Lessons on Missionary Service
Lesson No. Twenty
My Mission and My Testimony of the Book of Mormon
Beginnings – My missionary farewell was held on April 14, 1963. In those days an entire sacrament meeting was devoted to a missionary’s farewell. It was often an extensive undertaking. At my farewell Elder Richard L. Evans of the Quorum of Twelve was the primary speaker. Elder Evans was a friend of my parents, and I was a friend and in a fraternity at the University of Utah with his sons.
Marion D. Hanks was a young general authority who had been assigned to the British Mission to correct a practice of baptizing for numbers. He stressed real conversion and retention, the key to which is the Book of Mormon. He prepared his missionaries to teach and testify of the Book of Mormon. This blessed my life. Even though I had a testimony of the restored gospel, prior to my mission I had never really studied and prayed about the Book of Mormon.
President Hanks prepared a Book of Mormon study program which he called Know the Book. Our mission theme and song was The Iron Rod (LDS Hymns 274). President Hanks had a great impact on his missionaries because he taught them to love and use the Book of Mormon. These missionaries include Elders Jeffery Holland and Quentin Cook of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.
Distributing the Book of Mormon by way of a Vespa scooter – Missionaries in the British Mission used bikes or public transportation; mission leaders had cars or vans; I had a Vespa scooter. A missionary had driven it from Scotland when he left his mission early. President Hanks asked if I wanted to use it. My companion rode on the back. This enabled us to teach many discussions and introduce many people to the Book of Mormon. One week-end three families were baptized.
Some families we taught immigrated to Utah, others stayed and they and their families continue to strengthen the Church in England.
Teaching other missionaries how to effectively use the Book of Mormon – My first year was with President Hanks, and the second with O. Preston Robinson who had recently retired as the manager of the Church printing operations. President Thomas S. Monson was one of his employees. I spent most of my mission in East London, Romford, and Colchester. For the last four months I served as an assistant to President Robinson. During this time I lived in the mission home/office on Exhibition Road one-half block from the Hyde Park Chapel in the heart of London.
While I served as an assistant President and Sister Robinson temporarily returned home for a medical procedure. Elder Mark E. Peterson of the Quorum of Twelve was serving as the West European Mission President, and he lived in a London suburb. My companion and I checked in with Elder Peterson as needed, but mostly we were responsible for the day to day missionary work. This gave us additional opportunities to teach other missionaries how to effectively use the Book of Mormon. This gave me a greater understanding of the converting power of the Book of Mormon.
Testimony – My experience as a missionary changed my life. For me, who was raised by loving yet inactive parents, President Hanks was a priesthood role model. He was young, vigorous, and dynamic. He encouraged us to experience the history and culture of London. But mainly he wanted us to gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon and to live the gospel. And he trusted us that we would do it.
As a mission president I tried to follow President Hanks’ example. Our missionaries taught out of the Book of Mormon, and testified of Christ and the Restoration. This is the key to missionary success in the British Mission, the Kentucky Louisville Mission, or any other mission.