I have my mission call…

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

Agreed, Tom, about the culture. It’s a good thing I don’t hit anyone in any way irl.

So, thanks for the cyber Zen slap – a slap without a slap. (Calling me out on it is cool – as long as you allow me to call you out on your call out.)

I’m just learning to be assertive at the ripe old age of 44, and I appreciate the slack you cut me. I think it would have been better for me to say something like:

Quote:

I don’t think it was appropriate there to invoke the culture of violence or authoritarianism, even in jest. Those are deep illnesses that affect us often more than we realize.

Thanks again for cutting me a lot of slack.

[Anonymous]

george, Tom just called you ancient – but I won’t tell anyone else. :shh:

[Anonymous]

Congratulations. I wish you all the best.

Regarding rules, I would say to make sure to obey them, but not to let the rules rule you. I, too, went a little overboard with that, and am sorry for it. For instance, we have probably all heard stories of the missionary who loiters on the doorstep from 8:55 until 9:00 because he’s not supposed to be in until 9PM. Other examples of ridiculous behaviour abound. Fanatic rule-following will get you nowhere and will definitely not make you any friends. On the other hand, following the rules is the price of admission, so you should make every reasonable effort to comply.

I’m a little surprised to hear that you might expect, on this site, to be scoffed at, or to have anyone try to dissuade you from your well-considered decision to serve a mission. I certainly would never expect to see such a thing here.

[Anonymous]

I never served a mission. Two things that I do share with missionaries are a couple of Prophet mission stories. My intent is to help them feel less guilt.

1st – Pres. McKay had a wonderful mission but according to Greg Prince, President McKay had tried numerous times to pray to get a witness of the church. None came. He served his mission because his parents felt it would be a good experience for him. It wasn’t that they twisted his arm, but he trusted them. He served a wonderful mission, returned home and did much to improve the image of the church as he moved into his prophetic role.

2nd – When you get discouraged remember that President Hinckley wanted to come home from his mission. It was the depression, his family farm could have used him and the money his mission was costing. His dad encouraged him to “forget yourself” and get to work. Missions were different then, but he learned to love new people, new places, even new challenges. Those lessons served him and the church well later in life.

So go out enjoy. Enjoy the people, the country side, the pain, walk everyday with the Savior and your experience will be rewarding – now and in the future.

[Anonymous]

Congrats on your mission call. It sounds like you are going for the right reasons for you and that you will make it a very good experience for yourself and those you teach. I printed off Silent Dawning’s info and the info from the link to send to my son who is currently serving a mission. Lots of good stuff there.

[Anonymous]

Old-Timer wrote:

george, Tom just called you ancient – but I won’t tell anyone else. :shh:

I resemble that remark! My stake recently had a nice dinner for all us “seasoned” members. You never saw so many walkers and canes…

[Anonymous]

Congrats on your mission call. I think you will be a great missionary and it actually excites and encourages me to know that there are missionaries like YOU going out. I’m thrilled.

I also served a FT mission in an Asian third world country and had a great experience. You will probably grow to love the people very much.

I would encourage you to retain your openness and desire to serve God and His people in that part of the world. Your mission president may place lots of focus on baptizing and numbers, but if I could say anything to a new missionary like you, I’d say to really try to keep the focus on serving and not on baptizing. When baptisms become the goal, our perspectives often get warped, in my opinion. Baptisms can be a by-product of the goal, but in 20 years you’ll not remember the baptisms as strongly as you’ll remember the service you gave and the relationships you formed.

I’m guessing you’ll find a very tolerant culture, yet one steeped in centuries of tradition that cannot really be changed easily by a young missionary. You may find people who can accept and believe that Joseph Smith saw God and Christ, but not want to change or commit to anything different in their lives. Many Asian cultures have the “all good roads lead to God” perspective, which helped to frame my own evolving paradigms and might yours as well, but what can be really frustrating for categorical-thinking missionaries, fresh out of the MTC factory. You’ll get (hopefully) some good previews about culture in the MTC, but it will probably be really cursory and filtered through a USA Mormon lens. You won’t really get it until you’ve been there a while, probably… or maybe not until you get home and have more time to reflect.

Again, congratulations on your call and it makes me happy to know there are missionaries headed out that are like you.

I’m sure you’ll find a great deal of personal growth and will draw closer to God as you work to serve His children.

[Anonymous]

Thanks everyone for the congratulations and well wishes! And even more thanks for all the great and wisdom that you’ve shared with me.

And I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to tell you that I’ve been called to serve a mission in the Philippines. 🙂

doug wrote:

I’m a little surprised to hear that you might expect, on this site, to be scoffed at, or to have anyone try to dissuade you from your well-considered decision to serve a mission. I certainly would never expect to see such a thing here.

I realize that this part of my topic really got to some of you… sorry about that. Like I’ve already mentioned before, I feel a great sense of love and community with all of you that frequent this forum. When I said that, it was only meant to be a small disclaimer. This is because in previous posts, some of you were a little skeptical as to why I wanted to serve a mission knowing the things that I’ve come to know. That’s all :thumbup:

[Anonymous]

:thumbup:

Philippines sounds pretty cool. Enjoy the balut! :silent:

[Anonymous]

Thanks for reminding us of our skepticism. That is a human struggle. We are all myopic by nature and forget to think more often than we should. It also helps to remember that there are others who know what you know or most of it and still find deep value and testimony in the LDS church. We really wish you Godspeed on your mission.

[Anonymous]

Heber13 wrote:

:thumbup:

Philippines sounds pretty cool. Enjoy the balut! :silent:

I just looked up what Balut was… I am less than thrilled about it! :wtf:

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