A lasting mission experience
(If you’re here for an update on what I’m doing with life,
scroll to bottom)
Hello, lovelies! It’s officially been a year since I’ve
written a blog post, and exactly one year since I concluded my mission in Perú.
In review of how my mission changed my life, contrasting to how it was
beforehand, I find that a lot more stayed the same than what I expected.
When I arrived, I went back to live with my family. One week
later, I was speaking English almost like an American. Two weeks later, I was
driving the family car as if I had learned the previous week…. Because I kind
of did. Three weeks later, I had told all my main stories at least twice and
people gradually stopped asking me what part of Perú I served in, only to
respond with a “Wow” and change of topic.
After all that settled down, I began to feel normal again,
which was cool. At first.
When I started school, shortly after that, at BYU-Idaho, I
noticed a great abundance of returned missionaries. They're actually quite hard
not to notice. They all say cheesy jokes and do little fist bumps every few
minutes or so.
On the other hand, others are more difficult to notice. They
keep to themselves, or they behave more how you would expect a college student
to.
I fell more into the second category, keeping more to
myself. It’s my nature. It changed on the mission… but remember, at this point
I was feeling “normal” again.
After time passed, Perú, and the people there, were
constantly on my mind. But, the missionary feeling gradually was shed from me,
and replaced with a fresh coat of smug college student. What can I say? I’m
adaptable.
I stayed very active, reading the scriptures, fulfilling my
calling, and trying to be a better person, but I still always felt like I could
be applying my mission better.
However, at one point about a semester ago, I picked up a
cool book of my missionary blog posts that my mom compiled for me (a very good
read, might I add), and started reading old stories of all those incredible
things that happened to me and through me during my mission. It changed my
attitude towards the things going on in my life. It reminded me how to search
for answers to important questions I had.
I noticed that those moments; those stories; those memories
in Perú are kind of my own personal scriptures, now. Obviously, they don’t
replace any holy revelation, and I definitely did not do anything quite as cool
as Alma during my mission. But, remembering the real feelings and the
incredible role the Spirit played in my everyday life makes me, more than
anything else, want to be a better servant to God. And so, I’ve resolved to
never forget the wonderful things that happened in Perú and let them continue
to change me every day, for the better.
As it seems, it’s not like an episode of Extreme Home
Makeover. You don’t just come home and say “Move that bus!” And everything is
suddenly new and shiny. It takes work, applying what you learned to your
“normal life” and, in a way, forcing your mission to change your life forever.
I always find constant reminders in my scripture study to
keep the mindset. “Be it according to the will of the Lord. But,
behold, our work is not finished…” As Alma said.
I’ve actually been feeling incredibly blessed, lately. I’m
feeling great about the career I’ve chosen and I’m in love with a beautiful
girl! I’ll be graduating in 2019 with a major in Visual Communication, and
hopefully getting married much before that. I stay in contact with many of my
friends in Perú through the miracle of Facebook, and I drive a Honda minivan.
Yeah. I couldn’t ask for more.
And so, Elder Alexander lived happily ever after.
Much love,
Gabe
