Mission Stories
Get insights on having a powerful and successful full-time LDS mission. This podcast shares inspiring stories and practical principles for embracing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, overcoming challenges, and building a strong foundation for lifelong discipleship. Faith-promoting stories and lessons from real full-time LDS mission experiences to inspire and teach. Based on The Mission Prep Series by Shawn Record.
Mission Stories
Choose Ye This Day - Mission Prep Series Class 1
Welcome to the Mission Stories Podcast! This episode dives into the number one lesson for having an impactful and joy-filled mission: making a conscious choice.
Shawn and Lauren explore why some missionaries have life-changing, joyful experiences while others don't, often coming down to consecration and decisive commitment.
Discover the profound difference between being 'hot or cold' versus 'lukewarm'—why indifference can be more detrimental than making the "wrong" choice, as discussed in Revelation 3:15-16 and 1 Kings 18:21. Learn how owning your mission builds a firm foundation on Jesus Christ, preventing you from being "tossed to and fro" by challenges, as described in Ephesians 4:14.
Hear powerful stories, including the Shawn's own MTC realization about the importance of opening your mouth and making a firm choice, and why even difficult paths can lead to humility and repentance. This episode emphasizes that your mission's success, joy, and conversion depend on choosing to serve with your whole heart and continually seeking that "better and best reason" for being there. Ultimately, it's about choosing to be chosen for an extraordinary, growth-filled journey!
Okay, so two points you just made. One, I love this. Lukewarm is indecision. It's not making a decision.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think if then we understand it in those terms, then I think what God's saying is, I put you on this earth. I gave you the power of the gods to be decision makers. I give the power unto you to choose right and wrong, good and bad, light and dark. And I put you on this earth to exercise that power of agency. I am unhappy when you don't exercise the power of choice and agency. Amen. Right? How powerful is that? All right, welcome to Mission Prep Series Podcast. Today we're going to start with the number one lesson. The one lesson that we have taught over and over and over again. And Lauren's with us. Hey, Lauren. Hello. Yep, eating the mic. That's good. And we're going to talk about this one principle. Actually, let's just back up and start from the beginning. Let's do that. Let's talk about the reason this podcast exists. The reason it exists is because of this. When I served my mission in the Ukraine Donetsk Commission in 95 to 97, so so long ago, it was one big, powerful, spiritual dream. Like, such a magnificent and beautiful and spiritual experience that I'm just shocked. I still am shocked 30 years later, 20 years, I don't know how long. So many years later, I'm shocked at how much joy it brings me and how much... love I feel for the service we did, the work we did, the personal coming to Christ experiences that I had, the people there. It's just so full of love and joy and peace and comfort. I just feel the Holy Ghost when I think about it. And it really has been an important part of making me who I am today. And when I got home from my mission, I naively thought, that's how everyone's experience was. naive because I found out real quickly that that is not how it is. I had friends and family members who I just was so excited to come home and sit down with them and let's just talk mission stories. And after me talking like an idiot for two hours, I said, tell me more about yours. And their comments were, I don't think we had the same experience. And they didn't really have anything to share. And I thought, how? On earth, is that possible? Well, what I quickly learned is there's some people that didn't have the experience that me and my companions had. And so I became fascinated with this and thought, what the heck's the difference? Why did some of us have such amazing, life-changing experiences and others didn't? And so over the years, I've asked that question, studied that question, and I've come up with seven things that make the difference. And today, we want to talk about one of the things, the first principle, I think, that is important to discuss. So I'll just ask you the question, Lauren. What do you think? What is the difference? Why do some of us come home and forever we'll be converted to Christ and forever we'll think of and love our missions? And other people, the answer of how was your mission is, eh, it's tough. I'm glad to be home. What do you think is the difference?
SPEAKER_01:I would say just a couple words that pop into my head as you ask that question are words like, Consecration, diligence, commitment, effort, choice.
SPEAKER_00:Interesting. That's interesting. So what was the first one you said?
SPEAKER_02:Consecration.
SPEAKER_00:Consecration. So let's break that down. So you feel like some people might go out consecrated and others are less consecrated. Define consecrated for us to help me understand what you mean by what each group is doing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, you know, so law of consecration, when you break it down, pretty much means that you dedicate your whole being to doing what the Lord has asked of you. And when we're called and set apart as missionaries, we try to become a consecrated missionary, where like D&C 4 says, we serve with our whole heart, mind, and strength. You know, it's all that we have, all of our effort. everything that God has given us and putting it into doing the work of a missionary. And not just doing the work, but doing it joyfully, right? And so when we sign up to be missionaries, when we're called, when we're set apart, when we're out serving, we should do so with the intention of becoming this consecrated missionary that the Lord knows we can become.
SPEAKER_00:So what would you say is the opposite of consecrated? Because if those who go out come home without the same just amazing experience that we had... what would be the opposite of consecrated? If you're giving credit to my consecration, your consecration for being the thing that helped us have success, what would be the opposite of consecrated?
SPEAKER_01:Lukewarm. Because, I mean, to be consecrated, you have to make a decision. You, you know, wake up every morning and some people don't go out as consecrated missionaries and it takes time to develop into one. But, At the end of the day, they made the decision to become that consecrated missionary.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. So now I feel like you're going even a level deeper. And you brought up the word lukewarm, which is really fascinating because I'm about to bring in a scripture from the Bible, Revelation, about that. And that'll help give us some clarity, I think. It'll help us understand. I think one of the reasons why. But fascinating you started with consecration. Now you're saying, but consecration is a result of a choice I made. Did you say that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So... Would then maybe the, so if the ultimate problem is they're not consecrated or they're not in it with their whole heart, all their might, all their strength, you're saying the reason that's not the case is because somewhere down the road they either made a decision or didn't make a decision. So when you say you made a decision to be consecrated, do you think kids go out and make the decision to not be consecrated?
SPEAKER_01:I think they just don't make a decision at all.
SPEAKER_00:What? Yeah. You're already like teasing the principles that the scriptures teach.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, do
SPEAKER_00:you think that? So that's an interesting question. So you don't think that some kids go out and go, you know what? I'm doing this for various X, Y, and Z reasons, but I'm definitely not going to do this with everything I got. Like there's not, I'm just going to tick the box, but you don't think it's that. You think it's more, they don't consciously say, I am choosing to consecrate myself to this. They instead of step back and they just avoid that kind of thinking. They don't make a decision whether I'm here or not.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I mean, I think very, very few missionaries, like a very small percentage wake up in the morning out in the field being like, I'm going to choose to be the opposite of the Lord. Why? like of what the Lord wants me to be today. I don't think anyone's doing that, honestly. I just think, you know, like they said, they're here for X, Y, or Z, and those are like their motives, but they didn't come to a decision of what they want to become or what they want to accomplish while they're out being a missionary.
SPEAKER_00:I'm going to go with you. I'm going to go with you on that assumption because by the time, I never met anyone who did that. Firstly, so my anecdotal experience would confirm what you just said. I
SPEAKER_01:mean, why would you go on a mission if you didn't want to be there?
SPEAKER_00:Well, let's explore that before we continue on this train. Why do you think some people go on a mission, which, and are all reasons for going on a mission equal?
SPEAKER_02:No.
SPEAKER_00:So, I love your question. Why would some people go on a mission... choosing not to serve with all their heart, mind, and strength and be consecrated. Well, let's go over the various, maybe common reasons. List to me some common reasons you think kids go on a mission.
SPEAKER_01:Because other people are going, because they don't want to go back to school, because it's the right thing to do. My
SPEAKER_00:parents are telling me I need to do this. My siblings went and I feel the pressure to go. Um, uh, I've heard kids who get cars out of it.
SPEAKER_01:I've heard that too, actually. It's crazy.
SPEAKER_00:Okay, so I mean, not to be judgmental because that's not what this is about. Are those good reasons to go on a mission?
SPEAKER_01:Any reasons are good reasons.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so those are good reasons, right? But I'm always reminded by the talk, I think it was Elder Oaks. There's good, then there's better, and then there's best, right? In every decision in life. So I would never say, oh, you're going out for the wrong reasons. I would never, ever say that. I agree with you. Go, no matter who you are or where you're at or whatever your reason is, go on a mission. But I think at some point your good reason needs to graduate to the better reason and ultimately to the best reason in order to get to that place of consecration. So I'm glad you brought that up because I do agree with you. Anecdotally, I've never met anyone who was like, all right, I'm going for various reasons, but I'm just going to screw up. I'm just going to party. I'm just going to be a knucklehead. Never met anyone like that.
SPEAKER_01:I think something to preface by saying, too, is the adversary's influence is very real in the sense where... you know, some people will maybe make the choice to be consecrated or they don't make the choice at all. And then that influence just hits them and hits them. And maybe they miss something back from home, or maybe there's something going on that maybe they shouldn't be doing. And they kind of give into that, but it's because they don't have that foundation of a choice that they made. But I will say that I do know various missionaries that went out with these, you know, good reasons. And then they made that choice. and figured, okay, I need a better and best reason. And they went home, got their stuff figured out and then came back out as the consecrated missionary that they chose to become.
SPEAKER_00:And I've met many missionaries who did go out for the good reason or the, yeah. And eventually came to the better and best reason. It didn't have to go home for it, but they had to go through a process on their mission of making that decision. All of which is amazing, which is why go out for good reasons, but keep seeking for that better and best reason. But I think the, the scriptural enlightenment that, that God gives us about this concept of choosing and consecration is very, very clearly taught in scripture. So let's break it down a little bit. I'm going to go to first revelation. First, I'm going to go to revelation chapter three, 15 to 16. Now this is fascinating. I love how you framed it because, and I love that we worked towards, we broke down it, it, Is this choice to be consecrated? Is this choice to serve with everything we've got? Is it a black or white choice? Is it I'm choosing to do it or I'm choosing to not do it? I'm going on a mission. And you brought up something, the word lukewarm, that I think suggests that there's another option other than I'm going to do with all my heart or I'm going to do it and not do good at it. Or maybe I don't go. I think there is a third option, which I think is the by far more profound option. thing that so many kids get stuck in. And I think there's two major important scriptures we're going to read which are dissonant. You know what dissonance means? Are you a musician?
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm not.
SPEAKER_00:So my wife plays the piano and she's playing all these lovely chords, all these notes that go beautifully together. And then she'll play this like really artistic old classical piece that she explains to me is full of dissonant chords where it's like, I wish I could play one right now, but the chord the four notes go together and then there's one that is just like, what? It just kind of goes off a little bit. And I'm like, Krista, I think you played it wrong. And she says, no, that's just a dissonant chord. Just because, Sean, your brain or your ears don't quite understand it doesn't mean it's not beautiful and doesn't mean it's not perfect. So they're like clashing notes. It's like, I love it, but I hate it. But it's not right, but it is beautiful. You know what I mean? So it's dissonant. There's a conflict. Well, these two scriptures we're about to read are dissonant, like crazy. Like we're going to read them and go, wait, is that what it's saying? That doesn't sound right. Wait, that is right. What? So it's going to be fun to discuss. But I think these reveal to us the main issue that many kids have and why this first principle is so important. So first, scriptures, Revelation 3, 15 to 16, it says this. God says to this, I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would, thou were cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Okay, what do you think? What do you think that means? It's a weird, whenever I talk about this scripture in the class, I'm like, that's a weird scripture. It's very odd. So what do you think it means?
SPEAKER_01:It makes me think of all the scriptures in the Bible and the Book of Mormon that talk about building a firm foundation upon Christ. And then I think about what happens when you don't have that, right? You don't have anything to base your choices off of. And so then you're kind of just sitting there at a crossroads and you don't have any pull or push towards any direction and you don't progress. You just stay stagnant, right? Because if you don't choose one way and if you don't choose the other, you just stay there.
SPEAKER_03:So
SPEAKER_01:you're not going anywhere. You're not even, I mean, at least if you're going down the wrong path, at least you're going in one direction. Maybe eventually at the end of the road, you'll hit something and be like, I kind of want to go back the other way.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Introducing the dissonant idea here. Let me ask you about that. What I just heard you say was you started by saying, let's analyze, let's analyze three people. There's one that's referenced here is hot, which is like me. I
SPEAKER_01:knew you were going to say that.
SPEAKER_00:Because, yeah, it's common knowledge, of course. Then there's cold, the person that represents the cold choice. And then there's the person in the middle that's the lukewarm choice. So clearly, what I heard you say was, let's jump to the third person in the middle, the lukewarm choice. And I like what you started to say, was you're like, they have no direction. They're not moving any direction. They're just kind of indifferent. They're not progressing. They're not being decisive. They're just stuck in life, right? That makes sense to me. But then what I heard you say was this, the hot choice is choosing righteousness and goodness. But then I heard you say the cold choice is choosing wrong, disobedience, maybe sin, not serving type of thing. And I heard you say, maybe we need to sometimes make that choice. That's what I heard you say.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think those were the words that came out of my mouth, but maybe the spirit conveyed it to you in that way.
SPEAKER_00:Well, maybe not. Maybe I misread it, but you did justify. And, Lauren, does not the verse here justify choosing hot or cold? It does justify. It literally says, I would that thou were hot or cold. So you tell me what you think hot and cold mean. Did I interpret it correctly?
SPEAKER_02:I'd agree with you.
SPEAKER_00:So hot means faithful, obedient, righteous, choosing to go to God. Cold means...
SPEAKER_01:Away.
SPEAKER_00:Away, disobedient, away, selfish, right? Yeah. So do you really think this is saying, I, God, prefer, Lauren, that you either choose righteous and faithful or choose sin? Go ahead. Just don't be indifferent. Just don't be in the middle. Go ahead and sin all you want or be righteous. Is that... What this says? I
SPEAKER_01:personally don't think that he's given us the green light to go break all the commandments, right? But I do, I appreciate the part that says I'll spew the out of my mouth because in my interpretation of that, it's that we're being pushed farther away from him. And so when we're not choosing him or when we're not like missing him, if that makes sense, we're not getting either closer or farther. We're kind of just staying there. So you can't build a relationship that, if you're stagnant, right?
SPEAKER_00:Interesting. There's this TV show called Mad Men. I like it. There's a scene where the main character's in the elevator with one of this, I think his co-workers. And this co-worker just loses it on the guy. And he just says, look, you're this and you're that and I hate this about you and you do this all the time and you think you're this big man and you just da-da-da-da-da-da-da. And the main character kind of listens and doesn't make a face and he looks down at the guy and goes, I don't think of you at all. And the door's open and he walks out. And I was like, dude, that is the worst. It's worse. This guy had fiery indignation towards this guy, but the other dude just was indifferent. He didn't care. He didn't even acknowledge his existence. And that was more cutting and worse than the guy that was really, really fiery and active, right? I like that analogy. Another analogy, this hot, cold, lukewarm is, I don't know, cold, rainy day. You go home and you want to pour a cup of
SPEAKER_03:Hot chocolate.
SPEAKER_00:Hot chocolate. I would say hot chocolate. Right? On a cold day, that hot chocolate is the best. On a really hot, hot, hot day, you just played basketball. You go out to your car. Cold water. And have you ever reached down in your car in that hot day? And it's
SPEAKER_01:freaking warm and it's disgusting. Wait, is that what you were going to say? Yeah. Yeah, like in a plastic bottle and it's just nasty.
SPEAKER_00:Does that... Do you think apply to this, what it's talking about?
SPEAKER_01:I'd freaking spew that out of my mouth.
SPEAKER_00:Right, I think that's kind of the visual, the analogy, the parable, I guess, that God's helping us see, right? We've all had that experience, I think. Okay, so I think what the point of this verse is, which still I'm going to bring in the distant side, is we both agree that lukewarm is the worst place to be. I like that some of your insights, you're like, if I'm indifferent, if I don't even care about God, that's worse than... than making a conscious choice to be like, you know, I'm going to go party a little bit, or I'm going to go, and I know it's wrong, but I'm going to go experiment. And maybe we'll get into why we think God says that's worse, but maybe we're just misunderstanding this scripture. Why don't we bring in another scripture to see if it's actually what the Lord is teaching? Okay, this is in the Old Testament. So 1 Kings 18, 21, the prophet Elijah was called of God specifically to go to the children of Israel who had gone to Secular. They're leaving the religion and they've gone secular and they're sinning. So God says to Elijah, go bring them back. You're my prophet. So Elijah goes down and he calls all the people and he says this in verse 21. Now at the time, the competing kind of theory, philosophy in life, like the equivalent of secularism in our day, was a religion that was led by a guy named Baal, B-A-A-L. And it was kind of, I view it as kind of similar to today's secular religion. So he says this, Elijah came unto all the people and said, how long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Okay, Lauren, what do you think that means? Is Elijah literally saying to the people, it's worse for you to be halted Either choose God and follow him or choose secular world and sin and follow them. God prefers either one. Just don't be halted or lukewarm.
SPEAKER_01:I think it reiterates what Revelation said.
SPEAKER_00:So it's dissonant though, right? I read over and over again in scripture, God says, obey me, love me, keep my commandments. Not very often do I hear him say, or don't. Go over there and follow another God or... So I really, it's important for us to break down what this is. Is it, is God truly emphasizing how much more danger it is, dangerous it is, for us to be indifferent and lukewarm than it is to actually make choices in sin?
SPEAKER_01:Are you asking me or is this a rhetorical question?
SPEAKER_00:No, I'm asking you. Is it really that much more dangerous for us to be indifferent and why? Because I think that's what it's teaching, which is a little kind of Shocking.
SPEAKER_01:I would say, personally, the moments where I was journeying through the cold, I came to a point where, like I said, in a relationship sense, if you're lukewarm, you're not getting closer or further from Heavenly Father, from Christ. But as I personally was journeying through the cold, I recognized the person that I was without Heavenly Father and without relationship with Jesus Christ, and I didn't like that. I truly did not like the person that I was and I didn't like the choices I was making because I knew that it was even furthering me from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. So then I made my way back and then I made the decision, okay, let's maybe try going the other way. The last path didn't really work out for me. And I understand the... you know, the, the power in these teachings saying, don't be lukewarm. Cause I mean, it's like, we talk about like eternal progression and progressing all the time on this podcast. You're not doing any of that if you're lukewarm. So if you're, you know, trying to come closer to Christ, if you're trying to develop this relationship with heavenly father, or even like not from a religious standpoint, if you're trying to do anything in life, it all starts with a decision, but you're not going anywhere. If you're just lukewarm.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay, so two points you just made. One, I love this. One, lukewarm is indecision. It's not making a decision.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And I think if then we understand it in those terms, then I think what God's saying is, I put you on this earth. I gave you the power of the gods to be decision makers. I give the power unto you to choose right and wrong, good and bad, light and dark. And I put you on this earth to exercise that power of agency. I am unhappy when you don't exercise the power of choice and agency. That's pretty... Amen! Right? How powerful is that? Now, it still doesn't excuse what I'm bothered by about these scriptures that say, go ahead and choose Baal. Go ahead and choose sin. So let's break that down just a little bit. Cause you said something earlier that was really powerful. You said in your life, when you take the cold path or the bail path, you hit a spot where you go, this isn't working for me. This doesn't make me happy. So do you remember the scripture? I won't pull it up, but it says something to the effect of sometimes when we taste the bitter, we learn to prize the sweet. So there's a story that elder Holland tells, um, He and his dad, when he was younger, I think, or grandpa or someone, they were out hunting or hiking or something. And they were out and it got dark. And they started to make their way back and they realized, uh-oh, we're kind of lost here. And they hit a fork in the road. And so grandpa says, why don't we say a prayer? So they said a prayer and they both said, I think we're supposed to go left. So with faith, they start going left. And as they went left, they somewhat quickly hit a dead end. And young Holland, or I don't remember the details, but he looked at grandpa and said, the Lord told us we should go left. And you know what his grandpa said? And now as we turn around and go the right path, we know with absolute confidence the right path. That's a pretty fascinating take on it, right? So does that align with what you're saying? That sometimes when we go down the path of sin, we will always... hit sadness. We will always be sad. Because wickedness never was happiness, Alma says.
SPEAKER_01:There's a talk by Elder Uchtdorf called A Higher Joy. And he talks about this. He talks about an eternal joy that the world will never be able to offer us. And he talks about how every single human on this earth searches for happiness. And for a time, many people find it in that cold place. But At the end of the day, the eternal joy doesn't come from the world.
SPEAKER_00:The pleasure does. The pleasure does. The feel-good temporarily does.
SPEAKER_01:But something that Uchtdorf has said in a couple of his talks is he gave a talk about the prodigal son, and he said the party didn't last as it rarely does. And so I think about that a lot just— When, you know, especially on a mission, you meet all these people that have made these choices down in this, you know, cold place. And it leads them to a point of humility that brings them back to accept and choose to accept Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, humility. Sometimes the cold path brings us such misery that it forces us to our knees. And we know that humility is a requirement of faith and repentance. We will not repent if we're not humble. And we know that the only way to come to Christ is through faith, repentance, baptism, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. That's your purpose as a missionary. That's your purpose in life for yourself. And so maybe that cold path sometimes is there to drive us to sadness and misery and humility. Wow, fascinating. That's fascinating. Interesting doctrine. And I fully believe that... What?
SPEAKER_01:No, I just have a story, but when you're done...
SPEAKER_00:Go ahead, tell the story.
SPEAKER_01:Really? Yeah. Okay. So there was... Every Tuesday we had a devotional on our mission. So we met every missionary on Zoom with our mission president. He was telling us a story about this guy named Bud who lived in Lafayette, Indiana. And I actually finally got to meet him and we ended up becoming good friends. He's this older gentleman. So awesome. But his story is incredible. So Bud ended up being incarcerated. And he was in prison for a very long time. Like a very long time. And... A couple, I want to say maybe like 50% of the way into serving his sentence, he found a Book of Mormon. And there was this member of the church that went to the prison and was just teaching about the gospel. And he started reading the Book of Mormon and he became converted in the prison. And he finally, you know, he got released, he was back, but just with some rules of the church and whatnot. you have to be interviewed not just by a missionary, but by like mission president or one of the counselors. And he waited almost 20 years to be baptized. Wow. 20 years reading the Book of Mormon, meeting with missionaries, going to church. And while I was in the mission in Indiana, he was baptized. Oh my goodness. And he... I mean, he made those choices to be incarcerated, but then he hit that point of humility and then he started making choices to bring him out of it. And he was patient too. I think that's something that we forget about a lot is within these choices that we make when we're moving forward, we have to be patient and trust in the Lord's timing.
SPEAKER_00:Wow, powerful.
SPEAKER_01:I mean, there's a lot of times as a missionary where you're knocking on doors or you're contacting people and you're just like, why aren't we finding people that want to be baptized? And you just have to learn how to be patient, how to trust in the Lord's timing. Like you said, know what the bitter tastes like to prize the sweet. Sometimes that is bitter, yeah. There's going to be days, maybe weeks, where you feel like you're finding no one. You have no progressing friends. And then you find that one person that makes it all worth it.
SPEAKER_00:That's the hot. Awesome. So let's bring in another scripture that really emphasizes that. why I think the Lord is teaching us through these two scriptures that being lukewarm or indecisive is more dangerous than actually making choices, although sometimes those choices are the wrong choices. In Ephesians 4.14, it says this, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men and the cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. What, I think, a beautiful visual here. That if I am decisive in my life, and I'm firmly on, I firmly own my decisions, then I'm not going to be, as the words say, tossed to and fro with the slight of men or the philosophies of the world or the cunning craftiness of Satan. Because I'm resolved in my choice. And so I think this is a great example of why being lukewarm, especially as a missionary, trying to decide how you're going to serve or be consecrated or making the choice, if you haven't made the choice, then you truly are subject to the winds of temptation, the winds of doctrine, and it'll push you over here and then it'll push you over there. You have no grounded foundation. Let me give you a quick story on my mission about that. So when I was in the MTC, I loved the MTC, but I was placed with a companion who is now my best friend of all time, Matt Miles. He was a total goof off clown, snapper head in the MTC. And we were companions. And all I wanted to do was be obedient and study and speak the language of Russian to learn it. He didn't want to do that. He was just goofing off all the time. So I prayed and prayed and prayed that the Lord would break this up. Get me with someone who's serious. This guy's a goofball. I don't like him. Eventually, Elder Khovansky, who's in our district, we're playing volleyball. He fell wrong and he broke his wrist. Some would say, ooh. Some would say, thank you for the answer to my prayers because he went home to get it fixed and I got to leave Elder Miles. So you don't take the moral of that story as praise and Someone will get their hand broken for my benefit. Long story short, I got away from Elder Miles. He went with someone else. I went with a new companion and my new companion was perfect. Answered my prayers. We spoke our language. Beautiful situation. See you later, goofball. So fast forward a few months and we're in the field. We're in Donetsk. Amazing Donetsk. And I'm with one companion and he's with another companion. And one day they thought it would be hilarious for us to be put together as greenies. Well, This was about two weeks after we arrived. Well, my companion was fantastic. This dude was awesome. Smartest guy I've ever met. The way that he walked out the door and worked was a little different than I expected, right? He was as smart and genius as he was. He was a little grumpy, a little grumpy at the people. So we'd walk outside together right on time. He was very obedient. And all these people were walking by us, but we kind of walk by them too and talk a little bit, practice our Russian, speak the gospel. And then after 20 minutes, you try and stop someone. And they would get mad at you or say no. And then you'd kind of give them the evil eye and you'd go on and you'd talk with each other for another 20 minutes, right? And you try it every 20 minutes or so. Me being this green, shocked missionary thought, okay, this is how you do missionary work. Okay. So fast forward two weeks and Our companions thought it would be hilarious to put us together as greenies who had never done anything before. We don't speak the language. And I'm kind of anxious to get with Elder Miles and be like, dude, this is a crazy place, right? This is nuts. Well, the two companions leave, and I turn to Elder Miles like, let's talk and walk for 20 minutes and just catch up. I turn to go to him, and he's gone, takes off, and is talking to someone. And I'm like, whoa, that's crazy. I'm like, what are you doing? They don't understand you. You don't understand them. You have no clue what you're doing. I was like, man, I can't wait to talk to him. I'm going to stand here. As soon as he's done, we're going to talk to each other and be like, dude, that was crazy. Well, what the heck? How'd you do it? But he ended and he didn't even look at me. He went on to someone else and he started opening his mouth and talking to them. And I'm like, wait, what? This is crazy. So I waited again. And for hours, he didn't even acknowledge me. He just went to work talking to people. Well, later I come to find out he was just bored in the MTC. He was just so anxious to get out to do the work. And his companion wasn't exactly the hardest worker. So it's not like he came and learned that from him. Elder Miles made a choice the moment his feet hit the ground in the mission field, that he would open his mouth and talk to everyone completely consecrated. He made that choice. Yet good old me, Good old like, you know, rah-rah guy in the MTC hits the ground and I'm kind of a little bit lukewarm at the moment because I'm like, I don't know how to do this. I'm a little scared. I don't know what to do. And when I was in my lukewarm state, I was tossed to and fro. Whatever companion I was with, that's how I do the missionary work. So as I saw Elder Miles opening his mouth and talking to everyone, it changed my life. I literally at that point made a decision that I would never again let anyone influenced the way that I chose to serve the Lord. And I promise you, from that moment on, I opened my mouth and started talking to everyone. Everyone. And I remember my companion was like, okay, is this how we're going to do it? And he was a little bit... And at the end, he was like, good on you, man. Like, good on you. You're going to work hard. Good for you. Go do it, man. Be a good missionary. But that choice that I made based on that good example changed my life. And I realized I was being lukewarm. So I can only imagine, Lorne... Kids who, you listeners who are deciding to go on a mission for various reasons, if you haven't chosen and own your decision to not only serve a mission, but serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength and be consecrated, then you run the risk of being tossed to and fro with this companion, that companion, this member, that member, and there's no guarantee that you're going to have the mission that is the supposed to be the outcome that you really want, which is life-changing spiritual experiences. To me, to boil it back to our first principle is this, choose ye this day whom and how you will serve. Own your mission or it will happen to you. And 50-50 chance that it'll happen in a good way, 50-50 chance that it happens in a bad way. So this is the first principle that I bring up because I've seen so many kids say, who didn't have great experiences on their mission. And it does boil down to, did they or did they not consciously make a choice to serve? Sure, they all got to the point where like, oh, I'm going on a mission. But they didn't truly own that decision. They went because my parents are helping me go or want me to go. My roommates went, so I'm going to go. They never truly came to that fork in the road where they realized, well, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do this. And I choose to do this. It's a powerful thing to be able to make that choice. and not be indifferent and not be indecisive. What do you think of that?
SPEAKER_01:Amen. I think too, not coming from a worldly standpoint, but when you consecrate yourself and when you choose to serve, the more likely and the faster you are to become an effective missionary. And just speaking out of facts from the natural man, you like doing things that you're good at, right? Like, oh, Sean's really good at football, like he's going to want to play football, right? Because he's good at it. You enjoy doing something that you're good at. So then you consecrate yourself and you choose to become this missionary that you have the potential to become and you become good and you learn to dedicate yourself to the work and you finally, you catch a vision for what the work should look like and you chase after it and you become better, better. You learn, become more effective and then you see more success as a missionary. And it makes it just like it's this like ongoing thing where you just you get better, you get better, you see results, you see success and you just want to keep going, keep going, keep going. But you're never going to get there if you don't make the choice to do so.
SPEAKER_00:And I loved watching you and my son and all of you kids who are friends. I loved watching those of you who made that choice go on that growth spiral. Not spiral, that growth path. It was so amazing. And I'd learn more about what you're doing and I'd see your disposition and your spirit on your mission. And you could just tell those of you who had made and owned the choice to consecrate and to serve with all your heart, mind, and strength. And the growth. And then exactly how you described it. Until there was more light and more happiness and more joy and your heart became changed and you became converted to the Lord. You had that mighty change of heart. And that is talked about through all the scriptures, that all of us have to go through this mighty change of heart. I saw that in you, Lauren. I watched it in my son. I watched it in those of you who own your decision to do this. I love the primary song, and we'll end on this. The primary song about the wise man who built his house upon the rock and the other man who built his house upon the sand. And when the winds and the waters came up, the man on the sand gets tossed to and fro, knocked down, The house that he's built is not on a strong foundation, so it gets knocked over and destroyed. Whereas the house and the man that's built upon that rock is on that firm foundation. It reminds me of 3 Nephi 18, 12. And he says,"...I gave unto you commandment that ye should do these things. And if ye shall always do these things, blessed are ye for ye are built upon my rock. And whoso among you shall do more or less than these things, and are not built upon my rock, but are built upon the sandy foundation." And when the rain descends and the floods come and the winds blow and beat upon them, they shall fall and the gates of hell are ready to open and receive them. Missionaries fall if they're not built on the choice they make to come to Christ and be built on that firm foundation. And I will emphasize more than anything on this podcast, the only way to come to Christ, the choice you need to make is this, to do the things that build your faith in Christ because faith will lead to repentance. Repentance leads to the covenants of baptism. and the receiving of the Holy Ghost. That is the only way to come to Christ. That's it. That's the only way to be on that firm foundation. And it has to start with a choice you make to turn that way and start on that path. And the two best things by far, Lauren, if you'd agree with me, you tell me, to start that path of faith, what the choices you need to make are, A, read your scriptures every day, and B, pray every day for answers about anything you want to know about. That process will bring the Spirit in your life and will bring revelation that builds your faith faster than anything. And that faith will lead to repentance. And repentance leads to an understanding of the covenants that you guys are in. That's the firm foundation. That's how you come to Christ. And that's what you have to do in your mission is lead people to that path. But you have to start with a choice. Own your decision. I'm grateful that God put it in my heart to be faced with that decision. And I remember the day. I do. I remember the minute that I made that decision. Best decision I have ever made because it has led me to just pure joy and happiness and conversion to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I watched you make that decision.
SPEAKER_01:I just want to add my witness, share my testimony. Choosing to be converted unto Christ is the most... powerful decision that you can make because it's not an old one and done decision. It's a, okay, I'm changing the course of my life decision. And I love how you come to understand the atonement. And I promise everyone listening, as you choose to be converted unto Christ, you will feel the power of the atonement work in your life and in the life of your friends. Camille Johnson gave a talk this last conference and she said something that I loved. She said, many are called, but few choose to be chosen. Choose to be chosen. Those of you listening, it will change your life and it will change the life of the other children of God that you have been called to serve.
SPEAKER_00:That is so beautiful. What a perfect way to end. What is it? Choose to be chosen. I love it. That's so awesome. Awesome. Thanks for joining us. Visit us next week and we'll talk about principle number two.
