We Believe...

(the Washington Tacoma Mission "mantra" my future mission president sent me)

 We Believe...

We believe missionaries are emissaries for a King.

They are not just Brian Hardy from Midway, Utah,

or Colorado or California or Cancun.

We believe missionaries are representing the King of Kings,

the Lord of Lords.

By nature, a missionary may be 

fearful, timid, or shy.

However, as an emissary of Heaven, 

they speak with power,

they have a message from the King.

We believe in the power of happiness.

We believe a missionary's smile is the first message of the Restoration that converts will receive.

We believe in the "as if" principle.

We believe that if we're not happy...

if we're not confident...

if we're not a number of things...

if we act as if that quality is already ours, soon it will be.

We believe in the greatness of The Spirit.

We believe in the power of a missionary's testimony.

We believe in the power of the scriptures.

We believe that the scriptures are meant to speak to us in very personal ways.

Often they speak in brief phrases

rather than in verses or chapters or stories.

We believe the Father of us all intended the Book of Mormon to be proof that there is a God in Heaven

and that all the other Holy Scriptures are true.

We testify boldly of that proof.

We believe we all have to learn how to work and how to enjoy working.

Work is not, necessarily, something we are born liking.

We believe the only way to learn to enjoy working is by working.

We believe that this is the most joyous work in the world.

We believe that working hard can cure most of the ills faced by a missionary.

We believe in obedience.

We believe in keeping the mission rules.

We believe in the goodness that is within every missionary.

We believe obedience protects missionaries from the destructive designs of the adversary.

We believe a missionary must obey 

the laws of God, the laws of the land, the laws of nature,

and the rules of the mission to receive that protection.

We believe in the principle of self-discipline.

We believe if missionaries understand correct principles,

they will govern themselves.

We believe that the very purpose of life

is to prove to ourselves that we will be strong.

God already knows our lives.

We believe in getting up at 6:30 every morning.

We believe in being in bed by 10:30 every night.

We believe in studying and pondering the scriptures everyday.

We believe in keeping the car and the apartment clean.

We believe in the individual gifts of every single missionary.

We believe missionaries are all different for a very divine reason.

We believe we can all grow.

We believe that all growth is a bit painful.

We believe in the power of kindness and gentleness.

We believe in being strong as well as being good.

We believe that the Savior wants us to be strong and to bear our burdens like men.

We believe in keeping ever in our minds the great vision of the work in which we are engaged.

We don't believe we are out here JUST "knocking doors,"

or just teaching a particular number of principles in a particular discussion.

We believe we are declaring the great message of the Restoration

in preparation for The Coming which all the Ancients foresaw.

We believe missionaries can be fine, capable teachers.

We believe each missionary can return with joy and success being the benediction of their service.

We believe in what someone called the "corridor principle,"

meaning we must be walking through the corridor before we can take advantage of doors that open.

We must never think a missionary's task is to simply get to the end of the corridor.

The task is to be in the corridor when Heaven's power opens doors,

"I believe in the way...the Lord led me." (Gen. 24:27)

We believe the lives of kind, worthy saints are very effective introductions to the Restoration.

We believe missionaries who know such members can create a fertile and fruitful field in which to labor.

We believe that a failure to commit investigators is a failure to convert.

We believe in the power of nature to testify of the Heavens.

We love the rain.

We love the fact that the Lord says He speaks with the voice of thunder and lightning.

We love the songs of birds and the beauty of His creations,

and we do believe all these things testify of Him.

We believe that areas are never "tracted out."

We believe that we should never say people have had their "chance."

We believe that angels can prepare people to listen to the missionaries.

We believe that circumstances can come into people's lives that will cause them to listen with fresh ears to a message they may have discounted many times.

We believe our mission is to make contact...pleasant, kind, gentle contact...

then to testify with boldness...

and simply allow the Spirit to take root at that time...or not.

We believe there is a divine directive that says we go do the work...then report.

We believe in the power of being a servant.

We believe service can open many hearts and many doors.