I’m Going on a Mission!
edited by Peggy Proctor
Most young men in the church, plan and dream all their lives for the time to come when they can go on a full time mission. They watch “boys” go out into the field and they see strong, confident young men return home. Paul Christian was not unlike the others. He was a sensitive and obedient boy; he wanted to go on a mission, his two older siblings had gone, but Paul didn’t want to go off to some exotic far flung corner of the globe. He preferred to go somewhere state side [closer to home]. Going across the ocean would be like going to another planet. I don’t know if he thought the umbilical cord wouldn’t reach that far or just that his tender heart would break if he knew that he couldn’t see our chimney from his rooftop.
Paul’s family moved while he was in high school. Changes are difficult at any age, but particularly during the teenage years. He put on all the airs of tough and cool at school, but he didn’t know anyone and rather than face the painful realities of making friends, he would daily drive off somewhere at lunchtime to eat alone. He was grappling with the heart rending challenges of making a new life.
As is often the case at this age, Paul started doing that which would sever the ties and help give him the feeling of independence that he desired and needed to be able to stand on his own two feet, though his efforts were not always in the course that leads to happiness. He got a job that required him to work on Sundays, for starters. At length he made friends and became the big spender who always treated the “bros” well and the girls like queens. One in particular, Allie, had a hand in keeping him from going over the edge, but he was taking the detours and losing sight of his mission goal. The difficulties that his parents were experiencing with him, made the hand writing on the wall roughly, “Lions 7 to Christians 0.”
One weekend he decided to go with a friend on a little road trip to the ruins of some cliff dwelling Indians and the beautiful water falls there. They were traveling into the night for an early morning hike into the canyon, when, out of the darkness, a cow appeared, hit the grill and toppled over the hood of his friend’s car, pushing the shattered windshield on the passengers side, inches from Paul’s terrified face.—– When Paul returned home from the nightmarish experience, and soothing words were spoken and nerves healed, mom and dad helped Paul process this experience.— “Perhaps this was a wake up call from the Lord,” Mom said. There was a course correction in Paul’s life for a few days and then a settling back into the ruts of his now well traveled road.
Weeks later another jolting reminder came. Paul’s older sister, Chris, was visiting. On Sunday they decided to take a little drive to where they could go on a walk together and talk. As they neared the crest of a little rise, Paul made a “U” turn. Another car came over the rise in an instant and struck him broadside. Chris sustained only minor injuries and managed to get out of the car to go for help. Paul was pinned in the car. When Mom and Dad arrived, they gasped at the sight of the mangled car and their precious son pinned inside. Police were on the scene using all their powers to free him, to no avail, but when Dad got there, things happened fast. Mom was praying and restraining herself while the door of the car was pried open. Paul’s foot was crushed into a one inch space. Had the car been hit a split second later, the outcome would have been fatal. It was family that was there for him in his agony. He was frightened and in need, and they were there to take his hand, dry the tears and wipe away the fears. The days and weeks that followed were painful, but lessons came from this that were stashed away in Paul’s mind that would later serve him.
Thanks be to God also, for a Bishop made in heaven who cared and believed in Paul at a time when parental advice appeared to fall on deaf ears.
The things of the world began again pressing in on Paul, however, and after graduation instead of putting in papers for a mission, he went back to his home town to work for a while, to hang out with old friends and “convert” them. The parents were on their knees as Paul ran headlong toward the lion’s gaping jaws.
Paul worked, and was having “fun” and spending as fast as he earned. The non-member “friends” were doing most of the converting. Letters were sent to him from the family, weekly, but there was never a response.
A few months later Paul called an incredulous father and told him that he was putting in his papers for a mission. Little wonder that ol’ Dad didn’t take the boy seriously.
Paul only had one day off at Christmas and wouldn’t be able to come home. The saying goes, “If the mountain won’t come to Mohamad, Mohamad will come to the mountain.” In keeping with that thought, the whole family packed up and went to see Paul for Christmas and the “roommates” let the family move in for what the family called, their “ghetto Christmas.” This appellation merely indicated a scarcity of furniture and other creature comforts and perhaps a bit of regard for the tidiness of some of the roomies, though Paul let it be known that the term “ghetto” wasn’t appreciated.
During the families’ visit, a wonderful surprise came, a letter arrived addressed to Paul from— the Church!! —-Paul’s family and friends all gathered around him to open the letter. He was shaking as he opened the envelope. The letter read:
“Dear Elder Christian:
You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Mexico Culiacan Mission. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months…”.
Tears streamed down Paul’s cheeks as he read those words. This was the response of the “real” Paul, not the one with the tough outer shell like the oyster’s exterior that he’d been building, but the pearl that lay beneath.
Paul entered the Missionary Training Center nearly three months later and miracles began to happen. The following are excerpts from his letters there with interjected thoughts and feelings from his parents.
3-19-99
Fam,
Hey I’m working hard and the work is extremely hard! I’ve been here only a few days and I’m enjoying myself, yet I’m missing you. Dad, give Allie a hug for me.
Dad, I know you may not know, but I appreciate your giving me this opportunity. I can already see it will be great!.
[Well, that’s the first note of appreciation we’ve heard in a while. That blows you away doesn’t it.]
3-26-99
Fam,
Thank you so much for the letters. It’s true, they are golden here. The work is extremely hard, but I continue to push harder. The language is coming along well, except, one day when my comp and I had a disagreement and the spirit went out the door. It’s almost impossible without the spirit. No wait,—IT IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SPIRIT.
Well, I’ve learned here in a week what I learned in two years of Spanish. It’s incredible what you can do with God’s help.
Elder Bentley is incredibly funny. He keeps us laughing fifteen hours a day.
I feel the Lord has been blessing me for working hard, so keep those letters coming so I can press on. I can’t tell you how amazing it is here. You are able to learn so quickly.
[He never even acknowledged our letters before. I don’t think he ever opened them!]
Dad, your letter made me cry, you are so gifted with words. You inspired me. I read it three times. You all are so awesome. I pray for you in Spanish [Espanol] y English [oops] Ingles.
[Maybe he was listening at family home evening. Can you believe what he said about losing the spirit because of a disagreement with his companion?.]
3-27-99
Well, shucks, it’s Saturday, I had some time; here I go. I hurt my shin something serious today. I’ll walk it off though.
It’s so crazy putting on a tag every day that reads, Elder Christian. Yep, I’m a missionary—-too weird! I love it though. Thank you so much Dad for the opportunity. You are the best Dad for giving me this opportunity. You are the best Dad a son could ask for. And that’s what I did in the Celestial Kingdom, ask for all of you! Ahhhh… you guys. [he, he]
[Boy, I’ll bet you never thought you’d hear those words. A nineteen year wait, not too bad.]
I’m sorry to say my comp and I are having difficulties getting along. He wants to buddy around with everyone outside our district and leave no time for work. I’m trying my hardest and will not let anyone take me down. We will work every thing out.
I love you guys, you’re —well,—-You’re my family. How much closer can you get. Send letters. Tell Chris to throw mentos over the walls. Oh—and clean out the grocery stores of the winter green life savers and send them! Hasta Luego!
4-5-99
Fam,
Well, I don’t know if you’ve arrived home yet, but I’m still here. I need letters! Letters keep me on fire, they help me press on. So don’t forget about me. Anyway Fam, I miss you guys. It stinks not having letters from you. Hug yourselves for me.
I started crying in conference yesterday when Elder Holland spoke about fathers, you are one of the best, I love you.
[Look what’s happening–his heart is being softened.]
Mom,
This is a letter solely to thee, because you are my favorite of all mothers. Mom, you are the greatest. I know we kinda had our sketchy days, and our good days, but all in all there was a constant, my love for you. I remember our little dates together when I was young; I’ll have to take you out when I return.
I will always have a special bond with you–you who took part in my creation. I have truly been trying to become a better person.—-When I look at myself before—-I can’t believe how critical I was of others. Thank you for believing in me,—-for raising me like a mother should. Thank you for loving me even when I was most difficult to love. I was probably the most difficult child to deal with in the long run, but I’ll do my best to make it easy on you in the future.
Thank you for teaching me correct principles,—–even though I seldom took advice, it always went to heart. I have recalled so much and used it often here in the MTC.
P. S. Thank you for all my peanut butter sandwiches.
[I have a hard time believing this. He’s just saying it because it’s close to Mother’s Day.]
4-6-99
Dear Family,
I have some rather disturbing news— I’m supposed to depart in eleven days, but my health problem has once again returned. Now is the bad news—-the doctor said there is a 90% chance I will not go to Mexico. The specialist tomorrow will be the deciding factor. I’m debating if I want to go at ALL if I am assigned to a state side mission. I had a dream before I put the call in and I remember being on the coast and I was a missionary. I knew it was South America, but I didn’t know where. At that time I still didn’t want to go foreign. I have faith, not quite as much as a grain of a mustard seed, but I believe everything will work out. I love the Lord. I love the work, but I really don’t care to go state side, for some reason it doesn’t seem right. Pray for me like you have never prayed before. I love you guys Inform Allie, please.
[Oh no, if he’s having problems again, I’m concerned about Mexico, but we’ll just trust in the Lord that everything will work out all right.]
4-11-99
The Fam,
Hey all, it’s Sunday evening and finally I have time to myself. I’m here to tell you how awesome this place is. One of our teachers, Hermano Berkley teaches with the Spirit and by the time he was through, I felt like bursting into tears. I learned so much and the Spirit was so strong I could hardly bear the stress.
I used to be totally bored when it came to studying the scriptures, now I love it!. I get so stoked, and the spirit is so strong. In fact, the past week I have grown to love this place. I know now that
regardless of the food, it will be a place I miss immensely. I do however need another $50.00 I miss you.
[Well, I guess he won’t be translated yet; he still wants money.]
4-19-99
The Fam,
Hey everyone, how are things in the real world?
My buddy, Elder Chambers came up to me and whispered, “I just have to tell you, Paul—you have this glow about you right now,—- you look so good.” I was so stoked, what an awesome compliment. So anyway, we went to the temple today just to relax on the grass—-and my money clip tore a hole in the back of my suit pants—-oh crud.
Time is going by so quickly now. It seems when you totally focus, it flies by. If you don’t, it lags on and seems like days are weeks.
We just had the Sunday devotional—- wow—-those spirit bugs were in full force. I think everyone was overcome.—-Those bugs were flying smack into my eyes.
Anyway, it’s been awesome, but I always feel I could be working harder. I will strive continually to do so. I love you guys.
[This is just like when he was a little boy! Remember when he was about six, that one family home evening when we told the kids about a really spiritual experience and he glowed like that. His eyes were as big as saucers and full of tears; he had to grow into those eyes of his. We asked the kids if they’d like to bear their testimonies and little Paul bore the sweetest testimony. I’ll never forget the feeling or that face.]
4-24-99
Fam,
Well, it’s your son— that’s off doing the mission thing. It’s going well. I never feel like I’m working hard enough though. I push myself and push myself and never feel like I’m truly accomplishing anything. I get frustrated at times and of course get on my knees so that I may receive comfort. Today is Sunday—we had a wonderful Sacrament meeting.—The spirit bugs were out in swarms.
Pop, you need to slow down and take a breather more often. You do everything in your life for someone else, you deserve a reward every so often. I’ve been working hard in hopes that if I do my best, my family will in turn be blessed for my work. I miss everyone of you. I hope you guys know you mean the world to me. You are in my prayers, which I say extremely often day by day.
5-1-99
My family,
I’ve enclosed a schedule of our normal week here at the MTC. It is very fun to work all day and have no play. I am once again enjoying myself.
[I think he’s being sarcastic, don’t you dear?]
One of the sisters in our district, Sister Mason, became extremely ill. She didn’t make it to class.
While I was sitting in class, suddenly, over the intercom——“Paul Christian, Elder Paul Christian, to a courtesy phone.” I felt like I was at the airport!—–The first thought was, “Did I do something wrong?”
Sister Mason had worsened and asked if some of us would give her a blessing. None of us had ever given one before,—-on the way there we were quickly looking through our little white book. We hastily, yet somehow confidently proceeded to give this sister a blessing.—-She could hardly even sit in the chair.—– Now this is the part that was so incredible,—-It seemed the room was filled with Angels.—–The spirit was so strong; we felt that there were people standing next to us. The blessing ended and the girl stood up. We told her that we’d visit her after class and see how she was doing. The three of us, Elder Wilson, my comp and I started back to class. Almost at the exact same time we all said out loud—-“Did you guys feel like there were people standing around us?” Wow—-what an awesome experience. To make things even better, we continued back to the front door of the residence after class had commenced. The sisters were waiting for us. Sister Mason looked great. She told us, “I went into my room after the blessing and not fifteen minutes after you left, I felt completely healed.” I was floating on cloud nine for quite awhile after that.
[This is amazing, the experiences that he’s having! We could never have created the opportunities for this kind of spiritual experiences in a million years, only the Lord could, for which I am truly grateful.]
My English is depreciating rapidly. Spanish is taking over—and I’m forgetting how to express myself correctly.
5-9-99
Family,
There is no word on my current situation. The decision whether I go to Mexico or not is now in the hands of the Missionary Committee. I still want to go to Mexico, but after much prayer and some fasting, I have now made up my mind to serve wherever the Lord wishes to send me.
It has been a rough week for me here, so many things occupy my mind, but Friday was possibly the best day I’ve ever had in my life. That was the day of the procedure with the doctor. I was in total prayer all day—-and in the prayers of many others. I have never felt such peace in all my life.—-I was over come by the power and floating around all day long. Thursday evening I received a blessing. Once again I was overcome and almost bawling. I know now the importance of everything, and would not trade my time here for anything.
I have not been this happy in all my years of living—–or at least it seems that way, because I don’t remember being truly happy in such a long time. I love this work with all my heart. I know it is true and kick myself for every day I wasted. I have had a total change of heart. Those in my district don’t recognize me as being the same person I was when I first started here. I don’t ever want to be that old person again. I have found someone better, and I will not give this up.
[Oh, YES, thank you, thank you, Heavenly Father! You are so good to us! Could this be the little boy we once knew?— Actually, could this be our son!? Check the envelope dear and see if we have the right mail.]
Your prayers are a constant strength to me. Thank you for all the support. The time has passed far
too quickly and there is so much still to be learned, but I am ready to take on the challenges that I
face with God at my side.
I found love here and in doing so miss you all so much more than I ever have in my entire life. I look forward to seeing you in eight days, and then in about twenty two months.
Love, Elder Christian
[Paul did receive a change of call to a New York, Spanish speaking mission. As he had dreamed, his mission was “on the coast.” There he taught people from every South American country. It was “stateside” but it was more like a foreign country with people speaking in many tongues from every country on the globe.
He left several days earlier than scheduled and was the only missionary leaving from the airport that morning. When his family arrived at the airport at 5:30 am, he was already there sitting peacefully waiting. Those moments together as family sending a son off to serve the Lord for two years are some of the sweetest on earth and where one catches a glimpse of heaven. This was the last time he would see his Grandfather on this earth, a difficult thing for a feeling heart, but, as he learned, “all things are possible with the Lord.”
The story is true; the names have been changed.]
Editors’ Note: Submit your missionary stories to our Meridian Missionary Journal editor, Peggy Proctor at [email protected]
2001 Meridian Magazine. All Rights Reserved.
