We’ve always wanted to serve a senior mission together, ever since we were first married. It was something in the back of our minds over the years. That plan shaped many of our earlier decisions – financial and debt issues, health and
Our wedding day - a very long time ago! |
But with all the different kinds of senior mission
opportunities out there now, it is much easier of a choice and much easier
decision than it used to be.
I’ve heard that wondering what to do with pets is a big
issue for many!! But here are the top three questions we get asked by strangers
and friends alike, about serving senior missions:
1.
Did you have to learn the language?
We
served our first mission in the Hong Kong Area office as humanitarian
specialists, in a Cantonese/Mandarin/English speaking country.
We
served our second mission in Vietnam as MLS missionaries, in a
Vietnamese/English speaking country.
We
are now going to Taiwan Taipei as office specialists, in a Mandarin/English
speaking country.
I
think you see the pattern - English is spoken nearly everywhere!
Our MTC Senior missionary group studying how to share the gospel - all in English! |
Seniors
are not required to learn the language. You simply would not become
fluent and effective if you started from scratch and tried to learn the
language of whatever country you are assigned.
If you know the language, great! If not, just stick with English as
there are plenty of people who speak English and who will translate for you.
On
a final note, there are tons opportunities in English speaking areas of the
world – way more openings than they can possibly fill. You are needed everywhere!
2.
How much does it cost to serve?
Mission costs are very straight forward. Kind of.
On the church’s senior mission opportunities website (Church Senior Mission Website) each
mission need is listed, along with the cost for that mission. Some missions are
relatively inexpensive (like a Handcart Trek specialist in Argentina for $1050 a month for two people)
or can be on the higher side (like the Ivory Coast Abidjan CES Program
Specialist mission which is currently $4300). In the search engine, you just specify how
much money you are able to spend each month, and the computer will find missions
to match.
We found that we usually spend pretty close to what the website
specifies, though sometimes we came in lower.
We tend to be frugal by nature.
As an example, our
current mission expenses breakdown is this:
Housing - $1400 (which includes rent, utilities and furnishings)
Transportation - $100 (for public transportation or other in-mission
travel)
Personal expenses - $850 (food, things and stuff)
Medical insurance through Missionary Medical – about $550
for the two of us (we’re not on Medicaid yet)
Total: $2900
Here’s the clincher – if you’ve been able to plan ahead and
have no debts (your house is paid for and your cars are debt free) – then going
on a mission can actually be cheaper than living at home! We spend less on our missions and can
actually find it a good way to save retirement money!
3.
What about your children and grandchildren?
We have 9
wonderful children, 7 amazing spouses, and 23 perfect grandchildren. And we
bank on this promise given to missionaries: Elder Robert D. Hales said, “The Lord will send special blessings to
your family as you serve. ‘I, the Lord, give unto them a promise that I will
provide for their families’ (D&C 118:3). Couples are sometimes concerned that in their absence they
will miss weddings, births, family reunions, and other family events. We have
learned that the impact on families while grandparents are on missions is worth
a thousand sermons. Families are greatly strengthened as they pray for their
parents and grandparents and read letters sent home which share their
testimonies and the contribution they are making in the mission field.”
Our senior missionary MTC group in 2014 - seniors training to serve all over the world and US. |
Some seniors think that they need to wait for the perfect
time to serve a mission – where there will be no obstacles of finances, family
needs or upcoming events, health, etc. If you wait for the perfect time, it
will probably never come. There are flexible
missions with flexible hours, missions from home, part time missions, 6 month
missions – so many to choose from! We
know from personal experience that if you just put your best foot forward and
tell the Lord you want to go, He will do the rest. Doors will open in ways you never
imagined. We’ve seen it happen over and
over again, to many, many senior couples.
Many seniors want to do something exciting and are afraid of
getting “stuck” in an office position, but the thing to remember is this – we go
on missions not because they are fun vacations, but because we love the Lord
and want to serve. We are there to do whatever the mission president or area
president wants us to do. We are there
to help them. Period. We served an office mission in Hong Kong and it was truly
one of the highlights of our lives. You’ll have to read our blog posts to find
out why. And we’re doing another office this time round. Stay tuned and we’ll keep you posted on how
we make it, too, one of the highlights of our lives.
So why are we going again?
Because missions are awesome! Because
we love the Lord and want to serve Him as full time as possible for the rest of
our lives. And because the MTC food is amazing!
Can’t wait to go there again! Ha!
Studying at the MTC |