Mini Mission!

Hello dearly beloved,

Those who hang out with me frequently would concur that I talk about my mini-mission a lot. As time passed by, the memories fade a little and I don’t talk about it as much. However, the love and tenderness I have for that experience will never change. So, I’m pretty excited to talk to you guys about my mini mission. I’m so glad I have a whole post just to talk about it!

So, when I wrote my brother-in-law’s mom about serving a mini mission in my mind I imagined myself serving the Brazil Campinas mission because that was where I spent most of my life and my parents had only moved out from there to Belo Horizonte a couple months earlier. So I was surprised when I was told she got in touch with the Belo Horizonte mission presidents. I wasn’t surprised in a bad way or anything like that, I just didn’t see it coming you know? But yeah, so check out a Brazil map! I'm from Sao Paulo and served in Belo Horizonte.

I got in touch with the mission presidents there and all I really needed was to study Preach My Gospel (as I wouldn’t go through the MTC), comfy shoes, and permission from the Brazil area presidency as I was only 19 (and the minimum age requirement for sister missionaries to serve at the time was 21). I was happy when I got permission and as soon as everything was set and confirmed, I couldn’t help but feel super excited about it and tell everyone that talked to me. No joke; when someone greeted me at church and asked how I was doing, I’d say “I’M SERVING A MINI MISSION!!!!” with a lot of enthusiasm and excitement. I just couldn’t wait for it!! I talked about my excitement constantly. And on top of that, I’d always ask as many returned missionaries I came across with for advice as I could, because I wanted to take advantage of those 5 weeks as best as I could.

Three pieces of advice that I recall from different returned missionaries were to have the faith to

attend church activities and to magnify my callings because you will need a lot of faith as a missionary. The second actually happened while talking to this dude about how excited I was because I love teaching lessons and talking and he said, “Actually, on your mission you end up listening more than talking”. It really blew my mind when he said that. Especially when I was out there I realized how missions are not about you, the numbers, being charismatic during lessons, getting people to change, or all the other things that are apparent to others’ eyes; but it’s about completely forgetting yourself 100% and focusing only and solely on the Lord’s beloved children who need your help to find their way home.

The third item of advice was to really study chapter 10 of preach my gospel which talks about teaching skills. This guy told me we tend to think we need all the knowledge and all the charisma, when really all you really need is the spirit and to be worthy. Rather than providing people with information, ask inspired questions. Your job as a missionary is to be the telephone company and utilizing the holy ghost to connect the wires between the investigator and God. That blew my mind too and I’m so glad I studied that chapter BEFORE serving because I was able to see many miracles because of it.

So I go on my mini mission. I didn’t go through the MTC (Hence why I asked around for advice and hardcore studied Preach My Gospel) and I didn’t wear a name tag as I was not set apart as a full-time missionary. I also didn’t go through the temple and people just called me by my first name. I lived with the sister missionaries and was expected to live all the missionary rules though. My trainer was Sister Ruecket from UT! We hit it off so well, we’re still really good friends to this day! My other companion was Sister Castellano from Sao Paulo, who I already knew from before her mission when she lived in Provo. I was really excited about being companions with someone I was already friends with.

 

My first night there we were able to teach one lesson via tracting. This guy required quite a bit of

patience because he’d constantly interrupt us and make little jokes on the side. He’d say he didn’t believe in the Mormon church because the Bible was enough and therefore he didn’t need the Book of Mormon. I knew arguing or bible-bashing with him wasn’t gonna help, and I remembered what my friend had said about following the spirit. So I prayed and begged the Lord to direct me at that moment. I asked him, “What are you looking for and why did you let us in?” His facial expression changed from goofy to serious. At that moment, I no longer saw an obnoxious tattooed man who was mocking me, I saw a son of God who the Lord loved so much. His eyes lightened up when he answered, “Direction.” I could tell he was sincere. So I told him about a 14-year old boy named Joseph Smith who also needed direction and I proceeded to tell him about the first vision. I could tell he felt the spirit. He said he’d come to church on Sunday. Then I bore my testimony that I knew Joseph Smith was a prophet and asked him to say the closing prayer. He offered the most sincere, most humble prayer I have ever heard.

That following week my initial reaction was a state of complete shock and frustration. Nobody told me how hard missions were and how much they require every single drop of your faith. When you hear homecoming talks from RM’s all they say is how awesome their missions were, how they’d give anything to go back and how much they grew out of it. During that first week, I had no idea how it was that people could do it for 18 months or 2 years and why they would say it was the best time of their lives. I was physically exhausted; when you have a bad back and you’re on your feet 10 hours a day knocking on doors under a big bright sun and no one lets you in, it’s hard not to get frustrated. It made me wonder if it was worth it; leaving your comfort zone to share something nobody wants. The only thing that kept me going was remembering how strong the spirit was when I felt that I should be there and how much I knew that despite all of the rejections, that what I had to share was true. I literally had nothing but my faith to rely on during those hardships.

One night, after another long day of working our butts off and no success, my trainer Sister Rueckert (did I mention how much I love her?) decides to sing hymns on our walk home. I liked singing hymns, so I sang along with her since we had a 30-minute walk home. We sang “Army of Helaman” and when we got to the part “and we will be the Lord’s missionaries to bring the world His truth”, tears ran down my cheeks. I was reminded by the spirit through that hymn of my purpose there. I remembered the heartbreak I felt as a teenager of the thought that there were people who didn’t have the gospel. Isn’t it a beautiful phrase? To bring the world His truth! Ah, so beautiful. I could say it a million times and it still wouldn’t get old! Bring the world His truth! Isn’t it wonderful that the Lord trusted the 19-year old Kimbo to do such a sacred thing? It was an awesome feeling. Missionary work is so amazing and it brings us closer to God than any other calling on Earth (after parenthood, of course).

One day, we were tracting and had absolutely no success. I was so sad that nobody wanted to even hear a 10-minute discussion on something I knew would change their lives. I didn’t get why people wouldn’t give us a chance to help them make their lives better and happier. After a few hours of knocking on doors and no one letting us in, Sister Rueckert gathers us and suggests that we stopped and said a prayer.  Finally, an old lady lets us in!!! YAY! We’d always start our lessons with a hymn. So we sang a hymn (can’t remember which one it was) and she already starts crying and telling us she felt really good and felt a lot of peace in her heart. During the entire lesson she’d say “It was Jesus Christ who sent you here, I just know it!!” She explained she rarely answers her door, but she felt that she should when we rang the doorbell. That just made the rest of the day worth it. The moment this lady testified we were sent to her by God, I completely forgot about the frustration I felt from getting doors slammed in my face earlier that day.

This brings me to quote myself from an email I sent my parents on a p-day: “One thing is true: Despite all the no’s and the rudeness of others, there hasn’t been one lesson we taught where the person hasn’t felt the spirit when we talked about the first vision.” So when I’m talking to a premie and he/she asks what it’s like, I tell them straight-up that 90% of it will be soul-stretching to say the least. But that 10% consists of experiences so humbling, so heart-softening, so life-changing, so sacred, that they make up for the 90% in a way you’d only understand by actually experiencing it. Those experiences that come from the 10% are unique and you won’t feel them any other way. So far, I haven’t had any experiences as those I’ve had when engaged in missionary work. So yeah, missions are hard. But it’s so worth it. It’s the best hardest thing you’ll ever do.

We did the baptismal invitation, and she said no because her sister was a hardcore catholic so she’d want to talk to her first. Looking back I should’ve invited her to pray to know for herself what she should do. I should’ve borne my testimony that the blessings that came from being baptized will bring blessings that would make up for anything. But I didn’t. :/ And that makes me sad. What if something I had said would completely change where she is with her life now? And that’s one frustration I still feel to this day; as missionaries you are expected to live high standards and represent Christ. But we forget that even though we keep all the rules and live those standards, we’ll still be imperfect and make mistakes. If I could go back I would’ve done so many things differently than I did. But the thought that God trusts 19-year old kids to introduce people to His gospel only increases my love for Him and teaches me that anything is possible through Him as long as we are worthy.

I did feel prompted to ask her, however, if Christ gave us direction, if she would follow Him every

step of the way. She said she would. So I gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and Sister Rueckert assigned her a chapter from 2 Nephi to read. I’m glad I gave her a Book of Mormon! Hopefully she didn’t throw it out and she’ll read it someday and be like “Whattup, those chicks were telling the truth!” or something. We scheduled to see her the next day and when we showed up she said she changed her mind about seeing us because her sister didn’t support it.

Okay, this is getting pretty long so I’ll finish up in the next post(s)! Hope you’re liking it so far and that you’re stoked to read the continuation to this post. :)

Love,

Miss Mottola <3