Called to the Work

Mission calls are identical in the first two sentences. The first sentence is a call to serve. The second is an assignment to labor.

Missionaries are not called to a place – they are called to serve. Each assignment – and when needed reassignment – comes by revelation.

He is speaking about this because of missionaries who get anxious when they are reassigned.

The process of reassignment is precisely the same as the process for initial assignments.

Sometimes as parents we focus so much on mission preparation that we fail to adequately prepare young men for Melchizedek priesthood and temple covenants.

“Going to the temple and having the Spirit of the temple go through you is a prerequisite to effective service.”

You are, and should be, a missionary before you receive a mission call. You will have opportunities to point people around you to Christ before you receive a call.

We need to give balanced emphasis to all three elements of preparation.

Every year tens of thousands of young men and young women, and many senior couples, eagerly anticipate receiving a special letter from Salt Lake City. The content of the letter affects forever the person to whom it is addressed, as well as family members and a great number of other people. Upon arrival, the envelope may be opened neatly and patiently or ripped apart excitedly and with great haste. Reading this special letter is an experience never to be forgotten.

The letter is signed by the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the first two sentences read as follows: “You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the ______ Mission.”

Please note that the first sentence is a call to serve as a full-time missionary in the Lord’s restored Church. The second sentence indicates an assignment to labor in a specific place and mission. The important distinction expressed in these two sentences is essential for all of us to understand.
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Each mission call and assignment, or a later reassignment, is the result of revelation through the Lord’s servants. A call to the work comes from God through the President of the Church. An assignment to one of the more than 400 missions presently operating around the world comes from God through a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, acting with the authorization of the Lord’s living prophet. The spiritual gifts of prophecy and revelation attend all mission calls and assignments.

It would be interesting (not likely distracting) to know which apostle made your mission assignment.

I do not believe that the phrase “it mattereth not” as used by the Lord in this scripture suggests that He does not care where His servants labor. In fact, He cares deeply. But because the work of preaching the gospel is the Lord’s work, He inspires, guides, and directs His authorized servants. As missionaries strive to be ever more worthy and capable instruments in His hands and do their best to fulfill faithfully their duties, then with His help they “cannot go amiss”—wherever they serve. Perhaps one of the lessons the Savior is teaching us in this revelation is that an assignment to labor in a specific place is essential and important but secondary to a call to the work.

I now want to discuss briefly a fundamental but frequently overlooked aspect of preparing for a call to the work.

Three interrelated words define a pattern of preparation and progression for sons of God: priesthood, temple, mission. Sometimes as parents, friends, and Church members, we focus so extensively upon missionary preparation for young men that we may neglect to a degree the other vital steps along the covenant pathway that must be fulfilled before beginning full-time missionary service. Working as a missionary certainly is one but not the only important building block in the process of creating a strong foundation for a lifetime of spiritual growth and service. Priesthood and temple blessings, both of which precede arriving in an assigned field of labor, also are necessary to fortify and strengthen us spiritually throughout our entire lives.

Going to the temple and having the spirit of the temple go through you precedes effective service as a full-time missionary.

Young men, each of you is a missionary now. All around you, every day, are friends and neighbors “who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it.” As you are directed by the Spirit, you can share a thought, an invitation, a text or tweet that will introduce your friends to the truths of the restored gospel. You need not and should not wait for your official call to become anxiously engaged in missionary work.

This reminds me of walking home with Danielle Kopenheffer (now Taintor) and baring testimony of the Book of Mormon as we walked. She was a member of the seminary council, I can’t imagine that she needed my testimony to be converted. Perhaps it helped her in some way that day but I know it helped me as the Spirit bore witness to my heart that this simple, natural sharing was the heart of proclaiming the gospel.

In our homes and at church, we should give balanced emphasis to all three elements of the Lord’s pattern of preparation and progression for faithful sons of God: priesthood, temple, mission. All three require us to love being and remaining worthy. Be worthy. Stay worthy.