During the 18 months I served as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, I had the opportunity to serve both as a service missionary and a
proselytizing missionary. I will focus mainly on my experience as a service missionary. I
learned so many personal and life changing lessons about service during my time as a
service missionary. During my time as a service missionary, I was encouraged to take
seriously the charge to be in constant service of others. As a missionary, I served at
many sites and organizations, but the most memorable organizations I served for were
the ESLC (English Skills Learning Center) and Primary Children’s hospital.
ESLC is a non-profit that relies on volunteers to provide an English education for
participants in its programs. Many of the participants came from war-torn countries, and
serving around them provided me with incredible awareness about how many people
there are that are in great amounts of need. I will be passionate about service for the
less fortunate, especially immigrants and refugees, for the foreseeable future. I
personally had an experience where a refugee student told me about the time she
watched members of her family be killed by a militant group in the region she lived
before relocating to Utah. Hearing experiences like that broke my heart and further
motivated me to help these refugees secure a safe and happy future. It raised my
awareness on the situations of many of less fortunate in a personal way. I grew to love
the refugees I served around in a very short amount of time.
I also served on the Kid's Crew at Primary Children's hospital, where I helped bring
smiles to the children staying in the hospital. There was one little girl, who was about 2
years old, who would come into the playroom every day. This little girl was taking
permanent residence at the hospital as she waited for a heart transplant. Knowing that
this adorable girl, who warmed my heart with her adorable personality, was in a life
threatening situation, was heartbreaking. It raised my awareness for people who are in
trying medical situations. I have spent large amounts of time being in physical pain and
in need of medical and emotional help myself, and seeing that many children and
teenagers reminded me of my own pain and need for succor. I herniated a disc in my
spine when I was 17, and it caused me constant, intense pain. It made it difficult to
focus on school or even in conversations. It made it impossible to perform fully
physically for years. It was terribly depressing, and I could have used more smiles at
that time. The main purpose of the Kid's Crew was to help provide entertainment and
fun to those children that were in sad times of their lives. It motivated me greatly to try to
help each of the children have better days every time I saw them. My experience at
PCH has motivated me to try to help those who are suffering or downtrodden to smile,
to try to alleviate their pain and maybe even forget it for a short time. I still carry this in
my daily life, and likely will continue to in the future.
These experiences, along with the many others I had while I was both a service and
proselytizing missionary, taught me that service is the best way for one to grow their
love for another. It is the best way to cultivate humility in oneself. It taught me that even
when it seems like we might have to give up too much to help others, that when we do,
there's always more of us to find after serving. While we might think we are giving up
substance, we really are gaining as we give. The greatest gift is to serve others.
I continue to keep service on my list of habits like one would with a habit of exercise or
reading. I plan to keep service as an integral part of me thoughts throughout my life and
will undoubtedly affect what I choose in terms of my education and career. I will certainly
avoid majors that would lead to careers where it is uncertain that my work would
genuinely be making a positive difference in the world. Regardless of what I am doing
for work, I will surely focus on finding ways to serve those around me day by day. During
my education and my career, I will surely look for additional opportunities to serve. This
upcoming semester, I hope to return to ESLC or Primary Children’s as a volunteer.
Receiving a scholarship would allow me to have more free time to be able to serve
others.
Overall, my mission taught me that as I look outwardly to serve, I feel so much better
than I would focusing on myself. I am committed to keeping service a core piece of my
personality, and I hope that my impact can be a positive one on those that surround me.