Dear Future Sister

What a Missionary Day Actually Looks Like

• Darby Lee • Episode 25

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 30:15

From waking up at 6:30am, to what actually happens walking the streets, Paige and I are comparing our experiences of what it's really like in the day in the life of a missionary.

Here's the link to the devotional: https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/melissa-larson/christlike-transformation/

Go follow the Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearfuturesister/

Don't forget to leave a review, and shoot me a dm to let me know what you're learning or what you can relate to about missionary life!



SPEAKER_00

Dear Future Sister, are you preparing to serve a mission? Deciding if you should or adjusting back to home life? I'm Darby Lee, and this is Dear Future Sister, a place for real talk about all phases of the mission journey.

SPEAKER_02

One thing that I learned as a missionary is that the Lord has such a better plan for us than we could ever even plan for. And today I'm talking with my friend Paige about the missionary day in the life and what that schedule and routine looked like and how the Lord really magnified our efforts in that. But first, we're starting with a daily devotional. We're reading in Doctrine and Covenants, chapter 88, verse 119. And it says, Organize yourselves, prepare every needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God. And I think a lot of times we think of schedules, routines, and it it doesn't seem as gospel-centered, but I like how the scripture ties that into that because missionary work is a lot about scheduling and planning your time most effectively. And I think that when we do that with the help of the Lord, that sometimes things fall through a lot, as you guys will hear soon. But the Lord magnifies our efforts and definitely blesses us for those. Alright, welcome, Paige, to the podcast. So excited that you're here. Do you want to introduce yourself?

SPEAKER_03

I'd love to. Okay, so I'm Paige Roberts. I'm from San Antonio, Texas. I said my mention in Finland. And I got back, well, two years ago. That's crazy.

SPEAKER_02

Experience. She's a veteran out here.

SPEAKER_03

We're running on pure memory. So it's bad. It's you know, whatever.

SPEAKER_02

So Paige and I we met together working at BYU. So that's been fun. And now I've recruited her to come to the podcast. Because I haven't interviewed anyone from Europe, I don't think. Like who served there. It's all well, okay. There was someone from Italy. Okay. I can't get direct. Yeah, no, it's it's cool though to get different experiences. So, okay, we're gonna be talking about kind of a day in the life of our mission, and from what it sounds like, Finland might be a pretty unique experience. But that'll be interesting to kind of compare to that, and then yeah, but first kind of give me the rundown. Like, what was your mission like or like getting there? How how was it?

SPEAKER_03

Honestly, my mission was a doozy, it was pretty rough for me for a long time. But the people like it's like every mission where it's like divinely designed for each mission, and like it'll be rough for you no matter what. Honestly, no matter where you are. We're very real here.

SPEAKER_02

I'm very like unfiltered, like it's rough, man. It's rough out there.

SPEAKER_03

Um, but like I arrived in November, so like mid-winter. So it's like blizzarding, and then I got a second winter as I was leaving. And so the majority of my mission was winter. Literally lived in the Arctic Circle, which is rough for a Texas girl, and then what kind of give where this is embarrassing? Where is Finland? It's in between Sweden and Russia. Okay. Like very pretty north. Yeah. But yeah. And but the people are incredible. They're very different from Americans for sure. We love them though. They're very loyal, very introverted, very thoughtful people.

SPEAKER_02

Cool. No, that's or what do you think made Finland unique, like from other missions?

SPEAKER_03

Um, it's very hard to because because the Finnish people are so thoughtful and so like intellectual and very kind of measured in how they respond to things, not very emotional outwardly. It takes a very, very long time for them to make decisions and very, very long time for them to accept the gospel principles in their lives. And so, like, as missionaries, you maybe get through one to two principles with a person before you left.

SPEAKER_02

So this is this is this will be great to compare them because in Paraguay was kind of the opposite. Like it was very, like, I don't know. People are just very extroverted, or I guess it depends. And maybe everyone's different, but um, but people are very like open to the gospel, or like most people at least believe in God, so they love talking about God, even if they don't end up accepting the gospel, but they love talking about it. So okay, cool. So well, okay. Give me give me the rundown. So how how was like a day in the life like in your mission?

SPEAKER_03

Well, there's a lot of similarities, what do you do? Yeah, a lot of similarities to the normal missionary life, I feel like. So you wake up at 6 30 and then you say your prayers with your comp and personal prayers. It's funny because like in Finland, most of the apartments have something called a podrike, which is like a little porch. It's like an apartment but like a floating porch outside. Oh really? Yeah. And so I would go outside and say my prayers. Oh bad. With my blanket. Oh, that's cute. And then the after that, usually as missionaries, we do daily planning right away. And so we kind of go through our schedule for the day.

SPEAKER_02

Did you guys usually do like exercise in the morning, like right after you wake up? Well, not right after we woke up, but yes. Okay. And was that like a scheduled thing for your mission or was it kind of because for me it was like you wake up at 6 30 and then you have basically until oh I don't know, I don't remember the time now, until like 10 to get everything done. And that's but most people all did it the same way, but we still had that flexibility to change it everyone.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think it was the same for me. I definitely switched from pump to pump. I had one companion that had to work out as soon as they woke up, otherwise they would come back to bed. Oh yeah. And so we did that for uh transfer, but yeah. And so usually my like ideal, my favorite transfer was probably wake up, companionship prayer, personal prayer, and then daily planning, and then we worked out. And then usually for me that meant like jump roping. Oh, it was a huge jump rope.

SPEAKER_02

Wait, I brought a jump rope on my mission.

SPEAKER_03

Let's say jump roping. Um and going on walks. My most of my companions were pretty big runners. Oh, okay. And so we were in sight and sound of each other, but I was a huge runner. So they ran around me. Yeah. Um and then after that breakfast and getting ready for the day. And then we had personal study after that. And that was an hour block. Yeah. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And who knows, maybe they'll change it again sometime. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe, yeah. But yeah, so an hour and my mission precedents were like you have to spend 30 minutes in the Book of Mormon for the So half of that was reading in the Book of Mormon, and typically my other half was reading in Preach My Gospel. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Okay, it was the same for me. Like I've heard a lot of missions like um would even encourage to study more like in the Bible, New Testament, Old Testament. I for myself, I can say I never not once did I open up the Bible. Like, if it was in Preach My Gospel or like a quote or something, or like a reference to the Book of Mormon, yeah. But like I didn't even have my my quad. Yeah. No, for sure. Anyways, yeah. It's also rough to like carry around the Bible. Also true. Thank goodness for God. I had the Spanish one, I guess, that we handed out, but anyways, maybe that was really bad the podcast. I do put my book of Mormon though every day, and that's that's what counts, right? And no for sure. Um anyway, what was your planning like? What kind of well I know for me I had a I'm I'm a planner. And I know you are too. On the mission was so different because I feel like we didn't have complete control over what happened. So we're just like putting stuff in there, like hopefully this works out and seeking revelation. But how how was that for you?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, it it's very similar. I feel like because we didn't have a lot of people to teach, that wasn't necessarily in our schedule a lot of the times. And so a lot of the time I was just planning how we were gonna find people. Well, so that's why I want to ask like what kind of stuff did you do to So usually we did it in well, I'm just like a go go go person and I can't like sit down for like two hour blocks. That just like street contacting for two hours sounds like a nightmare to me. And so we would usually do it in like quicker blocks with like 30 minutes, but we do like social media finding in a park or something, and then like we'd go talk to people for 30 minutes, and then we'd go on a train for 30 minutes and talk to people there, and then we like we kind of just travel the city and do things in like 30 minute increments just to keep ourselves excited, and then we did a lot of member work, so that's a lot of our scheduling as well, was meeting for lunch or for dinner with members and then planning those lessons and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

It's kind of it was kind of all over the place. The thing is, I'm also a pretty big planner, and most I would say most missionaries in Finland were pretty big planners, and so we'd like fill our PNG, schedule the back to back to back.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_03

And this is funny, I wanted to share this actually. But my first mission president in my very first interview with him, he like could tell. I'm pretty sure the spirit just told him shit out the bat. Like Sister Roberts is just like uptight, like planner mode. And so he he gave me the advice and finished it's Here Sunitalpu on Pulaxy Tech, which is like translated good planning is half done almost. And so he was like, It's good to have a plan, it's good to have something like set for your day, so you're moving and you're reaching goals and you're like getting out there and like the Lord is able to work through you, but you gotta leave room in between for the spirit to do its work, yeah. And to like guide you in different directions, yeah. I needed that.

SPEAKER_02

That's really powerful. I I definitely felt the same thing. It was like, okay, it's all falling through, but I don't know, something I can learn too is like as soon as something falls through, that's that's when it's you can plan, and that's when you see the miracle. So did you have well, did you have any moment where that kind of happened where maybe a plant fell through or it didn't work out, but then God had a different plan?

SPEAKER_03

Yes, all the time, honestly. But one that was coming to mind right now is when I was in a teeny tiny town called Oro Van Yami up in the Arctic Circle, and we had plans to go to one of our friends' houses, and it's like a 45-minute walk or like something. Did you have cars in your missionary? We did have cars, but in this particular area, it's like half the country, which is so funny. But the missionaries did not have a car, the senior companionship did, but they were using it for something else. Anyways, we did not have a car, and it started blizzarding. No, like unsafe blizzarding. There was no way to bike there, no way to walk there, like it was absolutely so we had to clear our entire day because all of them were like an hour or two hours away. And so we were like, Well, what are we supposed to do? And so we did like a whole day of like social media finding and social media planning because I was the social media leader for the mission, and we like got so much done in that day, and I've seen so many miracles still like built from that day, like we built frameworks of like how the mission was gonna work and build ads, and like anyways, it like has built up to be something insane. But like on that blizzarding day, we were just so miserable, we're like, I don't want to do this, but wait, that's that's so cool that you can still see those miracles now too.

SPEAKER_02

Well, because that's the thing too, is like even preach my gospel says like sometimes you won't see the results of your efforts in the day or even in your transfer or even in the your time in the mission, but like just having faith that they still go on. So I love that. That's cool. And then okay, let's go back to okay. You do your planning in the morning. Do you did you guys leave in like proflight in the morning too?

SPEAKER_03

Um, yes. I think it was like 10 is when we had to like leave the apartment. If it's the same thing, yeah. Yeah, we had to be out of the apartment. But also something else kind of random that we did in the morning is we turned on our happy lights. That's something you mean.

SPEAKER_02

Wait, so no button, like so random. One of my apartments we did, because I'm in Paraguay here, like it's coming down all the time. It's like, I thought we don't need it. But like one of my apartments did have button.

SPEAKER_03

But wait, that's the no, but it's like part of the like missionary. You have to do it. Interesting. Yeah, so I mean that makes sense how do you think it worked? I did you feel happy? Did I feel happy about turning them off? Probably not, but it is interesting. I think it did help like wake you up. Yeah, because you're like you're working in pitch black for like the until 10. Yeah. And like, yeah. So that's crazy. It was wild. Anyway, sorry, come back. No, no, you're good.

SPEAKER_02

No, I love it. So you okay, cross line the morning. Okay, for us, our big meal was lunch, which was kind of weird because we would leave in the morning for like 10 to 12, and then we'd have lunch. So we'd go out for two hours and then like come back, or we'd go like eat with a member or something. But how how did the rest of your day look from when you left?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, so let's see. Usually I feel like it switched from transfer to transfer, but companionship study was something that we did that I like to do, like when we went out in the mornings, like in between lunch and breakfast, and so like we'd go out to a park and then do companionship study or something. And I always loved pop study, that was so fun for me. That's good. I loved it. It can be a lovely relationship. We had such fun gospel discussions in our life. I think it's because we just had to spend so much time with just your companions. Right. Like you get really used to like digging into their souls.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Anyways, that and then we'd kind of go finding in the morning and then go back for lunch. Which was fun too. I I was known as like the meal person in the mission, like everyone asked me for recipes and stuff, and so like I'd meal plan with my comp and we make meals together most of the time.

SPEAKER_01

That's good too. How much time did you guys have for lunch? An hour. Okay. That sounds right. Yeah. I mean, that's how it was for me.

SPEAKER_03

And then afterwards we'd go back out into the world. And our friends were here here's what is kind of different about Finland. Sometimes you're not teaching like a lesson to a friend, but spending time with them is like still golden. Like if you're changing the way they think about missionaries, you're winning. Because Finns often think of missionaries as just like loud American pushy people. And so if you're like building connections in the community, that's a win. And then you always like bring up Jesus Christ in conversation and like bring up prayer or something that like that has helped you in your day, you know, like you bring up gospel truths that it's not like a sit-down thing, we're gonna pray and have a lesson. And so a lot of the time that's how we like spent our afternoons was talking to people, or like if we did have lessons, like spending time, and usually those were like 30 minute blocks, we tried to keep them pretty concise. Yeah. And then in the afternoons in the major cities, they have institute and missionaries help run that. Oh and so we help organize that and get friends to institute and members the institute. And then was there how is the member population in Finland? It's pretty small. It's pretty small. Is there a temple? There is a temple. The Helsinki Temple is in the south. It's in a city called Espo. Okay. The membership like I served in places where there was literally like two families that made up. Yeah. And then I served in bigger wards in the south that were like more like a couple hundred, like how you see in the States.

SPEAKER_01

So it's it depends. I guess on where you are.

SPEAKER_02

And then okay, so what time did you guys come back home like at night?

SPEAKER_03

I think it was officially nine.

SPEAKER_02

Okay.

SPEAKER_03

Okay. We had the same like structures and my mission president was very flexible though. So like if we were at a member's house for like a holiday or something, there's like a lot of random. Yeah. Random holidays. You want us is like summer, what is it called? I think it's I can't remember the translation, but it's like midsummer. And so then like on that day, like you're allowed to stay past the like 9 p.m.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. Yeah, we had stuff like that too for Christmas, but yeah, I think it just depends on the mission present in the mission too.

unknown

Okay.

SPEAKER_02

But that's what what did you guys do then once you were back home? Like, is that I know. I always laugh because in like the missionary standards, it always says, like, come home at 9 and like journal 9 to 9.30, get ready for bed, 9.30 to 10.30. I'm like, what do you mean? Like there is stuff to do at night, anyways. Yeah. But how was it for you?

SPEAKER_03

Um, I feel like I feel like most of our nights we're kind of just filling in the gaps of what didn't happen in the day. So a lot of like phone contacting, yes, like checking up for like appointments the next day, or like lots of phone work. And then sometimes my companions liked to do planning the night before, so then you they don't have to do it right as they wake up.

SPEAKER_02

I I I not all the time, but anytime or especially like before P Days, because not having to like be stressed the morning of P-Day is the worst. So I would try to like plan everything the night before, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

No, that's yeah. So that's something that we did.

SPEAKER_02

Um or at least like a rough estimate.

SPEAKER_03

Right, right. I feel like the nine o'clock hour for Finland missionaries was also like our hobby time. Like we always had like fun goals. Oh, that's fun. And so, like, one of my companions was learning how to crochet, one was like practicing like a musical instrument, and one of mine was like is a singer-songwriter. Shout out Zoe Blackburn. But she so she wrote music in her nine o'clock hour.

SPEAKER_02

It just something to like de-stress and like Yeah. I feel so I feel like it was the same way, but in the morning, because I feel like that hour I don't I can't remember how long it was. But that hour before personal study, that was kind of like chill out. Like, I know I had a lot of companions, that's when they baked all the cookies and then we ate them again. But yeah, stuff like that. Okay. What what did you do?

SPEAKER_03

Um, in my first transfers, I was learning how to crochet.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I was not very good at it.

SPEAKER_02

But I made a beanie at one point.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, I was pretty proud of it actually.

SPEAKER_01

And um I don't know.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like oh, here's something that we did. Sometimes as Finnish missionaries outside of our like language hours, we would have like there's this series called Mummy Pericope, which is like a kids' show in finish. Oh yeah. And it's just like a wholesome, like good morals, and then we'd watch that in our nine o'clock hour, just like morning. Oh, that's cute.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03

It was so cute. That is cute. That's another thing we did. I'm a huge like food maker, and so oftentimes our dinner like we didn't have a lot of member dinners, and so we would make dinner right before nine o'clock hour. And so, like, I would just let my dinner bleed into nine o'clock hour and like make food, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_02

Nice, yeah, cool. What for you, what do you think the hardest part of missionary schedule, missionary day was?

SPEAKER_03

I feel like for me it was definitely finding people. Which was so sad because it's like my entire thing.

SPEAKER_02

Right. No, I totally get that though. Anytime the plan falls through. Well, I had a lot of people say like the hardest part for them was like getting up at 6 30. I didn't feel that for me.

SPEAKER_03

I didn't think why are we the same person right now?

SPEAKER_02

But well, yeah, so I never understood that, but I could see how that can be hard. But yeah, the hardest thing I think was like when your plans fall through in the afternoon and because so we didn't really plan finding how you guys did either. Like we basically always had lessons set up, but But like there was we were basically not allowed, I guess, to like plan half an hour of like street contacting. Like it was just and fairly is different too because there's always people outside. So you kind of like talk to people out as you're like going from visits to visits. But anyways are also pretty receptive too. So it's all I think it's easier to like get into people's houses. It's so creepy. But like just being able to talk to them. And so so, anyways, I felt like the worst thing is like when you know a plant falls through and you're just sitting there, and then like we we'd go sit on the curb or something, say like a prayer or show, like, I don't know where I'm going. It's like we can't go home, so here we are. Here we are. Just sitting on the street. No, literally.

SPEAKER_03

But no, that is exactly how it was. I feel like street contacting was the hardest for me. And so like I'd always tried to and knocking doors. Knocking doors is also hard for me. I think it's just because for the longest time in my mission they didn't knock doors.

SPEAKER_02

So we we didn't either yeah, we didn't I just go straight knocking doors.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, I think it was because of the COVID is when they shut down that, and then afterwards, like fins were even more like standoffish, like don't come and stay home. That makes sense. Stay because give me a 15-foot radius, like top three, and so knocking doors was also hard because they would always be like, How'd you get into the apartment complex? What are you doing here? But um my favorite form of like finding was always the trains. Like there's there's a lot of trains and buses that you have to take as a missionary, and so like sitting next to someone and just like starting a natural conversation that leads into something is.

SPEAKER_02

We would practice an MTC, like approaching people on a bus. Um, but I can't say it happened that much in the mission. We had buses, but they were like, I don't know, you usually weren't on them for very long, so yeah, we'd only talk to people really if like wish maybe I'm really outing myself. Maybe I'm like, wow, I was a terrible missionary. Um but anyway, but it was it's a different vibe. So I I love that you have that. That's so fun. Well, would you say, or I don't know, do you have a like a favorite part besides that of like the schedule, the day, how it was let out?

SPEAKER_03

My favorite by far was the mission, like mission member work. Okay, and so going to members' houses, because that was a lot of our missionary work because that's who's staying around after you leave. Like I said, you get through like one to two principles, you're out and so the members are on the only constant. Yeah. And so you have to have good connections with them, and so I think just hearing their testimonies, because a lot of them are converts too. Oh, yeah. Like they built the church in Finland. And so even if it's not them, their parents were like the first members of the church in Finland. So sitting down and hearing their stories and just being like so uplifted and like hearing oh, missionaries like do like like do do something. And it was just so cool to see Jesus Christ in their lives and then eat their food.

SPEAKER_02

That's good.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I think we were saying about the main converse though, it was the same for me. Like I don't just the converse testimony is so it's so powerful because like I don't know, just last year they were probably thinking the same thing as this person that you're teaching or didn't want to join the church or something, but yeah, it that is definitely a unique thing. That I well, you can get that anywhere, but it's true.

SPEAKER_03

It's yeah, you're always so grateful too. Yeah. Like they just they bring the missionary spirit with them. They just I don't know. It's just so good. I love them. I miss them.

SPEAKER_02

Would you would you do you think you'd go back or do you have a plan to live there?

SPEAKER_03

I would I would visit them, yeah.

SPEAKER_02

How you haven't been back, or have you?

SPEAKER_03

I haven't yet.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Living on a college budget.

SPEAKER_02

That's what I'm saying. Anyways, um, please sponsor our GoFundMe so we can go back now. Please and thank you. I'll visit Darby Chicken. Yeah. Um, but yeah, do you have or I don't know, you've been home like two years, you kind of have some retrospect, I feel like. What what advice would you give someone who's preparing to serve a mission? Um, or someone coming home from a mission too.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like my main advice is always like trust God. Like no matter where you feel you are or where your efforts are. Because like I always felt like I was apart. Like I wasn't doing what God intended for me, or like I wasn't like doing my very best, even though I was giving my full effort, like I left exhausted, you know. But like I just always felt like I didn't accomplish the work that God had intended for me. And that was a struggle I faced my entire mission. But trusting that God is so proud of you, and no matter what effort you're giving or whatever you're trying, like God works with that. And miracles are happening even if you don't see them. I think that it's just it's just true. Like Jesus Christ works through us and works through our talents and our weaknesses, and He He will make the difference. It's not about like how you feel about it, if that makes sense. Yeah. But yeah.

SPEAKER_02

He's doing his work. Yeah, I d I definitely felt the same thing too. I think every missionary does at some point, you know. Um, but yeah, I I I made another episode plug um called Where are the fruits of my labor? I I kind of talk about my experience too. Like just like tr I exactly what you said, I don't even want to rephrase it. Trusting in the Lord, and even if you don't feel like you're doing anything, like He's still proud of you. And something I feel like preach my gospel says a lot too is um like it talks about like being a successful missionary, and it talks about like only like you and it's between you and God, basically. Like, no number is gonna tell you that you're successful, which I feel like a lot easier said than done. Like, I don't want to go to the field reading that. I was like, yeah, like whatever. Who cares if you don't baptize anyone?

SPEAKER_03

But then you get there and it's like I think it's just because you care so much about the people and you're like, I want these beautiful, wonderful souls of God, and to know that they're children of God, and to like want these blessings that you have for them, and so it becomes so much more real, and then like the numbers mean something. Exactly, exactly, yeah. And yeah, I know how that feels. For for the record, guys, I had zero baptisms on my mission, and so like I know this like firsthand, like it numbers are not God's, like that's not the way God measures success, you know. And like if you're gonna measure numbers, measure like the amount of steps you take in a day to go and like talk to people, like measure the measure like other things that like you have control over. It's just hard, you know. People are people, people have agency, and that's part of God's plan. Just gotta try that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that was beautiful, Paige. That's all I have for you today. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It was cool to hear your experiences. And yeah, if you guys like this podcast, make sure to give it a rating, follow the Instagram, and I will see you all next week. Sincerely, Darby Lee.