Monday, March 31, 2008
Missionary Couples: A Critical Need for More in the Mission Field
Recently I received an email from a mission president. He stated that in his mission which is in a tropical paradise and reasonably priced that "We started this mission with 4 couples and one CES couple and one Humanitarian couple. We now have over 23 couples and are constantly searching for their replacements because many of them are getting close to the end of their 18 month assignment." I decided to see if I could help out by running a series of posts on missionary couples.
The need for more missionary couples has been expressed by many mission presidents in areas throughout the world including Utah. You can actually live at home and serve as a full-time service missionaries in a few select places. There just doesn't seem to be enough couple missionaries in many remote areas of the world. There really is a critical shortage and a high demand for missionary couples in growing areas of the church.
David B. Haight said about their choosing where they are called: "The need for help outside of the United States is greater simply because of the size of the world. We are fast approaching the day when we will have more members outside of the United States than inside. But the need within the United States is still there.... All missionary calls come from the Lord through inspiration to his servants. Therefore, it is not appropriate for couples to dictate where they will serve. President Howard W. Hunter said, “When we know why we serve, it won’t matter where we serve!”
However, we want to know as much as possible about potential couple missionaries, including what type of assignment they might like. When couple missionaries and sister missionaries apply to serve a mission, they fill out an additional form that provides us with such information as past employment experience, education or training, language skills, Church positions, special skills, abilities, interests, hobbies, and limitations or special circumstances. This information is considered when making assignments, as are age and health. Even couples who respond to openings listed in the “Church Service Missionary Opportunities” bulletin may express their interest in a particular assignment, but the final decision still rests with the Brethren." Even having said that missionary couples and their bishops can still make requests that will be considered in their call by the missionary committee.
President Gordon B. Hinckley has said about the critical shortage in a First Presidency Letter in 2004: " "Along with the need for young elders and sisters, there is a growing need for couples in the mission field. Older married couples are doing a wonderful work in the missions. Many more are needed. . . . With an increasing number of people retiring while they are still possessed of health and vitality, there are many who can fill a tremendous need in the work of the Lord."
One of the reasons I took my current position in the Middle East was to save up enough money to serve with my wife on a couples mission in nine years when our youngest nine year old daughter leaves home for college. I figure a good way to give back to the Lord is to serve a couples mission plus we can have a travel opportunity while doing something enriching and worthwhile. Both of us being converts of one year went on missions to Canada when we were 20 and 21 respectively. We so enjoyed our first missions that we want to go again.
We are actually counting the years. We know it won't be easy to leave behind our eight children who will have dozens of grandchildren by our mission years but we feel it is a great way to bless the lives of our children and grandchildren and set an example for them all to serve the Lord throughout their lives. How cool is it for an elder or sister to say my grandparents are serving in the Bahamas.
We don't really worry about the money issue since serving a couples mission can run between $900 and $2400 a month. Estimated costs are kept by the Missionary Department. Even our social security will pay around $2000 a month so money isn't really the problem for most couple missionaries. Talk to your bishop there might be someone in your area willing to help out. A couple can actually request where they serve in the world if they are strapped for cash. If you don't want to learn a foreign language you don't have to. You can still go somewhere exotic like Poland for $900 a month and you don't even have to speak Polish if you don't want to.
Senior missionaries completely support themselves while on their missions but there are missions for every budget range. It is a bit different for a senior sister missionary, the Church will help subsidize your mission costs and you will be responsible for a monthly equalized payment of $400.00, the same as younger proselyting missionaries.
The biggest expense for couple missionaries is usually getting some form of transportation when a car is not provided by the mission. In the United States couple missionaries have to provide their own car. In other areas of the world they may have different options. There are a few options such as buying a good second-hand vehicle or leasing/renting a car. Many times departing couples will sell you their vehicles at a reduction in price. A few missionary couples even buy surplus mission cars. Senior sisters are treated like a regular sister so she uses the mode of transportation of her younger companion which is provided by the mission itself and could include a car, bicycle, bus or hoofing it.
David B. Haight said about using a car on a mission: "If called to serve in their home country, couples are encouraged to take their own cars. Insurance and maintenance costs for personal vehicles are paid by the couple. No couple is required to take a car; however, there is no guarantee that the mission will be able to provide a car for them. Couples serving in foreign missions usually use public transportation."
The interesting thing is even if you don't have the money there are many wealthy members who will assist couples or senior sisters for various reasons with your monthly living expenses. Many older members can't go because they aren't healthy enough to go themselves or they are too old to go or they are just so rich they want to help others do a good thing. Money should be the last thing to stop a senior missionary couple or senior sister from serving. Talk to your bishop if you desire to go and he can help you work out the financial details or send you to someone who can. My wife tells me she intends going even if I should die. She says our eight kids will chip in a hundred apiece if she is too poor to go.
My wife and I both speak a little Spanish and my mission was Italian-speaking and hers was French-speaking neither of us is adverse to trying out a mission in a foreign language. You do the best you can and the Lord will make up the difference. You can always brush up with Rosetta Stone software and after a couple of missions in the same country you will be able to converse just fine. Some couples go on a mission come home for a year or two and then go back out. As long as your health is good there is no problem serving multiple missions.
Some foreign missions require no foreign language training. Language training is only available pre-MTC and is delivered by telephone from the MTC upon your request after you have received a mission assignment.
You probably wonder what a senior missionary couple does? You can pretty well tailor your talents to a mission lots of times they need you for leadership training. You can also free up other missionaries if you are more a labor type by working in the office as the fleet coordinator or as a secretary to the mission president. The bulletin officially says "Senior missionaries may serve in leadership and member support, visitor centers, and mission offices. Desires to serve in specific areas can be expressed in the Bishop’s or Stake President’s comments." If you don't want to go on a proselyting mission you can go to places like Nauvoo and make bricks and nails, or Hawaii and hang out at the Laie Visitor's Center. Most of them work around 32 hours a week.
David B. Haight says about what they do: "The greatest need is for couples who can help train local leaders in places where the Church is not yet strong. They also help activate members and fellowship new converts. Some couples serve in mission offices as secretaries, financial clerks, vehicle coordinators, and so forth. In more remote areas of the Church, couples may be involved in ward or branch leadership. Also, much goodwill for the Church is promoted by couples who are actively involved in community service.
In addition to working in missions, a limited number of couples serve in temples. Some are given additional assignments to work in family history, public affairs, welfare, Church education, and a variety of other Church-service assignments. In fact, the opportunities for couples are endless because the need for their services is so great. Couples are not expected to tract or memorize the discussions. They are assigned a regular tracting area only if they request it. Most couples work with local priesthood leaders, less-active members, or converts."
Proselyting opportunities are currently available in THE UNITED STATES: California, Iowa, Minnesota,Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, S. Carolina, S. Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
INTERNATIONALLY: Argentina, Australia, Baltic,Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Fiji, India, Japan, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Uruguay, South and Central America.
You can actually put in a request for other places and wait if you like. I have never known a mission president to turn down a free helper. You can even serve in Salt Lake City in the church office building with the GA's if that is your style. Me I would rather go hang out in the jungles of the Philippines with some of the friendliest people in the world, sipping drinks while watching the sun set in the evening on the beach with my spouse.
I was very motivated recently to view the video presentation Couple Missionaries A Time to Share. The video helps you understand the process and is well worth your time to view.
In the 25 March 2008 Senior Missionaries Opportunities Bulletin put out by the LDS Church we learn that couple missionaries can serve 12, 18, or 23 months in the United States and Canada or 18 or 23 months in foreign countries. There is an online application process--The Missionary Online Recommendation System--so that couples or senior missionaries can apply from the convenience of their homes. Your bishop can help you if you don't like computers to fill out the forms the old-fashion way. He also has to do some computer work to complete his part of your application and input the results from his personal priesthood interview with you.
David B. Haight says about working with the bishop: "Absolutely! When in doubt, it is the bishop’s responsibility to suggest to couples that they think about going on a mission. He ought to have a list on his desk of all those couples he thinks are eligible. He needs to know something about their family, health, and financial situations. Then he should call them in for a warm and friendly interview and say, “Now that you’re retired, you have the opportunity to be doing something more to help build the kingdom. Have you ever thought about serving a mission?”
We don’t force anyone! We don’t say you have to go! But we are saying that there is a need! Bishops can talk about the couple’s possibility of going in six months or a year if the couple isn’t ready to go right now. It doesn’t have to happen overnight; the need of the Church is ongoing.
I think that some bishops are a little reluctant to bring up the idea of a mission to some couples because they are not sure of all the details in a couple’s life. In that case, a couple should go to the bishop and say, “We’re ready!”
We need to improve communications from both directions, but it is ultimately the bishop’s responsibility to at least raise the question....
Then couples need to review their family, health, and financial situations. If they feel that things are in place and if their bishop has not talked to them yet, they should go to their bishop and say, “Bishop, we think it’s time to talk about our going on a mission, and we’d like to talk to you about it.” The bishop will be thrilled and can take care of everything from there."
In 2001 Robert D. Hales said about couples applying for a mission: "The ways in which couples can serve are virtually limitless. From mission office support and leadership training to family history, temple work, and humanitarian service—there is an opportunity to use almost any skill or talent with which the Lord has blessed you.
Sit down with your companion, make an inventory of your health, financial resources, and unique gifts and talents. Then, if all is in order, go to your bishop and say, “We’re ready.” You may feel it is improper to approach your bishop or branch president about your desires to serve a mission. But it is proper for a mature sister or couple to let their priesthood leaders know that they are willing and able to serve a mission. I urge you to do so.
Bishops, there should be no hesitation on your part to initiate a Recommend for Missionary Service interview to discuss and encourage missionary couples to serve a mission."
The Church has some suggestions on personal items to take care of prior to going entitled How You Can Prepare to Serve, which covers practical things like what to do with your house, etc.
Dallin H. Oaks said about senior couples:
"Just as significant, though less visible, are the millions of members now laboring with similar faith and devotion in the remote corners of the Lord’s vineyard. Our faithful senior missionaries provide the best examples I know.
I recently reviewed the missionary papers of over 50 senior couples. All had already served at least three missions when they submitted their papers for another call. Their homes were everywhere from Australia to Arizona, California to Missouri. Their ages ranged from the 60s and early 70s to the—well, never mind. One couple, who were offering themselves for a seventh mission, had already served on Temple Square, in Alaska, in New Zealand, in Kenya, and in Ghana. They were sent to the Philippines. Scores of similar examples could be cited.
The priesthood leaders’ comments on the papers of these couples are testimonies of service and sacrifice. I quote several:
“Willing to go anyplace, do anything for whatever length of time required.”
“[These] are great examples of Church members who dedicate their lives to the Lord.”
“Will go where the Lord wants [us] to go,” another couple noted. “We pray we will be sent where we are needed.”
Priesthood leader comments on the qualifications of these couples provide a good summary of the work our senior missionaries do so effectively.
“He is great in getting programs running and [in] leadership.”
“Their joy is fullest when they are asked to ‘build’ and develop; therefore an assignment in a developing area of the Church may be appropriate. Willing to serve in whatever capacity called.”
“They will likely be of more value working with [less-actives] and converts rather than in offices.”
“They love the youth and have a gift with them.”
“They feel most effective in and have a fondness for leadership support and fellowshipping work.”
“They have slowed down some physically, but not in spiritual matters or missionary zeal.”
“He is a true missionary. His first name is Nephi, and he follows his namesake. She is a tremendous lady, has always been a great example. Will do great wherever called. This is their fifth mission.” (They had previously served in Guam, Nigeria, Vietnam, Pakistan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Giving them some respite from those arduous paths, the Lord’s servants called that couple to serve in the Nauvoo temple.)
Another couple spoke for all these heroes and heroines when they wrote: “Will go anywhere and do what is asked. It is not a sacrifice; it is a privilege.”
These senior missionaries offer a special measure of sacrifice and commitment. So do our mission presidents and temple presidents and their loyal companions. All leave their homes and families to serve full-time for a season. The same is true of the army of young missionaries, who put their lives at home on hold and bid good-bye to family and friends and set forth (usually at their own expense) to serve wherever they are assigned by the Lord."
Give a mission a try you might be surprised how much good you can do and have a blast at the same time. You can even email me for the mission president email mentioned above so you can contact him. He can give you the details if you want go to his mission. I am sure he would be glad to have you down there where the blue oceans and tropical breezes are a delight. Make no mistake couples work hard on a mission but they play hard too. We just enjoy the scenery and ability to afford to go out to restaurants better than young missionaries who have tighter finances. We also stop to smell the flowers or jasmine more. Senior couples still have to follow the mission rules we just are more flexible in our interpretations of them. I can't wait to go again so I can get "forgiveness rather than permission" again for any lapses. Most senior couples I bet are more iron rodders than me.
This week I will be focusing on couple missionaries and older sister missionaries. In fact I am going to try taking a poll or two on this subject.
If you have any questions about serving a couples mission feel free to call the LDS Church Missionary Department in Salt Lake City at 1-800-453-3860, ext 23492 (for those outside the U.S. the country code is 001-801-453-3860 x23492).
Let me know your feelings on the subject from you don't want to go to you have a burning desire to what a great time you had when you did go. It is interesting to hear diverse opinions on the topic and get a better insight on couples serving or not serving. We want to hear every side of the story.
The need for more missionary couples has been expressed by many mission presidents in areas throughout the world including Utah. You can actually live at home and serve as a full-time service missionaries in a few select places. There just doesn't seem to be enough couple missionaries in many remote areas of the world. There really is a critical shortage and a high demand for missionary couples in growing areas of the church.
David B. Haight said about their choosing where they are called: "The need for help outside of the United States is greater simply because of the size of the world. We are fast approaching the day when we will have more members outside of the United States than inside. But the need within the United States is still there.... All missionary calls come from the Lord through inspiration to his servants. Therefore, it is not appropriate for couples to dictate where they will serve. President Howard W. Hunter said, “When we know why we serve, it won’t matter where we serve!”
However, we want to know as much as possible about potential couple missionaries, including what type of assignment they might like. When couple missionaries and sister missionaries apply to serve a mission, they fill out an additional form that provides us with such information as past employment experience, education or training, language skills, Church positions, special skills, abilities, interests, hobbies, and limitations or special circumstances. This information is considered when making assignments, as are age and health. Even couples who respond to openings listed in the “Church Service Missionary Opportunities” bulletin may express their interest in a particular assignment, but the final decision still rests with the Brethren." Even having said that missionary couples and their bishops can still make requests that will be considered in their call by the missionary committee.
President Gordon B. Hinckley has said about the critical shortage in a First Presidency Letter in 2004: " "Along with the need for young elders and sisters, there is a growing need for couples in the mission field. Older married couples are doing a wonderful work in the missions. Many more are needed. . . . With an increasing number of people retiring while they are still possessed of health and vitality, there are many who can fill a tremendous need in the work of the Lord."
One of the reasons I took my current position in the Middle East was to save up enough money to serve with my wife on a couples mission in nine years when our youngest nine year old daughter leaves home for college. I figure a good way to give back to the Lord is to serve a couples mission plus we can have a travel opportunity while doing something enriching and worthwhile. Both of us being converts of one year went on missions to Canada when we were 20 and 21 respectively. We so enjoyed our first missions that we want to go again.
We are actually counting the years. We know it won't be easy to leave behind our eight children who will have dozens of grandchildren by our mission years but we feel it is a great way to bless the lives of our children and grandchildren and set an example for them all to serve the Lord throughout their lives. How cool is it for an elder or sister to say my grandparents are serving in the Bahamas.
We don't really worry about the money issue since serving a couples mission can run between $900 and $2400 a month. Estimated costs are kept by the Missionary Department. Even our social security will pay around $2000 a month so money isn't really the problem for most couple missionaries. Talk to your bishop there might be someone in your area willing to help out. A couple can actually request where they serve in the world if they are strapped for cash. If you don't want to learn a foreign language you don't have to. You can still go somewhere exotic like Poland for $900 a month and you don't even have to speak Polish if you don't want to.
Senior missionaries completely support themselves while on their missions but there are missions for every budget range. It is a bit different for a senior sister missionary, the Church will help subsidize your mission costs and you will be responsible for a monthly equalized payment of $400.00, the same as younger proselyting missionaries.
The biggest expense for couple missionaries is usually getting some form of transportation when a car is not provided by the mission. In the United States couple missionaries have to provide their own car. In other areas of the world they may have different options. There are a few options such as buying a good second-hand vehicle or leasing/renting a car. Many times departing couples will sell you their vehicles at a reduction in price. A few missionary couples even buy surplus mission cars. Senior sisters are treated like a regular sister so she uses the mode of transportation of her younger companion which is provided by the mission itself and could include a car, bicycle, bus or hoofing it.
David B. Haight said about using a car on a mission: "If called to serve in their home country, couples are encouraged to take their own cars. Insurance and maintenance costs for personal vehicles are paid by the couple. No couple is required to take a car; however, there is no guarantee that the mission will be able to provide a car for them. Couples serving in foreign missions usually use public transportation."
The interesting thing is even if you don't have the money there are many wealthy members who will assist couples or senior sisters for various reasons with your monthly living expenses. Many older members can't go because they aren't healthy enough to go themselves or they are too old to go or they are just so rich they want to help others do a good thing. Money should be the last thing to stop a senior missionary couple or senior sister from serving. Talk to your bishop if you desire to go and he can help you work out the financial details or send you to someone who can. My wife tells me she intends going even if I should die. She says our eight kids will chip in a hundred apiece if she is too poor to go.
My wife and I both speak a little Spanish and my mission was Italian-speaking and hers was French-speaking neither of us is adverse to trying out a mission in a foreign language. You do the best you can and the Lord will make up the difference. You can always brush up with Rosetta Stone software and after a couple of missions in the same country you will be able to converse just fine. Some couples go on a mission come home for a year or two and then go back out. As long as your health is good there is no problem serving multiple missions.
Some foreign missions require no foreign language training. Language training is only available pre-MTC and is delivered by telephone from the MTC upon your request after you have received a mission assignment.
You probably wonder what a senior missionary couple does? You can pretty well tailor your talents to a mission lots of times they need you for leadership training. You can also free up other missionaries if you are more a labor type by working in the office as the fleet coordinator or as a secretary to the mission president. The bulletin officially says "Senior missionaries may serve in leadership and member support, visitor centers, and mission offices. Desires to serve in specific areas can be expressed in the Bishop’s or Stake President’s comments." If you don't want to go on a proselyting mission you can go to places like Nauvoo and make bricks and nails, or Hawaii and hang out at the Laie Visitor's Center. Most of them work around 32 hours a week.
David B. Haight says about what they do: "The greatest need is for couples who can help train local leaders in places where the Church is not yet strong. They also help activate members and fellowship new converts. Some couples serve in mission offices as secretaries, financial clerks, vehicle coordinators, and so forth. In more remote areas of the Church, couples may be involved in ward or branch leadership. Also, much goodwill for the Church is promoted by couples who are actively involved in community service.
In addition to working in missions, a limited number of couples serve in temples. Some are given additional assignments to work in family history, public affairs, welfare, Church education, and a variety of other Church-service assignments. In fact, the opportunities for couples are endless because the need for their services is so great. Couples are not expected to tract or memorize the discussions. They are assigned a regular tracting area only if they request it. Most couples work with local priesthood leaders, less-active members, or converts."
Proselyting opportunities are currently available in THE UNITED STATES: California, Iowa, Minnesota,Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, S. Carolina, S. Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.
INTERNATIONALLY: Argentina, Australia, Baltic,Brazil, Canada, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Dominican Republic, DR Congo, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Ghana, Guatemala, Fiji, India, Japan, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Portugal, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Taiwan, Uruguay, South and Central America.
You can actually put in a request for other places and wait if you like. I have never known a mission president to turn down a free helper. You can even serve in Salt Lake City in the church office building with the GA's if that is your style. Me I would rather go hang out in the jungles of the Philippines with some of the friendliest people in the world, sipping drinks while watching the sun set in the evening on the beach with my spouse.
I was very motivated recently to view the video presentation Couple Missionaries A Time to Share. The video helps you understand the process and is well worth your time to view.
In the 25 March 2008 Senior Missionaries Opportunities Bulletin put out by the LDS Church we learn that couple missionaries can serve 12, 18, or 23 months in the United States and Canada or 18 or 23 months in foreign countries. There is an online application process--The Missionary Online Recommendation System--so that couples or senior missionaries can apply from the convenience of their homes. Your bishop can help you if you don't like computers to fill out the forms the old-fashion way. He also has to do some computer work to complete his part of your application and input the results from his personal priesthood interview with you.
David B. Haight says about working with the bishop: "Absolutely! When in doubt, it is the bishop’s responsibility to suggest to couples that they think about going on a mission. He ought to have a list on his desk of all those couples he thinks are eligible. He needs to know something about their family, health, and financial situations. Then he should call them in for a warm and friendly interview and say, “Now that you’re retired, you have the opportunity to be doing something more to help build the kingdom. Have you ever thought about serving a mission?”
We don’t force anyone! We don’t say you have to go! But we are saying that there is a need! Bishops can talk about the couple’s possibility of going in six months or a year if the couple isn’t ready to go right now. It doesn’t have to happen overnight; the need of the Church is ongoing.
I think that some bishops are a little reluctant to bring up the idea of a mission to some couples because they are not sure of all the details in a couple’s life. In that case, a couple should go to the bishop and say, “We’re ready!”
We need to improve communications from both directions, but it is ultimately the bishop’s responsibility to at least raise the question....
Then couples need to review their family, health, and financial situations. If they feel that things are in place and if their bishop has not talked to them yet, they should go to their bishop and say, “Bishop, we think it’s time to talk about our going on a mission, and we’d like to talk to you about it.” The bishop will be thrilled and can take care of everything from there."
In 2001 Robert D. Hales said about couples applying for a mission: "The ways in which couples can serve are virtually limitless. From mission office support and leadership training to family history, temple work, and humanitarian service—there is an opportunity to use almost any skill or talent with which the Lord has blessed you.
Sit down with your companion, make an inventory of your health, financial resources, and unique gifts and talents. Then, if all is in order, go to your bishop and say, “We’re ready.” You may feel it is improper to approach your bishop or branch president about your desires to serve a mission. But it is proper for a mature sister or couple to let their priesthood leaders know that they are willing and able to serve a mission. I urge you to do so.
Bishops, there should be no hesitation on your part to initiate a Recommend for Missionary Service interview to discuss and encourage missionary couples to serve a mission."
The Church has some suggestions on personal items to take care of prior to going entitled How You Can Prepare to Serve, which covers practical things like what to do with your house, etc.
Dallin H. Oaks said about senior couples:
"Just as significant, though less visible, are the millions of members now laboring with similar faith and devotion in the remote corners of the Lord’s vineyard. Our faithful senior missionaries provide the best examples I know.
I recently reviewed the missionary papers of over 50 senior couples. All had already served at least three missions when they submitted their papers for another call. Their homes were everywhere from Australia to Arizona, California to Missouri. Their ages ranged from the 60s and early 70s to the—well, never mind. One couple, who were offering themselves for a seventh mission, had already served on Temple Square, in Alaska, in New Zealand, in Kenya, and in Ghana. They were sent to the Philippines. Scores of similar examples could be cited.
The priesthood leaders’ comments on the papers of these couples are testimonies of service and sacrifice. I quote several:
“Willing to go anyplace, do anything for whatever length of time required.”
“[These] are great examples of Church members who dedicate their lives to the Lord.”
“Will go where the Lord wants [us] to go,” another couple noted. “We pray we will be sent where we are needed.”
Priesthood leader comments on the qualifications of these couples provide a good summary of the work our senior missionaries do so effectively.
“He is great in getting programs running and [in] leadership.”
“Their joy is fullest when they are asked to ‘build’ and develop; therefore an assignment in a developing area of the Church may be appropriate. Willing to serve in whatever capacity called.”
“They will likely be of more value working with [less-actives] and converts rather than in offices.”
“They love the youth and have a gift with them.”
“They feel most effective in and have a fondness for leadership support and fellowshipping work.”
“They have slowed down some physically, but not in spiritual matters or missionary zeal.”
“He is a true missionary. His first name is Nephi, and he follows his namesake. She is a tremendous lady, has always been a great example. Will do great wherever called. This is their fifth mission.” (They had previously served in Guam, Nigeria, Vietnam, Pakistan, Singapore, and Malaysia. Giving them some respite from those arduous paths, the Lord’s servants called that couple to serve in the Nauvoo temple.)
Another couple spoke for all these heroes and heroines when they wrote: “Will go anywhere and do what is asked. It is not a sacrifice; it is a privilege.”
These senior missionaries offer a special measure of sacrifice and commitment. So do our mission presidents and temple presidents and their loyal companions. All leave their homes and families to serve full-time for a season. The same is true of the army of young missionaries, who put their lives at home on hold and bid good-bye to family and friends and set forth (usually at their own expense) to serve wherever they are assigned by the Lord."
Give a mission a try you might be surprised how much good you can do and have a blast at the same time. You can even email me for the mission president email mentioned above so you can contact him. He can give you the details if you want go to his mission. I am sure he would be glad to have you down there where the blue oceans and tropical breezes are a delight. Make no mistake couples work hard on a mission but they play hard too. We just enjoy the scenery and ability to afford to go out to restaurants better than young missionaries who have tighter finances. We also stop to smell the flowers or jasmine more. Senior couples still have to follow the mission rules we just are more flexible in our interpretations of them. I can't wait to go again so I can get "forgiveness rather than permission" again for any lapses. Most senior couples I bet are more iron rodders than me.
This week I will be focusing on couple missionaries and older sister missionaries. In fact I am going to try taking a poll or two on this subject.
If you have any questions about serving a couples mission feel free to call the LDS Church Missionary Department in Salt Lake City at 1-800-453-3860, ext 23492 (for those outside the U.S. the country code is 001-801-453-3860 x23492).
Let me know your feelings on the subject from you don't want to go to you have a burning desire to what a great time you had when you did go. It is interesting to hear diverse opinions on the topic and get a better insight on couples serving or not serving. We want to hear every side of the story.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
McConkie on the Gathering of Israel Being in Own Lands
Since the 1940s there has been a movement among LDS Church leaders to discourage people from leaving their countries and settling in the United States. Most of this stems from the lost of priesthood leadership in these countries. Spencer W. Kimball as well as others have made it an emphasis. Bruce R. McConkie spoke of it throughout the 1970s and 1980s. An interesting thing that occurred in the 1980s was that hundreds of Samoans moved to Jackson County Missouri area in hopes that the second coming was near. Here are a couple examples of Elder McConkie's talks when he accompanied President Kimball on a series of worldwide regional and area conferences.
Bruce R. McConkie in the 1974 Priesthood Leadership Session of the Stockholm Area Conference said: "In our day we are called to accept the gospel, to join with the saints of God, and to remain in the nation of our natural inheritance. In our day we are called to build up the kingdom at the ends of the earth, so that the revelation shall be fulfilled which says that when the Lord comes he will find “the Church of the Lamb of God … upon all the face of the earth....” (1 Ne. 14:12.) In that day the number of the saints will be “few” as compared to the forces of evil, but they will nonetheless be established “among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.” (1 Ne. 14:11.)
And you may rest assured that when these Saints are well established, as they will be, in all parts of the earth, they will be organized into stakes of Zion. These stakes will then be the gathering places for the righteous in the various nations.
Remember it was the Lord who put us here. He sent us from his presence to be Germans and Japanese, to be Koreans and Turks, to be Russians and Brazilians. He is the one who scattered Israel and decreed that “the covenant people of the Lord” would be “upon all the face of the earth” at the day of his Second Coming. (1 Ne. 14:14.) He knows the probationary experiences we need while here in mortality. He knows who he needs to labor in all the various parts of his vineyard. What a blessed privilege it is for us to have the call that is ours and to labor in the field of our present assignment!"
In the 1974 Mexico, City Area Conference Elder McConkie said: "“Now I call your attention to the facts, set forth in these scriptures, that the gathering of Israel consists of joining the true Church, of coming to a knowledge of the true God and of his saving truths, and of worshiping him in the congregations of the Saints in all nations and among all peoples. Please note that these revealed words speak of the folds of the Lord, of Israel being gathered to the lands of their inheritance, of Israel being established in all their lands of promise, and of there being congregations of the covenant people of the Lord in every nation, speaking every tongue, and among every people when the Lord comes again.”
Even Ezra Taft Benson in the late 1970s and early 1980s spoke about gathering being to wherever a stake of Zion exists. I am sure that despite these pleadings that there has been a terrible drain of priesthood from countries such as Mexico. I lived on the border of Mexico in Calexico which is a sister city of Mexicali, Mexico. We had many former bishops and stake presidents throughout the southern region of California, as well as in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas who had served in such callings when only in their 20s. I wonder if it is still a persistent occurrence today?
Bruce R. McConkie in the 1974 Priesthood Leadership Session of the Stockholm Area Conference said: "In our day we are called to accept the gospel, to join with the saints of God, and to remain in the nation of our natural inheritance. In our day we are called to build up the kingdom at the ends of the earth, so that the revelation shall be fulfilled which says that when the Lord comes he will find “the Church of the Lamb of God … upon all the face of the earth....” (1 Ne. 14:12.) In that day the number of the saints will be “few” as compared to the forces of evil, but they will nonetheless be established “among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people.” (1 Ne. 14:11.)
And you may rest assured that when these Saints are well established, as they will be, in all parts of the earth, they will be organized into stakes of Zion. These stakes will then be the gathering places for the righteous in the various nations.
Remember it was the Lord who put us here. He sent us from his presence to be Germans and Japanese, to be Koreans and Turks, to be Russians and Brazilians. He is the one who scattered Israel and decreed that “the covenant people of the Lord” would be “upon all the face of the earth” at the day of his Second Coming. (1 Ne. 14:14.) He knows the probationary experiences we need while here in mortality. He knows who he needs to labor in all the various parts of his vineyard. What a blessed privilege it is for us to have the call that is ours and to labor in the field of our present assignment!"
In the 1974 Mexico, City Area Conference Elder McConkie said: "“Now I call your attention to the facts, set forth in these scriptures, that the gathering of Israel consists of joining the true Church, of coming to a knowledge of the true God and of his saving truths, and of worshiping him in the congregations of the Saints in all nations and among all peoples. Please note that these revealed words speak of the folds of the Lord, of Israel being gathered to the lands of their inheritance, of Israel being established in all their lands of promise, and of there being congregations of the covenant people of the Lord in every nation, speaking every tongue, and among every people when the Lord comes again.”
Even Ezra Taft Benson in the late 1970s and early 1980s spoke about gathering being to wherever a stake of Zion exists. I am sure that despite these pleadings that there has been a terrible drain of priesthood from countries such as Mexico. I lived on the border of Mexico in Calexico which is a sister city of Mexicali, Mexico. We had many former bishops and stake presidents throughout the southern region of California, as well as in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas who had served in such callings when only in their 20s. I wonder if it is still a persistent occurrence today?
Friday, March 28, 2008
Masturbation and Missionaries: Is it a Harmless Practice?
Before I joined the Church I had had a brief time when I was seventeen where I had fallen in to some moral problems which lasted for about two months when I had a relationship with a girl. When I joined the church I repented of my lapse and was extra vigilant about living the standards of the Church. I never had a problem with masturbation before my mission and remained clean until I was married in the temple at the age of 28.
Considering I came from a home where my father a shift boss in a gambling casino in Las Vegas was involved in adultery and continually goaded me about being "a man" my lifestyle after I joined the Church was antithetical to that of my family members who were Italian mafia types. My family was in to gambling, drinking, and womanizing. Everyone of my siblings was immoral before marriage. One time my father embarrassed me by closing my bedroom door when a girlfriend was talking to me. It was actually a major achievement for me to refrain from such practices coming from such a background until I was seventeen.
I was actually very shy as a teenager and didn't go out until I was seventeen on my first date. I now wish I had waited longer. Most Mormons had no clue of the moral strength it took for me to reject the traditions of my father. All my siblings had moral problems. One got married at fifteen and had a baby. Two lived with women before they were married.
The point is that I was very knowledgeable of the things of this world particularly when it came to moral issues because I saw family members succumb to them. Even in my own life I didn't just go out one day and carry on with a girl I started out thinking about it. Once you go down that road it is hard to stop. Being one that had fallen even briefly I tried not to be hypocritical but repentance makes us eschew sin in any form. I went through hell in my repentance and wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
I joined the church at nineteen and a fourteen months later went on a mission. I feel my sins were washed cleaned during my baptism. When I was on a mission in Canada Toronto I went on a missionary exchange for a couple of days with another junior companion who spent a couple nights. I usually slept like a log and got up later than my companion about ten or fifteen minutes late every day. I woke up early because I heard this elder moaning over and over again Connie, Connie, Connie. Not knowing if he was sleeping or awake I said Elder what is going on. He said don't worry elder I was just dreaming. I suspected that something was not right but I let it go. I didn't think about masturbation since I thought maybe he was having a wet dream and was too embarrassed to say anything. I figured it was no big deal since you can't always control your dreams.
In fact the Church's Parents' Guide says: "In the boy, millions of sperm grow in the testicles within spermatic fluid. When the fluid and sperm fill the tubules and testes, they are automatically released or ejaculated. This usually happens during sleep and is called nocturnal emissions or “wet dreams.” Sexual dreams are not always present, but they can trigger a nocturnal emission or ejaculation. In either case this is not masturbation."
The next morning I heard the same moaning. I became convinced he was up to no good but I couldn't prove it since I couldn't see him doing it since he had a blanket over him. I actually teased him about it and said something like how do you have the same dream two nights in a row. He assured me that there wasn't anything he could do to control his dreams and had this reoccurring dream often involving this girl Connie. I knew he was lying to me but since I was considered a screw up missionary I knew turning him in would get me in more trouble than him so I didn't report it. I didn't have visual proof other than my instincts so I left it alone in the hands of the Lord to deal with him. It troubled me since until that point I was oblivious to the fact that masturbation was a problem for Mormon youth let alone missionaries.
I was also a bit perturbed because Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone had just spoken out against the practice in the April 1975 General Conference that this missionary must have listened to.
Elder Featherstone told us "President J. Reuben Clark gave me great light many years ago on a great tremendous subject. He said (and these are my words, not his) that the sex urge does not have to be satisfied, that Satan’s old lie is that it does have to be satisfied.
I am sorry to tell you that there are men in high places who have some fairly major moral problems, even as youth have the same problems.
We shouldn’t have a problem with masturbation. I know one fine father who interviewed his 11-year-old son and he said, “Son, if you never masturbate, the time will come in your life when you will be able to sit in front of your bishop at age 19, and say to him, ‘I have never done that in my life,’ and then you can go to the stake president when you are interviewed for your mission and tell him, ‘I have never done that in my life.’ And you would be quite a rare young man.”
The father again interviewed the young man, who is now 18 years old, and he asked the son about masturbation. The son said, “I have never done that in my life. You told me, Dad, that if I didn’t do that, I would be able to sit in front of the bishop and stake president and tell them I had never done it, and I would be a rare young man, and I am going to be able to do it.”
Our mission president talked continually about staying morally clean. I think he told us a missionary masturbating would be grounds for being sent home if it was a persistent problem. When I was young they would even announce when a person was disfellowshipped or excommunicated for immorality by name. Having overcome my own problems I was rather inflexible about others having problems and felt they should confess, repent and move on with their lives. There are many who think that masturbation is no big deal but it involves self-gratification that usually involves fantasizes about committing fornication or adultery.
Whenever I think about masturbation being wrong I remember Matthew in the New Testament said:
"Matt. 5: 28 (27-28).
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
I also think of the scripture in Mosiah 4:30 which says:
But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish.
President Kimball in the Ensign in 1980 amplified the position he had on masturbation in the Miracle of Forgiveness. In his article entitled "President Kimball speaks out on morality" he says:
"The early apostles and prophets mention numerous sins that were reprehensible to them. Many of them were sexual sins—adultery, being without natural affection, lustfulness, infidelity, incontinence, filthy communications, impurity, inordinate affection, fornication. They included all sexual relations outside marriage—petting, sex perversion, masturbation, and preoccupation with sex in one’s thoughts and talking. Included are every hidden and secret sin and all unholy and impure thoughts and practices. One of the worst of these is incest. The dictionary defines incest as “sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry.” The spirituality of one’s life may be severely, and sometimes irreparably, damaged by such an ugly sin. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have determined that the penalty for incest shall be excommunication. Also, one excommunicated for incest shall not be baptized again into the Church without the written permission of the First Presidency.
Conscience tells the individual when he is entering forbidden worlds, and it continues to prick until silenced by the will or by sin’s repetition.
Can anyone truthfully say he did not know such things were wrong? These unholy practices, whatever may be their unmentionable names with all their approaches and numerous manifestations, are condemned by the Lord and his church. Some may be more heinous than others, but all are sin, in spite of statements to the contrary of those who falsely pretend to know. The Lord’s prophets declare they are not right....
Masturbation, a rather common indiscretion, is not approved of the Lord nor of his church, regardless of what may have been said by others whose “norms” are lower. Latter-day Saints are urged to avoid this practice. Anyone fettered by this weakness should abandon the habit before he goes on a mission or receives the holy priesthood or goes in the temple for his blessings.
Sometimes masturbation is the introduction to the more serious sins of exhibitionism and the gross sin of homosexuality. We would avoid mentioning these unholy terms and these reprehensible practices were it not for the fact that we have a responsibility to the youth of Zion that they be not deceived by those who would call bad good, and black white.
The Parents' Guide also says: "One example: masturbation is considered by many in the world to be the harmless expression of an instinctive sex drive. Teach your children that the prophets have condemned it as a sin throughout the ages and that they can choose not to do it. Throughout childhood, boys and girls have touched their own genitals frequently to wash and to dress. This is a behavior that usually has the same meaning as keeping one’s feet warm in the winter, enjoying a swim on a hot day, or scratching an itch. We ought to be friendly to our bodies and appreciate the body’s marvelous range of senses. This innocent touching is not the kind of behavior warned against by prophets through the ages. The sin of masturbation occurs when a person stimulates his or her own sex organs for the purpose of sexual arousal. It is a perversion of the body’s passions. When we pervert these passions and intentionally use them for selfish, immoral purposes, we become carnal.
Masturbation is not physically necessary. There is already a way by which the male system relieves excessive spermatic fluid quite regularly through the nocturnal emission or wet dream. Monthly menstrual flow expels the female’s egg and cleanses the womb. For both sexes, physical or emotional tensions can be released by vigorous activity. Thus, in a biological sense, masturbation for either gender is not necessary. In a gospel sense, it is a sin: “Masturbation, a rather common indiscretion, is not approved of the Lord nor of His Church regardless of what may have been said by others whose ‘norms’ are lower. Latter-day Saints are urged to avoid this practice” (Spencer W. Kimball, Love Versus Lust, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 5 Jan. 1965], p. 22)."
The Family Home Evening Resource Manual states: "As boys and girls reach physical maturity, curiosity in one’s body may result in self-stimulation (masturbation)” (Relief Society Courses of Study [1972–73], p. 203).
The world rationalizes that masturbation is natural and healthy. However, President Spencer W. Kimball states the Lord’s view as follows: “Prophets anciently and today condemn masturbation. It induces feelings of guilt and shame. It is detrimental to spirituality. It indicates slavery to the flesh, not that mastery of it and the growth toward godhood which is the object of our mortal life. … No young man should be called on a mission who is not free from this practice.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 77.) "
John M. Madsen in 1991 in the Church News talked about sexual immorality: "'It was my privilege to be present on Oct. 13, 1987, in the Marriott Center on the Brigham Young University campus, as our prophet President Ezra Taft Benson delivered a devotional address. He spoke on the law of chastity. I wish all the youth of the Church could have been present to hear his message and feel his love.
He said, ``From the beginning of time, the Lord has set a clear and unmistakable standard of sexual purity. That standard is the law of chastity. It is the same for all--it is the same for men and women; it is the same for old and young; it is the same for rich and poor . . . . The law of chastity is a principle of eternal significance. We must not be swayed by the voices of the world. We must listen to the voice of the Lord and then determine that we will set our feet irrevocably upon the path He has marked.`` . . . I say again, as have all the prophets before me, there is one standard of virtue and chastity and all are expected to adhere to it. What the Lord says to one, He says to all; `Ye must practice virtue and holiness before me continually.' '' (D&C 46:33.)
In the excellent and timely booklet, ``For the Strength of Youth,'' the Lord through His servants has set before us the standards of the Church, including the law of chastity or sexual purity. We are told that ``the Lord specifically forbids certain behavior, including all sexual relations before marriage, petting, sex perversion (such as homosexuality, rape and incest), masturbation, or preoccupation with sex in thought, speech or action.'' (FSY p. 15.) In their letter of introduction in that booklet the First Presidency counsels and pleads with us to live morally clean lives, keeping both our ``bodies and minds clean, free from the contaminations of the world,'' so that we will be ``fit and pure vessels to bear the responsibilities of the kingdom of God in preparation for the second coming of our Savior.'' (FSY p. 4-5.)
There are other voices, the ``voices of the world.'' They are the seductive, persuasive, ``learned,'' evil and always confused voices that entice us to disobey the law of chastity. (D&C 46:7-8.) They would have us believe that to have ``fun,'' to be ``free,'' ``popular'' or experience ``self-fulfillment,'' we must abandon all standards of sexual purity and decency. All such doctrines are inspired of the devil, the father of lies who seeks to ``deceive'' and ``blind'' and lead away ``captive'' the souls of men. (See Moses 4:3-6.) The scriptures record the awful, bitter, tragic and deadly fruits of sexual immorality. (Moses 5:12-13; 7:33-34; Gen. 19; Jacob 2:5-9, 31-35; 3:11-12; Alma 39:5-9.)
We have before us the voices of the Lord and His servants, and the voices of the devil and his servants. Latter-day Saint youth, what is your choice? Who do you believe? Who will you follow? As Joshua said of old, ``Choose you this day whom ye will serve. . . . '' (Josh. 24:14-15; see also Rom. 6:16; Alma 29:5.)
As you make your choice, remember, you are free to choose! But you are not free from the consequences of your choices. (2 Ne. 2:27-29.) ("Listen to the Voice of the Lord to Keep Bodies, Minds Free from Contamination," Church News [Saturday, 14 September 14 1991]: 5).
Joseph B. Wirthlin said: "To help missionaries remain faithful and obedient, we give them a little handbook. We ask them to carry it with them and read from it often. We have also provided a handbook for our young men and young women. Its title is "For the Strength of Youth. We ask you to carry it with you, refer to it frequently, and live according to the counsel it contains. That counsel can protect you from evil and help you to obey even when obedience is difficult.
As you build your lives in obedience to the gospel and strive to achieve your goals, do not become discouraged by temporary setbacks and disappointments. Remember that “it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.” You will grow and learn by overcoming obstacles. The Lord has admonished all of us to “keep [His] commandments and endure to the end.”
No doubt, you young men have learned that obedience is not always easy. In fact, it can sometimes seem stifling, uncomfortable, or even impossible. “But with God all things are possible.” You can be obedient. You can defeat Satan and overcome temptation. God “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” The Lord does not expect anything of you that you cannot do. Remember Nephi’s faith when he testified that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”
We live in a world filled with evil. Swirling all around us are the whirlwinds of strife and contention, temptation and sin. “The priesthood is a shield against temptation; it motivates and inspires young men to the highest and noblest of deeds; every young man, whether he holds the office of deacon, teacher, or priest, is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
How could we serve Him unless we were free from the evils of mortal life? Some mistakenly think it is impossible to avoid the sins of the world. To escape evil, a few even attempt to isolate themselves from society. The Savior prayed “not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” That, too, is our prayer for you young men." (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Live in Obedience,” Ensign, May 1994, 39).
In Preach My Gospel we are told: "God delights in chastity and hates sexual sin. Chastity includes strict abstinence from sexual relations before marriage and complete fidelity and loyalty to one’s spouse after marriage. Those who live the law of chastity enjoy the strength that comes from self-control.
They enjoy confidence and trust in their family relationships. They can enjoy more fully the influence of the Holy Ghost in their lives. Those who break this law are subject to a lastingsense of shame and guilt that burdens their lives.
Chastity requires faithfulness in thought and action. We must keep our thoughts clean and be modest in our dress, speech, and actions. We must avoid pornography in any form. We should treat the God-given procreative power and our bodies as sacred. Baptismal candidates are to live the law of chastity, which prohibits any sexual relations outside of a legal marriage between a man and a woman. They are not to participate in abortions or homosexual or lesbian relations. Those who have committed sexual sin can repent and be forgiven. (Preach My Gospel, Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 2004, p. 77)
I recently talked with an active church member who told me that masturbation was a natural practice and no big deal. I beg to differ I feel it leads to greater sin. You have to think about something in order to self-stimulate yourself. I know that many people argue that the General Authorities don't get in the bedroom anymore but I think as far as single people go that we shouldn't wink at missionaries masturbating as just a natural thing. I can tell you from experience that any form of sexual sin is wrong.
Considering I came from a home where my father a shift boss in a gambling casino in Las Vegas was involved in adultery and continually goaded me about being "a man" my lifestyle after I joined the Church was antithetical to that of my family members who were Italian mafia types. My family was in to gambling, drinking, and womanizing. Everyone of my siblings was immoral before marriage. One time my father embarrassed me by closing my bedroom door when a girlfriend was talking to me. It was actually a major achievement for me to refrain from such practices coming from such a background until I was seventeen.
I was actually very shy as a teenager and didn't go out until I was seventeen on my first date. I now wish I had waited longer. Most Mormons had no clue of the moral strength it took for me to reject the traditions of my father. All my siblings had moral problems. One got married at fifteen and had a baby. Two lived with women before they were married.
The point is that I was very knowledgeable of the things of this world particularly when it came to moral issues because I saw family members succumb to them. Even in my own life I didn't just go out one day and carry on with a girl I started out thinking about it. Once you go down that road it is hard to stop. Being one that had fallen even briefly I tried not to be hypocritical but repentance makes us eschew sin in any form. I went through hell in my repentance and wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy.
I joined the church at nineteen and a fourteen months later went on a mission. I feel my sins were washed cleaned during my baptism. When I was on a mission in Canada Toronto I went on a missionary exchange for a couple of days with another junior companion who spent a couple nights. I usually slept like a log and got up later than my companion about ten or fifteen minutes late every day. I woke up early because I heard this elder moaning over and over again Connie, Connie, Connie. Not knowing if he was sleeping or awake I said Elder what is going on. He said don't worry elder I was just dreaming. I suspected that something was not right but I let it go. I didn't think about masturbation since I thought maybe he was having a wet dream and was too embarrassed to say anything. I figured it was no big deal since you can't always control your dreams.
In fact the Church's Parents' Guide says: "In the boy, millions of sperm grow in the testicles within spermatic fluid. When the fluid and sperm fill the tubules and testes, they are automatically released or ejaculated. This usually happens during sleep and is called nocturnal emissions or “wet dreams.” Sexual dreams are not always present, but they can trigger a nocturnal emission or ejaculation. In either case this is not masturbation."
The next morning I heard the same moaning. I became convinced he was up to no good but I couldn't prove it since I couldn't see him doing it since he had a blanket over him. I actually teased him about it and said something like how do you have the same dream two nights in a row. He assured me that there wasn't anything he could do to control his dreams and had this reoccurring dream often involving this girl Connie. I knew he was lying to me but since I was considered a screw up missionary I knew turning him in would get me in more trouble than him so I didn't report it. I didn't have visual proof other than my instincts so I left it alone in the hands of the Lord to deal with him. It troubled me since until that point I was oblivious to the fact that masturbation was a problem for Mormon youth let alone missionaries.
I was also a bit perturbed because Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone had just spoken out against the practice in the April 1975 General Conference that this missionary must have listened to.
Elder Featherstone told us "President J. Reuben Clark gave me great light many years ago on a great tremendous subject. He said (and these are my words, not his) that the sex urge does not have to be satisfied, that Satan’s old lie is that it does have to be satisfied.
I am sorry to tell you that there are men in high places who have some fairly major moral problems, even as youth have the same problems.
We shouldn’t have a problem with masturbation. I know one fine father who interviewed his 11-year-old son and he said, “Son, if you never masturbate, the time will come in your life when you will be able to sit in front of your bishop at age 19, and say to him, ‘I have never done that in my life,’ and then you can go to the stake president when you are interviewed for your mission and tell him, ‘I have never done that in my life.’ And you would be quite a rare young man.”
The father again interviewed the young man, who is now 18 years old, and he asked the son about masturbation. The son said, “I have never done that in my life. You told me, Dad, that if I didn’t do that, I would be able to sit in front of the bishop and stake president and tell them I had never done it, and I would be a rare young man, and I am going to be able to do it.”
Our mission president talked continually about staying morally clean. I think he told us a missionary masturbating would be grounds for being sent home if it was a persistent problem. When I was young they would even announce when a person was disfellowshipped or excommunicated for immorality by name. Having overcome my own problems I was rather inflexible about others having problems and felt they should confess, repent and move on with their lives. There are many who think that masturbation is no big deal but it involves self-gratification that usually involves fantasizes about committing fornication or adultery.
Whenever I think about masturbation being wrong I remember Matthew in the New Testament said:
"Matt. 5: 28 (27-28).
28 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
I also think of the scripture in Mosiah 4:30 which says:
But this much I can tell you, that if ye do not watch yourselves, and your thoughts, and your words, and your deeds, and observe the commandments of God, and continue in the faith of what ye have heard concerning the coming of our Lord, even unto the end of your lives, ye must perish.
President Kimball in the Ensign in 1980 amplified the position he had on masturbation in the Miracle of Forgiveness. In his article entitled "President Kimball speaks out on morality" he says:
"The early apostles and prophets mention numerous sins that were reprehensible to them. Many of them were sexual sins—adultery, being without natural affection, lustfulness, infidelity, incontinence, filthy communications, impurity, inordinate affection, fornication. They included all sexual relations outside marriage—petting, sex perversion, masturbation, and preoccupation with sex in one’s thoughts and talking. Included are every hidden and secret sin and all unholy and impure thoughts and practices. One of the worst of these is incest. The dictionary defines incest as “sexual intercourse between persons so closely related that they are forbidden by law to marry.” The spirituality of one’s life may be severely, and sometimes irreparably, damaged by such an ugly sin. The First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve have determined that the penalty for incest shall be excommunication. Also, one excommunicated for incest shall not be baptized again into the Church without the written permission of the First Presidency.
Conscience tells the individual when he is entering forbidden worlds, and it continues to prick until silenced by the will or by sin’s repetition.
Can anyone truthfully say he did not know such things were wrong? These unholy practices, whatever may be their unmentionable names with all their approaches and numerous manifestations, are condemned by the Lord and his church. Some may be more heinous than others, but all are sin, in spite of statements to the contrary of those who falsely pretend to know. The Lord’s prophets declare they are not right....
Masturbation, a rather common indiscretion, is not approved of the Lord nor of his church, regardless of what may have been said by others whose “norms” are lower. Latter-day Saints are urged to avoid this practice. Anyone fettered by this weakness should abandon the habit before he goes on a mission or receives the holy priesthood or goes in the temple for his blessings.
Sometimes masturbation is the introduction to the more serious sins of exhibitionism and the gross sin of homosexuality. We would avoid mentioning these unholy terms and these reprehensible practices were it not for the fact that we have a responsibility to the youth of Zion that they be not deceived by those who would call bad good, and black white.
The Parents' Guide also says: "One example: masturbation is considered by many in the world to be the harmless expression of an instinctive sex drive. Teach your children that the prophets have condemned it as a sin throughout the ages and that they can choose not to do it. Throughout childhood, boys and girls have touched their own genitals frequently to wash and to dress. This is a behavior that usually has the same meaning as keeping one’s feet warm in the winter, enjoying a swim on a hot day, or scratching an itch. We ought to be friendly to our bodies and appreciate the body’s marvelous range of senses. This innocent touching is not the kind of behavior warned against by prophets through the ages. The sin of masturbation occurs when a person stimulates his or her own sex organs for the purpose of sexual arousal. It is a perversion of the body’s passions. When we pervert these passions and intentionally use them for selfish, immoral purposes, we become carnal.
Masturbation is not physically necessary. There is already a way by which the male system relieves excessive spermatic fluid quite regularly through the nocturnal emission or wet dream. Monthly menstrual flow expels the female’s egg and cleanses the womb. For both sexes, physical or emotional tensions can be released by vigorous activity. Thus, in a biological sense, masturbation for either gender is not necessary. In a gospel sense, it is a sin: “Masturbation, a rather common indiscretion, is not approved of the Lord nor of His Church regardless of what may have been said by others whose ‘norms’ are lower. Latter-day Saints are urged to avoid this practice” (Spencer W. Kimball, Love Versus Lust, Brigham Young University Speeches of the Year [Provo, 5 Jan. 1965], p. 22)."
The Family Home Evening Resource Manual states: "As boys and girls reach physical maturity, curiosity in one’s body may result in self-stimulation (masturbation)” (Relief Society Courses of Study [1972–73], p. 203).
The world rationalizes that masturbation is natural and healthy. However, President Spencer W. Kimball states the Lord’s view as follows: “Prophets anciently and today condemn masturbation. It induces feelings of guilt and shame. It is detrimental to spirituality. It indicates slavery to the flesh, not that mastery of it and the growth toward godhood which is the object of our mortal life. … No young man should be called on a mission who is not free from this practice.” (The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 77.) "
John M. Madsen in 1991 in the Church News talked about sexual immorality: "'It was my privilege to be present on Oct. 13, 1987, in the Marriott Center on the Brigham Young University campus, as our prophet President Ezra Taft Benson delivered a devotional address. He spoke on the law of chastity. I wish all the youth of the Church could have been present to hear his message and feel his love.
He said, ``From the beginning of time, the Lord has set a clear and unmistakable standard of sexual purity. That standard is the law of chastity. It is the same for all--it is the same for men and women; it is the same for old and young; it is the same for rich and poor . . . . The law of chastity is a principle of eternal significance. We must not be swayed by the voices of the world. We must listen to the voice of the Lord and then determine that we will set our feet irrevocably upon the path He has marked.`` . . . I say again, as have all the prophets before me, there is one standard of virtue and chastity and all are expected to adhere to it. What the Lord says to one, He says to all; `Ye must practice virtue and holiness before me continually.' '' (D&C 46:33.)
In the excellent and timely booklet, ``For the Strength of Youth,'' the Lord through His servants has set before us the standards of the Church, including the law of chastity or sexual purity. We are told that ``the Lord specifically forbids certain behavior, including all sexual relations before marriage, petting, sex perversion (such as homosexuality, rape and incest), masturbation, or preoccupation with sex in thought, speech or action.'' (FSY p. 15.) In their letter of introduction in that booklet the First Presidency counsels and pleads with us to live morally clean lives, keeping both our ``bodies and minds clean, free from the contaminations of the world,'' so that we will be ``fit and pure vessels to bear the responsibilities of the kingdom of God in preparation for the second coming of our Savior.'' (FSY p. 4-5.)
There are other voices, the ``voices of the world.'' They are the seductive, persuasive, ``learned,'' evil and always confused voices that entice us to disobey the law of chastity. (D&C 46:7-8.) They would have us believe that to have ``fun,'' to be ``free,'' ``popular'' or experience ``self-fulfillment,'' we must abandon all standards of sexual purity and decency. All such doctrines are inspired of the devil, the father of lies who seeks to ``deceive'' and ``blind'' and lead away ``captive'' the souls of men. (See Moses 4:3-6.) The scriptures record the awful, bitter, tragic and deadly fruits of sexual immorality. (Moses 5:12-13; 7:33-34; Gen. 19; Jacob 2:5-9, 31-35; 3:11-12; Alma 39:5-9.)
We have before us the voices of the Lord and His servants, and the voices of the devil and his servants. Latter-day Saint youth, what is your choice? Who do you believe? Who will you follow? As Joshua said of old, ``Choose you this day whom ye will serve. . . . '' (Josh. 24:14-15; see also Rom. 6:16; Alma 29:5.)
As you make your choice, remember, you are free to choose! But you are not free from the consequences of your choices. (2 Ne. 2:27-29.) ("Listen to the Voice of the Lord to Keep Bodies, Minds Free from Contamination," Church News [Saturday, 14 September 14 1991]: 5).
Joseph B. Wirthlin said: "To help missionaries remain faithful and obedient, we give them a little handbook. We ask them to carry it with them and read from it often. We have also provided a handbook for our young men and young women. Its title is "For the Strength of Youth. We ask you to carry it with you, refer to it frequently, and live according to the counsel it contains. That counsel can protect you from evil and help you to obey even when obedience is difficult.
As you build your lives in obedience to the gospel and strive to achieve your goals, do not become discouraged by temporary setbacks and disappointments. Remember that “it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things.” You will grow and learn by overcoming obstacles. The Lord has admonished all of us to “keep [His] commandments and endure to the end.”
No doubt, you young men have learned that obedience is not always easy. In fact, it can sometimes seem stifling, uncomfortable, or even impossible. “But with God all things are possible.” You can be obedient. You can defeat Satan and overcome temptation. God “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” The Lord does not expect anything of you that you cannot do. Remember Nephi’s faith when he testified that “the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”
We live in a world filled with evil. Swirling all around us are the whirlwinds of strife and contention, temptation and sin. “The priesthood is a shield against temptation; it motivates and inspires young men to the highest and noblest of deeds; every young man, whether he holds the office of deacon, teacher, or priest, is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
How could we serve Him unless we were free from the evils of mortal life? Some mistakenly think it is impossible to avoid the sins of the world. To escape evil, a few even attempt to isolate themselves from society. The Savior prayed “not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” That, too, is our prayer for you young men." (Joseph B. Wirthlin, “Live in Obedience,” Ensign, May 1994, 39).
In Preach My Gospel we are told: "God delights in chastity and hates sexual sin. Chastity includes strict abstinence from sexual relations before marriage and complete fidelity and loyalty to one’s spouse after marriage. Those who live the law of chastity enjoy the strength that comes from self-control.
They enjoy confidence and trust in their family relationships. They can enjoy more fully the influence of the Holy Ghost in their lives. Those who break this law are subject to a lastingsense of shame and guilt that burdens their lives.
Chastity requires faithfulness in thought and action. We must keep our thoughts clean and be modest in our dress, speech, and actions. We must avoid pornography in any form. We should treat the God-given procreative power and our bodies as sacred. Baptismal candidates are to live the law of chastity, which prohibits any sexual relations outside of a legal marriage between a man and a woman. They are not to participate in abortions or homosexual or lesbian relations. Those who have committed sexual sin can repent and be forgiven. (Preach My Gospel, Salt Lake City: Intellectual Reserve, 2004, p. 77)
I recently talked with an active church member who told me that masturbation was a natural practice and no big deal. I beg to differ I feel it leads to greater sin. You have to think about something in order to self-stimulate yourself. I know that many people argue that the General Authorities don't get in the bedroom anymore but I think as far as single people go that we shouldn't wink at missionaries masturbating as just a natural thing. I can tell you from experience that any form of sexual sin is wrong.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Spiritual Transformation: Thoughts on My Daughter Being Born Again While Serving a Mission
Ever since my daughter has been a baby I have taught her that it was a question of when she served a mission not if she would serve a mission. When she was barely three years old I began singing to her and her sister Gianina I hope they call me on a mission when I have grown a foot or two. I remember carrying her on my back and her sister in a baby carrier walking on the streets of Provo. At night I would sit by the side of their beds and talk to them about the gospel and Heavenly Father. Every now and then my wife and I would talk about how we joined the Church and went on missions a year after we were baptized. Then we would kneel down and pray for the missionaries and that one day they would be missionaries.
My daughter and her sister were very intelligent. By the time she was three and her sister two my wife and I began teaching them to memorize scriptures and poems. We waded through the Book of Mormon. She knew about fifty seminary scriptures. We recited the Road Not Taken by Robert Frost for weeks until they could say it perfectly. It was amazing to see her at eighteen months toddle up the podium during a testimony meeting and bear her testimony without any help. I had her stand on a table and practiced bearing her testimony for several weeks. I told my wife we would not be like parents who stood by the side of their kid and spoke in their ear.
As she grew older she had one or two spiritual experiences. When she was about five I asked by a man in Hawaii for a special priesthood blessing. I had him sit on a plastic step stool we used to let my four daughters use to climb up to the bathroom sink and brush their teeth. During the prayer I felt the Holy Ghost enter the room and felt a strong presence as I blessed him to receive the desire of his heart. She said she opened her eyes and saw a heavenly being standing next to me. She said she recognized him as being Jesus Christ. My daughter always had a sensitivity to the Holy Ghost.
As she grew to her teenage years our family grew to eight children. We moved around quite a bit about eleven times in her life. Despite the fact there was a lot of stress in our home she never wavered about going on a mission. She would constantly say when some of the younger ones questioned whether they should serve a mission that she was going one day. She told them all you are all going on a mission despite the fact that one or two of her seven sisters would say no I'm not I'm getting married that is what the Church teaches. I would remind them that Sister Flora Benson and their mother served missions and that any guy who wanted to marry one of my daughters could wait like Ezra Taft Benson for them. In the grand scheme what was a year and a half. Then I would remind them that the divorce rate dropped by half for Mormon women at the age of twenty-four and sisters came home at twenty-three and a half and need six months to get married.
In her teenage years she rebelled not against going on a mission but against the prescriptive standards of the Church. Having suffered a brief bout of promiscuity for three months when I was seventeen I warned my children of the dangers of immorality and the hell I suffered when my girlfriend carried on with three boys at the same time and had an abortion. She knew the story and yet she told me one day she didn't care she was going to live her life the way she wanted. I told her she was on the road to hell and she would regret it unless she repented. I was disappointed because I never wanted to see my children suffer as I did the overwhelming power of almost being destroy spiritually for a moments lapse. I remembered the darkness I felt over the loss of what could have been my first child and the suffering and loss I felt as I cried out to the Lord for forgiveness. She made a few mistakes but straightened out her life.
Finally she became twenty-one and she didn't put in her papers. She became serious with a Hispanic boy who wasn't a member and spent an excessive amount of time with him. He joined the Church for her. I didn't feel right about him not because he was a bad boy but because I knew she needed to go on a mission and he disrespected her. They were so serious they even had a joint bank account which I told her was a huge mistake. I had a rule that no one could be in their bedrooms on a few occasions I caught him there and told him that I had a rule that said no one can be in my daughters' room and that they had to have two feet on the floor at all times. They assured me nothing was happening but having respect in the Spanish culture was something culturally that I knew was practiced as many of my friends talked to me of respectivo. It was part of the Texas culture where we lived.
Despite all that she decided that since a mission meant so much to me she would go and that her boyfriend would help support her and that they had eight thousand dollars between them. They were still too young to get married since he was actually a year younger than her. I knew because the Spirit had told me that her boyfriend had been involved with other girls when he went for diesel training in Illinois. I told her he wasn't going to be there when she got home. She didn't believe me.
A few months dragged on and she didn't put in her papers right at twenty-one. Her sister moved down to Houston to work the summer mostly to get her to go on a mission. In July they both came up to Utah on a greyhound bus. She put in her papers and was called in September 2006 to the Daejeon Korea Mission.
She was very excited and had me bring home all the books at the public library that I directed. She began learning Korean using the Rosetta Stone Software we provided patrons at the library.
Soon the day of her mission came and we went to the MTC. We meet up with her sister who was a business major. We stood in front of the MTC and had people take a few pictures of us standing in front of the sign. We then went inside and a sweet elderly lady pinned her name tag on her. My wife and I stood with her in front of the picture of Christ. We then went with the other parents on one of the sessions for incoming missionaries. We listened to the talks by the mission training center president and his wife and watched the brief video by President Gordon B. Hinckley. The program ended then we were asked to leave through one door as our missionary went through another door. She clung to her mother and didn't want to leave her. I actually shed one tear which for me is unusual since I am not overly sentimental.
I was amazed at her progress she quickly picked up all the lessons and the language came miraculously to her. I had struggled when I tried to learn Italian and it was a great chore for me yet my daughter was talking Korean within days. I had been a junior companion my whole mission but my daughter was made the coordinating sister while in the MTC.
I spoke to her once before she left and she was excited and told how she ran the call center and worked with prospective people that the Asian missionaries ran parts of the MTC since they stayed for three months. Soon she was off to Korea.
She hit her mission on the run but she ran in to a few companions that had difficulties. A couple of them suffered from low self-esteem and wanted to go home early from their missions. I knew the feeling having suffered on my mission also. Her mission president Nemrow told her unless one of her companions straightened up she would be sent home. I told her even if her companion kept them from converting people that she needed to make sure she was not the cause of sending her home. Under no circumstances was she to encourage her mission president to send the companion home. I told her that the companions salvation was as important as any new converts.
I remembered one time on my mission when M. Russell Ballard told me to pack my bags he was sending me home. I remembered the injustice I felt since I had done nothing to be sent home. I was struggling having been transferred for no real reason from one mission to another for a matter that should have been washed clean in the waters of baptism when I joined the church. The other missionaries in my new field treated me as a sinner instead of a saint. I knew how those elders and sisters felt who were rejected by those who should have loved them the most. One sister she served with finished and another went home early. The one girl said that my daughter's love for her made it possible for her stay and now she is living a happy life. The other girl is being fellowshipped by the Korean return sisters who won't give up on her.
My daughter spent eight months in the same area and grew to love the people of Korea. She baptized a complete family and several other people over the course of her longevity in her area. I on the other hand never stayed in any one area more than two months and sometimes lasted only two weeks. I went through companions like revolving doors many who fought with me within minutes of picking me up telling me things like we heard all about you.
I didn't hear much from my daughter during her mission. I had to get her emails from my wife and children. I was disappointed that she wouldn't share with me even though I spent years walking on shoes with holes in them and doing without lunches so she could have music lessons and finally her mission. Her boyfriend it turned out dumped her within two months. She never got a dime from him as he kept her money and personal goods which included a 42in Plasma screen and her personal diaries. She learned on her mission when she called his mother on mother's day that he had married three months after her mission another girl and didn't tell his parents for four months. I had told my daughter's bishop that it was worth the money to not have him in her life anymore.
Last Saturday she came home from her mission. She had to return to the U.S. without any parents since we have been living and working in the Middle East. She was released by a former companion's stake president. She was blessed by the Lord for serving a mission as she was readmitted to BYU despite dropping out. When she was sixteen I sent her there after she graduated from high school to try to reform her. She didn't do well being so young and had a low grade point average.
She called me on Skype and wanted to do a father's interview much like a mission president's interview. I asked her to report her mission. She thanked me for supporting her on a mission and told me she didn't email much because she was instructed as a missionary not to discuss negative things. She said that she thought when she went on a mission she was doing it as a form of repentance for herself but came to understand that she was there for a greater reason to help her companions and others know of the love God feels for them. She told us of her desires to do everything she could but that the Lord would bring to pass his will with or without her help. I saw a different person than the one who entered the mission home eighteen months ago.
I asked her if she regretted losing her boyfriend and if the sacrifice was worth it. Instead of being sad she said I know it was the Lord's will that I should serve otherwise I wouldn't have known the real love he had for me.
Along the way I also learned a lesson I was hard on my daughter when she slipped as a teenager. It took her telling me over and over that the atonement of Christ could cover all sins. I have let it go and see the transformation of a spiritually vibrant person dedicated to the building the kingdom of God here on this earth. I have learned many spiritual lessons from my daughter who has a superior intellect in which I am well pleased.
Tough Love and Missionaries: A Parable of the Crapper
A year after I joined the Church I went on a mission. I was called to the Rome Italy Mission and helped to open up the city of Ragusa in Sicily. It was my very first area on my mission and I stayed there five months before spending a couple of weeks in Catania before going over to Toronto Canada. My companion, a native Italian from Verona was Giorgio Dal Pazzo, a dynamic missionary known for baptizing many people. He had opened up Siracusa and had baptized about twenty people. He was even the branch president there. He had a bull horn type microphone and would stand on a box and call the people to repentance and preach blasting out his sermons.
We didn't use the bull horn in Ragusa much since there was many opportunities for conversation. Every night the downtown area was closed off from traffic and thousands of people would come out and walk the street in what we referred to as a passagata talking in adamant or passionate conversations about important matters. There were no members in Ragusa when I got there. We had a few good prospects, three joined the church eventually. I even baptized one fourteen year old boy later [Salvatore Cappella?]; which is more than most missionaries averaged in a whole mission.
We had many conversations with professors and students. People from all walks of life were there. People would walk arm in arm in groups of two, three, or four. I remember one day having a conversation with a Salvatore Parrisi, a philosophy professor at a local university, who wanted to discuss the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. He ended up later joining the church. In my limited Italian I made an attempt which he thought was interesting and daring for someone who spoke such limited Italian. He said he was impressed that the Mormone would take him on. My companion rescued me and got him to agree to be taught.
Another man we met was Gianni. He was a nice young man around nineteen who had sandy blond hair and patrician features with large expressive brown eyes. Since most Sicilians are dark hair he was quite unusual in appearance. He was quite interested in the gospel. He actually approached us in conversations. We successful taught him most of the lessons and he came out to church for a few weeks. He totally believed all that we said. He had a definite change in his countenance and was thrilled about the gospel. Finally we committed him to baptism. He agree to be baptized. We set up a date for his baptism. But first we needed to establish a few commitments to see his sincerity.
He wasn't very rich and lived in a tiny ground floor flat in an older part of the city. His apartment consisted of a combination living room/bedroom with the kitchenette all in around four hundred square feet. In the kitchen was a drain in the floor with a shower head. There were two outside windows. He did have a tiny bathroom with just a toilet.
We told him before he could be baptized he needed to give up a couple of bad habits like smoking. We took his cigarettes and broke them up and flush them down the toilet. We then monitored him for a couple of weeks. He didn't have any problem not smoking. He asked us when he could be baptized. My companion said for him to be patient he would let him know when he was ready.
He had a huge collection of alcohol with probably thirty bottles of different wines and spirits. He was quite proud of his collection. We told him that now that he had overcome smoking he needed to give up drinking. He said he only drank socially and that he could do it. He wanted us to come back the following week so he could test his ability to not drink.
The following week we came back and he said he had resisted drinking even though he was tempted when some friends came by. My companion said that we need to do one last thing to prove his desire to be baptized which was to flush the alcohol all down the toilet just like the cigarettes.
I thought he wouldn't have any problem since he had given up cigarettes and alcohol but he voiced a concern. He was very distraught his hands were trembling and he began shaking when we began pouring the first bottle out. He asked us to please stop. He said that he thought he could really live the word of wisdom but that he couldn't flush the alcohol because he needed to give his friends a drink when they visited. He asked if he could give it to his family who he said were poor. He actually began to cry since he was so upset. My companion explained that living the word of wisdom meant committing not only to not drink yourself but to be an example to others. Gianni just couldn't make the distinction between living the word of wisdom completely no matter what my companion said. He couldn't see the harm of having it if you didn't drink it yourself.
In the end Gianni decided he just couldn't afford to flush all that good booze down the crapper. He said he had sacrificed with his meager income to build up his bar. He asked my companion if he could give it to relatives but my companion who was pretty hard nosed said no he had to flush it. My companion shook his head sadly and told him that we couldn't baptize him until he could pour it out. We left that day sad that he couldn't bring himself to part with his worldly goods.
I asked my companion what was the big deal of not letting him give it to his relatives since I suggested we could go with him and make sure it was done. He told me Gianni could easily backtrack. My companion who was quite the scriptorian stopped on the street and opened his scriptures and read to me Mark 10:21
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
That ended any discussion on my part. Gianni came out to church a few more times. We tried one last time to get him to give up his booze. He eventually stopping coming out to meetings and drifted away. It was a lesson I learned early as a convert of one year that missionaries practice tough love. Today I wonder if it was the right approach if we should have considered other options or been more patient. Missionaries have to be strong to get people to leave their habits behind. Discipleship has a price sometimes it involves flushing your worldly habits down the crapper.
We didn't use the bull horn in Ragusa much since there was many opportunities for conversation. Every night the downtown area was closed off from traffic and thousands of people would come out and walk the street in what we referred to as a passagata talking in adamant or passionate conversations about important matters. There were no members in Ragusa when I got there. We had a few good prospects, three joined the church eventually. I even baptized one fourteen year old boy later [Salvatore Cappella?]; which is more than most missionaries averaged in a whole mission.
We had many conversations with professors and students. People from all walks of life were there. People would walk arm in arm in groups of two, three, or four. I remember one day having a conversation with a Salvatore Parrisi, a philosophy professor at a local university, who wanted to discuss the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. He ended up later joining the church. In my limited Italian I made an attempt which he thought was interesting and daring for someone who spoke such limited Italian. He said he was impressed that the Mormone would take him on. My companion rescued me and got him to agree to be taught.
Another man we met was Gianni. He was a nice young man around nineteen who had sandy blond hair and patrician features with large expressive brown eyes. Since most Sicilians are dark hair he was quite unusual in appearance. He was quite interested in the gospel. He actually approached us in conversations. We successful taught him most of the lessons and he came out to church for a few weeks. He totally believed all that we said. He had a definite change in his countenance and was thrilled about the gospel. Finally we committed him to baptism. He agree to be baptized. We set up a date for his baptism. But first we needed to establish a few commitments to see his sincerity.
He wasn't very rich and lived in a tiny ground floor flat in an older part of the city. His apartment consisted of a combination living room/bedroom with the kitchenette all in around four hundred square feet. In the kitchen was a drain in the floor with a shower head. There were two outside windows. He did have a tiny bathroom with just a toilet.
We told him before he could be baptized he needed to give up a couple of bad habits like smoking. We took his cigarettes and broke them up and flush them down the toilet. We then monitored him for a couple of weeks. He didn't have any problem not smoking. He asked us when he could be baptized. My companion said for him to be patient he would let him know when he was ready.
He had a huge collection of alcohol with probably thirty bottles of different wines and spirits. He was quite proud of his collection. We told him that now that he had overcome smoking he needed to give up drinking. He said he only drank socially and that he could do it. He wanted us to come back the following week so he could test his ability to not drink.
The following week we came back and he said he had resisted drinking even though he was tempted when some friends came by. My companion said that we need to do one last thing to prove his desire to be baptized which was to flush the alcohol all down the toilet just like the cigarettes.
I thought he wouldn't have any problem since he had given up cigarettes and alcohol but he voiced a concern. He was very distraught his hands were trembling and he began shaking when we began pouring the first bottle out. He asked us to please stop. He said that he thought he could really live the word of wisdom but that he couldn't flush the alcohol because he needed to give his friends a drink when they visited. He asked if he could give it to his family who he said were poor. He actually began to cry since he was so upset. My companion explained that living the word of wisdom meant committing not only to not drink yourself but to be an example to others. Gianni just couldn't make the distinction between living the word of wisdom completely no matter what my companion said. He couldn't see the harm of having it if you didn't drink it yourself.
In the end Gianni decided he just couldn't afford to flush all that good booze down the crapper. He said he had sacrificed with his meager income to build up his bar. He asked my companion if he could give it to relatives but my companion who was pretty hard nosed said no he had to flush it. My companion shook his head sadly and told him that we couldn't baptize him until he could pour it out. We left that day sad that he couldn't bring himself to part with his worldly goods.
I asked my companion what was the big deal of not letting him give it to his relatives since I suggested we could go with him and make sure it was done. He told me Gianni could easily backtrack. My companion who was quite the scriptorian stopped on the street and opened his scriptures and read to me Mark 10:21
Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.
That ended any discussion on my part. Gianni came out to church a few more times. We tried one last time to get him to give up his booze. He eventually stopping coming out to meetings and drifted away. It was a lesson I learned early as a convert of one year that missionaries practice tough love. Today I wonder if it was the right approach if we should have considered other options or been more patient. Missionaries have to be strong to get people to leave their habits behind. Discipleship has a price sometimes it involves flushing your worldly habits down the crapper.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The Missionary as Servant Leader
When I was in graduate school I encountered Robert Greenleaf's concept of the servant leader. According to Robert Greenleaf :
"Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment.
Robert Greenleaf, the man who coined the phrase, described servant-leadership in this way.
“The servant-leader is servant first.... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve-–after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer , is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?” (Taken from the Servant As Leader published by Robert Greenleaf in 1970.)
Spencer W. Kimball described how he was a servant leader on his own mission as he would shine the shoes of his companion. Elder Yoshiko Kikuchi was so motivated by President Kimball's example that he would shovel the snow, rake leaves or cut the grass for his non-member neighbors. Missionaries who serve their companions and others follow the greatest example of a servant leader who was Jesus Christ himself. He washed the feet of his disciples and said he who was the least among us would be the greatest.
In 1976 in addressing a conference in New Zealand, Elder Robert D. Hales counseled the Saints to show love in their dealings with one another. “As we serve one another,” he said, “we learn to love one another.”
Dallin H. Oaks talked about why we serve in the October 1984 General Conference: "As I contemplated my own calling and the callings of millions of others already in service, I was led to consider this question: Why do we serve?
Service is an imperative for those who worship Jesus Christ. To followers who were vying for prominent positions in his kingdom, the Savior taught, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” (Matt. 20:27.) On a later occasion, he spoke of ministering to the needs of the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. He concluded that teaching with these words: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:40.)
In latter-day revelation the Lord has commanded that we “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5.) In another section of the Doctrine and Covenants, he instructed us to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.” (D&C 58:27.) Holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood receive it upon a covenant to use its powers in the service of others. Indeed, service is a covenant obligation of all members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Whether our service is to our fellowmen or to God, it is the same. (See Mosiah 2:17.) If we love him, we should keep his commandments and feed his sheep. (See John 21:16–17.)
When we think of service, we usually think of the acts of our hands. But the scriptures teach that the Lord looks to our thoughts as well as to our acts. One of God’s earliest commandments to Israel was that they should love him and “serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut. 11:13.) When the prophet Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to choose and anoint one of the sons of Jesse as a new king for Israel, the Lord told him to reject the first son, though he was a man of fine appearance. The Lord explained, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7.)
We are familiar with the proverb which states that as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7.) We also read in Proverbs: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.” (Prov. 16:2.)
Latter-day revelation declares that the Lord requires not only the acts of the children of men, but “the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind.” (D&C 64:34.)
Numerous scriptures teach that our Heavenly Father knows our thoughts and the intents of our heart. (See D&C 6:16; Mosiah 24:12; Alma 18:32.) The prophet Moroni taught that if our works are to be credited for good, they must be done for the right reasons. If a man “offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
“For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.” (Moro. 7:6–7.)
Similarly, the prophet Alma taught that if we have hardened our hearts against the word of God, we will “not dare to look up to our God” at the final judgment because “all our works will condemn us; … and our thoughts will also condemn us.” (Alma 12:14.)
These scriptures make clear that in order to purify our service in the Church and to our fellowmen, it is necessary to consider not only how we serve, but also why we serve. . . .
The last motive I will discuss is, in my opinion, the highest reason of all. In its relationship to service, it is what the scriptures call “a more excellent way.” (1 Cor. 12:31.)
“Charity is the pure love of Christ.” (Moro. 7:47.) The Book of Mormon teaches us that this virtue is “the greatest of all.” (Moro. 7:46.) The Apostle Paul affirmed and illustrated that truth in his great teaching about the reasons for service:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. …
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, … and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1–3.)
We know from these inspired words that even the most extreme acts of service—such as giving all of our goods to feed the poor—profit us nothing unless our service is motivated by the pure love of Christ.
If our service is to be most efficacious, it must be accomplished for the love of God and the love of his children. The Savior applied that principle in the Sermon on the Mount, in which he commanded us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us. (See Matt. 5:44.) He explained the purpose of that commandment as follows:
“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
“And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matt. 5:46–47.)
This principle—that our service should be for the love of God and the love of fellowmen rather than for personal advantage or any other lesser motive—is admittedly a high standard. The Savior must have seen it so, since he joined his commandment for selfless and complete love directly with the ideal of perfection. The very next verse of the Sermon on the Mount contains this great commandment: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48.)
This principle of service is reaffirmed in the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“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 4:2.)
We learn from this command that it is not enough to serve God with all of our might and strength. He who looks into our hearts and knows our minds demands more than this. In order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him with all our heart and mind.
Service with all of our heart and mind is a high challenge for all of us. Such service must be free of selfish ambition. It must be motivated only by the pure love of Christ.
If we have difficulty with the command that we serve for love, a Book of Mormon teaching can help us. After describing the importance of charity, the prophet Moroni counseled:
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” (Moro. 7:48.)
The service of persons filled with that love will meet the high test expressed in the Twenty-fourth Psalm:
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.” (Ps. 24:3–4.)
I know that God expects us to work to purify our hearts and our thoughts so that we may serve one another for the highest and best reason, the pure love of Christ."
Missionaries who truly love the Lord serve each other as well as those they come in contact with. I wonder if there are acts of servant leadership that have made a difference in your missionary experiences.
"Servant-Leadership is a practical philosophy which supports people who choose to serve first, and then lead as a way of expanding service to individuals and institutions. Servant-leaders may or may not hold formal leadership positions. Servant-leadership encourages collaboration, trust, foresight, listening, and the ethical use of power and empowerment.
Robert Greenleaf, the man who coined the phrase, described servant-leadership in this way.
“The servant-leader is servant first.... It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. He or she is sharply different from the person who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions. For such it will be a later choice to serve-–after leadership is established. The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
The difference manifests itself in the care taken by the servant-first to make sure that other people’s highest priority needs are being served. The best test, and difficult to administer , is: do those served grow as persons; do they, while being served, become healthier, wiser, freer, more autonomous, more likely themselves to become servants? And, what is the effect on the least privileged in society; will they benefit, or, at least, will they not be further deprived?” (Taken from the Servant As Leader published by Robert Greenleaf in 1970.)
Spencer W. Kimball described how he was a servant leader on his own mission as he would shine the shoes of his companion. Elder Yoshiko Kikuchi was so motivated by President Kimball's example that he would shovel the snow, rake leaves or cut the grass for his non-member neighbors. Missionaries who serve their companions and others follow the greatest example of a servant leader who was Jesus Christ himself. He washed the feet of his disciples and said he who was the least among us would be the greatest.
In 1976 in addressing a conference in New Zealand, Elder Robert D. Hales counseled the Saints to show love in their dealings with one another. “As we serve one another,” he said, “we learn to love one another.”
Dallin H. Oaks talked about why we serve in the October 1984 General Conference: "As I contemplated my own calling and the callings of millions of others already in service, I was led to consider this question: Why do we serve?
Service is an imperative for those who worship Jesus Christ. To followers who were vying for prominent positions in his kingdom, the Savior taught, “Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” (Matt. 20:27.) On a later occasion, he spoke of ministering to the needs of the hungry, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned. He concluded that teaching with these words: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:40.)
In latter-day revelation the Lord has commanded that we “succor the weak, lift up the hands which hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (D&C 81:5.) In another section of the Doctrine and Covenants, he instructed us to be “anxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of [our] own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness.” (D&C 58:27.) Holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood receive it upon a covenant to use its powers in the service of others. Indeed, service is a covenant obligation of all members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Whether our service is to our fellowmen or to God, it is the same. (See Mosiah 2:17.) If we love him, we should keep his commandments and feed his sheep. (See John 21:16–17.)
When we think of service, we usually think of the acts of our hands. But the scriptures teach that the Lord looks to our thoughts as well as to our acts. One of God’s earliest commandments to Israel was that they should love him and “serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Deut. 11:13.) When the prophet Samuel was sent to Bethlehem to choose and anoint one of the sons of Jesse as a new king for Israel, the Lord told him to reject the first son, though he was a man of fine appearance. The Lord explained, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Sam. 16:7.)
We are familiar with the proverb which states that as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Prov. 23:7.) We also read in Proverbs: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.” (Prov. 16:2.)
Latter-day revelation declares that the Lord requires not only the acts of the children of men, but “the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind.” (D&C 64:34.)
Numerous scriptures teach that our Heavenly Father knows our thoughts and the intents of our heart. (See D&C 6:16; Mosiah 24:12; Alma 18:32.) The prophet Moroni taught that if our works are to be credited for good, they must be done for the right reasons. If a man “offereth a gift, or prayeth unto God, except he shall do it with real intent it profiteth him nothing.
“For behold, it is not counted unto him for righteousness.” (Moro. 7:6–7.)
Similarly, the prophet Alma taught that if we have hardened our hearts against the word of God, we will “not dare to look up to our God” at the final judgment because “all our works will condemn us; … and our thoughts will also condemn us.” (Alma 12:14.)
These scriptures make clear that in order to purify our service in the Church and to our fellowmen, it is necessary to consider not only how we serve, but also why we serve. . . .
The last motive I will discuss is, in my opinion, the highest reason of all. In its relationship to service, it is what the scriptures call “a more excellent way.” (1 Cor. 12:31.)
“Charity is the pure love of Christ.” (Moro. 7:47.) The Book of Mormon teaches us that this virtue is “the greatest of all.” (Moro. 7:46.) The Apostle Paul affirmed and illustrated that truth in his great teaching about the reasons for service:
“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. …
“And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, … and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” (1 Cor. 13:1–3.)
We know from these inspired words that even the most extreme acts of service—such as giving all of our goods to feed the poor—profit us nothing unless our service is motivated by the pure love of Christ.
If our service is to be most efficacious, it must be accomplished for the love of God and the love of his children. The Savior applied that principle in the Sermon on the Mount, in which he commanded us to love our enemies, bless them that curse us, do good to them that hate us, and pray for them that despitefully use us and persecute us. (See Matt. 5:44.) He explained the purpose of that commandment as follows:
“For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
“And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?” (Matt. 5:46–47.)
This principle—that our service should be for the love of God and the love of fellowmen rather than for personal advantage or any other lesser motive—is admittedly a high standard. The Savior must have seen it so, since he joined his commandment for selfless and complete love directly with the ideal of perfection. The very next verse of the Sermon on the Mount contains this great commandment: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48.)
This principle of service is reaffirmed in the fourth section of the Doctrine and Covenants:
“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 4:2.)
We learn from this command that it is not enough to serve God with all of our might and strength. He who looks into our hearts and knows our minds demands more than this. In order to stand blameless before God at the last day, we must also serve him with all our heart and mind.
Service with all of our heart and mind is a high challenge for all of us. Such service must be free of selfish ambition. It must be motivated only by the pure love of Christ.
If we have difficulty with the command that we serve for love, a Book of Mormon teaching can help us. After describing the importance of charity, the prophet Moroni counseled:
“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love, which he hath bestowed upon all who are true followers of his Son, Jesus Christ.” (Moro. 7:48.)
The service of persons filled with that love will meet the high test expressed in the Twenty-fourth Psalm:
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?
“He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart.” (Ps. 24:3–4.)
I know that God expects us to work to purify our hearts and our thoughts so that we may serve one another for the highest and best reason, the pure love of Christ."
Missionaries who truly love the Lord serve each other as well as those they come in contact with. I wonder if there are acts of servant leadership that have made a difference in your missionary experiences.
Monday, March 24, 2008
Mission Training Center Presidents' Seminar
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd© Deseret News
There are seventeen LDS Missionary Training Centers (MTC) in the world. The largest one is the MTC in Provo, Utah where "About 80 percent of missionaries are trained at the Church's largest training center in Provo, Utah. It is home to an average of 2,700 missionaries at a time or 24,000 over the course of a year." Every week about five hundred missionaries enter one of these centers. On 26 October 1978 in Provo, Utah, the Missionary Training Center, previously the Language Training Mission constructed in 1976, began training all missionaries. Eventually due to demand in other areas of the world other centers were opened.
A good general description is written by Richard O. Cowan entitled "Missionary Training Center" at the Light Planet site. Also Wikipedia has a pretty thorough description on the Missionary Training Center. A mission president is called to each one for three years just like mission presidents in the other 345 missions.
Marvin K. Garnder describes the Provo MTC as "The Missionary Training Center is the first stop for newly called missionaries of the Church. Located in Provo, Utah, some forty miles south of Salt Lake City, the MTC is an impressive network of sixteen buildings—four classroom buildings; ten residence halls; a bookstore and health center; and an administrative complex housing offices, meeting rooms, post office, cafeteria, gym, and laundry. Situated at the foot of the Wasatch Mountains, the MTC has a spectacular view of 12,000-foot Mount Timpanogos. Brigham Young University is only a short walk away."
The seventeen missionary training centers are located in
* Argentina Buenos Aires
* Brazil São Paulo
* Chile Santiago
* Colombia Bogotá
* Dominican Republic Santo Domingo
* England Preston
* Ghana Accra
* Guatemala Guatemala City
* Japan Tokyo
* Mexico Mexico City
* New Zealand Hamilton
* Peru Lima
* Philippines Manila
* South Africa Johannesburg
* South Korea Seoul
* Spain Madrid
* USA: Utah Provo
The Provo MTC has its own special site. I tried to find sites for the other sixteen centers.
The Provo MTC's site declares: "At the Church's Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah, young men and women as well as retired men and women from around the world come together to prepare to serve the Lord. The purpose of the MTC is to provide an atmosphere of peace, love, trust, confidence, and respect in which missionaries can prepare for missionary service."
One of the earliest accounts of the Missionary Training Center Mission Presidents' Seminar that I could find was reported by Elayne Wells in the Church News, Saturday, 13 January 1990:
Among the many signs of Church growth in the '80s were the multiple missionary training centers that began to spring up across the globe, serving the needs of the burgeoning numbers of local missionaries. In Latin America alone, six of these centers have been training missionaries in their own or neighboring countries, symbolizing the advent of a new era of self-sufficiency.
"Thanks to the missionary training centers here," said Elder Robert E. Wells of the First Quorum of the Seventy and president of the Mexico/
Central America Area, "you can really see the difference in the overall quality of the missionaries, and baptisms have increased tremendously. By training them here, the elders and sisters feel better-prepared to serve their own people."Elder Charles Didier, president of the South America North Area, concurs.
"The best preparation is always in your own country," he said. "Not only does the Church avoid the cost of transporting missionaries somewhere else for training, but also the local aspect is much more effective. We'd like to have one in every country."
The centers are in cities where temples are located: Mexico City, Mexico; Guatemala City, Guatemala; Lima, Peru; Santiago, Chile; Buenos Aires, Argentina; and Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Church leaders say that not only has there been an increase in the number of missionaries entering the training centers, but also in the caliber of the young people.
"We feel there's a new level of dedication," noted Elder Wells. "We can really see the hand of the Lord in this. Something is suddenly happening, and it's just exciting to be here."
- - -
Mexico - The center here trains three times the number of missionaries as any other center in Latin America, and the trend continues to climb upward, said Pres. Karl Fenn.
"Missionaries come here from Mexico and Venezuela," he said, "and we have so many that they're beginning to be called to Nicaragua and Colombia as well." Most missions in Mexico are made up of at least 90 percent local missionaries.
A great number of the missionaries, said Pres. Fenn, attended seminary and institute classes before entering the training center, and about 15 percent attended Benemerito, the Church college.
"They are very well-prepared," he said, "and quite adept at picking up quickly on what they are taught." So prepared, in fact, that "we place the burden of learning upon the missionaries themselves. Teachers are needed only to evaluate."
Using the new missionary study guide, elders and sisters practice situations they will encounter in the field, and - most important - learn to rely on the Spirit, said Pres. Fenn.
"When they come in, we ask them to set their own goals," he said. "During their 12 days here, about 90 percent read the Book of Mormon cover-to-cover, and many read it twice. We teach them to organize their time and to take advantage of every moment.
"They're like a pile of clay, and we shape them into missionaries."
Pres. Fenn's unique molding methods have already achieved near-legendary status throughout the area. Every day, he asks his missionaries, "You know something?," and when they respond in unison, "What?," he tells them, "I love you." The missionaries echo the expression.
"We teach them how to show their love for the people, and how to do it by the Spirit," Pres. Fenn said.
- - -
Guatemala - The center here brings in missionaries from 10 countries; in addition to Central Americans, some Puerto Ricans, Dominican Republicans and North Americans are also trained.
Pres. Edgar Keith Stott, who finishes his term along with Pres. Fenn at the end of this month, said most of his missionaries have made great sacrifices to come on a mission.
"In spite of the fact that many are the only members in their families," he said, "they come and they work hard. We had one blind young man from the Dominican Republic who knew the scriptures well and would take notes in Braille. After some time in the mission field, he was made a branch president."
Such dedication and commitment to serving the Lord is common among these people, he said.
"The area presidency is urging local leaders to send more youths out on missions, and the brethrenT are following up on these goals.
"Our objective is to help these missionaries develop attributes and techniques that will train them to be effective instruments in the hands of the Lord, to bring people unto Him."
- - -
Peru - The Lima center is housed in a converted mansion. The residence of the Andean Mission president in 1961, it is the oldest building owned by the Church in Peru.
Electricity in the house is sporadic, yet, "we operate at full capacity almost all the time," said Pres. Bruce Gibson.
The center trains Ecuadorians and Bolivians as well as Peruvians, and Hondurans and Mexicans are also occasionally brought in. Missionaries have ranged in age up to 73, Pres. Gibson said, and show maturity and preparation.
"These missionaries are super-qualified," he said. "They only have a moderator who takes charge of a district, and they pretty much teach themselves with the missionary guide."
The three Lima mission presidents, the Lima temple president, and other leaders speak to the missionaries during their 12-day stay at the center, and time is also taken to attend the temple and go proselyting twice for 6-8 hours.
Almost half the missionaries that go through the center have been in the Church less than three years. One convert, 26-year-old Wylmir Amaya from Chiclayo, Peru, had been handicapped since the age of 2, but he was determined to serve a mission, said Pres. Gibson.
Pres. Gibson is quick to acknowledge the help of his wife and companion in his duties, as are all the presidents.
"She's a major part of the call," he said of Sister Gibson. "She introduces the discussions to the missionaries, teaches them music, and insists on answering the letters of all we've sent out in the field."
- - -
Chile - Opened in 1981, the center here is located in the heart of Santiago near the temple grounds. Its missionaries are also close to the heart of its president, Wendell Hall, a former BYU professor.
"They're wonderful missionaries," said Pres. Hall. "We just love them."
Sounding much like a proud parent, he spoke of a missionary, Sister Laura, who had gone on to her mission in Bolivia, and had sent the Halls a picture of herself there. Photographed along with Sister Laura and her companion were 21 soldiers whom the sisters had taught and seen baptized.
Another missionary, Elder Eguino from Cochabamba, Bolivia, arrived at the training center in a wheelchair, Pres. Hall said. As they began their first interview, the elder said in perfect English, "President, would it be all right if we spoke in English?" During a four-year stay in a U.S. hospital, Elder Eguino had learned English while being treated for polio.
"Despite the difficulties, he was so willing to come on a mission," Pres. Hall said, noting that many others, coming from Chile and Bolivia, have sacrificed as well.
"Some have left their studies, and here it's quite difficult to get back into them afterward. One missionary, Elder Reyes from Renca [Chile], was about to complete his master's in geology, but went on a mission before he finished it.
The group commitment to the work creates a spirit of unity, said Pres. Hall. "There is a real esprit de corps. Very often we weep together in interviews, and many of [the missionariesT keep in touch during their missions."
The missionaries follow the same schedule as other missionary training centers, receiving some 80 hours of instruction during the 12 days, and countless other hours of personal study. They also go proselyting on two mornings with missionaries already in the field.
"I've really been blessed to be here," Pres. Hall said. "It's so exciting to be with these young people."
- - -
Argentina - The center in Buenos Aires trains missionaries from Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina, and their growing numbers is due to at least two factors, said Pres. Vernon A. Bingham.
"There are really a lot of fine young people joining the Church - about 50 percent of our new missionaries are converts of less than five years," he said. "Also, we tell all our missionaries to write to a friend who's unsure about serving a mission, to encourage (him or her) to go. Many now coming in say that influenced them greatly."
The teaching skills taught in the center here are essential to a successful mission, said Pres. Bingham; the missionaries themselves "say they learned more in 12 days than in the rest of their lives."
"I don't know if that's an exaggeration," said Pres. Bingham, "or if they're just feeling the Spirit! But I don't think there's any other way to get this kind of concentrated practice."
Again, the training schedule is very similar to that of other centers: companions take turns being the trainer and the student, following the missionary guide, and teaching techniques are developed.
"This is a time to learn how to teach and invite people to keep the commandments, help them follow up, and show greater love and concern," said Pres. Bingham.
Two elders in particular who showed this great love for the people and the work, he said, were sons of a widow who lived on a small sheep ranch in the mountains of southern Argentina.
"Those boys," he said, his voice filled with emotion, "were not well-educated, but talk about a desire to learn. Another brother is entering soon, and their sister is also preparing to go."
- - -
Brazil - The center in Sao Paulo is the only one of the six that trains missionaries from just the country in which it's located. The majority then go to one of the 10 missions in Brazil, while a few are sent to Portugal.
As with the other centers, volunteer returned missionaries help with the supervision and training of the new missionaries, the majority of which are converts of three years or less, said Pres. Elmo Turner.
"I'm so impressed with their spirit and their worthiness," he said. "We feel very confident in the quality of the young people coming through here: they're strong, intelligent, faithful, and worthy. We try to help them maintain that and teach people with that spirit they have, and they're doing it."
One sister, he said, was a trained attorney who worked for a prestigious law firm in Sao Paulo, but she gave up her job to go on a mission. Another missionary gave up a scholarship to the university and a pay raise at work, while yet another was a professional soccer player who left the sport to serve.
"There is a spirit of sacrifice and a spirit of missionary work here," said Pres. Turner. "It's wonderful to be here."
John L. Hart in the Church News Saturday, 25 January 1997 reported the following information:
"Lift the young men and women you train to a higher plane, and inspire them to understand who the Savior is, Elder David B. Haight urged new directors of five missionary training centers.
Elder Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve and chairman of the Missionary Executive Council, accompanied by his wife, Ruby, spoke at the concluding session of the annual seminar for new Missionary Training Center directors and their wives. The seminar was held Jan. 13-17 at the Church's largest Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah.Among those who spoke at the seminar was Elder Earl C. Tingey of the Presidency of the Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, accompanied by his wife, Joanne.
The five new leaders will serve in centers in the Philippines, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil and England. In addition to centers in these locations and the center in Provo, the Church has additional such facilities located near temples in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and Peru.
In his remarks, Elder Haight emphasized the need to help missionaries "understand their testimony that God lives, that He is real, that He is our Father."
He said missionaries should understand that Jesus is the Christ, and that He came to do the will of His Father.
"The things that He did and He taught, He received from His Father. . . . He is the Savior and the Redeemer of all. He redeemed us from the Fall and He redeemed us from our sins. He is the one who is our Advocate with the Father; it is through Him that we reach the Father. So the work that we do is the work of the Savior, inasmuch as the Savior is the Savior of all mankind."
Elder Haight said that missionaries need to understand the power of the gospel to lift and bless those people ``who they teach and who they bear their testimonies to and to whom they declare the truthfulness of this work."
"Truly the gospel is simple,'' continued Elder Haight. ``We need to teach the simplicity of the gospel along with the majesty of it so people can understand. You can bear testimony of the majesty of this work, the majesty that is almost beyond our comprehension."
He said missionaries completing their training should be able to leave for the mission field unburdened, with a clear, untroubled look in their eyes, "because there are people out there who need to hear their testimony that is sweet and clean and pure and from the heart."
Missionaries should "look the part and act the part and declare the part, and, above all things, in their hearts and soul, feel the truthfulness of the gospel and the truth of what they teach."
Elder Haight observed that "the world out there is hungry and anxious, and so badly needs to hear the simple message of the Savior and His teachings.
"More and more people have an interest in talking about the basic things that we talk about, so we are not strangers out in the world. People are concerned with families. They are concerned with what is happening in the world."
Elder Haight emphasized that each person in the world is born with the light of Christ. "There is a spark in them, a spark someone needs to blow a little oxygen into because the spark is there. No matter how terrible a life someone has lived, he or she still has a spark. Everybody is born with this little spark in their life. We have a responsibility to help them and find them."
In remarks Jan. 13, Elder Tingey opened the seminar by charging the new directors to develop an atmosphere of spirituality. He compared missionary training centers to the School of the Prophets held in Nauvoo by the Prophet Joseph Smith in the early history of the Church.
Elder Tingey encouraged the directors to develop leaders and teachers at their centers who are "completely worthy, humble and filled with the Spirit." Teachers should express absolute love and confidence in the missionaries they teach.
Missionaries who enter a training center "develop a strong sense of brotherhood and sisterhood, as well as acquiring confidence and self-esteem," said Elder Tingey. They also acquire a great deal of doctrinal knowledge and a testimony so that they can 'go forward with faith and determination.' ("Inspire Them to Understand Savior," Church News [Saturday, 25 January 1997]: 7).
In 2000 missionary training center presidents and their wives met on 10 January through 14 January at the MTC in Provo. Shaun Stahle reported the conference in the Church News:
"We know that the Church is going to grow. It will grow rapidly," said Elder David B. Haight of the Quorum of the Twelve, addressing seven new missionary training center presidents. "We have the challenge of organizing the Church; to see that it carries on with the spiritual direction received by our prophets."
Fifteen missionary training center facilities, including the Provo site, have been established around the world to instruct missionaries on how to teach the gospel, as well as prepare them with a knowledge of customs and languages. Each year, eight new presidents are called to serve for two years.As the concluding speaker of a weeklong seminar for new missionary training center presidents held in the Provo Missionary Training Center facility Jan. 10-14, Elder Haight offered a panoramic view of the Church's growth from its humble beginnings in 1830 to the prospects and opportunities of a new millennium.
"I'm just reminding you of what you know so well," Elder Haight said in recounting the circumstances of the organization of the Church.
"Just think of what has taken place. I've been in the reconstructed Peter Whitmer farm house in Fayette, N.Y. A little building. There were two bedrooms upstairs. They gave one room to Joseph Smith; then Oliver Cowdery comes on the scene. Here the work of the translation is carried on, part of it in that room at the Peter Whitmer farmhouse.
"Sacred events took place there and the Church was organized with the required six members necessary under the laws of the state.
"By the 1900s, the Church had about 283,000 members," he continued." One hundred years later, on Jan. 1 of this year 2000, we're pushing 11 million. It's a great story, of course, of how it all took place. And so here we are now. We have 15 missionary training centers out in the world, and you're going to preside over one of them, in Tokyo or Santiago or Buenos Aires or elsewhere.
"See what is happening with the Church," he said.
Explaining the role of a missionary training center president in the missionary work of the Church, Elder Haight said, "It is your great responsibility to see that those missionaries who go through your hands have a spiritual experience. They will look at you and see how you conduct yourself and how you treat others.
"You will become the Church in their eyes. They will watch you. They will listen very carefully as you teach, testify and train them. They will learn how to act as missionaries from your example."
Elder Haight opened his comments by sharing an incident that occurred, in part, while he served in Edinburgh, Scotland, as mission president. Setting the stage for the experience, Elder Haight referred to a general conference address in which President David O. McKay told how he and his companion, a sheepherder from Idaho, had not had much success in their missionary labors.
"They were tracting one day and saw workmen building a building," said Elder Haight. "They stopped to watch as these men were placing a stone in the corner of the second floor. They first noticed geometric designs on the stone, then noticed an engraving.
" 'What ere thou art, act well thy part,' it stated," continued Elder Haight. "President McKay, who was an English major [in college], said he hadn't read the words in his study of literature or scripture, but the words had special meaning to him. They stood and read it over and over again.
"President McKay said he felt they had been exposed to those words as a message that they were not working as hard or as diligently as they should have been. They went back to their lodging and got down on their knees. They made a commitment to the Lord in fervent prayer that they would work with all their heart, might, mind and strength. They soon began seeing more success," he said.
Years later, when Elder Haight was called to serve as mission president in Scotland, he received a telephone call from one of his missionaries notifying him that the building with the stone was being demolished. The missionary was instructed to purchase the stone, even if it required 10-20 times more than the 10 shilling asking price.
The missionaries purchased the stone and loaded it into a truck and took it to the mission home where it was on display for many years before being crated and shipped to the Church Historical Department in Salt Lake City.
"It was touching to me how President McKay felt that it was no accident that he and his companion stood in front of the building to read those words, words which would influence his life," Elder Haight said.
The original stone, noted Elder Haight, is now in the Museum of Church History and Art, while a replica is at the Provo missionary training center.
"You are to go out to testify and teach and train and impress young people of who they are. The great miracle in this work is the change in people. Each comes out of the waters of baptism a new person," he said in conclusion. ("Missionary Training Center Presidents: Teach, testify, train," Church News [Saturday, 22 January 2000]:
Shaun D. Stahle of the Church News reported the 2005 missionary training presidents' seminar:
"The greatest armor we can put around our missionaries today," said Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve, "will be an absolute, unwavering sure witness and testimony that the restoration of the gospel has occurred; that Joseph Smith did see what he said he saw; did kneel in the presence of the Father and Son; and that the gospel has been restored through him.
"If they know that deep enough," he continued, "and they are out trying to convert an unbelieving world that has lost interest in the things of God — if they've internalized this from the crown of their heads to the soles of their feet — they will introduce the gospel and themselves with a different power."
Elder Ballard, chairman of the Missionary Executive Council, addressed the eight newly called mission training center presidents and 13 directors of visitors centers and historic sites and their wives during a week long seminar held Jan. 4-7.
He emphasized their role in preparing more capable missionaries by "teaching the teacher."
"We have to raise up the greatest generation of missionaries in the history of the Church," he said, "because we're turning our sons and daughters into a world that is growing colder and colder toward spiritual things. . . . They've got to know. And then they've got to speak from the power of their hearts and from their witness and testimony — a testimony they have generated from their own study, prayer and the feelings of their own hearts — that the gospel is true."
In his comments, Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve and a member of the Missionary Executive Council reassured the new leaders that even though the world is increasing in evil, it is also "being flooded with truth and light."
"He guides His Church," he said in testimony. "I felt that again today while sitting with the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve in the temple."
Considering visitors centers and historic sites, Elder Scott spoke of his personal experiences, highlighting a particular visit to the jail at Liberty, Mo., where his testimony of Joseph Smith was reaffirmed.
Such places have a "special spirit," he said, and "are marvelous places to meet people and to bring them into the gospel." In these places, he continued, it's more important "what people feel than what they hear."
Elder Scott added his witness of the hand of the Lord in the creation of the new missionary approach, "Preach My Gospel." In the short time since its implementation, he said he is seeing an improvement in the quality of teaching and missionary life and in the effectiveness of planning.
During the seminar, Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Seventy and executive director of the Missionary Department, along with other members of the Seventy, taught in detail the principles of successful missionary service as explained in "Preach My Gospel."
As part of their specialized training, directors of visitors centers and historic sites spent part of an afternoon on Temple Square working with sister missionaries where they learned first-hand what President Arlen Crouch of the Temple Square Mission called "the melt down."
Visitors are often guarded in their first responses, he said. But after feeling the spirit of the gospel and Temple Square, their hearts melt and they soften to the testimonies of the sister missionaries.
Following their afternoon of working with the sister missionaries, the directors and their wives shared their experiences.
One companionship recounted how they had met a long-time less-active member of the Church who had come to Temple Square to begin making his life right. Another companionship told how they met a minister of another faith. Still another told of speaking with three young people from Ohio, who had never heard of the Church or the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but came to Utah to ski and decided to visit the major sites.
One companionship said they were having difficulty meeting anyone and, after wandering the grounds without success, felt they should pray. Stepping into a visitors center and finding a quiet corner, they asked for help in meeting someone. As they emerged from the building, they found a man willing to listen. ("Raising up greatest generation of missionaries: Bear witness from testimony generated by own study, prayer," Church News [Saturday, 22 January 2005]: 13).
In 2006 sixteen missionary training center presidents and the visit center presidents met in Provo at the MTC. R. Scott Lloyd of the Church News reported the proceedings of the seminar: "Next to the scriptures and the Holy Ghost, the foundation stone of missionary service in the Church today is the recently published guide Preach My Gospel.
That was a recurring and prominent message Jan. 10 during the first day of the 2006 Seminar for New Missionary Training Center Presidents and Visitors Center Directors. The four-day event brought together 19 recently called couples, mostly from the United States and with some from Canada, Mexico and Japan. They are bound for Missionary Training Centers in such locales as New Zealand, Peru and Ghana, and Church visitors centers in such places as Winter Quarters, Neb.; San Diego, Calif.; and Independence, Mo.
Elder Richard G. Scott of the Quorum of the Twelve emphasized the importance of Preach My Gospel as he taught them about their responsibilities and how they should coordinate with other leaders with whom they will be working.
"What happens if you've had really neat missionary experiences that are different than are taught in Preach My Gospel ?" he asked. The response he elicited is that they are to be "put on the shelf."
"Use the foundational principles in Preach My Gospel and teach by the Spirit," he counseled. "There is flexibility, but not in terms of what we're trying to accomplish or how we're trying to accomplish it."
The new leaders and their wives can find the guide to be helpful in such matters as learning a new language and in helping missionary companions who are not getting along, the apostle suggested, adding that the chapter on developing Christlike attributes can be helpful in the latter event.
"There needs to be some accommodation, but not in the core aspects of what we're trying to do and how well you work together (with others who may have overlapping responsibilities)," Elder Scott explained.
He noted, "I hate to admit this, but when I've given up some of the very deeply held convictions of my personal experience and followed this more precisely, it's worked out a lot better. Things change; the world has changed, and the fact that we have a new emphasis and direction now in no way criticizes what has been done before. This is for our time and our need now."
Elder Scott spoke of a "dual reporting responsibility" that rests upon both Missionary Training Center presidents and visitors center directors. On ecclesiastical matters, the Missionary Training Center president would seek direction from and report to the area presidency, but on matters of administration and operation would go to the Missionary Department for direction. And the visitors center director would go to the mission president (under whom he serves as a missionary) for direction on ecclesiastical matters, while on operational matters, he would consult the Missionary Department.
In response to a question from the wife of a new Missionary Training Center president, Elder Scott said that such a wife typically has such spiritual acuity that she can sometimes sense the needs that a missionary might have and aid her husband in identifying such needs.
Availing himself of his apostolic privilege, Elder Scott invoked a blessing upon the departing leaders, among other things that they would be able to develop latent talents that they might not realize they have. For those who would need to learn a new language, he blessed them with the gift of tongues, and he invoked a protective shield against harmful circumstances that might occur in their lives.
In a session earlier in the day, the new visitors center directors were taught that Church visitors centers and historic sites have a well-defined purpose, that being to support the mission of the Church in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His Church. They heard that such centers are a valuable source of referrals, that research in 2001 showed that 25 percent of all converts to the Church in the United States and Canada said their visit to a visitors center influenced their decision to join the Church.
In a separate session, missionary training center presidents heard that in some ways the missionary training center is a "purifying" experience for new missionaries, consistent with Doctrine and Covenants 112:28, in that it helps them deal with a wide array of conditions, characteristics and challenges." ("Foundation of today's missionary work: Leaders bound for MTCs, visitors centers are instructed," Church News [Saturday, 14 January 2006]: 5).
Photo by R. Scott Lloyd© Deseret News
R. Scott Lloyd reported on the 2008 Missionary Training Center Mission President seminar on January 17: "Like Alma in the Book of Mormon, today's missionaries have been called to serve the Lord, and "the way we do it is by bearing down in pure testimony," Elder L. Tom Perry told a group of departing missionary couples Jan. 15 at the Missionary Training Center.
The talk by Elder Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve was part of an agenda of intensive instruction at an annual seminar for newly called missionary training center presidents and visitors center directors and their wives. Of the 16 couples, 10 are bound for international missionary training centers, and the remainder are being sent to Church visitors centers in various locales.
Elder Perry's comment was in reference to Alma 4:19, wherein Alma, as high priest, resigns his position as chief judge to devote himself wholly to the ministry.
"Like Alma of old, we have been called to serve," commented Elder Perry, chairman of the Missionary Executive Council. "We made the decision, like he did, to leave the things of the world and come to devote our time to building our Heavenly Father's kingdom."
Elder Perry said he loves the new missionary guide, "Preach My Gospel," so much that he had it hardbound to go with his scriptures. "Anyone who uses it will soon find the joy and happiness in it," he said. "Use it. Learn how to teach from it. It will stand you in good stead."
The apostle spoke of the power of personal influence that the leaders will have on new missionaries who are just coming into the field. "You will never know in this life the power of your impact on their lives," he said.
Speaking in a humorous vein, he contrasted the approach today in training of new missionaries with what existed when he served as a young missionary. He said he felt so deficient in gospel knowledge that he determined to stay up after bedtime in the kitchen of his apartment to write and practice giving four talks on each of the first principles and ordinances of the gospel. He practiced giving the talks to a small rat that would creep out into the kitchen. He knew he was starting to be effective when, the morning after he practiced his talk on baptism by immersion, the missionaries found the rat at the bottom of a pan of water that was in the kitchen.
"I share that story to show you the tender feelings that young missionaries have," he said. "You're going to have the opportunity to touch their lives, to teach them the gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to be certain when they leave you, either serving with you in the visitors center or when they leave to go out in the field, they have a firm testimony of the four cornerstones of the gospel."
These he identified as, first, Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior; second, belief in the calling of the Prophet Joseph Smith; third, the Book of Mormon as tangible proof of the mission of the Prophet Joseph; and fourth, the restoration of the priesthood.
Regarding the birth of the Savior, Elder Perry said it is the most significant event in the history of mankind. "The fulness of the gospel depends on His mission. It is designed to bring immortality and eternal life to man. It includes the Creation, the Fall, the Atonement, with all of God's laws and ordinances and doctrine. It makes possible for the people to be exalted and live forever with our Savior.... It paves the way for us to be forgiven of our sins and prepares us to again live with our Father."
Pertaining to Joseph Smith, Elder Perry said he, like each of the biblical prophets, made the bold claim, "God has spoken to me; thus sayeth the Lord."
"If the Book of Mormon is true, then Joseph Smith truly had that glorious First Vision declaring the true nature of the Godhead," Elder Perry said, regarding the book's power as proof of Joseph's mission. Likewise, he said, if the book is true, then the priesthood has been restored with all of the sacred ordinances required for eternal salvation.
Elder Perry told the newly called leaders that of those missionaries who may be influenced by them, "I want them to leave with that testimony burning so brightly in their hearts and souls that it will carry them on through the full life of mortality, that they may have the gospel, that they may be able to witness that they understand from these basic truths the cornerstones of our religion." (R. Scott Lloyd, "'Bearing down in pure testimony':At seminar, Elder Perry speaks of gospel's 'four cornerstones'" Church News, [Saturday, January 19, 2008]: 4).
"I hope our missionaries are so prepared and so powerful that they 'astonish' the people they teach," Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve declared Jan. 17 in a seminar for newly called missionary training center presidents and visitors center directors.
Elder Holland is a member of the Missionary Executive Council. His talk in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in Salt Lake City came during the closing session of the three-day event in which the 16 presidents and directors and their wives received intensive instruction prior to departure. (An earlier address given to the group by Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve was covered in the Jan 19 Church News, p. 4.)
Elder Holland's comment about astonishing people was given in the context of Book of Mormon passages in which Alma and the sons of Mosiah were "astonished" when an angel spoke to them with a voice of thunder (Mosiah 27:11, 18-19); when dissenters from the Nephites as well as 8,000 Lamanites were "astonished" and converted by Nephi and Lehi, the sons of Helaman (Helaman 5:17-19); and when the sons of Mosiah had success because of the "power of their words," as these missionaries taught with "power and authority" from God (Alma 17:3-4).
The apostle stressed that these scriptures did not mean that the missionaries were to be theatrical or loud in their approach or that they should deliver their message in a way that is anything but sincere. "But every missionary has a gift," he said. "Every missionary has a commission. We just need them to believe in those gifts and embrace that commission. There will be power in such an approach to missionary work."
Earlier in his talk Elder Holland admonished the newly called leaders to "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."
Having served in an earlier assignment on the Missionary Executive Council, Elder Holland said he was involved in the development of Preach My Gospel, the new missionary guide. He noted that the title is taken from Doctrine and Covenants 50:13-14, wherein the Lord asks his servants, "Unto what were ye ordained?" and then provides the answer: "To preach my gospel by the Spirit."
"The title of this document could well have been 'Preach My Gospel by the Spirit,"' he said, "but that might be a little bit long for a title. So it is 'Preach My Gospel,' but always with the understanding of where that phrase originates and what the next phrase following it is."
He emphasized the pronoun "my" in the title as spoken by the Lord, and commented, "It is not our gospel, it is His. So we preach His gospel; we do it in His way; we keep His commandments; we follow His procedures and practices of good missionary work for the simple reason that this is His work and for His glory, and we must have His Spirit with us as we teach and testify."
Elder Holland said that the new missionary guide was developed with an eye for "strengthening the missionary as well as converting the investigator."
"We are always heart-broken if even one missionary returns home without that testimony which will stay with them for a lifetime," he said. "If we lose one returned missionary, that's too many. Surely, . . . whatever the spectrum of success or difficulty faced in a particular mission, at least the missionary can come home blessed with a testimony burning in his or her soul."
He added, "Once missionaries have their own conversion experience with the Spirit of this work, they can then be the kind of missionary God wants them to be, that they themselves want to be, and that their parents believe they are. But it won't happen in any permanent sense until they are as converted as they want their investigators to be. That theme is written into Preach My Gospel from the opening cover to the back page." (R. Scott Lloyd, More astonishing in preaching: gospel Missionary success comes with teaching by power and authority," Church News Saturday, [January 26, 2008]: 4).
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