Success in Missionary Work

Success in Missionary Work
Thomas S. Monson

“May I suggest….a formula [in missionary work] that will insure your success: Search the scriptures with diligence! …Your confidence will be directly related to your knowledge of God’s word. Oh, I am sure you have heard of some missionaries who were lazy, less than effective, and anxious for their missions to conclude. A careful examination of such instances will reveal that the actual culprit is not laziness, nor disinterest, but is the foe known as fear. Our Father chastised such: “….with some I am not well pleased, for they will not open their mouths, but they hide the talent which I have given unto them, because of the fear of man.” (D&C 60:2) Had not this same loving Heavenly Father provided a prescription to overcome this malady.…. In a revelation given through Joseph Smith, the Prophet, January 2., 1831, the Lord declared: “ ….if ye are prepared ye shall not fear.” (D&C 38:30) This is the key. Will you use it? Let me provide but one reference that has immediate application to our lives, in the Book of Mormon, the seventeenth chapter of Alma, verses 2 - 4. we read the account of Alma’s joy as he once more saw the sons of Mosiah and noted their steadfastness in the cause of truth….

Verse 2: “Now these sons of Mosiah were with Alma at the time the angel first appeared unto him; therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.”

Verse 3: “But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and
fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.”

Verse 4: “And they had been teaching the word of God for the space of fourteen years among the Lamanites, having had much success in bringing many to the knowledge of the truth; yea, by the power of their words many were brought before the altar of God, to call on his name and confess their sins before him.”

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Need

M. Russell Ballard

What we need now is the greatest generation of missionaries in the history of the Church. We need worthy, qualified, spiritually energized missionaries who, like Helaman’s 2,000 stripling warriors, are “exceedingly valiant for courage, and also for strength and activity” and who are “true at all times in whatsoever thing they [are] entrusted”

(Alma 53:20). 

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The Ph.D. for a Missionary:

 —Heber J. Grant

P = Prayer

H = Humility

D = Diligence

The first great commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, might, mind, and strength: and the second is like unto it, to love our neighbors as ourselves. And the best way in the world to show our love for our neighbor is to go forth and proclaim of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, of which he has given us an absolute knowledge concerning its divinity.