The Life and Times of Warren Hansen

I didn’t come on the mission for the right reasons. I came for good reasons, but they weren’t the right ones. I thought it would be cool to go learn another language, live in another country for two years, and to share the gospel, although my desire to share the gospel was a little bit lower than it should have been. 

As I have given up my will to the Lord’s will, and put my whole heart, might, mind, and soul into serving, I have been changed. Before my mission, God was important to me, but I wasn’t living in the way I needed to or giving the importance that I needed to to my covenants with God. In the past months, I have realized the absolute necessity of Jesus Christ and covenants in my life. My desires have been changed so that there is nothing I want more than to live up to my promises with the Lord. 

This week I read a part of Alma chapter 26 in the Book of Mormon and related to it. Ammon, who formerly attacked the church before being converted and witnessing the change in himself during his mission, expresses gratitude to the Lord saying: “[In] his great mercy [He] hath brought us over that everlasting gulf of death and misery, even to the salvation of our souls”(verse 20). 

Like Ammon, I cannot express enough gratitude to the Lord for allowing me to serve a mission and realize the changes that I needed to make in my life. Going on a mission isn’t something required for salvation, but without the mission I wouldn’t be doing the things that are. 

I may have come on the mission for the wrong reasons, but I’m staying because of the changes that I have seen in myself and because I want to help other people experience the joy that comes with making the Savior and covenants with Him the most important thing in their lives. 

Elder Hansen