I've thought a lot about how amazing it is that these young men and women go out into the world with very little life experience armed with their faith, their scriptures, and the love in their hearts for the people they serve, and they literally work miracles in the lives of God's children. Some grew up with missionary service as a family legacy. Others are the first in their family to serve and are starting their own legacy for others to follow. They all carry with them the precious gift of the restored gospel with the power to change hearts and the truth that points to a better way of life.
I think of the families the missionaries leave behind and the sacrifices the families make. It is no small thing to send a child off to a far off place with so many unknowns. To know they may go without air conditioning, warm showers or toilet facilities. That they will be confronted with cultural and language barriers that they must overcome. The food will be very different from what they are used to and there will be health issues that we know nothing about. It's not easy! I think of the multitude of prayers for their safety, well being, and that Heavenly Father will guide their footsteps and teach them those lessons that with help them to grow to be like the Savior.
And in the end, all of this turns for the good of the missionary. Trevor's mission has been in every way a glorious experience for him and for us. His mission parents, President and Sister Houseman, have loved and mentored him from the beginning. They have been amazing. The members in Brazil have opened their homes and their hearts to him and have enriched his life. He has had great companions and has learned from each of them. The blessings our family has experienced as he has served are tangible and real.
Now Elder Nielson returns home to face more unknowns. I love Elder Holland's thoughts as he prepared to return from his mission to England. He said:
Exactly twenty years ago last fall I stood on the famous white cliffs of Dover overlooking the English Channel, the very channel which twenty years before that ran as the only barrier between Hitler and England’s fall. In 1962 my mission was concluding, and I was concerned. My future seemed very dim and difficult. My parents were then serving a mission also, which meant I was going home to live I-did-not-quite-know-where and to pay my way I-did-not-quite-know-how. I had completed only one year of college, and I had no idea what to major in or where to seek my career. I knew I needed three more years for a baccalaureate degree and had the vague awareness that graduate school of some kind inevitably loomed up behind that.
I knew tuitions were high and jobs were scarce. And I knew there was an alarmingly wider war spreading in Southeast Asia, which could require my military service. I hoped to marry but wondered when—or if—that could be, at least under all these circumstances. My educational hopes seemed like a never-ending path into the unknown, and I had hardly begun.
So before heading home I stood one last time on the cliffs of the country I had come to love so much,
And there I read again,
We have before us many, many long months of struggle and suffering. What is our aim? . . . Victory—victory at all costs; victory in spite of all terror; victory, however long and hard the road may be. . .
Conquer we must; as conquer we shall. . . . We shall never surrender. -- Winston Churchill
Blood? Toil? Tears? Sweat? Well, I figured I had as much of those as anyone, so I headed home to try. I was, in the parlance of the day, going to give it “my best shot,” however feeble that might prove to be. Now at the same time in your life, I ask you to do the same.
We are anxious to help Elder Nielson chart his course and to not assimilate back into his old life but to build on where he is now and continue the ascent. He has served well and honorably. Well done, son. We are proud of you.
Here are the last pictures of Elder Nielson in the mission field:
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