What It's Like to Be a Senior Missionary

Lori Thurston and her husband, Bob, each served a mission when they were in their 20's, and they have also been on three missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a senior couple: Cambodia as Humanitarian Country Directors, Ghana Kumasi as Member Leader Support, and Hong Kong as Asia Area Welfare Specialists. At this moment they are awaiting their 4th mission call. In this episode, Lori talks about what it's like to be a senior missionary and how to prepare. 

Correction: When Lori first arrived in GHANA 🇬🇭 (not Cambodia) the women were all wearing yellow💛 and blue🩵.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a senior missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you will love this episode. My guest, Lori Thurston, talks about what it's like to be a senior missionary and what you need to do to prepare. She and her husband have been on three missions together, and they are currently awaiting their fourth call. Welcome to Many Mighty Messages. My name is Kim Smayley, and I'm a clinical mental health counselor. And today my guest is Lori Thurston. I'm going to read a little bit about her. So Lori graduated from Clearfield High School in Utah and was the performing art sterling scholar. And she was also voted wittiest and craziest in her senior class. I love that. She graduated from Utah State University in political science, went on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Kobe Japan Mission. Then she taught at Clairefield High School for 14 years. She taught humanities and government and law and student leadership. At age 39, she married widower Bob Thurston, who already had three children, ages 9, 11, and 13. Now their children are grown, and they have served three missions so far. The first one is LDS Charities Country Directors in Cambodia. The second mission was Ghana mission. Their most recent one was Asia Area Welfare Specialists in Hong Kong from 2023 to 2024. And I wanted to catch her before they went on their fourth mission together. So thank you so much, Lori. Thank you for being here. So when do you think you're going on your fourth mission, by the way?

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Well, we're working on papers. Um since we are now both 65, there they run a few more medical tests, so there's a few things we're still checking on. But we um hope to go maybe end of September, first part of October this year.

SPEAKER_00 2:05

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

That's the plan.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Nice. Um, do you know where you want to go?

SPEAKER_01 2:12

Well, you know, there's always a list of places that we want to go. We've never requested, and we've we've always just kind of said, where do you need us? And we've ended up in some really amazing places that we might not have picked. Um, the program now asks you to go through and look at needs and to click on six or eight that are interesting to you. And so we've clicked on six or eight that are interesting to us, and we have lots of things we've done and lots of things we'd still like to do. So we've just kind of said, oh, yeah, Jamaica sounds fun, or oh yeah, Fiji sounds fun. So, but we really we trust that the Lord um knows where we need to be. And the senior missionary application process is different than the young missionary application process. And so maybe I'll just run you through that really quick. So you fill out pages and pages and pages of things about your life. I mean, it will go through several things and say, are you beginner, intermediate, or expert level on gardening, on sewing, on legal, on civil engineering, electrical engineering? Do you do you garden? Do you sing a soprano, alto, tenor, bass? Which musical instruments do you play? What languages do you speak? What is your background? What did you do for a living? And you fill out all these things. Then there's a whole section. Have you taught primary? Have you been in a primary presidency? Have you taught young women? Have you been in a young women presidency? Are you a temple ordinance worker? Have you, I mean it just goes on and on. They really get a panorama of who you are and what what your skill sets are. Then your profile, you have this profile, and the for about 10 days, the other departments, the missionary department, the and other departments can look at you. So the, for example, the church education system could look and say, oh, the Thurstons, they look interesting. They look like they could teach seminary institute. Family history could say, oh, the Thurstons, that that looks like that would be good. The humanitarian division could say, oh, it looks like they could go do humanitarian work. And so there's almost a little dibs, dibs, dibs. You know, people could say, we're interested in them, and we would like them to do this. We think they would be very good at military relations. And so we think they should go here doing a military relations mission. Then that information also goes to the member of the 12 who reviews the Thurstons. So not only does he have a profile all about us, he has these departments have requested that these people would serve in this area doing this assignment. And he takes that to the Lord. Then from what I understand, he does a one, two, three, a rank one, two, three. This is what I think the this is what I think it is, but maybe this or maybe that, and then sends that to the prophet. So the prophet makes the final decision. But he he put they narrow it down to three things. So just a little bit different because of the skill sets. And there's so many missions. There's missions that people have never even heard of, and missions that they don't advertise necessarily the way that maybe you would see it. For example, our friends Elder and Sister Brown, that were with us in Hong Kong, their assignment was just member leader support, that's what it was called. But then when they met with the area presidency, the area presidency said, What we really want you to do is to be the FSY counselors for all of Asia. So one week they were in Vietnam planning, then the next week they're in Pakistan, then the next week they're in Indonesia, then the next week they're back in Hong Kong making arrangements. And so they were flying to the countries all in the Asia area, setting up. And for many of them, it was the first time they were going to have FSY. So they were traveling a ton and um maybe not eating pizza every night and having dances. They might be eating um rice and chicken somewhere, but they were spending all that time doing that. So there's all sorts all sorts of little assignments that people may not even know exist.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Oh, interesting. And your three missions, you did different things, right? The first one you were over LDS.

SPEAKER_01 6:35

Yeah, first one we did humanitarian, but we were in country, so we were boots on the ground. So we're taking rice to the delivered to the poor people. We're making sure a well is drilled, we're making sure this new school has restroom facilities. In Ghana, we were called to be member leader support. So the first year we spent our time assigned to six districts. I mean, to a district and six little units, six branches, and we would go around and visit all of them and just minister to them. We started missionary prep classes, we started uh temple prep classes, we helped with English as a second language. We opened up the family history library a couple days a week. We did that the first year, and then COVID hit, and the young non-African missionaries left, and we opted to stay. We were given the opportunity to stay, and so we by default we became the office couple. So we moved up to the to the area of our mission where the mission president was. Instead of being away from them, we were up there helping them. We were the only senior couple left in the mission, and we helped, so we did completely different things. Now we were doing finance and we're helping with the missionaries coming and going on all of those things, and our yeah, very different, but fabulous. They're all really good things, very different experiences. And while we were waiting for our visas for our assignment on our third mission, we were actually called to India, reassigned to Pakistan, didn't go to either of those places. We they had us serving at the headquarters mission in Salt Lake City, which is a well kept secret. It's an amazing mission, and they need they need hundreds of missionaries there. We were working in the family history department and helping with indexing and then helping with the family discovery zone. So we were spent about six months doing that while we were waiting for our visas. Then we were reassigned to Hong Kong and was trained in Singapore. So it was a bop around mission, really, really fun. And they oversaw the humanitarian work that was happening in the countries in the Asia area. So there were like 21 countries, and we're helping the senior missionaries. So we're on the phone with those that are in Nepal, then we're on the phone with those that are in Cambodia, then we're on the phone with those that are in you know, Malaysia, somewhere else, Taiwan, trying to help them create and produce the projects that are happening in each of these countries. So it was fascinating. We were on volcano watch, earthquake watch, tornado, tsunami watch, wildfires. We were doing a lot of emergency relief and helping support those couples in their boots on the ground assignment. So it was more of a desk jockey. My husband used to say we were in an office coordinating efforts, but it was still very, very fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

Wow. So many different things you've done on those missions. And I'm wondering if people might hear this and think, wow, that is overwhelming. I don't know if I could do all of that. Um, intimidating. I don't know. What would you say to them? People care about a mission.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

I have lots of things, and we have people all the time that will say, Hey, we're thinking about a mission. Do you guys want to talk? And we would say, Yes. I would say there's nothing going to be you're going to be called to do that's so overwhelming. You couldn't do it. You also need to know that there's so many opportunities. There are little opportunities. There are four-hour-a-week missions, eight-hour-a-week missions, twelve-hour a week missions that you can do church service missions. You can be a missionary in Africa from home. You can mentor pathway students that are you're helping with them with their English classes. There are so many things you can do at home and abroad. And of course, when we went to Cambodia, I had never drilled a well. We had never, but we're but we're not given a shovel. We're meeting with people saying, How could what do you need? And then we're finding someone that can come in and do it. It's and the Lord just provides miracles and all sorts of amazing experiences that will surprise you. And there are missions that women can do singly. There are missions that people can do from home in their own neighborhood, and yet missions they can do from home that are around the world. And um, it's just entertaining if you ever just want to go on the church's website and look up critical needs senior missionaries. There's just a whole list of things that they need people immediately to be doing. So it's fascinating to just see what some of those things are.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

It is so different than I thought it would be. I thought, okay, a senior missionary, they serve in the missionary, you know, in the mission, they help the the younger missionaries. They I'm I'm not, I would, I wasn't really sure what how involved. I wasn't sure. I didn't realize how involved and how different it could be. That's pretty exciting.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yeah, and there, and as I said, there's so many missions that people, it's amazing. We one couple we served that we were that our MTC friends, they were going to Nauvoo because he was a retired veterinarian and his assignment was to be to take care of all of the livestock in Nauvoo because he called them the four-legged missionaries. That and so some of those types of skills are often needed. We've had we have friends that are in mental health, and so guess what they're doing? They're counseling with missionaries that are discouraged. And we have friends that are doctors, lawyers, dentists that are doing what they do, and some that say, you know what, I don't want to be a lawyer on a mission. I've I I want to do something completely different. And there really are you can almost tailor a mission to what would be something that you would enjoy.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Well, that's wonderful. And also, you were saying that women, single women can go on missions, and then recently didn't they say even single men? Yes, yeah, singles can go. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

And not that that's a plug, but I know three or four people that have gone on mission and found who they would needed to marry as as as older seniors, you know.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

So that's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

And and same thing, all sorts of interesting opportunities. One of my friends was called to um go to South Carolina. She was a little concerned about that, but her assignment was auxiliary training, and they just had her help new primary presidents, new release society presidents, new young women's presidents learn about their calling, and she would take them out to visit and help them come up with ideas. And her mission president told her on a day you don't know what to do, go walk the beach until the spirit tells you what to do next. And she was visiting people and spent times in care centers, and it's just amazing the impact she was able to have.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Sounds like there's a place for everyone. We like to say every place that wants to serve a mission. Right. So when you were younger, did you know that you or did you think about I want to serve a mission when I old I get older and I want to serve many missions? Had you thought about that?

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Well, I had a I had grandparents that had, but they had done it before I was born. So I at least had heard about that. I I come from a really unusual family, and all eight of my family lines are pioneer heritage. And I I have grandmother, I have a grandmother that served as a young missionary, single missionary in the early 1900s. I mean, it is so I I have a gener I have generations of that is sort of unusual, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 14:23

And actually my grandma served too in the east eastern states mission in the I think it was the 20s.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

Yeah, that my grandma's in the 20s too. And so so that so I I yes, I'd always thought about it. And but I don't know that I was planning so much, oh, I'll go as an older person. But when when I started seriously dating people, I would think, okay, is this the kind of person? So yes, I think in the back of my mind, I always knew that that it was going to be part of my future, or that I hoped it would be, because I had had an an incredible but crazy mission. I, you know, I'm tall and blonde, and I was in Japan, and Japanese is really hard, but I still think about it all the time and laugh about it all the time and shake my head. And it it was life-changing. So it was it was something that was important and has become, and we started training our children, you know, we're gonna go on missions and we'll probably go and we'll come home a year. My husband always said, on a mission, home a year, on a mission, home a year, on a mission, home a year, repeat until dead. And um so our our kids and grandkids kids know what's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

They they knew the plan, yeah. So well, I know they I'm sure they missed you. I mean, even I missed you guys. So Lori and I were in the same ward probably for 15 years in Twilight, Utah. And I know that we missed you, I missed you when you guys were gone. So I'm sure your family really does miss you. But what a great example you are for them. And I'm sure bringing lots of blessings into their lives. And that's a great thing. We like to we like to think so.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

And when we get home, we we joke about that. They're just like, Grandma, grandpa, you know, they just run to us, and after we've been home about a year, you know, we walk in, hey, you know, they look up from their device, so we're like, okay, it's time to go again. But but and there's there are extra blessings. I just want to take a minute. There are things that I didn't realize would be a blessing. We have incredible friends that we've met that we joke about now. If we go to St. George or Phoenix, we don't even know who to start calling because we have so many friends and so many people say, Come stay with us, or let us take you to dinner. And just like-minded people that we can just say one word and we all start laughing because we've lived through that experience together. So we've just made some amazing, amazing friendships with other senior couples, and we've made amazing friendships with the young missionaries, the young missionaries, and that that's been powerful. And we've um developed relationships with mission leaders. We've had incredible mission leaders wherever we've gone. And in the when we were in the Asia area, then all of a sudden we're spending all day running into the area of presidency so that we know these people that are really running big things, and it's just amazing to have those kind of associations.

SPEAKER_00 17:28

I hadn't thought about that. Yeah, making a lot of friends. Honestly, I was looking at your Facebook page yesterday to making sure I got your children's names correct, and I thought, she's got 2,500 Facebook friends, she's got millions of friends.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

Well, it's just funny. For a while, I started saying, Wow, I've got friends from, you know, I started adding up countries. There were times in Ghana, like in our little district, we there'd be like 12 missionaries, but they were like from 12 countries, and so I would just think, okay, I my how many countries I have friends in has really exploded with with missionary service. And that's been that's been a blessing too. And I've learned so many things in different cultures, different traditions. You know, we started celebrating Chinese New Year, that's kind of fun. So just those type of things.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

Wow, what great, what great experiences. I know that when my kids have gone on missions, uh, our my blessings, our blessings have always been financial. It's interesting when my kids are out on a mission. I feel like the money is just easy, you know, or something. I really noticed, so I'm grateful. I know everyone's blessings will probably be different from missionary work, but I know that we're always blessed in different ways. What are some other things you've noticed about uh that you've gained from going on a mission?

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Well, it's just interesting. Everyone's experience is different. The big questions people hit us with are what did you do with your house? What about insurance? And it's just interesting how those things all fall into place. We know people that have felt prompted to sell their house, put the money in the bank, and get home from their mission, and then decide what's next. We know people that have felt very comfortable about saying, we just left, we gave our kids a key, they came once a week and flushed the toilets and made sure everything was okay, but no one was living in it. We know people that have said we felt like we were supposed to have our daughter live in it or our nephew live in it. And some people we have rented it, we've turned it over to a property manager, and so people some people say, How can you afford to go on a mission? And we say, Well, we actually sometimes make money because we're renting our house while we're gone, and it's cheaper to live in some of these places than it is here, and so we just tell people if that's what you and the Lord decide is that you're going to do a full-time mission away from your home, then the way will be provided that you will know what you need to do. You will know what needs to happen with your home and with your insurance and with your cars, and all those things will come into play, and it it will just work. And we even had a car, we were thought, okay, why can't we sell this car? And we took it to the MTC with us, and we just kind of felt like I said, we should just put a for sale sign in it. And and we were just like, but it's at the MTC parking lot. Who's even gonna see it? And so we just put a sign on it. We're just trying to sell this car, and just that night, a note was on the car from a BYU student that was teaching at the MTC saying, I love this car, I really want to buy it. And so it was just interesting how the Lord said, Oh, you don't need to worry about selling it yet, because the person that wants to buy it is going to be at the MTC, and then you'll have a car, Claire, tell you, go on your mission. So there little things like that just work out and work out well.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

Well, that's wonderful. Well, um, what would be some advice you'd give to people to prepare for uh going on a senior mission?

SPEAKER_01 21:07

One would be to prepare your children that you want to do this and that it's uh something that you're considering, and this is something we are excited about, this is something we want to do. Another thing is to prepare financially, start putting money aside and saying this is how much it's gonna be. Many people are shocked when they get online and they see how much a mission is, and it's not, oh, that it were just the one little payment like with the young missionaries, but no, you're paying for a bulk of the of the things that you're going to be doing. Right. So it's a different price range, and it you and but on the application you can say we can afford this much a month up to this much a month. And we kept thinking, oh, I don't know if we could really afford the expensive ones, but now we've been to Singapore and Hong Kong, which are two of the most expensive, and we were we were plotted.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

So you're thinking about you.

SPEAKER_01 22:00

have the basic do they do you have the basic payment like a a younger missionary and plus expenses or no you you cover your you cover your expenses and it will be at at the the biggest bulk of the cost is housing and you're going to be in a nicer place than the young missionaries but if you're in a a really expensive place if you're in London if you're in Paris they're going to subsidize your housing so you'll still make a payment but they will be paying the rest of it then you'll you'll be buying your own food you'll be buying some of those kind of things we have found that we spend less than what the mission guideline is that it'll say if it will if it says this is $2800 a month for this mission we find that we spend less than what they they're they're estimating a food cost a clothing allowance those kind of things and we're finding we don't spend as much as they I think they're kind of on the high end you know I it at least for us I've had other friends that say oh no we spend about that much and so that it there's an estimate of a of what you'd spend and some places you would have a a vehicle and so you might be paying a vehicle additional you might pay another 100 150 200 a month to be paying for this vehicle that they're going to have you using some questions you're going to take your own yeah so if you're in Florida you're just probably going to take your own car if you're in your it within your country so that there are things like that you might be paying for transportation costs when we were in Hong Kong and Singapore if we took the train or we took the bus then we were paying for that but fortunately in Hong Kong there's a senior discount so it's really cheap. It was like 35 cents every time we jumped on the train so it was nice. So they're thinking so I think preparing financially I think another thing is to just get to know your local little young missionaries and kind of see what they're learning and what they're doing and being involved in missionary work. Very very seldom are seniors asked to proselyte but they are often asked to teach or to testify and there are some places where senior missionaries are doing a lot of teaching because the young missionaries can't keep up or can't do can't do as much in English. And so there are places that you might be teaching the gospel there are places that you would you would certainly wherever you are you're going to be supporting the branch or the ward or the people in that area you may be helping at a church history site you may be helping at a temple you may be helping a mission but there are just so many opportunities some people are doing public relations they're running around taking pictures and writing articles other missionaries are helping members find their families or non-members find their families and prepare those things for the temple.

SPEAKER_00 25:03

So there's just all sorts of things I guess I actually thought that um senior missionaries would do more teaching so this is really good to find out all of this information.

SPEAKER_01 25:17

And no real proselyte I mean you're just you're doing it naturally you're not going door to door but of course as as we're meeting with different organizations as we're saying okay we're gonna come help you drill this well in your village you know we can say you know we're doing this because Jesus taught us to love our neighbors and and so we were with spending most of our time with non-members and but so we're just trying to represent the light of Christ and that's why we're doing what we're doing. What a wonderful thing. Well I I tell people all the time it's so great we live in this exotic place. We spend other people's money to make the world a better place in the name of Jesus Christ.

SPEAKER_00 25:56

Amen great fun experiences besides just doing missionary work or all the things you're doing on your mission. I was wondering if you could um share um some spiritual experiences you've had on your mission on your missions yeah there's just so many amazing and powerful things and we've been blessed time and time again I think there's so so many to pick from I don't even know where to start but I um we'll share just one young man that we got to know in Ghana.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

He we had started missionary prep class and we told them that we would if they memorized DNC for dark and covenant section four that we would take them out to dinner and we would let them pick where they wanted to go. And he was only 16 he but he asked if he could please come because his brother who was 18 was coming so we said okay you can come so within just a few days he already was ready to pass off Dr and Covenant section four and he wanted to go to eat pizza. He was so excited and he said this is so awesome can I do anything else and we said okay so we said okay what about the living Christ you know and within just a few days he had already memorized the living Christ the fouling proclamation and I we were just like is it just because he's so hungry that he's just happy to have a meal but he was so darling he even he went to a boarding school which is very common for high schoolers in Ghana is that you would go away from home and you would be at a boarding high school but he took copies of the Book of Mormon and he would have his dorm room every night they would study the Bible and he took copies of the Book of Mormon and shared them with them and just how just to watch him really grow and blossom as a missionary. It was amazing in Ghana was so different because everyone wanted to know and we gave away I think we finally counted seven or eight copies of the Book of Mormon at police stops where a policeman just pulled you over to just verify that you had registration you had the Ghanaian driver's license and those kind of things and then he would say hey are you the ones that have a book can I have a copy of your book and we would say would you like it in Tweed or would you like it in English and we would share that they were just so open. People would always say oh I know which one your church is yes I should come to your church sometime they were always happy to speak about that and talk about that they wanted to do that. In Cambodia we just watched so many people flourish I couldn't believe how many spiritual experiences that were in Cambodia of people having dreams were having unique experiences. Some of them I thought were so interesting were with family history. People would um have a dream and their grandmother would come to them and tell them a name or something one of the sisters that was the family history lead uh call her calling was family history in our little branch and she had a great aunt that was not doing well an older woman who really mentally was not capable but she went to visit her and for about 45 minutes she was really lucid and she just went through and just gave names birth dates death dates names birth dates death dates of her siblings of her cousins and uh this sweet woman just wrote notes and notes and notes and then after about 40 45 minutes her eyes kind of glazed over and she said now who are you again dear and and but she got all of this all this information and family history is so important. It was just amazing on the other side and yeah especially with the genocide and all the atrocities that happened in Cambodia and and their their new temple is is looks beautiful is very close to being done we're very excited that will be a a blessed day for them. And um just even what one of our branch presidents um brother Thurston served as his first counselor in the branch presidency and we had gone to Manila we had taken a group of saints that had never been to the temple we got to do three temple trips from Cambodia and take and sometimes it was people take people that have never been on a bus on an airplane to Manila or to Hong Kong it was just crazy. They just thought they'd been dropped in a video game or something and um but thirston got sick Elthurston just didn't feel good that one day he got sick and just said I can't even go to the temple today he just stayed in the hotel room and I went with the other missionaries and we went to the temple. And when he got back the branch president said how are you? Are you okay? And he and Ella Thurston said well I got sick in Manila he said I know I woke up at two in the morning and got my family up and said Ella Thurston is in Manila and he's not okay and we have to pray for him pray for him to be okay and just um and then when we were in Hong Kong we were asked to go back to Cambodia and we didn't tell him we were coming we just made we just decided to go visit him at his work we had enough time. So we went to visit this branch president and he just came running to us and hugged us and he said last night I had a dream and in my dream I was hugging both of you that just knew that we were coming so we've just had experience after experience just just really spiritual things and really powerful things and the work is just exploding not only in places like Cambodia and in Ghana but it's exploding around the world I mean we had baptism all the time in Hong Kong and and several from mainland China they would come for something and take the missionary lessons and get baptized so it it was really amazing.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

That is amazing well I was wondering how it's affected your relationship with your husband how that affects your relationship as a couple when you go that's a really good question.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

And I just had a cousins reunion and two or three of my cousins had just returned for missions and we all got talking about that there are it's an interesting period because most couples have not spent 247 together they have not been working on the same project. Often he goes to work she goes to work or he goes work she goes to you know they're just you're two different worlds working on two different things you come together you see each other um but it was interesting and it actually when you in the humanitarian training they would spend a half a day and have a therapist come and talk about okay it's gonna be some stretching and some growing and so one of the things that they counseled us to do was to make sure you were expressing your feelings and not only to just say um to just say this is how I'm feeling I'm feeling a little frustrated or I'm feeling a little discouraged that it was okay to talk about and that several couples had a little bit of trouble working out okay we're in charge of this big humanitarian project what part of that is mine what part of that is yours and in some assignments the couples will have two different assignments but it's most commonly you have the same assignment together so that you spend a lot of time together but it was really fun for us to have more time to study the scriptures more time to pray more time not as many distractions but um people also need to know when you're a senior missionary you don't have to always be together I could run to the store it was okay and because elders would run into Elder Thurston on his bicycle and they'd say where is sister Thurston he said she went for a walk she went walking with some other missionaries I am on a bike ride and they would say you're not with your companion and he'd just say you know what when you're a senior you don't have to always be with your companion and so there were so there were things like that but consistently we found that among my cousins we all felt we had really grown closer because we'd been doing a project together and there I had heard about Elder Thurston's young mission but it was just really fun for me to watch him be a missionary I was on a front row front row seat and I there were times that I heard him give blessings I would have never heard while he was serving the bishop I didn't I wasn't in those setting apart but when I was a missionary then I was in those places and I was in those areas so I could see him really take his skills and his talents and to watch a whole people or a whole branch or a whole community fall in love with him. That was really fun for me to watch the little um Ghanaian children would just race to our car as soon as we pulled into the parking lot and just wade around and hold our hands and pick up our bags and want to put our scriptures by their seats so we could sit by them and just just to watch him be adored and revered and to watch people thank him and appreciate him and it was amazing. It was really fun to watch and fun to see and we could accomplish something together and of course there were things we had to say okay now wait how does this work but it we were able to find see each other's strengths and and able to say hey why don't you handle this part I'll handle this part to work those things out.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

So thanks that's a great question yeah well I know that uh most of our kids have grown up and left the house we have one still at home but she's not home very often but it's been super fun just spending time just me and my husband has been pretty fun although I know that if you're on a mission and uh you're working together you it would be hard probably to work some things out but yeah the good and the bad yeah but that sounds like and yeah and RP days were different than theirs are it I tell people okay a senior mission you throw out the schedule and you take your favorite companion so what's not to love about that so there were the things that that we did differently that that were really enjoyable.

SPEAKER_01 36:41

So how much of the day as a senior compicion senior missionary couple are you doing missionary work or doing work that will vary on the mission there were times that in humanitarian work we we were setting our own schedule when we would go check on these projects when we would do this when we would meet with this orphanage when we would go see the government leaders that would need to give us the permissions to give away these medical this medical equipment so we set our own schedule and so we could just kind of vary that some things needed to be in the evening some things needed to be during the day because we were supporting a branch we were working around okay when is church cleaning when is the ward when is the branch party when is the one of the baptisms we were coordinating those kind of things so there wasn't a set schedule in you could plan some fun. Yes oh yeah and and if the missionaries were doing something we're like oh well that sounds fun let's go do that or we would we you know we taught the missionaries in Ghana let's play water balloon volleyball you know they'd never done that and so we would come up with things like that that we would you could look around the city or or yeah yeah go places and yeah and yeah and we yeah it's not all work it's absolutely not all work and even even when we're out doing I'm on a walk or he's on a bike ride we're still meeting people and they're asking us about us and we're still wearing our name badges and then when we see them in the market they ask us what church we're at you know it you're you're still doing those kind of things but we were still having fun we I mean we would go to movies with the other senior missionaries or we'd all meet for dinner those kind of things so it wasn't a set schedule what and then and then when we were in the office we would have our hours would be different. So example for example we would say okay we need to be in the office from nine to five or on P Day or on the day that the new missionaries are coming in we have training meetings so we just set our schedules a little differently our evenings were a little freer than because it does sound like you were super busy I was just wondering is there any time yes there's lots of time there's lots of time and we and we really enjoyed our both our busy time and our quiet time and there were always fun things to find to do and there were always people to go visit but there were also days where we say okay enough today we just we're done you know we put in a good hard day with our with um all of our missions we did a little bit of travel typically because of what we were doing especially in Cambodia when we got now Cambodia's two missions when we were there it was just one so we would travel the whole country to we were in charge of all of the humanitarian projects in the country and so we we got to see all sorts of things we spent we we calculated we spent about one week a month in hotels that was all covered by the humanitarian budget. So we saw all sorts of different things we'd go to the we'd find the grid restaurants and we'd check on um the the missionaries that were there and those type of things so yes it very fun and especially if if you meet some fun people and and we found that boy in all of these countries these members know how to have incredible events and um do amazing things but I'll just tell you one thing that really struck home to me the first day I got to Cambodia that night was a release society activity and they said Sister Thurston will you speak at this activity now speaking I've been a I've been a I've been a paid professional motivational speaker so I was not nervous about that at all and I was wearing an orange and white dress and I assumed that was just fine and everyone started coming to this meeting and everyone was wearing yellow and blue. Everyone was wearing yellow and blue but me. I'm in an orange and white dress and finally I said to one of the sisters I said why is everyone wearing yellow and blue and she said Sister Thurston we thought you would know the colors of release society are blue and gold and I I may have seen that somewhere but I had never grown up in a culture where if it was release activity we all wore blue and gold oh trust trust me six months later there was another activity and I was in my blue and gold but but I went so after that first meeting where I spoke and I'm wearing orange they started planning the next activity and they said oh you probably have some good ideas for release activities and I was like oh yes I've got a ton I am so ready and the district release society president said I feel like what we need to do for our next activity is to have a fast for the children for our children Kim I was so humbled I mean I'm ready to say okay we could do this we could do that we could have this gala we could have all this food and she had talked to the Lord and they didn't need a party they just needed a reason to gather and so these women fasted and they came and they brought their children and some of them walked having fast walked for several miles to the church they all came we broke the fast in English and in Tweet they and we had some speakers and then they had the elders and the church leaders and they broke up into classrooms and every child or every mother or every teenager that was there that wanted a blessing had a blessing and then they gave everybody a little bag it's kind of like a little um look like it's a little plastic bag that had some porridge in it and they kind of tear the end and kind of suck that out and a piece of bread. So the after they had all fasted they broke their fast we had blessings and they were especially concerned that the youth would be the teenagers would be taking their tests and I just thought what if I came home and said for our release study activity let's just all fast for the kids take AP tests or taking college entrance exams I just thought that would be a very different experience but they just fasted for the children and had a simple simple meal a piece of bread and a bag of porridge there were no dishes to put away there was very little sometimes we overthink over here right over plan. It was so spiritual and it was and I just thought they left many of those families may not have someone in the home that could give a blessing and those elders were busy in all those rooms just giving blessings to these children and helping them and so I it was just it's very humbling to me to sometimes I think we think we've got it all together you know and we can learn lessons from them.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

So and I guess that happens here too um you know hopefully people who are praying about activities we're asking Heavenly Father what we need and or what the our Society sisters need or the people. But that that's that's a great experience. You've met a lot of people with great faith.

SPEAKER_01 44:09

Yeah, and it and it's amazing. And um, I'm gonna get teary. I but there are people that I've had to say goodbye. I love you. I don't know that I'll see you again in this life, but I'm I'm gonna come looking for you. And they say, Don't worry, sister, there's an I will be looking for you too. And we will all be together again if we're faithful. And um, you just think your heart can't get any bigger and you can't love another group of people anymore, and then you just wow, kids are so cute, kids are so cute in Cambodia, they are so cute in Ghana, they're so cute in Singapore, they're so cute in Hong Kong and so cute next door. Let's take better care of the kids around us.

SPEAKER_00 44:58

Yeah, if you meet people all over the world on your missions, you don't know if you're gonna get back there to see them again. Right. Yeah. Well, um, one last thing I was wanting to ask is uh how do you adjust when you come home? When you're coming home, how do you adjust to regular life again? Well, it's experience.

SPEAKER_01 45:19

Several things. Usually I have depending on when we're coming home, I may say to our children, please bring a coat to the airport. We've had an we've left 90 degree weather and come home to 20 or 10 degree weather, so that's dramatic. We we take it a little slow, and um but it's just good to be back. I mean, there's nothing quite like the United States. The first time we came through customs after Ghana, I mean after Cambodia, Bob just saw the flag and saw the um immigration officials and just said, I am trying hard not to drop to my knees and just be grateful we're home. Home to the US where we know we're safe and where we know things are fair and not perfect, but at least we're very blessed here. We're very blessed here. And so um we but we just try to drive right back in and we try to head to our ward and say, Okay, how do you need us? How how can we help? And we try to do that do that wherever we are.

SPEAKER_00 46:26

You get involved but kind of take a break or a rest.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

Right. And we sometimes we'll tell people it's a bit overwhelming to come home and everyone will start calling you and say, Oh, you have free time. Can you do this? Oh, you have free time, oh the Thurstons, they're home, they have nothing to do. That that to be selective on what you have time to do, because there are so many people that will say, Oh, they have nothing, that you really need to ask the Lord how to should we have to do that?

SPEAKER_00 46:52

We give them several callings, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:54

Yeah, and and it was interesting. Sometimes we've had very clear direction. I knew after Ghana that we were supposed to be in the temple, we were supposed to be ordinance workers.

SPEAKER_00 47:05

I didn't understand at the new Twila Temple.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

That was before the Twila Temple. So we went to Jordan River and became ordinance workers, and that became so important because we were also ordinance workers in Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, they said, Are you already trained as ordinance workers? We were just going to the temple every, you know, every week, and they just said, Have you been ordinance workers before? And we said yes, and they said, Would you please consider being ordinance workers here? And they didn't want to train us, but if we had our we were already trained, then they just that just slid right in. And so, and then when we came home from Hong Kong just in time for our beautiful Toila Desert Peak Temple for our open house and our dedication, and um my good husband was called as one of the sealers at that temple. So I I I just am understanding that the the Lord was saying this is the path that you need to be on. This is the what you need to do next. And so it's just interesting. We've done a I've done a lot of self-reliance while I've been home with this one. I had done that as part of my last my last um paid job was I was working for the church in the self-reliance department and helping with the United States and Canada rollout. So it's been interesting that I've done a lot of self-reliance in my while I've been home.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

So that's wonderful. Yeah. I was just thinking that, you know, we all have our place in the garden to work, you know, no matter where we are, Heavenly Father has things he wants us to do that might be at home, it might be on a mission or wherever, just uh to always try to listen to know what have where Heavenly Father wants us and and who to who to work with and be around help. But I think it's so wonderful you've been able to go on so many missions and and help so many people and are a great example.

SPEAKER_01 48:57

Well, and I like to say everyone's on a mission. It's just what are you on a mission doing and who are you doing it for? And for us, we've felt like we needed to serve and we needed to be brave enough to leave home and to go. There will, I'm sure there will be time where we will serve at home, but this it we feel like okay, while we're still young and healthy, we're trying to go capture some of these.

SPEAKER_00 49:21

I think it does take bravery. It would it would take bravery and faith to go on missions and do that work, but it they sound wonderful and like you get a lot of blessings and great experiences and have some fun too.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Oh, so much fun. Yeah, so much fun. Yeah, so I would just tell anyone that is interested or considering it to have a talk with the Lord because you're needed in so many places. It's not is there a place for you? It's just oh heavens, which one should we pick? Because there's so many places. Well, most of the senior missionary allotments are all are only running at 50 to 60 percent of what they would like. So it's they missionaries are needed. Missionaries are needed.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

That's wonderful. Well, Lori, thank you so much. I was wondering if you'd uh bear your testimony at the end.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

I would love to. I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to come to Earth, this crazy amazing planet that our Heavenly Father made sure our Savior created for us to give us so much joy. I'm grateful that I was blessed to come understanding the plan, and that when it was taught to me as a child, that I understood it and I believed it and I wanted to remain true to the covenants that I've made. I'm so grateful for our Savior who gives me second chances, third chances, fourth chances, chances every day. And I am finding great joy in following him and striving to do as he's asked us to do, and to try to bring my brothers and sisters with me along the covenant trail. I'm grateful for the opportunity to live in these latter days when temples are coming up faster than we can even remember where they are. When apostles, I'm able to hear from apostles every single day. I can, you know, get on my phone and I don't have to wait six months. I can hear what's happening today, and I can know that this work is moving forward in such an amazing way. I'm grateful that I feel a surgence of Christianity, even from our brothers and sisters that are not in our church that but are Christians, that there is a strength and a growing, and there's more Christian Christian music and more Christian billboards and more Christian t-shirts, and that there is a surge in belief of Jesus Christ, and that there are so many good people doing so many good things. I know the world wants to tell all the evil and the ugly and the hard, but there is much more good going on than there is bad, and so grateful that I get to be here when we're preparing for the savior's return. And I cannot wait. I'm so excited. I know there's things we need to do, but I'm wonderful, great guy. Yeah, I can't wait. So I just want to testify that I'm just one little blonde in the wilderness, but I am saying I am grateful that I have the heavenly father that loves me, a savior who loves me and was willing to die for me, that there is a plan, a plan for everyone, and that everyone that wants to is welcome home. And if they don't want to, then I just want to make sure they really understand what they're saying no to because it is incredible. And I give that I believe everyone should want. I'm grateful to live in a time where I know that I can kneel and ask the mighty father of the universe, and he will listen in here and send blessings that are designed for me, both big and small, and that I can be a part of this experience, and that I have an incredible family and friends and community that I love and that love me. And I leave that with you in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 53:32

Amen. Thank you, Lori. Thank you so much for joining me today and letting us know about your missions and your faith, your testimony, your experiences. I think this will help a lot of people who are thinking about a mission, and it's helped me understand what goes into missionary work, and it's been so great talking with you. So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 53:52

Thanks for all you do. Thanks for doing a podcast. That's amazing. Yeah, you're being brave. This is your mission now. This is your mission now, is to help others along the way.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

Right. I I haven't gone on a mission, so yep, this this can be part of it.

SPEAKER_01 54:06

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Thanks, Lori. You're welcome. Bye. Bye bye. Thank you for joining us today on many mighty messages.