Our Mission Photos

We recently went to JC Penneys Portrait Studio to have our formal pictures taken for our mission application.  I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.  In addition to using whichever one of these we pick for our mission application, it will also go on our plaque.  Our congregation here, called "Shamrock Ward" has a tradition of  making a plaque for every missionary who serves from there.  These are displayed in the foyer of the church the whole time the missionary is gone to help keep members thinking of them and remembering those serving in their prayers.  It will show our faces, where we are serving and have a favorite scripture which we will need to choose.  Since this is something we will always keep as a special memento of our mission I was glad I was having a rare good hair day when we had them done!

We also had our new passport pictures taken and have now sent off our application for those.  We have our old ones which are still valid right now, but they would expire before our mission was done so it's important we get this taken care of.  When the new ones arrive we will need to send them off to the mission travel department in Salt Lake City so they can apply for our visas.  It's easy to enter New Zealand for a short time as a tourist, but living there for over a year takes a whole different level of approval.

We have a whole list of things we need to do to complete our application and get ready to serve.  At times it feels a little bit overwhelming.  But we are on track, checking off each task one by one.

Trusting Personal Inspiration

(Huffington Post Article About New Zealand)

In addition to doing lots of reading about various aspects of serving a senior mission, I've also been doing my homework to learn all I can about living in New Zealand.  Some would say that is is very premature to begin getting so fascinated about a place I may not even be going to.  However, I feel very confident that is exactly where we will serve.  Here's why:  I believe in direct communication with my creator through prayer.  I have prayed mightily to understand His will for us at this time. Mind you, I have never one time said "Please can we go to New Zealand".   Instead, I've said "Please help us know where and how you would have us serve".

When we were given New Zealand as one of the possible options, I felt almost an electric jolt go through my entire body telling me that was the place where we needed to be.  Independent of my experience, my husband also had a strong impression that this was the mission for us.  Afterward, we again went to the Lord in prayer, asking for confirmation of the feelings we had.  Our prayers have been answered through distinct, personal impressions, feelings, and thoughts that are for us serve as very real evidence of  Heavenly Father knowing us personally and wanting what is best for us.  I have such a peaceful, confident certainty about this, that for me there is no doubt about where we will be going.  The Lord wants us in New Zealand.  I'm sure of that.  

I suspect that over the next two years we will have many experiences of being guided by the spirit and having prayers answered in deeply personal ways.   I look forward to growing more fluent in my ability to recognize the promptings of the spirit, to listen to - and more importantly FOLLOW the inspiration and answers that I receive.

Here are some of the resources on that topic that I've also been studying:

Nov 1989 - Elder Richard G. Scott - Learning to Recognize Answers to Prayer
Oct 2010 -  Elder D. Todd Christofferson - How Can I Make Daily Prayer More Meaningful?
Oct 2010 - Visiting Teaching Message - Seeking and Receiving Personal Revelation 
May 2011 - Elder Kevin Pearson - The Power of Personal Prayer

These are all good, but that last one is particularly dear to me since Elder Pearson is the Area President over the Pacific.  He lives and works in New Zealand.

I know that God lives and that He truly does hear and answer my prayers.

Doing My Research

From MormonNewsroom

I've been reading everything I can find about Senior Missions.  I've learned quite a bit.

I particularly enjoyed watching video clips of various senior missionaries around the world talking about their experiences which can be found HERE.

There is also some great information about Senior Missions over at a blog called Mormon Soprano.

I have spent hours going from one website to the next, picking up bits of information and encouragement along the way.   Taking the leap of faith to do this is a HUGE step for both Larry and I.  I'm excited.  I'm nervous.  I'm grateful we get this opportunity.  I'm scared about all we are leaving behind.  But most of all, I am absolutely certain that this is the right decision.  I know that serving a full time mission with my eternal companion for the next two years is exactly where the Lord wants me to be.

Even though our application is not yet submitted, now that the final decision is made it's all starting to feel more real.  It's not longer simply a conversation about possibilities.  We ARE going to do this.  I can't wait!

The Application Process

We are going through the process of filling out our "papers" (which are really all done online now so there is no actual paper involved).  The application to serve a mission requires physicals, FBI background checks, fingerprinting, chest X rays, dental screening and a whole bunch of questions to answer.  Piece by piece we are working our way through the process.

Today Larry passed his stress test with flying colors. He looks a little funny with shaved/sanded places all over his body where the electrodes that monitored him were place, but his heart is healthy and strong! My physical is next week. Once that is done we have checked off everything on our list and can officially submit our application.

Feeling excited!

Moving Forward

After our phone conversation a couple days ago with Sister Tomlinson, Larry and I did some serious prayer time to be sure we were on track with following the spirit, not just chasing what would seem exciting or fun for us.  Once we were sure, I sent an email to Sister Tomlinson saying we were quite sure the Family History mission in New Zealand would work for us.

In response, this was in my email today:

"Brother and Sister Bennett,

It is wonderful to hear from you and your feel your commitment to serving the Lord. 

The next step is to provide me your full names, stake and ward, and then in the comments field of your paperwork place the following statement “we have been specifically requested to serve as Family History Area Specialists in Auckland New Zealand” 

Please keep in contact with us. We love to hear the heartwarming experiences couples have as they prepare to serve missions. Please let us know if we can help in any other ways."

WOW! Things are moving. Now, this is NOT the same as our official call. It is possible that we COULD still get sent somewhere else. However, the Mission Coordinator we spoke with said it is quite rare for that to happen after a particular mission has been identified, discussed, and prayerfully confirmed. We will go anywhere our official call sends us. But for now, we are moving forward with plans for New Zealand!

Guided by the Spirit

Our mission planning process is really starting to accelerate.

We have found what feels like the right fit for us BOTH.  We want to serve as Family History missionaries.  We've prayed about it together and individually. We both feel like this would be a type of service we could do well and that it would be pleasing to our Father in Heaven.

The next piece is to determine where we might serve.  Today we we had a great phone conversation with Sister Tomlinson,  the coordinator over all the Family History Missions worldwide. She explained more about what a Family History mission entails and then shared with us the list of all the openings they have coming up - everything from Mesa, Arizona to Mongolia.

In December they will have an opening in New Zealand for a senior couple.  That particular mission serves the whole Pacific area,  so even though we would be based in Auckland, New Zealand we would be likely to travel a fair amount to some of the surrounding island nations as well. 

As we talked with her about this mission, I got goose bumps all over.  Larry and I looked at each other with big silly grins and it just felt RIGHT.  This was not simply a matter of wanting to go to a beautiful bucket list destination.  We both genuinely felt something like a spiritual key turning in a lock - like this was the FIT the Lord had in mind for us.

We have spent several days seeking confirmation through serious pondering, fasting and prayer. We are now sure a mission is right for us.  We want to stay open to any assignment we are asked to do. But for right now, it looks like we just may be serving in Middle Earth!

How To Know What Mission Is Right For Us

Photo from Google Images

In the popular  Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling (and the several movies patterned on those novels), young apprentice witches and warlocks attend a special school called "Hogworts".  At this school there are four different sections, called "houses": Gryffindor, Huffelpuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin.  Which house a student is placed in determines a great deal - who his/her mentors will be, who their peers are, what the emphasis of their study may take. In order to decide which house each student will be assigned to, the "Sorting Hat" is placed upon every students' head by turns. The hat's magic allows it to tap deep into the potential and nature of every boy and girl and then boldly announce what the right path for that student will be.

Sometimes I wish it was that easy to figure out what direction to take in life.

As Larry and I have continued to talk about the possibility of going on a mission, we are beginning to recognize there are many decision to make.

First, we have to determine when would be the right time for us to go.  This does not necessarily mean we are looking for the perfect window of time that would be the optimal for our other plans or what would be the most convenient.  The reality is, there will never be a perfect time to walk away from our home, our family, and all that is dear to us here.  Serving a mission has everything to do with setting aside our own wishes and tapping in to spiritual guidance to know what the Lord wants us to do.

Next, once we know when we are ready to make the commitment, we have to determine how long to sign up for. Young proselytizing elders serve for two years and the sister missionaries for 18 months.   Seniors, however, have more options.  There are many different kinds of missions.  Some last just 6 months, some a year, some 18 months, some 23 months.  We have to consider several different factors to figure out which of those is right for us.

Part of that will depend on where we go.  Ultimately it will be the church leaders who make the final decision of where we serve and in what capacity.  However, seniors are very much encouraged to study out the options of current opportunities and express whatever feels right for them.

For example, in the bulletin describing various mission opportunities it says there is an  "urgent need" for a senior couple to serve as " Public Affairs Specialist" missionaries in Samoa. What that involves would be to "assist the Public Affairs Director in providing information about the Church, it's beliefs, and leaders to the media, opinion leaders, interfaith groups, and the general public." I could see me really enjoying that.  Larry, however, does not feel like that would be a fit for him.   So we keep looking...

We have considered education missions, humanitarian aid, and a few other things.

This isn't at all the same as applying for a job.  In the LDS church, we believe a person "must be called of God and by the laying on of hands by one in authority"...  which means even if we pick something that sounds really good to us,  once we say we are ready to serve a mission we need to be ready to go ANYWHERE we get assigned and pretty much do whatever we are asked to do.  Wrapping our minds around that is a pretty big leap of faith.

One of the big "what ifs" is whether we say we are available for foreign or domestic.

As much as I my be intrigued by the idea of getting to experience going to a different country, there is PLENTY of good work to be done right here in the good ole' USA. I can see lots of reasons I would NOT be disappointed to stay stateside. It will be an adventure to watch it all unfold however it all turns out.

Since we do NOT have a sorting hat we will continue on doing what we have been doing - studying it out in our minds,  praying to be guided by spirit, and slowly inching forward to knowing that this really is the direction we are going to take.  We have plenty of second guessing ourselves.  We especially wonder about the impact leaving all our family for a long period may have.  Still, there is no denying the spiritual promptings we have had ever since this thing first started. That "still, small voice" we read about in the scriptures is getting pretty bold in our house.