Texas servin' Trayners: The One and Only Reason to Serve a Mission

Why do young women and men decide to leave their homes and serve a mission at their own expense? Many reasons are frequently heard, such as:

They don't know what else they want to do with their life
Their parents expect them to
They think that serving will solve some type of problem in their life
They want to get to know the scriptures better
They want to avoid the stigma of not being a return missionary
They want to learn a foreign language
They want to travel
They want to experience another culture
They want to move out of their home

These reasons, and others like them, are reasons for serving a mission that a good missionary must quickly abandon. He is here solely for the benefit of other children of God. I admire the missionaries that arrive in the field with only one answer to why they are here. They have come to baptize. They are here to gather scattered Israel. They are here because they know that baptism is the gateway to an eternal life with our Heavenly Father. They have developed so much love in their hearts for others, that they feel an urgency to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with them. That is the purpose of missionary work:

"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, p. 1)

When a missionary internalizes this purpose, he loves missionary work! He never wants to be released. Baptizing others into His true Gospel is the greatest joy that he has experienced in his life thus far!

Parents and leaders should teach the true purpose of missionary work to our youth and our children as it is taught in Preach My Gospel. A mission is not to be the means to learn a foreign language, a personal travel log, or a way to keep parents happy. A successful missionary is always working HARD with Christ's name emblazoned on his chest. When taught correctly, our children and youth will develop a deep love for Christ- enough to want to share His love with others- that's what missionary work is!

General Conference was inspiring and edifying. We invited all missionaries within traveling distance (and some investigators) to our home after the Priesthood session for an ice cream bar. Our home was packed, but it is great to get together for a quick "social." The sister missionaries enjoyed looking at some of the new fashions from lds.org.

I had a very enjoyable birthday! The missionaries "took down" my phone with text and voice messages and the assistants even made me a cake! YUMMMM....