PROVO, Utah — In December 1960, a new young missionary named Elder Quentin L. Cook and his companion, Elder Noel Luke, were serving in Swindon, England. Missionary work had only opened in the city three months prior, but a few new converts had already joined the Church.
Now a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Cook shared his memories of his first Christmas away from home as he spoke in a Christmas Day devotional at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. He was accompanied at the MTC by his wife of 63 years, Sister Mary Cook.
Elder Cook said that on Christmas Eve 65 years ago, he and his companion spent time meeting with families in their homes and sharing a Christmas message and a blessing with them.
“We had this overwhelming feeling that we were truly emissaries of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, trying to ‘bless’ our Heavenly Father’s children,” he said.
In their service as missionaries, elders and sisters need to have four kinds of love, Elder Cook taught. They should love their companions, those they serve, the mission president and his wife and — most important — the Lord.
Elder Cook said he and the other Apostles often feel impressed to assign a missionary to a mission’s leaders as much as they do to serve in a specific mission.
“We have the sense that these mission leaders will bless you during your mission. Their goal will be to assist in your lifelong conversion and guide you in your missionary purpose to preach the gospel and baptize converts,” he said.
5 examples from the Savior
As part of his Christmas message, Elder Cook said the Savior set a perfect example for missionaries, and he invited the missionaries to ponder five different examples from the Savior’s life to better understand Him.
- Consider the Savior’s miraculous birth.
- Ponder the Savior’s perfect, sinless life and His example.
- Contemplate Jesus Christ’s death, Resurrection and Atonement.
- Anticipate the Savior’s Second Coming.
- Serve the Savior and be His hands.
Elder Cook also invited the missionaries to regularly review their call to serve.
“It is important to remember that if we love God, we will keep His commandments. And if we love our fellowmen, we will serve them and as missionaries strive to gather scattered Israel,” he said.
He referred to prophetic teachings that have called sharing the gospel a joyful privilege.
President Dallin H. Oaks has said, “What could be more joyful than sharing the truths of eternity with God’s children?”
Grateful for Israel’s gathering
Elder Cook said the order of the restoration of priesthood keys to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Kirtland Temple closely mirrors the progression of individuals’ journeys on the covenant path.
Missionaries work in nearly every country of the world to share the gospel. New members are baptized and confirmed and receive blessings of the Abrahamic covenant by living the gospel of Jesus Christ, Elder Cook said. Those new members then prepare to and eventually make additional covenants in the house of the Lord and are sealed together as families.
“We are witnessing the Lord hastening the gathering in our day,” Elder Cook said.
Elder Cook said youth and young adults have shown a “remarkable response” to the call to serve missions with the number of missionaries increasing from 57,000 in 2022 to 83,000 today. He also said the number of missions increased by 36 in 2024 and will increase by another 55 in 2026. Elder Cook said he feels grateful to see the Lord’s work moving forward in this way.
“The Lord has hastened His work so dramatically that in the first 11 months of this year there were already more convert baptisms than in any other complete year in this dispensation,” he said.
Helping those individuals stay focused on the next available blessings and covenants is key to sustaining the growth of their testimonies, he said.
“As we gather our brothers and sisters to the house of the Lord, we are gathering them unto the Savior and they become ‘fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God,’” said Elder Cook, citing Ephesians 2:19.
Elder Cook concluded with a promise to the missionaries that “as we faithfully engage in the gathering of Israel and help new members be temple-ready, we will be like Ammon and his brethren. We will be instruments in the Lord’s hands to gather God’s children.”
