Your Mission, (should you choose to accept it)
Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end (Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service, pg 1).
This is your purpose as a missionary.
Notice how it doesn't say "Invite others to go unto Christ..." how lame!
We are to invite, not force. We are to bring and stay, not deliver and leave.
In order to bring souls unto Christ, we ourselves must be on the Lord's side.
Jeffrey R. Holland speaks at a Priesthood session of General Conference
"We are all enlisted"
Here's a video of it,
Here are some of my favorite lines from his talk.
I
especially ask the young men of the Aaronic Priesthood to sit up and
take notice. For you, let me mix in an athletic analogy. This is a
life-and-death contest we are in, young men, so I am going to get in
your face a little, nose to nose, with just enough fire in my voice to
singe your eyebrows a little—the way coaches do when the game is close
and victory means everything. And with the game on the line, what this
coach is telling you is that to play in this match, some of you have to
be more morally clean than you now are. In this battle between good and
evil, you cannot play for the adversary whenever temptation comes along
and then expect to suit up for the Savior at temple and mission time as
if nothing has happened. That, my young friends, you cannot do. God will
not be mocked.
So
we have a dilemma tonight, you and I. It is that there are thousands of
Aaronic Priesthood–age young men already on the records of this Church
who constitute our pool of candidates for future missionary service. But
the challenge is to have those deacons, teachers, and priests stay
active enough and worthy enough to be ordained elders and serve as
missionaries. So we need young men already on the team to stay on
it and stop dribbling out of bounds just when we need you to get in the
game and play your hearts out! In almost all athletic contests of which
I know, there are lines drawn on the floor or the field within which
every participant must stay in order to compete. Well, the Lord has
drawn lines of worthiness for those called to labor with Him in this
work.
No missionary can be unrepentant of sexual transgression or
profane language or pornographic indulgence and then expect to challenge
others to repent of those very things! You can’t do that. The Spirit
will not be with you, and the words will choke in your throat as you
speak them. You cannot travel down what Lehi called “forbidden paths”5 and expect to guide others to the “strait and narrow”6 one—it can’t be done.
But
there is an answer to this challenge for you every bit as much as there
is for that investigator to whom you will go. Whoever you are and
whatever you have done, you can be forgiven. Every one of you young men
can leave behind any transgression with which you may struggle. It is
the miracle of forgiveness;
it is the miracle of the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. But you
cannot do it without an active commitment to the gospel, and you cannot
do it without repentance where it is needed. I am asking you young men
to be active and be clean. If required, I am asking you to get active and get clean.
Now,
brethren, we speak boldly to you because anything more subtle doesn’t
seem to work. We speak boldly because Satan is a real being set on
destroying you, and you face his influence at a younger and younger age.
So we grab you by the lapels and shout as forcefully as we know how:
Hark! the sound of battle sounding loudly and clear;
Come join the ranks! Come join the ranks!
7
From
every man, young and old, who bears the priesthood, I ask for a
stronger and more devoted voice, a voice not only against evil and him
who is the personification of it, but a voice for good, a voice for the
gospel, a voice for God. Brethren of all ages, unbind your tongues and
watch your words work wonders in the lives of those “who are only kept
from the truth because they know not where to find it.”10
Haste to the battle, quick to the field;
Truth is our helmet, buckler, and shield.
Stand by our colors; proudly they wave!
We’re joyfully, joyfully marching to our home.
11
In the name of Jesus Christ, our Master, amen.
(End of talk)
I testify that the words of Jeffery R. Holland are true.
I love the hymn "We are All Enlisted."
Because God loves us, He has given us commandments. To show that we love Him, we keep those commandments. We can accomplish our missions and be a part of the Savior's great work of salvation. I say this in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
