PROVO, Utah — Missionaries preparing to serve in locations around the world listened to Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Saturday, June 22, as he spoke to them and new mission leaders in a devotional at the 2024 Seminar for New Mission Leaders.
Elder Kearon was joined by his wife, Sister Jennifer Kearon. The two began the devotional together at the pulpit, with Elder Kearon thanking the young missionaries for their service and dedication.
“Elders, thank you for responding to your priesthood duty. And sisters, thank you for responding to your own sense of call,” Elder Kearon said.
The two were asked to speak about a missionary’s purpose and the authority and power of his or her calling. Sister Kearon taught about the authority from God to preach the gospel that comes to each missionary who is set apart by one who holds priesthood keys.
“You are authorized to represent the Savior Jesus Christ to all the world,” she said.
The power of a missionary’s calling comes to those who honor the covenants they have made with their Heavenly Father. This spiritual power from God is given as missionaries seek humility, discipline, selflessness, and love, she said.
The authority and power of a missionary’s calling bring tremendous responsibility as well, she explained.
“Honor the name of Jesus Christ through your words and actions,” Sister Kearon told the missionaries and mission leaders.
Missionary purpose
“I was resistant consistently,” Elder Kearon said of his time being taught by the missionaries. He said he was invited to be baptized at least 15 times before he accepted the invitation and was baptized on Christmas Eve 1987.
Elder Kearon quoted Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who said, “Missionary work is not just one of the 88 keys on a piano that is occasionally played; it is a major chord in a compelling melody that needs to be played continuously throughout our lives if we are to remain in harmony with our commitment to Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ” (New Era, February 2015).
To help illustrate Elder Cook’s point, Elder Kearon, who said he is not the most musically inclined, asked the pianist at the devotional to play the hymn “Come, Follow Me” in the notes of a major chord, followed by the notes of a minor chord. The difference was stark.
“The major chord is the happy chord, the joyful chord,” Elder Kearon said. “The minor chord is sad.”
On Page 3 of “Preach My Gospel,” under the heading of “The Authority and Power of Your Calling,” missionaries read, “You are called and set apart to ‘[proclaim] glad tidings of great joy, even the everlasting gospel’ (Doctrine and Covenants 79:1).”
Elder Kearon underscored the importance of sharing the gospel with great feelings of joy. And he shared his experience and observation that the Church is led by individuals who feel both joy and hope for the future.
“You are led by optimists,” he said, adding, “Stop worrying so much — just work hard and be happy.”
One way to help make that happen, he said, is for missionaries to internalize the same gospel principles and doctrine they teach.
“You have to let these truths distill upon you in the way that they will need to distill upon the lives and hearts and minds and souls of those you teach,” he said.
Where joy resides
Elder Kearon shared a poem from Robert Louis Stevenson that President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, read on the first day of this year’s seminar.
“Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all,” Stevenson wrote.
Elder Kearon encouraged the missionaries to serve their missions in such a way that they do not “miss the joy” in their service. “Find out where joy resides,” he invited the missionaries, repeating Stevenson’s line.
Reading from Alma 36:20, 24, Elder Kearon showed how joy was expressed three times in two verses as Alma described living and sharing the gospel — “oh, what joy”; “my soul was filled with joy”; and “taste of the exceeding joy.”
In that spirit, Elder Kearon expressed his hope that missionaries would reflect that joy as they extend invitations to those they teach.
“Every invitation you make should be happy, joyful, sweet and good,” he said.
Related Stories
Read summaries, see photos from the 2024 Seminar for New Mission Leaders
‘Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible,’ Elder Kearon says in new video
Elder Bednar and Elder Kearon see in West Africa a people with ‘vigor in their faith’
