Called to Serve

We've been on pins and needles waiting for Tommy's mission call. It finally arrived today. Check out the "Let the Game Begin" post to see the winning guess.

Tommy has been assigned to serve in the Texas Houston South Mission - English speaking. He reports to the MTC (Missionary Training Center - Provo, UT) August 20, 2008 - 10 days after his 19th birthday.

You will bless the lives of those you teach and their posterity after them. You will bless your own life. You will bless the lives of your family, who will sustain you and pray for you.

And above and beyond all of this will come that sweet peace in your heart that you have served your Lord faithfully and well. Your service will become an expression of gratitude to your Heavenly Father.

You will come to know your Redeemer as your greatest friend in time or eternity. You will realize that through His atoning sacrifice He has opened the way for eternal life and an exaltation above and beyond your greatest dreams.

If you serve a mission faithfully and well, you will be a better husband, you will be a better father, you will be a better student, a better worker in your chosen vocation. Love is of the essence of this missionary work. Selflessness is of its very nature. Self-discipline is its requirement. Prayer opens its reservoir of power.

And so, my dear young brethren, resolve within your hearts today to include in the program of your lives service in the harvest field of the Lord as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

President Gordon B. Hinckley
"Words of the Prophet: Forget Yourself and Go,” New Era, Oct 2002, 5 and "Of Missions, Temples, and Stewardship", Ensign, Nov. 1995, 52