The odds of our being called to return six months early from our two-year mission were certainly not on our radar – especially and definitely not in the beginning when we arrived the year before in October of 2018. Neither did we expect on March 12 a phone call from our mission president with the news that we had less than day and a half to pack and be at the airport three hours before our return flight home. This required getting up at 4:00 a.m.! In total, all twenty Senior Missionaries in the mission and seven full-time missionaries were in the first wave of those who were called to return and report to their Stake President. Oh, and isolate ourselves for two weeks. Because of the virus situation, we had a very narrow window to be able to fly home before national borders began closing. All the European missions were also doing the same thing, with other countries soon following in sending home most of their missionaries. Who would have believed it would happen? It’s an understatement to say that the shock and surprise were the first two emotions we experienced, followed by being stunned almost into inaction…and then the adrenaline kicked in.
We knew because of our age, we were in the ‘vulnerable’ group. We recognize and are grateful that the Church has always had all missionaries’ best interest and safety at heart and continually have their fingers on the pulse of world health conditions (among others things) to help keep all missionaries safe. It didn’t matter how long your original date of service was or for how long you had been called to serve – all missionaries, all people, everywhere were being held captive by the pandemic that changed the plans of everyone in the entire world.
As I look out the window this evening here at home, I’m comforted that Sweden and we are connected by the same beautiful big blue sky. We went there to teach and love and we were blessed to be taught and loved. Every moment we spent as missionaries in Sweden, every friend we made, all the happy times we shared making those friendships…these things are inexplicable to describe…but make eternal memories.
…And so, we came home. We say, we got ‘transferred!‘
Believe…
“Believe that He is…”
Five days after we came home from our mission in Sweden it happened. Someone asked me if I could share a few stories. Wow…talk about permission to uncork the bottle. Incoherently, discursively, passionately and emotionally I tried. But I couldn’t. All I could do is back up against the wall as the words and the feelings ‘roller-derbied’ for the win exploding forth from my heart.
Share a few stories? If only it were really possible. Alma wished angelic help to express himself, Moses needed an Aaron….I have only my heart and memories. How can you describe serving with the Savior as a missionary in the homeland of your own ancestors for a year and a half? I’m convinced…it really can’t be done. To understand, you have to have been there. You can’t do justice in trying to describe an experience to someone else – you have to have shared it together.
The only missionary story I have to tell is my own story. But my story has many beginnings, as every single solitary day was a fresh start…a brand new chapter, another page to get to fill as we sought for and were led by the Spirit.
It’s been said that you’re best at doing what you do and love to do best. From the moment we received our call I sensed adventure. It was a feeling of having been given permission, time, and trust to share the incredible passion and love within me for the cause of Christ and for Him. And I put my heart into being a fulltime missionary once again…this time with Erik as a Senior Missionary couple.
Sweden is beautiful – we arrived in the middle of a gloriously colored fall, and in succession enjoyed the seasons of winter, spring, and summer. How can you describe the smell of their forests or the sounds of unique singing birds and amazingly beautiful fields of poppies and wildflowers? Or what it was like to hear the surround sound of everyone speaking Swedish and sounding like your grandparents when you were little?
Sweden is old. It’s history and culture coexist where as in comparison, long ago castles, bronze and iron age settlement remnants still exist in spite of what constitutes the modern Sweden of today…Their amazing architecture of the past is very much a part of their present. Shops and homes still continue to be used from one generation to the next. A humble knitting shop may have been once used as a long ago bank a hundred years ago, or one home we visited previously had been a tavern for the sailors who came into port. Now it’s on the national preservation list as a historical site…one of many. Contrasts are everywhere. In the middle of town in Karlskrona between a Volvo dealership and a Burger King, with a freeway just across the way there’s a typical remnant of the age of the Vikings: An original Viking grave site complete with a few sheep to help keep the grass down. Huge stones – upright massive markers reminders of the faith they had in the hope of not being forgotten. It’s an amazing experience to put your hand on the very stone that was by human hearts and hands physically placed to honor their loved ones. How could they ever have fathomed that one day the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ would come to their land.
How grateful I am that I was one who came as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ to Sweden. Remember I spoke of sensing adventure when in the beginning we began preparing for a mission? From the very moment we made the decision to serve, to the MTC experience, to the flight across the world, landing in Sweden, meeting President and Syster Youngberg, receiving our assignment, getting settled in our very own little home sweet home apartment on the third floor in a historic seaport town…our adventure had begun and was in full gear. We’ve been asked, “What did you do all day”. Did you have a plan? We also heard, “Hope you’re having a good time!”
In a nutshell, to the first question about what we did all day…We did what we always do – we prayed, had breakfast, listened with joy to all the birds outside our windows, met our neighbors in stairwells and the neighbor’s cats and kids…got acquainted with Branch members, made friends, helped them, served them, and loved them…all of them. And we felt loved, too.
Then we prayed for them, we made visits, lists, kept careful notes and wrote encouraging notes and emails…our calendar became our lifeline to help keep us organized. We met in councils, baked and delivered treats, worked close with the missionaries assigned to serve in our area, helping them, sometimes feeding them (more often than not), encouraging them, and loving them, too. Wherever we went, there was a Book of Mormon in our backpack…and we took the opportunity to meet people and initiate sincere conversations about who we were, where we were from, and why we were there. We worked with ward clerks, taught classes, helped plan activities, made visitors welcome, took turns cleaning the chapel, participated in teaching discussions with the full-time proselyting missionaries, and we prayed and then we prayed some more.
“Did we have a plan?” we’ve been asked. I know it’s a question meant to learn if we followed a specific plan as a Senior Missionary couple. And there are two answers: “Yes and no”.
There’s no such thing as a ‘set plan’ for Senior Missionaries’ daily labors. When the Mission President sends you on your way to your new area he is counting on our inspiration and the Spirit to do what we do best as individuals and as missionaries. Trusting us to use our talents along with the guidance of the Holy Ghost and the inspiration we received was like his giving us a carte blanche ticket to do all the good we could, to be friends, and influence others.
But on the other hand, I will say, that yes…we had a Plan. And a purpose. And our purpose became our motivation. As missionaries our purpose was to share with all who would hear the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and to touch their hearts with the knowledge of their Heavenly Father’s love for them. The Plan of Salvation…the Plan of Happiness – we were and are – all of us, on the Lord’s errand.
I think a lot about the phrase: “Following Christ”…It is following His example, following His ways, keeping His commandments, keeping our covenants…following in His footsteps on the Covenant Path. That’s what life’s about – It is in following Christ we are led safely back home after being given this earth life experience.
But in my heart I know that in Heaven before we were born we chose to not just follow Him…but to serve with Him – beside Him. Totally each one of us are Christian Soldiers blessed to share in the great work of the Gathering and redemption of all mankind. Imagine…if only you can… imagine the destiny we each have in assisting with this great work alongside with and in the cause of Jesus Christ.
Serving a mission in whatever capacity you can is personal…it is committing to make His cause, our cause and blessing the lives of others in a daily effort to bring others closer to the Savior wherever you are and in whichever circumstances you find yourselves. It is something you feel inside that becomes the reason we do follow Him. It’s called joy. We find that our motivation comes from the joy, love, and gratitude we feel for every single solitary hope and blessing He has given us.
Oh, yes…and to answer the question of people hoping and wondering if we were having a good time – I can honestly say that our dance card was full every day, there was never a time there was nothing to do. We ended up at night so often wondering how a day could go by so quickly. There were times we experienced disappointment…we learned a lot as we went along. But we also loved much and did the best we could in each situation. I would say the answer to this question is that we had the time of our lives…days that blessed us, our families, and others…and we wouldn’t trade one moment of it for anything in this world or the next.
Be a missionary today and then again tomorrow. Love, serve, share, give. You are needed to sacrifice your time and talents…now…today. I testify that these are the days of preparation for His coming. If your circumstances allow, serve a senior mission…be willing to trust, to stretch, to grow and to expect the unexpected. Be flexible, faithful, and loyal to the cause, loyal to Him. I testify that He lives and is counting on us – I have seen His hand in the lives of those who have come to believe…and in the process, I have also become a believer.
In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
