work based upon high pressure and gimmicks, but the real sustained growth such as we have achieved in several places in the world is almost always a result of solid proselyting in which the full-time mission president and his missionaries work very closely together.
THIRD, missionaries are happiest when they are succeeding, just as is the case with all the rest of us. When missionaries are not succeeding in baptizing, they will tend to search for substitutes for success. Please don't force them into measuring their success by hours of tracting, gospel conversations, Books of Mormon distributed, etc.
FOURTH, we generally do better where the general population is larger and offers a greater field for labor and when we build outward from the centers of strength, which in our day, is where our stakes are. In this connection, please build the relationship between yourselves as a mission president and the regional Representatives and the stake presidents in your area. They and the members must not only do more of the finding of the prospective members of the Church whom your missionaries will teach, but they must later receive, love, and train these new members so that appropriate levels of retention are realized.
FIFTH, missionaries watch the mission president to see whether or not he is a true missionary. When missionaries see a president who knows how to be bold, they will take the exhortation seriously. If missionaries feel they are simply tending or that you are merely serving time instead of serving the Lord, they will adjust their attitudes downward, also.
Now, I pray the Lord to bless you as you embark upon this glorious and demanding assignment. I express once again the thanks and gratitude for all your willingness and for your service. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 22, 1979).
I challenge you to enjoy your call and to magnify it completely. Be happy and joyful in the service of the Lord. Love missionary work with all your heart. I promise you that as you magnify your call this will be the sweetest and most glorious experience you have had in Church service to this time. I have known mission Presidents who returned after three years who would go out again the next day if we would just call them. I promise you that this call will be the most satisfying you could ever have if you truly magnify it.
Just think, your wife will be your constant companion for three years, assisting you in this glorious work. Her call to be your companion is as inspired a call as yours.
Some of you will take members of your family with you. Involve them in this great experience that will be yours. Your call is really a family call, and you should enjoy it together as a family. As your family catches the missionary spirit, they too will rejoice in your calling. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Cultivate a Christ-like spirit in the mission home, one of genuine warmth and peace and harmony, and its influence will extend throughout the mission. Select members of your office staff and assistants to the president who not only have skills and abilities but who also depend upon the Spirit and bring to their positions spirituality and harmony. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
The Spirit is the most important thing in this work. I challenge you to be guided by it in all of your comings and goings in the mission field. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
In your enthusiasm to increase the flock, be careful you don't lose the shepherds. The Lord spoke about leaving the ninety and nine and going out to save the one; I am thinking in reverse order. You are asking the one to go out and get the ninety and nine, but be sure you don't lose the one. God bless you, my brethren and sisters. God bless the missionaries. One of the most effective techniques of your work is that which you are employing and asking your missionaries to employ, that of bearing testimony. (Hugh B. Brown, Continuing the Quest, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1961, p. 65).
I challenge you mission Presidents to be guided by the Spirit. I have said so many times to my Brethren that the Spirit is the most important single element in this work. With the Spirit, magnifying your call, you can do miracles for the Lord in the mission field. Without the Spirit you will never succeed regardless of your talent and ability. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Love your missionaries. I mean really love them. Love them unconditionally regardless of their habits or background. Love them with a Christ-like love. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Do not fail to let your missionaries know that they are not filling a two-year assignment, but this is only a prelude to the lifetime of proselyting that they must so completely gear their lives to, that there will never be any slowing of the process. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
Your missionaries should also feel your excitement for the work. Radiate an enthusiasm for missionary work that will become contagious throughout the mission. And work hard. That's where the real joy is. Remember Doctrine and Covenants, section four, doesn't just apply to young missionaries. It also applies to mission Presidents: "O ye that embark in the service of God; see that ye serve Him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day." (D&C 4:2). Be single-minded in your commitment to your calling. Forget about your business enterprises back home. Put blinders on and concentrate all of your time and effort and talent on your mission. The Apostle Paul declared: "This one thing I do" (Philippians 3:13), and you have just one marvelous thing to do for three years and that's the most important work in all the world--missionary work. Give it all you've got and you will have true joy. As you come to the close of your mission, don't run out of steam. Sprint to the end.
Yes, take good care of your health, stay close to your family, but work diligently and with love for our Father in Heaven and for the salvation of His children. Be a mission president of excellence.
That's my challenge to you--enjoy your mission, love it, magnify it completely. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
In Section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Prophet Joseph Smith received a revelation that “behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men.
“Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at the last day.” (D&C 4:1–2.)...
[A] significant feature of this revelation, and of others given about the same period, is the naming of essential qualifications of those who were to participate in the bringing about of this marvelous work. These qualifications were not the possession of wealth, not social distinction, not political preferment, not military achievement, not nobility of birth; but a desire to serve God with all your “heart, might, mind and strength”—spiritual qualities that contribute to nobility of soul. I repeat: No popularity, no wealth, no theological training in church government—yet “a marvelous work [was] about to come forth among the children of men.” (David O. McKay, Conference Report, October 1966, 86.).
Now, you have met here today to be strengthened, to be uplifted, to be encouraged, to be helped, to make of yourselves a better missionary. I hope that every one of you, when you leave here today, will say to yourself, ”I am going to try a little harder. I am going to give a little more to it. I am not going to worry about sending those e-mails home every 36 hours. Once a week I will write to my folks, yes, but I am not going to worry about home.” You have a father and mother to look after home; you don’t need to. You are here to represent the Lord. “I am going to work a little harder and then try a little harder. Maybe I can’t memorize the lessons. Maybe I don’t have it in my head to memorize the lessons.” Well, do your best. It will be important that you do so, but do it in such a way that you can be flexible. If you feel inspired to give lesson number 3 or 4 or 5 or 6, don’t regret it. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Philadelphia Pennsylvania Missionary Meeting, 25 October 2002 quoted in Discourses of President Gordon B. Hinckley Volume 2: 2000-2004 Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005, pp. 370-371).
I would like to share with you a story without sharing any names. I have a very good friend who was the chief executive officer and principal owner of a very large corporation. He was called to preside over a mission. Like so many of our wonderful men who have great skills, capabilities, when the call came from the Lord, he did not question. He had thought enough through his life that it was instantaneous in his mind to accept the call.
But what was to happen to the business, what was to happen to this great enterprise? Situations and management worked out for the best, but in three years lots of things can happen to a business when the guiding light is not there on a day-to-day basis. Ultimately some of the assets of the company were sold. But toward the end of the mission of this great man, an opportunity arose. Within days after his release he was back in business with a program far bigger than anything he had before he was called to be a mission president. He is presently bringing into being one of the major corporations to be based in the state of Utah.
How did he do that? I suppose he learned from the mistakes he made through his life, but, most importantly, he had learned to think straight. When the second opportunity came up, it was easier for him to define, to determine, to make decisions, and to move forward with that second opportunity. (M. Russell Ballard, "Let Us Think Straight," BYU 1983-84 Fireside and Devotional Speeches, Provo: University Publications, 1984, pp. 34-35).
Take these young missionaries and. . .teach them of the Savior. Help them learn through humble prayer and faithfulness to develop a testimony of him whom we represent. Baptisms would flourish if they knew who he was and is. (David B. Haight, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, Church News, [8 July 1989]: 7).
Mission Presidents, teach correct principles to your missionaries and you will bless their lives forever. (Ezra Taft Benson, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 25 June 1986).
Never forget that you are training young people, not only for the work of this year or the next 18 months, but for the remainder of their lives. I hope you will teach them not only the gospel, I hope you will motivate them to work not only with industry and integrity, but that they will also learn civility in their relationships with others, good manners, and love for the people among whom they labor.
Missionaries should also develop love for and dependence upon God, their eternal Father, and the risen Lord in whose name they serve. (Gordon B. Hinckley," Mission Presidents’ Seminar: Apostles Counsel Embarking Leaders," Church News, [2 July 1994]: 5).
The Son of God came into this world not to condemn the world, but to save it.
God will not forsake us if we come unto Him in faith. He is not sending us out to fail, but to succeed. “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God will take thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.” (D&C 112:10.)
Of course there will be personal benefits. These will come in proportion to the degree of selflessness evidenced in service. Lose yourselves in the work, so that your lives might be filled with light.
You husbands and wives must become great exemplars before your missionaries in following this standard. It is a constant challenge to keep the eye of the missionary on the glory of Him whom he serves. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “News of the Church,” Ensign, [September 1990]: 74).
I have a good friend who was the chief executive officer and principal owner of a large corporation. He was known and respected for his business abilities, and his family enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle because of his success. He developed his skills, capabilities, and interests in many areas, and a promising future lay before him. He could have done just about anything with his life, gone just abut anywhere, and continued to be more and more successful. Eventually, however, he was called to preside over one of the missions of the Church. When the call came from the Lord, he did not even pause a moment to question. He had been able to maintain balance in his life—-that “equilibrium” of which Brigham Young spoke—-and accepted the call without hesitation.
But what was to happen to the business? What would become of this great enterprise he had worked so hard to build? He worked things out the best he could, and then he left his business for three years to serve the Lord.
Three years is a long time in the business world, and a lot can happen to a company while the person who has been its guiding light is gone—most of it is not good. The company struggled in the man’s absence, and some its assets eventually had to be sold. But toward the end of his mission, a new opportunity arose for my friend.
Within days of his release, he was back in business with something bigger, more satisfying, and more financially rewarding than anything he had worked with before his mission. (M. Russell Ballard, When Thou Art Converted [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2001], p. 49).
This is the work of the Lord that we are doing. We're called to go out and be his servants, special servants, and to give all our time and energy. What a glorious thing it is to give all of your time to the Lord, to have no other responsibilities and that, it seems to me, is one reason why mission Presidents are so devoted. They have had this experience to not have a worry about their finances or other things and they have grown and developed. The Lord has given us the command. The Lord has said this is our duty. So we go forward with this in our minds. May the Lord bless you brethren and sisters. We call down upon you the blessings of heaven as you move from this place to your missions. It is true. There is no question about it. The Lord lives and his Father lives and he watches all our doings and he will appreciate it and show his appreciation for it. (Spencer W. Kimball, Mission Presidents’ Seminar, June 1977).
President Jay Quealy was seriously injured while he was presiding here. He went over to see what time the missionaries were getting up on the island and it was raining and he foolishly rode a scooter, which they were permitted to do in those days. He got on a road where there was some pea gravel and skidded right into a police van. Of all the vehicles to hit, he picked the worst one he could have done. It threw him right up over the hood and into the windshield. He broke both legs, an arm, and some ribs.
I came over here then to look after the mission for a time. He says (I do not say this) that when I administered to him I said that he would walk again on his natural legs and be unimpaired in his work. The doctors said he had gangrene in his legs and they would have to take them off. He said, “No, I won’t let you take them off. I was given a promise by a servant of the Lord that I would walk again with my natural legs.
Now, I do not remember that, but he did and spoke of it. The nurses, wonderful Chinese nurses, massaged his legs and the gangrene miraculously cleared and until the time of his death he walked on his natural legs. I have seen miracles here by the power of the priesthood and by the power of faith. (Gordon B. Hinckley, Hong Kong Missionary Meeting, 25 May 1996).
The challenge is now ours to move forward through a wide-open window of opportunity at an ever-accelerated rate,” Elder Perry charged the assembly. “I am certain that is what the Lord expects of us. He has opened the door; we are now expected to carry the gospel message into all the lands that are now available to us. I am sure He expects us to build solidly with a foundation of true conversions that will allow the fruit to remain and ripen. (L. Tom Perry, “News of the Church,” Ensign, [September 1990]: 74).
My beloved co-workers, you face the happiest years of your lives....I've tasted the joy of missionary work. There is no work in all the world that can bring an individual greater joy and happiness. (Ezra Taft Benson, "Keys to Successful Missionary Work," Mission Presidents’ Seminar, 20 June 1979).
