A friend recently referred me to a talk given by Elder Tad R. Callister, a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, which he gave in the MTC about five years ago. It's called "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary," and is truly a wonderful talk. (Download/view on the Downloadables page.)
If you've read "The Fourth Missionary" (I have download and viewing links here) by Brother Corbridge, "Becoming a Consecrated Missionary" might have some ideas that seem familiar to you.
"What is a consecrated missionary? It is a missionary who is willing to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice and to hold nothing back. It is a willingness to give every ounce of energy, every conscious thought, and every drop of passion to this work – to submit our will to God’s will whatever it may be. Every missionary who has been to the temple has covenanted to consecrate his all. The book of Omni records the depth and breadth of that covenant: “Yea, come unto me, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him” (Omni 1:26). The law of consecration is the law of the temple, it is the law of the celestial kingdom, and it is the law of a celestial mission."
I read this talk the night before I entered the Manhattan Temple to receive my endowment, and am reading it for the second time now, a day after becoming endowed.
Hey. Yeah, I know. I changed it up a bit. Don't panic.
Also, I know that it's been a week since I last wrote anything. Sorry about that. This last week was the final week of classes (for my whole undergraduate career!) and this coming week is finals week, so I can't guarantee that I'll have anything to say for another week or so.
However, I did want to share my experience today giving my going away talk of sorts during my YSA ward's sacrament meeting.
The first counselor in the bishopric Facebook messaged me on Wednesday and asked me to give a talk on church service, more specifically on what that will mean to me as a full-time missionary.
Score.
>>Download the PDF!<<
>>View on Downloadables Page<<
First off, to all of your prospective sisters out there who are on Facebook, there's a great Facebook group called "Many are called... But Few are Sisters" that you should check out. It's a private group, so you'll have to search for it, but I promise it's worth the effort. It's thousands of women strong and there are lots of links to cool blogs that you can check out.
The reason I bring that up is because the downloadable for today is something that someone posted in the group. It has affected me personally, so if you want to read about my feelings on it, then I'll keep talking after the link.
Here is a great way to start thinking about the realities of mission life. This asks you some questions and outlines what will really happen on a mission, what you will get from doing it, and how you can prepare now. Credit goes to the Alpine Stake for making this!
View on the Downloads Page
Download it here!
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