Before I left on that mission (his mission to Holland), President Anthon H. Lund, who was then a counselor in the First Presidency of the Church, talked to us missionaries, and he said, “The people will love you…They will love you because of what you bring to them.” I did not understand that then, but before I left Holland, I went around saying good-bye to the Saints and the converts whom I had brought into the Church, and I shed a thousand tears, as compared to what I shed when I told my loved ones good-bye.
Now I have labored so much with the missionaries. I have been on four missions, and presided over two, and I have toured many missions. I love to hear those young men bear their testimonies.
"How do we demonstrate to our Heavenly Father that we love Him? When Sister Monson and I were university students, there was a popular song that had words something like these: 'It's easy to say I love you, easy to say I'll be true; easy to say these foolish things, but prove it by the things you do.' We have a responsibility to prove to our Heavenly Father, by the things we do, that we love Him."We demonstrate our love by how well we serve our God. Remember when the Prophet Joseph Smith went to John E. Page and said to him, 'Brother Page, you have been called on a mission to Canada.'
"Brother Page, struggling for an excuse, said, 'Brother Joseph, I can't go to Canada. I don't have a coat to wear.'
"The Prophet took off his own coat, handed it to John Page, and said, 'Wear this, and the Lord will bless you.'
"John Page went on his mission to Canada. In two years he walked something like 5,000 miles and baptized 600 converts. He was successful because he responded to an opportunity to serve his God.
"...we need to extend ourselves in service to our Heavenly Father if we are to demonstrate our love for Him."
Poem about going to war—could apply to Serving a Mission also (serving in God's war):How will you fare sonny,
how will you fare in the far off winter night,
when you sit by a fire in an old man’s chair,
and your neighbors talk of the fight?Will you slink away as it were from a blow,
your old head shamed and bent?
Or will you say “I was not the first to go.
But I went--thank God I went.”--An old World War I Recruiting poster (in a museum in Chelmsford England)
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Recently a stake president shared with me a tender story:He said that both the Relief Society and the priesthood had been working with a family in their stake but had failed to make progress with the parents. Primary leaders found the answer.
Permission was given by the parents for their young daughter to attend Primary. Their one condition was that she had to want to go badly enough to get there on her own. Rides to church could not be provided. Because she had to go through a rough part of town, the ward council saw to it that someone would drive along beside her as she rode an old bicycle to church. Through summer heat, through rain and even snow, she persisted in going to church.
One young man, who with his family was assigned to escort her on a snowy morning, was so touched as he watched the commitment of this little girl pedaling through the snow and cold that he decided to serve a full-time mission, citing this experience as the turning point in his life.
At Christmastime, a family in the ward gave this faithful little girl a new 10-speed bicycle. This so touched the parents that they too began attending church. In May 1999 this young girl was baptized.
What made the baptism even more special was that it was performed by the newest priest in the ward, her recently activated father.