PROVO, Utah — Full-time missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are like stars in a divinely appointed orbit of influence, said Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson during a Tuesday, Jan. 3, devotional at the Provo Missionary Training Center.
“Elders and sisters, you are stars — placed in an orbit orchestrated by the Creator, our Savior, Jesus Christ,” she said to more than 850 missionaries attending the devotional.
“You are in your divine orbit because of your faithfulness. You reflect the light of Christ and shine brightly. What a glorious opportunity is yours to lift, teach and testify of the divinity of Jesus Christ and of His loving Father, our Heavenly Father, and of the divine nature and potential of every one of us. We are all God’s children.”
President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president, speaks on during her devotional at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
Adam Fondren, for the Deseret News
President Johnson reminded the elders and sisters their assignments came from God, through a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, acting under authorization from President Russell M. Nelson.
“Isn’t that glorious?” she asked. “God is directing your path because you are letting Him prevail in your lives. And all of that has come through revelation — your own, linked to the revelation of a member of the Twelve, linked to the Prophet.”
She spoke of connections and confirmations of mission assignments — first for her sons, then for her and her husband, Brother Douglas R. Johnson, who also spoke briefly at the devotional. With little to no Spanish-language experience, the Johnsons were initially uncertain about being called to preside over the Peru Arequipa Mission in 2016.
But confirmations came. “The assignment to serve where we served, when we served, placed us in an orbit of friends for the eternities,” she said.
President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president, speaks on during her devotional at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
Adam Fondren, for the Deseret News
Mission assignments are key to interactions with others, she added. “Your divinely appointed orbit will put you in an intersecting orbit with people who need you and people from whom you will learn. I hope you will recognize your assignment as by divine design. … I hope you will let your lights shine to illuminate those who are in your orbit and discover for yourselves the reason for your assignment.”
President Johnson encouraged the missionaries to see untapped divine potential in everyone they meet — and to teach it when they share the plan of salvation.
She quoted President Nelson: “Because there is a grand plan of salvation authored by Heavenly Father, does it not stand to reason that you also have a divine destiny? Make no mistake about it. Your potential is divine. With your diligent seeking, God will give you glimpses of who you may become.”
Recounting the John 4 account of the Savior and the woman at the well, President Johnson noted it marked one of the early instances of Jesus telling anyone He was the expected Jewish Messiah, and He shared that good news with a Samaritan woman who was engaged in serious sin.
“Jesus Christ saw her potential; He recognized her divine nature. He showed love, compassion and patience with her.”
The choir reads sheet music while singing a hymn during a devotional featuring Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
Adam Fondren, for the Deseret News
President Johnson said the story is illustrative on many levels — the Savior recognizes hidden, untapped potential; the woman shared the good news, which was convincing to others; the changing experience happened during a mundane task; and Christ taught in a way the woman understood.
President Johnson invited the missionaries to do the same. “Blessed by the Spirit through your faith and obedience, you will see the people you teach as children of God with divine potential. You will meet them at their well, or in their living rooms, or on the soccer field, or doing a JustServe project, and you will teach them in a way they will understand.”
By treating everyone encountered as extraordinary, missionaries will have a vision of who others are and what they can become, in turn helping missionaries develop the Christlike attribute of charity, she said.
Missionaries are to recognize the same potential in their companions, taught President Johnson, using an analogy of dolphins as emphasis.
Dolphins sleep with only one side of their brain, with the other side to continue breathing, remain alert and watch for potential dangers with the eye open on that “other” side. If they went into a deep unconscious sleep like humans, they would stop breathing and suffocate or drown, she said.
A missionary takes notes during the devotional message from President Camille N. Johnson, Relief Society general president, at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
Adam Fondren, for the Deseret News
They often stay in pairs when sleeping, one with the right eye open and the other with the left eye open.
“What I hope you will remember is the beauty of having a companion — someone who can be your right eye when your right eye is weary; someone who can watch for danger. It is by divine design that missionaries work in pairs, and I hope that you will see your companion as someone placed in your divine orbit for a purpose.”
President Johnson said missionaries should also recognize their own identities and purposes and cited instruction from President Nelson that such recognition best comes by seeking to know more about God and the Beloved Son and searching the clear, powerful truths contained in the Book of Mormon.
She summarized: “We will come to know our Heavenly Father in the Book of Mormon, which is another testament of Jesus Christ, His Son. And in knowing Them, we will have that eternal truth, that we are children of God with divine potential imprinted upon our hearts. … I testify that it is another testament of Jesus Christ, and you will find Him, and our Father in Heaven, and your divine identity and purpose in its pages.”
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