18 lessons in 10 months

Hermanos y hermanas, I loved my mission! I loved Provo, Utah with its beautiful mountains and blue skies. President O’Riordan’s Australian accent asking me if I was TIRED and giving me one last hug as I cried on his shoulder. I loved each one of my cute compas for a billion different reasons. Sister Taylor’s diligence and always making me laugh in roleplays. Sister Gilliland’s determination to work hard and be “all in all the time.” I loved that Sister Draper helped me to learn the importance of prayer and Hermana Gomez taught me how to make missionary work fun. I loved training Hermana Holt and gaining confidence and humility as we grew in the spirit and laughed together every day about the “stoopid” elders. Hermana Miller became my best friend and showed me the blessings of priesthood power and seeing people as Christ sees them. I loved the examples of each student on BYU campus as they helped to further the missionary work around them. The kindness of every cowboy in Vernal to open their homes and just love with their whole hearts. Springville ward members supporting us in the work and making sure all of our needs were met. I loved being jam-packed with lessons, devotionals, meetings, conferences, and service. Staying out late to help answer someone’s soul-searching question for truth and waking up early to do service on the temple grounds the next morning. Free Crumbl cookies and Cafe Rio from members who have kids serving missions hundreds of miles away and would want someone to do the same for their missionaries. I loved time set aside to study from the scriptures each morning and to feel the spirit strongly all day every day. Incredible insights from the people we taught who read from the Book of Mormon for the first time and saw it changing their lives. I even loved the hard trials where I seemed to grow the most as I stretched out of my comfort zone. But most of all, I love my Savior Jesus Christ and the lessons I learned as I served Him each day with my whole heart. I could go off on the millions of miracles I witnessed, answers to prayers I received, and times I knew the Lord was watching over me, but I’ve chosen 18 of the most memorable lessons I learned in my time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. #best10months ;) 

1. The very first lesson I learned all the way back in at-home MTC is that We need to learn to heed and follow the promptings of the spirit. We all know that Sister Dougall wanted to speak Spanish on her mission and not just a little bit but like a LOT! So when I received a prompting in my first week as a missionary to use some of my extra downtime at home to study up on my Spanish and learn some gospel vocab, was it me, or was it the spirit? It didn't matter! I heeded the prompting, asked our sister missionaries for a study book, whipped out my Libro de Mormon from Mexico, and did my own language study every day. I hoped that maybe I would be able to serve in a Spanish area or at the least, just teach one person in Spanish in my time as a missionary, but I tried to not get my hopes up too much. But wouldn't you know it? The very FIRST lesson we taught on my second day as a BYU missionary was to Araceli from Argentina who spoke English as a second language, so I offered to teach her the plan of salvation with the little gospel Spanish that I had studied. Talk about an answer to prayer as I entered the field! That weekend, I even got to say the prayer at her baptism in Spanish! I was overjoyed and so happy I had followed the prompting, assuming that was my one little Spanish opportunity and the Lord wanted to remind me He knew my heart and desires. Little did I know what the Lord had in store down the road.

2. I went into the mission seeking to look for miracles every day and I was constantly reminded that When we look for the Lord's hand in our lives, we will see it. In my first area, we would call a young man in our ward named Tom Sun every Friday to check in and give him weekly challenges that would help bring joy to his life. One week we encouraged him to write tender mercies or miracles in a journal whenever he noticed them. At the end of the week, we asked how his journaling went and if he had any experiences to share. The text we got from him that evening said, “I was running out of cereal for breakfast and the Lord reminded me I had some frozen corn kernels left, so I was fed.” Not what we expected to hear and it gave us a pretty good laugh, but it goes to show that the Lord is there when we seek Him! Each miracle and blessing comes from God and we can choose to overlook them or seek them out and find joy! 

3. There is no such thing as coincidences. In Spanish, we would always say, “No hay coincidencias, solo hay DIOSidencias,” which means only God-idences(not quite the same ring haha). One night after Sister Gilliland and I had posted a video on Facebook of our friend Karim’s conversion story, we received a text message from him sharing an experience he had had that evening. He told us that as he watched the video, he felt his heart fill with joy and his home fill with the spirit. Moments later, Karim received a notification that one of his good friends had taken his life, leaving him confused, angry, and at a loss for words. All of a sudden, he felt the most unbelievable calmness and the spirit reminding him of the plan of salvation and that his friend was in a better place. He told us right then that coincidences were not a thing as he was reminded of the blessings of the gospel just before hearing incredibly sad news. 

4. As missionaries, but even more so as members, We should never be afraid to talk about our beliefs. There are so many opportunities to do missionary work! One of my absolute favorite members that joined us to knock doors and fellowship in lessons was Hannah Rich. She was an amazing example of a member missionary! At every door contact, she was upfront telling complete strangers who we were as missionaries, why she was so grateful for the gospel, how it changed and blessed her life, and more. Everything she shared was completely genuine and you could see the fire in her eyes as she talked about her love for our Savior Jesus Christ. She would hang out with the people we were teaching on the weekends to get to know them better, talk to people at the store or restaurants or parks about the gospel and then tell us about it later to give us insight into who might be interested in learning more, and she always had a vision for unique finding ideas for us. It was awesome when I returned to Vernal in the Spanish area and she called to say that she had been trying to talk with some Spanish speakers, but needed our help! She didn't even let language barriers stop her from sharing the gospel! Her example made me excited to be a better missionary for my entire life.

5. Everything happens in the Lord’s timing. I always thought Tim Geier was going to be our guy! One of the very first nights in Vernal, while whitewashing and calling everyone in our area book, we called Tim’s wife. She gave us his number but pretty much told us that he had absolutely zero interest and would more likely cuss us out than anything. So of course, we called him up and his wife was wrong. Tim unloaded all the stresses he had been dealing with and told us he was looking for some change and hope in his life. We met with him in the bishop’s home every week of that transfer and he made more progress in those 7 weeks than he had ever made with missionaries in the last 18 years. In the end, he wasn’t quite ready for baptism, BUT it goes to show that the Lord has a plan for each of His children and everything will happen in His perfect timing. Although Tim’s story is still in the works, we were able to see miracles as he took leaps and bounds in his own spiritual growth during that time. Heavenly Father has a plan for Tim, just as he has a perfect plan and timeline for each one of His children. 

6. Every missionary will tell you they love service! In part, because who doesn't love a little change to the daily schedule, but also because Service brings joy and miracles! The week after Christmas, Sister Gilliland and I are walking down the streets knocking doors with one of our friends in the ward. We went up to one door where we knew the husband of a less active woman lived. Their family was in the middle of taking down their Christmas tree and their front door was wide open, so we walked right in and started helping. Our friend took out the tree with the husband, I started vacuuming, and Sister Gilliland was in the kitchen talking with the mom and kids. After meeting the family, we found out that their girls, Susan and Lindy, were turning 9 soon and wanted so badly to be baptized. In the next month, we were able to help the girls prepare for baptism and to also reactivate the mom and watch as their family grew closer to one another and closer to their Savior. Without our simple service, who knows what would have happened! 

7. Sister O’Riordan always reminded us, “The Lord loves you so much that He will give you what you want; You show Him what you want by what you choose to do.” Rewind to lesson one and my Spanish studies. Even after Araceli’s baptism, I continued to study Spanish and get any practice that I could. In my third transfer, I was really struggling with my companion and happened to have a lot of extra time to study in that first week. I reached out to my mission president and told him how difficult that week had been and he simply told me to trust the Lord and say my prayers. I had been praying like mad that week, but said a prayer right there at my lowest, completely unsure how to handle everything that was going on. An hour later, we got a call from President saying that my companion and I were going to be in a trio and would be covering a Spanish area! I was overwhelmed with love, knowing that Heavenly Father knew me and had seen me putting in effort with my Spanish even when my situation was difficult. He knew what I wanted, but wasn’t going to simply hand it to me. I had to choose to study and show the Lord what I truly wanted and then He was able to use me to do His work with my talents. Fast forward 3 months later, at the end of Hermana Holt’s training, we were able to baptize and take our friend Paulo to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. So many things fell into place and I know it was the Lord teaching me to be an instrument in His hands by trusting Him in the process. 

8. The Lord will bless our efforts, no matter how small. Hermana Holt and I tried every finding activity together. We did all kinds of service, called every phone number we could find, knocked on every door and every apartment complex, went on faith walks once or twice a day, visited every family in our ward to get to know them and their friends, attended community and ward events, and more. We talked with every person we saw and had some unforgettable lessons and experiences, yet the numbers did not seem to reflect our efforts. It seemed like every scheduled lesson fell through, nobody came to church with us, and none of our friends were making substantial progress. After about a month of little success, we got a call from a lady in our ward who had a referral for her daughter’s friend, Annabelle, who was already coming to church and wanted to be baptized. Then later that week, we met another girl that was turning 9 soon and wanted to be baptized as well. And we were already teaching Paulo who was soaking up the gospel and going above and beyond on every invitation we extended. So while it sometimes seems like we are doing everything in our power with no success, the Lord always has something better in store. Another Sister O’Riordan flag that “In the end, it will all be alright; if it's not alright, it's not the end!” 

9. My absolute favorite primary song is, “The Family is of God,” because it’s true; Families are so important to God’s plan of salvation. Natalie Castillo was a cute 9-year old that Hermana Holt and I taught together at the end of our second transfer together. She hadn’t been baptized when she was eight because COVID hit a couple of months before her birthday and it had been overlooked. We became close with her family, taught them all the lessons, and put her on date for baptism moments before we found out we would both be transferring out of the area the following week. We passed her off to the elders that came in after us and dreadfully watched as the lessons we had set up were canceled and her baptism date was delayed, thinking that she was going to be forgotten once again. When the elders called to invite us to the baptism, we were overjoyed and so happy it was happening! With the extra time from the delayed baptism, the dad, who had once been quiet in lessons and less active in church, had decided to get back to church and become worthy to hold the priesthood and baptize his daughter. Natalie’s baptism helped to not only bring her into Christ’s fold but to bring their whole family back to activity in the church. The baptism was one of the most memorable as we watched the whole family rejoice together and know that they would be together for eternity. 

10. The temple brings peace to our life. We were blessed to have four temples in the Utah Provo mission with the Provo, Provo City Center, Payson, and Vernal temples. I was able to visit all four grounds(plus Salt Lake with Hermana Gomez!) and go inside three of the four to do baptisms for the dead or endowments with the people we taught. Because of COVID, temples had been closed and we were lucky to have special exceptions to take our friends to the temple. When we were unable to go inside the temple, we would sometimes do our morning studies on the grounds and I always looked forward to the strong spirit that was felt there. My favorite experience at the temple was with Steicy in Vernal. She had been adopted from Honduras and was living with an English family who introduced her to the gospel. Steicy dealt with a lot of challenges from her childhood and while that sometimes made feeling the spirit difficult for her, she had many powerful experiences from priesthood blessings that reminded her of the Savior’s love for her and the spirit was strong in each of those moments. There was one day when we were teaching Steicy an after baptism lesson about enduring to the end and we decided to teach her on the temple grounds. She opened up to us about some hard things she was going through and how the gospel, and especially the temple, helped her to feel peace during those times. She looked forward to serving a mission and making more covenants in the temple someday. I am so grateful to live close to a temple and to be reminded of the peace that can be felt there even amidst the chaos of the world we live in. The Lord’s house on earth is such a blessing!

11. Every prayer is answered. Sometimes the answers to our prayers come instantly, but others take time and we need to learn to trust in the Lord’s perfect timing. One night, Hermana Miller and I were knocking trailers with Chelina when we got a call from our friend Hannah telling us that there was a Hispanic man at the chapel waiting for someone to come help. We immediately hopped in the car and drove to meet him, but when we got there we couldn’t find anyone. We said a prayer and left in search of a dark-skinned man named Trent dressed in all black. We drove on all the side streets, popped into gas stations and restaurants, asked everyone we saw and continued to yell his name from the car. It was getting dark and late, so we decided to head back to the chapel one last time and prayed that he would be there for us to help out. As soon as we pulled in, we saw Trent crouched down in the bushes eating a snack. We called out and ran to him, so excited to have finally found him safe. He told us he had been traveling across the country and felt like for some reason, he needed to be here. We gave him a Book of Mormon and taught him right there on the spot as we waited for a bishop to come and find him a place for the night. The next morning, we were able to get him in contact with the English elders(he was from Micronesia, not Mexico haha), teach him the restoration, find him a job and family to stay with, and put him on date for baptism. Trent’s prayer and our prayer had both been answered that night and it taught us that not only does God answer prayers, but he uses people to answer prayers and we must be in tune with those promptings and heed them. 

12. Something I learned as I was constantly seeking miracles throughout my mission is that Miracles are wrought by Faith. In Ether 12:12 it says, “For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.” I saw this in my own life and even more so in the miracles that we saw as we helped the people we taught to recognize them in their lives. When I was serving in Vernal Spanish, Hermana Miller and I were able to meet with a less active lady named Angie every week. Her house was always a bit of a disaster, but she refused to let us clean it for her. One day it was especially bad so we asked how we could help. Angie told us that her dryer had broken earlier that week and the laundry had just piled up. She asked if we knew anyone that had a dryer she could borrow and we told her we would connect her with someone in the relief society before the end of the day. We left her place that night and the moment we got back home, we received a call from one of our elder's quorum presidents saying that his neighbor was getting rid of a dryer. Then, the following morning we helped a family move who was getting rid of their dryer as well. Two dryers in two days-that ain’t no coincidence! Angie had faith that we could get her a dryer, we had faith that the Lord would provide, and apparently, double the faith meant double the dryers! The miracle could not have been more obvious for a lady that needed to be reminded that the Lord was fully aware of her and her needs. 

13. A phrase we often heard as missionaries serving in Utah was, “Every member a mission president.” This basically meant that we needed to be on our best behavior or a member would call our mission president to rat us out for doing something wrong, but what it really meant was that Our actions are noticed. I was always taught that as a high schooler where there weren’t many members, that we had to be good Christlike examples to others, but it took on a whole new level as a missionary wearing Christ’s name on my chest each day. Near the end of my mission, I was asked to call each companionship and write about some of the miracle baptisms that had happened in our zone that summer. I absolutely loved hearing so many amazing stories, but I began to notice a pattern; almost every single baptism story started with a common theme of a member being an example or a friend to their neighbor or someone sharing their testimony with a total stranger. These people wanted something different in their lives and when they saw members of our church serving and loving like Christ, they wanted in. Loving, sharing, and inviting others is easy and it changes people’s lives whether we see it or not. People notice our actions and the light within us. 

14. If you know me, you know I love people and that is why I love missionary work; because The Lord’s work is all about people! Believe it or not, one of my absolute favorite things to do every day was knocking doors. I loved meeting people from all over the world, people from all stages of life with different backgrounds and different beliefs. I loved being able to share my testimony and my love for the gospel with these people and while many didn’t accept what we had to offer, I was happy to share with them that God loved them! I am forever grateful for the people we were able to teach and baptize and for those who chose not to be baptized, for each member in our wards that helped us with missionary work or set an example to those around them, for every missionary I was able to serve with and learn from, and for every single person the Lord placed in my path. The Lord loves His children and He helped me to see and understand that love more clearly. 

15. Christ’s atonement is real! He understands every trial, hardship, affliction, and hurt we go through in this life. He is our older brother to stand with us through it all because He has been there and can empathize completely with us. I have obviously seen glimpses of this in my life and even more so in my mission, but it wasn’t until I got sick that I more fully understood what it means in Alma 7:11 when it says, “he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.” Jesus Christ loves us infinitely and was willing to go through so much for each one of us. I was throwing up all day and having such bad stomach aches that I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone, but the Savior understood my pain completely. And not only did He understand the pain I was going through, but He understood the frustration I felt about being unable to work as hard as I wanted, and the loneliness I felt each day as I spent more and more time alone in bed, and even more so the confusion and sadness I felt when the doctors couldn’t find answers to my health problems and I was eventually sent home. He sent His Spirit to bless me with comfort and peace during those hard times. I saw numerous tender mercies as I was transferred closer to doctors in the city, spent more time getting to know our new mission president, and was able to live with my favorite hermanas from my previous area. I learned that while the Lord may not take away our trials, He is always right there beside us to lift us and comfort us because He has literally been there! 

16. And on a similar note, Hard things help us to grow and to help others. I was listening to a Brad Wilcox devotional on grace recently where he told a story about a young missionary in the MTC who was struggling to learn his mission language. Brother Wilcox reminded this missionary that sometimes it takes time so that we can fully internalize the learning process to better empathize with others who are going through learning and changing processes of their own. While for me, the language was not a huge issue, adjusting to missionary life at the start was hard! I didn’t want to change because I felt like everything I was doing before my mission was good and I didn’t need to adjust my schedule, my studies, my prayers, and my appearance to be any better. It took me a long time before getting up at 6:30 was easy, studying for our friend’s questions was something to look forward to, praying all the time was a habit, and wearing dresses...well I still like my short sleeve t-shirts(right President O’Riordan?), but we get the point. Change and learning take time. Going through that for myself helped me to empathize with others as they made changes in their own lives to give up smoking and drinking habits, read the scriptures daily, attend church on Sunday, etc. It helped me to empathize and have patience with those who had struggles of their own as I thought back to my own learning processes. And in the same way, getting sick and being sent home early helped me to empathize with so many others who go through the same thing. We don’t learn and grow easily overnight. Sometimes it takes some struggle, a little heartache, and a lot of grit to learn lessons that help us to be fine-tuned instruments in the Lord’s work.

17. Another lesson that Sister O’Riordan taught us is that “You are exactly where you need to be in order to learn the lessons you need to learn, to become who you need to become.” I loved serving in Provo and am so grateful for every spiritual moment, every area I served in, every companion I had, every person we taught, and each wonderful experience I had there. But that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes still wonder why I was called to the England Birmingham mission if Heavenly Father knew I would spend my whole mission in Utah. Maybe it was to join the summer EBM zoom calls and make friends that supported me in every moment of my mission. Or maybe it was to get excited about England and to go more in-depth with family history. Or for the many people that I met in Utah who served there and were able to remember their missionary work so long ago. I may never know, but what I do know for sure is that every part of my mission was meant to help me grow. I learned each one of these lessons and many more and it all goes back to the Lord’s plan for me and for the unique plan He has for each one of His children to become exactly who He needs them to be. Our faith is in the Lord, not in our desired outcomes and I wouldn’t change a single thing about that! 

18. If I had to pick one overall lesson that I learned from my entire mission, it is that The Lord knows and LOVES each and every one of His children!! We need to trust in Him because His plan is absolutely perfect. The plan I had for my life two years ago is nothing like what actually happened, but I don’t look back one second to regret that. I loved being at Utah State and meeting the people I met, nobody liked COVID but I’m grateful for the time I had to slow down and spend time with those I loved doing what mattered most, I thought I would serve in South America but instead got called to England and never made it, I never would have guessed I would serve in Utah as a Spanish missionary but I absolutely loved it, and I definitely did not think I would get sick enough to be sent home after ten months in the field. I may not have had that plan for myself, but the Lord knew it all along. He knows me, He knows my desires, my talents, my fears, my struggles, and everything else, and despite it all, He loves me more than I can comprehend. The Lord blesses us with people in our lives to lift us up, trials to help us grow, experiences to learn from, and so much more. During my mission, I was constantly reminded of the unchanging love and awareness that my Savior had for me. I could go off on stories here of hard times feeling the spirit or being reminded of things from my patriarchal blessing, etc, but I will share one last memorable experience. When I left Vernal after seven weeks, I was heartbroken. I had no idea I could have so much love for a place and the people as I did for Vernal and that made leaving so difficult. When I became a Spanish missionary the following transfer and found out that the Vernal Spanish area had been pink-washed with sisters, I wished more than ever that I could go back and serve in that area but I didn’t think there was any way it would happen. When transfer calls came and I found out that I would be going back, I screamed as soon as we got off the phone with President. The only person that knew how badly I wanted to go back was my Heavenly Father and He made it happen! Looking back, I know I needed to be with Hermana Miller more than I needed to be in Vernal or be serving in Spanish, but the Lord works in mysterious ways and that day, He reminded me once again how much he knew and loved me! 

I know with a surety that our Heavenly Father loves each one of His children. He has a unique plan for each of us. He is aware of our needs and is there to help us learn and grow. I am eternally grateful for my mission and the lessons I learned from serving the Lord and sacrificing my time and talents to be an instrument in his hands. I love both my mission presidents and their wives, each one of the missionaries I was able to serve with, my family and friends that supported me from afar, and for every person I was blessed to meet and serve in my time as a missionary. I know that the Book of Mormon is true and that it has the power to bring us closer to our Savior as we read and study from it daily. The gift of prayer has that same power as we allow God to be in the midst of our life and focus on hearing the promptings that come from the spirit. Our prophets and apostles are men called by God to lead and guide us and if we follow them we cannot go astray. I love this gospel and the blessing that it is for me in my life and for the numerous ways I have seen it change the lives of those around me. I love my Savior with all my heart and I say all these things in His name, Jesus Christ, amen. <3