Testimony

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting in our ward. I have been wanting to share my testimony for the last few weeks, but wasn’t able to because most of the meeting was spent reorganizing part of our bishopric and then I was holding a sleeping baby for the rest. Because I didn’t get the chance at church, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts here. Two weeks ago, I was called to be a ward missionary along with Devin who was called to be the ward mission leader. We were called the same day as the special missionary broadcast, which helped us immediately immerse ourselves in our callings. There were many things about the broadcast that stuck out to me, but one of the impressions that I’ve thought a lot about since was the importance of having love as our motive. Just about every returned missionary you talk to talks about how much they learned to love the people they taught and served. I thought about how I was doing at having love for those I serve and those I could be serving. Was my motive to serve them always love? I was reminded of one of my favorite talks of all time given at a BYU devotional a few years ago. President Osguthorpe talked about having love as our motive for everything we do. One of my favorite quotes from that talk was about the Savior’s example of this principle.

“The Savior’s earthly ministry was a time of teaching, a time of miracles. He established His Church on the earth. He called the Twelve to become leaders in the Church. He taught everyone who would listen. He healed the sick and raised the dead. And why did He do all these things? He had only one motive—love. His message to us is that we need to be good and do good, but we need to do it for the right reason. This is precisely why the two greatest commandments are the greatest: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind” and “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37–39). The motive means everything.”

If we choose to follow the Savior’s example and become motivated by love, not only will we find more opportunities to serve, but the service we render will do more good. This week I’ve been doing my best to start working towards that goal. I’ve started by having more heartfelt prayers in behalf of those I visit teach and my family. I’m starting small, but hope to progress to the point where I can feel love for everyone around me. Even by just making a few simple changes to my prayers, I have already felt a huge difference. I know Heavenly Father is so willing to bless us when we show Him our desire to be better. I have a testimony of the importance of missionary work. We are needed as missionaries and examples today. There are people around us that are being prepared by the Lord to hear the message of the gospel, but are waiting for us to share it to them. I hope that I can have the courage and faith to help move the gospel forward.