“MISSIONARIES ARE HERE TO BAPTIZE!”

Recently I had the privilege of attending a seminar for all mission presidents in Chile. What a blessing it was to receive counsel and be taught by our Area Presidency, Elder Amado, Elder Corbridge, and Elder Zeballos. We also had the opportunity to share thoughts and ideas among ourselves, the mission presidents, on how to improve missionary work. In his concluding remarks, Elder Amado gave a powerful reminder of what are true purpose is here in the mission:
“MISSIONARIES ARE HERE TO BAPTIZE!”

It is so easy to loose our focus on why we are here. When we stop and think about the mission, there are so many aspects to a mission. Learning a new language, getting accustom to the transportation, eating different foods, meeting many interesting people, etc. But this is not the reason why we are here. It is like visiting the top of Cerro Cristobal and looking out on all of Santiago. There are many impressive sights from the Cerro Renca to the wonderful mountains to the many impressive buildings. In order to find the spire of the Temple would be difficult without knowing the specific area of where to look. It is possible to find it with the naked eye but becomes much easier to find with the use of one of the telescopes that are available on the top of Cerro Cristobal. The telescope magnifies our vision and allows us to focus in on an object, in this case the Temple spire.

There are also many things we can focus on in the mission. Preach My Gospel is like the telescope that is a tool which allows us to focus in our purpose, to baptize. We know that some of the most important things are planning, finding, and teaching. These can easily become “things that a missionaries does” or “missionary things” if they are not connected to our purpose. Planning to baptize, finding to baptize, and teaching to baptize brings a whole new dimension to how and why we do missionary work. It allows us to focus in on our purpose in all that we do thus enabling us “to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). We will then be fulfilling the counsel of Elder Amado, “baptize!”

It is my prayer that we can fulfill our purpose of why we are really here. May we maintain our focus of bringing salvation to the souls of many through baptism by water and the Spirit which will allow Heavenly Father´s children here in Santiago to receive a remission of their sins and have the power of God in their lives is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.