You probably read our post on 10 things you need to know before serving a full-time LDS mission, well here is an article by Sister Anna Parker that shares a few more raw and honest truths about serving a mission.
“So are you getting paid to do this?”
“Nope”
“Are you getting some kind of school credit?”
“No”
“What about church promotion?”
“Nope”
“Well how about community recognition?”
“Definitely not”
“Then why would you EVER choose to do what you’re doing??”
He had a point. I’d been talking to one of our investigators about missions and how we work as missionaries, and his final question wasn’t foreign in my mind. I’d asked myself that question many times.
You asked for honest. Here’s honest.
I believe many–my pre-mission self included–have a warped opinion of what it’s like to be a missionary. Before I put on the tag, I had only a vague idea of what it was really like to actually be in those shoes.
I thought they were perfect.
I thought they were always happy.
I thought they loved every minute of their service.
I thought they were invincible.
I thought they didn’t have a care in the world.
I thought it was probably hard work, but easy to love.
I thought they were almost always successful.
I thought that it was easy for them to sacrifice.
It seems like a lifetime away since I lived life not as a missionary. In the time that’s followed–now 14 months into my mission–I’ve come to see missionaries and missions in a completely different light.
“Sister Parker, missions are 98% hard work, struggle, disappointment, difficulty, sorrow, and even pain. 2%…….2% is pure joy,” my mission president told me during one of our first interviews together.
He was right. SO right.
Here’s the honest truth: missionaries…
Read the rest at Sister Parker’s blog Sand and Sunshine.
