Dependent on the Lord

April 2024

Adam Roberts loved his mission. “As a kid, I always wanted to serve a mission,” he says. “A few months before my mission, I started worrying about having to talk to strangers in a different language, and that was scary.” But instead of living in fear, he chose to live by faith. 

Roberts served in the Vietnam Hanoi Mission. He says, “Although I got to serve the Lord’s children and help others come unto Christ, my mission definitely helped me come unto Christ the most by pushing me and testing my faith. I had a lot of doubts and fear at first. Acting in faith helped me to strengthen my testimony of Christ.” 

One of the best ways missionaries testify of Christ is through service. On a hot day, Roberts and his companion were at a park and happened upon two children and their mother. The family was speaking Khmer, the language of Cambodia, and did not speak Vietnamese. The missionaries felt prompted by the Spirit to help the family, so the missionaries bought the exhausted children and their mother some fried rice. Even though Roberts and his companion could not communicate verbally, they were still able to serve and show love. The children and mother were extremely grateful because they had been very hungry. Roberts explains, “It was one of those moments when we felt the need to serve. Service is a language that everyone can understand.” 

Roberts’s life-changing mission taught him to be more independent. But at the same time, it taught him to be completely dependent on Heavenly Father and on the Savior. To those who donate to the General Missionary Fund, he says, “Thank you! The funds used for the missionaries are sacred and important. The funds that helped me and countless others serve missions are absolutely priceless. Missions help those we teach and increase the membership of the Church, but they also help the missionaries themselves to become truly converted to the Lord.”