Elder David A. Bednar
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"One of the questions I am asked most frequently by young men is this: 'What can I do to prepare most effectively to serve as a full-time missionary?' Such a sincere question deserves a serious response.
"My dear young brethren, the single most important thing you can do to prepare for a call to serve is to become a missionary long before you go on a mission. Please notice that in my answer I emphasized becoming rather than going. Let me explain what I mean.
"Obviously, the process of becoming a missionary does not require a young man to wear a white shirt and tie to school every day, or to follow the missionary guidelines for going to bed and getting up, although most parents would certainly support that idea. But you can increase in your desire to serve God (D&C 4:3), and you can begin to think as missionaries think, to read what missionaries read, to pray as missionaries pray, and to feel what missionaries feel.
"You can avoid the worldly influences that cause the Holy Ghost to withdraw, and you can grow in confidence in recognizing and responding to spiritual promptings. Line upon line and precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, you can gradually become the missionary you hope to be and the missionary the Savior expects.
"You will not suddenly or magically be transformed into a prepared and obedient missionary on the day you walk through the front door of the Missionary Training Center."
