FDRL 212 Unit 2 Choice 5: Counsel for Missionaries

This week, I chose to do option #5 for my first student assignment. For this choice, I had to read selected verses out of 1st and 2nd Thessalonians and pull out different concepts that would relate to specific actions missionaries should do in order to strengthen their message. These are some of the actions that Paul mentions:

• Be grateful and always give thanks to God
• Pray always--specifically pray for those you're serving for
• Remember that it is a labor of love and have patience of hope
• Teach by the Holy Ghost and be gentle
• Be bold in your God: speak to please God rather than men
• Don't use flattering words and don't seek for your own glory
• Let your investigators and those you serve/teach become dear to you
• Be holy, just, and unblameable 
• Realize it is the word of God you are teaching rather than the word of man
• Behave in a way so that your investigators, converts, and new members can follow your example.

I think for me, one of the most emphasized points that Paul makes is that missionaries need to behave in a way that sets a good example for those they teach. Missionaries are introducing people to the gospel for the very first time. Meeting those elders (or sisters) could be the first interaction with a member of the church that an investigator has. Missionaries have a solemn responsibility. If they do not behave appropriately, the Spirit will not be able to teach the investigators as effectively as He otherwise might be able to do. I've never had the opportunity to serve a mission and even with the change in age for sisters, I do not feel like I have been called to serve in that capacity at this time. But I have many friends who have served and as I write them letters, it has been interesting to see which of my friends have followed the rules set for a missionary with exactness...and which of my friends haven't quite hit the mark yet. Paul emphasizes over and over again the need for the missionaries to really LOVE those whom they serve.

"So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us" 1 Thessalonians 1:8

It would be one thing for Paul to just write "love those you serve", but he doesn't. He exhorts them to "impart [their] own souls". There should be a deeper and more lasting love between missionaries and those that they teach. This love should be more than compassion and service. It should be Christlike love. While I'm not called to serve in this official capacity, this is something I would like to strive for in my own missionary efforts. When I share the gospel with those I am close with, I want to have more than just compassion for them. I really would like to impart my own soul to them.