10 Years Ago

On October 8, 2003, I entered the Provo Missionary Training Center. Three months later, I began my missionary service in Ukraine. To say (as we often do in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) that a mission is the "best two years" is certainly true, but it's a trite phrase that doesn't do missionary service justice.

In a Washington Post column, posted yesterday, the Church's Managing Director of Public Affairs describes why Mormons serve missions. It gets more at the heart of why, in my view, a mission is so absolutely wonderful.

Within our global human family missionaries witness every conceivable kind of trial and circumstance. From opulence and selfishness to chronic, spirit-numbing poverty. From the effects of drugs and alcohol to the invidious addictions of pornography and gambling. From broken homes and battered wives to neglected children and debilitating illness. Missionaries encounter it all. But along with the bad, missionaries also see the redemptive power of the gospel of Jesus Christ as it transforms lives. 

Through witnessing people change, missionaries draw motivation to serve even more faithfully, and in the process their own lives transform. Those who experience this marrow-deep transformation return home stronger, more mature, more ready to bring their learned experience to their own families, congregations, communities, and even to the broader world.

I will be thanking God throughout the eternities for my time in Ukraine. The video below provides a glimpse of my time in the former USSR.