Anyway, as many of you who know me may know, missionary work is a critical part of my religion. Out here, it seems like everybody has served a mission and is always telling mission stories as if their missions were one of the greatest highlights of their lives. Mormons serve missions because they love those around them. In the Book of Mormon, one of our sets of scriptures, in Alma chapter 36:23-26, it reads:
23 But behold, my limbs did receive their strength again, and I stood upon my feet, and did
manifest unto the people that I had been born of God.
24 Yea, and from that time even until now, I have labored without ceasing, that I might bring
souls unto repentance; that I might bring them to taste of the exceeding joy of which I did taste;
that they might also be born of God, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
25 Yea, and now behold, O my son, the Lord doth give me exceedingly great joy in the fruit of
my labors;
26 For because of the word which he has imparted unto me, behold, many have been born of God,
and have tasted as I have tasted, and have seen eye to eye as I have seen; therefore they do know
of these things of which I have spoken, as I do know; and the knowledge which I have is of God.
In this quote, Alma is teaching his son, Helaman, the importance of serving your fellow man by spreading the gospel to all the earth. He explains that, through sharing the gospel, one will have greater joy than if they don't share it with those around them and that it is a natural desire for those who do have a testimony of Jesus Christ to share the gospel. The gospel will bring joy to all of those involved in spreading it.
When people join my church, they make covenants between themselves and God. A covenant is a promise one makes with God in which He fixes the terms. A covenant is a promise in which, if we follow through on something that He expects from us, we will be blessed. Anybody can make covenants if they are worthy of them and they are free to choose to follow or break these covenants after breaking them. Examples of covenants are baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, priesthood, marriage, and the list goes on. Before I go on my mission, I will be making more covenants in the temple. I do not know the exact covenants and promises that I will make just yet, but I know that these covenants are very special and sacred. Heavenly Father cares deeply about us and that is why we have covenants. The other day, I read a talk from M. Russel Ballard entitled Keeping Covenants from the 1993 General Conference of my church in which he says “Satan will seek to tempt us at times and in ways that exploit our greatest weaknesses or destroy our strengths. But his promises of pleasure are short-lived deceptions. His evil design is to tempt us into sinning, knowing that when we sin we separate ourselves from our Heavenly Father and the Savior, Jesus Christ. We begin to move away from Heavenly Father’s promised blessings toward the misery and anguish in which Satan and his followers languish. By sinning we put ourselves in Satan’s power." Heavenly Father gives us covenants so that we can be happy and return to Him someday.
When I leave for my mission, I will likely need help getting through the trials that are thrown my way. I will likely deal with humid weather, companions that are hard to deal with, and working long hours doing what I can only wonder why God would have me do it. I am sure that I will love what do, but there is no denying the fact that I will likely have to deal with trials every day. It is only through the strengthening and enabling power of the atonement that I will be able to deal with these stresses. In Mosiah 24: 13-16, it reads:
13 And it came
to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions,
saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the
covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people
and deliver them out of bondage.
14 And I will also ease the burdens
which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon
your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye
may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.
15 And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord.
16 And
it came to pass that so great was their faith and their patience that
the voice of the Lord came unto them again, saying: Be of good comfort,
for on the morrow I will deliver you out of bondage.
When somebody has issues, if they pray to Heavenly Father, He will help them through their challenges. He will give them strength to press forward and will help us understand His will for us. When I am on a mission, it will be important for me to obey and pray and He will help when times get tough for me. It is because of the enabling power of the atonement that that is possible
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