Called to Serve....

In October, our stake's youth (ages 12-18) participate in a month long series of activities and events to help the kids feel the Missionary Spirit and get a vision of what missionaries do and (hopefully) excite them to want to serve church missions when the time comes.

Last night was the MTC Kick Off. MTC (for those who don't know) stands for Missionary Training Center, and is the physical center where missionaries are trained prior to being sent out to teach the Gospel around the world.

At the real MTC, located in Provo near BYU, the new missionaries and their families come in together and sing a song, have a prayer, and listen to a little instruction then the missionaries are instructed to say goodbye to their families. The missionaries go out one door, and the parents go out another--and the missionary is on his or her way.

Last night, we brought all the kids and their parents into the chapel and had a song and prayer. We watched the instructional video they show at the real MTC and then the kids were instructed to go one way and the parents were asked to stay where they were. Our Stake President spoke to the parents about preparing kids for missions and what we can do to help the kids get ready, in more ways than just getting enough dress shirts and the right kind of shoes. He taught that the preparation the kids really need begins long before the paperwork to go starts.

It was a good meeting. The Girl came back home with me at the end and seemed to be in a good mood. She has always talked of serving a mission, and I hope she does.

A little part of me wishes I did when I was 21, but I know the way I did things was right for me. Besides I have had two little investigators that I have tried to teach the gospel for 11 and 13 years so far. We are making progress--they WERE baptized--but we continue to teach them so their testimonies will be strong.

I'm sure grateful for missionaries that found my grandparents many decades ago. The missionaries who taught them and helped them develop a testimony, and decide to join the Church. I am grateful for a home teacher who was sensitively doing his job and continued to teach my parents the Gospel and loved them and helped them see that the blessings of the temple were important to a their family. And I am so grateful to my parents who have taught me what was right with their words and more powerfully with their actions as they lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They give me a lot of strength, knowing that they love God and they trust Him. They showed me how to serve in the church--and it wasn't convenient or easy, at times. But you do what you need to and the Lord makes up for what you can't do. I am the beneficiary of all the testimonies that were developed before me. I am blessed because the Gospel was taught to my family before I was born. I am blessed now to have the Gospel to teach my children and to show them what the Lord has done for them in preparing a Plan of Happiness for them. My deepest wish is that they both "get it" and hold to it as tight as they can. If The Boy and the Girl can develop their own testimonies to be the kind that are unshakable and completely sure, I could ask for nothing more. I can do all I can to see that happen, and then, I have to let go and let the Lord fill in where I have missed. I think they are on the right track now, and I hope they continue. Having a testimony is what makes it possible to go on every day in the face of troubles and trials. Without a knowledge that the Lord has a plan and His plan is just and merciful, it would be really easy to fold and give up. That is the kind of security that lasts, and that is what we are trying to give our kids. Luckily we aren't doing it alone. Thanks to all of you who help us do this massively important job. And I thank a loving Heavenly Father who has given us the tools to do our best, with His children.