One of the things that make Mormon couples unique is that
they have the privilege of sending children, who are willing and desirous, away
from home to serve an ecclesiastical mission.
Young Men serve for 2 years and Young Women, 18
months. Our daughter Audrie is serving
in the Rosario Argentina Mission. She
had just completed two semesters of college before she left. To that point she hadn’t even lived away from
home. Parents, and often the children themselves,
have tried to save money for this event. It is to take individuals in the last years of
their adolescence and early twenties, when self-absorption could be at its peak,
and give them an opportunity to learn to serve others and teach them what
they believe to be true. How do we muster the courage and faith to send
them? Where do they get their courage to
go? We can write them weekly, but we only
get to hear their voices twice a year, on Christmas and Mother’s Day.
Corinne came home after completing her mission, then we learned
Audrie wanted to serve a mission as well.
Not too long after graduation from high school, young men and women consider serving a mission.
There are fun times with fellow missionaries!
Richard returning and being greeted by grandparents.
Determined sister missionaries are willing to overcome shyness.
This brings me to what I think is the meaning of the word
sacrifice. I love my husband’s definition: “It is to give up something for something
better.” Not always is a mission
experience perfect. All missions are
difficult at best. Some feel pressure to
go before they were ready. Others go for
the wrong reasons. But I have never seen
a course of activity that has yielded such incredibly positive fruits. It may seem to some an incredible sacrifice to postpone education, remain morally clean and avoid the use of drugs and alcohol during what many assume should be a more carefree time in their lives. But those who think
in those terms would be surprised to learn how satisfying personal growth and
overcoming the “natural man” really is and how serving a mission can better prepare them for their college experience, marriage and family.
Missionaries find this a unique time when they don’t have to worry about monetary
pursuits, school, a spouse or children.
It is a time to immerse themselves in the teachings of Christ and invite others
to consider their value. It is an
opportunity to change lives, mostly their own. It isn't only the children who face a mission with courage, amid some fears, there are parents who are mustering faith in their testimonies that this an expedient and ordained calling.
As Christians, we often think of the great sacrifice of our Savior, how
he suffered and died for us, that we might have an abundant life both now and
in eternity. We often forget, however, the
offering of the Father in those divine events that comprise the atonement. It was a supreme gift from our Heavenly Father. As we send these children off into the world, we get insights into the love of that Father for his children. It is a wonderful opportunity for a family to unite in an offering that is simply
giving up something for something better.
