(See Part 1 here.)

Movie Storyline – Themyscira, Island of the Amazons

Diana, before she becomes known as Wonder Woman, lives on an island called Themyscira. This was an island created by the gods (from Greek mythology) so that the Amazon women could be totally protected from the world, specifically, the troubles of the world. No one from the outside world knows it’s there, and it is protected by a sort of transparent wall. It is so hidden that Diana and her family-tribe don’t even see the outside world.

Even though the Amazons are completely sequestered, they do not sit idly and do nothing. These are women who, even if the outside world does not (yet) impact them, they train themselves as if they will someday be thrust into the world of man.

During that time, Diana is taught the barest beginnings of her potential as a great warrior and defender. As she grows in strength and power, the bubble-wall that has previously shielded Themyscira from the world begins to weaken.

In fact, a war is raging just outside the borders of Themyscira and the Amazons haven’t seen it or been aware of its effects. Until, that is, the day that Diana grows to her full capacity in strength. That’s the day that the wall weakens enough that a small conflict just outside the island borders enter Themyscira’s atmosphere, and the two worlds collide.

It is at that time that Diana realizes that with her power and strength, she can do much to help fight the battle against evil.

Gospel Parallel: Pre-mortal Life

We know we were foreordained to specific and individual missions in the premortal life. This doctrine has been taught in every dispensation.

Elder McConkie said, “Preexistence is not some remote and mysterious place. All of us are but a few years removed from the Eternal Presence, from him whose children we are and in whose house we dwelt. All of us are separated by a thin veil only from the friends and fellow laborers with whom we served on the Lord’s errand before our eternal spirits took up their abodes in tabernacles of clay.” (Bruce R. McConkie, “God Foreordains His Prophets and His People,” April 1974 General Conference.)

(I prefer the term “premortal” to “preexistence” because we have always existed. “Premortal” more accurately talks about the world we lived in before being born to this one.)

“Premortality is not a relaxing doctrine. For each of us, there are choices to be made, incessant and difficult chores to be done, ironies and adversities to be experienced, time to be well spent, talents and gifts to be well employed. Just because we were chosen ‘there and then,’ surely does not mean we can be indifferent ‘here and now.’” (Neal A. Maxwell, “Premortality, a Glorious Reality,” October 1985.)

Why It Matters

Okay, so we had a life before this one. Many people have some sense of that, even if they haven’t fully been taught that doctrine. There is a kind of logic to it that rings true to our souls.

But here’s why it matters: Joseph Smith said, “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the grand council of heaven before this world was.” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 365.)

We were each foreordained with a specific mission before we were born into mortality. We should be actively using this time in mortality to grow and increase our talents and abilities that we were sent here with.

What Is Your Mission?

What were you born to do? What mission did you covenant in the pre-mortal life to fulfill in this one? Do you know? Do you live your life with that objective in mind?

“We were born for eternal glory. Just as faithful men were foreordained to hold the priesthood, we were foreordained to be women of God. We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity…” (Sheri L. Dew, “We Are Women of God,” October 1999 General Conference.)

There are many ways to “remember” what that mission is. Sometimes clues are given in patriarchal blessings. Or perhaps because of certain innate talents that seem to be so much a part of us, we are drawn to do specific things.

And there is always the counsel in John 14:26  that tells us that by the power of the Holy Ghost, all things can be brought to our remembrance. As you seek to discover what your mission is, you will be taught by and through the Holy Ghost that you are on the right path.

Thin Veil

As we remember what we were foreordained to do, we should do everything in our power – and with Heaven’s help – to grow in strength and power to increase our abilities and capacities so that we can fulfill those missions. The more we prepare ourselves to fulfill that foreordination, the more the veil between us and the spirit world or spiritual things will thin out. We will become as the Brother of Jared who exercised such great faith that the veil separating this physical world and the spirit world thinned until he saw first the finger of the Lord, and then Jesus Himself, face to face. (See Ether 3:19-20.)