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With all your Heart, Might, Mind and Strength--Preparing Emotionally to be A Missionary
Young men and women wanting to serve the Lord as missionaries must prepare themselves in many ways. One of the most important and sometimes overlooked ways in which they need to prepare is emotionally. In this informative and enlightening talk, G. Sheldon Martin, a mental health counselor and instructor for Seminaries and Institutes of Religion, shares practical ways prospective missionaries can be prepared to successfully serve the Lord. Using insights gleaned from his years of training and experience in the mental health field, Brother Martin presents eight hypothetical emotionally stressful situations missionaries might face and then describes what kinds of things potential missionaries and their parents can do beforehand to prepare. He addresses issues such as being homesick, dealing with rejection, feeling shy, getting along with companions, learning to work hard, and feeling worthy to serve. With All Your Heart, Might, MIND, and Strength will be an invaluable tool for all who are called to serve.
Audio CD
Published January 1, 2011
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September 4, 2019
I listened to this book earlier in the year and forgot....so I listened to it again. There are so many good points made in the audio CD for those preparing to go out on missions. Some of my favorite parts of the CD are:
Anytime one daydreams about the future it produces emotional stress. Yes we need to prepare for the future, but the reason this causes emotional stress is because when we can't control our future, especially on our missions it causes stress. Often missionaries get in the MTC and think, won't it be great when I get in the mission field, or once in the field, when I get transfered...
I loved the example of a missionary who lived his mission in the present that Brother Martin gave, it was Ammon. Ammon was taken bound before King Lamoni and asked how long he wanted to stay there. Ammons answer was a great attitude for a missionary while serving: And Ammon said unto him: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.
We can see that Ammon's focus is no where but on his mission.
How can we learn to not always live in the future but learn to live for today? He gave the example of President Eyring. Eyring said: I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.
How to deal with homesickness: The way we think about home and how we practice being away from home. If told not to think about home then think about it and then become more and more homesick. So learn to confront, challenge and then to modify a thought. So need to acknowledge you're thinking about home but...think of reasons why you want to finish your mission. Martin gave President Hinckley's letter to his dad that he wrote soon after he got in the mission field in Preston, England, the was sick and he thought he was wasting his time and his father's money. His dad sent a letter back to him with the suggestion to forget himself and go to work.
How to practice being away from home was necessary too. Scout camp YW camp are perfect.
Need to learn how to deal with stress that don't include, jumping on the computer, or your phone, etc. He suggested being in sports or trying out for a play etc. to learn how to deal with rejection and how to work through the stress of that.
Another problem that might arise is when we horizontally validate and don't vertically validate. What this means is that when we start to get validation from external sources like people or numbers then it's fine while the validation is there but what happens when it's not there. Missionaries need to learn how to get validation from Heavenly Father. This is something that can be consistent and constant and the most important validator.
Brother Martin quotes from "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" by
Elder Lynn G. Robbins: In helping children discover who they are and helping strengthen their self-worth, we can appropriately compliment their achievement or behavior—the do. But it would be even wiser to focus our primary praise on their character and beliefs—who they are.
In a game of sports, a wise way to compliment our children’s performance—do—would be through the point of view of be—like their energy, perseverance, poise in the face of adversity, etc.—thus complimenting both be and do.
Some youth have never learned how to work hard and stick with something that was difficult. A solution, get a job. Don't necessarily need to get paid.
A missionary can realized how great the work of the lord is and how inadequate they are and they also realize how wonderful the gospel is and begin to replay every bad thing they have done in their whole life and it starts to weigh them down. They need to realize that perfection is pending. So, if worrying about sin then talk with the right people, parents, bishop stake president. Also many missionaries that are clean but don't think they are. The woman at the well at Samaria is a good example of the Savior telling us to go to him, to read from the gospel and apply it to our lives. Elder Scott said, "I testify that when a bishop or stake president has confirmed that your repentance is sufficient, know that your obedience has allowed the Atonement of Jesus Christ to satisfy the demands of justice for the laws you have broken. Therefore you are now free. Please believe it. To continually suffer the distressing effects of sin after adequate repentance, while not intended, is to deny the efficacy of the Savior’s Atonement in your behalf."
Anytime one daydreams about the future it produces emotional stress. Yes we need to prepare for the future, but the reason this causes emotional stress is because when we can't control our future, especially on our missions it causes stress. Often missionaries get in the MTC and think, won't it be great when I get in the mission field, or once in the field, when I get transfered...
I loved the example of a missionary who lived his mission in the present that Brother Martin gave, it was Ammon. Ammon was taken bound before King Lamoni and asked how long he wanted to stay there. Ammons answer was a great attitude for a missionary while serving: And Ammon said unto him: Yea, I desire to dwell among this people for a time; yea, and perhaps until the day I die.
We can see that Ammon's focus is no where but on his mission.
How can we learn to not always live in the future but learn to live for today? He gave the example of President Eyring. Eyring said: I wrote down a few lines every day for years. I never missed a day no matter how tired I was or how early I would have to start the next day. Before I would write, I would ponder this question: “Have I seen the hand of God reaching out to touch us or our children or our family today?” As I kept at it, something began to happen. As I would cast my mind over the day, I would see evidence of what God had done for one of us that I had not recognized in the busy moments of the day. As that happened, and it happened often, I realized that trying to remember had allowed God to show me what He had done.
How to deal with homesickness: The way we think about home and how we practice being away from home. If told not to think about home then think about it and then become more and more homesick. So learn to confront, challenge and then to modify a thought. So need to acknowledge you're thinking about home but...think of reasons why you want to finish your mission. Martin gave President Hinckley's letter to his dad that he wrote soon after he got in the mission field in Preston, England, the was sick and he thought he was wasting his time and his father's money. His dad sent a letter back to him with the suggestion to forget himself and go to work.
How to practice being away from home was necessary too. Scout camp YW camp are perfect.
Need to learn how to deal with stress that don't include, jumping on the computer, or your phone, etc. He suggested being in sports or trying out for a play etc. to learn how to deal with rejection and how to work through the stress of that.
Another problem that might arise is when we horizontally validate and don't vertically validate. What this means is that when we start to get validation from external sources like people or numbers then it's fine while the validation is there but what happens when it's not there. Missionaries need to learn how to get validation from Heavenly Father. This is something that can be consistent and constant and the most important validator.
Brother Martin quotes from "What Manner of Men and Women Ought Ye to Be?" by
Elder Lynn G. Robbins: In helping children discover who they are and helping strengthen their self-worth, we can appropriately compliment their achievement or behavior—the do. But it would be even wiser to focus our primary praise on their character and beliefs—who they are.
In a game of sports, a wise way to compliment our children’s performance—do—would be through the point of view of be—like their energy, perseverance, poise in the face of adversity, etc.—thus complimenting both be and do.
Some youth have never learned how to work hard and stick with something that was difficult. A solution, get a job. Don't necessarily need to get paid.
A missionary can realized how great the work of the lord is and how inadequate they are and they also realize how wonderful the gospel is and begin to replay every bad thing they have done in their whole life and it starts to weigh them down. They need to realize that perfection is pending. So, if worrying about sin then talk with the right people, parents, bishop stake president. Also many missionaries that are clean but don't think they are. The woman at the well at Samaria is a good example of the Savior telling us to go to him, to read from the gospel and apply it to our lives. Elder Scott said, "I testify that when a bishop or stake president has confirmed that your repentance is sufficient, know that your obedience has allowed the Atonement of Jesus Christ to satisfy the demands of justice for the laws you have broken. Therefore you are now free. Please believe it. To continually suffer the distressing effects of sin after adequate repentance, while not intended, is to deny the efficacy of the Savior’s Atonement in your behalf."
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