20 Years

20 years ago today I flew home from Tampa, Florida after serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints for 18 months. That experience was a pivotal time in my life. It was tough but I wouldn’t change it for anything. Serving a mission is something you never regret. In fact, serving a mission has such a profound effect on your life that you tend to separate your life into, before my mission and after my mission.

It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since I stepped off a plane in Salt Lake City to greet my family who were eagerly awaiting my arrival. That was back in the days when family could actually  greet you at the terminal when you stepped off the plane. I still remember it quite well.

Serving a mission is such an accelerated learning/growing experience. I have always said that I learned more in the 18 months in Florida serving the Lord full-time than I did during four years of college. There’s no substitute for that kind of education.

I was also contemplating what a privilege it was to be called as a full-time servant of the Lord, Jesus Christ. And to wear His name on a little black name tag every day that proclaimed to the world that I was His representative. A lot of people think of serving a mission as a responsibility or something to do to please others. But I see it as a privilege that only a select few, worthy people get to do. It truly is a blessed privilege. And I am so thankful that I was worthy to be called on, and serve, a mission.

The prophet at the time, Ezra Taft Benson, signed my mission call. Which is the same thing as if the Lord himself had signed it.  

Doctrine and Covenants 1:38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my ^aword shall not pass away, but shall all be ^bfulfilled, whether by mine own ^cvoice or by the ^dvoice of my ^eservants, it is the ^fsame.

 To think that the Lord himself called me to represent Him, is very humbling. But if you think about it, all of us as members of His church are called to represent Him when we are baptized and each week when we partake of the sacrament.

These are a few of my thoughts on this day as I reflect on my full-time mission. Any of you who are contemplating serving a full-time mission, do everything you can to be worthy to do so. It truly is a privilege that not many people have the opportunity to fulfill. As with all blessings from the Lord, we always get more out of it than we put into it.

Mosiah 2: 24 And secondly, he doth ^arequire that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately ^bbless you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

That’s my two cents.