I talked about how impressed I was that some of the rebel-types I knew from high school were now attending prep and getting ready to serve missions. I compared it to the passage in Alma when the Sons of Mosiah return from their mission to the Lamanites and meet up with Alma the younger (see Alma 17). The joy that Alma had that his friends were still his brethren in the Lord was somewhat like the joy I felt as we prepared to serve our missions.
Then I talked about how my mission was something I had been anticipating for a number of years. I used an analogy that had me in a dark hallway with a light at the far end. The light was my mission and was my ultimate destination; yet there were other hallways shooting off from this main hallway and occasionally I strayed down one of them. But I always came back to the main hallway and now I was on the homestretch.
"I hope they call me on a mission, When I have grown a foot or two", these were words we sang in primary as kids. "I hope by then I will be ready, To teach and preach and work as missionaries do." Rather than just hoping to be ready, I was working to prepare by faithfully attending the missionary prep meetings, and taking as many opportunities as I could to teach mock discussions. I had faced adversity in this effort, I had been tested, I had perservered, and now the light grew brighter with every passing day.
In addition to the primary song above, I can recall being given a savings banks for coins to save for a missionary fund. There were other moments that pointed me toward a mission as the church sought to encourage young boys to prepare to serve. "We [were] as the army of Helaman, we [had] been taught in our youth, we [would] be the Lord's missionaries, to bring the world his truth."
"We know his plan, and we will prepare, Increase our knowledge through study and prayer. Daily we'll learn until we are called To take the gospel to all the world."
Then we got older, we entered high school, we encountered temptations, we made mistakes. But because of the sacrifice of the Lord whom we would serve, we could repent and return to the path that would prepare us to serve. Repentance is always possible, but it is not easy, and it would be better to avoid, if possible, making the mistakes that would then require our penitence.
In October 2002, Elder M. Russell Ballard said that they church was "raising the bar" on missionary standards. "The day of the 'repent and go' missionary is over," Elder Ballard said. "Some young men have the mistaken idea that they can be involved in sinful behavior and then repent when they're 18 1/2 so they can go on their mission at 19. While it is true that you can repent of sins, you may or you may not qualify to serve."
Elder Ballard went on to say, "This isn't a time for spiritual weaklings. We cannot send you on a mission to be reactivated, reformed, or to receive a testimony. We just don't have time for that."
In the two years following Elder Ballard's address on rasing the bar, the number of missionaries serving fell from near 62,000 to about 51,000. Yet, this effort to raise standards may only have been a prologue. Several years after raising the bar, the church lowered the age of eligibility for missionaries, and since then the number of missionaries serving has increased to 80,000.
If I had been called at 18 to serve, I would not have been ready, though I was better prepared then than when I was 17. At 17, in the summer before my senior year in high school, I started reading the Book of Mormon for the first time, upon completion I started reading the book again, finshing it just before leaving on my mission. I have said that there were lessons that I needed to go on a mission to learn, but there were lessons I had to learn before I was ready to go.
Last May I posted a video of Elder Russell M. Nelson discussing how every home can become a mini-missionary training center. Perhaps one thing parents can do to help their children prepare to serve, especially as teenagers, would be to sit down with them at the beginning of each year to discuss what they can do over the next 365 day to prepare for their missions and then helping them set goals. For example, at age 16 a goal might be set to start and finish reading the Book of Mormon. At age 17, a goal may be set to study from the Preach My Gospel manual, to make lesson plans and teach mock discussions.
Now is the time to prepare, not the day you enter the MTC.
Sources:
Facts and Statistics, Mormon News Room.org. http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/facts-and-stats
Ballard, M. R. (2002). The Greatest Generation of Missionaries. http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2002/10/the-greatest-generation-of-missionaries?lang=eng&query=
Stack, P. F. (2005). Unintended Consequences of Church's 'Raising the Bar'. Salt Lake Tribune. http://www.sltrib.com/ci_2890646
Cox, D. P. (2013). Every Home Can Be a Mini-Missionary Training Center. The Whole Missionary. http://thewholemissionary.blogspot.com/2013/05/every-home-can-be-mini-missionary.html
Primary songs:
I Hope They Call Me On a Mission
We Will Bring the World His Truth (Army of Helaman)
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