Missionary Cars

The Standard joke I heard and still hear about being a mission president is “that’s like being on a three year scout camping trip.” I always reply “my scouts didn’t have cars.” The roads in this mission are nearly always packed with cars going 10 to 30 miles an hour over the posted speed limit with no gaps between them. I often think of a Nascar race while I’m driving. Into this environment I place a nineteen year old fresh from an Idaho farm whose only real experience is driving tractors and potato trucks, behind the wheel of a brand new mission car.

One missionary after hitting a guardrail and causing significant damage to the front end of the car complained that the speed limit was too high. “I was going the speed limit, but that was too fast to make the corner. They should lower the speed limit.”

Another didn’t see the car in front of him stop and smashed the whole front end—the car was totaled. It had been driven less than 200 miles.

So what is it like being a mission president? It is the most exhilarating, spiritually uplifting experience I have ever had in all my years serving in church callings. Nothing can compare with the feeling of walking into a room full of missionaries all with their scriptures open studying; words cannot express the strength of the spirit of the Lord that is always present. I have come to know that the Savior watches over and truly loves His missionaries. Nowhere else in the world can be found such dedicated young men and women sincerely wanting to serve others and make a difference in the lives of people. I think it was President Gordon B. Hinckley who replied to the question, “Why do you send 19 year old young men on missions?” the reply, “Because it works.” And so it does.

Just one example from a missionary:
"Later that night we received a voicemail from ___ [who had just been baptized] where he simply thanked us over and over again. It was so sweet and so sincere. I know that that is why I am here. We didn't do anything as far as his conversion, however, he was in the right spot at the right time and simply sharing the message with him has completely changed his life for all eternity. He knows it is true, and that is enough for me to know that this is the Lord's work and it is my purpose to share it. To change lives. It's amazing! I love it! I love being a missionary!!"

Feeding Missionaries

I am still chuckling about this elder's comment. The wonderful converts love the missionaries and feed them their favorite foods. Some times the ethnic foods are a bit strange to the missionaries.

"oh last week we went over to another recent convert and had dinner there. it was by far the worst dinner i've had on my misson, it was fried fish smothered in this weird red stuff and cow feet in peanut soup. it was really gross, i saw my companion gag a few times. made a good journal entry.:)

Weekly emails

Each week I read about 160 emails from my missionaries. A few are very disheartening , but most are uplifting and full of faith. I also get many chuckles. Many are are a few short sentences, some are pages long. I think the longest I have ever received was 3300 words long. Though some may think it would be boring, I find it fascinating to feel what they feel and to share in their joys and disappointments. Most write quickly with many grammatical errors and misspellings, but they write from the heart. I respond to about 50 percent of them especially when they ask me a question. I am going to try, from time to time, to give a sample of what they write and some of the questions I respond to. I have way more on my to do list than I will ever have time to.

Here is a sample of what I write to the missionaries that get stopped by the police for "soliciting" without a license.

We are not door to door salesmen--we do not solicit
"The United States Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld the constitutional right of missionaries and others to share their religious views door-to-door. This right was upheld as recently as 2002 in a case involving the Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Supreme Court said that it is unconstitutional to require missionaries to get a permit before they can go door-to-door to share a religious message." That being said, many law enforcement officers do not know this or if they do tend to ignore it. If one of them stops you from going door-to-door, note the time and address and without being belligerent, see if you can get the badge number of the officer. Send all this to me and I'll address it with their Chief of Police.