Elder Kearon Motivates Missionaries To "Forget Themselves and Go To Work"

"Be the message" was the invitation Elder Patrick Kearon, Senior President of the Seventy, extended to the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints during a special devotional held in the Missionary Training Center (MTC) on Sunday, August 21, 2022.

Filipino and foreign missionaries filled the halls of the MTC and beautifully sang a medley of beloved songs "As Sisters in Zion" and "We'll Bring the World His Truth."

Elder Kearon stated that sociologists mainly identified young adulthood, also the missionary age, as the second most critical stage in a person's life. According to him, this is the stage in which most people worry a lot about themselves. He emphasized that being a missionary is a great blessing to an individual because, through missionary work, one can surely "forget about themselves and focus on the Lord's work."

He invited several missionaries to participate in various roleplaying situations. He showed them how the messages they share differ according to their body language, facial expressions, and the way they conveyed them to the people they teach. 

In his message, Elder Yoon Hwan Choi, a member of the Area Presidency, narrated how uncomfortable he was learning and using the English language when he was young. He stated that missionaries need to learn different languages, depending on their country of assignment. "But the most important language you must learn as a missionary is the language of the Holy Ghost," he later emphasized.anguage you must learn as a missionary is the language of the Holy Ghost," he later emphasized.

He also shared President Gordon B. Hinckley's story when he wrote his father, telling him all his worries while on his mission. His father answered, "Gordon, forget yourself and go to work!"

Elder Kearon's and Elder Choi's core messages were to encourage these young adults to focus on how they would live as missionaries on the Savior's behalf. Elder Kearon highlighted the First Presidency Message in the Preach My Gospel handbook: "We invite you to rise to a new sense of commitment to assist our Father in Heaven in His glorious work." 

He shared President Hinckley's statement found in the Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Missionary Service: 

"Every morning . . . , missionaries should get on their knees and plead with the Lord to loosen their tongues and speak through them to the blessing of those they will be teaching. If they do this, a new light will come into their lives. There will be greater enthusiasm for the work. They will come to know that, in a very real sense, they are servants of the Lord speaking on His behalf. They will find a different response from those they teach. As they do so by the Spirit, [the people they are teaching] will respond under the influence of the same Spirit" (Missionary Service, First Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting, January 11, 2003, 20).

In closing, he conveyed the experience of Nephi, emphasizing that even if he was a righteous man and a prophet of God, he also experienced desperate days. He gave this parting promise, "Like Nephi, you will have desperate days. You will struggle. But that's okay! You are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You are loved and treasured. As you serve the Lord, as you reach out, as you struggle, as you become the message, as you look any more like the message you carry: a picture of light, a picture of joy; a picture of peace; a picture of strength and in more countless ways, you will become more effective missionaries."