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Mormon Missionaries

When i was 19 years old i decided, after alot of thought and prayer, that i would volenteer to be a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (usually called mormons). Sense alot of christians don't know alot about these young men in suits riding bikes (usually) i thought i would tell a bit about them.

to be clear i am not preaching, i'm just working on the theory that with an increased in knowledge there is an increase of understanding.

What a young mormon boy does when he decides to "go on a mission" (thats a common phrase for us) is he "puts in his papers" or applies, gives a brief bio and medical history and church leaders pray about where they should go. there are 348 missions in the whole world that you can be called to. it is very exciting to find out where you will be spending the next 2 years of your life. My friends that went on missions about my same time went everywhere! Bazil, South Africa, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Alaska, Rome, Boston, Philipeans, Philipeans, Philipeans, Utah, Chili, London, Finland, and a ton of other places. I'm from Las Vegas origianly and when i got my call i was... kinda dissapointed (sad to say) i found out i was going to Roseville California.

not only did i not know where that was but when i looked up i could see a hill that was in california and i thought "well i'm going one state to the left". my whole life i was planing on Dublin or the Dominican Republic! However i was still very excited. i'd saved up enough money to get two suites, a bunch of white shirts and some cheap ugly ties (i got better ties by the end). Going on a mission isn't cheap. it costs about $400 dollars a month and my older sister was also going to Alaska at the same time as me (which i was glad not to be going there, i'm kind of a heat lover). but we had both saved for a long time and the local congragation was going to help us out.

We both left to the Missiionary Training Center, in Provo UT (the biggest of the world's 17 MTC's) at the same time and fell in love with the work. you stay there for 3-12 weeks depending on if you need to learn a language or not. i was only there for three but my best friend, who was learning Tagolog (not easy!) was there for the whole 12 weeks.

it is so exciting to fly into your assigned mission. you get off the plane and meet your mission president. Mine was President Perry a tall funny man who was just as new to the area as me (mission presidents are called every 3 years). I meet my first missionary companion. you'll notice that we are always in two's never by ourselves.

The first few weeks were kind of scary. i was far from home. i left behind a girlfrind and friends that i pretty much only talk to through letters and about one phone call every 6 months. there were alot of people who were very nice to us. and a whole lot who... needed to get to know us more. i still remember the first time someone swirved to hit me with a car. that was kinda scary but afterwards he yelled something about how "Jehovah's Witnesses stink" and that made me laugh pretty good.

it was an awsome time. all day every day we just tryed to help people. fix things, do yard work for elderly people, talk to people. but my by far favorite thing to do was to help people that were struggling. about a year and a half into my mission i met a woman who was getting out of an abusive relationship. she never felt loved at all, and was looking for it in all the wrong places. to watch the Gospel of Jesus Christ slowly come into her home was amazing! every week she seamed happier, more bouncy, more everything! even her home felt different. her daughters was smiling more and everything seemed to get better. things were still hard. she still wanted to party with friends, get drunk, and all that stuff but she knew that those things would never bring the love and peace that she wanted. only seeking forgivness could do that and after that started she couldn't help but change. i watched her go from a struggling hopless soul to a strong Christian. She then was able to help so many of her friends see that happiness is found in God's arms not worldly things.

these experinces turned me into a better more faithfull man. i'm now married and begining my family. it is a wonder to me how the Lord worked in my life to prepare me for new challanges. i love god and am greatfull for every experience i've ever had.

so i'm not suggesting that everyone who reads this blog will drop everything convert, but i hope that when you see these young men, giving their all for something they believe in so much be kind and be proud. these young christians are doing what they can to bring the gospel to those who dont have it. so if they come to your door and it's hot say "thanks but no thanks... here have some water!" Dont try to hit them with cars, be kind and show God's love through you to them.

posted: 06/29/2009 10:59am by bro04029 View: Backlinks, Permalink Total Views: 192 ShortURL: http://christianblog.com/40e5 Category: General	Print This Blog Entry
Blog Tags: alot, friends, love, mission, whole, young,
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Author: bro04029
Location: Redding California USA
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Blog Entries: 2 (archive)
Blog Comments: 2

My Biography:

I am me....

My Testimony:

i've lived a short life so far but it is still so easy for me to see god's hand in my life. i was a full time missionary for two years in california and it was the time of my life. i was able to wake up every day and... view full testimony

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I suppose the only thing I can think of to say at this time is ,,,, if you dont like cold,, why Dublin? lol
Belive me you got off lightly.
beth

Posted 06/29/2009 01:56pm
Author: bethy

interesting p.o.v... . thanks for sharing...

Posted 06/29/2009 06:04pm
Author: blackrose65

When I was a young Christian we were taught to beware of Mormons because they do not preach the full gospel according to the Word of God and do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. Since then I have spoken to colleagues who are Mormons (I have visited their Tabernacle and even heard their beautiful choir sing) and quizzed them on their faith, their belief in Bible and the book of Mormons. I have and so have many, been attracted by the personal sacrifice and love they show in the community.. ... several I have spoken to testify of a change when they accepted Jesus Christ personally as Lord and Saviour, and they have shown more fruit of the Spirit than many so called "Christians". Watching them, I daresay, many Mormon individuals are living in the "light" of Christ, study the Bible diligently and show the "light" of Christ as testimony of an inward change. Are we witnessing a change of hearts and belief to Christ among young Mormons today? Let's pray for each one to know the love of Christ and experience His lordship in their lives to the exclusion of other non-Biblical traditions and beliefs.

Posted 06/29/2009 06:40pm
Author: ptl2008

dear bro04029,

i was approached by two young mormons, in their white shirts, black pants and ties. it was an extremely hot summer afternoon and i was working in the garden... full of dirt and sweat. these poor fellas had to be even hotter because of their buttoned up shirts and ties, but they were 2 of the nicest young boys i ever met. i told them right off the bat that i was seventh day adventist, but that didn't stop them from offering their help and the 3 of us having a really pleasant conversation.

barb

Posted 06/29/2009 06:42pm
Author: barbarajean

When I was a young Christian, I was also taught to beware of Seventh Day Adventists. .. again talking to colleagues who profess to be SDAs, I find today they sing the same hymns and songs, they believe in a pesonal acceptance of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, they have radical changes in their lives after accepting the Lord, live out lives that are a testimony of God's grace and love. I was blessed to enjoy Uncle Arthur's books when younger, and my brother was born in a SDA hospital.. but we never became SDAs. Not so long ago, I asked my spiritual mentor about the SDAs today and she said, yes they were considered a cult before but there have been so many changes that many no longer follow the former traditions and beliefs except in their diets and health practices , and we should not just generalize and judge that they are not Christians when we see that there has been an inward change in their lives and they are living according to the Bible since they accepted the Lord personally. Perhaps there is also a Holy Spirit change among SDAs taking place, that is preparing the Church for His soon return. We can never tell all the Lord does in the hearts of man and individual lives to accomplish His purpose in these last days.

Posted 06/29/2009 07:01pm
Author: ptl2008

Hello Everybody,

I want to be very clear about something, to anybody else who thinks about responding in a negative manner towards this Blog Entry:

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Posted 06/29/2009 09:06pm
Author: abelajohnb

Dear ptl2008,

I just recently found out that SDAs were thought of as a cult... I had to laugh out loud and then wonder why, however I'm sure it has to do with Ellen G. White, her writings and the "Great Disappointment" of 1844.

I'm not an official SDA (I haven't formally joined the church) but my husband is. He too thinks that E G White's writings are what makes SDA a "cult". To be honest I haven't read anything of hers and I'm not that interested anyhow, because I have so much study to do within the Bible! The only other differences (that I know of) are that we celebrate and worship from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday (in keeping with the 4th commandment) and SDAs believe that when we die, we "sleep" until the resurrection. I think everthing else is the same as other Christian denominations.

Personally, I think that when Jesus was resurrected, His new commandments of loving God first and foremost is a combination of the original first 4 commandments and loving our neighbors as ourselves combines the last original 6. I worship and praise God everyday of my life, so to me, a true Christian is free to choose any day he or she wishes to worship (and these days many churches have Sunday, Saturday, Friday evening and even weekday worship to accomodate those who have crazy work schedules).

I also don't believe that we "sleep" when we die. As Jesus said to the other criminal next to Him on the cross, Luke 23:43 clearly says "Truly I tell you, today you wil be with me in paradise". Believe me... I think sleepindg IS paradise, but I don't think that's what Jesus was referring to.

I believe Jesus' words and I don't know how they can be refuted.

So based on those two concepts, I'm not even sure I will formally join the church, but I do enjoy attending. Our church has a spectacular world outreach, and a world reknown university (Andrews University) which is wonderfully diverse. I love seeing all the faces and colors of God gathered together under one roof.

I would also like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude for this wonderful site and all of the spectacular bloggers. There are many brilliant thinkers here and I'm grateful to be a part of the learning experiences.

God's love and blessings to all!

Barb

Posted 06/30/2009 12:44pm
Author: barbarajean

Barb,
God's ways are higher than our ways, His thoughts are higher than ours.
Only the Lord knows who belongs to Him and each of us is responsible for making sure that personally we are right with Him and remain so. Thank God we do not depend on man's ways or our works for our salvation, else we will be gonners but He gives us a second chance in His own loving special way.
Of course it is our responsibility to also bring the good news to all around - let's just stick with the Bible way and we should be alright against an enemy who daily seeks to devour us and all our friends.

ptl2008

Posted 07/01/2009 12:31am
Author: ptl2008

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