Call Me On A MissionLDS missionary tips to help you hit the ground running

Reacting to the Spirit is the best motivator. While on my mission, I spoke with hundreds of people on buses about the gospel. Every time I rode a bus or taxi, I was talking to the person sitting next to me or the driver about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the church. However, I don’t believe that a single one I spoke with was ever baptized. It was seldom that I ever even visited the home of anyone I met on a bus. So why would I continue to talk with them?

When you open your mouth and act on those “Huh Thoughts,” you will find a fire that begins to burn within you. You overcome fears of talking about the gospel, and you feel comfortable doing so. It isn’t easy, but that’s the reason you should do it! That’s why you stretch yourself to open your mouth EVERYTIME you have the opportunity.

You will also learn how to steer the conversations towards religion and the gospel. You will be at ease speaking about these truths to everyone. As fire begins to grow, you are motivated to speak with even more people.

When you leave on your mission, make it a goal that you will speak to the person sitting next to you on the airplane. I’m sure you will have one of those Huh Thoughts: “Huh, maybe I should speak with this person next to me.” When you act immediately without delay, it will be easier to fulfill that impression. That initial conversation will be the beginning of a fire that will grow into a flame that you never knew you were capable of having.

When you are on the return trip from your mission, don’t you dare let the opportunity to speak with that last person on the plane pass you by. As you meet your family, they will be able to see and feel that flame burning inside of you.

This is why should begin now to act on every “Huh Thought” you have each day. This will begin the fire that will burn within you, and you will be a sensitive person to listen to those promptings of the Spirit. As you listen and act on these thoughts, not only will you begin a fire of motivation within you, but you will also build a relationship of trust with the Lord, which I will talk about in Principle 3: Acting on Inspiration Builds Trust and Further Inspiration.

When I began the mission, one of the biggest questions in my mind was “How do I recognize the Spirit?” I always wanted to know the difference between my own thoughts and the Spirit. How could I tell if I walked by someone and I was supposed to talk with them or if my mind was just playing tricks.

I’m sure you know how it is when you leave your house and you have a thought that you should take something with you. Then you start to debate in your mind whether it is an impression or if it is only your own thought. Sometimes you decide to listen, but you find that you never really end up needing what you thought you did. So how can you tell the difference between the Spirit and your own mind.

Well, let me tell you about some things I learned about this while I was in Bolivia, but first, there are some principles to understand:

Principle 1: Obedience Enables Recognition of the Spirit

Obedience enables recognition of the Spirit. If you are obedient and worthy of the Spirit, your own thoughts are inspired by the Spirit. Let me explain.

When you are obedient, it eliminates the need to battle within your mind as to whether the thought is from the Spirit or not. As long as it is a good impression, you can assume that it is from the Spirit. Then the key is to react to the thought. Don’t take the time to debate with yourself if it is your own thought, but act immediately on it. The second you begin to debate in your mind, many times you lose it and end up not acting on the impression.

I would always tell missionaries I worked with about what I like to call “Huh Thoughts.” How many times have you been at school and thought, “Huh, maybe I should say hi to Brian.” Or, “Huh, I should write a letter to my grandma.” It happens just about everyday! We have these little “Huh Thoughts,” and many times we begin to battle in our minds and don’t realize that they are coming from the Spirit. There is a reason you are having the thought, and that is the time to react to it! Write it down immediately, and then do what you felt you should do!

I would always talk about these “Huh Thoughts” with missionaries I worked with, and I remember a particular day when I was on a split with a youth from our ward. We were headed down an old dirt road to an appointment, and I had just finished talking to him about how important it is to react to these thoughts. A few minutes later, we both stopped immediately, turned to the right, and saw a married couple that was sitting at a table around the back of this dirt home. We turned and called out, “Hermanos! Cómo están! It’s been so long since we’ve seen you… We’ve NEVER seen you!” The next thing we knew, we were at their table inviting them to church.

To make a long story short (which I’m sure I will share more of this in other posts), this family was baptized, and a year later they moved to Cochabamba (an overnight bus trip away) to be temple workers.

I’m not saying that you will always have experiences like that where the person you say “Hi” to in the hall will become your best friend or that your grandmother will pass away the next day, but there are some incredible blessings that come from acting on these impressions. Next time you have a “Huh Thought,” write it down and give it a try. You will find that Heavenly Father is working with you and you are putting yourself in His hands to be able to be taught.

In my next post, I will cover Principle 2 to recognizing the Spirit: Acting is Motivation.

I think one of the best things about a mission is how much freedom and flexibility you have. Everything you own fits into a suitcase—or else you give it away! When transfers come, it only takes a few minutes to fold all your white shirts (if you take time to do that…) and put everything into your suitcase. You can be completely ready to move to an entirely different city, state, or even country within minutes!

Of course we all begin the mission with two suitcases packed completely full, and by the time we go home, we usually realize everything we took that we never even used.

I think one of the funniest things I encountered was with one elder who began the mission with me. When we were about to return home, he began rummaging through his “seldom opened” suitcase, where he found quite a treasure! It was a portable hot water shower! I guess he figured you can’t live without hot water in South America, and so he went prepared!

Of course he never used the portable shower, but I suppose he had a great piece of camping equipment for after the mission!

As you grow in the mission field, “things” become less and less important. The mission is one of the only times in your life that you can actually forget about belongings, social life, and pressures from school and work, and you can entirely focus on others. Your prayers become more and more selfless, and you begin to learn things about yourself that you never knew—strengths and weaknesses. Things become so clear as you see the ways Heavenly Father needs you to grow as well as the strengths he has given you.

Along with these changes, you see that you really didn’t everything you thought was so important: the church books that aren’t part of the missionary library, the photo albums of all your high school friends, the remembrance trinkets from your girlfriend, and surprisingly enough, the portal hot water shower. These just become luggage that you have to pack around for two years.

Also remember that you will be serving with people that come from all types of circumstances. You will have companions that come from high income families as well as companions that are from lower-income families and third world countries. It is interesting to see new missionaries arrive to the mission from the Provo MTC compared to those from the Argentina or Peru MTC. I have had companions who ask what in the world I had taken with me to fill two jumbo-sized suitcases. They just had one simple suitcase that many times could probably be used as carry-on luggage.

So if I had a tip about what to take on your mission—or rather what not to take your mission—I would say to remember that this is one of the only times in your life that you can just let it go. Eliminate the distractions, and enjoy it while you can. Follow the suggestions and guidelines you receive with your mission call, and trust that you will be okay. And if your mother buys you a heated shower that you can hang on a tree, thank her graciously—because that will be pretty cool to take camping when you are called to be a boy scout leader in about three years.

I think there is something very important to understand about time on a mission. You have an incredible ability to affect not only your own life or the lives of converts, but you will be able to affect the lives of your family perhaps just as much as anyone else.

So let me just begin by telling you that preparation days are extremely precious! It is hard enough to get everything done when you study in the morning; do laundry; go shopping; write to the family; write to friends; get together with your zone; play soccer, fubíto, or basketball; and any other activity you want to do for the week before beginning work again at 6:00. Sometimes it is easy to give a half-hearted effort to write a mediocre letter home—there just isn’t a lot of time!

One of the most important things you can know is how much your letters can change, empower, and teach your family. I remember when I began the mission, I set a personal challenge for myself to write my letters to my family as if they were journal entries. I wrote about the spiritual experiences I had and the things I had learned. I would write about the investigators, the church, my testimony, and the scriptures. They were very personal to me, and I was eager to share them with my family.

When I was just over half way through my mission, I had an incredible experience. I received a package from my sister. When I opened the letter that was on the package, I remember it was written on stationary with chocolate-chip cookies on it. I thought it was a little mean that she would use that stationary, as there is no such thing as home-baked cookies in Bolivia. However, when I opened the package, I found an entire bag of chocolate-chip cookies!!! It was about the best thing in the world!

As I began to read the letter, it became an even more special experience. My sister told me about the prior Sunday when she was in Sunday School. They were singing the opening hymn to the meeting, and she began to think about me. She said that she began to think about the missionary service I was giving, and she began to cry as she thought about how much I had grown and how much the work had come to mean for me. I never knew the effects that my letters were having, and this was the first I realized their power. My sister and I had actually developed a spiritual relationship through my letters that we had never previously had. And since coming home from my mission, we have become the best of friends.

Never underestimate the power of your letters to your family and friends. You are a chosen servant of Jesus Christ Himself, and you have a great power that is given to you. You have the power to affect lives, change people, and testify with a conviction that can be heard and felt through your words, whether written or spoken. That is the power you carry as a missionary, and it is given to bless lives. Remember to exercise this gift and never settle for mediocrity.