I Want to Be a Missionary--part 2

Pass-along cards

But I never stopped trying to serve a mission by befriending and loving those who were not 
active in the Church or non-members. Whenever Ed and I traveled, a brought along a Book of Mormon or two, pass-along cards and Article of Faith cards, but I never used them. I felt more of a failure as a missionary than ever.

As I grew older, I began to consider a family history mission after I retired from work because I loved genealogy. I recall clearly when I was 12 years old and visited my Grandmother Hansen in Monroe, Utah. (As far as I can determine, I was the only grandchild who ever stayed a week or so with her, and I don’t know why I was so blessed.) She taught me to do genealogy and sew!!! An avid genealogist, she had done family work for about 50 years and researched her line and her husband’s line extensively. I caught the genealogy bug from her at that time.

My Grandmother Hansen

I copied many of the family histories she had, and any time I was in Utah, I would try to get more genealogy from my grandmother’s family. After we retired to Utah, my cousin and I went to southern Utah and got two boxes of my grandmother’s genealogy from my father’s cousin, Agnes Holgate. I also attended all the family reunions and gathered more information and family histories. Reluctantly I copied my grandmother’s genealogies and sent them to my sister Ann, because I was working full-time and didn’t have time to do more with them.

When Ed and I retired from work in 2009, I still hoped that we could serve a couple mission, but six months before our

Ed right after his lung transplant

retirement, Ed’s health declined rapidly, and six months after we retired, we moved to Los Angeles for him to get a lung transplant. It took us nine months before we could go back home, but it gave Ed four good years of life. We were able to travel as we’d hoped to do after retirement, but a mission was not in our plans.

When Ed died two-and-half years ago, I considered a mission again, but so many things interfered. It took a year to settle things from his death, and my health continued to be a major problem.

Ed and I had traveled a lot in the four years he was healthy and we set aside a monthly savings account to pay for these trips. After his death, I

Ed and I on one of our vacations

decided to take my grandchildren on a trip somewhere when they graduated from high school, college or finished a mission. I had grandchildren on both coasts of the country and this was a way I could bound with them and continue to travel. I took two grandchildren to Costa Rica where my grandson had recently returned from a mission in 2016; I brought along my standard missionary stuff, but the closest I came to talking to anyone about the church was on a snorkeling excursion when a lady in our boat and I talked about family history, and I gave her my card, with information about family

Snorkeling with my grandkids in Costa Rica

search.

I recall very clearly where I was sitting in one Sacrament Meeting when Stake President Blair Morris issued a challenge for every available individual to serve a mission. He told of a couple serving a mission when the husband died, and President Morris felt inspired to call on a couple in our stake who’d never considered a mission, but who had been praying to serve in some way. They quickly adjusted their schedules and took the place of the couple who had been released.

Me

I received the inspiration as he talked that I MUST serve a mission as a family history missionary, and I should prepare to do so. It had been in the back of my mind since my husband had died to serve a family history mission, but President Morris’ talk confirmed to me that now was the time.

I worked on my serious health problems, and I volunteered to work at the Bountiful Utah Family History Library. I set the deadline to begin missionary service as June 2017. I planned on taking my granddaughter, Kira, whose father and everyone in his family were inactive in the church, on a cruise in May 2017, and I felt like that since the next grandchild to graduate was three years away I could complete a mission in the meantime.

But it wasn’t that easy; in March 2017, I had my gall bladder removed, and had complications; I ended up back in the hospital for two days. No one could figure out why I was having so much trouble with my breathing, and I was on oxygen, first all day, then after a month or so, just at night. I felt worried that I couldn’t serve two full days a week as a missionary in the Salt Lake City Family History Center if I was still having health problems, but I kept praying for reassurance that I should serve as a missionary.

Me & my granddaughter cave tubing in Belize

During my Caribbean cruise with my granddaughter Kira in May of 2017, I continued to pray daily to be a missionary and again brought missionary stuff with me. I tried to talk to people about the Church, but had little success. One night I was again praying for a missionary experience, and expressing my thoughts of failure, when the thought came to me that I was being a missionary to Kira, who along with her family wasn’t active in the Church. I often had the opportunity to share spiritual experiences with Kira that my mother, my grandfather and I had had in our lives. It wasn’t in a “Here is the missionary message I need to give you,” but in a relaxed and casual way as we talked about our family. It just came naturally. I had the reassurance that there are many ways to be a missionary, and this was one good way.

I wish I could say I started my mission in June 2017, but I discovered I had bad cataracts in both eyes, and surgery to repair them was scheduled during June and July. My lung problems seemed to be resolved; I no longer needed to be on oxygen, although they never determined a reason for my problems, and there was no positive assurance that I would not have a relapse. But I knew that it was time to put in my paperwork to serve a mission in September 2017.

I know that there is a time for every season, and this is my season to serve a mission, and I am looking forward to it!  I am excited about going on a mission—even if I am in my mid-70s.