Emily Freeman - Will My Child Be Ready?

Compilation and text created by authors 2015 Emily Freeman and Merrilee Browne Boyack

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

(CIP on file)

ISBN 978-1-62972-043-2

Printed in the United States of America

PubLitho, Draper, Utah

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For every mother who has knelt in prayer for her child.

We are all in this together.

Introduction

The knock came late one night in May. I turned on the porch light and opened the door to find a high school boy standing therebaseball cap pulled down over his hair, shaggy beard, tears rolling down his cheeks. Is Coach here? he asked, eyes questioning and voice soft and humble. I invited him in and went to get Greg out of bed.

They talked in the basement for an hour and a half, the boy pouring out his heart and the coach mostly just listening. Finally, at the end of the conversation, the boy asked the question that had brought him to our door in the first place: I want to change my life. I want to start going to church. I want to do what Garett didserve a mission. Can you help me?

And so the journey began.

This boy who hadnt attended church regularly in over six years, who had never read the Book of Mormon, who had just started saying his prayers, began to turn his life around.

It was our privilege to watch the Lord take the heart of this humble boy and turn him into a missionary. In February, just nine months after that knock on our door, he turned in his mission papers. In July he left for the Indiana Indianapolis Mission.

I dont know where you are in the process of preparing a child for a mission. Perhaps you have young children and are hoping to begin the mission training process at the beginning, or maybe your situation is more like the one aboveyou have less than a year to pull all the pieces together. Here is the good news: the path of preparing a child for a mission begins wherever you are. The most important thing to remember is that the Lord will help you in whatever your situation is. He will hasten the process if necessary. He will know just how to help you prepare your child for this great work.

Perhaps you could consider this book a conversation between motherstidbits of learning shared from mother heart to mother heart. The chapters have been written by mothersall who have sent children out on missions and some who have served with their husbands presiding over missions and had the opportunity to mother hundreds of missionaries. Our most important advice is simply this: dont worry about what you have or havent accomplished up to this point. Start where you are. When we gathered together as mothers to put down these thoughts, our biggest concern was that we would overwhelm you. On the other hand, we didnt want to leave out something that might make a difference in the preparation process. So we included everything that we thought might prove helpful and we now place it in your hands, with this caveat: read with the Spirit to know which parts will be helpful to you in preparing your child. Use this book as a resource, not as a prescriptive guide. Come back and consult it over time. Each mom is different, and each child is different. You may find that one chapter works well for one child, and another chapter is just what you need for another child. Our hope is that this resource, combined with promptings from the Spirit and advice from priesthood leaders, will give you added strength as you prepare your son or daughter to serve the Lord.

You are about to immerse yourself in a book focused on training up a missionary for the Lord. But before we jump in, it is important to pause and consider one of the most important factors in that trainingyou. Your efforts will be combined with the efforts of bishops, youth leaders, seminary teachers, family, and friends. However, next to the Spirit, you and your spouse will play one of the most crucial roles.

Because of that, this introduction is dedicated to you.

Your influence is immeasurable. Your errand is divine. Your responsibility is significant.

Remember, in the world before we came here, faithful women were given certain assignments.... While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. You are accountable for those things which long ago were expected of you just as are those we sustain as prophets and apostles! (Spencer W. Kimball, The Role of Righteous Women, Ensign, Nov. 1979, 102).

Surely one of the assignments given to many women was to raise up young men and young women who would be prepared to further the work of the Lord. A favorite Book of Mormon account tells of a powerful group of faithful women whose dedicated training led to miraculous experiences for their sons. You know their sons well. We refer to them as the Army of Helamanthe Stripling Warriors.

But what do you know of their mothers?

Yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it (Alma 56:4748; emphasis added).

What was it that their mothers knew?

Have you ever studied the process of conversion that allowed those women to become the mothers they were?

Throughout the book of Alma we observe several defining characteristics about those mothers, who were part of a group known as the Anti-Nephi-Lehies. They were raising children in a world fraught with challenge. It was a time filled with dissensions, intrigue, and most dangerous circumstances (see Alma 53:9). These mothers were acutely aware of the dangers, afflictions, and tribulations that their families faced. In an effort to strengthen the Lords cause, they prepared their sons to enter the front lines of battle. Their actions defined their testimony. These were women who

• Were firm in the faith of Christ.
• Had been converted unto the Lord by the power and word of God.
• Were given a portion of Gods Spirit.
• Had soft hearts.
• Were perfectly honest and upright.
• Knew how to repent and forgive through the merits of Christ.
• Were distinguished for their zeal toward God.
• Knew that God loved them.
• Knew that God loved their children.
• Were visited by angels.
• Kept covenants.
• Were firm in their beliefs.
• Never did fall away.(See Alma 24, 27, 53; see also 3 Nephi 6:14.)

Consider that list for a minute. Does that list describe you? What would you need to change to become more like those mothers? What would you need to learn?

One thing is certainin order to raise Stripling Warriors we must become Stripling Mothers. We must live by the spiritual habits, behaviors, and principles we want our children to live by. Every day. That way, when our children encounter moments of doubt, which they surely will, they will be able to look to us as mothers and remember what we know to be true.