These are all questions that have been asked to me. First of all we give everything up because we have seen what this Gospel has brought our families and friends. We give everything up so others can have this same happiness and peace in such a sinful world.
I will tell you what I gave up personally. This is not boasting but just to show some of what we give up. I gave up seeing my families for a period of 24 months. I gave up a remarkable job working for the Governement. With giving this job up I gave up the chance of making $110,000. For all I know I may have given up my only chance with that job. Many of you after reading that are thinking, "How stupid is he?" Lets be honest if I didn't know what we have I would ask myself the same question. That was just a portion of the money I gave up. I also gave up a job offer for approximately $150,000 for the time I would been on my mission. To be honest money means nothing in eternal perspective. It is just here to help you get through life easier. Money comes and goes like wind. It is here for a while then it is all gone. I would now give up any amount of money to come and share this Gospel. We pay our own way on our mission. We roughly spend $10,000 to be here on our mission. I only call my families twice a year. Mothers Day and Christmas. I trust God completely that our family will be there when we get home. There is a chance they may not be. But we are promised they will be taken care of as we are obedient. I gave up all of this for you. The Savior gave up His life for you to be able to hear such a glorious message.
As I said earlier money is here for a while and gone like wind but the eternal blessings of serving the Lord are always there. There is no limit or ending time if we are keeping the commandments. Through modern prophets we have learned that every worthy, able young man is to serve a full-time mission. President Monson said, "Missionary service is a priesthood duty—an obligation the Lord expects of us who have been given so very much." But not only that, in the Doctrine and Covenants (Latter-Day Scripture) says that every member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is a missionary. That we are all to share the glorious message of this Gospel with our friends and families. This is a sacred calling to go forth and share the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the inhabitants of the earth. You personally are honored to represent the Master and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. You get to stand where He would stand if He was here. How incredible is this? The trust He has in us in beyond all measure. This is one of the reasons we give up what we do. Another is we leave our families for two years to bring other families together for eternity. In the Temples of the Lord, families are sealed together for time and all eternity. Which means nothing but sin will separate them from each other. The Lord said, "I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise." (Doctrine and Covenants 82:10) Think of all the promises in the scriptures and the Lord Himself says that He will not break them. We are the ones that deny ourselves the blessings of Heaven. The message which we know is true will change eternities for all who heed the message.
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."
(3 Nephi 13:31-33)
These are some of the temporal promises. This promise is to everyone though. These promises completely depend upon us and our obedience to the commandments and the Gospel. We get knowledge over anything. We learn how to study, we learn how to live, we learn the principles of life if the mission is taken seriously. We also find many new friends and sometimes enemies, but we love the all. This is what we get.
This message is true and I bear testimony of it. The message we share is the way to Heaven to abide with God in the Celestial Kingdom. Ask what the Lord has yet in store for you as Joseph Smith did. You will come to know whether in this life or the next that this message is what He has for you. In this I testify in the Holy and Sacred name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
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