A Word about Mormon Missionaries

Hey there Neighbor,


You may have seen some of these guys around town lately.


Or maybe girls that look like this.

I'm not surprised, they seem to be everywhere these days and you are probably going to see a lot more of them in the coming months and years. This is because the number of full time missionaries for the Church has gone from somewhere around 55,000 world-wide to 70,000 and is projected to be to over 85,000 in a very short period of time. The young people in our church are choosing to go out and serve in astounding and ever increasing numbers.

These missionaries are good, honest, talented, wonderful kids. They love the Lord and are doing what He has asked. "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."(Matthew 28:19) They have a glad message and they will share it with anybody who will stand still long enough to let them.

Missionaries are completely in the Lord’s service for 2 full years for the men and 18 months for young women. They put on hold schooling, jobs, dating, and all the things that others their age are doing. Their day starts at 6:30 am and ends at 10:30 pm every day of the week. They teach, proselyte, and do service projects. It is difficult and most times thankless work.

They do this willingly; they are not paid for their service. In fact, most of them worked jobs and saved before they went out to pay their way and in most cases their families and members of their home congregations are contributing to financially sustain them.

Intense sacrifice is made by the families of these missionaries; prayers are said daily and sometimes hourly for these beloved family members who are serving all over the world. “Keep them safe. Help them to find people to teach.” Mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, grandparents and friends, all of them are binding their hearts together in faith and love to ask for God’s blessing on these treasured youngsters.

So what I ask of you (my friends and neighbors who are not of my faith) is that when you see the missionaries out on their bikes, in the store, or on your doorstep please be kind to them. They know that this Gospel is not for everyone, but they want to give everyone a chance. They’ve seen it change lives, it has most likely changed theirs and so they are excited to tell you how the happiness that fills them can be yours as well.

When talking to them if you decide it is not for you then please just let them know. There is no need to be rude, call them names, or slam the door in their face. There is no need to get angry, or try to get them to fight with you. Try to remember that these are cherished sons and daughters, both of their parents and their Father in Heaven. So I ask you to be kind.

Also, please don’t tell them that you would like to hear more if you really don’t. Don’t make an appointment with them if you aren’t going to show up and don’t pretend not to be home if you are. They can tell you are in there, I promise. Instead just politely tell them you aren’t interested and that you appreciate their effort. They can handle it and then you won’t waste their time.

I know that you are awesome and good-hearted. I see your kindness and love as we work together in our community. Please take the same care and kindness you give to others and apply it to this situation as well. And who knows, when you chat with a missionary they may be able to teach you something that you didn’t know and you may have something to offer them.

Thanks folks and I’ll see you around the neighborhood.

Brenda

P.S. The examples I've used are not the case with many of my wonderful neighbors but all of these things happen to the Elders and Sisters in our area on a daily basis. Thanks to those of you who show compassion for everyone you meet regardless of who they are.  

P.

But If Not

Earlier this week I had a conversation with an old friend. He is very talented and through years of hard work has earned the accolades of his peers and the financial benefits of a very successful career. As a young man he served an honorable full time mission for the LDS church and graduated from BYU, but as his life progressed he started to stray from his beliefs. Now 10 years later he is living a lifestyle that is in nearly complete opposition to the precepts he used to know were true.

When I asked how he had gotten to this point he answered that he had tendencies towards certain types of behavior starting in high school and had been very unhappy about it. He thought that if he went on a mission and worked as hard as he could that God would remove his challenges. When that didn’t happen he became disillusioned and started to fall away from what he knew to be true. He felt it was too difficult to go on fighting against his “natural man” and simply gave in.  My heart breaks for him. He is an elect son of God who has missed the point of the Gospel and it is leading him down a path that will not take him where he wants to go.

At this point I’m sure you are wondering how in the world this sad story relates at all to Father’s Day? As I thought about my friend and the countless others who mistakenly believe that God removes all problems and temptations from those who keep the commandments there were certain things that my dad taught me, mostly by example, that kept coming to my mind.

Dad grew up on a small farm in rural Idaho. His family was poor but hard working. He was intensely shy and so being called to serve a mission in Detroit Michigan in the midst of the 1967 race riots was obviously a stretch for him.  Just as he was beginning to get comfortable being a missionary life changed forever. He and his companion were hit head on by a drunk driver. The crash killed dad’s companion and crushed him from the waist down. He spent 10 days in a coma and his parents were brought out to say their goodbyes. He was not supposed to live.

Astoundingly, he did wake up and was informed that there was no possibility he would ever walk again. He chose not to believe the doctors. After months in a body cast that reached from his armpits to his toes and scores of operations he was finally able to begin physical therapy. With the help of nurses and doctors he worked hard and suffered inhuman amounts of pain to get back on his feet. He was released from the hospital on the exact release date of his mission and he walked out of there.

Dad found that perseverance, prayer, humor and hard work can bring about miracles with the Lord’s help. He believed the words of President Hinkley who said "You have not failed until you quit trying." Even with the miracle that occurred he suffered immeasurably the rest of his life dealing with the after effects of such a devastating accident. The Lord allowed him to walk but did not remove the burden of pain and ill health.

“What does the Lord expect of us with respect to our challenges? He expects us to do all we can do. He does the rest. Nephi said, "For we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. We must have the same faith as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. 

Our God will deliver us from ridicule and persecution, but if not. . . . Our God will deliver us from sickness and disease, but if not . . . . He will deliver us from loneliness, depression, or fear, but if not. . . . Our God will deliver us from threats, accusations, and insecurity, but if not. . . . He will deliver us from death or impairment of loved ones, but if not, . . . we will trust in the Lord.

Our God will see that we receive justice and fairness, but if not. . . . He will make sure that we are loved and recognized, but if not. . . . We will receive a perfect companion and righteous and obedient children, but if not, . . . we will have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, knowing that if we do all we can do, we will, in His time and in His way, be delivered and receive all that He has.” 

Forty years later Dad suffered a debilitating stroke which paralyzed ½ of his body and blinded one of his eyes. Out of necessity he came to live in a care facility. Even though he was severely handicapped he spent his time there comforting the afflicted and visiting with the lonely. Many nights would find aides and nurses receiving counsel about life at his bedside. He did missionary work and brought several people back into activity. The conditions were humbling in every way but dad kept a remarkably upbeat attitude during his time there. He told me that Heavenly Father was giving him opportunities to serve every single day and that he was making a difference.

When Dad passed away I had the distinct impression that his spirit stood up out of his wheel chair, shook off the effects of a body that had been ravaged by 40 years of unspeakable pain, sprinted out the door, and then put on his missionary suit and tie and went to work preaching the Gospel. He was going to finish what he started in Detroit all those years ago. He had trusted the Lord and the Lord had kept His promise.

Now don’t get me wrong, dad was certainly not perfect. He had his faults, and challenges and he fell down a lot. He made mistakes in his life and acted badly at times. He sometimes did things that hurt those around him, but the thing about dad that taught me the most was that even when the Lord doesn't take our burdens from us, even when they stretch us and hurt us more than we think it is possible to bear, even when we choose wrongly and fall from grace all we have to do is exercise a particle of faith, repent, get back up, work hard, do what we know is right, try again and the Lord will keep his promises to us. He will take our challenges and temptations and mold us into a new being. He will make us like Him.

On this Father’s Day I am grateful for Fathers and what they teach us. I’m grateful for flawed men who fall down and continue to get back up and try again. For dad’s who persevere, for dad’s that stalwartly hold to the truths of the Gospel, for dad’s who say “but if not… I will trust in the Lord.”

"God bless you, dear fathers. May He bless you with wisdom and judgment, with understanding, with self-discipline and self-control, with faith and kindness and love. And may He bless the sons and daughters who have come into your homes, that yours may be a fortifying, strengthening, guiding hand as they walk the treacherous path of life. As the years pass—and they will pass ever so quickly—may you know that "peace... which passeth all understanding" (Philip. 4:7) as you look upon your sons and daughters, who likewise have known that sacred and wonderful peace." (Gordon B. Hinkley)

Happy Father’s Day!

Brenda

That Big Fluffy Airport in the Sky

One of the great things about living in the wilds of West Texas, where members of my church are about as prevalent as chickens in Antarctica, is that I get to spend a lot of time with the missionaries assigned to the area. Most of these young men come to us from Utah and Idaho and are like a breath of fresh air and enthusiasm from home. I see them on their preparation days because they do laundry at our home and I’ve had multiple opportunities to go out and teach with them. Over time I find myself learning to love them just as if they were my own sons.

(As an aside here- please note that I am not old enough to be the mother of a missionary. I will not reach that milestone for at least 3 1/2 more years... Sigh... Excuse me for a moment while I run out and buy some nice 'n' easy to cover up my gray.) Anyway-

With the experience of seeing so many different Elders pass through I have begun to recognize patterns in those missionaries who are productive and happy. Let’s be clear, this is the Southern Bible Belt and rejection is an all-day-long everyday occurrence for these guys. They are met with shotguns at the doors they knock on with alarming frequency and all of them struggle with some of the harsh words that are thrown their way. Over the years I've seen those who struggle and then give up and then those who keep pushing forward and eventually are transformed into productive incredible men.

My younger brother Kent is a prime example of the transformation that can take place in the course of two years of service on an LDS mission. Kent was a good kid, didn’t get into much trouble, had potential and talent but was content to spend his time memorizing quotes from Space Ghost Coast to Coast and beating Final Fantasy twelve times in a row. He spent one inglorious year at BYU Idaho and after an injury to his knee while playing softball, moved into my basement to recover and get ready to go on his mission. His preparation consisted of playing video games 8 hours a day and venturing up into the light once in a while to raid the freezer for frozen pizza.

He was called to serve in the Central American country of Panama and was immediately assigned to a senior companion who had been an Olympic athlete. That Elder ran Kent up and down the side of a jungle mountain for months. They had limited conveniences and showered by using a garden hose nailed to the wall of their small tin-roofed residence. Kent was out of shape and battled through his lazy streak, learned a new language, and learned to serve and love the people of that country with all of his heart.

 The dashing Elder Cherry is on the right.

At the end of two years we met him at the airport wearing sombreros (which was totally inappropriate for a multitude of reasons) and with a huge misspelled “Bienvenido a casa élder Cherry!” banner. As he came through security no one recognized him. He had grown to almost 6 foot 5 inches tall, had lost 100 pounds and absolutely glowed with an inner light. No kidding, it almost hurt your eyes to look at him. His homecoming talk in church the following Sunday had the entire congregation awash in tears it was so beautiful and everyone we spoke to was amazed at his growth in such a short period of time. He now has an incredible wife, a beautiful son, and has just completed his first year of dental school. 

The future is impossibly bright for Kent because he chose to allow the hardships of his mission to make him into a better version of himself.

At this point in these kinds of stories I always start to think “Ok, so good for him and those other people that take advantage of that experience. Big deal, that isn’t me. I didn’t serve a mission and I’m just schlubbing along in life and dealing with all the garbage and hardships I have to deal with. Right?

Here’s the thing, from an LDS perspective we know that we existed before we came here as spirit children of our Heavenly Father. In that place we accepted a mission call to this earth. Truly we did, and like the young men and women who go out today we were excited and I’m sure a little nervous about taking on the challenge. Some of us were better prepared than others to come, some had tendencies towards all kinds of different character defects like laziness, but all of us signed up to come out with the knowledge that if we would persevere through the difficulties and rejection and trust in God, that He would transform us into much better versions of ourselves. That was the deal.

So the question now becomes, who do we want to be when we get back to our family at that big airport in the sky? And will they be wearing sombreros?

Cheers,

Brenda

“It is not a question of whether or not we want to be missionaries. We have already decided that issue. We are alive; we are here; we are members. The only question is: What kind of missionaries will we be?” 

 - John H. Groberg