Preparing to Serve

“What is the best way to prepare to serve a mission?”

If you are a future missionary, I invite you to ask, instead:

What is my purpose?

This is a question asked by almost every single person who has ever lived upon this earth.

Today is your lucky day, because I have the answer!

I was raised in the church, and surrounded by strong testimonies my entire life. From a very young age, I believed the church was true and I had decided to live the gospel for the rest of my life. Sounds like a pretty good foundation, right?

After a strong foundation comes a lot of faith and dedication!

I also dreamed of attending BYU, and I was so excited when I got in. My first semester, I had the chance to strengthen my testimony, meet new people, and set my academic goals while I worked on my mission papers. I learned so much more about the gospel in my religion classes, and was touched by many different testimonies and inspiring lectures.

That semester convinced me even more that I needed to serve a mission.

So, I decided. Now what?

I have found through research, faith, and fervent prayer, that one of the best ways to prepare to serve a mission is to realize your purpose on this earth and as a daughter of God.

As we better understand our purpose, we can better strive to fulfil it, and this is how we prepare!

When I was considering whether or not to serve a mission and how I should be preparing, I was inspired by the words from an EFY song from 2018:

“You take me as I am

And you can see how far I have to go

Still you believe I can

Help you lead your children home

I have felt your love in my life

And now I want to share your light

For you I’ll go places I’ve never been

I’ll wear your name and I’ll testify

For you I will open my mouth and say

I know, I know the truth

I’ll give everything I can and everything I am

For you”

This beautiful song touched me deeply.

I was able to recognize that I have been blessed so much by the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that I want to have the opportunity to share that with others. I realized that it is my purpose to do so!

As children of our Heavenly Father, part of our purpose on this earth is to share the gospel with others, in whatever way that may be. I have been preparing to serve a mission since I was very young: by doing the basics!

THE most important things you can do to prepare are: read the Book of Mormon, pray daily, attend church meetings, and have faith through your trials!

The first year of college really helps us find our purpose in a lot of ways. I had to think about my major, new relationships, and career decisions. I had to navigate living away from home for the first time and deciding the sort of life I wanted to make for myself.

I decided I wanted a full-time mission to be a part of that life.

And a full-time mission isn’t for every young woman! We all have different life paths, and when we have the Holy Ghost to guide us, we will find them.

My bishop at BYU told me about 4 attributes in my interview before I started my mission papers:

He said to me, “Do you want to be a good missionary or a GREAT missionary?”

I was like, “Uh, a GREAT one of course!”

Along with understanding our purpose comes understanding how to fulfil that purpose. These are the attributes of a GREAT missionary:

1. Exact obedience with enthusiasm
2. Full measure of devotion
3. MIGHTY faith, put in action
4. Spiritual sensitivity

Still wondering how you can best prepare to serve? Put simply, the best thing you can do is realize your purpose as a daughter of your Heavenly Father, and keep doing the basics.

*If you’d like to listen to the song referenced in the article, check it out below.