DETERMINED TO SERVE NO MATTER THE COST

Church members who are called to serve full-time missions are expected to work diligently and complete the full term of their proselyting assignments before they go home to resume their normal lives. After completing a period of instruction at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, young men are generally about 19 years old when then come into the mission field. Their length of service is 24 months. In comparison, young women who serve as sister missionaries are typically 21 years of age when they arrive on their missions, and their time of service is 18 months.

For senior missionaries, like Sister Lindsay and me, the length of a full-time mission can vary from as few as 12 months or as long as 23 months; and it is required that senior couples not have any dependent children at home when they are called to serve.

The young missionaries and their families pay $450 per month to help cover the cost of their monthly expenses with the rest of the actual cost being covered by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through contributions of Church members. Senior missionaries, on the other hand, pay their own expenses.

The desire for an elder or sister to go where the Lord has called them to serve, and to do so honorably until the scheduled completion date of their assignment, is so strong in most missionaries that even serious illness or injury precludes any personal desire to go home early.

One such instance happened recently in the Maryland Baltimore Mission involving a young elder who suffered an injury requiring him to return back home for surgery. With just a short time remaining to serve in his assignment, the Missionary Department told him that because he had less than six months to go, the Church would consider his mission to be honorably completed. With unwavering faith, this determined young man found a good surgeon who was able to perform a miracle surgery. The young man recovered quickly, contacted his mission president, and requested reinstatement in the mission field.

Because he only had three months left, the Missionary Department said that if they allowed him to return, he would have to pay the airfare back to Maryland. The elder responded simply, "Let's do it!" The Missionary Department then offered him an extra month (extending his service to four months instead of three), and in exchange said that the Church would then pay for his return air fare. The young man was even more excited and accepted the extension without a moment's hesitation.

For I will raise up unto myself a pure people, that will serve me in righteousness (D&C100:16)

It isn't what happens to us that really matters in this life; but what we do in response to what happens can make an eternal difference!