To missionary work

I've decided that missionary work is right up there with my favorite things to do.  Yep, right next to bouncing around with an upside down sleeping bag on my head with my kids on the trampoline.  Okay, okay -- even better than that  (hard to believe, ..I know). 
In all honesty, I have coveted at times the great opportunity it would be to raise my family out in the mission field as a mission president.  I have wanted my kids to be there - young enough to be  in the home and around the Elders and Sisters from time to time.  I have imagined fondly what a great mission mother Deana would be, and the great need she would fill as more and more sister missionaries hit the mission field and mission 'mother' responsibilities increase.
What a time to be alive too!  The Lord is hastening His work, gathering His elect with increasing speed and efficiency and we get to be part of it all!  As the prophet lowered the missionary eligibility age for both males and females the Church saw a jump from 700 to 4000 new missionary accounts being opened online in the weeks following the announcement!  I'm not certain that can continue at such a pace, but imagine -- even if it is just double continuously at 1400.  What that would mean for the world and for the harvest...
Our stake has made Preach My Gospel the 2013 FHE curriculum -- the youth, Church wide, are also going to be taught in a new more engaged and interactive way with their new curriculum.  MTC stays will be shorter, and more missionary training will be required of wards, and more specifically families beforehand.  Temples have been dotting the earth at an elevated pace for years now as we push toward the incredible 170 mark!  Seminaries and institutes are also unveiling a new retooled curriculum for teaching the Book of Mormon for the next school year to match their newly drafted objective and points of emphasis.
All this happening now means that the field is whiter than ever!  It is time to stand up and help move this work forward like never before!
I remember hearing when I was in the MTC that this stone - the one seen by Daniel in vision would roll forth to fill the earth, but only if it went forward by the hands of the members.  I see this announcement and moving missionary training back into the home to some degree infusing the joy of the missionary service back into the homes of members as well.  How can they help but share as they teach their children to do that very thing?!  I am so grateful to be able to be a part of it in a small way.  What a neat thing thing it is to share the gospel with those you love and care about.  As great as it is in the mission field, sharing the gospel at home in your community is to me even better.  My family can now be part of this wonderful experience and feel the great blessings of it!  Being able to link arms with those you love and live with in a community and seek together to try to be like Jesus is such a great blessing!  So here's to the increasing momentum of that rolling and growing stone and the thrill it is to be along for the ride with the people I love very most in all the world!
       

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