My Name Tag

by Salinas Augusto Sánchez

I felt the weight of responsibility it carried, but it was a burden I was glad to bear.

Ever since my conversion at age 14, I have wanted to serve a mission. I would watch the missionaries as they worked; I saw that they were clean-cut and spiritually minded and that they wore name tags inscribed with their own names as well as the name of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Each missionary was special, but they were all uniformly dressed and they all wore that same black tag.

When I was 21, I was called as a missionary to serve in my own country, in the Peru Trujillo Mission. I can clearly remember the night each missionary arose one by one to receive his or her name tag from our missionary training center president. I could feel the Spirit, and my heart pounded with joy.

“Elder Augusto Sánchez!” I heard my name, and with a quick jump, I rose to receive the badge that would, for the next two years, identify me as a full-time servant of the Lord. I cried as the president attached the tag to my left pocket and sealed the moment with a warm clap on the back. I felt I had to lift my left shoulder higher because, really, the name tag was heavy. I was carrying a great responsibility.

Now I am in the mission field, and it is a great satisfaction and privilege to be found in the ranks of those who are called by God and who are working in His vineyard, trying to do His will and not our own.

I know that if I remain worthy, the Lord will inscribe His name on my heart and on my countenance—as well as on my name tag.

Illustrated by Scott Greer