Missionaries need diligence, purity
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Referring to the missionaries now carrying the gospel message to millions of people, Elder L. Aldin Porter asked at the priesthood session Saturday evening, "What kind of missionaries must they be?"
Answering the question, Elder Porter of the Seventy said, "The Lord needs missionaries with a willing heart and a willing mind."Truly effective missionaries have many talents, varied and beautiful; but one quality they all seem to have is the ability to stick with their commitments; that is the power to do what they agree to do.
"From whence comes this power? . . . In most cases they learn it long before they arrive in the mission field."
He quoted a paragraph from the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth: "Some people knowingly break God's commandments. They plan to repent before they go on a mission or receive the sacred covenants and ordinances of the temple. Repentance for such behavior is difficult and painful and may take a long time. It is better not to commit the sin."
Commenting on the need for moral cleanliness, Elder Porter said: "Young men, you must live righteously for many reasons. One of them is that you must be accompanied by the Spirit of the Lord as you labor in the mission field. The association of the Spirit of the Lord is dependent upon personal right-eousness. If you do not strive diligently for the assistance of the Spirit, you will find your missionary work extremely difficult and your results very disappointing."
To priesthood leaders, he counseled: "Let us be careful that we do not permit young missionaries to go into the mission field with unresolved transgression. It is literally like going into battle without helmet, sword or shield. Let us remember that it takes time to develop the power to resist the fires of temptation."
