I have been struggling with what exactly to write about and focus on in this blog post for some days now, and am still not sure where I will go, but I have a few things I wanted to write about.
When I was a child, I always had a desire to serve a mission. Once in Primary - Sunday School for children - I even remember raising my hand when a Primary leader asked us who wanted to serve a mission. Even at the very young age I was, I was one of maybe two or three girls who raised my hand - the rest were boys. I remember looking at the girl sitting next to me and saying "raise your hand!" and her reply was - "I want to be a mom and have babies." I was dumb-founded. Well duh, I wanted that someday, too, but I knew there would be time for it and I had always desired to serve a mission. I didn't get her answer at all - she just didn't make sense to me! Why not have both?!
Well, in the church growing up it was boys who were always encouraged to serve missions. Men could leave at 19 and women at 21. The choice of serving one for a girl was completely up to her without any outside influences requesting or pressuring her to do so. Boys were highly encouraged to serve - often being the only gender spoken of during any talks on serving a mission. That was ok, but I always wanted to hear speakers, prophets and general authorities say "girls, serving a mission would be a choice opportunity for you as well." Not once did I hear that until two years ago while listening to our General Conference in October of 2012 - Church Lowers Missionary Age. Boys could now serve at 18 and girls at 19 - 19!! That was a TWO YEAR lowering in age for girls. I couldn't believe it.
I sat and cried. We were ready,and the church was now saying - "women, go and serve." I knew, without a doubt, that the Lord was saying he needs stronger people and stronger youth to lead the church and this is how He was going to start preparing them.
I had just had the opportunity the previous Summer of 2012 to be a counselor in a youth program held in Boise by the church called BYS - Boise Youth Spectacular. We would invite High School aged youth out for three day sessions to partake in speakers, scripture study and activities where they could feel of the spirit and grow in strength. The youth I had were 16-17 year old seniors and would be graduating soon. I thought of them first when hearing this announcement. My heart leap for joy for all of them.
The church was correct in their prediction that there would be a large increase of missionaries going out to serve. There have been numerous missions re-opened that were previously closed and missions created to accommodate the large influx of missionaries - and still the numbers continue to grow. I am amazed at the desire this brought to so many young men and women to dedicate all of their time for 2 years or 18 months to only sharing the gospel - wherever they are sent. I have seen more girl friends leave for missions in a small amount of time than I have ever thought possible. I have seen two male cousins leave the same day, only months after graduating high school, without having to face another year of waiting and facing temptations. This is an amazing time, and we are facing such growth in the gospel. I am happy that is is now time to hear women be encouraged to go on missions.
But, with good things, come some bad as well. And I wanted to make sure that you all know I understand the blessings of this change before going into the worry that I have seen come from it. So, here goes...
YAY, A MISSION IS POPULAR!!
Wait......what? That is weird.
Missions have now become "popular" among young women in the church. There is a group I belong to on Facebook consisting of women who have served or are preparing to serve full-time missions. I was excited to see this group and joined in a long while ago. Now, it is overrun with young girls who are preparing and asking questions with excitement and enthusiasm...but there is a problem. Too often I find posts asking questions such as, "is this dress ok to wear?" and "I don't want to wear ugly clothes or dress boring, is there a way to make my wardrobe cute and fun?" Although these questions seem fine, they are helping me to see how far we are still from being who Heavenly Father wants us to be. No longer are females going on missions because of their own desires, as no one else really encouraged us in the church, but now, everyone's friends are going so they want to go too! Yay!
Um, wait!! Stop. Think. A LOT more. The choice to serve a mission is never a bad one as it is an amazing thing to do, but is it right for you? Will you get all of the blessings that come from serving one? If you want the blessings...you must prepare for them.
To prepare I suggest a few things -
1) Read the Book of Mormon every day.
2) Study from the Missionary Handbook.
3) Start reading the books in the Missionary Library.
4) Start getting up earlier and going to bed earlier! (This was the HARDEST transition for me in the mission, so I wish I would have done this)
5) Go to the temple as often as possible, especially to do endowments after you receive them. 6) Pray pray pray pray.
7) Trust, and be at peace.
Remember that serving a mission is HARD. You talk to your family only twice a year. It is discouraging, disappointing, lonely at times and...did I mention, hard?? If you are wanting to go on a mission because you believe it will be a big party where you get to dress cute, hang out with a fun girl friend all of the time, meet new people and sometimes talk about church stuff, then a reality check is soon to come. I have been so worried recently. We need to remember the reason we serve missions - to share the gospel. We must prepare in a way that makes our spiritual foundation strong.
I thought for a long time that every person in the church should serve a full-time mission. Goodness, was I wrong. Even for months after I returned home from a mission I thought every sister should serve, but then, after the spirit of missionary service dissipated a bit and real life became more, well, real, I remembered some things. I remembered meeting Elders in my mission who truly didn't want to be there. They would never tell me this - I just knew. The attitude of a missionary who doesn't want to be serving is complacent, distracted and hollow. They can't follow the spirit, because they don't want to be there anyway and they would rather cause trouble and be a nuisance than be helpful and encouraging. Also, the work is even more hard for them. They struggle to do things every day and to do the regular, daily tasks of a missionary. I felt sad for them. I wondered who had made them feel so guilty or who had talked them into this so they felt they had to serve? They sometimes became very depressed and some were sent home because of it.
Yes, I am being harsh. I believe in honesty and telling every side of the story, and because of that, I MUST tell you the blessings :)
Anything that is very difficult in life, is equally as joyful. A mission is AMAZING. It is full of such overwhelming spiritual moments and experiences that you sometimes can't contain your joy. Watch the movie "The Other Side of Heaven" and you will see what I mean. This movie is based on the true experiences of Elder Groberg who served an island mission where he faced extreme hardships and equally unbelievable miracles. Most of us don't have such extremes, but this movie shows what I mean. There were times when I served that I worked SO hard and saw no results and other days where we were blessed with spiritual experiences that we hadn't asked for. The good always outweighed the bad for me, and that is how it should be.
My point is - don't go on a mission because it is popular. Search yourself and your testimony of the gospel. The only thing you need before serving a mission is a true desire to share your love of the gospel.
I served in the Australia, Adelaide Mission from Jan. of 2003 to July of 2004. I would never take that time back for anything. Go serve because you love your Savior. Read your scriptures, love others, read the missionary library, go to mission prep. classes and pray. You will be ok. Heavenly Father loves you. Heavenly Father even loves me. It's weird to think about sometimes - that He knows me personally. But He does.
He knows you. Have faith. Be strong. Do what you feel is right, and all things will work out for your good.
You hit the nail again! Love you!
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