Elder Michael T. Ringwood Addresses Missionaries in the Ghana MTC

Missionaries at the Ghana MTC in Accra were blessed to hear a devotional delivered to them by Elder Michael T. Ringwood, a General Authority Seventy and a member of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, on 23 August  2024.  His remarks to the missionaries focused on reasons we serve missions.

Download Photo

Elder Ringwood began by asking the missionaries, “Why do we do missionary work?”   He first referenced various scriptures that teach us that in missionary work we participate with the Saviour in His work to redeem those who repent and are baptised. Following those references, he continued by recounting the experience of the early saints as recorded in sections 37-42 of the Doctrine and Covenants when they were commanded to go to the Ohio.  Elder Ringwood pointed out that they were commanded to move, to assemble, to agree on His word, to unite in the prayer of faith and, finally, as found in D&C 42:6, they were commanded to “go forth in the power of my Spirit, preaching my gospel, two by two, in my name, lifting up your voices as with the sound of a trump, declaring my word like unto angels of God.”  He summarized those scriptures by saying that that is exactly what they, as missionaries, are doing, and he emphasized that “The real reason we’re here is because the Saviour asked us to come.”

After that, he suggested that there is another very important reason for serving a mission.  He introduced that reason by recalling a statement made by President Gordon B. Hinkley years ago: “Every good thing that’s ever happened to me I can trace back to a lesson I learned on my mission.”  He then went on to make the point that a mission is intended to benefit the missionaries themselves in profound ways.

Drawing examples from the scriptures and from personal acquaintances, he admonished the missionaries to learn from President Hinkley and from those examples that “A mission is not just about teaching . . . it’s about the rest of your life . . . . If we think missions are just about baptising and teaching, we are short-changing ourselves. It’s about so much more. It’s about us as individuals, and who we can become.”

Elder Ringwood counselled the missionaries to reflect on the various experiences they will have during their mission and to ask themselves, “What can I learn from this experience?”  He noted that the mission, with its associated experiences, “will impact the rest of your life, and that’s what it’s meant to do.”

To summarize his remarks, Elder Ringwood re-emphasized for the missionaries the two purposes for a mission: “teaching the gospel and finding people that need the Saviour’s redemptive power, and also in teaching you and helping you become who it is God needs you to become.” He concluded with this plea: “I pray with all the energy of my heart that you’ll take advantage of every moment to learn, to grow.”

Following his remarks, Elder Ringwood took the time to shake hands with the missionaries.

Among his various responsibilities, Elder Ringwood assists members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in supervising the Africa West Area of the Church, along with the North America Northeast, Europe North, and Utah Areas.