Is Serving a Mission Right for You?

One challenge many of us face as we have grown up in such an area that is influenced so strongly by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is that we may feel a lot of pressure to go on a mission. Going on a mission is a decision that is completely up to you to make. Let me repeat that. You are the one who decides whether you will serve a mission or not.

We have grown up singing songs about Jesus in primary and learning the scriptures in seminary. We have enjoyed watching general conference in our PJs because it means we can sleep in and we don’t have to shower before going to church. I feel like we are all guilty to thinking of this at least one time in our lives. I did these same things and I did go through phases in my teenage years where I was casually living the gospel just because that’s what you do, not because it was something I wanted to do. As I approached my senior year of high school, I realized that pretty soon, I wouldn’t have to go to church if I didn’t want to. I would soon have the freedom to choose those things.

The purpose of this post is to help you decide whether you will continue participating in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and whether you will serve a mission like your parents expect you to, or if you will stop attending church altogether.

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Gain your own Testimony

In order to be a strong church member, one needs the desire to go to church. The reason we go to church is to worship Jesus Christ, which means you need a testimony of Jesus Christ. If you have a testimony, you will have a desire to go to church each week and to take the time to study your scriptures every day. This is why primary and seminary exist. For years your parents have been sending you to all of these church activities because they want you to have experiences that will help you build your testimony. They hope that you will feel the spirit and develop a testimony. For some, these experiences really do touch their lives, and they gain a testimony from church and seminary experiences. For others, we need to do some discovering and testimony building on our own.

Going on a mission has always been something I wanted to do. As I was finishing up high school and starting college, I asked myself why I wanted to serve a mission. I mean, the idea of living somewhere and learning a language was pretty thrilling, but I could do that by studying abroad. I decided that I need to make sure I really did have a testimony. I felt like I should have a desire to teach others the gospel in order for me to really enjoy missionary work. So I started doing things that helped me to see if I really had a testimony and if I really did love Jesus Christ and His gospel enough to spend a year and a half teaching other people about the gospel.

One thing that I did was read the Book of Mormon. We have had our church leaders and parents tell us for years to read the Book of Mormon daily. I encourage you to read if because you want to find out for yourself if it is true. Don’t open the book and say “I’m reading this because my parents or my church leaders told me to.” Open the book with a desire to learn something. Open it with the desire to find out for yourself. You need to find out for yourself if Jesus Christ lives, and if His gospel is true. If you read the whole book and pray about it as Moroni promises at the end of the book. I testify that as long as you approach the Book of Mormon with that attitude and mindset, you will know of its truthfulness.

I used to wish that I could take the missionary discussions so that I could quickly learn and come to know the truth for myself. If you think about it, we can take the missionary discussions without the missionaries. The missionaries always invite people to read the Book of Mormon. It’s one of the most important parts of missionary work. They then teach lessons about the principles of the gospel, and important truths like the restoration, the atonement, the priesthood, and eternal marriage. We can gain our testimonies by reading the Book of Mormon. We already know these principles. We have been taught these principles since we were young. All we have to do is read the Book of Mormon and ask God if He will help us know for ourselves that it is true. If you do wish to look deeper into the basic principles of the gospel, I recommend using is the Gospel Principles Manual or True to the Faith to learn more about basic principles and beliefs in our church.

Once we know of the truthfulness of the gospel, then we can go out and teach others of its truthfulness. When we know of the truthfulness of the gospel, then we will want to go out and teach others of its truthfulness. We need to have our own testimony of the gospel in order to be good missionaries. So first seek to gain your own testimony, then decide if serving a mission is something you will do.

Doubts

One thing that will keep you from reading the Book of Mormon with real intent is doubts that will creep into your mind as you begin reading.

Understanding the Book of Mormon

One doubt of mine was that I wouldn’t understand the Book of Mormon very well. Every other time I read it, it didn’t seem to make any sense. I was very surprised that when I went back and read it again, the stories made a lot more sense and I understood what was going on. I would recommend reading through the Book of Mormon just like you would a novel during this first time. Once you have read it and know if it’s truthfulness, then you can go through and study it more in depth.

If you find your self lost as you are reading because some things are too hard to understand, remember to pray for help to understand what you are reading. Spiritual things can be hard to understand at times. Laman and Lemuel had a hard time understanding a vision that their father Lehi shared with them. Nephi found Laman and Lemuel arguing about what it could mean. And he wrote his response to their bickering in 1 Nephi 15:6-11.

6 And it came to pass that after I [Nephi] had received strength I spake unto my brethren, desiring to know of them the cause of their disputations.

7 And they said: Behold, we cannot understand the words which our father hath spoken concerning the natural branches of the olive tree, and also concerning the Gentiles.

8 And I said unto them: Have ye inquired of the Lord?

9 And they said unto me: We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us.

10 Behold, I said unto them: How is it that ye do not keep the commandments of the Lord? How is it that ye will perish, because of the hardness of your hearts?

11 Do ye not remember the things which the Lord hath said?—If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.

(cited from https://www.lds.org/scriptures/bofm/1-ne/15?lang=eng)

As questions arise or you find yourself lost in the scriptures, do what Nephi reminds Laman and Lemuel to do. “If ye will not harden your hearts, and ask me in faith, believing that ye shall receive, with diligence in keeping my commandments, surely these things shall be made known unto you.”

Another thing that can help you better understand the Book of Mormon is to use a study guide. I highly recommend this if you get stuck in 2 Nephi chapters 12-27 where Nephi is quoting Isaiah. I would suggest using My Book of Mormon Study Guide. The author does a good job at defining things in a simple way so you can really dive in and understand what is going on. It is also a pretty affordable study guide that is available in stores or online.

Controversial Topics

Another doubt that may come up is learning more about the Book of Mormon and gospel in general are some controversial topics. Sometimes when people learn for the first time that we have multiple accounts of the first vision or that Joseph Smith used a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon they are a little put off because they have never heard of this before. Sometimes when they think more in-depth about our church’s history with polygamy, blacks and the priesthood, and same-sex attraction they have a lot of questions come to mind. It is very important that as you are searching for answers to these questions that you go to the right sources. Just like you would when writing a research paper for an English class, you need to go to reliable sources. The church has put out a series of essays to help answer these questions that people may have. You can read those essays in the gospel library app or online through this link. These essays clearly explain controversial topics very in-depth. I highly recommend reading them.

Worthy enough

One last doubt that you may have as you are deciding whether you want to serve a mission or not is if you are worthy enough. If you have read the Book of Mormon and feel that it is true, then isn’t it worth cleaning up your life to serve the Lord? Repentance is a hard thing! Look back at the story of Alma the Younger. He wasn’t just lacking faith in the church, but he was trying to destroy it! He repented and became one of the most successful missionaries ever. You can do the same thing. On the church’s website about mission preparation, they have a section about personal worthiness. You can refer to that as you are trying to improve things in your life and prepare for a mission.

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Thanks for reading this post! To those who are struggling with a personal testimony and having faith in Jesus Christ and His gospel, I invite you to read the Book of Mormon with the intent of gaining a testimony. To those who know someone who is struggling in the church, I invite you to share this post with them in hopes that they will read it and consider reading the Book of Mormon. I testify that as you earnestly seek to gain a testimony of the gospel yourself, you will receive a confirmation that it is true. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.