Elder Jordan Green's Letter to The Brookhaven Missionaries and Newsletter - Oct 4th

October 4, 2011

Dear Elders and Sisters,

Because my mission will shortly come to a close, I was asked to write you all a brief letter. I’m not very good at being brief or writing letters, so we’ll see how this goes. Sister Mills asked me to explain what it is that has made me feel like a successful missionary. I’m going to draw heavily upon three sources that have greatly impacted my life: Teach My Gospel, Chapter 1, “The Fourth Missionary” by Lawrence E. Corbridge, “His Grace is Sufficient” by Brad Wilcox, oh and also “Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary” by Elder David A. Bednar.

What is a successful missionary? “Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost. (PMG, Chapter 1, pg. 10) “Being a successful missionary has nothing to do with baptisms or numbers but commitment. Lawrence E. Corbridge discovered this as a Mission President. He said there are 4 types of missionaries. I’ll review each one briefly. The 1st Missionary in in open rebellion does what he wants to do and is open about it. The 1st Missionary generally gets sent home or asks to go home. The 2nd Missionary is sneaky and disobedient. He destroys the work but finishes an “honorable” full-time mission. The 3rd Missionary is obedient and does good but, would rather be doing what he wants to do. He does his duty out of a sense of obligation.

The 4th Missionary is very similar to the 3rd, only one thing is different. The 4th Missionary lives the law of consecration. There are those who give their means, their time and talents, and then there are those who give themselves – they give their heart. They give their will; sacrifice it seems to me, is the first consecration less common is the second.

“The truth is that it doesn’t take eons of time to do this. Our nature, our hearts, our desires can be changed almost immediately upon the attainment of knowledge. Our nature can change almost immediately as we come to under-stand true doctrine. In this instance as you come to understand that the only way to light, intelligence, strength, capacity, peace, contentment, grace, knowledge, power, happiness, mercy, joy, and every other good thing, is to follow Christ, then you will want to follow Him. You will want to follow Christ because it is the only intelligent thing to do. Not because you are a saint, not to please your parents, not because you are better than others, rather, because it is the only intelligent thing to do. When you understand that, then you will forget about yourself and your will and your desires will be to do the Lord’s will, because everything else and anything else is nuts.” (The Fourth Missionary by Lawrence E. Corbridge)

As we consecrate our hearts and our minds, we become content and joyful. We desire to work despite the difficulty and despite our shortcomings. If we consecrate ourselves on our missions, we will stay consecrated throughout our lives. This is becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ or as Elder Bednar put it, a “Preach My Gospel Missionary”. Mormon stated, “Behold, I am a disciple of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I have been called of Him to declare His word among His people, that they might have everlasting life” (3 Nephi 5:13).


Elder Bednar gave us a list of five steps in the process of consecrating ourselves, becoming disciples or Preach My Gospel Missionaries. He said, “Preach My Gospel Missionaries:
1. Understand that they serve and represent Jesus Christ.
2. Are worthy (and obedient).
3. Treasure up the words of eternal life.
4. Understand that The Holy Ghost is the ultimate and true teacher.
5. Understand teaching is much more than talking and telling.”
(Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary, Elder Bednar, Seminar for new Mission Presidents, June 24, 2011)

I don’t have enough writing space to expound on all of that. If you want to know more about Elder Bednar’s talk or any of the others, get permission to e-mail me and give me your mission address, along with which talk (or talks) you want at Jordan.green@myldsmail.net.

I would like now to emphasize something: I am not perfect! I fall short every single day. I have learned a lot on my mission, and that is why I jumped at the chance of sharing this with all of you. Realize that being consecrated, a Fourth Missionary, a Disciple of Jesus Christ, a Preach My Gospel Missionary or whatever else you label it, does not require nor expect perfection.

Brad Wilcox talked a lot about Christ’s grace in a recent talk that he gave. He said, “Christ’s arrangement with us is similar to a mom providing music lessons for her child. Mom pays the piano teacher . . . Because Mom pays the debt in full, she can turn to her child and ask for something. What is it? Practice! Does the child’s practice pay the piano teacher? No. Does the child’s practice repay Mom for paying the piano teacher? No. Practicing is how the child shows appreciation for Mom’s incredible gift. It is how he takes advantage of the amazing opportunity Mom is giving him to live his life at a higher level. Mom’s joy is found not in getting repaid but, in seeing her gift used – seeing her child improve. And so she continues to call for practice, practice, practice!”

“The miracle of the Atonement is not just that we can be cleansed and consoled but, that we can be transformed” (see Romans 8)

“But, Brother Wilcox, don’t you realize how hard it is to practice? I’m just not very good at the piano. I hit a lot of wrong notes. It takes me forever to get it right.” Now wait. Isn’t that all part of the learning process too? When a young pianist hits a wrong note, we don’t say he is not worthy to keep practicing. We don’t expect him to be flawless. We just expect him to keep trying. Perfection may be his ultimate goal, but for now, we can be content with progress in the right direction. Why is this perspective so easy to see in the context of learning to play the piano but, so hard to see in the context of learning of Heaven?

“There are young men who grow up their whole lives singing, “I hope they call me on a mission,” and then they actually do grow a foot or two and flake out completely. They earn their Eagle, graduate from high school, and go away to college. Then suddenly these young men find out how easy it is not to be trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean or reverent. They mess up. They say, “I’ll never do it again”, and then they do it. They say, “This is stupid behavior and I will never do it again.” And then they do it again. The guilt is almost unbearable. They don’t dare talk to their bishop. Instead they hide…so they quit. These young men don’t under-stand the power of grace. . .

Growth and development take time. Learning takes time. When we understand grace, we understand that God is long suffering, that change is a process, and that repentance is a pattern in our lives.” (Brad Wilcox, His Grace is Sufficient, Brigham Young University 2011 speeches).

Elders and Sister’s from the Brookhaven Ward, I love you. I pray that this will help you realize that true success comes from seeking to make your will in line with the will of God, and not from trying to make God’s will in line with your own. I hope that as my time as a full time missionary draws to a close that these words may help you magnify the time you each have left, so that we may meet again as Disciples of Christ and lifelong servants of God. By the time you read this, I will probably be in the last transfer of my mission; I am excited to apply all these thing that I have learned and redouble my efforts in this my last hoorah as a full time missionary of our Heavenly Father.

Elder Jordan Green
Chicago, Illinois Spanish Speaking Mission