What is a missionary? What do they do? Why are you going? What made you want to go?
Questions are great! Keep asking them! I love questions. To start off, as some of might know, I am serving a mission for my church. I belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). You might hear us referred to as Mormons. That nick-name came from The Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. To read a brief history of The Book of Mormon, here is the URL: https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/introduction?lang=eng This is also found on the introduction page in the book. Find a missionary, they love giving out free copies! And then continue reading it. It's amazing. Don't take my word, read it yourself.
What is a missionary and what do they do?
"Imagine if you found a cure for cancer. How urgently would you spread the news of you discovery? Who would you tell?" The gospel of Jesus Christ is the cure to so many of life's ills that Mormons want to share the same good news of eternal life with the same urgency. Every missionary you see is a volunteer. Young men are able to serve starting at the new age of 18 and young women are able to serve starting at the new age of 19. We are representatives of Jesus Christ. All prospective missionaries turn in applications to Church headquarters and wait for an assignment to be made! We spend a few weeks in the Missionary Training Center (there are 15 MTC's around the world) Some of us learn a new language and all of us learn more about the gospel and how to teach it. Waking up at 6:30 every morning and not coming home until 9:30, studying the scriptures, finding new people to teach and then returning to home to fall asleep.... Exhausted and happy (: And then wake up and do it all over again. Wake up, pray, study, preach, repeat..... LOVE IT!
Why are you going?
I KNOW IT'S TRUE. We pay our own way. We put off school. We put off dating. We dedicate two years in order to do the Lord's work!!! Trust me, I wouldn't be going thousands of miles away, to teach people in a language I don't know, if I didn't absolutely KNOW this gospel is true. I believe that, just like in olden times, that we have a prophet of God here on the earth. President Thomas S. Monson is a man of God and I know he receives direct revelation from Him. Heavenly Father loves us so much. He would not send us down here alone without any direction. I am serving a mission because the truthfulness of this gospel has made me so happy. I want to share my happiness with the whole world!! But I'll work on Guatemala first ;) I believe that we are ALL born with the light of Christ and that when we hear truth, we know it. The feeling I get when I read the Book of Mormon or when I hear the words of the Prophet is indescribable. I know it's true.
What made you want to serve?
Life doesn't always go as you plan for it to. As I made plans to finish schooling and start my career, my life came crumbling down. Everything that could go wrong.... did. I felt so unhappy with how everything was turning out. I prayed to our Heavenly Father to fix my life. I had faith that He could. I was kindly reminded in James 2:20, Faith without works is dead. If I wasn't going to try to figure out a solution, He wasn't going to just give answers to me. Heavenly Father loves us so much that he trust us enough to make our own decisions. I decided to be happy. What makes me the most happy? My family and knowing that I am sealed to them FOREVER! I love them. The gospel make me happy! Serving other people... makes me happy!! After MUCH prayer and spending lots of time with the sister missionaries in my area, I decided to serve a mission. The second I made the decision to serve and overwhelming feeling came over me. Chills ran throughout my body. I felt more joy and happiness than I have ever experienced. I knew. I know, that God knows, that I know. I can not deny it. Starting ( and finishing ) my papers was such a great experience. After submitting my application, two LOOOOOONG weeks later, I received my call to the Guatemala Guatemala City East Mission. I know that through our kind and loving Heavenly Father, our weakness can become strong. I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross not to save just a few of us, but to save ALL of us. I know that we are all sons of daughter of God. Pray because He want to hear from you!
Please ask me any questions you have! Visit Mormon.org to order a free Book of Mormon or to read/watch/listen to the simply wonderful things about this church.
