How's
everyone doing? Thank you all for the birthday wishes! I had a great
time! I just did the same thing I do everyday. Work, work, and work.
haha I got a lot of treats from the sisters. It was nice. :)
A
couple of days ago I was doing some thinking and it just came into my
head that I have about 7 months left in the mission. Holy heck! Time
goes by fast! I want to give it my all and do as much as I can to share
the gospel. I don't want to waste time at all. I was looking over a talk
and felt very much rebuked. haha I'd like to share my notes with you
all. Especially for those that are planning to come on a mission. It
made me think completely different about my mission. It's a talk that
was given at the MTC it's called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary":
Becoming a Consecrated Missionary
What is a consecrated missionary?
- It is a missionary who is willing to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice and to hold nothing back. It is a willingness to give every ounce of energy, every conscious thought, and every drop of passion to this work.
- Omni 1:26
- "We have left all and followed thee" (Luke 18:18-28)
- Perhaps we have one or two things which we lack, that we hold back from the sacrificial altar, that prevents us from becoming a consecrated missionary.
Put On The Altar of Sacrifice Any Disobedience
- First, a consecrated missionary puts on the altar of sacrifice any streak of disobedience we may possess, however large or small it may be.
- If we only change our behavior, then we will be the same person we were when we left home, subject to the same problems that plagued us then. But if we change our nature we can go home a new woman, with the power and discipline to conquer our old Goliaths.
- If we only get up at 6:30 am only because our companion does, we have merely changed our behavior. If we get up whether or not she does, we have changed our nature. If we speak good words but entertain bad thoughts, we have only changed our behavior. If we also changed our thoughts then we have changed our nature.
- With the Lords help we can transform our natures.
- "It's not about what you want, it's about what the Lord wants."
- Mission: is about what the Lord wants, not what I want.
- A consecrated nature will cause us to be obedient, not because we have to, but because we want to.
- A consecrated missionary will read the white handbook with enthusiasm, anxious to obey and follow every rule with exactness, knowing that it is not a book of restraints, but a book of blessings.
Leave Our Fears On The Sacrificial Altar
- Second, consecrated missionaries leave their fears on the sacrificial altar and open their mouths with everyone.
- D&C 28:16
- D&C 24:12
- Sometimes in life we just have to square our shoulders and do it. there is no magic pill that makes us courageous, no passage of time that strengthens us, no memorized approached that emboldens us.
- The command to open one's mouth is not someone else's command. It's not the command of Preach My Gospel, it is not the command of the missionary department, it is the command of the Lord who has spoken on this subject again and again through His living prophets.
- Sometimes we just have to be like Nephi say just like what he says in 1 Nephi 3:7.
- Sometimes there are missionaries who are so worried about offending people that in the process we never ever save them.
- If we want to baptize a few people we talk to a few people, if we want to baptized a lot of people we talk to a lot of people, and if we want to baptize everyone we can, we talk to everyone we can.
- D&C 28:15-16
- The reason it is so important to open our mouth is that everytime we do we exercise faith, and every time we exercise faith we invite the Spirit and miracles into our life.
- Consecrated missionaries open their mouths with everyone.
Put Our Romantic Passions on the Table
- Third, a consecrated missionary puts their romantic passions on the altar of sacrifice, has a LOCKED HEART and a FOCUSED MIND.
- D&C121:45
- When we go home and date, we may have a romantic courtship, but one that is also clean and wholesome. And when we're married we will be loyal and a true spouse.
- If every action is preceded by a thought, then every consecrated missionary must first have a clean and consecrated mind.
Give up Pride
- Fourth, a consecrated missionary gives up their pride on the sacrificial altar.
- D&C 12:8
- Pride may manifest itself in a reluctance to confess our sins.
- Repentance is more important than our mission.
We Put our Negativism and Sarcasm on The Table
- Fifth, consecrated missionaries are willing to give up any negativism or sarcasm. Instead they are optimistic and positive. They have a 24 hour smile.
- John 16:33
- We are willing to pay the price of a repeated rejection for the hope of a single conversion. Whatever the world throws at us, we throw back a smile, because we know we have the gospel of Jesus Christ.
- Gal 6:5
Extra-Milers
- Consecrated missionaries are extra-milers. They put on the table of sacrifice every ounce of their energy, every hour of every day.
- Consecrated missionaries never give up on the Lord's work. They never throw in the towel.
- When consecrated missionaries are exhausted and nothing is left, they rely upon their faith, and they reserve tanks of energy somehow carry them through the day.
- D&C 24:7-9
What Does it Cost to Become a Consecrated Missionary?
- It costs everything that we have on the altar of sacrifice - our fears, our pride, our laziness, our disobedience, our weaknesses; we can't hold anything back.
- We came out here to change the world, to change lives but there is a cost.
- We can't have one foot at home and one foot in the mission field. The Lord demands our whole soul on the sacrificial altar. That is the price we must pay, and when we do, we then become an instrument in the hands of God.
What Is the Power of a Consecrated Missionary?
- The power of a consecrated missionary is without limit.
- Joseph Smith said: "it is not the multitude of preachers that is to bring about the glorious millennium; but it is those who are called and chosen, and faithful." (TPJ 42).
Consecrated Missionaries Serve the Savior Because They Love Him
- What is the driving, motivating force for a consecrated missionary? It is the Savior and His Atonement. If we fail to be obedient, if we fail to be humble, if we fail to be fearless, perhaps we intellectually understand the Atonement, but somehow we fail to grasp the underlying love of His sacrifice. Once we feel that, as well as understand it, we will be driven to give it our all. We will realize that our all is a small repayment for His all.
Becoming a Consecrated Missionary
- If we are shy or reserved - God will compel us to change, to be bold. He will jerk us out of our comfort zone again and again. If we are lazy or idle, he will push us and pull us even when we are exhausted. If we are disobedient, He will press us until we have a child-like submissiveness. HE WILL NOT LET US BE CONTENT WITH OUR WEAKNESSES.
- Whatever the weakness may be that holds us back from becoming a consecrated missionary, the Lord has promised that if we have faith in Him, that He will make weak things become strong unto us.
- Ether 12:26-27.
- 2 Nephi 5:13
I
hope that those that are planning on going on a mission it helps you.
Coming on a mission has changed me completely but not only has it
changed me but changed those people that surround me. I know this church
is true. I don't have one single doubt. This gospel brings us happiness
and it fixes any problems that we may have. The Book of Mormon is true
and one way to find out is by reading, pondering, and praying with
faith, asking God if the book is true. I know if we do this he answers
us. He wants us to return to Him. We are all His children. He sent His
only Son to die for our sins. That's how much Heavenly Father and Jesus
Christ love us. Through the Atonement we can repent of our sins and
change our lives. We can feel the love that He has for us. This gospel
has brought me all the blessings that I've needed but I've had to do my
part, follow God's commandments. I've seen those blessings that my
family has received by me coming on a mission. I will never regret
coming on a mission. My testimony has grown. It truly has. Thank you all
for your support and those that did everything possible for me to come
on a mission. I love you and and I say this in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen.
-Hermana Marin
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