Here are some ideas related to your personal worthiness to serve the Lord as a full-time missionary.
1. Learn about standards of worthiness.
“Your righteousness gives others a confirmation of the goodness of life anchored in eternal truth. If … you haven’t yet been a missionary, prepare to be one. You will bless many other lives and crown your own with great, enduring rewards.”
Elder Richard G. Scott, “The Power of Righteousness,” Liahona, Jan. 1999, 81; and Ensign, Nov. 1998, 70.
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Study the section titled “Virtue” in chapter 6 of Preach My Gospel, including the Scripture Study activity.
Additional Helps
- For the Strength of Youth.
- The sections in Duty to God titled “Live Worthily” for deacons, teachers, or priests.
- The Choice and Accountability and Virtue values in Personal Progress.
2. Partake of the sacrament.
“Each of us has a need to confess and forsake our sins and errors to our Heavenly Father and to others we may have offended. The Sabbath provides us with a precious opportunity to offer up these—our sacraments—to the Lord.”
Elder L. Tom Perry, “The Sabbath and the Sacrament,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2011, 8.
- Before you partake of the sacrament, ponder your words, thoughts, and deeds of the past week, and repent of your sins and errors so that the Holy Ghost can be with you.
3. Get a temple recommend, keep it current, and visit the temple often.
“Qualify to enter the temple of God. Secure a temple recommend and regard it as a precious possession, for such it is.”
President Thomas S. Monson, “The Holy Temple—a Beacon to the World,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2011, 93.
- Read “Prepare for the Blessings of the Temple” (Elder Russell M. Nelson, Liahona and Ensign, Oct. 2010).
Additional Helps
- Learn more about the temple.
- Go to a special magazine issue about the temple (Liahona and Ensign, Oct. 2010).
- Find a temple near you.
4. If you have any concerns regarding your worthiness, talk with your bishop or branch president as soon as possible.
“Should there be anything amiss in your life, there is open to you a way out. Cease any unrighteousness. Talk with your bishop. Whatever the problem, it can be worked out through proper repentance. You can become clean once again.”
President Thomas S. Monson, “Priesthood Power,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2011, 67.
- Watch “Not a One-Time Thing,” a video about a young man who experienced the blessings of Christ’s Atonement by working with his bishop.
Additional Helps
- For the Strength of Youth, “Repentance”
- Elder Robert D. Hales, “Coming to Ourselves: The Sacrament, the Temple, and Sacrifice in Service,” Liahona and Ensign, May 2012, 34–36
- Elder Tad R. Callister, “How Do I Know When I Am Forgiven?” Liahona, Aug. 2012, 48–50; and New Era, Aug. 2012, 26–28
- Help and support for youth struggling with pornography
- God Loveth His Children, a pamphlet for those struggling with same-gender attraction
