This first month in the “mission
field”, as we in the church like to call the area where we are serving, has
been one of epiphanies.
Epiphany #1: This mission is nothing like
we expected.
I was anticipating only a
slightly less regimented daily routine than the single young men and women missionaries
(up by 6:00 am, exercise from 6:30 – 7:00, gospel study from 8:00 – 9:00 am,
etc.). To my amusement and relief, our schedule is shockingly fluid and entirely
of our own design. We don’t set an alarm clock.
I thought I’d be wearing a
dress or skirt whenever I stepped outside my apartment door. While we still wear
our Sunday best for church and a few special meetings, we dress casually – but tastefully
– for everything else. Capri shorts, fashion tees, and wedgies are my daily
uniform.
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| The US Navy's latest scuba certified chaplain and his proud instructor |
Most
of my favorite cave diving sites are abundantly and tantalizingly within our
mission boundaries. Elder Draper was convinced I would not be able to dive at
all while serving here in Florida. This would indeed have been a sore trial, a
true sacrifice, and a severe test of my faith. Not only have I been cave diving
since I arrived, I’ve already scuba certified one of the Navy chaplains and
took him on his first cavern dive!
My email signature block ends with “Hi, I'm Kristi. I'm a scuba instructor, a
cave diver, a missionary...and I'm a Mormon.” All of these attributes are
active in me on this mission. It is likely no other senior missionary on the
planet can say all that.
Happily for us, almost none
of the rules that apply to the single missionaries apply to couples.
Epiphany #2: Depending heavily on daily personal
revelation is difficult.
Our marching orders are to
assist the military members and their families with temporal and spiritual needs.
We are not here to preach. Because we do not have a set schedule or a close relationship yet with the
people we are here to serve, we have to rely heavily on personal revelation to
know who God wants us to reach out to each day and how to contact
them.
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| Hanna Park picnic for some of our military families |
I envy a little bit the office couple
missionaries who have the luxury of a structured 8 to 5 job. I’m fairly certain
our dear office couple would disagree with me, but it feels like the stakes are
higher in what we have been called to do versus the job of a missionary sitting
behind a desk all day.
Relying on the Spirit so
completely every day is more difficult than I thought it would be. We fall
short much of the time. But God is patient and is teaching and blessing us
little by little. We’ve felt His gentle influence on enough occasions already
to give us confidence we will succeed.
