Jeremy's Talk on Missionary Work

      Missionary Work

Hello, for those of you who don't know me my name is Jeremy Parry, and today I've been asked to give a talk about Missionary Work. There's a couple main parts that I thought of, and here they are. 

The first one is that in order to share the gospel with others, you don't have to be on your mission. You can start way before that. In fact, i have had a couple experiences already and obviously, i still have quite a ways to go before my mission. THe first real time i felt like a missionary was last year, in my social studies class. We were asked to share with the class our religious beliefs and so I thought bingo! This is a great opportunity. THe next day when it was my turn I got in front of the class and shared my knowledge of the plan of salvation, and i was kind of nervous going into it. But, once i actually started talking about it and answering questions it became a lot easier and I felt the holy ghost comforting me. 

Another experience I had was also at school, about a month ago.  We were learning about alcohol, and how it was illegal in the early 1900s, when a girl raised her hand and asked the teacher if it was true that mormons couldn't drink alcohol. Then my teacher, who wasn't a member himself answered saying, "Yes, that is true. They also can't have caffeine." After which, he talked about more points that weren't true. So I raised my hand and when the teacher called on me, I cleared up his mistake and told them a little more about the Word of Wisdom and what we believed. I encourage all of you to look for chances to share the gospel and be a missionary. You are never too young to share the gospel.

The second main part to missionary work is building a testimony and obtaining spiritual knowledge. D&C 11:21 says, "Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word, and then shall your tongue be loosed; then, if you desire, you shall have my Spirit and my word, yea, the power of God unto the convincing of men" What this is telling us is that the first thing we need to do before declaring the gospel is studying it and obtaining knowledge of the gospel. Once we have done that, we shall have the Spirit and power of God unto the convincing of men. If I hadn't known about the Word of Wisdom, or the plan of salvation and studied it beforehand, then I wouldn't have had been able to share what I did with my class. I probably wouldn't have even considered it. I also had and still do have a testimony of the two subjects. Not only is spiritual and gospel knowledge important, testimonies are too. If you don't have a testimony of what you're teaching about, how can you expect them to believe what you're teaching? You can't. Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the quorum of the twelve apostles said this in the April 2008 General conference. "A testimony of the gospel is a personal witness borne to our souls by the Holy Ghost that certain facts of eternal significance are true and that we know them to be true."It is important to have a testimony of what you're sharing; it benefits both you and who you are teaching. Once again, to be an effective missionary you must have a testimony, and knowledge of the gospel.

   
The last part is being an example and living the gospel. If you're telling somebody what we believe and  what our morals and standards are and you yourself aren't living up to those standards the chances are that you won't be listened to. A powerful and simple way to be a missionary is just setting an example, and not being afraid to stand alone. At middle school, kids tell bad jokes, swear, and take the Lord's name in vain. By setting a good example early on in the year, and walking away from bad conversations, I was teaching about our standards without saying a word. Towards the end of the year, When I would walk by people they would stop with the bad jokes, the cussing, and even apologize if they did swear. Just by being an example I had taught my friends about what I believed.

Now, I'd like to bear my testimony that i know these things are true, and I know that by simply sharing our testimony with others, and setting a good example that we can really influence others lives. I'd like to say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.