Meet The Mormons

Every 6 weeks on Sunday evening we watch "Meet The Mormons." Actually every Sunday night we watch a church produced video.  Last night it was Meet the Mormons.  As you can imagine at the end when David Archuleta sings Glorious sweet Herman Archuleta was affected by it.  I heard a little gasp come from her row and then some commotion as companions tried to comfort her. As she walked out she was still crying.  I gave her a hug and asked, "I guess that makes you miss your brother and family?"  She said said, "Yes, it makes me a little sad."   

Serving a mission is hard.  These Elders and Hermanas miss their families and friends and then there is the rigor of learning a language, the pressure of teaching investigators (which are the teachers and volunteers from the community), and just adjusting to a total different life style all cause some emotional anguish.  If we can get the missionaries through the first couple of weeks they are usually OK.  But then they leave after 6 weeks and have to re-adjust to the mission field with all it's emotional differences.  We all need lots of encouragement.  I really like Elder Christofferson's Christmas message in the Liahona this month.  He talks about taking the time to reflect and consider that the Lord appreciates the service we render.  It was very touching and a little bit of a twist when we usually consider that we should reflect on and appreciate the savior but this time we are asked to reflect and understand that the Savior appreciated the service we are giving.