Mission to Colombia

Practicing reading with a contact in Colombia circa 1983

Though there is quite a heritage of missionary service in my family, being somewhat shy and hesitant by nature, I grew up never really planning to commit to serving as a missionary for my church.  That changed one spring afternoon in 1981 at the end of a fairly trying day at college.  It was the start of the spring semester, new classes, new roommates, and just a general feeling of not knowing what my future was going to hold.  I was reading my scriptures and two particular verse stood out to me.

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Proverbs 3: 5,6

I still wasn't 100% certain what my future would hold, but I felt that was the Lord's message to me to have faith and move forward, to prepare to serve as one of his missionaries.   That spring and summer were tender and trying times for me.  Several days or weeks later I met a cute guy who had recently returned from his own missionary service to Argentina, and moved into the apartment complex next door to my apartment building.  We started dating.  We got along very well, and spent a lot of time together that summer, and eventually I shared my plans with him for serving as a missionary.  Even though he wasn't particularly happy with the idea of me leaving the state or possibly the country for a year and a half, he was very supportive of my decision, and helped me with my Spanish class homework, and after I learned I would be serving in a Spanish speaking country, he lent me several of his own Spanish language reference books, his dictionary, and his Spanish Bible.  Even though we weren't allowed phone calls, he also wrote me encouraging letters during the time that I was away.  And yes, that amazing friend is now my dear husband of quite a few years!

 Several months before my 21st birthday, I was called to serve an eighteen month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the Colombia Bogota Mission.  I entered the church's Missionary Training Center (MTC for short) on my 21st birthday, where my companions and I spent the next 10 weeks studying  Spanish,  gospel principles, welfare service principles, Colombian culture and other topics that would be helpful to us during in our work in Colombia.  Most missionaries only spend about 8 weeks at the MTC, but my companion and I needed to wait a bit longer for our visa's to be processed, so we had a few extra weeks of practice and learning.  

The next year and a half was filled with all kinds of interesting experiences and meeting new people.  It was a struggle to learn to understand the fast speaking people, and to learn to speak clearly so they could understand me.  It was difficult to be away from my family and friends for so long.  I was homesick many times.  For the most part the food was delicious, but I did miss drinking fresh milk and my mother's delicious home made bread, and sometimes I did tire of the typical fare of rice and beans and arepas and platanos.  

We were always assigned a companion who we lived with and worked with for several months at a time, usually renting a room from a family where we were also provided most of our meals, leaving us plenty of time for study and visiting with church members and their families and friends, teaching them about Jesus Christ and the Prophet Joseph Smith, faith, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Ghost, forgiveness, the atonement, resurrection, eternal life, and other basic principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  My companions and I also were able to teach several people basic reading skills and piano lessons.  

A typical day would begin at 6:30 am with personal and companionship prayer and study, breakfast, and then by 10:00 am we would be out in the city meeting and visiting with people.  After a short breaks for lunch and dinner, we would be back to work until 9:00 pm when we would return to our room, prepare for bed, and start over again the next day.  

Every Monday was our preparation day, when we would do our laundry, write letters to family and friends, pick up our mail from the post office, do any necessary shopping or errands, and often do some sort of activity or sight seeing with other missionary companionships in the area.  We didn't  have watch TV, attend movies, but focused the majority of our time on teaching and serving wherever and whenever we could. Back at that time were were not allowed phone calls or visits home during our time of missionary service.  Over the years those rules have changed slightly.  When my boys were serving their missions circa 2004, we were allowed to talk to them on the phone twice a year, once on Christmas Day and once on Mother's Day, and emailed us every week on their preparation day.  Now our missionaries are usually allowed to call home once a week, and are using computers, virtual meetings, and social media on a daily basis to reach out to those who are interested in the gospel messages.  

During the fifteen months that I was in Colombia, I was assigned with 7 female different companions in 5 different cities:  Bogota, Bucaramanga, Barranquilla, Ibague, and Florencia.  There were always other missionaries in the cities where we served, but for most of the week we were on our own, walking and riding buses to meet new friends and visit with them in their homes and with their families.  We may have been a bit naïve about what could possibly happen, but we felt that as we tried to stay in tune with the God and listen to the Holy Ghost, we would be protected.  And with the exception of  a purse snatching incident, we were.  Luckily my companion's purse and wallet with her papers (but minus her money) was found discarded nearby. 

 Every month or so we would have a Zone Conference where we would meet with our Mission leaders and other missionaries who were assigned to nearby cities, and several times during our stay we enjoyed gathering with missionaries from our entire mission for a special Mission Conference.  

I kept several journals during the time of my mission, and though I am currently in touch with only a few of my fellow missionaries, I have very found memories of the many young people -- teenagers and young adults, young couples, a few amazing families that I met, lived with, or taught during that time.  I loved sharing the truths about Jesus Christ and his prophets and his gospel, and helping to prepare my new friends and their families for baptism and the blessings of eternal families that are found through temple ordinances.   We saw small congregations gradually grow and new meeting houses be built.  I love to hear today of the growth and progress of the Church of Jesus Christ in the country of Colombia, and am very excited about the recent announcement of a new temple to be built in the city of Cali . . . the third temple to be built in this beautiful land.  

Was it a hard decision for me to commit to leave my home country, and my studies and family and friends for a year and a half?  Yes it was.  Was it worth the sacrifice?  Absolutely!

Source of Photos

PS.  April 18. 2021

Today I was thinking about all of the missionaries who were instrumental in teaching and baptizing all of my ancestors into the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I've spent a few hours this evening reading through some of the life histories of my ancestors, and have realized that compiling this list is going to be a fairly big project, but here is a start:

William Gibby,  (great-great-grandfather) was baptized by Elder John Griffith on 16 September 1853 in or near Slebech, Haverford West, Pembrokeshire, Wales.

John Wagstaff and his wife Sarah (also great-great grandparents) were baptized in or near Northhill, Upper Caldecot Bedfordshire England, in February 1854.  John's brother Samuel was taught by John H Flanagrin and baptized by Elder Thomas Layse in 1849. 

James Stuart Stevenson and his wife Marian Douglas Stevenson of Scotland were baptized in England, likely in Sheffield, Yorkshire England.  Marian was baptized in October of 1847 and James sometime in the next four years.  Missionaries unknown.

I'm excited to work on this project!