The Question of a Mission

In April of 1986, I attended the Priesthood session of General Conference at the BYU Marriott Center. It holds something like 24,000 people. It was packed! There were people sitting in the stairs, standing in the corridors, just all over the place. There must have been over 25,000.

It was a great meeting, the best I’ve ever been to. There were wonderful, spiritual talks given – amazing. The President Hinckley spoke. (He was a counselor to President Benson at the time.) His talk was the most wonderful I had ever heard, up to that point in my life. His talk was entitled “The Question of a Mission.” I was really touched. I had a friend who didn’t know what to do with his life. He was 19 at the time and just hanging out in Provo, playing around. I knew that Pres. Hinckley would want him to go on a mission. The spirit at that meeting was now VERY intense.

Then President Benson got up to speak. He said, “The Spirit has been here tonight. It has been very strong. Instead of giving the talk I have prepared, I would rather follow that Spirit and speak unto you the words the Lord would have you hear at this time.” Then he bowed his head a little, listening to the Spirit for a minute. Then I heard a voice. “Ezra, I have been helping you prepare this talk over the last few weeks. This is what I want them to hear. Give the talk you have prepared.”

Whoa! I heard that voice. Really? Yeah. Then President Benson raised his head and said, “Never mind. I am going to give the talk I have prepared.” Wow! What’s going on here?!?!? I couldn’t believe it. I actually heard the voice speaking to the prophet. Then he gave the most amazing, wonderful, spiritual talk I have ever heard in my 43 years. It’s called “To the Youth of Noble Birthright.” Look it up and read it. It's incredible!

I have always wondered why I got to hear the voice. That was the 2nd of only 3 times in my life that I have heard it. I now know of at least 3 reasons why I was allowed to hear the voice of the Lord at that time. For one, I needed to know that what he said was really important for me. For another, I needed to know that Heavenly Father prepares us to speak to others, He will help us prepare our talks so that the Spirit will touch others. When the time comes to give the talk, all we have to do is speak the words. He has already done the work with us.

The 3rd thing I learned was that God speaks to his holy prophets, even today. Yes, he does. Simple, but I needed to learn that. It is important to me now. I KNOW it. Who is really running this church? Stupid question.

So 20 years ago, the standard was this – every young man is supposed to serve a mission. If you weren’t ready or worthy, you has better GET ready or worthy. Period. Every young man. Then a few years ago, Elder M. Russell Ballard announced “the raising of bar.” There is now a much higher standard that a person must meet in order to serve a mission. And it was okay if a young man was not able to go. He would be “honorably excused.” And he is right – it’s okay if person does not or cannot serve a mission. No worries, no judgment, no problem.

But what if a young man wants to serve a mission, and has certain issues? How come I see some young men who have these issues who have served missions, while there are others who cannot? Okay, there is the simple question of actions. Has a person simply felt same gender attraction but remained completely faithful? Or have they just denied it so they can do what everyone tells them is right? Or have they just lied about it? And have the others gotten caught? Or been truthful to their bishops? Or just had bishops or stake presidents that believe that SSA and missions don’t mix?

I don’t know. Maybe all of those have happened at one place or another. But here is what this new Bishop has learned. There are feelings and inclinations, and then there are actions. Those actions include fantasizing, viewing pornography, acting on hormonal drives, giving in to temptations. It’s the same for ALL members of the church, not just those dealing with SSA. It doesn’t matter what your temptations are, you can be worthy to serve a mission.

The church has very recently issued a revised version of the Handbook of Instructions, Book 1”, for Bishoprics and Stake Presidencies. No one else gets these books (except general authorities I suppose). It is very clear that it is one’s actions that keep them from being eligible to serve a mission, not their feelings and inclinations. It specifically addresses applicants who have same gender attraction. It says that if a young man has participated in homosexual activity during the last 3 teenage years, he will not normally be considered for a mission. It also says that if the person has shown strong evidence of repentance for period of a few years (at least one year), the stake president can request an exception. It also talks about "acts" that occurred several times or over an extended period of time, showing a pattern or habit, verses just once, or being a visitim, or early age experimetation.

So here is the nutshell – what are your habits? What have you been doing for the last few years? If you can show a pattern of faithfulness and clean living, you can probably serve a mission. But it must be for a period of a considerable amount of time, not just a few months. Here’s another thing. There is an age limit for young men to serve a mission. It’s 25 years old. Not 19. Not 20. Not 22. It’s 25, to start the mission.

This means to me that some of my friends may have more hope than they may have thought. This is a wonderful thing! It may take a few years to get there, but even if a person still doesn’t go on a mission, it couldn’t hurt to make that kind of progress anyway. But you don't have to go when you are 19 or 20.

I was afraid it may not be proper to directly quote the handbook, so I didn’t. But it’s clear that it’s actions that matter, not feelings. If any of you have more questions about this, please feel free to contact me.