Why I am Going on A Mission.

Two years ago, a mission wasn’t on my agenda. It wasn’t part of my plans. It wasn’t in the scope of my desires. I didn’t think a mission would be in the cards for me. Missionaries leave for a year and a half (or two if male), and I wanted to do other things with my life. I was an eighteen year old girl with a mild fear of missionaries, and I thought I wanted to do other things instead. God thought otherwise. 

God knows me. He knows my challenges and difficulties, and he knows me strengths. During fall of 2011, I did a project on missionary work. It increased my love for missionaries, and it gave me a passion for missions. But, I still didn’t know I would be going on one.

 I didn’t know until January 30, 2012, a year ago exactly. On that day, I said a simple prayer to a loving father in heaven. I wasn’t praying about being a missionary. I was seeking help to get through a problem that I could hardly grapple alone.  He inspired me to make a promise through the power of the Holy Ghost, a power that can only be recognized through experience, to say that I would go on a mission. I would like to share from my journal the commitment that I made:

“The first thing that popped into my head when I was praying was that ‘I would serve a mission’[to say]. I didn’t really like that because it wasn’t what I want to do.  I don’t have much of  a desire to set down a year and a half of school, and life, but I promised him that if I was worthy and untaken I would go serve him. I intend to keep this promise so I’m writing it down.”

Quite simply, this is the reason that I chose to go on a mission. Because I made a promise to God. I am not willing to break my word. Since then though, my desire has become so much more.

At the time of my prayer, I thought I was preparing for something about two and a half years in the future, but I followed through with my commitment. I began to prepare myself for a mission, publicly announcing that I was going, which seemed silly at the time(not to me, but probs to others). I went to mission prep class during Sunday school, and I volunteered at the MTC. Most importantly, I came to terms with the idea of a mission and came to desire it for myself.

Less than nine months after I made a promise to go, our latter-day prophet announced to the whole church that girls could go at nineteen. I was nineteen. I had been taking the semester off, trying to earn money with the goal to go to BYU Jerusalem, which costs about the same as a mission. It was the first semester I had ever taken off, and I had no excuse of waiting to sell a contract.

God had prepared me without me even realizing it. New things utterly terrify me. If I had not known that I was going on a mission, I do not know if I would have made the choice to go. I know that he wants me to go, and I trust him.

I want to go on a mission today, partly because of the commitment that I made, but it has become something much more. I have a joy that fills my heart and soul with such sweet peace. I believe that out there somewhere could be a person who needs to hear the gospel from me. This church is true. It’s the coolest and truest thing ever. Just as Joseph Smith said, “I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it...” (JS History 1:25, Monson’s Talk on obedience).  I know it, and I cannot deny the truth. I don’t want to deny the truth!

You may not understand how I feel, but I know that you can come to know how I feel. This gospel has been an immense blessing in my life. I invite you to pray, read the Book of Mormon, and come to taste a fruit that is beyond anything you have ever partaken of. I promise you that if you do so it will be awesome, truly and wholeheartedly awesome.