Grace Ai | The Chronicle
As many seniors gear up for their four-year journeys to college after graduation, some are gearing up for a different journey, one that takes them to different parts of the world: mission trips.
Missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are those who travel around the globe to spread the word of their religion. Going on a mission is voluntary, and the missionaries are unpaid, typically spending 18 to 24 months dedicating their lives to their cause. Once a person chooses to serve and is assigned a location, they go to a Missionary Training Center (MTC) for one to three months and learn the language of the place they will serve. When they complete their training and begin serving their missions, women are referred to as “Sister” and men as “Elder”.
Mason High School (MHS) junior Megann Palmer plans to attend university before taking a gap year for her mission, saying that a mission is something she has considered since starting high school. Although it’s not mandatory, she explains that she wanted to as she is always liked teaching and helping others.
“Lots of people will treat missionaries like children,” Palmer said. “But when I view missionaries, I think of them as the hands of God. It takes a lot of perseverance to be away from their home and their families, and I definitely believe that God has a hand in their lives and getting them through all their challenges.”
Sister Sienna Blank was an MHS graduate in 2024 and is currently serving on a mission in Hawaii. She said she chose to be a missionary out of the want to share her spiritual knowledge with others and spent a lot of time praying in order to reach this decision.
“I chose to become a missionary because I am blessed with the spiritual knowledge I have and I want to share it with others,” Sienna said. “I want to serve and help people just like Jesus Christ did. I want to be a good example to my family and friends. I also want to grow my relationship with God and Jesus Christ.”
According to her mother, Hannah Blank, serving missions is not uncommon at Brigham Young University (BYU), the school Sienna attended, so when Sienna expressed interest in going on a mission, Hannah wanted to make sure that she wanted to do it, not out of peer pressure but out of genuine desire.
“We were not sure if [Sienna] was really serious about it,” Hannah said. “So we told her to see how her first semester [at university] went. And then in January, she called us from school and told us that she had been thinking and praying about it, and said she really wanted to go. And we said, ‘okay, then you should go’.”
For Elder Owen Christensen, a MHS graduate in 2024 and currently serving in Pernambuco, Brazil, he became a missionary because he wanted to share the love of Christ with other people who could need a friend or some hope in their life.
“I [want] to bring hope and joy to people here in Brazil,” Christensen said. “Following the teachings of Jesus Christ has brought a lot of joy and love to my life and I hope to give some people the opportunity to do the same for the rest of their lives.”
However, there are still challenges while serving the mission. Christensen said it takes a lot of work walking and talking for the whole day, especially when it is in a new environment.
“You get rejected a lot and it is super difficult to be in a place where you don’t speak the language well,” Christensen said. “I only learned Portuguese for two months before being dropped in Brazil. But what has helped a lot is journaling, humility and having someone to talk to. Just [being able to] laugh at yourself as you learn and make mistakes.”
Some challenges occur before the mission even starts. Sienna was originally assigned to Cabanatuan City, Philippines, for her mission and spent six weeks learning Tagalog, the language spoken in the Philippines, at an MTC in the U.S., planning to go to another MTC in Manila to complete her training. Before Sienna could complete that training, she received an email that notified her that she was being reassigned to serve in Hawaii. Despite the setback, it has not discouraged Sienna in her mission.
“It was really hard,” Sienna said. “I watched the fellow missionaries I would spent all of my six weeks struggling to learn the language and adapting to missionary life with, leave for the same place I’d spent five months learning about and anticipating serving in. Only hours prior, I thought I would be on that flight with them. Over the course of the past three and a half months, though, I have gained an unshakable testimony that God has a plan for us. I know He has higher purposes for my being reassigned to serve in Hawaii, instead.”
Hannah mentioned that although Sienna is still in the U.S., her time in Hawaii has exposed her to many other cultures outside of the country, as well as different economic environments that differ from where she came from.
“It is been really great for her to have that cultural experience,” Hannah said. “It is a great way to not only serve people in more rural and impoverished areas, but to also recognize how blessed you are to live where you are.”
For Christensen, serving a mission is a great training ground for the rest of one’s life, even if it can be very difficult. To him, pursuing this path helps people learn more about the world around them and about themselves, giving them the opportunity to also help others improve their lives.
“I’m only four months in, but I can see the change being more dedicated to Christ brings in our lives,” Christensen said. “So far, one of the most memorable experiences was a lesson with this mom, Janaina. We were trying to help her quit smoking, and it was impactful to see her strong desire to quit so she could receive the blessings promised by God.”
Palmer explained that while some think that the main goal of a mission is to convert as many people as possible into the Church, that is not the actual goal, instead, it is to spread the word of Christ and help others learn about the love Christ has for them. While this is how a mission intends to impact the people they serve, a mission may impact the missionaries themselves in other ways due to the dedication that they put into their daily lives in order to serve others. According to Palmer, some who go on a mission come back more mature because of the life experience they have gained during that time.
“You do not go into your mission knowing everything,” Palmer said. “You do not come out knowing everything, either. There is still stuff you do not know, but you definitely become more reassured in what helps you grow as a person.”
Sienna’s father, Justin Blank, said that when doing something that you are passionate about, it can be very tough when others might make fun of you or yell things at you day after day. But even then, it is important to accept that people can make their own choices, and that pursuing your passion can still bring a lot of joy and happiness in your life.
“Anything that people do that takes the focus off of themselves and focuses on helping other people in whatever capacity I think does a lot of good for people that they are serving and helping, but also for themselves,” Justin said. “It helps you not be so focused on yourself, and having a period of time in your life where you do that gives you a well-grounded baseline for life.”
Palmer said that missionary work is not limited to the time that you officially volunteer and serve as a missionary. Even if someone chooses not to go on a mission, there are still things that an individual can do in the community to help out others.
“Even if you are not going on a mission, you can still be a missionary in your own respective ways,” Palmer said. “I could go out and serve the elderly or help a neighbor out with yard work, so even after I finish my mission, I am still a missionary at heart.”
To Sienna, the difficulties people face in life are for their own growth and benefit, as the struggles she is experienced in her life have strengthened her and encouraged her to connect with other people on a different level.
“I am grateful for being reassigned, for the hard and lonely days and nights, for the sacrifices to be here serving people,” Sienna said. “Why? Because I know God is shaping me into a person far greater than I could ever imagine, because I would never know joy if I did not know sorrow. Because my hard experiences help me love others amidst their hardships, because for maybe the first and only time in my life, I have 18 months to stop focusing on myself, and solely look outwards and upwards at fellow children of God and my Savior, Jesus Christ.”
