I just found this talk on missionary work from 2019. I talk about a couple things I learned on my mission and some things I learned from my daughter’s missions. 🙂
Abby and I were at the airport for some reason and saw an asian missionary walking around like he had no idea what to do. We tried to talk to him but he spoke very little English. We were able to figure out that he was a missionary from some Chinese speaking country who was here to go to the MTC. He had been wandering around for a while and was very hungry. We got him something to eat and then were able to figure out where he was supposed to go to get on the shuttle to the MTC.
I was grateful to have this chance to pay it forward because I received some tender mercies when Abby left on her mission, along the same vein. On Tuesday morning, November 5, 2019, we got up at 3 am and headed to the SLC airport.
We met lots of missionaries there that were also on their way to the Mexico MTC, but Abby was the only one on her flight. I met a mom of one of those missionaries and she took a cute picture of Abby, which she texted to me. After we watched Abby go through security and we couldn’t see her anymore, we left for home. When she was waiting for her flight, she was informed that it would be late, so she wouldn’t be able to meet her connecting flight to Mexico. All this happened after we dropped her off. She had a hard time getting a hold of Church Travel, because she couldn’t get her card to work with the pay phone. We were almost home when she was able to borrow someone’s phone and call us to let us know what had happened and Church Travel was still trying to figure something out. This is when we received a picture from another stranger. They texted a picture of her meeting an older sister who had also served in Lima Peru on her mission.
This gave me such comfort! I appreciated this picture so much! After we were home, we received another phone call. This time Abby was telling us that they switched her to a Delta flight, which meant that she had to go get her luggage that she had already checked and go to a different terminal. I was wondering how she would get her 3 pieces of luggage to a different terminal all by herself! She had to get to the Delta Terminal, check her luggage again, and go through security again. Once again, some good Samaritans who were dropping their missionary off, helped Abby get to that terminal and texted us 2 more pictures of Abby, still smiling. These greatly calmed my nerves and helped me to remember that God would watch over her. The next day, I got a text from this same family that said, We were so worried about your missionary all night. Did she make it to the MTC okay? I was so grateful to these strangers who served our daughter that day. Yes, she made it to the CCM and we got to talk to her yesterday. I can already tell that being able to talk with our missionary on a weekly basis is going to help a lot! I would like to report that Abby says her companion talks so much, she can barely get a word in! Now, isn’t that ironic?!
Anyway, as you can imagine, I have been thinking a lot about missions over the last few weeks. There are a lot of similarities and also many differences between the full-time missions that we serve. It also has caused me to think about what I learned from my mission and what I learned from my daughter’s serving. Besides the obvious goal of finding God’s children all over the world to help them find the truth and help them understand or improve their relationship with Jesus Christ, there are also the lessons that we learn and insight we gain. Last Sunday, I had a discussion with my family about the things I learned from their missions and also what they learned while there.
In thinking about it, I feel that one of the biggest lessons I learned in Thailand was that God loves His children all over the world and has a plan for each one of them. I prayed often to love the people I served and that prayer was answered. I loved the Thai people I served and also the refugees who came from Viet Nam, Laos, and Cambodia. I gained a realization of how richly blessed I was and how important it is to share those blessings with those that around us.
I can still remember my first day in the refugee camp. I was following around the director and watching what she did with the classes she taught. One of her classes was a group of Hmong hill tribe children. These children lived in the mountains of Laos and were known for being quite rambunctious.
They had never been in formal classes of any kind and were dirty with ratty hair. This sister would play classical music and wash and comb their hair and put barrettes and ribbons in the girl’s hair. She would wash their faces. As I was observing her do this, in my mind’s eye for just a second, I saw them all dressed in white. Such a beautiful reminder to me of how God feels about the “least of His children”. This was a wonderful way for me to start my time at the refugee camp and helped me to try to treat everyone I met there with the dignity, respect and love they deserve.
Another lesson I learned that I had never thought about before, is that Heavenly Father knew me better than I knew myself. When I received my mission call to Bangkok, Thailand I went in faith, but didn’t really feel that that seemed like “me”. I was surprised to find out that this was absolutely the mission for me. I loved it with all my heart and was so amazed that I found a part of me there that I didn’t know existed, but Heavenly Father did.
I learned patience and persistence and the power of the cumulative effect. My individual effort may not have amounted to much, but when combined with the efforts of many others over many years, miracles occurred. It has been a number of years since I served in Thailand. When I was there, the church was relatively young. The work was slow. We were definitely planting seeds. Now, I have lived long enough to see some the results of all those seeds that were planted. It is remarkable and amazing to see what Heavenly Father had in mind and knew could happen there. I admire so much those first members, the pioneers. They had all the responsibilities of membership but very few of the benefits from being in an area where the church isn’t fully established. Now, years later, those that stuck with it have been richly blessed and have paved the way for many others to come to Christ. There is a temple being built in Bangkok. What a beautiful blessing for these stalwart saints. I am so happy for them.
(The temple has been built and dedicated and I was blessed to be able to return to Thailand after 40 years and go to the temple open house!) I learned to stick with the Lord and be patient and beautiful things will happen. I would like to add that I think one of the things that prove that God is God is that He is able to let us help Him with His work and He can use us in our weaknesses and knuckleheaded ness to accomplish His purpose. It is messy but it works because God is God.
This is what I learned from Courtney’s mission to Wisconsin. She got there during an especially cold snap. She started her mission trudging around Wisconsin in below zero weather. After a couple weeks of this, she was a bit disillusioned and starting to understand that this was going to be very difficult. The thing that got her through was her thinking of the pioneers. She thought of their difficulties making their way to Utah, and she decided if they could do it, then she could too. She dug deep and found more courage and determination than she knew she possessed. She became a successful missionary and I am so proud of her.
The biggest lesson I learned from Ashley’s mission occurred during a difficult time when she had a companion that was routinely sleeping in until 10 every morning.
She did her gospel study by herself. One morning as she was studying and pondering about her situation, the following thought came to her regarding her companion: Don’t define her by her weaknesses. This has caused me much reflection so many times. I know this was the Spirit. This gave me insight into the compassion and patience and love that Heavenly Father has for us. He doesn’t define any of us by our weaknesses.
The thing I have learned so far from Abby’s mission is just a reminder that we can do hard things. He doesn’t take away the hard things, but if we watch for them, He does send us tender mercies along the way.
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I have been speaking today about full-time missions, but I would like to acknowledge and stress that this path is not for everyone. It is important for each of us to seek out the Lord and inspiration from Him as to how He would have us live our lives. Besides serving full-time missions, I feel that there are also other missions that He would have each of us perform in this life. Once again, this is going to look different for each person. Heavenly Father has a plan for each of His children. This is why we need the Spirit in our lives to figure out what He would have us do. This is also why it is important not to compare ourselves with others. Our plans are each individual. Maybe it is in God’s plan for us to serve a full-time mission, maybe even many. Maybe it isn’t. What is required from each of us is to pay the price to seek the spirit so that we can know what He wants us to do, or to feel approval from Him in what we bring to him in prayer.
Alma 26:37
Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people, whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever.
The words of a primary song:
My life is a gift; my life has a plan.
My life has a purpose; in heav’n it began.
My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth
And seek for God’s light to direct me from birth.
I will follow God’s plan for me,
Holding fast to his word and his love.
I will work, and I will pray;
I will always walk in his way.
Then I will be happy on earth
And in my home above.
