Week 2 - 13 December 2015: A More Virtuous Reason

Dear Luke,

You didn't get to write last week so you're lucky enough to get two letters from your big brother this week! Don't read these during the hour or so you have to write.  Take pictures of them and read them later.

Serving a mission is a big sacrifice. Everyone sacrifices two years that could be spent studying, working and dating. Everyone sacrifices their past times and hobbies; no books outside of the missionary library, no camping, no swimming, no shooting, no winter sports, no TV, no video games, etc. All also sacrifice interaction with their family and friends. Most sacrifice money. Many sacrifice job opportunities and many others sacrifice scholarships, and much more.

Young men decide to make this sacrifice for all kinds of reasons. Some go for good reasons. Some have a sincere desire to share a Gospel that has brought them so much happiness. Some go because they feel it is their priesthood duty. Some simply want to follow the prophet. Others go for not so good reasons. Many feel cultural pressure. Others are only looking for adventure and an opportunity to travel. Still others may be hoping for better dating prospects at BYU upon their return. Of course the list could go on and on.

I remember wondering in the MTC if I had chosen to serve a mission for the right reasons. At the time, I felt that my greatest motivation was my family.  I wanted you all to be blessed. After reading scriptures like Matthew 10:37, I began to doubt the virtue of that reason.

I would venture to say that most  young men choose to make the sacrifice to serve missions for good reasons, but maybe not the best reason. There is one reason more virtuous than the others. It was the motivation behind the ultimate sacrifice; the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, italics added)

God's motivation for sacrificing His Only Begotten Son was love. Your comparatively minuscule sacrifice should be freely offered for the same reason; because you love God and Jesus Christ first, and secondly because you love your fellow man; your family and the people of Teresina Brazil. Christ taught that upon those first two commandments to love "hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40). There too should hang, or depend as other translations put it, the missionaries.

It's OK if love for God and Christ is not yet your primary motivation. It wasn't mine when I was in your place. But whatever the current reason, good or bad, it's good that you and all of your contemporaries chose to serve. It should not be forgotten that all who "have desires to serve God... are called to the work" (D&C 4:3) regardless of the reason.

Keep in mind Elder Holland's words, "Missionaries are under obligation to come home having had at least one convert, you!"(Elder Holland Tells Missionaries to “Invest” in the Work) If you are to take up that sacred obligation, you must choose to develop the best motivation, have the best reason to serve, as early as possible.  If you do, I know that you will become a truly converted disciple of Jesus Christ.

I'll finish this week's letter with a quote by Dallin H. Oaks:

"It is good to belong to our Father in Heaven’s true Church and to keep all of His commandments and fulfill all of our duties. [It's good to serve a mission]. But if this is to qualify as “best,” it should be done with love." (Dallin H. Oaks "Good, Better, Best")

I love you little brother.  Keep it up!

Week 1 - 09 December 2015: A Preparatory Period

Dear Luke,

This week I was thinking about your time in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) and I wanted to share some words of brotherly advice with you.

Our Church is one full of "preparatory things." The Aaronic Priesthood is often spoken of as the preparatory priesthood, Alma described our circumstance here on earth as a "preparatory state" (Alma 42:10, 13) and in section 84 of Doctrine and Covenants, we read of a preparatory gospel which is "the gospel of repentance and of baptism, and the remission of sins, and the law of carnal commandments." (D&C 84:26-27) The MTC serves as a preparatory period for the rest of your mission, just as your mission will serve as a preparatory period for the rest of your life.

Your preparatory period in the MTC could be compared to another, secular preparatory period in your life. In a way, middle school is to high school as the MTC is to your mission. You excelled in middle school as well as in high school. If you are like me, you wondered why you bothered in middle school. There is no college that looks at your middle school scores. Getting accepted into high school did not depend on your grades either. In fact, your grades had no significant impact on your future opportunities. From that perspective, middle school appears to have been an inconsequential experience. But the habits of hard work, study, and responsibility you developed in middle school were consequential and probably did significantly impact your future opportunities.

In the MTC, you do comparatively little to fulfill your missionary purpose to "invite others to come unto Christ." From that perspective, the MTC appears to be inconsequential. But the habits you develop there will be.  Besides getting accustomed to the basic habits of the daily missionary schedule - waking up early, exercising, studying, and planning - you have the opportunity to develop other important habits. I'll mention just two:
  

  1. Journal Writing: Some of the world's greatest men kept journals. Among them, Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin, Lewis and Clark, Andrew Carnegie, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Captain Cook, Winston Churchill, Sir Edmund Hilary, Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton and of course, most if not all of the modern-day prophets of the Church (list taken from The Art of Manliness's "30 Days to a Better Man Day 8: Start a Journal"). That, coupled with the white handbook mandate to "write in your journal," (pg 15) should be motivation enough, but there is a much more sacred purpose of journal keeping. As Terryl and Fiona Givens explained, "Remembering can be the highest form of devotion. To remember is to rescue the sacred from the vacuum of oblivion." (The Crucible of Doubt, pg 116) Your journal will serve as a great tool to aid you in remembering the sacred experiences of your mission. It will be a catalyst in the "rescue [of] the sacred from the vacuum of oblivion." I urge you to develop the habit of writing in your journal daily while in the MTC.

  2. Daily Accountability: The following counsel is given in Preach My Gospel, "In your prayers at night, give the Lord an accounting of your day’s activities. Then review with Him your plan for the next day. Listen for the promptings of the Spirit." (pg 95) Go through your whole day with the Lord from start to finish, step by step. Thank Him for the blessings you received as you review them. Ask forgiveness for your mistakes as you get to them. Tell him about your struggles and successes. Ask Him to bless the people you taught as you review each lesson. At the end, ask Him how He feels about your day and take a moment to listen. As you do this daily, it will be very difficult for you to stray from the iron rod, you will feel spiritual confirmation that the Lord is pleased with you which will bring contentment and satisfaction to your life, and you will learn to recognize the Spirit by practicing receiving revelation. Those are great blessings for a little habit. I urge you to develop it while in the MTC.

Your time in the MTC will be as significant and consequential an experience as you make it.  Make use of this preparatory time to develop habits that will shape your mission and your life.  

I'll finish up with this scripture:

"And this is the manner after which [you] were ordained—being called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God, on account of [your] exceeding faith and good works; in the first place being left to choose good or evil; therefore [you] having chosen good, and exercising exceedingly great faith, are called with a holy calling, yea, with that holy calling which was prepared with, and according to, a preparatory redemption for such." (Alma 13:3 italics added)

I love you little brother.  Keep working hard.