“The Savior is not looking forward to retirement and relaxation. He is, and will be throughout eternity, looking for new opportunities to serve. We see this philosophy in action, as He came to the earth to live in much less comfortable circumstances than those to which we are accustomed. During His ministry, He thought only of others. While here, He experienced all that we experience and more.
I love my mission because it allows me to join the Savior in His work to bring to pass our immortality and eternal life. I am grateful for it all; not only for the joy and the incredible happiness, but even for the heartache and frustration.
Through it all, I have come to know my Savior. As we seek to become purified and sanctified as we move along the pathway that leads to exaltation, we must all pass through our own Gethsemane, the refiner’s fire, so that our spirits will be malleable and ductile in the hands of the Lord. I know this holds true especially during a mission. We are asked to follow the road less traveled. Sometimes it hurts. But we look up to a God who loves us so much, whose outstretched hands are there to bring us into the warmth of His bosom, and Who turns us into instruments that can bless the lives of our fellow travelers.”
Phil and Jan's Adventure in Tonga 