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Many people have trainings or classes to teach them specific skills that will serve them
well when they are looking for work or preparing for the rest of their lives. The skill that I
developed was developed during an unusual but exciting experience. This experience happened
while I was assigned to give voluntary service as a missionary in the Salem, Oregon area. I was
telling people more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
SalemOregonarea
A.
http://elderirvine.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
I left for my missionary service on February 3, 2014. Naturally, like everyone else I was
scared, nervous, and homesick. Everyone told me that this would end after a couple of weeks
but as I came to the end of my stay in the Missionary Training Center, I found myself more
terrified of what was to come. I tried to turn to my companion for comfort but nothing was
really working.
I departed the MTC on February 15 and flew out of Salt Lake City towards Portland,
Oregon. As I arrived in Oregon, I met my Mission President and his wife and felt of their
genuine love for me. That experience helped me a lot, although I still felt alone and scared. As a
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missionary, you work in pairs. So, at a meeting, I met Elder Mohler. He was going to show me
what to do, and both of us were assigned to work in Sisters, OR.
The next six weeks were an emotional rollercoaster because I really did not want to be
there. I was struggling to find motivation to get up and get moving each day. The schedule for a
missionary is very rigorous, with hours of study and being on your feet all day. When I was
younger, if things got hard, I would give up. I really did not want to give up on my mission, but I
couldn’t fight these feelings I was having. After six weeks, things were still hard. Elder Mohler
was sent to a new area and I was in charge of the Sisters area from that time forward. My new
companion’s name was Elder Moon. It was around two weeks after this change happened that
things started to look up.
By the time I was three months out, it was nearing Mother’s Day. As a missionary, we
are only allowed to email our family once a week to keep ourselves focused. However, we are
also able to Skype them on Christmas and Mother’s Day. So we were looking around for
members to let us Skype in their home. We arranged with the Ellis’; a great member missionary
family, to go over after church. Leading up to it, I knew it was going to be hard, especially
because I still had those feelings of homesickness. However, I never expected what would
happen afterwards.
Talking to my family was great. I loved to see each one of them and was happy to wish
my mom a happy Mother’s Day to her face. However, as I was saying goodbye, and after I hung
up, feelings of homesickness overshadowed everything. I felt as though I couldn’t do what I was
doing for two years. I wanted to go home. I was planning my trip home as we were driving to
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the Broomhead’s; another great member family, for dinner that night. I didn’t think that I could
do it.
When we got to the Broomhead’s home, Brother Broomhead answered the door and
invited us in (in the church we consider ourselves sons and daughters of God. So we call each
other “brother” or “sister”). I asked to use their bathroom, went inside, knelt down and prayed.
Don’t get me wrong, I prayed every day before this experience, but I never pleaded with my
Heavenly Father like I did that time. I told Him that I didn’t want to feel like that. I knew I
needed to be on my mission, but I didn’t think I could do it. After I finished my prayer, some
peace fell over me, enough to calmme down so that I could go to dinner.
Over the course of dinner, the subject of skyping our families came up. Sister
Broomhead turned to me and asked, “Was it hard?”. I broke down and started crying. Brother
Broomhead informed us that he used to serve as a Mission President. A Mission President is
someone who oversees a group, or mission, of missionaries. He shared scriptures with me that
really helped, but I still couldn’t shake the feeling.
The next day, I was still having a hard time. I decided to ask a local member; Brother
Ellis, whom I trusted, to give me a blessing. Before the blessing, he took me into a room and
talked to me about what was happening. He told me that I needed to turn to Christ and have
him lift this burden from me. As he was giving the blessing afterwards, he said the same thing.
Later on that same day, we were reading out of the Book of Mormon with some less-
active members. The Book of Mormon is a book of scripture that is another testament of Jesus
Christ. We picked up where we left off, Moroni chapter 9. As we read verse 25 my mind was
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enlightened: “My son, be faithful in Christ; and may not the things which I have written grieve
thee, to weigh thee down unto death; but may Christ lift thee up, and may his sufferings and
death, and the showing his body unto our fathers, and his mercy and longsuffering, and the
hope of his glory and of eternal life, rest in your mind forever.”B
This verse hit me like a ton of bricks. The Spirit was so strong, and it was telling me to
apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ. It was telling me to be faithful, work hard, and never give
up in any situation. It was telling me to believe in Christ and always rely on him when it gets
rough. It was this experience that helped me work harder because I knew there was someone
always there for me to help me. I know that this was what taught me to have great work ethic,
a skill that is hard to find nowadays. Earlier in my life, I would give up, but my increased faith in
Christ and how I knew he would help me through things helped me work harder. As I worked
harder, I realized how good it felt after I finished, and that it was always worth it. This
experience also taught me who my Savior is, that he loves me, and that I can always turn to
him. With this knowledge, I know that I CAN do hard things, especially in the work field. I will be
forever grateful for the experience that gave me my great work ethic.
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Sources:
A. Photo:
http://elderirvine.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html
B. The Book of Mormon, Moroni 9:25
