One Whole Year of Being an RM!

As of September 7th, I have officially been back from a mission for a whole year.  It went by super quick.  Because of this, I'm taking a look back at the three different stages of being an RM that I went through and the thoughts that accompanied them.


Stage One--The first two weeks of being back: "Everyone is going to Hell!"

 

• "Go on a date with a girl?  Gross!"
• "This Lady Gaga might actually be the whore of Babylon."
• "Go to the supermarket alone? There's no way I can do that without a companion!"
• "Were Disney movies always this suggestive?"
• "Watch a PG-13 movie? NO!"
• "What am I going to do for the rest of my life?"
• "I feel obligated to share the Gospel with that person over there wearing the BYU-I hoodie."
• "I must wake up at 6:30 every morning for the rest of my life."
• "Listen to Jimi Hendrix?  But he was on drugs and stuff!"
• "I'm going to tell this girl all of my mission stories. Girls love mission stories."

Stage 2--The next four months: "I'm going to Hell!"

• "I'm going on dates, but I have no idea how to flirt." <Note: this may or may not be a problem I've had my whole life.>
• "I woke up at 9:30 today.  I'm so lazy!"
• "I studied the scriptures for only ten minutes today!"
• "I spent four hours alone and didn't even wonder where my companion was.  Weird."
• "My mission president would be so disappointed if he knew how often I say 'fetch,' 'fudge,' and 'eff.'"
• "Is there any mission rule that I haven't broken since I got home?"
• "Is this awkward stage going to last forever?"
• "Actually, my whole life might have been a big awkward stage."
• "Well, at least I'm still obeying the Word of Wisdom like crazy."

Stage 3--6 months since getting home: "Ah, what the hell."

• "I've now watched every movie that came out over the last two years."
• "Ooo, sweet!  Lady Gaga has a new album coming out!"
• "I slept in until noon this last Saturday and it felt great."
• "I'm going to play some Halo: Reach, because I haven't had enough violence in my life today."
• "When I grow up, I want to be the gold robot guy on the Party Rock music video."
• "Harry Potter premier: Emo Death Eater with a dark mark sharpie tattoo is a totally cool costume!"
• "I haven't written in my journal since January." 
• "Could I fit four dates in this week?"
• "Dance party!"
• "What the eff."

Now on a more serious note, I would like to take a moment and say that serving a mission is the best darn thing I ever did.  The work was hard, the hours spent were long, and the cards that I was dealt were sometimes frustrating; but I have never felt better and more sure about what I was doing with my life.  The people I met were amazing and the stories I gathered will last a lifetime.

It is one of the scariest things that happened to me in the last year was the loss of the good feeling I always had as a missionary.  I still try to do things in my schedule that emulate the missionary lifestyle, like always wearing white shirts on Sunday, exercising and reading scriptures in the morning, and making time to go to the temple often. But nothing can compare to the satisfaction of helping people change for the better.  I miss the feeling of all the prayers that so many faithful Mormons all over the world offered for missionaries. I miss the knowledge that what I'm doing right here, right now, is the best possible thing I could be doing. And most of all,I miss seeing the joy in someone's face after they're baptized.