Plant Seeds for the Future, New Mission Presidents Advised

“You cannot foretell the consequences of the great work which comes to pass out of the feeble beginnings of missionary service. Look ahead to the years down the line and see the flowering of your efforts,” President Gordon B. Hinckley counseled 103 new mission presidents and their wives during the annual mission presidents’ seminar in June. “As surely as the sun rises in the morning, this work will come to flower in the missions where you serve.”

Speaking at the conclusion of the weeklong seminar on 23 June and on his 90th birthday, President Hinckley told them, “You’re headed for great and wonderful experiences, the end of which no one can foretell.” He reminded the mission presidents and their wives of the admonition in Doctrine and Covenants 15:6: “The thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people.”

President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and President James E. Faust, Second Counselor, attended the seminar’s closing, as did members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, and the Presiding Bishopric.

President Monson addressed the mission presidents on 20 June, focusing on the fundamental importance of missionary work. He pointed out that this was what Jesus Christ emphasized at His farewell to His Apostles just before the Ascension.

He cited the Lord’s words in Doctrine and Covenants 18:10: “Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.”

President Faust spoke to the mission presidents on 21 June, urging them to “find balance through seeking the Spirit.” He noted that the Lord directed in 1831 how His servants should proceed in His work: “Conduct all meetings as they are directed and guided by the Holy Spirit” (D&C 46:2).

“You’ll need to cleanse your hearts to feel clean and pure and worthy,” he said.

The new mission presidents are among 333 serving worldwide, presiding over more than 60,000 missionaries.