Called to Serve

After months of preparing and weeks of waiting, a beautiful white envelope came in the mail last week. The obstacles leading up to the actual mission call have one by one been overcome and these past few days have been the realization of several of my life-long dreams. But for many people, the first question they ask is why? Why do you want to serve? Why are you going to be gone for 18 months? Why? And that is the important question I will answer in just a moment.

Opening the letter and starting to read I was reminded of the words of Professor Bott, a religious professor at BYU. In his missionary preparation book, Preparation Precedes Power, he emphaizes that " your call is as a missionary. It is separate and apart from your assignment...". Over the past few months I have envisioned many places I could possibly be assigned to serve, but I knew in my heart that as always Heavenly Father has more wisdom and perspective in the matter than I do. The first line of the letter started as all mission calls do..." Dear Sister Koerner, You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." I could see the assignment, but couldn't get over the power of that first sentence. I have been to literally hundreds of mission call openings- I have heard those words read aloud many times, but the beauty of the call filled my heart in that moment. Typing this right now and I'm tearing up again!

The next sentence brought much excitement too. " You are assigned to labor in the Texas Houston Mission" with it's tandem sentence- "You will prepare to preach the gospel in the Spanish language." TEXAS!!!!! I had immediate visions of cowboy boots and sprawling ranches, visions I know to be only partially true since Houston is the fourth largest city in the US after New York City, L.A., and Chicago. In fact, I found out afterwards that there are three missions within Houston. The Houston mission, the Houston East mission, and the Houston South mission. My mission is mostly north and west of the city of Houston, and includes most notably the Houston temple (pictured above) within it's boundaries. And preaching in Spanish! I love the Spanish language, having taken nearly five years of it in school. I have already re-gathered all my Spanish materials and have started studying. I've heard people describe this moment as one almost like--" Oh, of course that's where I'm going." That the assignment makes perfect and immediate sense. It wasn't like that for me. I knew the call came from the prophet of the Lord and I started acting on faith that the assignment was correct as well. Throughout the next few days I poured out my heart to my Heavenly Father in prayer seeking confirmation. And gradually a warmth and a peace came over my soul. I know this is exactly the correct assignment at this moment for me.

Back to the beginning. Why am I serving a mission? Some friends asked me after the recieved the call if I was disappointed that I wasn't going abroad. And the answer is absolutely not! I did not want to serve because it might involve travel. Others wondered if I was choosing to go because I have not yet married. Though being single provides me the opportunity to go right now, I am not serving because of my lack of romantic relationships : ) One more observative friend wondered if I wanted to serve to escape some of the difficulty my family and myself have experienced within the last few years. And that answer is still no. The challenges of late have only increased my desire to serve a mission because I know that so many people who are struggling with their own challenges will benefit from the gospel. The word "gospel" literally means good news, the same good news that we go forth to share also has prompted my desire to serve. Click here http://mormon.org/missionary-work/ to see more information about missionaries in my church.

So why do I want to serve? I can give you three reasons ( you know how much I enjoy lists : )

1.) The first and most powerful reason for me is not a what, but a who. My Savior, Jesus Christ. He is the center of the message we preach to people. His love is all encompassing and I know He will never leave me. His mission as our Redeemer included the atonement that redeems me from my sins and allows me to return to the presence of my Heavenly Father, his death that frees me from mortal death, and his resurrection which allows me immortality and eternal life. Last October Elder Whitney expressed this thought beautifully, "Our most important message, which we are both divinely commissioned and commanded to take everywhere in the world, is that there is a Savior. He lived in the meridian of time. He atoned for our sins, was crucified, and was resurrected. That matchless message, which we proclaim with authority from God, is the real reason this Church grows as it does." I want to serve a mission because so many people need the love of their Savior, so many need the hope that stems from his atonement, and we all need to understand exactly why we need Him, which lead me to....

2.) I want to serve a mission because of the knowledge I have from the part of the gospel called the Plan of Salvation. I know that I lived in heaven before this mortal existence; I lived and worked as a daughter of a Heavenly Father. He presented a plan to his children that we might gain a physical body and be tested to be obedient and faithful in this life, that we might return again to Him and eventually become even as He is. This knowledge provides many of the answers many are seeking-- Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? What happens after death? The scientist in me loves answers, loves reason and organization which is all provided through the gospel taught within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

3.) In the spring of 1820, a young man surrounded by the Great Religous Awakening sweeping the United States and confused by the tidal wave of so many opinions and interpretations of the scriptures, read the scripture James 1:5 "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." So he went into the woods near his home and knelt down to pray to Heavenly Father. And I know that his prayer was answered. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared the the boy Joseph Smith in that grove of trees. They told him that the true gospel and authority of God had been lost on earth after the apostles were all killed. Many churches had parts of the truth, but none had the whole truth. They told him that the full gospel would be restored through him, Joseph Smith, as the prophet of the Lord in modern times. Over the years, Joseph recieved and translated the Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Christ, and scriptural record of the ancient people of the Americas. I have stood in that very grove and prayed to know if it was true, if Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, if the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the true church of God. And though I recieved my answer in a quiet way, the answer is YES! I want to serve a mission because the Lord, in his perfect love, does indeed speak to us today, both through a living prophet (Thomas S. Monson) and directly to each individual. I want to serve because the Book of Mormon is the word of God which confirms and clarifies the Bible. I want to serve because I want everyone to know of the happiness, joy, hope, and love that the gospel truths bring into my life.

And that is why I accept the call to serve with excitement, joy, and gratitute.