The Power of Missions

Church was awesome today! Two of the speakers in our first meeting were young women who had just returned home after 18 months of serving as full-time missionaries, teaching people about Jesus Christ and His gospel, about the purpose of this life, and about what they need to do to gain eternal life and to live with God and their families forever. Listening to these young women speak about their experiences reminded me how powerful and transformative missions can be, both for the people whose lives are changed as they learn about God's plan and act on Christ's teachings, and for the missionaries themselves who are doing the teaching.

If I haven't mentioned it before in this blog, I am an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes referred to as the Mormon church due to The Book of Mormon, another book of scripture written by ancient prophets that teaches about Jesus Christ and that we study along with The Bible. I served an 18 month mission myself in the south of France from 2006-2007. It was one of the hardest, most worthwhile things I have ever done in my life. I learned and grew so much from that experience, and listening to those young women speak today, I was reminded of my own time as a missionary and the powerful lessons I learned during that time. I'm thinking of starting a second blog to use as a place to record some of my mission experiences and the lessons I learned from them: stay tuned. 

Anyway, so church was awesome, and I felt the presence of the Holy Ghost so strongly as I listened to those young women speak and share their testimonies of Jesus Christ, His role as our Savior, and the very real presence He can be in each of our lives as we pray and seek to know Him and to follow His teachings. You could feel the inner strength and conviction these young women had developed as they gave their all to serve Christ and God's children. It was very inspiring. I love missions and the power they have to change people's lives.