Chapter 33

Mission Call

James is called on a mission to St Louis, Missouri—His extensive work in the ward as a youth
prepares him to lead.

On May 10, 1980, James Hancock reached the age of mission accountability for male
members of the Church. In September of the same year, he received a call to serve in the
Missouri-St Louis mission.

Much had happened over the prior two years. A self-starter, he had looked around his
ward and had seen all the important work of Zion that needed to be done, and had gone about
doing it. Through these experiences, he had become trained in the gospel to a level far beyond
his years and had gained substantial firsthand experience with the gifts of the Spirit. He was
well-prepared and more than ready to serve a mission, for it was not a departure from, but a
continuation of the life goals he had already set in motion. James, therefore, was not called by
the Lord to serve a mission in St. Louis, he was chosen. And why was he chosen? Because he
was prepared to make a significant impact upon any mission of the Church anywhere around the
world. The place where he would actually be called by the Lord to serve really didn’t matter.

Only nineteen years old, James seized upon the opportunity to serve a mission. He was
prepared to stand up and lead other missionaries to greatness—as a captain over ten, as a captain
over hundreds, as a captain over thousands, or as a captain over hundreds of thousands. He
possessed a set of leadership skills as defined by the Lord’s standards, not the world’s. His vision
of the five-dollar lawn—the building up of one's ward and stake into something glorious—was a
perfect fit for every mission of the Church.

For the past three years he had spent time learning all he could about wards: ward
organization, priesthood leadership, priesthood ordinances, visiting members, Relief Society,
youth leadership, scouting, the welfare program, and the management of Church finances. He
had learned a great deal about stakes: stake presidencies, the high council, and other stake
auxiliaries. He had also learned much about the Church organization overall: the First
Presidency, the Quorum of the Apostles, the Quorums of the Seventy, Church charitable
organizations, the full-time missionary program, the Church education system, and so forth.

He had also taken the opportunity to relearn the basics of the gospel, covering those
things he had been taught as a child and as a youth, and discovering many important things on
his own: faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, enduring

to the end, prayer, serious prayer, the scriptures, love, charity, a testimony, gifts of the Spirit,
peace of soul, agency, obedience to God, obeying Church leaders, obeying the law of the land,
and so forth.

He had been invited to tag along as a junior companion on visits throughout the ward
with members of the bishopric and the elders quorum. Designated by Bishop Tyler as an on-call,
backup resource for some Melchizedek duties, he averaged ten visits a week in that role. He
learned the value of hard work by participating in a number of service projects, stake welfare
farm assignments, and other things that came up in the ward day by day. By volunteering all of
his basketball hours, James became an indispensable resource to the priesthood leadership. He
was dependable, available to help on anything and everything (except heavy lifting situations)
and, most importantly, he performed his tasks, both temporal and spiritual, with a long-term,
strategic vision of the ward in mind, giving him added patience and a strong desire for the work.
He never rushed—trying to get his priesthood assignments done quickly so he could move on to
"more important things" like school homework, movies, or sporting events. The work of the
Lord was his primary occupation in life; school and the part-time work he did on Saturdays with
his father were secondary tasks he did in support of this.

James, also, after having served in this special ward calling for a few years, had come to
better understand the goals the Lord has for His Church. The Sunday services and the Church
programs were important, but the family was even more important. It was clear that the
implementation of gospel principles, and the establishment of Zion in the ward, was something
done primarily in the homes of the members. It required that strong relationships be established
between God and the family, between husband and wife, between parents and children, between
brothers and sisters, between grandparents and grandchildren, between families and their
neighbors and the other members of the ward.

With this in mind, James started to learn more about the home and about families: family
home evening, family prayer, father’s blessings, family journals, home finances, visiting and
taking care of grandparents, genealogical work, eternal families, temple sealings, family
councils, children faithfully doing their chores, and so forth—all things that contribute to the
success of an Latter-day Saint family. His goal, the goal of the Church, and, indeed, the goal of
the Lord, was to strengthen families and single adult family units of the ward in the gospel.

In his seventeenth year, James made an appointment with the stake patriarch to receive a
patriarchal blessing. The patriarch was an older man, about sixty-five years old, and known to
everyone as Brother Powell. He had served in this calling for several years and, before that, had
served in the same capacity for another stake. He had substantial experience in this area, having
given many patriarchal blessings over the years.

On the day that James arrived with his parents at the Powell's home, he was greeted
warmly at the door by Brother and Sister Powell. They knew James by reputation as a talented
basketball player at the local high school, and had even seen him play on one occasion, so they
were very happy to gain his acquaintance.

What transpired next was a pleasant surprise to all involved.

Seating him on a chair in their front room, Brother Powell placed his hands on James's
head and started to give him the blessing. However, after pronouncing his full name, James
Winfield Hancock, stating the authority, and following with a declaration of other important
things common to all patriarchal blessings, Brother Powell's mind suddenly went blank. The
pause was only for twenty or thirty seconds, but it seemed to everyone to be much longer than
that. Brother Powell found himself in a stupor; he was confused, temporarily unsure of himself,
and even a little embarrassed in front of everyone around him, especially James beneath his
hands. But soon his tongue was loosened by the Spirit, and he spoke these words:

You will bring many souls to me

And you will rejoice

You will seek knowledge of the finer points of my gospel

And you will find it

As you seek to establish Zion

And perform great miracles in my name

The glory of righteousness will follow you

And the people will rejoice

You will learn

You will grow

You will believe

You will know

You will behold my face

Your countenance will shine

You will walk with me

You will be mine

You will marry

You will love

You will travel the eternal worlds together upon a chariot of fire

Your seed as the sands of the sea

You will live

You will be happy

You will die

You will rise in glory

James, these blessings are yours, in faithfulness, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

The blessing was in poetic form, and shorter than one might expect, but James loved it.
He saw it as a blank slate, something he could write upon and define further details for by his
works in the years ahead. It was also somewhat of a template patriarchal blessing that could be

used for all members of the Church—a restatement of the same opportunities we all have to
receive the greatest blessings of the Lord in this life and the next.