Missionary Road Trip

22 Feb 1982
Today was the wildest day! We got up at 4am to finish translating an article we needed to get to the Elders by 7:00. They were going to go to the recording studios today to get it put on tape. At 7:00 as we were finishing the last sentence, the phone rang. We didn't answer it, because we knew it would be the Elders and we wanted them to think we were on our way. So we rushed out the door, I put my coat on over my pajamas and Sister Bird threw on Elder DelRey's sweatpants. When we got to Jonquiere, they had left.

Well, we hadn't gotten up at 4 in the morning for nothing, so we drove up to Alma, where they were supposed to meet the other Elders. An hour's drive. In we walked into Elder Patterson and Ewart's apartment in our lovely attire! We had missed the other Elders by 3 minutes. So off we went to St.-Felicien, another 2 hour drive.

The Elders were supposed to meet at Guy Bouchard's shop, but we must have missed them again because the shop was closed. We knew Guy lived somewhere near, but his name wasn't in the phone book. We finally went to City Hall and they told us the nearest recording studio was in Roberval, another hour's drive. So we headed down the street, intending to go to Roberval, when suddenly we saw Guy Bouchard standing in the middle of the street! This was no coincidence, just another instance of God's guiding hand upon our lives. He came up to our car and said, "What are you doing here?"

Well, it turned out they were recording in his house, just down the street. He had gone to get a microphone and that's why he was standing in the middle of the street. He must have thought we were kind of strange to drive all the way up to St.-Felicien, give the manuscript to the Elders, then leave right away. But we couldn't stay--even for 5 minutes--because we didn't want to take off our coats!

Questions by my 25-year-older self:

1. What were Elder DelRey's sweatpants doing in our apartment?
2. Why didn't Guy Bouchard, a native French speaker, do the translation rather than two American sister missionaries?
3. What was so important about the translation that we had to drive a 6-hour round trip to deliver it? Obviously it wasn't as important to the Elders as to us!
4. Whose idea was this?
5. Who drove?

Another opportunity to look ridiculous on the large screen at the final judgment.

What Advice Would You Give This Missionary?

This is a leaf taken from my Missionary Journal from Thursday, 27 August 19xx in Beloeil, Quebec, Canada. It was one of my very first District Meetings.

Today we had a District Meeting to set goals for September. It was really hard because I couldn't understand why we were setting goals for baptisms, etc, if it didn't depend on us, it depended on the free agency of the person. We finally figured out that the only way it made any sense is if this was the number of baptisms the Lord would give us if we did all we were supposed to, taking into account the people that would fall through, etc.

Sister R. and I came up with the number of 4 Baptisms for our area. This is really scary because it means at the end of the month if we don't get 4 Baptisms it is because of something we did wrong, or OUR lack of faith. We are really stepping out in faith, something I haven't really tried before. If we don't make our goal, the District will say, "Why didn't it work, Sister L.?" I was so sure of it before, but fear has crept in a little bit.

I want to call down the powers of heaven by doing all the things I'm supposed to do, so that by obedience to the law, the Lord will be bound to give me the blessings. What I just don't know are all the things I must do to gain the blessing of baptizing. What is the law upon which it is predicated? I have tried to make an exhaustive list, and I am determined to follow them. If this works out, it will add a great deal to my faith. And I want so badly to be able to develop my faith!

Here are some of my questions:
Do missionaries still make monthly baptismal goals?
How do you think such goals fit with free agency?
When the goals are not met, is it the fault of the missionary?
How does D&C 130:21 apply to missionary goals?
Do you think attributing not meeting our goals to our own sin is doctrinal? Is it healthy?

Best Two Years

On Friday, Steve asked if the Mormon Mission was the "Best Two Years" or "A Waste of Time." I was interested to read Mark's response and spent a lot of time today thumbing through old missionary journals of my own.

I have the fondest memories of my mission. I was extremely idealistic. We were able to do many worthwhile projects such as teach English lessons, help build chapels, and give personal service to those in need. Yes, there was plenty of tracting, but I don't think of it as a waste of time. It helped me become disciplined and do tough work for a cause larger than myself.

Much of my mission was a cycle between killing myself working and keeping rules overzealously, then relaxing and letting standards drop, then repenting and another pendulum swing back to zealousness. One of my most shocking entries comes when I was in what was fondly known as "The Red Light District."

"Saturday was the Rev's last P-Day. (Note: we all had nicknames, mine was Tabitha. I forget why.) So we decided to spend the whole day together. We got up and went to the Elders' at 7:30 for a District breakfast of crepes. Then we all got on one bed and covered up with the sleeping bag and talked. It gradually turned into a pillow fight which was worse than our infamous football game. We later went into the country with an investigator, Pierrette, and her roommate. We were going to chop down a Christmas tree. While we were there, Tae (Elder Taetafa) and I were fooling around on a frozen lake. Well, you guessed it, the ice broke and we fell in. Can you imagine? Tae only got his legs wet but I fell all the way in and the Rev had to pull me out. So OK we went back and I put on Prince's jeans and sweater. Then we decorated the tree with the investigators.

For dinner we went to eat at I.P. Looneys. All the elders like to go there on their last P-Day because if you are wearing a tie the waitresses will come around and cut them off. We got there at 6:00 and they told us the wait was about 2 hours. So we thought we would go window shopping in the mall. Rev got in a shopping cart and Sister Fleming and I got in on top of him and the other Elders pushed. Then we went inside and sang Christmas carols in 4-part harmony to all the shoppers. As we walked back to the restaurant the Rev did a Fred Astaire dance up the side of the wall and when he came down he wiped out. He was in pain so the other Elders carried him back to the restaurant. The waitresses helped him to the table--one on each arm. We ordered dinner and finished eating around 12 pm.

The investigators took us back to our car. Then the Rev thought he'd better go to the hospital to get his leg checked. So we're sitting in the hospital at 1 am. Tae and Leggs are sleeping on the couch. Prince is in there with the Rev. Me and Elder Wood are sitting on another couch, talking about how to spiritually change the very material we are made of so we won't be burned as straw in the refiner's fire in the last days. The Rev ended up with crutches and a cast on his broken leg. We got home at 3am.

Then up for Church this morning--it was really strange. The Elders and us both overslept, but their phone rang at 8:00. They called us to see if it was us, and woke us up. We all would have missed Church! After Church we had a District DA (Dinner Appointment) at Tolley's, then back to Church for Brand & Brown's baptism. Brand, Wood and I sang "Look Inside." She was so beautiful and the Spirit was so strong. She was so fresh and pure when she came out of the water. After the baptism RL District stayed at the chapel and played the piano and sang songs until 12:30. I'm tired. Rev goes home tomorrow (with a cast!)"

The next several pages I am so ashamed of myself, I quit talking in English, will only speak in French (anybody remember SYLing?) and refuse to let myself open letters from home during the week (only on P-Day). I write a letter of confession to the Mission President and the ZL's come out to interview us!

My two oldest daughters just left on missions recently. One went to Korea in October and the other just left in January for Italy Rome. I'm glad they decided to serve missions. I have such happy memories of my 18 months, I wish I just had enjoyed the crazy times instead of feeling so much guilt. I felt like I did have opportunities to serve the Lord and my fellow man. The above journal entry to the contrary, I didn't feel it was a waste of time.


The Red Light District singing--Rev with his crutches