Go forth to serve

We dropped my brother Dan off at the MTC today. With gas prices on the rise and both food and utilities getting more expensive by the day, we figured it would be cheapest to outsource his residence to people with a bigger budget. :P

No, really, he’ll be heading out to Hong Kong at the beginning of September. His experience will parallel my own in a lot of ways — twelve weeks in the MTC learning an Asian language being the foremost (I served in Thailand) — and I have to say that being there in the MTC brought back a flood of memories. There were a few times where I almost let the salty water have its way. I really, seriously wished (for a moment) that it was me who was going on the mission, that I was the one on the verge of a grand adventure soaked with sweat and tears.^* But I wasn’t.

Don’t get me wrong, I like post-mission life. I like being able to flirt with girls. ;) I don’t really want to go back. (Though if I went now, I’d be a heck of a lot better of a missionary knowing what I know now. But of course I know what I know now because of my mission, to a large degree. Chicken and egg.)

Anyway, the short version is that visiting the MTC and vicariously reliving that first-day experience made me miss my mission an awful lot. I loved my mission. I loved the people, I loved what we were doing, I loved the feeling of building the kingdom in a part of the vineyard where things have been growing a bit slowly. I’m who I am today because of my mission. I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. Nothing.

I’ll be looking forward to my brother’s letters. And in the meantime, I’ve got my mission journal to re-read. (And to start transcribing again.)

^* This is completely, utterly tangential, but if you take “sweat” and say it backwards with a child’s accent, it sort of comes out like “tears.” (You have to fudge a bit on the vowel, though.) Random, I know. :P

Ben
So sweet what you wrote, it really touch my heart. That’s probably because I’ve been so engage with missional work my lifetime.
My ex-boyfriend is now a missionary in Peru Lima and I’m ready to go on a mission too!

That’s great! Let me know when you put your papers in and get your call. :)

Ok, i’ll let you know!!!

Ben,

I’ve been thinking a lot about my experience in the MTC too lately since my brother has been there (he just left yesterday for Romania). It’s been really sweet for me to remember what it was like to be a missionary. I went to my parents’ house and looked through the letters and pictures I sent home and came across two memories that might be of interest to you:

1. A picture of our district playing volleyball in which you are attempting to hit the ball backwards over the net. You are airborne and kind of look like a frog. David was highly amused.
2. A tape to my family. The whole thing is about 10 minutes long and for 2 entire minutes it is you bearing your testimony in Thai. Well, it would have been for two minutes if I hadn’t taped over it (sorry Ben, I just knew that though my family would be impressed for about the first 30 seconds, they would quickly lose interest listening to a person they didn’t know speaking a language they didn’t understand). There is the beginning, “I know that…” and the end “…Amen.” A solid testimony.
Also, there is a slight chance we will be moving to HK and if so, we will hunt your brother down and have lunch with him (after obtaining permission of course).

1. LOL! You know, that’s exactly it — for years, when my lower face is in a certain pose, it has reminded me of an animal but I was never able to place it. And it’s totally a frog. (Seriously.) And I have no problems with looking like a flying frog. :)

2. Haha, no worries about taping it over. And yeah, I tend to be a little wordy. :) I don’t remember the volleyball moment, but I do remember the testimony. Fuzzily. :)

As for moving to HK and lunching with my brother, awesome — keep me posted.