“After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel.”
-The Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.
I’ve been called to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Often when people hear about Mormon missionaries their natural first question is something along the lines of, “why do they do it?” It can be hard to understand why so many young men and women give up two years of their lives to go and teach others about Christ. I hope to speak on behalf of many, if not all of those missionaries.
We serve because we know our Father in Heaven. We know that He lives, and that He loves us. That He sent His son to this earth to die for us. We serve because we love Him, and we are grateful to Him for all He has given us. We serve because as we have grown to love our Father in Heaven, we also have grown to love all of His children, and we hope to invite as many as possible to come and know of Him, and of His goodness.
The purpose of missionary work is simple and straightforward. Our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come to Christ. What does it mean to come to Christ? Ultimately it means to receive the saving ordinances, such as baptism, and to become like Him, or in other words to become “perfect in Christ.” (Moroni 10:32-33)
Becoming perfect in Christ is a process. It begins with Faith in Christ. Faith is a belief in things unseen which are true (Alma 32:21), so faith in Christ means believing that He lives, believing that He loves us, and believing that He suffered on the cross for our sins so that we can repent.
Repentance is the second step in coming to Christ. We don’t receive forgiveness by relying on our own works or merits, but we receive forgiveness by “relying wholly upon the merits of him who is mighty to save.” (2 Nephi 31:19). As we repent, we are changed by the merits of Christ. His grace is able to change us, and as we change we become more like Him. In other words, we draw closer to Him.
The next step in coming closer to Christ is to receive the ordinance of baptism by one who has authority of God. It must be a holder of the Priesthood who has been commissioned of Jesus Christ to baptize. After the baptism of water comes the baptism by fire and the Holy Ghost. As Nephi said, “I know that if ye shall follow the Son, with full purpose of heart, acting no hypocrisy and no deception before God, but with real intent, repenting of your sins, witnessing unto the Father that ye are willing to take upon you the name of Christ, by baptism—yea, by following your Lord and your Savior down into the water, according to his word, behold, then shall ye receive the Holy Ghost; yea, then cometh the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost.”
The Holy Ghost, as the third member of the Godhead, has the divinely specific role to testify of truth. (Moroni 10:5, [3-5]), and in filling that role He acts as our personal guide as we strive to endure to the end.
As for myself I want to serve a mission because I know God lives. I have prayed to know if He is there, whether or not He knows me, and if He loves me. The Lord has answered all of my prayers. He has told me that He is there, that He does know me, and in experiences more powerful than anything else I’ve ever experienced on this earth, He has shown me that He loves me.
These are all things that all men and women everywhere can come to know as well. If you read the Book of Mormon, and if you search it looking for the truths and doctrines it contains, I promise you that those truths will begin to change your soul as they have changed mine. If you have the courage to sincerely pray and ask God, I promise you that He will bear the truthfulness of these doctrines to you through His Holy Spirit.
“The Standard of Truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”
-The Prophet Joseph Smith Jr.
Wonderful!
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