Transcript

I'll tell you of a little miracle that happened during the writing of the book. As it arrived at the publisher, there were suddenly thoughts in my head, and I believe coming from the Lord, that there were three chapters that were not included that needed to be included. One of those is the chapter we have kind of addressing those to serve on a full-time mission. We call it "Preparing to Serve." And I had a memory that was quite remarkable. I remembered a letter I had seen about 10 years previously from a missionary who had, unfortunately, entered the missionary--the mission field unworthily, so he confessed to his mission president and returned home. And he had written a most beautiful letter that had described his process of understanding the Savior's powerful gift of forgiveness. And he talked about the difficulty but also the joy and the peace and the satisfaction that the Savior brought into his life. I didn't even know if I could find the letter, but, surprisingly, we found it. And then it had a name, but I knew nothing about this person, so I started a search, and I found him. And I had a beautiful conversation with him and asked him if he'd be willing to share this letter. And he gladly gave me permission. At about the same time, I knew a young man who--the bishop explained that this was a very wonderful young man who had made a few mistakes, and he was helping him through it. And to my great happiness, this bishop wrote to me the process that he had taken this young man through to help him prepare for the mission field. These two letters form the bulk of that chapter, "Preparing to Serve." And they're worthy of anyone thinking of serving a mission, and they're worthy of any bishop who is preparing people to serve and for any of us who are disciples of Christ. We will appreciate the power of their testimonies.

Preparing to Serve

Description
(The Divine Gift of Forgiveness, Chapter 16) Elder Neil L. Andersen introduces two letters: one from a repentant missionary and the other from a bishop helping a young man prepare to serve.
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