I get a bit bothered when I hear a young man say that he is choosing to not serve a full-time mission. When I lived in another state I actually heard a young man tell me that he had prayed and felt that the Lord wanted him to marry instead of serving a mission. After all, he reasoned, he could always serve a mission with his wife later in his life. While that's certainly convenient, it's certainly not inspired. Living prophets have said that all worthy young men should serve. There's not much left for interpretation here. Serving a mission is a priesthood responsibility. A full-time mission is a truly critical aspect of a young man's spiritual development and maturation. The Lord can't mold a young man that refuses to answer the call. So...let's dispense with this false notion that missions are optional. Let's stop thinking of reasons to NOT serve and start redirecting some of that misplaced energy toward serving the Master.
I joined the Church in 1991. Two months after joining, I turned 19 years old. It would have been easy for me to not serve. I was the only member in my family. I was attending a small branch with about 25 active members. My then-girlfriend's father expected me to go. He simply worked on the assumption that one year after my baptism I would submit my papers (back then we still used actual paper) and go on my mission. At some point, his promptings paid off and I made the decision to serve. I left for my mission about 14 months after my baptism. In that time, my life changed in ways I cannot explain in this blog entry. I am no masterwork, but I learned what it meant to be shaped by the Master's hand. I could never gain those experiences anywhere else at any other time. Young men cannot afford to miss the opportunity to serve. We, as Church members, cannot afford for them to miss it, either.
So...are missions optional? Sure they are. Then again, living the commandments is optional, too. I, for one, prefer to live the commandments. Let's encourage our young priesthood holders to truly live the commandments by anwering the call of the Master.
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6 comments:
I have to say an AMEN to that Brother Ben!!!!
I also benefited greatly for going on a mission. I joined the Church when I was 18 and went on a mission 1 year after I joined. I tell myself and everyone that I grew more from my mission then going to college and being in the Military. I know that the Lord have truly blessed my life for serving a mission
Now the sad part…My wife and I have a son who has a strong testimony, faithfully serving the Lord and is currently serving in the EQ Presidency of an YSA Branch. He is 21 years old and has not yet served a mission…whenever I see his Branch President he always tells me how much he is grateful for our son’s testimony and his desire to serve the Lord and how much he rely on our son to keep the branch going because he always gets engaged and completes all of the assignments given to him with a smile on his face. Than here we sit hearing positive things from our Stake President and our son’s Branch President how faithful he is and keeps thanking us for raising a wonderful and faithful son…but we keep asking ourselves what did we or doing wrong….we pray every day for him to gain a desire to serve the Lord by going on a mission…we taught him the gospel and to live the Purpose of that Aaronic Priesthood, we would tell him when you are dating in High School to date for fun and do not get attached to a girls, (which he followed), earn your Eagle Award, worry about the girls when he comes home from his mission, to say his prays, read the scriptures, go out with the missionaries, do your home teaching and that it is important to go on a mission to serve the Lord, instead of feeling the pressure from others to push him to go on a mission….I have seen TOO many Elders on mission who did not wanted to be there and we did not want our son to be one of the…but we also wanted our son to serve the Lord by going on a mission. Our pretty much followed our teaching and a every wonderful Young Man…I could not have asked for any finer Young Man to be my son.
So here we are today and he still has not have the desire to serve a mission. When we talk about it with him there other day as a casual conversations… he started rolling his eyes and locks his jaw and than quoted from his Patriarchal Blessing…”when he has the desire he will serve a mission” will he has told us he does not have a desire, and does not see himself serving one at this time.
Thank you for hearing me out….
I enjoy reading your Blog.
Joe
A Father of a faithful and dedicated son who does not have a desire to serve a mission
What about those young men who do want to serve a mission, but for health reasons, or some other reason, are rejected? It's easy to say all worthy young men should go on a mission. No young man should be looked down on if the reasons for not serving a mission are beyond his control. Many a young man has been heartbroken because he was not permitted to serve a mission.
My oldest son made choices and hasn't served a mission, yet. I'm not giving up hope. My middle son is serving a mission right now and from his weekly emails I can tell the blessings he's received, but more importantly, I see him blessing lives and bringing the gospel to those who desire to be baptized.
Joe, with all the love I possess, I implore you to look past the rolling eyes and locked jaw and bear down in pure testimony to your son. Share your missionary experiences. Share your love of the Savior, and the reason why missions are essential. Point out to him that he IS supposed to serve a mission, because it says so in his Patriarchal blessing. Challenge him to pray, fast, attend the Temple, and gain that desire!
If a young man is not able to serve due to health reasons we shouldn't hold that against him. If the young man has done everything we can in order to prepare, then he has fulfilled his responsibility.
At the end of the day, young men need to make this decision independent of anyone else. We can only encourage them and pray for them that they will make the decision to serve. Don't lose hope or become discouraged.
It's not enough that, by raising the bar, the prophet explicitly said that some young men will not serve missions and that they should not be looked down on if they do not. Why do church members still insist on using pressure to coerce young men to serve, and whisper behind the backs of those who don't? Of course it can be a wonderful experience, but it can also be a damaging and painful experience for a young man who is not suited for that kind of service. It can turn into two years of self-hatred, continual criticism from mission leaders, and ultimately a horribly damaged sense of self-esteem if a young man does not have the temperament to go out and sell the gospel. How about finding other ways to give the young man meaningful church service to build him up?
I know too many young men who have tried, and were sent home for health or temperament issues, and who have since given up trying to succeed in the kingdom. A mission is not the only way to serve. Who's to say that a young man might not have just as much influence for good in other ways, like Joe's son. Joe, how can you say you've failed when your son is doing so much good?
Everyone is on their own road going at their own rate to spiritual progression.
Women ofcourse can not have the option to serve a full time mission until the age of 21. A little after my 21st birthday I decided to go. It was not an easy decision. In fact I didn't want to go and came up with many excuses not to. Even my Patriarchal Blessing said that I would serve a mission at some time in my life. It didn't matter. When it was time for me to go the Spirit all but physically kicked me to go and probably tried. I wasn't happy about going, leaving my friends, job, I was dating someone that I was hoping to get serious with. If I was going I wanted to go foreign so I could get the "cultural" experience. So I wasn't happy about my call stateside. And another problem is my parents weren't active and would have a hard time with this decision. And hard time they did have.
I went because I knew it was the right thing todo even though I did not want to leave. I did want to make the right choices with my life. It has blessed my life in countless ways by teaching me how to really listen to the Lord through prayer and be directed to do his will. There were people that I met that changed my life forever. I learned the gosple and was able to share it with so many people. It has made me the woman I am today, a better, friend, wife, mother and daughter.
This life is temporary and the only thing that truely matters is what we choose and if we are obedient to God's commandments we will receive a greater reward.
My life has been richly blessed because of serving a mission. It was not easy. In fact it was the hardest thing I've ever done. There were many trials and learning experiences.
I realize that there are many exceptions because of church guidelines. I look at being a missionary as The Lord's Army. A mission is extremely difficult mentally, spiritually and yes, physically especially if you plan to serve well. And if not able,yes there are many ways to serve around us during our daily lives. But that is the only exception. There is no substitue for serving a full-time mission for the Lord. The purpose is to learn how to do the Lord's will 24/7 for 2 years
(18months for women). There is no other time in a person's life that you can accomplish being completely focused on the Lord's purposes. It's an amazing thing to be a missionary.
Juawe
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