Did you serve an LDS mission?

[kathysmike]

Served Nevada Las Vegas 84-85, While I was out we had to make the choice Between serving the 18 monyhs I had been called our extendeding it to the 24. I was told to serve 18 months, today I still can not figure the earthly reasons, but I willing would of served the 24 If that was the answer I recieved. I do not regret one moment of my time served.

[Colirio]

Brasil Brasilia 96-97, Portuguese speaking.

I've retained my language skills very well since I married a half-Brazillian girl, became a graduated instructor of capoeira (Brazillian martial art) in the years since my mission, and have been back a couple of times to meet some in-laws as well as to work on the Porto Alegre temple doing restoration and translation work.

Due to my young, American nature, some of the worst times I have had in my life was the first couple of months in Brazil. The first meal was in a shack made out of trash from the dump next door to it, had a dirt floor, and the spindly chicken in the pan still had the head and feet on it. Starving afterwards, I talked my companion into swinging by the grocery store on the way home. After combing the aisles for 10 minutes, I left with a pack of cookies because it was the only food to be found that didn't require preparing and cooking to be found in the whole store.

I went back to our home and cried when I realized I had two more years to look forward to.

The next day's meal consisted of beans and raw bacon mixed into it. My companion spent the next day throwing up. I had nothing left in my stomach to throw up.

The first Sunday there my companion had to translate what was being said. Apparently, the Bishop was preaching the second coming was going to be in the year 2000. Later the following week, my companion and I showed up for a baptism, only to find no one else there. No ward members, no investigators, nobody but my companion and I. Turns out the same bishop had taken it upon himself to personally interview the prospective new members and decided that he didn't feel they were ready, so, he cancelled their baptism until he decided they were doctrinely prepared. No one bothered to notify the Elders of course...

My journal reflects how much I hated the Brazillian people, the culture, and how I was ready to leave the mission altogether as a result. It took nothing short of the Lord's marvelous power to help my heart begin to change.

Fast forward a couple of months and I found myself on a 30 hour bus transfer to the furthest jungle city in our mission. I was a lone passenger on a bus (no companions accompanied such long transfers) at 2 am in the middle of the jungle on a continent thousands of miles away from my home and family. I didn't speak the language to even be able to talk to the driver and know where we were or how much longer the ride would be. It was the most alone I had ever felt. I started singing the first hymn that came to mind which was "How Great Thou Art." While singing to myself, we passed from under the jungle canopy. I have never since seen stars so bright as they were that night. I knew I was not really alone anymore. I still cry when I think of that night.

Somehow over the course of two years, the Lord turned goofy white bread into something of substance.

The tally at the end of my mission was 65 people I had baptized. The last one was performed by young man I had baptized. There was at least one young man named Wesley who later served a successful mission of his own.

Even though I have lost contact with them over the years, I can tell you without a doubt that my having served a mission saved at least one soul.

Mine.

Edited January 19, 2012 by Colirio

[bytebear]

Boston, MA 89-91 including the whole state and southern New Hampshire and some or RI. I spent half my mission in New Hampshire off and on.

My favorite story is how one day, a very nice woman showed up to church. She had found an old Book of Mormon that her husband had picked up somewhere. She was already converted and began attending church with her teenage daughter. We taught her after church, and after a few lessons she asked what the church's stance was on divorced women. We thought it was just another general cultural question about how the church worked, but she then said she was prepared to divorce her husband because he didn't want her to be baptized. Shocked, we told her not to divorce her husband and emphasized the importance of families. Since he allowed here to attend church but would not attend himself, she agreed to continue attending and wait. Well, it didn't take long. After a month he finally agreed to attend, and I think he was surprised that the church was so normal. They were all baptized a few weeks later.

Another family I taught and was baptized has since sent two sons on missions.

[RipplecutBuddha]

California, San Diego mission 97-99.

My first companion had a nickname. "The grumpy old man". It was highly ironic for me because I didn't put in my papers until I was 25. So really, I was the 'old man' of the two of us. At any rate, one moment with him I will never forget. It was during the first few weeks of my mission, when a hurricane was coming ashore. The Mission President decided to lock us down for the storm, except for church if it lasted that long. In our apartment we were going stir-crazy. We'd been through the apartment, cleaning and organizing everything. We went through the area book, discussing each person/family and what they needed, etc.

At the end of one day, we were doing personal study. My companion asked me an interesting question. "What do you want to accomplish with your mission?" I was struck by it and I wasn't sure how to answer. He went on "You can't say you want to proselyte, give out Books of Mormon, baptize someone...that's what every missionary is supposed to do anyway. You need a goal for your mission; a mark to strive for above your expected duties." I thought about it and then answered "I want to bring a complete family into the church. Not just one member, but parents, kids, the whole thing."

He nodded "That's a good goal. Now, what will you do to reach it? In order to get that goal, you've got to be willing to do what it takes, and it won't all be fun." For a grumpy old man, he knew what he was talking about. I could tell that right away.

In the last part of my mission I served in the largest area of the mission, I was in a three-part companionship with two excellent elders. One was exuberant and very outgoing, the other was quite shy and withdrawn. Both were very good companions. We had been referred to a family that had run into the elders in the city. As it turned out, the father was born and raised in the church until he turned ten. At that time his parents were going through a divorce, and they let him choose who he would live with. He chose his dad, who shortly thereafter became inactive. As a result, he stopped going as well.

Fast forward several years, he was married and had three children. The oldest was 16, the youngest was 10 (I think). They had gone to several different churches over the years, but never really stuck to any of them. The husband cme across the elders in the city, and they invited him to have us visit his family in their home. He agreed, and we headed out (on an hour-long drive) to see them. During our visit, they agreed to take the discussions. We set them up with books of mormon and bibles, and the first discussion went beautifully. When we felt it was right, we asked them if they would be baptized. At first they didn't answer, but they agreed to discuss it, and answer when we came back for the next discussion. Lots of missionaries already understand what that answer usually is. We were a bit let down, but we decided to think positively.

Three days later, and four days before our next visit, the wife called and told us they want to be baptized. You can imagine our reaction. When we did visit them again, the wife and each child had decided to join the church. Here's where it got interesting. Dad was already a member, but he didn't hold the priesthood. He wanted to baptize his family himself. We thought it was an excellent idea, and the bishop was very excited himself.

Fast forward to the last discussion, the mother's father was in the hospital in Texas in very serious condition. She had immediately left to be with him, and was not present when we showed up for the final discussion. We had agreed at the outset that the discussions happened when everyone was there, and only then. So our next three meetings were basically question and answer sessions, which were amazing and quite productive as well. At the same time we felt like we were spinning our wheels, and that the window of opportunity was closing on the family. We didn't let our concerns show to them, but they were there anyway.

Finally we noticed that Dad was having a hard time with the homemaking matters, specifically the meal preparation. When dad says 'We just had dinner', and you see the fixings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches still on the table, you know there's an issue. When we got home that evening we talked about where things stood with the family and what may end up happening. Mom wasn't coming home, though she was calling home every day with updates, and 'I want to come home, but Grandpa is still so sick'. We were somewhat at a loss as to how to proceed. The wheel-spinning was becoming very unnerving.

We decided we could at least help them with some hot dinners, so we called up the RS president and explained what was going on. The family had been to several sacrament meetings from the start, so the ward knew them and welcomed them happily. We asked the RS president if she could have someone take a dinner out to them that night. She immediately agreed.

What she did blew us away. She had a dinner (main dish, side, veggies, and desert) out at their home that night! Then she saw the real state of things, details we may have missed. At least, I think we missed some details because she scheduled several sisters to take turns doing the same....for the next month! All of them were excited to be able to help, and nearly half of them called to thank us for the call to service. You can imagine our reaction to that...

The family was blown away, to say the least. Dad called Mom and told her what was happening. She was blown away. The next day her father was improving steadily enough that she felt good in coming home. The day she arrived, she called us and told us we needed to get out to their house that night so we could hold the last discussion.

When we got there, she hugged each of us, tears in her eyes, tears in our eyes. We then had one of the most spiritual discussions of my entire mission. The interviews were soon completed, Dad was interviewed by the bishop, and recieved the Aaronic Priesthood during priesthood meetings, ordained to the office of a Priest.

The baptism was held that afternoon, and Dad got to baptize his family into the church. A large part of the congregation showed up, far more than we expected. Each of us missionaries took turns confirming them, and I cannot express how that felt.

I had other amazing experiences, of course, but this one is my favorite because it involved so many people responding to the promptings of the Holy Ghost in exactly the right manner and time to bring it all together.

Add to that the visits I had to the San Diego temple....truly an unforgettable event in my life.

Oh, and the language I learned was english, but then I've been working on that for most of my life, and I still don't have it quite right....

Edited January 19, 2012 by RipplecutBuddha

[Colirio]

RCB, that is an awesome story! I really love hearing about those times when so many people got a chance to serve.

It's amazing to me how almost every missionary has at least one faith promoting story where things just seemed to work in a miraculous way.

Oh, and I served in the Tampa, Florida mission for a month or so waiting for my visa to Brazil. I saw someone else had also served in Florida...

Edited January 19, 2012 by Colirio

[john doe]

Served Nevada Las Vegas 84-85, While I was out we had to make the choice Between serving the 18 monyhs I had been called our extendeding it to the 24. I was told to serve 18 months, today I still can not figure the earthly reasons, but I willing would of served the 24 If that was the answer I recieved. I do not regret one moment of my time served.

I was one of the ones called for 2 years and they reduced it to 18 months while I was in the MTC. Those who had been out less than 1 year were given no choice but to go 18 months, but those out over a year were given the option to drop to 18 months or serve out the full 24 months. The reasons given at the time for the reduction was to help ease the financial burden on families and thus encourage more missionaries to go out who thought they couldn't afford the whole 2 years. I guess in the end they figured that the time difference didn't really have an effect on the number of missionaries in the field so they moved it back to 24 months.

[livy111us]

Anaheim California 98-00 and I can still honestly give the stereotypical answer that it was the best two years of my life and I learned and progressed more in that short time than any other time in my life. I absolutely LOVED my mission!!!! I was completely inactive for most of my life until about 6 months prior to my mission and had some life changing incidents happen which turned me around. I went from learning how to pray and being an investigator myself to being a missionary in no time at all. I was flooded with the Spirit and was very excited to share my happiness with others. I cannot wait until I get to serve again.

[Bini]

I read everyone's stories and they were all inspirational. Wow. Thank you for sharing.

I didn't go on a mission but most of you probably knew that from my posts. Out of my family, of ten kids total (3 of us were adopted), only one of us made it to the mission field. But of the grandkids that are of age, all the boys have gone.

[trubludru]

Canada Edmonton 00-02. Ironically spent about half my mission in Calgary (as the mission covered the north half of Calgary at the time) and no time in the Edmonton area. Also served in areas that were in Saskatchewan and British Columbia. Had some long bus rides for tranfers as I seemed to go from one edge of the mission to another, and I always had the good fortune that no one was ever around to pick me up at the bus station when I arrived due to some bad luck with communication about transfers. Our mission theoretically covered the North Pole, although we only had one companionship or senior couple to cover the entire Northwest Territory and by that I mean Yellowknife as there wasn't much population density anywhere else. I used to joke that some of my areas were bigger geographically than two or three of the smallest missions combined. And I think we figured if you were in Calgary, you were about as close to Salt Lake City as Yellowknife was to Edmonton.

Was one of the lowest baptizing missions in North America at the time . But one brother we thought would be an eternal investigator (he had been investigating the church for about two years already when I met him) finally got baptized a couple of weeks after I left the area and I was finally able to have the privilige of baptizing someone in my last area when I baptized a little girl whose family was becoming active in the church again. It was amazing to be able to have that experience as I had spent two years trying my best to see someone join the church and get baptized.

[MarginOfError]

I read everyone's stories and they were all inspirational. Wow. Thank you for sharing.

How about some not-so-inspirational ones.

I had a companion who took the rule that he shouldn't be separated from his companion a little too literally. He would walk so close to me that his elbow would frequently brush mine. It drove me crazy.

Finally, I'd had enough. We were getting on the subway on a busy Friday night, and I managed to time our entry onto the car just right so that he stepped on, I stopped, and the doors closed between us. The look of panic on his face was priceless when I waved good bye to him.

Just to add some pizazz to the stunt, I walked down to the other end of the platform to get on the next train so that he wouldn't find me so easily. When I got to our stop, however, I couldn't get off the train in time. So I ended up going past our stop. As the train zipped out of the station, I could see him pacing frantically trying to find me.

When I finally got back to our stop, he was gone. I was a little surprised that he actually left on his own, and I headed for the apartment. Sure enough, he was sitting out on the balcony watching for me and had opened the door before I made it up the stairs. Tot his day, he has no idea I did it on purpose.

When we got to the mission office on Monday, he was recovered a little better. He told the story to everyone in the office and we all shared a good laugh. Then the senior sister who was managing the office came over to me and quietly asked, "you did that on purpose didn't you?" When I answered yes, she grinned and said, "Good boy!"

[Bini]

Moe, haha thanks for sharing that :]

So maybe that story won't fall under the "inspirational" category but it's good to know that even in the mission field, there's a time and place for a little puck.

[estradling75]

Washington DC 94-96. I got there right as the Baltimore Maryland mission broke off. I understand that it made us one of the smaller missions geographically with just DC and southern Maryland.

I suppose one of my fondest memories was when I got to shake President Hinckley's hand. The Prophet had come to town to take care of some business. (which if I remember correctly included giving the then sitting US President a book containing his family history) The whole mission was granted permission to leave the mission boundaries and go to a chapel in Arlington to here him speak. It was a late evening meeting. There was a speaker before him. On any other occasion the first speaker would have been great to hear from, I think it was another apostle that was traveling with him, but we hadn't traveled to hear from an apostle (although that would have been a great reason to) we had traveled to hear from the prophet, and I simply don't remember who the first guy was.

I do remember President Hinckley getting up saying to his companion that he had been assigned as primary speaker and that usually meant speaking for 20 to 30 minutes, which he had done considerable less then. Technically I suppose it was a rebuke, but it came off as a ribbing between friends. Personally in my totally biased opinion I think that man choose the better path. Because we then got to hear from President Hinckley for the remainder of the time.

Before going, my mission leaders were careful to try to manage our expectations. They told us that he had arthritis in his hands and that shaking the hands of hundreds of missionaries (multiple missions were involved) could very well be beyond his physical ability. So after flying in, spending the day working meeting with various political leaders and power brokers then in the evening giving a much longer then expected talk to a horde of eager missionaries, he could have called it quits and everyone would have been happy. But he didn't. I can only assume he did it because he knew how much it would mean to us.

For him I had to appear to be just another missionary face in a large group of other faces, and yet for me it is a fond memory and brief personal experience as to the kind of man he was.

[beefche]

Are we sharing not-so-inspirational stories?

My dad visited his family while I was on my mission. I had to receive special permission in order to visit them (at the time, they were out of our boundaries), so my companion and I took a 6 hr train ride to visit for a weekend. While there, my dad (who uses handkerchiefs) ended up using my companion's handkerchief (she used it to wipe sweat or otherwise clean her hands). He discovered it when we were packing to go home and didn't have time to wash it. So, my companion took her handkerchief with my dad's...um...nose blowings home to wash.

A few months later, one of my cousins made the trip to Sofia to visit us. He took us to a bar (how's that for missionary appropriate buildings???) for drinks (we had juice to his alcoholic beverages). My cousin being the generous man he is wanted to give us money. So, he did the traditional thing(at least he said it was, but who knows? he had been drinking heavily). He took a bill, spit on it, slapped it on our foreheads and then toasted us. My companion turned to me with the spit infused bill on her forehead and asked, "What is it about your family and their bodily fluids??"

[Maureen]

I served mid-ninties in Florida and learned to speak southern.

LOVED IT!

Jenna, my FIL and MIL served IIRC, in St. Petersburg, Florida from Feb 1995 to August 1995. It ended shortly because my MIL passed away while serving.

M.

[Windseeker]

I served in Okayama (Hiroshima) Japan 1988-1990

I was always interested in Japanese culture. I started learning Japanese in High School. When my mission papers went in everyone asked where I want to go?, and I would say Japan, they would ask where do I 'Think' I'm going, and I would say Japan. I was told over and over that no one goes where they want to go. When my papers arrived I opened them and was super stoked to see I was going to Japan.

My first companion after sending his papers in prayed everyday to go anywhere except Japan..hehe. He was a great companion.

I really learned to appreciate the people and culture and had a wonderful time there. I was blessed to become proficient in the language. I got stuck in leadership positions which I never wanted, and always wished I could go to some outlying village and be left alone but it never happened for me. It was rare but I was able to see several families (father, mother, kids) join the Church. The hardest part for me was coming home. I pretty much turned around and went back as a flight attendant and did that for the next four years.

I'm teaching my Sunday School class how to pray in Japanese this Sunday, my daughters in my class and is super infatuated with all things Japanese (anime), I think the kids will like it and help them expand their minds about our members in other lands.

[Windseeker]

In Japan one of my favorite companions was 6'11''. We used to have fun knocking on doors. People already stared at us allot because we were foreigners but with him we saw jaws hitting the ground everywhere we went. We literally had a couple people scream in horror when they opened the door.

But my favorite thing about him was that he didn't play Basketball, much to the chagrin of all the basketballers that seemd to saturate my mission. :)

[Jennarator]

Jenna, my FIL and MIL served IIRC, in St. Petersburg, Florida from Feb 1995 to August 1995. It ended shortly because my MIL passed away while serving.

M.

Um, yes! I remember a sister that passed. I knew her, but for some reason can't remember her name. They was a very sweet couple. All the missionaries got a text page about it, and my companion almost didn't say anything to me cuz she thought it was a mistake.

[Daybreak79]

I served in the Canada Toronto East Mission, 01-03. English speaking.

[Maureen]

Um, yes! I remember a sister that passed. I knew her, but for some reason can't remember her name. They was a very sweet couple. All the missionaries got a text page about it, and my companion almost didn't say anything to me cuz she thought it was a mistake.

My MIL would have been Sister Jamieson. Actually, my MIL and I have (had?) the same first name. My husband's and my name were always in the Ward Directory and sometimes I would get phone calls looking for my MIL but calling me by mistake. They would ask to speak to Maureen and I would say "Speaking", then confusion would set in because of course I didn't sound like my MIL. :)

M.

[Maureen]

Canada Edmonton 00-02. Ironically spent about half my mission in Calgary (as the mission covered the north half of Calgary at the time) and no time in the Edmonton area....

How sad for you to have spent an Edmonton mission in Calgary and also deprived of the awesomeness that is Edmonton.

M.

[Guest FixingTheWrongs]

Micronesia, Guam 1994-1995

Back then that included the Marshall Islands, now they are a separate mission. I imagine a lot has changed. Likely email is used versus the two to three week letter delivery.

[Traveler]

Traveler, I sincerely hope you are not making that story up. It's just too beautiful.

The story is true - most of the people I was able to assist seemed to have some other "thing" bringing them along. It was not like I was that unusual a missionary - just very lucky.

So many RM talk about how hard their mission was - not at all my lot. Serving my mission was both a lot of fun and an adventure. My single biggest adjustment in life -ever - was coming home from my mission. A girl had wasted two years waiting thinking we would soon be married and I did not even want to see her. Tried dating and could not handle it at all. Could not handle college life - Told my parents I was leaving for a while and walked away into the desert trying to get away from people for a couple of months - And that is a whole other story.

The Traveler

[volgadon]

I can't believe I'm a firster to respond!

My son just returned from Ukraine (Russian speaking) and he's fairly fluent. But then, I don't think I ever really understood him. If you don't believe me, just ask him!

Which mission?

I've been to Ukraine (kudos for not using the definitive article!) several times, and have extended family there.

I served in southern Russia, one of the cities was only a couple of hours on foot from the border.

My wife

[mordorbund]

Anaheim California 98-00 and I can still honestly give the stereotypical answer that it was the best two years of my life and I learned and progressed more in that short time than any other time in my life. I absolutely LOVED my mission!!!! I was completely inactive for most of my life until about 6 months prior to my mission and had some life changing incidents happen which turned me around. I went from learning how to pray and being an investigator myself to being a missionary in no time at all. I was flooded with the Spirit and was very excited to share my happiness with others. I cannot wait until I get to serve again.

Anaheim California 00-02. I remember in the Missionary Training Center we were given a CultureGram - a document that describes the culture of the country you're going to. I got a good chuckle reading what demographers thought was important to know about American culture. I remember it said that we greeted each other with "hello" or "hi", although in the west "howdy" is popular. So I started greeting people with "howdy", and I still do to this day (I am still living in the west now). And of course I chuckle a little on the inside when I realize what I just said and why.

I went tracting down Newport Beach, where I was told missionaries are "rock stars of the Jesus world."

[DutchMissionary]

I did. I served in Holland and Belgium (dutch speaking of course) from 2006-2008.