My wife, Megan, and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this week. We have a tradition of referring to our anniversary as the Jensen Family Anniversary. It’s less about the two of us and more about our small family celebrating together.
This year’s anniversary celebrations felt a little different than the previous years. Emotions were mixed across the board for all six members of our immediate family.
Our oldest child received his mission call before graduating high school a few months ago, and he will begin his missionary service in the coming days. Serving as a missionary is something that brought my wife and me a lot of joy. I served in Colombia. She served in Brazil.
We both made many lifelong friends while serving. Our companions, our ward and branch members, those we taught, our mission leaders, all mean a great deal to us. We shared faith-building moments with all of them.
Helping our son prepare for his mission has brought back a flood of memories from our missions. And watching him answer questions from his three younger sisters has helped us see where perhaps we’ve done both a good job and left room for improvement in our parenting.
We know he will work hard. We know he will serve with faith. We know he has a testimony of Heavenly Father’s plan, of our Savior and His Atonement, and of the Holy Ghost’s ability to testify of the truth to each individual’s heart.
A testimony is a personal matter.
President Dallin H. Oaks spoke in June to the Church’s mission leaders. I listened with spiritual ears that were attuned in a different way this year as I looked for teachings that I needed to share with my son. President Oaks spoke of testimony in his message to those leaders.
“Our testimony of Jesus Christ is based on the revelations of God to His prophets and to us individually,” he said.
Righteous behaviors and patterns are not guarantees of a testimony. Prayer, scripture study, fasting and attending our church meetings all help us. As President Oaks said, testimony is based on revelation. Heavenly Father reveals truth to individuals through the help of the Holy Ghost.
“We have a unique and true testimony of Christ. This is the key to everything else,” he said.
And when we have gained a testimony of a gospel truth through the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we also have a responsibility to share that with others.
The Savior taught this principle to Simon, saying, “When thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren” (Luke 22:32).
In a more modern phrase, we might say, “See something; say something.”
If we have witnessed God’s goodness, we tell others what we have seen. Unlike a board game where one must have all the answers before solving a mystery and becoming the winner, in life, we share what we know when we know it. We want others to have the pieces of the puzzle that God has revealed to us.
As we do that for and with each other, we can gain hope that missing pieces to our own testimony puzzles will be found and put in place in due time.
Entering the mission field does not require a perfect testimony of all things. If it did, who among us would qualify for that work?
When the gospel was restored on the earth, the Lord explained some of the first missionary qualifications like this:
“If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work; … faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work. Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence” (Doctrine and Covenants 4:3, 5-6).
It wasn’t about answering all the questions on a gospel quiz. It was about willingness, worthiness and Christlike characteristics that made one qualified to serve.
And in serving, a missionary fulfills a specific purpose while having that calling.
“Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end,” it reads in “Preach My Gospel.”
I didn’t know everything when I started my mission 27 years ago. I didn’t know everything when I came home 25 years ago. And I don’t know everything today.
But I know what I know.
And I know that as I continue to serve the Lord and become more like Him, He will continue to help strengthen my faith and testimony. He does that every day for those who diligently seek Him.
— Jon Ryan Jensen is editor of the Church News.
