It is a practice among military personnel to use the phonetic alphabet to send messages that are unmistakable by the unique words chosen to represent letters. The letters "CM" represent the message "Continue the Mission" and since the phonetic code for C is Charlie and for M is Mike, it can be communicated by saying the words "Charlie Mike." Since President Cooke has a military background, about a year ago he started using this slogan for our mission, and I think it has a profound meaning to recognizing the purpose of a full-time mission. The first message that it sends is that we truly are on a mission. We have been called and set apart by ordained servants of the Lord Jesus Christ and have been directed to spend every ounce of effort that we can muster to invite others to come unto Christ by receiving the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and his atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost and enduring to the end. It is the most joyful, difficult, heartbreaking work that we can be engaged in, but we are called to do it nonetheless. The second message that Charlie Mike sends is to continue on. Two years might seem like such a long time to serve as a missionary all day every day, and so it requires daily insistence that we continue onward in a persistent and diligent effort to share the gospel. I've done all I can to Charlie Mike by leaving my home, returning to the mission field after returning home, giving up every personal affair possible, being obedient every day, giving all my strength and talents to help improve the lives of others, and accepting the tasks and trials with which the Lord has seen fit to grant to me. But I'm not done.
To me the purpose of a mission is to take a Latter-day Saint and set them apart even farther from the world in order to help them become an instrument of the Lord. I am not retiring from that ideal. I haven't come so far to decide that I'm done serving the Lord through serving my brothers and sisters. I want to share my desires with whoever might read this because I want to be accountable and reminded of the lessons I learned as an ordained minister of Jesus Christ. I don't want to stop until every nation has had the gospel declared to them and had the opportunity to receive the fulness of the gospel. It has blessed my family so much, how could I not want that for everyone? It isn't time to take a break and slow down, today is a day for us to pick up our pace and speed up! I want to share with you my testimony of the blessings of missionary work. There is no wonder why there is so much preached and prophesied about the marvelous work and wonder that will take place in our day, it is amazing! It has been a great privilege of mine to meet some of the best people alive today, and to see them grow as I grew as a disciple of Christ.
This past week was not without tender mercies and miracles. We started our Chinese Sunday School class and although few came, I felt the spirit confirm to me that the direction we are headed is not just my will but it is His also so we don't need to fear. I got to teach an investigator that I have worked with for a long time now about fasting and felt the Lord's help in communicating my feelings in Chinese. I recognized divine help in performing the cello again for the first time in years at the visitor center. I got to help the Feng family prepare names for the temple which they were able to do on Tuesday. There is so much work to do on both sides of the veil, it is such an exciting prospect to me.Elder John Hosack Lim
September 26th, 2012 - April 15th, 2015
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