During the 2020 Mission Leadership Seminar, President Dallin H. Oaks shared challenges missionary work faces today.
The first is in how missionaries are now sharing the gospel because of the coronavirus pandemic—but that challenge can be turned into an advantage, President Oaks said.
“None of us and none of our missionaries should look at these changes as posing new obstacles,” he said. “We should see them as advantages to help us refine our practices to be more effective.”
Desiring to return home early is another challenge some missionaries face, Church News reported. President Oaks advised mission leaders to encourage their missionaries to center their decisions on the Savior.
The third challenge President Oaks highlighted is worldly pressures from those who would like to “make our religion conform to the doctrines and wishes of other people,” President Oaks said, quoting President Joseph F. Smith. In that same quote, he shared how Latter-day Saints must have “fidelity, strength of character, love of truth, integrity to principle, and zealous desire to see the triumphant, forward march of truth.”
But, President Oaks continues, as the Book of Mormon teaches, we are “that [we] might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25).
“Joy comes through knowing that our ultimate identity is that we are the children of Heavenly Parents who love us,” he said. “Joy comes through knowing that our Heavenly Father created this world to give His spirit children the mortal experience we must have to achieve our eternal destiny.”
Read more thoughts from President Oaks, including a brief history of early Church leaders who have sacrificed for the gospel, at Church News.
