During a visit to the U.S. Pacific Northwest, a Utah businessman took time out from his assignment to call upon his parents, who were serving as missionaries in the area, and invite them to dinner. While at a restaurant, the businessman asked his parents if they carried any pass-along cards. He took one from them, handed it to the waitress and introduced her to his missionary parents, telling her she could learn more about the Church from them.

After the waitress had left, the missionary-father asked his son, "Don't you have pass-along cards in Utah?"

"Yes, we do," the businessman-son replied incredulously.

"When was the last time you handed out a pass-along card in Utah?" the father asked.

Many of us who live in Utah tend to view "the mission field" as the places where our children or parents may be serving, instead of the neighborhood in which we live. We might view the neighbor down the block or the colleague at the office with casual interest. We tend to look at missionary work as that conducted by those outside the state.

Our attitude might be such that we have fallen into what Nephi describes as "carnal security." "All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well." The consequence of this attitude, he writes, is "the devil cheateth their souls and leadeth them away carefully down to hell" (2 Nephi 28:21).

This is not to say that our missionary efforts in Utah go more slowly than other parts of the world, but sometimes our complacency gets the better of us. We become so busy with our own problems and Church callings and attending to those things we've been asked to do, that we tend to look inward instead of outward.

President Gordon B. Hinckley has said, "You never can foretell the consequences of that which you do when you talk about the Church with another. This work is nothing of which we need be ashamed. It is something in which we can take great pride. The problem is that most of us are filled with fear. . . . Try it. Taste the sweet and wonderful joy of sharing your testimony of this work with others' (Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley, p. 374).

One of the largest sacrifices Latter-day Saints make is to spend time serving full-time missions. Young men and women put schooling on hold while they serve. Parents sacrifice for their missionaries to keep them out and save for their own missions later in life.

The work can be difficult, and often the fruits of one's labors are not easily recognized. Sometimes only decades later do missionaries realize the seeds they have planted earlier have yielded fruit.

One missionary — the son of a Utah bishop — was called to a far-off country. He was gripped with homesickness and wondered how he would ever be successful if he could not overcome his longing for home. He was assigned along with three other missionaries to their first area. The group was met at the train station by the young man's next-door neighbor, who was nearing the end of his own missionary service time, and drove them to their lodgings. As they entered the apartment building, the group was greeted by the senior missionary's wife, who had prepared a home-cooked meal for the young missionary and his companions.

"Make friends with your gray-haired neighbor," the senior missionary advised the young people upon his return to his home ward in Utah. "You never know who you'll run into half way around the world."

Throughout the Book of Mormon, the Nephites worried about their Lamanite brethren. They continually sent missionaries into the areas to preach to the Lamanites and help them come unto Christ. Largely, their efforts were rebuffed, but occasionally their words took root among those willing to listen and accept Christ's teachings.

Today, the missionary effort continues in countries that not many years ago were hostile to the Church and to Christianity. The work rolls forward and we must do our part no matter where we live. The invitation to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ is a universal invitation. The Lord reminds us, "For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul" (Doctrine and Covenants 4:4).

President Hinckley also reminds us, "The sick world cries out for healing. Christ, the Son of God, was the Master Healer, and He has shown us the way. It is His message of peace and reconciliation that we teach. His is the gospel of charity and peace and love. Ours is a mission of reconciliation. It is accomplished in substantial measure through our great missionary program. That program is essentially concerned with carrying a message of hope and reconciliation to a needy world" (Ibid., p. 373).