The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
Speaking to full-time missionaries at the Provo Missionary Training Center, Sister Tamara W. Runia asked her listeners to think of their mission service as their own personal ministries.
“Have you ever thought of your mission that way?” asked the first counselor in the Young Women general presidency, suggesting the missionaries consider their 18-month to two-year service similar to the Savior’s own three-year personal, mortal ministry.
And then she posed what she said is a question that could both shape those ministries and how the missionaries would look at and interact with others.
The question: “Do I really believe that another person’s soul is as precious as my own?”
That ranges from the driver on the freeway that cuts off other cars to an opponent in a sports competition. “It may not feel like it, but their worth is as great as yours and their soul is just as precious.”
She added in the missionaries’ own companions. “What if you asked yourself before every decision you make, ‘Is what I’m about to do going to bless my companion?’ How different would your relationship be?” she asked, adding “And the reason this is so important is because this is a preliminary experience to your future companion, your eternal companion.”
‘The perfect example’
In her message during the Tuesday night, April 9, devotional at the Provo MTC, Sister Runia pointed to the resurrected Savior and his appearance to the Nephites in Third Nephi as an example to follow.
“He set the perfect example of what you can do as missionaries,” she said, listing how Christ perceived the people’s needs and had compassion on them. “If it’s a big deal for us, it’s a big deal for Him,” Sister Runia said. “And shouldn’t we model that for each other?”
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
