Episode 20 - Hermana Mylee Pedersen, Why We Leave Our Comfort Zone

This week’s guest is Hermana Mylee Pedersen. A very special episode where Stacee interviews her daughter who is currently serving a mission upstate New York for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . Before her time on the mission, as a high school student, she was involved in sports and student government. Mylee never imagined she would serve a mission, but was inspired by the example of her friends who chose to serve and ultimately decided to follow that path herself. Through her mission, Mylee has learned to push beyond her comfort zone, overcome challenges, and trust in God’s plan. Mylee is passionate about serving others, is learning about herself and the people around her everyday, and is excited to share how unexpected experiences can lead to lasting personal transformation.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Waking the Why, a podcast about uncovering the purpose behind life's crucible moments. Each episode, you'll hear from real people who turn their struggles into strength and their stories into light. If you're searching for meaning, walking through something hard, or just love stories that stir the soul, you're in the right place. Hello, friends, and welcome to Waking the Why, where we discover the purpose behind life's crucible moments. My name is Stacey Peterson, and our guest today is Ermana Miley Peterson, my daughter. Yay! My missionary. I am so grateful for her and her mission president for giving her permission to do this podcast. So, Mai, to start, Mania, tell us your story.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

Well, um, I'm 20 years old. I'm on a mission in Syracuse, New York, so it's upstate New York. And I'm currently in the city of Rochester. But in high school, I played sports, kind of the biggest thing I did. And I was in student government, kind of was involved in that way. Um, and I graduated a couple years ago, and now I'm on a mission. Did you always want to serve a mission? No. I think most of my life I told myself that I wasn't going to serve a mission.

SPEAKER_01 1:22

Yeah. For for those that um may not be a part of our faith, when when we say you're serving a mission, what what does that even mean?

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Good question. That means I take for me 18 months of my life, and I go somewhere that I was called, unknown, and I just go out every single day and preach the gospel of Jesus Christ, the doctrine that he taught when he was on the earth. And so we just try to talk to as many people as we can, see if they want to hear a message and share the light of Christ with others.

SPEAKER_01 1:56

Well, so is that scary?

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Uh yeah. It still is, but I think it will always be scary. But definitely at the start, I was like, I don't know what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_01 2:07

So, you know, you're you're on a mission, you feel well, let's actually let's stop. Let's go back. Um, you really weren't planning on serving a mission. So, what brought you to the point of okay, I think I need to serve a mission?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Yeah, I think it goes back like four years before I even graduated. I got my patriarchal blessing, just a blessing of my life. And it talks about a little bit about going on a mission. And I was like, okay, I don't know what that means. And I had a lot of fears, and I was like, so I'm just gonna take that as I'm not gonna go. And so four years go by, I go to high school, I do sports, do all my thing, and little thoughts come in my mind every once in a while about going on a mission, but I'm just kind of pushing it aside because I'm terrified basically. There's just so many things, I don't know. I was like, I can't. Um, and then senior year comes by, I have a lot of friends, which are really good examples in my life, and they decided to go on missions. And as I saw them go through their process, I was like, wait, it's not as scary as I thought. And as they started to go, a couple of them, a couple of my guy friends actually left on their mission and they had companions and they were having such good experiences. Um, I was like, wait, that actually kind of sounds fun, not as scary or horrible as I thought it would be. And I prayed a lot and I tried to get answers. I didn't really feel anything. I really didn't feel like I had a definite yes, but I knew that my blessing talked about it and it would be a good thing, and it would bless me. And I saw my friends having these awesome experiences. I was like, okay, let's let's try it, I guess. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

So tell everybody, because this makes me laugh. Tell everybody um you submitted your papers to go on the mission, and then um you got your call. So tell everybody when you got your call, where we were, just tell that.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

Okay, so I officially received the text that had my call when I was at training for work on a Tuesday. The next day we were going to Disneyland, and I was scared, so I was like, I'm just not gonna open it. I can just focus on what I'm doing at work, and we're going on a trip. I had homework to finish before we left, so I was like, it's fine. So then Wednesday comes around, we go to Disneyland. I'm like, this is great, I don't even have to worry about it. I honestly kind of forgot about it a little bit because I was so having a good time in Disneyland, and then I believe it was around later in the week on Friday or Saturday. Friday, Friday, I was on a ride with my brother and his wife, and I was like, hmm, what if I tell them? Because I feel like it'd be kind of funny. I just I want to see their reaction. Okay. And so I told them right as we were sitting down on this ride, like right before the ride started, I was like, uh yeah, I got my mission call. And then the ride started, and so they we just focused on the ride. We didn't say anything. Um, and then after they're like, What the and I was like, Don't tell the parents because they're gonna make me open it, and I'm scared. Let's just not let's keep it a secret. But of course, my brother, once we got together and we were having dinner, my brother had to, you know, throw some hints in there, make it seem like I got my call. And then I was like, Yeah, I got my call, but I still didn't even open it in that moment. I refused. I was like, no, I just want to focus on Disneyland.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Yeah, I think yeah. Individuals, like you guys, those of you that may not know my daughter, and those that you know my daughter, you this makes total sense. But like most people, you get your call and you're like immediately opening it. You're not waiting to tell anybody because you want to know. But Miley is a little bit uh stubborn and she does things her own way on her own timeline, so there is no telling her what to do as she's never in the play, and so yeah, it's like so. We find out Friday night, we're like, oh my gosh. And Brie, Miley's sister, was flying in that night, too, right? Anyway, so no, you still didn't open it.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

Nope, yeah, yep, and I was like, okay, but I'm definitely opening it by myself just because I don't know where the place I'm gonna go is gonna be scary, disappointing. Well, I don't know how I'm gonna react. And so I was like, I still want to do it by myself. So that night we got back, everyone went to sleep, and I just opened it while everyone was in bed. I was literally laying in bed, I was about to go to bed, and I was like, Okay, I'll open it, I guess, because I think I promised y'all that I would tell you tomorrow. So I was like, Okay, I have to open it then. Yeah, so I opened it, I was really excited, I felt good, and then went to bed. And so then the next day I read it for y'all and I told you.

SPEAKER_01 7:05

Right. This is about we're ready to leave the hotel to go to the airport. You share your mission. So, my up to this point, you you've mentioned the word fear or afraid or being scared often, right? So, how how have you managed those feelings, not only for the mission, but just throughout your life? Because I mean, fear is a very real emotion that we all experience. So, you know, what have you done to help kind of cope through some of those things?

SPEAKER_00 7:35

I honestly look back and don't think I really coped or did it like much. I honestly just stayed within my comfort zone for the most part. I got out there with sports, I got out with their friends, things like that, but that was for the most part comfortable. And as far as like doing scary things with sports and soon in government, I think I went out a little bit, but nothing that scary. And I remember there's like certain things in my life or things that my friends wanted to do or whatever, and I was like, I'm afraid of being embarrassed or looking dumb or whatever. And so then I just like wouldn't do it. I think after I graduated, just naturally I was kind of like, okay, things don't really matter anymore what people think about me. I don't really care. Um, I definitely started relying on God more and like the fear of like if I'm embarrassing or whatever. And so I just kind of was like, okay, I want to get out and do those things that may be fun, but I'm like afraid of because I know they're fun. And so I did like I went on a senior trip and did some things on boating that I was like scared of, but they were so fun, and I was like, it didn't even matter. I was like, this is awesome, and so I think that a little bit that was the summer before I left on my mission, and so that was like kind of the start. Like, okay, I need to get out there and get past my comfort zone in these fears because they actually might end up being a lot better than I thought it would. Yeah, and so at the start, submitting my papers and stuff, I had fear, but since I could see my friends having a good time, I was like, okay, it's fine. But closer to me leaving, I think around January time, I was like terrified. I don't even know what it's gonna be like. I don't even know if I know a lot. Because when I first start the missing mission training center, it's a week at home. And in that week, even though I grew up in the church, I was like, I know nothing about the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't even know how I'm supposed to share this or make it make sense for these people. Yeah, and I'm pretty outgoing, but how am I supposed to just go and talk to random people on the street? It's crazy. But through my mission, I think the fear just goes away because we do it for Jesus. And so that's like something we say in my mission is like knock twice for Jesus, call twice for Jesus, get uncomfortable for Jesus. And so it's like we're doing it for a good cause. And the longer I've been on my mission, I've seen these experiences, I've seen the change in people. Since I got out of my comfort zone, I helped them, and I'm like, okay, so it doesn't even matter if sometimes they don't accept it because I'm doing it for a good cause, and I I don't need to be afraid or embarrassed about it. Yeah. Um because at the end of the day, we're being nice people, and so we're just trying to help them out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

So um kind of tell us a little bit of the day in the life of a missionary. What does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 10:37

So it's bright and early at 6 30 a.m. Um, and we've been given an opportunity to have a little bit of time to work out, and so not everyone sees that, but I work out every single day.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

And yeah, there's two things that through this last 15 months, 16 months almost, that Miley needs. We've all learned Miley needs to work out and she needs the sun, and so if she's not working out and the sun's not out, oh those are hard days.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

Yes, and that's what brought me through the winter when the sun wasn't out very much here in New York, was being able to work out. Um, but right after that, we just get ready and then we get right into our studies. So we have an hour for our personal study and our personal conversion to Jesus Christ to study this doctrine, and it's very significant and very um impactful in our lives as we grow ourselves, we're able to show it to other people because we can't teach past our conversion. We need to know it so that other people can understand when we're teaching it. And so we have that hour, which is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Yeah, it's one thing that I've always been. I remember I served a mission as well, you guys, and I served in New York City. And I I remember um talking with some members, and and they were just saying, like, you know, what why do you think that the church sends out these young missionaries who have zero clue about life nor about the gospel, right? And I think that you just hit on it. It's um one, it's about the individual conversion. My mission president during a struggling time for me, um, I was struggling to learn the language that I was called to speak, which was Spanish. And I was so frustrated, and I just wanted to teach and share the gospel, right? I just wanted people to have the happiness that I have. And I remember having a conversation with um President Rasband, and he told me, you know what, Sister Nay, um, you come to a mission first for yourself, second for your companion, and then third for the people. And I was like, no, not me. That's not why I came. I came for the people, I did not come for myself. And we talked about that for a while. And I think my what you just said is that we can only teach to the level of our conversion. That is so true. And um, the one thing that I love about our God is that he sees our inadequacies, and though maybe my conversion was only at a certain level, the individuals that I taught could feel the love that I have, and the spirit took over from there, right? Like I didn't have to worry about all my inadequacies, but but there is that value of that personal study because it is about first our own individual growth. So that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

100%. I think that's another reason for the personal study is to bring the spirit into our lives because we all do things, even as missionaries, where the spirit maybe be like, okay, maybe don't do that again, things like that. But as we study, we invite the spirit in our lives, and so we're learning with the spirit, and then the spirit can be with us the rest of the day because honestly, the spirit is the one that teaches the people we have to go out there and put the effort in, but then we can trust in the spirit that's with us that it will help the people understand what we're saying, and even if it's not in the right language, if you're not saying it correctly, things like that, we can trust in that spirit. And so it just is a really good start to the rest of our day. We have a lot of planning and we have a lot of visiting to do throughout our days, and so next we plan our day 30 every 30 minutes is planned out from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. And so that can consist of a bunch of different things, but ultimately sharing the gospel with everyone, and so members, people that are already members of where we are are super important to work with and to help them, people that aren't coming to church with their members, and then also talking to people that have no idea what this church is, and so and my mission is honestly different than a lot of missions. I didn't expect to be coming out and driving around parking lots like Walmart and sharing with the people there. I always imagined, you know, walking on the streets, talking to people in those kind of areas, but it looks a little bit different up here in New York. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter. It works and it's where the most people are too.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

So part of your days, there's always service, not every day, but every week you're doing some sort of service, right? Uh, maybe give us an example of a service opportunity that you did that you loved, and then give us an example of one that just wasn't your favorite.

SPEAKER_00 15:32

So I think one of my areas, um, there's like set aside services with like a business already there. But we have little opportunities if members need help with yard worker, things like that. But one of my favorite services was in one of my first areas in Spanish, and it's helping out this business for refugees or people coming in that aren't from America. And it's more than just like the food typical food pantry is the service that is here, but it was more we worked in the warehouse organizing the donations that people would donate. So clothes, housing things, utensils, a little bit of food, but just random little things. And we worked with one of the volunteers there, and it was just so fun to be able to organize those things and get those donations. And one of the funnest things to do was when a family was coming in, we had the names of the family, we had how many people, their ages, and we were able to gather a group of things that they would need. So housing things, the clothes, and all that, and put it in a pile. And one time we were actually able to deliver it to that family specifically. Um, this family spoke Spanish, and so they asked me and my companion to go because we're the missionaries there that spoke Spanish. And so we're able to take all that stuff and give it to them and help them start their new life here. And this business helps them get a get housing and get all the things that they needed for that, and it was so awesome to be a part of that process.

SPEAKER_02 17:08

Yeah, that's so good.

SPEAKER_00 17:09

I think definitely I love to do the food pantries, but the one that I serve in right now is super fun. But most of the time we're looking at moldy fruit and food that comes in, yeah, and so it's awesome that people are donating, but they ask us to cut the cheese and wrap it, and the cheese is most of the time moldy. And so the smell touching it is just probably not my favorite. That definitely has to be lower on the list. Yeah, so gross.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

It cracks me up when you say that um, you know, sometimes members ask you to help or whatever. Well, last summer the sister missionaries came and visited us, and Cody, my husband, they always ask, Is there anything that we can do to help you or whatever? And Cody literally said to the sister missionaries, Yeah, you can help put up our tramp. So they literally came over. We were having a neighborhood party. The missionaries, sister missionaries came over and they were putting up the tramp. I was dying. I'm like, no, we can't have them do that. And we had some of our neighbors, um, the men in the neighborhood were like, We we can't we gotta go help them, we can't have them do that themselves, but comical missionaries will do whatever it is that you need them to do, so yeah, 100%. We're always here to help. My what's been like the hardest thing about the mission?

SPEAKER_00 18:35

I think for a lot of people it's different, and I hear they're that's leaving your family and things like that, being homesick. But honestly, for me, it was definitely the language, and there was a turn a certain point in my mission where I didn't get out and get the sun, like we talked about. And so that was probably the hardest point was I was very new in the language at this point. So the language was hard. I was studying, I had I did not know what they were saying to me, I didn't know how to respond to the questions, nothing. And I was also not getting out and getting the sun like I was used to in the summertime, and so all of those two things at once, I was like stressed, I didn't know what to do. I wanted to serve, but I didn't know how because I didn't know how to speak to them, and I thought, you know, words is how I'm going to share this gospel, and so I really didn't know how to do that. So, how did you work through it? Honestly, I studied some people take that anger and that frustration and either give up or whatever, but I was like, in my mind, which is good and bad, now I see, but in my mind, if I studied really, really hard and I focused and I did all these things and I just prayed and things like that, I would be able to learn the language little by little. And it worked really well in some ways. I studied really hard, I was able to learn those things, always trying to improve in that way, and so I think it was good. I think it was really good, but I definitely relied a little bit more on my talents instead of God's in that moment. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

That's something that I've I'm learning throughout my life too of like, yes, I'm independent. I've always been independent, right? And I to some degree um highly valued my independence, and I think at times it's led me down a path of I don't need anybody's help, I don't need God's help, I can do this on my own, right? Um, I too was called to speak Spanish on my mission and had a similar experience, though I think you handled it way better than I did in that approach. But um, the second that I was willing to, I would say, surrender my independence and allow God and others around me to help me, you know, the language started clicking a little bit better. And so, you know, we we all have trials in life, we all have our heart. And, you know, once the trial is over, we can look back on it and say, well, that makes total sense, right? You can look back at the time last summer when you weren't getting any sun and you weren't you were struggling with the language and anxiety and stress and like all of that's high. You can look back on it now and make sense of it because there's something that you you learned through that process. But when you're in the middle of the hard, sometimes it's hard to see past it. It's not it's hard to see through it, it's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, right? Um, what what advice would you give to our audience today on what to do when they're in the middle?

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Well, I think my answer definitely comes as a missionary, it has something to do with God and Jesus Christ. Uh and I hope to continue that even after my mission. But the biggest thing there's so many things we can do, there's so many resources that we've been given. But honestly, that relationship with Jesus Christ and God, knowing that we have that personal relationship and that our divine destiny is that word children of God definitely helps. But there's a specific word that comes to my mind, and the word is hope. I loved the word hope before my mission, and I still love it now. And it's one of my favorite names of Jesus Christ, it's one of those things that just brings light, the word hope. But the reason why I can hope even in the midst of those trials, the reason why I can look ahead and be like, okay, there's better days ahead and good things are gonna come. I can just continue on is because of Jesus Christ. He is the ultimate example. And when he was going through all of his hard trials, he was thinking of us, he was thinking of the joy and the love he has for us. And he had so much hope to get through it, he had so much reason to get through it. There was a purpose and hope brings so much purpose in my life because if I didn't have hope or Jesus Christ or God and this gospel, the future wouldn't even be a thing. I wouldn't know my purpose of why I'm here or where I came from. It would just be nothing. I would just be living. But because of hope in my life, we can expect better days because God's promised us, and I hold on to that very dearly in my life, especially during those trials. I know that there's better times. People have seen it. I've seen it when I look in the past. When I'm going through something in the past, I got through it, and so I know that no matter what, there'll be things that I can get through in the future.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Oh, thank you so much, Miley. This has been so much fun. I loved it. Well, my friends, you heard it from Edramana Peterson. Um, God is hope. And as you are going through your heart, um, where maybe things don't make sense and you're uncertain of where where to go, what to do, um, I promise you, if you'll just rely on him, have hope in him, just take just take the first next step that he'll be there there with you. And as Miley said, he's promised us those better days. And so hang on to that. Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining me on Waking the Why. If today's story moved you, share it with someone who needs it. And don't forget, your why is worth waking up for