Mission Miracles: Education for Perfection

During our sacred time as full-time mission leaders for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, mission miracles were part of our daily lives. We were responsible for preparing our missionaries to represent God’s voice and His work.

Basic Goals and and Curriculum

In our mission, we often referred to mission service as The Lord’s University for Life. The Lord packs miraculous amounts of spiritual learning and growth into an extremely short period of time. These mission miracles have been life-changing for all.

To prepare for this educating service, we perfected our Gospel knowledge, thinking abilities, personal sensitivities, common sense, individual perception, spirituality, communication accuracy, and other aspects of our Gospel education until we were ready to educate missionaries called to the Chile Santiago East Mission for theirs.

As most of our missionaries immersed themselves in learning and then writing about and teaching what they learned, they were blessed with mission miracles that strengthened and internalized the spiritual lessons they received. And when they completed their mission, they “graduated” from full-time mission life as capable and spiritually sensitive members of the Church, well-equipped for life’s battles.

We could completely trust the curriculum. We know that the Lord’s divine mission design includes the lesson content, shared experiences, challenges, idea exchanges, personal relationships and  interactions with instructors and assistants uniquely needed for the mission miracles they needed to be successful and productive members of the Lord’s kingdom on the earth.

The value of any educational endeavor is in its power to positively change the lives of those who are blessed by it. President Nelson often emphasizes the mission’s power in transforming individuals.

A mission is a voluntary act of service to God and humankind . . . The decision to serve a mission will shape the spiritual destiny of the missionary, his or her spouse, and their posterity for generations to come . . . [with] selfless service, consecration, and sacrifice.

Beyond Basic

But some changes can be highly complex and difficult. To bring about desired mission miracles, education for change needs to be adapted to the needs, characteristics, desires, and abilities of the individual. We recall a change-challenge resulting in an overwhelming transformation for a sister in need and lifechanging observations for us and for the other missionaries as well.

When this beautiful sister came into our mission/college, she did not comprehend her divine identity as a daughter of God. She did not know how to participate in the learning and teaching situations. She was extremely anxious and shy; she did not look directly at people, she was afraid to bear testimony or attempt to teach. She prayed, but she did not know how to receive answers through the Holy Ghost. However, she wanted to be educated in mission participation, she wanted to learn, and she was willing to change.

For her mission miracles, this sister needed mission/college courses selected specifically for her particular needs. Attempts to tell of  actions and progress in sequence have resulted in long repetitive horizontal lists, lacking both clarity and emphasis. So we have grouped details here as if they were progressing college courses. Many “teachers” and “teaching assistants” were willing and anxious to help.

Identity 101

• Fellow students taught the troubled sister appropriate grooming, which she had not learned in her abusive background.
• The mission psychologist worked with her to explore and understand her past life, including her fears and her suffering.
• Companions studied with her and prayed with her daily. They participated in her mission miracles as she learned to accept herself as a precious daughter of God and understand about the love He has for her.
• She came to accept her role as a beloved daughter of God.

Relationships 207

• As others worked with her, this desperately shy sister learned to work with them.
• She improved at expressing how she felt and what she thought.
• She learned to look at people and talk directly to them.
• She learned to teach and testify with conviction.
• With diligent effort she experienced God’s enabling power, as she was wonderfully transformed to teach, bear testimony, and prepare others for baptism.

Spirituality 457

• This sister who at first did not really communicate with God in prayer progressed to pray with real intent and to receive and recognize answers to her prayers.
• Mission miracles multiplied as she was able to teach and testify with conviction.
• She focused her entire 18-month mission on Jesus Christ and His Atonement, understanding His father-relationship to her and applying His Atonement to her life as she also taught others to apply it in their lives.
• She was able to prepare many people for baptism.

Senior Seminar

On the final day of her mission, “graduation day,” we listened and watched mission miracles as she taught and testified to a large congregation. She spoke with grace and authority. To us, it was a miraculous manifestation of God’s love and power, and she was hopeful for a new and bright future.

Graduation

 This dear sister missionary graduated with honors from the Lord’s University for Life. As she tearfully said goodbye to us, we saw the light of Jesus Christ in her countenance. Her diligent mission service, a mere 18-months of her life, had combined with the Atonement of Jesus Christ and produced the miraculous metamorphosis that God wanted her to experience, fulfilling the Prophet’s expectation to “shape [her] spiritual destiny . . . her spouse, and their posterity for generations to come.”

We observed hundreds of missionaries, no matter the level of spiritual learning at the beginning of their mission, soar to higher levels of achievement in the Lord’s University for Life. Whenever we are in contact with them, we still invite all our missionaries to continually do the spiritual work necessary to progress to their own next levels of achievement—spiritual and temporal–throughout their lives. They can achieve this as they continue to apply and build upon all that they gleaned from The Lord’s University for Life. They will never be the same: nor will we.