Today I read Doctrine and Covenants section 99. In this section the Lord commands John Murdock to leave his family and go serve a mission in the eastern states and actually asks him to preach the gospel for the rest of his life, but tells him that if he so desires, at a certain time, the Lord will allow Him to end His mission. It's a pretty typical section and nothing really unique about it when the Lord calls someone on a mission.
But it did get my thinking that as much as serving a mission helps and benefits those who hear the gospel, it probably helps the missionary more. Section 50 teaches that when the Spirit is present, both the hearer and the preacher are edified, which we have talked about before. Now, I don't know how it was in days gone by, but I know that in today's world, if a missionary truly lives the gospel of Jesus Christ and lives the life of a missionary, they will come home a changed man or woman.
I remember that when I turned 18 and came face to face with serving a mission, I started having doubts. Now, I knew I was supposed to serve a mission and I knew that I WOULD serve a mission, but it was a challenge. I knew it was a commandment of the Lord that i serve a mission and so I would indeed serve one. But I was not looking forward to it and unfortunately for my parents, I let that fact be known. They were really worried I was not going to go. What they didn't know was nothing was going to stop me, it was a commandment of the Lord, how could I not go? But the reason I was having trouble with it, was because I knew the truth. I knew that I wasn't being asked to give up 2 years of my life to the Lord, I was being asked to give up my entire life.
Now, I was not doing anything wrong. I was committing no serious sins, and I was fulfilling all my covenants I had made up to that point, but my life had no direction really. I spent my days working and sleeping and my nights going out with friends. Now, we were not the "party" type, we would go out to eat or go bowling or play frisbee in parking lots. Now, partly the reason I had no direction in my life was because I knew I would serve a mission and didn't want to start college. But I knew that once I left on my mission, everything would change. I knew my friends would not be here when I got back, but if I on the off chance they were still there, I knew things would never be the same.
And I was right. I came home a different person and of the 12 - 15 people that I used to hang out with on a daily basis back before my mission, only 3 - 5 were still around and it was a little strange hanging out with them. Now, when I got back from my mission, I didn't really mind nearly as much, that things were different, but before my mission and before I had changed, I minded very much. I knew that things would never be the same. Actually, it's my opinion that the fact that things WERE so different when I got back that it is a testimony of how well I lived the mission rules and how I gave it my all as a missionary and I was the one who had a real change of heart.
And that's how every man and woman who serves a mission should be. Their number one convert should be themselves, as has been said before in many General Conference addresses. It's very similar to giving a blessing in my opinion because there are times when what is said while giving a blessing has nothing to do with the person receiving the blessing and everything to do with the person giving the blessing. I will close with one final thought on missions and missionaries. It is on a mission that a man or woman really learns how to sacrifice their will in favor of the Lord's will. It is there that they learn what it really means to say "Thy will be done". It can be learned in other ways, but a mission is by far the easiest and least painful. If you have children, begin preparing them now for their missionary service so that when the time comes it is not a question of IF they will serve a mission, but rather where will they serve the Lord as a missionary. Until tomorrow.
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