--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - James X. Allen collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 7 published: 1905-05 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'James X. Allen, "Does It Pay to Fill a Foreign Mission?," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 7 (May 1905): 507.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0807unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0807unse start_page: 507 end_page: 507 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-05) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0807unse publication_year: 1905 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Does It Pay to Fill a Foreign Mission? DOES IT PAY TO FILL A FOREIGN MISSION? BY DR. JAMES X. ALLEN. A few Sunday nights back, our ward meetinghouse was filled to overflowing, every seat and all available standing room being occupied. The occasion was the return of a missionary, a young man whom everyone delighted to honor. Once in a while someone objects to taking a mission, saying he fears it will not pay. The excuses are: "I am not prepared. I don't see how I can fix for it," while the right kind of young man answers: "If I should be called, I will do my best to get ready." That is the right way to talk, and it pays. "For which of you intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?" Wise men count the cost, and weigh with the advantage, comparing the two, and then reach a conclusion. Does it pay? The answer is, in every mission faithfully performed, Yes; most assuredly. The grand reception given to our young brother was in itself more than equivalent for all his labor and sacrifice. It was a foretaste of the Father's welcome: "Well done,thou good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." But a warm and joyous home reception is not all the reward vouchsafed to the faithful brother who fills an honorable mission: 1. It establishes him in the confidence and affections of relatives and friends, which is a foretaste of heaven on earth. 2. If a young man has performed his whole duty, it crystalizes his confidence in our Heavenly Father and in the gospel of his Son, for his experience has taught him that the promises of God are faithfully fulfilled.