Service Mission Publicity Talk by Jarek Wall March 2019

Good afternoon everyone. I’m honored to be able to speak with all of you, and am even more honored that I’m able to serve a mission. (filler). Today, I would like to talk to you about what a missionary and a mission is.

First, I think it is very important to understand what a missionary’s purpose is. Many of you have gone on missions, and hopefully many more of you will, so maybe this will sound familiar. The missionary purpose is to “Invite others to come unto Christ”, followed by the ways it gets done. Overall, a very simple purpose, but one that is so very important, that God trusts his imperfect children to get it done. The mission purpose does not say that missionaries are to knock on doors. It doesn’t say that missionaries must go to foreign countries to learn a new language. It doesn’t say that missionaries have to baptize dozens of people. The purpose of a missionary is to “invite others to come unto Christ” by letting them learn who he is, and gain the desire to follow in his footsteps. 

How do missionaries in the scriptures stack up to this purpose? Was it any different in the past than it is now? I’d like to present the cases of Abinidai, Ammon, and Shadrac, Meshach, and Abednego. 

First off, let’s take Abinidai. Abinidai was a Nephite prophet, and a very important missionary. He was called to talk to King Noah, the king of a group of Nephites who had split off and gotten lost in the land of the Lamanites. King Noah was a very wicked king that forced heavy taxes on his people, raised his friends to power, and was not the biggest fan of keeping any commandments. Abinidai went up to him and his priests and started preaching. The king and his priests argued about scripture with Abinidai, and after hearing his message decided that Abinidai was a bit too cold to them, so the would warm him up with execution by fire. Only one person as far as we are aware listened to Abinidai. One person is not very many, and Abinidai didn’t even get to baptize him. This person was Alma, who would go on to rebuild the church in that land. Abinidai invited those people unto Christ, and the one person who accepted made a huge impact. Even if Alma hadn’t, Abinidai was a great missionary.

Next let’s talk about Ammon. Ammon was a son of King Mosiah (the king after Noah, and a great king at that), and a friend of Alma the younger (the son of the Alma whom Abinidai taught). Although he had a rocky start in his life so far as religion goes, Ammon wanted to serve a mission, along with his friend and brothers. Ammon decided to go to one of the cities of the Lamanites, and become a servant to the local King. This king was very glad to take him as a servant, and used him as an allstar sheepherder. After faithfully serving the king, to the point where he was a few arms above the rest of the servants, the king was very astonished, and decided to give Ammon whatever he wanted. As a missionary, all Ammon wanted was to invite the King and his people to come unto and learn of Christ, so he taught the king that he was a disciple of Christ, and the reason he served as he did was because that was Christ’s way. The king loved this, and listened to the teaching of Ammon, and was converted to the Lord. Ammon was a great missionary, simply by being an example of Christlike service unashamedly.

Finally, we’ll talk about Shadrac, Meshach, and Abednego. While not often brought up in discussions about great missionaries, I know that they were wonderful missionaries. Living under the rule of wicked king Nebuchadnezzar, they did no teaching. They did no service especially for the king and his people. Instead, Shad, Mesh, and Abe refused to stop being examples of Jesus Christ. They were told that if they kept praying to God, and refused to deny His existence, they get to know what a pie feels like more than any living person does. Instead of denying their God, they invited everyone to see Christ’s goodness, and were kept alive when tossed into the furnace for their faith. After seeing this, the king made a law that people could pray to whomever they choose. By simply not denying Christ, these three missionaries fulfilled their purpose. They were good missionaries. 

I’d like to talk about another group of missionaries. A much newer, less dusty group, a few of which you have in front of you today. These missionaries read Doctrine and Covenants 4, thought to themselves, “hey, I have a desire to serve, why shouldn’t I be called to the work”, and applied to serve as missionaries. These missionaries have the same purpose as the missionaries of old, to invite others to come unto Christ. And, these missionaries were called to live in the city they were currently living in. I am one of these missionaries, and so are the other speakers. For now, we are called service missionaries, and we are called to serve God. And for now, we are called service missionaries.

As you may have heard, the church has been focusing on making sure Doctrine and Covenants 4 be as true as it can be giving all of those with a desire to serve the ability to join the work. Over the last few years, and especially in the last half a year, there has been a push for mission opportunities for people who are less capable of serving in the manner that had been traditional in the church. While knocking doors and teaching lessons from preach my gospel is an invaluable role that needs filling, there are many young adults simply unable to to serve God in that method. I for one have a heart that pumps about 25% as much blood each squeeze as each of you in this room. I can teach, I know the gospel as well as any 19 year old can, but if I bicycle more than a mile or two, or am on my feet all day every day for even a month, I will pass out, possible have a heart attack, and maybe just maybe die. As exciting as all of that would be, as interesting as it would be to serve a mission in an apartment rather than on the streets more often than not, it would be a misuse of my talents. I’ve got a knack for technology, and guiding people through problems, and my assignment, my area you could say, is as a technology specialist for the Phoenix Arizona teaching mission, where it’s quite easy to serve all day everyday. My companion has mid-functioning autism, and it is difficult for him to serve even without one of his parents, but he loves the Gospel and wanted to serve a mission, so he helps stock the bishop’s storehouse, and maintain the temple grounds. We have missionaries with anxiety that are able to do good in a safe environment. We have all sorts of missionaries, each one of them serving more usefully than they could if they were called to a mission and assigned to teach. 

I know God loves his children. I know He knows each of us, and our individual needs. I promise that if any of you want to serve a mission, God has a plan for you, and He wants you to serve. I know that the gospel has been restored to the earth, and that if we follow Christ, we can live in eternal joy. I say all of these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.