Kylee Tolman
Jul 30, 2017 · 7 min read

5 Important Things I Learned As a Missionary

As a new missionary in the MTC, I remember a church leader tell us in a devotional that we would one day return from our missions as spiritual giants. For those of you who don’t know, a “spiritual giant” is someone who, regardless of age or physical stature, has developed a great depth of spiritual knowledge and understanding. Although I still do not consider myself a spiritual giant, I can reflect on the experiences I have had in the past 18 months, and affirm that I have learned more in that time than I would have doing anything else. Here are just 5 important things I learned as a missionary, among many others.

  1. Heavenly Father loves me and each of His children.
    This is a simple one. Or, at least, it’s easy to recognize that God loves His children. As members of the LDS church, we hear it all the time, whether it be in scriptures, like Doctrine and Covenants 18:10, or while singing I am a Child of God. However, a plethora of people from all over the world, including Asia and North and South America, throng the streets and cities of Oakland and San Francisco, California. That means that as a missionary, I had the opportunity to speak and interact with people of varying cultures, religious beliefs, political views, philosophical ideas, general interests, and overall lifestyles. Despite these worldly differences in others, we as missionaries knew that we all had something in common — that Heavenly Father loved them, and wanted them to return home. As I served as a representative of Jesus Christ, I could feel that love each day while serving and teaching others. I continued to learn this principle as I saw the Lord’s hand working miracles in my life, as well as in the lives around me.
  2. Jesus Christ is my Savior.
    This is directly correlated with the first point. Because God loves us, He sent Jesus Christ to atone and suffer for our sins. He knew that we would make mistakes in this life, and that we would need a way to return back to His presence. Because of this, He sent His perfect son, Jesus Christ, to come to Earth, teach us His gospel, and suffer and die for us. “And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people. And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities” (Alma 7:11–12) I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. He has literally saved me, and continues to do so. I know this because before my mission, I had an opportunity to repent for wrongs which I had made. After repenting, I felt an overwhelming feeling of peace and gratitude distill upon me. That baggage of guilt and shame which comes from sin no longer weighed me down. I felt liberated, and had developed a fresh view about God, myself, and the world. I then knew what it felt to be saved by the grace of Jesus Christ, and I continued to feel those same feelings each day on my mission, as I strove to improve and correct my imperfections, weaknesses, and mistakes.
  3. Faith requires mental and physical action, and results in miracles. “Faith is a principle of action and of power, and by it one can command the elements, heal the sick, and influence any number of circumstances when occasion warrants. Even more important, by faith one obtains a remission of sins and eventually can stand in the presence of God” (Bible Dictionary: Faith). I’ve grown up learning this, but it didn’t quite become a reality to me until about halfway through my mission. I was serving in a large city, surrounded by people each day, with hardly anyone to teach. My companion and I labored diligently to knock doors, street contact and even change our planning techniques, so as to be able to find those that the Lord was preparing to receive us. However, despite these efforts, along with many long, heart-felt, and nearly heart-broken prayers, we seemed to see little to no success. I felt that I was failing in my calling to “teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). One day at a district meeting*, we read Helaman chapter 5 in the Book of Mormon. We talked about how faith is required to work miracles, and looked at specific examples when the faith of just two missionaries, Nephi and Lehi, were able to lead an entire people to have faith in Christ and repent. I wondered what I was doing wrong, or perhaps lacking, to not be able to see these results in my own area. Yearning for answers, I decided to study more on faith and miracles. This study led to a string of discoveries, which I developed over the course of several weeks. It was then that I learned exactly how to develop and show faith to work miracles. I realized that, though physical action is required, mental exertion is equally required. That means that we must have purpose in our minds and hearts as we act on our faith. I also learned by experience that the results of our faith-filled exertions may not come instantly. Sometimes, we must also have patience to show our faith. Overall, I learned to trust in the Lord.
    *A meeting in which several sets of missionaries working in the same general area meet to discuss how to help the people we visit and improve ourselves.
  4. The covenants we make with God are sacred and provide us with power.
    As a missionary, I experienced a series of emotional, physical, and spiritual high’s and lows, not just daily, but sometimes even hourly. This process can be quite draining, unless we utilize the necessary resources to regain energy and continue forward. That is why missionaries have daily exercise, studies, and strive to maintain good eating habits. These daily activities provided us with physical energy, a better mood, and filled us with the Holy Ghost to begin our day. However, after long periods of time, I would often feel myself still lacking something. Often times, these moments happened just before an approved temple day, and those feelings of discouragement, worry, doubt, or defeat were always dispelled after going through the temple. I remember one particular instance when this happened. I brought a burden to the Lord in prayer while at the temple, and I remember after that prayer feeling a burst of spiritual light and energy expand within me, and the following week I felt spiritually recharged. During that week I felt a regained sense of the “new missionary fire,” as I had developed in my early months in the field. I also felt Heavenly Father’s love for me. It was a reminder to me that the covenants I have made at baptism and in the temple enable me to receive more inspiration and power from God than a lot of other people. It doesn’t make me any better than anyone else; it is simply a blessing I receive by being a member of this church. Elder Larry R. Lawrence once said, “There is so much light and truth to be gained from temple service that the temple may be referred to as the University of the Lord. Temple light is even more beneficial to your spirit than sunlight is to your body. Consider yourself blessed if you are able to bask in this heavenly light on a regular basis” (The Light of the Perfect Day, March 2016 Ensign).
  5. I learned to find peace in a world of turmoil.
    Before my mission, and even sometimes now, I was considered by my family members as a worry-wart. I overanalyzed my mistakes, fretted over the future, and lost sleep over trivial matters of life. As a missionary, I often felt anxiety and fear of something going wrong — but these things felt heavier and more important than simply forgetting to pack a lunch. My thoughts before and during lessons with investigators went something like this: What if I say the wrong word in Spanish? What if they don’t understand me? What if I accidentally teach false doctrine? How do I know what the right thing to say is? What if they’re not feeling the Spirit? What if I invite them to do something, and they say no? How do I know exactly what to do at exactly the right time? Should I read that scripture, or share my experience? What if I accidentally break a mission rule?
    And the list goes on. These thoughts eventually led me to doubt myself, the Spirit, and even the Lord. However, over time I began to recognize that this was a problem. I was setting myself up for failure. I knew that fretting over my weaknesses would not help others or myself feel the Holy Ghost. I realized that I needed to rely more on the Lord, and trust that if I opened my mouth, it would be filled with the right words to say, and that the Spirit would testify of them. By the end of my mission, I had developed greater confidence in Christ. I treasure the words in Proverbs 3:5–6, which read, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Now that I am home from my mission, I hope to continue applying these principles (along with many others) that I have learned, and also learn new things each day. I am grateful for these 18 months that I have had to serve the people in California, and come to know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ better. I am grateful for Them and for Their love, mercy and blessings. I know that God lives and loves us. I know that Jesus Christ’s gospel has been restored to the Earth, and that through Him we can find lasting and eternal peace and joy. May we strive to help ourselves and others come closer to Him by learning of Him, serving as He did, and obeying our Heavenly Father.

Student at BYU-Idaho. Elementary Education Major. Chocolate enthusiast. Jesus follower.

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