Fulfill the Mission Appointed You

Today we commemorate the arrival of the pioneers in the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. I thought of my most well-known pioneer ancestor, Dan Jones, who received the last known prophecy from the Prophet Joseph: “You will see Wales and fulfill the mission appointed you ere you die.” Indeed, Dan Jones did not die at Carthage and was on a mission to Wales with his wife Jane two months later. They labored there for over four years until January 1849, and he found his voice as a staunch supporter of the Restoration through not only his powerful sermons but also the periodical that he published, Zion’s Trumpet. One history summarized the writing he did during that first mission: “In addition to the monthly periodical, Dan Jones also published a hymnal for Welsh Latter-day Saints, a 104-page history of the Church, at least fifteen pamphlets, and a 288-page scriptural commentary in defense of the Church.” I believe that a major part of “the mission appointed” to him as prophesied by Joseph Smith was to write in defense of the gospel. Thousands joined the Church during that first mission, and many came with him as they traveled to be with the Saints in 1849. Only two years after settling there, though, he was called again by Brigham Young to serve a mission in Wales. He served about another four years and again took to writing and publishing there with his own printing press. He baptized about 2000 more people that second mission and between the two he served about eight years as a missionary. He finally returned to Utah in 1856 and died about five years later due to ill health. He had finally fulfilled his mission.

                President Hinckley wrote an article about the life of Dan Jones and then summarized it this way: “Dan Jones must certainly be included in the half dozen or so most productive missionaries in the history of the Church. He dedicated his life to the teaching of righteousness and the building of faith. I add my testimony of the greatness of his contribution and of the everlasting consequences in the lives of generations of people when we will take the Lord at his word and share the gospel with others: ‘Behold, I say unto you, that the thing which will be of the most worth unto you will be to declare repentance unto this people, that you may bring souls unto me, that you may rest with them in the kingdom of my Father.’ (D&C 15:6.)” Ultimately his mission was to write and preach the gospel and to bring thousands of souls in Wales to a knowledge of the Restoration. He did indeed “fulfill the mission appointed [him]” before he died, and his life invites us each to consider what mission the Lord has appointed to us and how we will fulfill it. The Lord once said of Sidney Gilbert and William W. Phelps, “Let them take their journey in haste that they may fill their mission, and through faith they shall overcome; And inasmuch as they are faithful they shall be preserved, and I, the Lord, will be with them” (Doctrine and Covenants 61:9-10). We likewise are encouraged to make haste and fill the mission that the Lord has for us, even if it is less conspicuous than that of Dan Jones or some of the other early pioneers. Like Thomas B. Marsh, the Lord has “a great work for [us] to do” if we will “gird up [our] loins for he work” (Doctrine and Covenants 112:6).

                The 2021 youth theme song Great Work sums up this idea with these lyrics: 

There is a work to do

that was prepared for you

long before the world was made.

You have the strength you need

to cross the stormy seas

that you will find along the way. 

He is your refuge from the storm.

And you will never be alone.

This is a great work that we’ve been given.

This is a part of His grand design.

So don’t be weary. He will be with you,

And He will lead you through the night

in this great work. This great work. This is a great work. 

The work of God was not finished with Dan Jones, and it won’t be “until the end of man, neither from that time henceforth and forever” (2 Nephi 29:9). We each have the opportunity to participate in His “marvelous work” and fulfill the mission appointed to us individually if we but have “desires to serve God” and thrust in our sickles with all our might.