Next week we will focus on missionary work by looking at the calls to various individuals: 4 (Joseph Smith Sr.), 11 (Hyrum Smith), 12 (Joseph Knight, Sr.), 14 (David Whitmer), 15 (John Whitmer), 16 (Peter Whitmer Jr.), 18, 31 (Thomas B. Marsh), 33 (Ezra Thayre and Northrup Sweet), and 75. (We will spend more time in the underlined sections.)
As section 4 teaches (and several other sections repeat) "if you have desires, you are called to the work." Though the subjects of these revelations are all men, men are certainly not the only individuals who had desires and felt the call to the work. To that end, look at examples of testimony and exhortation in early Mormon women here and the specific example of Rebecca Swain Williams sharing the gospel with her immediate and extended family here.
As a bonus thought: Sections 15 & 16 are the exact same, except for an extra unto in 15:6. Yet, despite this the introduction to section 15 reads: The message is intimately and impressively personal in that the Lord tells of what was known only to John Whitmer and Himself. How could this be? A message that is almost exactly repeated to his brother and somewhat repeated to several others?
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