Southwest Corner of Missouri
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A handful of years ago I served an LDS mission in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Just typing that sentence fills my heart with a remembrance of love for Brazil, the people I met, the work I was committed to, and the Portuguese language. Every time I reflect on those 18 months, deep feelings are stirred within me and I long for another similar experience (but only by default of it being impossible to return back in time!)
Missouri is stifling hot thanks to the humidity. Has more bugs than I bargained for (typically I'm not opposed to bugs, but every girl has her limit of tolerance). Rolling hills with majorly thick vegetation (they woods are daunting to even my husband who is inhibited from hunting in many of them since they are so dense and impossible to penetrate).
Although I did not imagine it beforehand, I've suddenly become aware that this Missouri experience is much like the mission.
I'm in a new, might-as-well-be-foreign place, with new people, new culture, a different predominant religion, and plenty of new and unusual things for me to get accustomed to. In addition to being the first time I will not have ever worked, I am pregnant, expecting our first child. I am adjusting to A LOT OF CHANGE.
Besides the physical changes and their similarities, there is the spiritual.
I was comforted when on our first Sunday we sat with the congregation and listened to the many testimonies being born. They were simple, pure testimonies of the fundamentals of the gospel which were centered around Jesus Christ. No one was looking for eloquence, exaggerated righteousness or Ensign-worthy stories. The Spirit was there in abundance as plain and simple truths were testified of by a group of humble followers of Jesus Christ.
The congregation is not perfect and of course is humanly flawed like all congregations. However, the child-like characteristics of the people and the beginnings of the gospel in a place where it has not fully begun to bloom give me hope that living here in the sticks of Missouri can be another rich experience like that of Brazil which will teach me to be a better follower of Christ.
