PROVO, Utah — Coming to know Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost will change missionaries’ service and their lives, Young Women General President Emily Belle Freeman testified at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
A member of the Missionary Executive Council for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Freeman drew from the scriptures and "Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ" during a devotional on Tuesday, May 27. She invited the missionaries to deepen their relationships with Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.
A relationship with Heavenly Father
President Freeman read from Page 33 of “Preach My Gospel” and talked about coming to know Heavenly Father.
“Our relationship as a child of God offers us some really important privileges,” she said. “Because He knows us, and because He loves us, we can trust Him even in our trials and in our weaknesses. He will support us through them.”
From Page 79 and Page 80 President Freeman read, “God has given us commandments because He loves us” and “God promises to bless us as we keep His commandments.”
Alma 62:1 says about Captain Moroni, “His heart did take courage, and was filled with exceedingly great joy because of the faithfulness of Pahoran.”
Said President Freeman: “Your faithfulness, your willingness to live God’s commandments can be not just a source of great strength for your companion, but it also can give you courage. And the reason it gives you courage is because God keeps His promises.”
A relationship with Jesus Christ
Chapter 6 of “Preach My Gospel” includes the prophet Moroni’s invitation to “seek this Jesus” (Ether 12:41) and outlines many of the attributes of Jesus Christ, which President Freeman said may become the missionaries’ favorite chapter.
“As you serve your mission, you’re going to have a chance to become a little bit more like Jesus Christ every day,” she said.
She recounted two stories from the New Testament — when the Savior walked on water in Matthew 14 and invited Peter to step out of the boat, and when the woman with an issue of blood in Mark 5 touched Christ’s hem and was healed.
In both cases, the word “immediately” is used to describe how Jesus Christ responded. Each miracle was a different situation, but one thing is similar in both: Jesus Christ was within reaching distance, President Freeman said. “And the same will be true for you on your mission.”
Page 125 of “Preach My Gospel” says, “You express your faith through action.” President Freeman explained: “Faith requires you to actually do something, and it is in the doing that the miracle comes. It’s true every time.”
A relationship with the Holy Ghost
Alma in the Book of Mormon devoted his life to go out and teach the word of God. Alma 4:15 says “nevertheless the Spirit of the Lord did not fail him.”
Said President Freeman: “I want to bear testimony of that truth to you right now. The Spirit of the Lord will not fail you if you listen and respond to the promptings that come.”
The Holy Ghost guides, teaches, comforts, sanctifies, testifies of the truth and bears a witness of the Father and the Son, President Freeman said.
“I have seen this to be true in my own life over and over again: He will magnify your abilities and service far beyond what you could do on your own,” she said.
Page 5 of “Preach My Gospel” teaches that people will feel the companionship of the Holy Ghost as they pray, treasure up God’s word, purify their hearts, keep the commandments and partake of the sacrament each week. President Freeman said as missionaries do these things, miracles will come.
“One of the greatest miracles will be that our relationships will deepen with Heavenly Father, with Jesus Christ and with the Holy Ghost. Your mission will be different if you choose today to strengthen those relationships. You will be different because of those relationships,” she said.
What the missionaries learned
Sister Emily Richards, from Draper, Utah, assigned to the Nevada Las Vegas West Mission speaking Spanish, shared one of her biggest takeaways: “Jesus Christ is always with us even when we don’t think He is. He wants us to become like Him, and in order to do that, we need to serve like He did.”
Her companion, Sister Rachel Polera, going to the same mission, has fished with her dad many times near the coast in Southport, North Carolina. “The thought about Peter just stepping out of the boat onto the water — Jesus wasn’t far away or in the boat, He was out there too. It meant a lot to me.”
Elder Calvin Smith, from Meridian, Idaho, assigned to the Florida Tampa Mission, agreed. “Jesus Christ is always reaching for us. He’s always within reaching distance,” he said.
Elder Jacob Francom, from Austin, Texas, learned how much God rejoices in progress and realized he has improved more than he thought in learning Spanish for his assignment to the California San Bernardino Mission. He learned, “Hold on to the progress you have made.”
