A Truly Great Day

The focus of a Mission President and his Companion is different from that of a young missionary.  A young missionary is mostly focused upon finding and teaching people about Jesus Christ and his gospel.  We are primarily focused upon our young missionaries: helping them fulfill their purpose and helping them build a foundation of faith that will bless them and their families.  It is said that you will not know how successful Mission Leaders were until you see how successful in spiritual things are the grandchildren of their missionaries.  For us, working with these young missionaries is a great joy more than a responsibility.  Everyday is full of happiness and surprises as we are constantly impressed with and inspired by our young missionaries.  While every day is fun and enjoyable, every once in a while we have a truly great day.  

One of those truly great days is the last day we spend with our missionaries before they complete their missions and return home. This week we sent home a batch of some of our greatest missionaries.  For a long time, they have formed an important part of the backbone of our mission.  The Elders in this group are the last of our pre-COVID missionaries; having arrived in field only 2 weeks before the evacuation of foreign missionaries (which started the pandemic for us).  Two weeks into the field, while they were just finding their stride, their American trainers were evacuated and they were put in quarantine; left to wonder what it all meant.  Eventually the strict quarantines would end and they found new and better ways to fulfil their purposes.  They were so successful.

These missionaries were of course excited to return home, but also terrified.  When you ask them about their mission, they get a far away look and tear up as they try to express in words the great meaning this seminal experience has had in their lives.  The night before they leave we spend the evening as a group.  After dinner, we gather for one last meeting and share our feeling about The Lord, His Church and our mission experiences together.  Each takes a turn to share his or her testimony; being his or her innermost feelings of faith and hope. 

The first to speak, one of our happiest and most driven missionaries, spoke of his mother.  She died when he was only 12 years old.  Her dying wish was that he would one day serve as a missionary.  With some emotion in his voice he concluded:  "I know my mother is proud of me.........and I am proud of me".  We are also so proud of him.

The next was a great missionary from a wonderful family.  Initially his family felt he should finish his schooling before his mission, but soon fully embraced his mission aspirations.  He was a great missionary with a tender, kind heart.  Early in his mission he allowed room in his mission experience for some very minor lapses.  He recounted driving to a new area (having been transferred) with his Mission President.  His President told him that a transfer was a great time for a reset.  He took that advice and acted upon it.  This allowed him to advance from being a good missionary to being a great missionary.  A missionary who helped many others.

The next Elder to stand was one of my strongest leaders.  He had become unwavering in his work ethic and commitment.  He spoke tenderly of his family and their struggles.  His hope was that his service would bless and help his family whom he loved so much, and also his future one.  We are comfortable that it will.

Next a beautiful Sister would stand and would express gratitude for COVID because it would allow her to serve within her home mission.  She also had lost a father in her youth which cut her to her very heart.  She spoke of the hole it had left in her life.   She would conclude by expressing her firm conviction that she would see him again and enjoy his warm embrace.  This has brought her peace.  She has, with passion, shared that belief and the peace that it has brought into her life.

The last to stand was another beautiful sister who joined the Church at 20 years old.  She remembered when she was a girl of 8, seeing the missionaries come into her home and teach her parents.  Her parents did not accept the message the missionaries brought but they left a significant impression upon her young heart.  She felt something.  Twelve years later, the missionaries would again return to her home and teach her parents.   Again her parents would decline the missionaries invitations but our Sister would embrace their message with all her heart.  After college she would follow the council found within her Patriarchal Blessing and serve a mission.  She served with great honor. 

These missionaries, their lives and stories, their service.  How we love them.  They inspire us.  It was a truly great day to be with them.

The next day would be another truly great day.   The plane that would take our departing missionaries home would also bring us new missionaries.  We received 5 new missionaries who show so much promise and commitment.  We are excited to get to know them and serve beside them.  Also arriving on the plane with the 5 new missionaries was Elder Stephen Monares.  We first met Elder Monares just before he arrived in our mission 5 months ago.  We were in a COVID quarantine, having been exposed.  Knowing we could not spend the day with him and the others in his batch when they arrived, I had video called him in his home in Cebu a day or two before his arrival.  I was immediately impressed by him and felt that he would become one of our best missionaries.  As they arrived, we had wished to spend more time with them but had to content ourselves with waving at them from the gate of the mission home as they drove by on their way to their areas.  Elder Monares was soon crippled with a deep homesickness.  He would later describe it as drowning in darkness.  We hoped against hope that the homesickness would dissipate with time.  I recalled as a young missionary that I also struggled with homesickness.  He loved his mission but just could not overcome the struggle; he just could not climb that hill.  He would return home after just 1 month in the field.

When he arrived home, he felt the great love and support of his family, particularly from 2 older brothers who had served missions.  They loved and encouraged him.  He would later say: "I just felt like there was something I just needed to finish".  He kept himself spiritually fit by staying in the spiritual safety zone of prayers, scripture study, twice weekly temple attendance, fasting, sabbath day observance and other basic things.  He kept his mission name tag visible on his bag to remind him of his desire to return.  He wanted to return but was understandably afraid....."What if I try to go back but fail again?"  "Can I do this?"  He knew he had to learn and then practice how to survive "the emotional avalanche".  He refused to unpack his suitcase, moved out of his parents home and moved in with his brother, so he could miss his mother and father.  He worked and prayed and hoped.  

We remained in regular contact over social media.  Last November, when we were in Cebu for the Mission Leaders Seminar, we met him at the Cebu Temple to talk.  While there, we introduced him to Elder Stephen R. Bangerter (of our Area Presidency) and his wife.  They gave him some helpful advice.  He always remained upbeat and hopeful but the struggle was real.  

This week, the plane that took some of our much loved missionaries home brought him back to us and we are so very proud of him.  He will do great.  Seeing him again was a truly great day.