An Up-and-Down Week

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21 October, 2022

This has been a bit of a roller-coaster week -- up and down. Emotionally, things have been rough for a few days. I hesitated whether to put things like this in my blog, as I didn't want it to be a downer, but I thought that everyone who reads it is realistic and knows that missions are not always fun. But, as I tell myself, if I didn’t have a bad week once in a while, I wouldn’t be on a mission. I would be on vacation!

First I would like to put things in context. I work with one or two missionaries out of a mission. This means that 99% of the missionaries are doing just fine and never even need to see me. And of the ones that I see, most are just dealing with normal homesickness and difficulties in adjusting to a new language and a new culture. I see them once or twice and they are fine. Even though for them, this is one of the biggest challenges they have ever had to face, they learn to adjust and don't need any more help.

A few of them need to be transferred to a service mission. It might be because they have health or mental health challenges that can best be addressed at home, or because a service mission is a better fit for them. Service missions are wonderful, with missionaries serving in many capacities, either with church organizations or local nonprofit organizations. They do excellent work and often, when they complete their missions, the organizations ask if any other missionaries can be assigned to work with them. Service missionaries can live at home and have the support of family members while they are still representing the Lord. I am fine with missionaries being transferred to them.

Rarely, there is a case when a transfer to a service mission happens because a missionary has decided that they are a failure as a teaching missionary – when their mission has barely begun. Sometimes, missionaries, just like all of us human beings have strong testimonies of Heavenly Father and the Savior, but almost no testimony of our own worth, or of how much we are loved.

The mission president and companion work so hard to help every missionary know they are loved, both by them and by Heavenly Father, and I work so hard to help every missionary I work with to know that they have within them the power to shape their life into what they want it to be, regardless of where or how they serve. I have no agenda to “talk them into” staying in a teaching mission or staying in the field, and I tell them this. Sometimes, though, it is nearly impossible to help them see themselves as precious and important and loveable. We love our missionaries and want them to serve wherever and however they will be able to love what they are doing, but it is hard to see one give up on believing in themselves.

This is hard on me - But feeling emotional pain sometimes is part of the price we pay for the privilege of working with people. I tell myself that even though I won't be seeing them any more, Heavenly Father still loves them and will be sending that love through other people they will come in contact with as they continue their mission in a service capacity.

That was the down side. On a brighter note, with the warmer weather, people are coming outdoors more. Here are some local musicians we saw near where we live.

Elder and Sister Blazer, whom I like to do things with, decided to take advantage of the fun music!

Orchids And look at the orchids growing on trees here. I love looking at the roots that are growing right on the tree.

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Sounds like you are getting…

Sounds like you are getting a full exp.

Thanks for your sweet report

Dear Cheryl: you were right, if there weren’t some challenges in store, you wouldn’t feel like you’re on a mission rather than just a vacation! Thank you for your honest explanation of the work you’re doing and some of the challenges you are encountering in helping other missionaries work with, and overcome their own challenges, discouragement and feelings of inadequacy. We can tell that it would be difficult to have your missionaries decide early on that they are not cut out for a mission and don’t want to continue. We know that with your background and training, you are a tremendous blessing to them, and will be inspired and working through the steps. I need to take and what the best course of action is in their future.
We are proud of you and send our love. Thank you for the wonderful work you were doing. We pray God will bless you and sustain you with emotional and physical health, stamina and strength that you need for the work you were involved with.
We send our love and please know that you were in our prayers.
Love, Rob and Diane

Not a downer

Thanks for sharing this and overcoming the temptation to mask the downsides of missions.

I'm really glad to hear that the goal isn't to persuade those individuals to stay in a teaching mission. The reality is that it's not for everyone and it only becomes clear once the person is out there. Giving them ways to exit a teaching mission which is harming them without the immense social stigma that used to come with that is surely a step forward. So thanks for being part of that solution!

What a week!

Can't wait to chat to you! And those orchids are amazing 😍😍😍

Life is full of ups and…

Life is full of ups and downs and certainly a mission would be no different so sharing the full experience is great. Hopefully, you are able to plant some seeds of helping them to recognize their worth, even if they feel like they cannot continue on a proselyting mission. That’s okay.

While you have flowers starting to bloom, we have snow rolling in so I’m a tad bit jealous of your landscape. Enjoy it! :)

Anonymous

I am that last comment. I didn’t notice I didn’t enter my name. 😬

glad to hear you’ve been…

glad to hear you’ve been doing well! the mission is tough and full of emotions but oh so worth it. im sure you have been blessing so many missionaries. it reminds me of a talk elder holland gave to mission presidents about why the work is so hard, i’ll link it. i love it so much!

https://youtu.be/TN_eLHJcSiM

Letters home

Many of the letters I would write to my mom when I was in Hong Kong were written on days when I felt discouraged or depressed or upset. I always felt she would think I never had any good times as a missionary. But the rest of the week--after PD--usually seemed to be better. Life happens to us and others. We can't always be happy or uplifted or feel we've saved the world or just one person around us! The hope is that you can find a way out of the sadness; and the other hope is that we remember the Savior is the source of real healing for these missionaries who struggle so much. We are the helping hands along their way; but hopefully they find their reason to have a change of heart and mind heading them toward the Savior and to know He loves them.

Elder & Sister Blazer look like they have taken dance lessons in their past life!

Beautiful orchids

I love that you are finding beautiful things in your every day life.

Lessons from struggles

I'm so glad that you can share your experiences from your mission. I love reading about the different things you go through and experience. Strangely enough I've also had a very trying time recently. Your words on how we rarely have a testimony on our own worth and how much we are loved struck deep with me. So, please allow me to try and return the favor by sharing how I have recently received a blessing from Father.
With my new job, I'm gone two weeks at a time and home for two days. We'll, my very first two weeks away were absolutely terrible. Home sickness was a massive issue, there was only one day where something didn't go wrong. I was away from everything I know, doing a job I barely just learned (and still learning) and barely getting any help from my company. After the two weeks I was able to join Liza for church. I'm so thankful I didn't go to my ward because I would have missed this one particular talk in sacrament. In his talk he referenced a book, I don't remember the name of it and I know in going to do a horrible job of recounting it(Liza can do a much better job than I can), but it was about a group of people that were in a work camp of some kind and the living quarters were invested with fleas and lice and all sorts of things. One person asked how they were going to deal with the situation they were in and the woman said that they were going to be grateful in all things and in all places, so she prayed and thanked God for the situation they were in, even though it was horrible, thanked Him for the fleas even though she didn't understand their purpose. And through this, they were able to withstand the horrible treatment that they were put through.

I put this lesson into action and thanked God for my new situation and the hardships that I was having and within a day I had a plan on how to change things around and make things work for my benefit. I just finished my first week of my current two weeks out and it's been a night and day comparison from my first two weeks out. The few small issues that have come up, I've been able to know clearly how to fix them. I know I was suppose to go to church with Liza instead of my ward so that I could get the reminder of being thankful in all things and in all places and trusting in Him.

I'm sorry that this has been such a long drawn out mess of my thoughts, but I hope that this message can help the lives of others as it has helped me.
I'm so happy that you are out there making a difference in those missionaries lives. Keep up the good work!

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