On Being a missionary

Dear Family,

Ethan just got his mission call this weekend. I am so excited and overwhelmed for him. I loved being a missionary. I literally feel like a mission is the pivotal point in a person's life. It is a microcosm of the rest of your life. While Ethan is there I won't be able to talk to him all the time so I wanted to say a few things about being a missionary that I think will help him. The rest of you can see it too.

The first thing is that a mission is about love as is all of the gospel. It is about the love of the Savior for his children. It is a chance for Ethan to show the people of Poland the love of the savior Jesus Christ. It happens as he talks to them, as he prays for and with them, as he meets with them in church and in their homes, as he teaches them, and as he plays with their little kids while his companion teaches them.

I heard a great statement in church from Sister Younkers today. She said: The Kingdom of God is being built on the earth and we are the Builders. Cheese will be a builder of the church from its infancy in Poland. The fact that there are 1552 members in Poland is a sign that there is a lot of work to do. Poland has as its major religion, the Roman Catholic Church. The Roman Catholic Church had so much influence in Argentina that till 1987 you could not get a divorce in Argentina. The catholic church has a lot of gaps in the truth it teaches and Ethan can show them the light.

Some specific recommendations I have for the Cheese: Read your Book of Mormon out loud for 30 minutes a day in Polish and you will get the language much quicker. When you meet with investigators, sing the hymns and primary songs with them. They and their kids will love it and the music will bring the spirit. Not many missionaries do this but it really helps. Sing when you meet with the members as well as it will make them happy too and you have such a good voice. Talk to people wherever you are, in the streets, on buses, when you ask for directions and you will find people in the most unlikely circumstances. Work as hard as you can. I always have thought, the mission is the only time in your life when you can knock on doors, talk to people like a missionary does and this is your only chance to do it like this. Have patience with you companions but push them to do more than they may want to. When I had good companions and we worked together well, things were great, but when I had lazy companions it was sometimes tense but I pushed them harder than they wanted to go and we did better with my pushing. Be obedient, even when other missionaries are not. Read the missionary handbook weekly. It is like your scriptures for two years. When you are waiting for buses, whatever, which I always seemed to be doing, read your scriptures or you missionary handbook.

I had so many more thoughts today but now they are not coming but you will do great, and we are all praying now for you Cheese and the people of Poland that you will be prepared and they will be ready to listen. I feel you will have many more baptisms than a few while you are there, because you have the spirit, the goodness, the skills and you will have the Love of the Savior in your heart.