What were your best/worst missionary experiences? Was all of it worth it?


WandererO
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Open discussion:

What were the best experiences on your mission?

What were your most trying times?

How did your mission impact/change your life?

Was going on a mission worth the sacrifices made?

What advice would you give to youth debating about choosing the opportunity to go on a mission? 

No need to answer the questions directly unless you wish to do so. There is a lot here and I didn't want to overwhelm but... whoops. I just want to learn about others experiences. Sorry for so many questions! Feel free to just talk about whatever mission topic you want.

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7 hours ago, WandererO said:

What were the best experiences on your mission?

Quite frankly... the studies. I taught and baptized a good number of people, but I learned and mastered the art of loving and studying scripture.

 

7 hours ago, WandererO said:

What were your most trying times?

The first years of my mission was very difficult as I had mostly difficult companions and I was trying to figure out how to get along with them but also be obedient. It was highly stressful and spoke with the mission counselor quite often.

 

7 hours ago, WandererO said:

How did your mission impact/change your life?

I always enjoyed the gospel, but it wasn’t till the mission that I became truly converted and loved it.

 

7 hours ago, WandererO said:

Was going on a mission worth the sacrifices made?

Ya... though I didn’t see it as a sacrifice... it was something I was always ganna do.

 

7 hours ago, WandererO said:

What advice would you give to youth debating about choosing the opportunity to go on a mission? 

 

If you choose not to serve, don’t justify your choice. Don’t tell yourself “The mission just wasn’t for me”, “God didn’t want me to serve”, “God needs me to serve my mission at home”, “if I served my mission then I wouldn’t have met my wife”, or any of the other often used excuses to justify and make one’s self feel better about breaking a commandment.

It is only destructive to yourself and everyone else who is in the decision making process of whether to serve a mission or not.

Be grown up enough to recognize your weakness in the gospel and make necessary changes to become the man that would serve a mission, then go serve

(note: I am not saying wait till you are “ready to serve”. I’m saying that if you have decided to not serve, then repent and serve.)

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On 3/18/2019 at 12:35 AM, WandererO said:

1. Was going on a mission worth the sacrifices made?

2. What advice would you give to youth debating about choosing the opportunity to go on a mission?

1. Yes. Pres. Kimball:

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And as we give, we find that “sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven!” (Hymns, no. 147.) And in the end, we learn it was no sacrifice at all.

2. As I have spoken to youth regarding this subject some random thoughts that come to mind:
a. You have had others serve you your entire life, parents, teachers, leaders, etc. - this is your chance to serve others and place others before yourself.
b. "If the Savior asked you personally to go serve a mission, would you?" - When was the last time you prayed and asked the Savior if you should?
c. Their are unique blessings and life experiences in serving a mission, many of which may take a lifetime to replicate outside of the mission field, don't miss out on these for something else in life that can wait for your return.
d. This is a chance to demonstrate to the Savior that you actually love him, exchanging lip service for action.

Hope these thoughts help in some way. Good luck.

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On 3/17/2019 at 11:35 PM, WandererO said:

What were the best experiences on your mission?

As not to go into too many specifics with this, my best experiences are the spiritual witnesses that confirmed to my mind and heart that I was a son of God. Not because my mommy and daddy said so, but my Father in heaven taught me. Previoulsy I had believed, since my mission I have known.

The sweet fruit of witnessing the Lord in someone's life as they accept the gospel. I further gained more appreciation for my parents who are both converts. I truly understood how humility is required to accept the gospel.

The sweet fruit of being a part of a family's re-activity to the gospel. Who then baptized his daughter and ordained his son to the Aaronic Priesthood. I learned with this experience that service at times will be the reason a heart is softened. Service to serve, nothing else.

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What were your most trying times?

My most trying times actually came from young and naive zone leaders who thought telling people they had no faith, or some other type of pitiful chastisement was good. That although I heard every week how numbers aren't more important than people, by the end of the week they cared more about a number than the people who were taught.

In our mission, we passed around "worn out shoes" to the zone that had the most baptisms. Our zone received this award. The funny thing, and trying thing, is that I received more chastisements during that time (because I didn't care about a number and achieving a number) than I did any other time on my mission, and yet when our zone received the "worn out shoes" my district was the only district that baptized. My companion and I, due to the Lord, actually brought more people that month to the Lord's church than anyone else. But I was told I was faithless at times because I didn't care about a number, but numbers aren't important people are. The souls of God's sons and daughters are, not numbers.

The rest of my mission after that month I always kept hearing how numbers don't matter people do (numbers represent people), but when the pavement hit the road the zone leaders cared more about numbers than they did people. This kept through my whole mission. It was dumb.

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How did your mission impact/change your life?

The sure knowledge that you are a son of God changes your life greatly. The decisions one makes now are in that light. I wouldn't have attracted my beloved if I had not served a mission. That is the greatest impact and blessing in my life.

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Was going on a mission worth the sacrifices made?

Yes, 100%. I would do it over again in a heart beat, and knowing what I know now if I was required to give more I would. I am looking forward to serving a mission with my wife, assuming we have the funds.

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What advice would you give to youth debating about choosing the opportunity to go on a mission? 

Pray. Its your choice, and a choice you must make.

Edited by Anddenex
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I served a mission for the restored Church of Jesus Christ in the 1990s.  The truths I learned while serving a mission I would not trade for $1,000,000,000.  One can take the good deeds and intelligence they learned in this life with them into the next.  Presently my wife and I are saving funds for retirement.  I won't be able to take that with me when my spirit departs from my mortal body.

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