At the age of 19 many young men who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ go on missions. I was one of those boys and I am proud of it. It is a great deal. They don't see their families for 2 years and they can only talk on the phone twice a year (if everything is okay) with their families. A lot of people, I found out, think that this is hard. To be honest, it is for the first little bit. As you work hard though it goes away. In the first month you learn a lot of skills, and a lot of lessons. You are put through a very lengthy day of learn the gospel and if it is part of your mission, you learn a new language. I had to learn a new language, and most of you know that I learned Serbian.
No once out in the "field" things change. The language that you thought you knew isn't even close to what they speak in the country. Your meals are no longer cooked for you, and you have a little bit more freedom. What I mean by this is that they have you locked up in a compound and they aren't always watching over you. You are the one that decides to get up in the morning. Things also get a little harder. You start having to do things that you normally wouldn't do. Some would say that you have to leave your bubble, or comfort zone. This is so true, or at least in the missions in Europe. I don't know about the other countries.
On the mission, you meet people that you never thought you would meet. You also have experiences that you never would have had. You will have both of these happen, believe me I know. The members are always great, especially the ones that help you out a lot. On the other side you have things that you really don't want to happen at all. You will have the complete opposite sides of the spectorum. There are times when you will have a great day and everything doesn't go wrong. Then the next day you will have a day when everything goes wrong. Those days may have been bad but they are sometimes the ones that you learn the most out of. Most people they ask about my mission and always ask about the part that were hard. Then after I answer them they always ask if I hated my mission. I don't know why that is. I tell them the truth about my mission, that it is was hard, but I loved it. So now if you have read this had you ask me if I loved my mission you have your answer, yes I did. Sure there were long periods of time without teaching someone, but I received blessings from it. I learned a lot and now after looking back on it I am glad that I went.
Well, that is it for me. I loved my mission and I will tell everyone out there that missions are hard but they are worth it in the long run. I guess since I am talking about the mission that I kind of have to bare my testimony of the church. I know this church is true. It was set up by the power of God again on the earth through Joseph Smith. He did translate the Book of Mormon with this same power. I know that it is through the gospel that this world is saved and there is no other way. It is through the Atonement that all men will return to God (to be judged) and that all men will be resurrected from the dead. I know that Thomas S. Monson is the prophet today. The Lord leads the church through him today. Our leaders in the church are called of God and that is why that we need to support our leaders. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
