A young man just
received his mission call and he emailed his older brother who is about to
finish his mission in the Philippines to ask him what advice he could give him.
This Elder sent the following letter and as soon as the mission President’s
wife read it, she asked his permission to share it with the sisters in the
room.
The exact
letter is pasted below. I just removed the name of the Elder but the rest is
the exact writing word by word:
Dear little
brother:
The mission
will be some of the best years of your entire life! Or the worst. It’s all
about what YOU make it! And that’s the absolute beauty of it dude!! YOU decide!
Literally that’s the secret to having a good mission! YOU choose whether it’s
the best or worst years! Attitude in this case is EVERYTHING!
Every day you
wake up to go out there and face new horizons and challenges and you have a
choice. Either it’s gunna be the best day ever, or not a good day. But dude. Life’s
WAY too short to just live a bunch of dece days! So you HAVE to wake up every
morning, and before anything else, already DECIDE that it’s gunna be “the best
day of your li-i-i-fe…. Your li-i-i-i-i-iiiiiife!” (And even feel free to sing
that song every morning too! That’s what I’ve been doing every morning on my
mission… And dude no joke. It has helped me SOOOOO much!)
Optimism is
key! Nobody wants to be around someone who’s Always complaining about work or
the weather or some lame person… Ya know!? So instead be the guy who’s always
changing the topic like its hot when people get all negative. Obviously you
don’t want to be annoying about it and make people feel stupid for complaining…
But just make sure you stand firm and don’t join in… And there’s a balance ya
know. Empathy is a good thing. When people know they can come to you for
anything… that’s solid! So don’t make people feel dumb for being honest about
what they think of something… But just always try to point out the GOOD in the
situations, and help them see it too! Then that way YOU yourself will also
start to naturally see the good in every situation, and be more optimistic
about everything! mission, friends, and just life in general! It’s a win
win!!:)
Another thing
that REALLY helped me was some advice that actually, funny enough, [a mutual
friend] gave me!! Going into my mission I was pretty nervous too and just
wanted to make sure that I was living it up to the fullest, ya know!? …He told
us to not think about ourselves. Simple right? Yeah way easier said than done!
One way to do it is by finding out who in need of a friend. People who are lonely!
So like…. Picture
your first day back when you started your first day in High School. You’re super pumped…lookin
fresh… Got your hair all did… And YOU get invited to sit at the “cool kid
table”. Like…. The OBVIOUS thing to do is look for your friends, get pumped,
and sit there, right!? Like… Come on!! Everyone wants to be on that table! Or
even just surrounded by friends and familiar faces! It’s just the natural thing
to do… To think about what WE want, right!? But dude. Then think about all those
kids at school who don’t know ANYONE. Who just moved in, and are terrified for
lunch to come because they don’t have ANYONE to sit with. Put yourself back in
a time when you’ve felt like that before. It’s the worst. Ya know? So as much
as we naturally want to sit with our friends, and be noticed by that cute girl,
or the cool kids….Take a step back and think of what ACTUALLY matters…
In 10 years
from that day you’re not gunna care about the fact that you had a dece time at
lunch talking about really nothing with friends. No man… You’re gunna want to
look back and say. Man. I made a difference in that kid’s life that day.
What I do on my mission is that every morning
before I leave the house I say a prayer that I would be able to find someone
who needs a friend. It’s always a bit awk at first… But just ask the classic
get to know you questions! Are you from this area? what they like to do… Ya
know? And then after more and more practice, it becomes the easiest most
natural thing to do!! And you actually really enjoy doing it!! And you come
home that day feeling like you actually made a difference in someone’s life,
and came closer to Christ that day. Dude…. THAT is what it’s all about!
The bigger
picture. It’s those tiny things that build who we are, and who we will be! And
all it takes is a smile, a wave, a conversation with someone new, a high five
to a random kid on the streets…. That’s it! (By small and simple things… GREAT
things are brought to pass!!… just have a vision of who you want to be, and
then every day do SOMETHING to fit that mold, and that will help you become
that person! Because every single day WE DECIDE OUR DESTINY!!! Dude it’s so
cool. Nothing holds us back. We really have no excuses at all… just don’t let
anything get in the way of you becoming who you want to become! And by the end
of my mission, some of my best friends were people who i met serving together
on the mission!! So cool how the Lord does that, right!?;) #BLESSEDforserving
The last thing
is just to HAVE FUN!!!! A mission is the most amazing time ever! new friends and people, random acts of
kindness opportunities every day and not just during Christmas and at Christmas
is MEGA special. I’m so jealous of you
right now! It’s so fun when I think about all the places and nice people I have
met. And basically just be YOLO! Make friends everywhere you go! Don’t be
afraid to put yourself out there a little bit!
Dude, I have made
more friends than my entire life in high school cuz I just talked to EVERYONE and
their dog! but really! I just had to put my awkward feelings aside and strike
up conversation with people! And it really does get easier with practice and
time! And the more people you meet, the more friends you have! Funny how that
works, huh!? haha but nah really! Have fun! … But you feel me!? It’s okay to
have fun!
In the end,
THIS is what will help you the most…. every single day… not matter how tired
you are, grumpy, sad, happy, whatever the case might be…. PUT ON YOUR ARMOR OF
GOD BEFORE YOU GO OUTSIDE! WEAR IT!! EVERY SINGLE DAY! THE HOLEY GOST IS YOUR
PROTECTION! If you’re running late, at least get on your knees and say a
prayer! But try to get in the habit sooner than later to start every morning
off with a scripture study and prayer so that when you get to start your
mission this will be a habit already in you.
That will help
remind you the bigger picture every day before and center your thoughts on
Christ! Ya know its funny. …At church one of the promises that we are making is
that we will “always remember Him”. Simple phrase, yeah!? But then the week
comes, and there is work, friends, girls food….(mmmm food), and crazy drama!
And we slowly let our minds become distracted and focused on those things
instead, without even realizing it! And then we aren’t “always remembering Him”
anymore, but remembering ourselves. But i can PROMISE you that by reading your
scriptures EVERY MORNING.. you ARE always remembering Him. And it will be so
much easier to have your eye on the prize… focused on the Lord’s work. And in
turn he will bless you SOOOOOO much!
If I have any
regrets at all it’s THAT. That I missed my scripture study sometimes, or didn’t
say my morning or nightly prayers. I let other things get in the way. And then
I became too focused on myself and what I wanted to do rather than the Lord,
and the bigger picture. Then THATS when life gets hard and difficult. Because
we don’t go to the Lord for our trials… and he can’t help us when we don’t do
that. So if you take ANYTHING away from this email….remember that! ALWAYS put
on your armor of God! One day you will be SOOOOO grateful that you did! And you
will be able to tell your future kids one day that you did that! How cool!
Gosh. Well I
hope that email kinda helped you out a bit! I mean heck… I’m only 20! Haha I
have no clue! I’m still learning as I go! Every single day! But from my
experience… That’s what would have helped me the most going into my mission the
most!
I am so excited
for you! What a fun stage in life to be at! You have your whole life ahead of
ya! The possibilities are ENDLESS! Make me proud! Make our mama proud!… But
most importantly, make God proud! Love you!! Xoxo
Your older
brother.
Every single one
of us needs the same advice for our lives, regardless of our age! After
attending the Mission Presidents Seminar last week, I can’t even express how
much I love these missionaries with all my heart!
Con amor,
Vero
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