Ten Minute Blog Post 2

Dear Son in the LDS Missionary Training Center,

That’s a very nice thing your Branch President said to you. As a mom, it’s my job to say, “Well done, good for you! Now, don’t let it go to your head.” 😉 Because I know pride can sneak up on all of us so easily. I think your gift to see patterns in things makes scripture study and understanding a different kind of experience for you than it is for some other people. Add to that your ability to remember things you read, and it can be a great advantage and help. At some point, these skills will kick in with your language learning also. It will take time, you have to build a lot of new synapses and neural pathways in your brain before it will happen, just keep at it and at some point things will click into place, but it’s a lot of work to get there.

You mentioned Elder Neal L. Anderson’s question about sacrificing for a mission. It reminded me of something I’ve noticed a lot lately. I’ve been seeing quite a few postings on Facebook that moms of LDS missionaries are putting up about how proud they are of their sons or daughters who are willing to sacrifice to serve a mission, and listing all the things they are supposedly sacrificing – university, jobs, cars, social lives, family, etc. I have to just shake my head, because I don’t see putting those things on hold as sacrifices. Those things will all be there when the mission is over. Sure they may change, but if someone is maturing, those things will change over two years anyway.

Where’s the sacrifice in that?

The choice to serve a mission is just that, a choice. You could choose to do any number of other things, but in the end, you have to make a choice about how you use your time. To choose wisely, you need to ask yourself,

• “What can I do that will best help me prepare for the future?”
• “What opportunities will best prepare me to be a husband, father, and provider for my future family?”
• “What will be most likely to make me a better person?”
• “What would God want me to do?”

There many things you can choose to do now, but no matter what you choose, you “sacrifice” the ability to make certain other choices.

You can only walk through one door at a time.

Choose wisely and don’t look back.

A mission? It’s not a sacrifice. It’s life. Live it well.