Return with Honor

2 and a half weeks ago, I returned from serving a full time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I spent the last 18 months of my life in the Italy Milan Mission and I must say that it was one of the greatest experiences of my life so far. I wanted to serve a mission for many years leading up to the day when I would be old enough to serve. Since being home, I have had the great privilege of sharing my experiences with others. Yesterday I was given the opportunity to teach the mission prep class for the future missionaries of my stake. It was so much fun! Telling an enraptured young group full of people preparing to serve full time missions all about every story attached to each picture was an awesome experience. I could talk about my mission forever because it was such a special and sacred experience to me.

As we read in the scriptures however, “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven” (Ecclesiastes 3:1). There is a time to be born and a time to die, a time to work and a time to play. And there is a time to serve a full time mission and a time to come home. Turns out though, coming home is a lot harder than leaving home. I miss Italy. I miss the people, the culture, the food, the language. I miss knowing what my purpose is and having that as the very reason that I wake up every morning. I even miss having a companion sometimes- someone that I work with so closely because we have the exact same goal and purpose in mind.

Although I miss many things from my mission, a mission is a very difficult experience at times. Throughout the course of my year and a half, I served in 5 different cities spread across the northern half of Italy. Sometimes I questioned a bit in my heart why I or my companion was being transferred, especially when it seemed things were going so well. But I always knew that God had a plan for me and let’s be honest here: if the God of the whole universe has a plan for me, I want to know what it is and I want to follow it to a T because obviously He knows something I don’t. So if God thinks it is best for me to be transferred to Layton, Utah, then that is exactly where I will be. And if it ends up that He wants me somewhere else, He’ll let me know and I will always follow Him because that is where I will find the most happiness.

Just knowing that God has a plan for me gives me great hope. Hope in the future that things will turn out all right, hope in re-discovering my purpose, hope in knowing that I’m doing good things. I may not be able to preach the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ full time anymore, but that doesn’t mean that I am without purpose. There is a great work for me to do here at home. My family members, my friends, people in my ward and stake- they all need the efforts of worthy returned missionaries to help them accomplish the work of the Lord. Working for the Lord does not end when the tag comes off. The actual responsibilities change a bit, yes, but in the end our whole goal is to return to live with Him and we must live out our whole lives with that scopo, or purpose, in mind.

The mission never really ends. There will always be people to help and souls to save. I just need to put my trust in God and He will guide me in finding what my new responsibilities are, such as deciding for myself when and where I should be transferred, and who my final companion will be, and how many little trainees my companion and I will take on…. Haha did I take the mission analogy too far?

Anyways, this whole thing is mostly for me, but I hope that by posting it here, it may help someone else one day. I know that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the true church of God, restored on the earth once more. I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer and that because He suffered for me, He understands me completely, even better than I understand myself. I know that Joseph Smith was called as a living prophet of God and I know that President Thomas S Monson is the living prophet today. I am so grateful for everything this knowledge has given me. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.