Missionary

Note to readers: Years ago, I wrote a mommy column when my seven children spanned from diapers to just learning how to use a locker. Now some of those children are preparing for, serving, or just coming home from missions. While all of us love getting missionary e-mails from the men and women who serve, when I was a young missionary, I cherished the letters from home. This new column will be excerpts of my letters to my daughter, who is currently serving in Brazil.

Dear Irmã,

How fast is too fast? When you listen to a book, do you bump up the speed? Maybe a hair. 1.2X, 1.5X if I’ve read it before. But triple speed just sounds like a cacophony. Stunted, staccato notes, it’s jarring on the ears! But that is the sound blasting through the house right now. Different books, different decibels, all the same disjointed tones. I can’t make out a word. It almost sounds like white noise. Almost. White noise is soothing.

I’ve made everyone declutter their rooms and to pass the time and avoid answering Marie Kondo’s haunting question, “Does this spark joy?” they are each listening to a book at full volume. We don’t read anymore, we listen. At triple speed.

I imagine this is what a foreign language must sound like to a new student. Why is everyone talking so fast?? Slow down and enjoy the poetic prose! Wait! I didn’t catch that conjugation! The soft and supple “zshj” sounds of this beautiful language are getting muddled in your haste! The MTC teachers didn’t talk this fast!

Your brothers continue to assert that the brain “clicks over” to the new pace, and I believe them. But don’t you wish every Brazilian had a convenient little Speech Speed Setting while you were learning?  A wee remote where you could…double click! .5X Double click! .25X  Ahhh, muito melhor.

It’s football season so we queued up Remember the Titans yesterday as part of our game day prep. Dad watched, rapt, as he suited up for the sidelines of the high school game. This morning, after the team endured a long slog that ultimately ended in defeat, he said he was waiting for the moment like in the movie: after the team finally makes a great play, the rock music ramps up and the montage of amazing hits rolls. “We had some strong plays, but they were always followed by breakdowns and dropped passes! Man, football looks a lot easier in a montage.” This insight came up during family scripture study as we all agreed the building of a ship in first Nephi felt a little glossed over, as if after Nephi shocks Laman and Lemuel, the Ain’t No Mountain High Enough record needle drops… montage, montage, montage… et voila! They set sail! I have to believe that took grit, spit and a whole lot of duct tape over multiple years, right?

The mission isn’t that different.  It does look easier in a montage. The Best Two Years is proof of that. (Great soundtrack, by the way.) You will absolutely have some amazing plays, gain yards, even shock a few people. But those moments are almost always followed by dropped passes, fumbles, even sacks. Plays breakdown and good quarterbacks are forced to scramble. That’s the game. That’s the job.

The one exception is, and this is crucial: unlike our high school football team, you are always winning. Double click that and say it slow: You. Are. Always. Winning. Prophets have seen how the game ends. Our faith in Christ means we have faith that He has already won! Your time as a missionary will not end in defeat. How could it? It may be a slog, but make no mistake, it ends in victory. You, with Christ, are victorious! As Paul wrote to the Romans,

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
Romans 8:37

All my love,

Mom

P.S. You spark joy.