The MTC
Jan 29th
Last week we sent my youngest brother Michael to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah, who is on his way to Warsaw, Poland for his mission. In the days before entering the MTC, in talking with Michael, I realized he didn’t know what to expect once he arrived at the MTC. So I thought some information about what to expect at the MTC would make a good blog post. My MTC experience, which I will tell you about below, was nearly 15 years ago, so I thought I would turn first to a New Era magazine article called The MTC Experience.
The MTC is where missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints go to get doctrinal and language training at the beginning of their missionary service. There are 17 MTCs located in nations throughout the world including Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom, and the flagship MTC is located in Provo, Utah, USA, adjacent to the campus of Brigham Young University. Missionaries not learning a language usually spend 3 weeks in the MTC, while those learning a foreign language will generally spend 9 to 12 weeks at the MTC. The MTC is a crucial part of getting missionaries prepared to serve, but it was not always so.
History of the MTC
In the early 1900s, new missionaries would report to the Mission Home in Salt Lake City, a small building adjacent to Temple Square. Missionaries would stay there just a day or two before leaving to their assigned areas. During the early 1900s, the typical English-speaking missionary would arrive on a Saturday and leave the following Wednesday. Those foreign serving missionaries frequently had to wait longer for visas and would often serve temporarily as tour guides on Temple Square or do clerical tasks at the LDS Church headquarters.
In November 1961, missionaries started heading a few miles south, to Brigham Young University, at the beginning of their mission for some language training. Soon, a new LDS mission, the Language Training Mission (LTM), was created, with the geographic extent of the mission to be the perimeter of the buildings in Provo, Utah. These buildings included dormitories as well as classrooms for the missionaries.
As the Church and the number of missionaries continued to grow in the 1970s, the church acquired some nearby land near the BYU Provo campus, built dormitories, a gymnasium, and other buildings. The name of the LTM was changed to the Missionary Training Center in 1978, to note that it was for more than just language training.
Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, other MTCs popped up in other parts of the world. In 1998, all North American missionaries called to Brazil were sent to the Brazil MTC in São Paulo for the second month of their training. Although the integrated MTC program was originally thought of as a solution to overcrowding at the MTC in Provo, it has also proven successful in better training missionaries and revolutionized the MTC experience. Now, I believe, many Americans called to serve abroad are instructed to report directly to the MTC in that country.
Life at the MTC
Life inside the MTC is definitely different than life outside, but it is great. There’s so much to learn in just a few weeks at the MTC:
- Gospel doctrines
- How to develop Christ-like attributes
- How to teach by the Spirit
- Communication skills
- A foreign language (for some)
- The mission rules
You will be assigned a companion, put in a district with three or four other companionships. Your companion and district will be with you throughout your training and you will become great friends. Every day you will go to classes, on the gospel of Jesus Christ and on your language, with your district, and several times a week you will be able to go together to play sports in the gymnasium. Once a week you’ll go to the temple, Sundays will be filled with Church meetings, and once a week you have a devotional by a General Authority. You’ll have weekly service opportunities on the MTC campus (‘celestial service,’ as they called it, cleaning toilets, mopping floors, etc.).
If you’ll recall my previous post, Work Hard, Obey, and Love Others, it was at the MTC that a teacher of mine made that challenge that affected my whole mission.
MTC Services
In a lot of ways, the MTC is a virtual city with all the services you will need as a missionary. Here’s a run down:
- Cafeteria—Three meals a day are served. When missionaries have a scheduling conflict, they can pack a sack lunch instead of eating in the cafeteria.
- Laundry—Washers and dryers are available. Missionaries must purchase their own detergent from vending machines or the bookstore.
- Bookstore—The bookstore is stocked with learning materials, book bags, plus everyday items such as toiletries, white shirts, or treats.
- Dry cleaning—Rates are reasonable. There is a trend for missionaries to gain weight while at the MTC, so suit alterations are also available for a fee.
- Barbershop—Elders are entitled to one or two haircuts depending on their length of stay at the MTC. Sister missionaries are not offered haircuts, although a beautician is available for paid appointments.
- Copy center—Services such as copying, laminating, or binding are available here.
- Sheets and pillowcases—All bed linens are provided. Exchange for clean linen can be made weekly.
- Mail—Letters are delivered to mailboxes, and packages can be picked up at an adjoining window. The MTC will not accept hand deliveries, so you must send packages through the post office or private carriers.
- Banking services—The office has capabilities to cash checks and sell travelers’ checks.
- Medical services—The health center is adjacent to the MTC. Immunizations are available. Health needs can be treated. Also, doctors are on call for emergencies.
BYU hosts a Web site for the Provo Utah MTC. Visit the site for an MTC Virtual Tour and, to get answers to additions questions, see their MTC FAQs page.
My MTC Experience
I entered the Provo, Utah MTC in October 1995 on my way to serving in Rosario, Argentina. I was in one of the first trial programs of Technology Aided Language Learning (TALL), which I now believe is part of all missionaries’ curriculum. I loved the MTC from the very beginning; everyone was so nice and the spiritual growth I experienced was phenomenal.
I was in the MTC just after I completed my first year of college at BYU and all the facilities (beds, laundry, cafeteria) was just like in the BYU dorms. I was amazed at how they just threw us into Spanish, teaching us to pray and contact people in Spanish on our very first full day at the MTC. A the MTC, in a lot of ways, I felt I had a stress-free life. I had no worries about what was going on in the outside world, I just studied Spanish and the gospel and felt the Spirit all day, every day.
Other missionaries I knew, though, had a harder time. Many missionaries have a hard time learning the language and many have a hard time being spiritual. If you have largely ignored spiritual things throughout your life, then going to the MTC can be a difficult transition. All the more reason to spiritually prepare before your mission.
I had one very spiritual, faith-promoting experience after I had been in the MTC for about a month. We had a lesson on faith and as I sat there listening, my mind and soul seemed to open up and receive knowledge from heaven. After the class, one of the other missionaries asked me what I had learned about faith, and as I tried to convey through words what I had felt the Spirit of the Lord poured over me like never before. The other missionaries and I worth both greatly edified by this experience.
The more I learned about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, the more I realized how much I didn’t know. The more I studied the scriptures, the more I wanted to immerse myself in them and learn all that I could. An hour a day of personal scripture study suddenly didn’t seem like nearly enough.
I came away from the MTC with more gratitude in my heart, more meekness and penitence, a stronger testimony of the Book of Mormon, understanding of the importance of obedience to the commandments and to the mission rules, deeper gospel knowledge, a stronger testimony of the Church and of the atonement of Jesus Christ, greater sensitivity to the Spirit, greater trust in the Lord, and joy and happiness that worldly things cannot bring.
At the conclusion of my MTC experience, I wrote in my journal, I knew I had had a life altering experience, even if I never set foot in the mission field. While that is certainly true, oh how little I realized how much I would learn and grow once I got into the mission field.
Zion
Jan 18th
The following is a the text of a talk I gave in Church today. It’s not extremely mission prep related, except inasmuch as missionaries’ work is to help establish Zion. But hopefully you’ll still enjoy it.
City of Enoch
I’d like to talk to you about the Zion society known as the City of Enoch. While Enoch and his people lived long ago, there times were not that different than our own today. The scripture says that at that time, “there were wars and bloodshed” all upon the earth, yet “the Lord came and dwelt with his people, and they dwelt in righteousness.” (Moses 7:16) It says that “so great was the faith of Enoch” and his people that “all nations feared greatly.” (v 13) It says that “the Lord blessed the land” where the people of Enoch lived, and they “did flourish.” (v 17)
Then we get to the familiar verse, Moses 7: 18, where it says “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.” Then, as we know, due to the faith and righteousness of Enoch and his people, “Zion was taken up into heaven.” (v 23)
Collectively and individually, each of us can achieve the blessings of joy and happiness and prosperity, both spiritual and temporal, when we strive to achieve a Zion-like society. I see in the verse above, three things that lead to a Zion society:
- Unity: “they were of one heart and one mind”
- Righteous Living: they “dwelt in righteousness”
- Caring for the Poor: “there was no poor among them”
1. Unity
“We sometimes hear the words “celebrate diversity” as if diversity were an ultimate goal,” said Elder Dallin H. Oaks. Yet “Jesus did not pray that His followers would be “diverse.” He prayed that they would be “one” (John 17:21–22). Modern revelation does not say, “Be diverse.” …It says, “Be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine” (D&C 38:27)… Our Church has an approach to the obvious cultural and ethnic diversities among our members. We teach that what unites us is far more important than what differentiates us. Consequently, our members are asked to concentrate their efforts to strengthen our unity… We seek to establish a community of Saints—“one body,” the Apostle Paul called it (1 Cor. 12:13)—where everyone feels needed and wanted and where all can pursue the eternal goals we share.” (Dallin H. Oaks, “Weightier Matters,” Ensign, Jan 2001, 13)
Stand Close Together and Lift Where You Stand
In his talk about a year ago, President Uchtdorf taught of the need for unity among the saints when he urged us to “stand close together and lift where you stand.” Said he, “a group of brethren was asked to move a grand piano from the chapel to the adjoining cultural hall, where it was needed for a musical event. None were professional movers, and the task of getting that gravity-friendly instrument through the chapel and into the cultural hall seemed nearly impossible. Everybody knew that this task required not only physical strength but also careful coordination. There were plenty of ideas, but not one could keep the piano balanced correctly. They repositioned the brethren by strength, height, and age over and over again—nothing worked. As they stood around the piano, uncertain of what to do next, a good friend of mine, Brother Hanno Luschin, spoke up. He said, “Brethren, stand close together and lift where you stand.” It seemed too simple. Nevertheless, each lifted where he stood, and the piano rose from the ground and moved into the cultural hall as if on its own power. That was the answer to the challenge. They merely needed to stand close together and lift where they stood.” (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Lift Where You Stand,” Ensign, Nov 2007)
2. Righteous Living
Like the people of the city of Enoch, we live in times of many “wars and bloodshed,” yet we can, like they, “flourish” by living “in righteousness.” Enoch saw in vision a view of the world after his city was taken up into Heaven. He saw that Satan “veiled the whole face of the earth with darkness” and that this wickedness caused the Lord to weep. The Lord explained that wickedness caused misery and doom, and that it saddened him to see the “workmanship” of his own hands make such poor choices. The Book of Mormon prophet Alma expressed this concept well when he told his son “wickedness never was happiness.” (Alma 41:10) Righteous living is an indispensible component for all people in a Zion society.
Self-Reliance
A major part of righteous living of gospel principles is work and self-reliance. I found it interesting what the First Presidency said in 1936 about the establishment of the Church welfare program. They said, “Our primary purpose was to set up, in so far as it might be possible, a system under which the curse of idleness would be done away with…The aim of the Church is to help the people to help themselves. Work is to be reenthroned as the ruling principle of the lives of our Church membership.” (First Presidency, General Conference, October 1936.)
Righteous living means obeying the Lord’s commandments. The first and great is to “love the Lord thy God” Matt 22:37, “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” Matt 22:39 The Savior taught that loving and serving others was the basis for all the other gospel commandments. The prophet Spence W. Kimball said that “we can see that Welfare Services is not a program, but the essence of the gospel. It is the gospel in action.” (Spencer W. Kimball, Ensign, Dec 1984, 2)
3. Caring for the Poor
Righteous living naturally leads to the third component of a Zion society, caring for the poor. King Benjamin that, benevolent prophet king in the Book of Mormon, taught that by caring for the poor and needy, we help keep ourselves unspotted from sin. Said he, “for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.” (Mosiah 4:26.)
President Monson’s Example
President Monson’s compassion for and caring of the poor and needy throughout his life is an example we should all know and emulate. It has been written many times about the 85 widows that lived in his ward when he was a young bishop. “At Christmastime he called personally at the home of each widow, leaving a gift and his blessing,” and continued that even after his release as bishop. (see President Thomas S. Monson). At the First Presidency Christmas devotional last month, President Monson said, “real joy comes as we show the love and compassion inspired by the Savior of the world, who said, ‘Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto me.’” (First Presidency Gives 2009 Christmas Message)
My Dad’s Example with Sister Funderburk
My father provided a great example to me of caring for the poor and needy. When I was a young teenager, I was my father’s home teaching companion. One of the families we visited on a regular basis were the Funderburks. Sister Funderburk was an older lady who lived in extremely impoverished conditions. She had no husband (not that lived with her anyway). Sister Funderburk always had a foster child living with her. I believe this was her only means of income, as the government would pay her a small stipend in return for housing and caring for a foster child. She lived in a very old trailer/mobile home, with plastic sheeting on many of the walls and windows and in general need of serious repairs.
The plumbing in Sister Funderburk’s home was a frequent object of our attention as home teachers. My dad and I were no plumbers, but the plumbing needed attention, so we rolled up our sleeves and worked on it many times. I remember one winter, the mountains of northern Georgia got pretty cold and her pipes froze, leaving her without running water. We went, the following Saturday, and worked the entire day to insulate and bury the pipes in the ground.
Sister Funderburk had no telephone, so my dad and I simply dropped in on her a couple times a month to make sure everything was ok. I remember one night we stopped by and found they had no food in their house. My dad immediate made a run to the grocery store, which was probably a ten to fifteen mile drive each way, since she lived out in the country, as did we. My dad bought milk, bread, and other essentials. The Spirit had prompted him to stop by and ask if she had any needs, and it was at just the right time as Sister Funderburk was, no doubt, praying for help.
Working with James Walker
Years later, when my wife and I were living in Memphis Tennessee, I met a member of the Church in similar impoverished circumstances. His name was James Walker. James was an older gentleman, perhaps 65 years old. The missionaries had recently baptized him. James lived alone, aside from the hand full of chickens he raised, which as far as I could tell was his only source of income. I had met James when he got baptized, but I really didn’t get to know him until our bishop asked me to work with James and teach him how to read and write. In working with James, as I did over the next couple of years, I was no doubt prepared by the great example of my father.
While James was very poor in terms of material possessions, I never felt my purpose in working with him was to give him financial assistance as much as it was just to be his friend. I was aware of the many generous Church members who gave freely to help James, as did we from time to time. But James needed friends as much as anything. He needed people in his life who had love and confidence in him. Working with James in this literacy program allowed me to help and support him in all those ways. And though we live 2,000 miles apart now, James and I still talk on the phone from time to time.
Hurricane Katrina Relief Efforts
In the late summer of 2005, we were living in Memphis Tennessee, just 6 hours north of New Orleans, when Hurricane Katrina struck. Within days, if not hours, our Church and many others organizations were on the ground helping those peoples whose lives and property had been destroyed. A couple of weeks after the storm, in Church one Sunday, we got a request like I’ve never had before or since as a Church member. They asked us, particularly the brethren, though a number of sisters went as well, to go to New Orleans to help with the relief efforts. They asked us to leave Friday afternoon, drive down to New Orleans, sleep in the Stake Center or its parking lot, work all day Saturday, then work half the day Sunday and then drive home Sunday evening. This schedule allowed us to put in a day and a half of labor and not miss any of our normal Monday through Friday jobs.
For me this seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity to help and I jumped at the chance. If you remember the photos and videos of the destruction of Hurricane Katrina, seeing it in person trumped it all. Photos and videos just can’t completely convey the horrible scene of destruction. Over the next months, I made three of these weekend trips down to New Orleans for relief, recovery, and rebuilding. The brethren from our stake and many others were there every weekend for months and we helps thousands of people.
President Hinckley’s Comments on Church’s Katrina Relief
President Hinckley spoke of these relief efforts in the Priesthood Session of General Conference in October 20005. “Great numbers of our men have traveled considerable distances, bringing with them tools and tents and radiant hope. Men of the priesthood have given thousands upon thousands of hours in the work of rehabilitation. There have been three and four thousand at a time. There are some there tonight. We cannot say enough of thanks to them…
“Two of our Area Seventies, Brother John Anderson, who resides in Florida, and Brother Stanley Ellis, who lives in Texas, have directed much of this effort. But they would be the first to say that the credit belongs to the great numbers of men and boys who have given assistance. Many have worn shirts that say “Mormon Helping Hands.” They have won the love and respect of those they have assisted. Their assistance has gone not only to members of the Church in trouble, but to great numbers of those concerning whom no religious affiliation has been made.
“They have followed the pattern of the Nephites as recorded in the book of Alma: “They did not send away any who were naked, or that were hungry, or that were athirst, or that were sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the church or in the church, having no respect to persons as to those who stood in need” (Alma 1:30).
Listening to Pres Hinckley from Waveland Mississippi Building
I heard this talk of Presidents Hinckley’s live from that storm battered LDS Church building in Waveland Mississippi. The walls and carpet of that building had been ripped out, but there was still a roof over head so it was serving as a sort-of rescue and relief headquarters, with tons of tools, supplies and willing helpers. I remember sitting in these circumstances, in filthy clothing from a hard days work, with dozens of other brothers and sisters, huddled around a little television set in that gutted building. I remember the sense of pride, and accomplishment, and joy in having helped others. In some respects, of course, it was a sacrifice to go there, but the rewards of serving others far outweighed that in my mind.
I uploaded to my Flckr account all the photos I have of my trips to the gulf coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina:
- Hurricane Katrina Relief Trip 1: Waveland, Mississippi, from My Camera
- Hurricane Katrina Relief Trip 1: Waveland, Mississippi, Nate Purcell’s Camera
- Hurricane Katrina Relief Trip 2: Slidell, Louisiana
- Hurricane Katrina Relief Trip 3: New Orleans, Louisiana
Conclusion
As I said at the beginning, each of us will enjoy that truest form of joy and we will have an abundance of spiritual and temporal prosperity when we strive to achieve a Zion-like society through:
- Unity: “they were of one heart and one mind”
- Righteous Living: they “dwelt in righteousness”
- Caring for the Poor: “there was no poor among them”
Then we, like the Zion society established by the Savior in the Americas, it may be said of us, “surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.” (4 Ne. 1:16)
Redesign and Spanish Version of Mormon Mission Prep
Jan 8th
Any of you who have visited Mormon Mission Prep since the beginning of the new year will have already noticed this, but over Christmas break I redesigned the Web site. Actually, I have done far more than simply redesigning the look of the site, I added a Spanish version of the site and I changed the underlying technology the site is built on. I hope you all enjoy the new site design and new features. Feel free to give many any feedback you have.
Spanish Version of Mormon Mission Prep
From the beginning, I have wanted to do the site in both Spanish and English. Up until recently, though, I have used my limited time and resources to simply get the site up and running in my native English. But with recent requests from readers, and the opportunity provided by the technology change, I decided to go ahead and create a Spanish version of Mormon Mission Prep.
Not all blog posts have been translated yet, but I will slowly be working on them. What I have translated thus far is about 8 of the most recent blog posts, and most of the other pages in the top navigation menu. I’ve also created a Spanish Facebook page and a Spanish YouTube channel for the mission prep videos, though I’ve only translated one of the videos so far. Here’s a run down of the Spanish and English content:
Under the Hood Technology
For those of you interested in the technical details, I moved the site from being run on the Windows-based BlogEngine.net, to the Linux-based WordPress. BlogEngine was okay during the first year of running the site, but I began to run into more and more limitations with it. WordPress is a powerful free blog platform that provides me all the resources I need to run the site now and long into the future.
Missionary Work Cleanses Sin
Dec 13th
One of the blessings of missionary work is that missionary work cleanses sin. Of course only our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has the power to cleanse us of sin, which power he possesses thanks to his suffering for the sins of the world. And by faithfully doing missionary work, we do the things that are necessary to take advantage of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
When I arrived in Argentina and had my first interview with my mission president, he shared this scriptural concept and it has always stuck with me. I wish I had written down the scripture he shared with me that day, but perhaps it’s better that I can’t remember what it was because it has caused my to do my own scripture study of the subject.
The following are scriptural examples I have found as evidence that missionary work cleanses sin:
- To early Church missionaries the Lord said, “And in this place let them lift up their voice and declare my word with loud voices, without wrath or doubting, lifting up holy hands upon them. For I am able to make you holy, and your sins are forgiven you.” D&C 60:7
- To the early pioneers of these latter days the Lord said, “And I give unto you, who are the first laborers in this last kingdom, a commandment that you assemble yourselves together, and organize yourselves, and prepare yourselves, and sanctify yourselves; yea, purify your hearts, and cleanse your hands and your feet before me, that I may make you clean.” D&C 88:74
- Praying about the 12 apostles he chose in the ancient Americas, our Savior said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast purified those whom I have chosen, because of their faith, and I pray for them, and also for them who shall believe on their words, that they may be purified in me, through faith on their words, even as they are purified in me.”3 Ne. 19: 28
- When the ancient Jared rejected the prophet Ether after he was sent by God to exhort the people to believe in God, the Lord said, “If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father.” Ether 12:37
- Ezekiel 33:9 “if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.”
Which, if any, of these scriptures was the one my mission president shared with me all those years ago, I do not know. But it seems to me, through studying these scriptures, that sincere, true missionary efforts naturally leads to forgiveness of sins. By being a worthy missionary and helping others come unto Christ, we ourselves are brought closer and receive His cleansing power.
It’s not the doing missionary work gives you a free pass from your sins. It’s that to do true missionary work requires the individual to go through the God-given steps of faith, repentance, and cleansing Priesthood ordinances of salvation which make us worthy and able to return to live with God.
The main purpose of missionary work is to help bring others to Christ, but and importance secondary purpose is that it brings the missionaries themselves closer to Christ. I thank Heavenly Father for this wonderful blessing of missionary work with its dual effect of gathering those into the restored gospel who previously did not know of it, and its ability to cleanse and purify the missionary workers themselves.
Conversion Story of Aldo
Dec 6th
The conversion story of Aldo is perhaps the easiest conversion process and baptism of my whole mission. It was September 1996, and I met Aldo at Church my first Sunday serving in the city of Fray Luis Beltran, a little town north of Rosario. We were in Sunday School and there was a young man who was answering all the questions from the teacher. I leaned over and asked my companion, Elder Gertge, who this person was who was so engaged in the lesson. Elder Gertge told me his name was Aldo and he was not a member of the Church. Aldo lived in the city of Rosario, but his girl friend lived with her family in Beltran. I asked Elder Gertge if he and his previous companion had been teaching Aldo the discussions, and he said no.
After Church I went up to Aldo and introduced myself and asked him if he wanted to hear the missionary discussions. Without hesitation, Aldo agreed to hearing the discussions and we began teaching him that week at his girl friend’s home. Gabriela had told Aldo she would not marry outside the temple of the Lord, and therefore Aldo had been attending Church for the three months before I met him. I don’t know why the previous missionaries never pursued teaching Aldo the discussions, but I was very happy to do it. It is always a great joy to teach someone who is hungry to learn and take the next step in his eternal progression by getting baptized.
Aldo cruised through the six discussions and got baptized within a couple of weeks of our first meeting. While Elder Gertge and I taught Aldo and guided him into the waters of baptism, we really did very little other than being in the right place at the right time. It was his girl friend Gabriela, her family, the ward members in Beltran, and the Lord who prepared Aldo to become a member of the true Church of Jesus Christ. We missionaries just opened our mouths and invited him to come unto Christ. 
About a year after Aldo’s baptism, I was serving in the city of the Rosario. My companion and I were doing some street contacting along a major avenue, when a car pulled up beside us and Aldo jumped out. Aldo gave me a big hug and told me how he and Gabriela would soon be married in the Buenos Aires temple. I was so very happy to know that Aldo had stayed true to his testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and that he and Gabriela were going to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. And I was thankful that I had had a small part in the conversion story of Aldo.
Winner of The Ultimate Missionary Companion Book
Nov 28th
And the winner is … Wendy. Wendy, I’ll be reaching out to you to get your mailing address.
Thanks to everyone who entered. I’m sure I’ll be giving another book away soon, so be watching for it. If you didn’t win the book, I have good news, you can buy your own copy of The Ultimate Missionary Companion from Amazon. Used copies sell for a little as $0.22 plus shipping.
The Ultimate Missionary Companion
Nov 20th
Giveaway Alert: Read to the bottom and enter to win a copy of the book!
The Ultimate Missionary Companion, Inspirational Insights on Becoming the Lord’s Missionary is the next missionary prep book I have read and will now review for you. The book is by Ed J. Pinegar, who served as president of the Missionary Training Center in Provo, UT, as a religion professor at BYU, and as the president of the England London South Mission. The book was very enjoyable, had great stories, and as the subtitle indicates, is full of insightful tips to help missionaries. Here are some of my favorite excerpts:
The Purpose and Joy of Missionary Work
- “This earth was made only to accommodate the vision of saving souls.” p. 4
- “When you were baptized you covenanted to be willing ‘to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things, and in all places’ (Mosiah 18:9)” p.4
Preparing for a Mission
- “So many people want to win, but as Coach Lovell Edwards says, ‘maybe they don’t want to prepare to win.’” p. 11
- “You can’t preach faith unto repentance until you live faith unto repentance.” p. 12
- “If we’re not worthy, we can’t have the Spirit…we can’t preach, we can’t be led, we can’t be directed, we can’t know that things to say.” p.12
- “Be aware… temptation is real, and Satan desireth to sift you as wheat. You must pray every day to avoid and overcome temptation.” p.20
- “Be a prophet for you own soul, receiving revelation from God on things you should do.” p.34
Work
- “Work ethic is crucial…Every single time an elder has a problem in the mission field is because he is idle.” p.47
- “The beautiful part about a mission (is) the only thing you do is missionary work…(you) don’t have to think about girls or dates or ask ‘what’ll we do tonight?’ …All you do is eat, drink and sleep the scriptures, pray and ponder and ask how you can bless Heavenly Father’s children so they’ll come to Christ.” p.128
Being Continually Motivated as a Missionary
- “We can be continually motivated and successful missionaries if our perception is clear and our motives are pure.” p.57
- “Our behavior is nothing more than a reflection of the depth of our conversion to Jesus Christ. The deeper the conversion, the greater the motivation and the greater the Christ like behavior.” p. 59
- “In our mission we had an attitude of ‘always one more door.’ So we would knock on all the door and one more.” p.62
- “Don’t you realize how special you are?…You are fulfillment of prophecy…you are one of the noble and great ones saved for this day.” p.63
Communicating and Opening Your Mouth
- “Be prepared to communicate…If we don’t communicate our message, our message is not heard.” p.75
- “Don’t go anywhere without opening your mouth…on the streets, at the bus stop, as you’re walking down the street…in the grocery store.” p.87
- “When we know what Christ has done for us, we will want to open our mouths.” p.90
- “If the words we utter reflect the feelings of our hearts, the strength of our character, and the depth of our testimony, then the Lord will help us.” p.91
- When setting an appointment, “tell them it’s a long way to travel,” (p.97) and they’ll be more likely to be there.
- See my previous post: Open Your Mouth
Using The Book of Mormon as the Key to Conversion
- “You will never be the missionary you were destined to be until you love and live this book. It is the key to your converting power.” p.110
- “The Book of Mormon is the tool that will retain converts better than any other thing. If we root the people to our sociality, or friendliness, or love, we root them to us instead of to Christ.” p.113
- “Before our investigators can sense the power and divinity of the Book of Mormon for themselves, they must sense it in us.” p.114
- See my previous post: The Power of the Book of Mormon
The Mission After Your Mission
- “You can’t coast after your mission and live on your life of past service…you must continue in your service.” p.166
- “Remember, with care, the things you learned on your mission and apply them to your mission in life.” p.169
- “Don’t become commanding and demanding just because you’re home. You should treat everyone like an investigator.” p.170
- To paraphrase Brother Pinegar: After you mission, keep reading the scriptures, keep praying, keep going to church, keep doing what is right, keep serving others. The same formula that worked for your investigators will work for you to stay on the strait and narrow path.
Giveaway
Now, for the moment you have all been waiting for—the giveaway. To enter to win a free copy of The Ultimate Missionary Companion, just leave a comment on this blog post answering this question: Where would you like to go on a mission and why?
Please, only one entry per person. Entries will be accepted over the next week and I will cut off entries on Friday, November 27, 2009 at midnight Mountain time. The winner will be selected at random, and I will make the announcement the following day. Good luck.
Chastity
Nov 16th
I’d like to address a question I have gotten from time to time regarding law of chastity violations and the ability to later go on a mission. Many young people who have had issues with sexual morality want to repent and go on a mission, but frequently they don’t know if their prior actions will prohibit them from ever serving.
While it is far better to never engage in these transgressions, let me reassure you that they can repented of, and generally these young people can eventually go on a mission. Law of chastity issues are very serious in the sight of the Lord, though, and if serious enough, or if not fully repented of, may disqualify you from going on a mission.
The law of chastity is the Lord’s commandment that we keep ourselves sexually pure. For young people preparing for a mission, sexual purity means refraining from sexual relations and other sexual perversions such as homosexual activity, masturbation, viewing pornography, and heavy petting (inappropriate touching). Here is a concise definition of chastity from the LDS.org Gospel Topics section:
Chastity is sexual purity. Those who are chaste are morally clean in their thoughts, words, and actions. Chastity means not having any sexual relations before marriage.
…In the world today, Satan has led many people to believe that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is acceptable. But in God’s sight, it is a serious sin. It is an abuse of the power He has given us to create life. The prophet Alma taught that sexual sins are more serious than any other sins except murder and denying the Holy Ghost (see Alma 39:3–5).
Sometimes people try to convince themselves that sexual relations outside of marriage are acceptable if the participants love one another. This is not true. Breaking the law of chastity and encouraging someone else to do so is not an expression of love. People who love each other will never endanger one another’s happiness and safety in exchange for temporary personal pleasure.
Our Heavenly Father has given us the law of chastity for our protection…Those who keep themselves sexually pure will avoid the spiritual and emotional damage that always comes from sharing physical intimacies with someone outside of marriage.
Priesthood leaders determine worthiness
As much as I want to and try to help young people who email me with law of chastity concerns, these issues must be worked through with priesthood leaders before a potential missionary can be declared worthy to serve. Elder M. Russell Ballard, in a talk called The Greatest Generation of Missionaries (Ensign, November 2002) said, “as divinely appointed judges in Israel, the bishop and the stake president determine worthiness and resolve concerns on behalf of the Church.” So if you are struggling with sexual sin, please, talk to your parents and make an appointment to go see your bishop or branch president. They will love and support and help you through.
In that same talk, Elder Ballard went on to say, “Please understand this: the bar that is the standard for missionary service is being raised. The day of the ‘repent and go’ missionary is over. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you, my young brothers? Some young men have the mistaken idea that they can be involved in sinful behavior and then repent when they’re 18 1/2 so they can go on their mission at 19. While it is true that you can repent of sins, you may or you may not qualify to serve. It is far better to keep yourselves clean and pure and valiant.”
Raising the bar
Our former prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley, also spoke of the need to raise the worthiness standards for missionaries. In fact, he commented on Elder Ballard’s talk saying, “Elder Ballard has spoken to you concerning missionaries. I wish to endorse what he said. I hope that our young men, and our young women, will rise to the challenge he has set forth. We must raise the bar on the worthiness and qualifications of those who go into the world as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ” (“To Men of the Priesthood,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2002, 57).
President Hinckley further said, “the time has come when we must raise the standards of those who are called … as ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ. … We simply cannot permit those who have not qualified themselves as to worthiness to go into the world to speak the glad tidings of the gospel.” (“Missionary Service,” Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, Jan. 11, 2003, 17).
Elder L. Tom Perry has also spoken on missionary worthiness, comparing these standards with those needed to enter the house of the Lord, the Holy Temple. Said he, “Personal worthiness is the minimum spiritual standard for serving a mission. This means that you are worthy in every way to make and to keep sacred temple covenants.” (From Raising the Bar, Ensign, November 2007)
Worthiness interview
As I mentioned above, and as I talked about in my other posts on the Mission Application Timeline and the application process for Mission Papers, only a bishop (or branch president) can interview missionary candidates and recommend them as worthy to serve a full-time mission. In this interview, your priesthood leader will ask you if you meet the qualifications for missionary service revealed in section 4 of the Doctrine and Covenants: faith, hope, charity, love, an eye single to the glory of God, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, and diligence.
Full-time missionary service is a privilege, not a right, and therefore, potential missionaries must be worthy in every respect in order to receive that privilege. If you have had law of chastity violations, your bishop and stake president (or branch president and district or mission president) will need to confirm that your repentance is complete prior to submitting your application. They will make sure that you are prepared spiritually for your mission call and that you have been free of transgression for a sufficient time to manifest genuine repentance. If you have had multiple or serious violations of the law of chastity, this time period will likely be at least one year from the most recent occurrence.
Repentance
If you have had problems with the law of chastity, to prepare for a mission you will need to become worthy, and you will need to go through the repentance process. Complete repentance of law of chastity violations is necessary before a potential missionary can submit the paperwork. As many young people are a little afraid or unsure how to begin the repentance process, let’s review the steps.
- Faith in God. Repentance is an act of faith in Jesus Christ, and acknowledges the power of His Atonement. We can be forgiven only on His terms, and as we recognize the power of His Atonement to cleanse us from sin, we “exercise [our] faith unto repentance” (Alma 34:17).
- Sorrow for Sin. Sincere repentance means acknowledging that we have sinned against God’s commandments. This admission will lead to “godly sorrow,” which “worketh repentance to salvation” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Godly sorrow leads to a sincere desire to change and a willingness to submit to the requirement for forgiveness.
- Confession. “Whoso confesseth and forsaketh [sin] shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). Repentance means going before God in humble prayer, acknowledging our sins, and pleading for His help. Serious transgressions, such as violations of the law of chastity, also need to be confessed to the Lord’s priesthood representatives who are your local bishop or branch president. While only the Lord can forgive sins, these leaders play a divine role and will help you through the repentance process.
- Abandonment of Sin. The Lord has said, “By this ye may know if a man repenteth of his sins—behold, he will confess them and forsake them” (D&C 58:43). True repentance means resolving that we will forsake our sins or in other words that we will never repeat the transgression.
- Restitution. Another part of repentance is restoring, as far as possible, all that has been damaged by the sinful actions. Whether that is fixing someone’s property or someone’s reputation, restitution shows the Lord that we are doing all we can to repent.
- Righteous Living. Repentance is not complete until we fill our lives with good choices and endure to the end in righteousness. We must engage in activities that bring spiritual power like reading the scriptures and praying daily for the Lord to give us strength beyond our own.
My young brothers and sisters, the Lord loves you. If you have fallen into sexual transgression, He has provided a way back. The road of repentance is available thanks to the Atonement of Jesus Christ. The Lord, your family, and Church leaders will help you repent and fully prepare for your mission.
For those of you striving and succeeding at keeping yourself clean and pure in spite of this increasingly sex-obsessed world in which we live, I applaud your faith and courage. If you always obey the law of chastity, you will be spared the hardships that inevitably come when we violate God’s commandments. You will keep yourself worthy to become one of the Lord’s chosen representatives, and you will have immense joy and eternal blessings for the missionary work you will perform.
Work Hard, Obey, and Love Others
Nov 8th
When I was in the Missionary Training Center (MTC), one of my instructors challenged us missionaries in the class to write down three personal goals that would guide us in our daily missionary efforts. This request 
came on the day when they introduced us to the Missionary Handbook, commonly called the “White Bible”. (Can someone tell me if they still have the White Bible, or if those rules have simply been included in the Preach My Gospel Manual?)
The MTC instructor wrote on the chalk board: “As a missionary, I, always and without conditions:” and then asked us to fill in the blanks. These are the three goals I chose:
- I will work hard
- I will be obedient
- I will love others
Daily striving to live up to these three goals served me well on my mission; it brought success, safety, and joy. Living by these goals has also brought blessings to my personal and professional life after my mission.
Work Hard
A good work ethic was something my parents always taught me to have. I can remember my father telling me a story from his mission how he had to be in the hospital for a few days and he regretted not being able to be out on the streets working. He encouraged me to make the most of every day on my mission by working as hard as I could. While I can’t claim perfection in this area, with very few exceptions, I did work as hard as I could each day, and I attribute much of my joys and successes to that attribute.
President Gordon B. Hinckley shared the following experience regarding the importance of working hard on his mission:
“I was not well when I arrived. Those first few weeks, because of illness and the opposition which we felt, I was discouraged. I wrote a letter home to my good father and said that I felt I was wasting my time and his money. He was my father and my stake president, and he was a wise and inspired man. He wrote a very short letter to me which said, ‘Dear Gordon, I have your recent letter. I have only one suggestion: forget yourself and go to work.’ Earlier that morning in our scripture class my companion and I had read these words of the Lord: ‘Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it.’ (Mark 8:35.)
“Those words of the Master, followed by my father’s letter with his counsel to forget myself and go to work, went into my very being. With my father’s letter in hand, I went into our bedroom in the house at 15 Wadham Road, where we lived, and got on my knees and made a pledge with the Lord. I covenanted that I would try to forget myself and lose myself in His service.
“That July day in 1933 was my day of decision. A new light came into my life and a new joy into my heart. The fog of England seemed to lift, and I saw the sunlight. I had a rich and wonderful
mission experience, for which I shall ever be grateful” (“Taking the Gospel to Britain: A Declaration of Vision, Faith, Courage, and Truth,” Ensign, July 1987, 7).
President Ezra Taft Benson also talked about the need for missionaries to work hard: “I have often said one of the greatest secrets of missionary work is work! If a missionary works, he will get the Spirit; if he gets the Spirit, he will teach by the Spirit; and if he teaches by the Spirit, he will touch the hearts of the people and he will be happy. There will be no homesickness, no worrying about families, for all time and talents and interests are centered on the work of the ministry. Work, work, work—there is no satisfactory substitute, especially in missionary work” (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson [1988], 200).
Be Obedient
Obedience, to the commandments and to the mission rules, is a vital component of faithful missionary service. Great power comes to missionaries that are obedient, and therefore your mission leaders will stress the importance of keeping the commandments and rules in the Missionary Handbook. 
I know that I was protected by keeping the missionary rules, and the Lord blessed me, my companions and our investigators in the process.
Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander of the Seventy spoke of the importance of obeying the mission rules: “Mission rules are important in the same way commandments are important. We all need to keep them, understanding that they give us strength, direction, and limits. The smart missionary will learn the intent of the rules and make them work for him. Your mission is a time of discipline and single-minded focus. You will be required to go without some things common to your current lifestyle: music, TV, videos, novels, even girls. There is nothing wrong with any of these things, …but then again, there is nothing wrong with food either, unless you are fasting, in which case even a teaspoon of water is improper” (in Conference Report, Oct. 1991, 59; or Ensign, Nov. 1991, 43).
Love Others
Missionary work is one of the purest acts of love we can do for our fellow beings. We must love the people we have been called to serve in order to be effective servants of the Lord. We should give sincere friendship and treat others with love and kindness, even if they do not immediately accept the gospel.
Early in my mission, a leader shared the insight that if we are not having joy, then we are not doing missionary work correctly. I found that to be true. When we do missionary work out of a sincere love for our fellow beings, we enjoy it, for we are helping others receive the magnificent blessings of the gospel of Jesus Christ, blessings of happiness in this life and in the eternities.
The following scriptures are what the Lord has said regarding love and missionary service.
- D&C 12:8 “And no one can assist in this work except he shall be humble and full of love, having faith, hope, and charity, being temperate in all things, whatsoever shall be entrusted to his care.”
- D&C 18:15-16 “And if it so be that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this people, and bring, save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your joy with him in the kingdom of my Father! And now, if your joy will be great with one soul that you have brought unto me into the kingdom of my Father, how great will be your joy if you should bring many souls unto me!”
- D&C 121:41 “No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned.”
Conclusion
As a missionary, you will have many rules, but perhaps the most important may be the ones you set for yourself. Work hard, obey and love others served me well, and perhaps it will help you to. But in the mean time, be thinking about this question, in case one of your MTC instructors asks you to fill in the blanks: “As a missionary, I will always and without conditions: ________.”
Newest Future Missionary
Oct 29th
It has been a while since I last blogged, and the reason is the birth of our son, one of the newest future missionaries in the world, Truman. He came in at 6 lbs. 15 oz, and 20 inches long.
I’m sure I’ll get back into my regular blogging routine soon. Until then, please enjoy these photos.
