i made the decision to serve a mission early on. i remember first feeling the fire and desire as a four year old when we lived in Colorado and we had missionaries over for dinner. i noticed something noble about them. i wanted to be noble, too.
i also had this cassette tape (yes, i am that old) of children songs by music composers of my faith that i'd listen to. one song i particularly felt fire with was a song called "I Hope They Call Me On a Mission." i'd play that song over and over and over as a four year old.
growing up i'd hear my mother's stories from her mission. she was called to serve among the Navajos around the Four Corners area. and looking back, all those stories, the songs, the feelings i felt, the people i observed and looked up to, were solidifying that goal and dream to serve a mission.
i saw many miracles on my mission. i saw the hand of God working for the people i met everyday. Heavenly Father let me feel a piece of the love He has for all His children. the love i felt was so pure and so powerful, that there were moments i thought i would burst. i'm grateful Heavenly Father entrusted the sharing of His precious message to His precious children for the few months that were my full-time mission.
one man i was blessed to meet has particularly come to mind.
we'll call him Brother Peters.
i met Brother Peters my first few weeks in the mission. he was baptized a member of the Church at the age of eight in the Salt Lake Tabernacle (in his day that was available). when he was 16 years, the friends he hung around led him to drink and smoke. he married, began a family, and he realized he wanted and needed the Church and its blessings back in his life. he quit smoking and introduced his then wife, to the Church.
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| my trainer and i in our first area |
i met Brother Peters as a 75-year-old, living in an assisted living home, on oxygen, because his lungs were slowly filling with liquid.
we invited him to study the scriptures, we invited him to Church, and we invited him to pray. however, Brother Peters didn't see the need for any of these things.
missionaries know when you teach someone who won't progress, you need to let them go; meaning, you stop scheduling appointments to teach the individual, until they are ready to progress. our purpose as missionaries are to find and teach those willing to progress. and because Brother Peters continued to choose not to progress, we had to let him go.
it was hard for my companion and i. Brother Peters had grown comfortable with our weekly visits and wasn't too ecstatic about us leaving. but i knew it was the right thing to do.
when i first met Brother Peters i imagined him coming back to the Church, finding his testimony again, tasting the joy that is in the restored gospel. and i knew there would be joy that would follow his return to the Church.
as he walked us to the door and we said our goodbye's, i wasn't sure i'd ever see Brother Peters again. but somewhere i felt i would.
two weeks later when we received a phone call from Brother Peters. he had read some of the Book of Mormon and he wanted to go to Church.
i cried when i saw the wrinkled old man, with his walker and oxygen, approach the doors of the church house.
my heart swelled with gratitude again when i saw Brother Peters partake of the sacrament after over 50 years of being without that wonderful blessing and opportunity.
after leaving the area, i would ask the missionaries in the area how Brother Peters was doing. i was told Brother Peters was faithful and never missed Church. even with worsening health, and after moving to another assisted living center, he was an active attendee of his local congregation.
Brother Peters was my miracle. i treasure the blessing of knowing him.
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