Latter-day Saint Mission Prep

By Jimmy SmithReligion & Spirituality

Latter-day Saint Mission Prep episodes

April 30, 2024 Leaving for Nauvoo Performing Mission – Interview with Abe Smith – Episode 20
This video and audio is episode 20 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast recorded on Apr 28, 2024. In this episode, I interview Abe Smith who will be leaving this week on his mission to be a Nauvoo Performing Missionary, particularly, he will be playing trumpet in the Nauvoo Brass Band. He will spend the summer in historic Nauvoo, Illinois where he will be a playing his trumpet in the Nauvoo Brass Band. He will be entertaining tourists and sharing his testimony of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through music, performances, and the spoken word.
In the interview, we cover topics such as:
• What is a Nauvoo Performing Missionary (NPM) and the types of performers they need (Brass Band, singers, dancers)
• The application process for a NPM (deadlines, auditions, etc.)
• Weekly Meetings for NPM (Jan-Apr)
• Schedules, Costs, and Program Fees
• Checklist of assignments, travel, housing arrangements, and much more
The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version of the interview can be found at the bottom of this post. For other video/podcast episodes, check out the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast page.
***Begin Transcript***
OK, welcome everyone to another edition of the latter Day Saint Mission Prep podcast.
My name is Jimmy Smith.
I’m your host of the podcast with me.
Today is my son, Abraham Smith.
Today, we’re going to be talking about talking to Abe about his upcoming mission.
He leads this coming week and just a couple of days to be a novel performing missionary, so he’ll be spending the summer and navu entertaining the tourists and giving his testimony through music for sure.
Maybe through word as well his testimony of the restored gospel in that historic place of Nauvoo, Illinois.
So welcome to the podcast.
Welcome, Abe.
Uh, why don’t you introduce yourselves to the audience, and then we’ll get into the the points that we want to talk about with the, with the Nauvoo performing mission, I’m sure.
Hi, I’m Abe Smith,.
Uh, I’m 19 years old.
I’ll be turning 20 and I’m about a month or so and I’m going to Texas A&M Commerce to study music education and then as he said, I’m doing the naval mission this summer.
Excellent.
Thanks, Abe.
So yeah, so we’re really excited about this.
I think Avis, too.
It’s gonna be an interesting experience.
We we’re anxious to hear about it.
So at the conclusion of the summer in August, we might do another episode and they can tell us more details about what it was like to be a performing missionary.
Did you mention what instrument you play?
Ohh, I played trumpet.
OK, so Absa mastered trumpet player.
I’m not a musician.
They inherited all their music skill from their mother, he, he and the other kids.
But uh anyway.
Yeah, that’s we have the picture of the of the trumpet behind us.
And then and Nauvoo temple.
He’s older sister Hannah is an art major in and did this artwork for us, so props to her for that.
OK.
So let me refer quickly to the agenda on my screen.
Uh, we OK?
So Abe is gonna be in the Naboo brass band, and that’s one aspect of being a Naboo performing mission missionary.
So why don’t you briefly tell the audience what is it?
What is this Navy performing missionary program?
You know at high level and then what are the different parts of it?
And then you will be in the brass band.
So why don’t you walk the audience through all of that?
Can you do that?
Yeah, of course.
So there are a few different types of missionaries and navu.
There the there’s gonna be some senior missionaries that are just regular senior missionaries.
There are tour guides who give tour guides of all the different historic buildings, and then there’s the category that I’m in, which is the performing missionaries, and that’s and the performing missionaries are made up of two parts.
The stage actually is made up of three parts.
It’s the stage performers slash actors, the technique audio electronic technicians who do all the sound work and maybe light work and other technical stuff.
And then there’s the brass band, which is based off of this historical brass banned.
But it also has a couple woodwinds too, but that’s what I meant then.
Brass band.
OK, very good.
Cool.
So you’ll also notice Abe’s growing his hair.
He doesn’t have a typical, really Short, missionary cut.
That’s actually intentional, they told him.
What back in January or February when you started doing the meetings to, like, let your hair grow out cuz and let your sideburns grow in and stuff like that and that right.
Yep, yeah, they said they want it to be full and not modern, just to be more realistic to how it was back in the 1840s or whenever.
Well, and a lot of the stuff that will, you’ll see that we tell you about a lot of it is to give the feeling that you’re actually that the tourists are actually in 1840s eighteen, 50s novu.
So you’ll be wearing kind of pioneered dear like shirt and pants and boots.
You have to.
They gave you like a list of things to buy, right?
I’m probably jumping ahead on our agenda, but so they want you to look authentic.
Dress authentic, even have authentic like 1840s hair and so forth as you play in the breast.
And I think that goes for all the performers.
Like he said, there’s other tour guides and there’s other singing and dancing performing missionaries that are there.
There’s a pageant for a couple weeks, maybe a four months, and in July there’s a pageant there.
And anyway, OK, cool.
So yeah, so you’ll be doing the brass band.
Let’s go back umm to the agenda.
OK, so you’ll be there.
You leave May 1st hit.
We’re recording this April 28th, 2024.
So you leave on Wednesday, you’re flying into Saint Louis with a bunch of other people.
And then from there you guys are taking a bus up to Nauvoo.
It’s a couple hours drive north of Saint Louis.
You’ll be there from May 1st through.
August 7th through August 7th, you and all the other messages, and it’s a full time listen in terms of like it, it’s not not the not your typical full time mission for like 2 years where you’re a missionary.
But for these over three months of the summer, it’s a full time mission in terms of your your you have schedule, you get up at 6:30, you do companionship study, you practice your instrument, you go do performances.
And in the town and for the tourists and so forth.
And anyway, it’s very it’s your whole day and week and month is all very scheduled.
So it’s it’s it’s a full time gig in that in that respect, correct.
Yeah.
Anything to add to that?
Yeah.
Well, let’s add a little bit about the schedule.
If we’re not talking about that later, no, you can talk about it now.
So if it’s schedule you actually what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna spend the first three, 3 1/2 weeks of may just rehearsing.
So we’re just rehearsing songs, and then the actors are gonna practice all their shows.
Umm, I think the within within a few days though the band will be able to get on the bandwagon and play songs in the morning.
Umm, but for the for.
Basically, the whole month of May, we’ll be rehearsing, at least for the band.
It’s like 9 hours out of the day you get an hour an hour and a half for for meal breaks.
Umm.
And then at the end of May’s, when the performances start, and that’s when we have bandwagon performances in the morning stage concerts in the afternoon, like little dancing around and stuff.
And then the evening sit down.
Concerts.
Cool.
OK, very good.
So, uh, OK, so we’ve given you a good overview for the audience of what the Navy performing missionary program is.
So let’s let’s rewind a little and talk about the process of becoming a Novo performing missionary.
What made you decide you wanted to do that?
What are the differences between this kind of mission and a full time processing mission?
We can talk about that.
I know you had to audition to be in the Naboo.
The performing missionary program, so let’s let’s go back to the beginning and start there.
What was the process like to become a Navy performing missionary?
All right.
So, uh, we our family had gone to navu back in 2019 and I heard that there was gonna be a brass band there and we weren’t able to see them, but it was something we knew about then.
And so, a year or so ago, about two years ago, actually.
And my mom was suggesting to me that I could maybe try out and do that.
This was spring 2023 and she was hoping that I could do it for last summer, but we didn’t know like the timeline then.
But we found out that the auditions actually opened in the summer before, so I’m serving this summer, summer 2024.
If you wanna audition for it, you have to audition for it the summer before, as when you start preparing stuff.
So last summer, summer 2023, I prepared a couple of audition things.
You make a video and send it to them and you post the video on YouTube.
I think it’s that and send the link to and there’s a probably a website I’ll I’ll put it in the in the in the show notes or on the web page.
So you have a link, but there’s an information somewhere online about how to apply for this.
We’ll get everybody links for that right and at least what I had to do as I had to prepare 2 exerpts and I just did two Short, attitudes.
If you do like chromatic scale and then any other various musical instruments that you had, so I just showed that I can also do jazz as well as classical and then I had to prepare a little paragraph about why I want to be in the Naboo brass band and should I talk about that.
My motivations?
Yeah.
Let let let me wrap one thing up on the the audition process.
So yeah, it it was like August of 2023 was the deadline to perform in the summer of 2024.
That’s so that I turned it in.
So I think it was due in October.
So there was a deadline in October deadline in October.
I just turned it in early so I don’t right before school.
So you were starting school in August and we just wanted to get it over with as when we did, but still it it, it was only a month or two early on October of the year prior is the deadline where you have to get your basically your audition tape sent in your YouTube link sent to the proper people so they can see you and hear you umm, but even and and so that that’s like the first step though you’ll fill out the applications say why you want to do it, right?
A little essay.
Fill out some information, send them the link of your of your performance, and then.
But that’s just the first like hurdle, right?
If they like you, they like what you say and like your video and your performance, then there’s still more tryouts.
So talk about that.
So how they explain it on the website at least was you send in an audition tape and that’s like round one auditions.
And then in usually December you’ll get callbacks.
And they’ll call you back and say if you made it to the next round or not, at least this year.
I don’t know if it’s like this every year, but at for this year, the round two auditions only applied to the stage actors and singers, so if everyone who was in the brass band right now uh found out in December, I found out in December that.
That I got in that you were in and so January like the second I think it was the 2nd Saturday of January this year we had callbacks and so the actors, all the actors came and they did call back auditions and while they were doing second round auditions, the brass band went to the primary room and we had our first rehearsal.
OK, so uh, you turned in your your application and and audition tape in fall of 2023.
In December of 2023, you got word that you were accepted and you were in the Navy performing missionary program.
Yep for you because you were a member, you’d be in the brass band.
So then in January, you were you were attending BYU and living in Provo, and everyone in that area starting January 2024, so a little earlier this year started meeting every Saturday.
You were rehearsing and learning songs and stuff and for the stage actors you said there was like one more round of auditions before they knew if they were in or not.
But then they were doing the same thing.
They were meeting every Saturday.
Or do you not know?
No, that was just the one Saturday that we did.
OK.
And then throughout this whole semester, January, February, March and even a little bit of April, we had zoom meetings like every other Sunday and those were just information meetings telling us our role, our assignments and and it placed it answer ask and answer questions and those were usually about an hour and a half to two hours long and those were on Sundays.
Yeah, Sunday in there was online meetings.
OK.
Yeah, cool.
Cool.
OK, very good.
So let’s see, where does that take us then?
You you had sent in your audition.
You were accepted and anything else you wanna say before we start talking about the the the like the technical application which we’re not going to touch on a lot, but anything else we need to know or that the audience might want to know if they were thinking about doing this umm, just make sure your application is turned in because I know when I turned it in, I I don’t think I necessarily got a confirmation that it was turned in and so just be vigilant and careful to know and being contact with people to know that your.
Stuff was turned in so that that’s a good point.
You submitted the application but you received no confirmation email.
Hopefully that was a mistake or that’s changed, but there were on the churches website about the Naboo performing missionary program.
There were phone numbers or email addresses or both, and people you were in contact with all along.
For example, I think you emailed the person running the program said hey, I play the trumpet and I wanna do it and we have some back and forth dialogue with them before they even saw your official application.
Is that right?
Yeah.
So I guess just don’t be afraid to reach out to people.
They’re super nice people.
Cook.
OK, let’s let’s look at our agenda.
Let’s see.
We talked about the application process and the tryouts and uh, you’re you’re weekly meetings.
So yeah, let’s let’s talk next about the what?
What’s the official application process like with the church look like?
Cuz it’s it’s a bit unusual.
So you wanna be expecting that?
So let’s go there next, Abe.
So when you get some December, you find out if you get callbacks or if you get into the brass band, but that is not the official call from the church.
You don’t get like a letter, just like my phone call or an email.
Umm so you will get that eventually you will get that eventually.
So starting in uh, January, February, Kenneth.
Umm, really.
As early as you can, you have to put in a senior service mission application.
Yeah.
And that’s yeah, that’s not a mistake, senior.
It it for whatever reason, the church treats this as a in terms of the application process.
As a senior service, uh mission senior Church Service mission, which is has has lost some, you know, delays and and in the in the process and it’s a bit confusing for a lot of people.
So yeah, so the application it, if you’ve seen the regular processing mission application, it looks nothing like that.
The regular processing mission has like multiple pages where you have to fill out forms documents, whereas the senior service mission application is like 2 pages and it doesn’t require any medical documents.
Or I just did it all in in one sitting.
I think umm.
They give you a number that you have to input into the their system and then it pulls up and opportunity for a senior service mission.
You click on that, fill out the application and what I found out is that no matter what you put on the application, it will send your recommendation to the ward that your records are in and that’s where we’ve run into trouble is because I was in the Provo, Provo, YSA Ward and it was so sent to my Provo.
Why I say Bishop?
But then I came home to Texas and we’ve had troubles trying to get it recommended by my texts.
Bishop.
Yeah.
And we’re still running into trouble because when he was in Provo and had submitted it, his Provo Bishop and stake president couldn’t see it and had no record of it.
And so then he comes home.
We thought it’d be here in Texas, the Texas people said they could see the application but couldn’t do anything with it.
And now it’s back with the Provo, even though he’s living here.
It’s a mess.
So we’re sitting here the Sunday before he goes to Navy on Wednesday and he still doesn’t have the official call from the church, our state president said.
Don’t worry about it.
It’ll come through.
He’s still going to get set apart as a missionary Tuesday night.
So you will meet with your mission or your.
Excuse me, your stake president.
Who will set you apart as a full time missionary?
And he’ll he’ll go to Naboo.
He has his badges already.
They sent him his missionary name tags in the mail.
And anyway, there’s just so much suggestion paperwork.
Drama.
Yeah.
So my suggestion to anyone who does this is uh, be super vigilant and super on top of talking with your Bishop, talking with the correct Bishop and stake president, because many bishops have not done this process of doing navu service missionaries.
And so there’s like different pages and so just stay in contact with them.
Yeah.
And do it early and trying to get it done.
I mean they they did his month or two ago and I did it all running for these problems, but mainly OK but.
Umm, we we we have faith in that will all work out there won’t won’t be an issue.
Hopefully we’ll have an update in a couple months when I come back.
Yeah.
When he gets back in August, we’ll hopefully we’ll say he was a full I, you know, official missionary anyway.
OK, so let’s briefly talk about the costs because they are different than a full time proselytizing mission.
And oh, and I also want to talk about the checklist and assignments that they gave you.
And then we’ll get to travel and housing as well.
But let’s start with the cost and program fees and how it’s different from a regular mission.
So as many of you probably know, missions regular full time, 2 year processing missions or uh, well, there a monthly payments and usually it’s pretty standardized for all missionaries.
And each year they they might go up, but it’s $400.00 a month or as of right now, and has been for many years.
At some point it might go up but and so, but that’s not the case for you in this mission, correct?
So it is a one time $1000 fee for the All Navy performed missions.
And so we paid that, funnily enough, through Venmo in mid April.
So the month before for before leaving.
So it’s just $1000 and whole time and then basically covers your housing and basically basically and you’re playing ohh yeah, because they’re flying him there and they’ll fly him home and housing while he’s there.
So it’s it’s probably a pretty good bargain and maybe it’s.
Subsidized elsewhere, but anyway.
But for us, for our family, for a there’s $1000 and that covers his travel there.
His his housing while he’s there and his travel home.
It does not cover food while you’re there.
So and so he’ll have to he himself or with family, we can send him money to buy groceries every week.
And so forth.
So that’s a good segue.
Let’s talk about the housing arrangements.
Uh, and and situation there.
Do you know much about that?
A tiny bit I know with, so I don’t know how regular missions are, but I think sometimes they’ll give you like mission funds.
That’s not necessarily the case in the Navy when you just have your own money and every P day we’re gonna get on a little van and drive 30 minutes.
To the nearest Walmart.
Yeah.
And P days are there. Mondays.
Yeah.
Do you know that?
OK.
So, similar to other missionaries, it’s on a Monday.
Yeah.
And then just laundry once a week, groceries once a week.
Umm.
And you’ll you’ll be assigned a companion, and you won’t.
You’ll find that out once you get there.
Who that is, and you’ll do.
You’ll do the morning routine like other missionaries in terms of get up at 6:30, do companionship study and study and stuff like that.
Yeah.
So we have a companion, I’m pretty sure it’s just the same companion for the full three months.
We also have districts.
I don’t know how that’s gonna work out, but yeah, we get you get up early.
Get up.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And I imagine Sundays you’ll go to church somewhere, but you probably still do performances and stuff even on Sunday.
Yeah.
On Sundays, we have church in the morning or late morning, and then I think we have like 2 hours of like down downtime and then there is a concert every Sunday.
The love of the Savior concert and that one is indoors and yeah.
Ohh that’s nice.
So it’ll be indoors.
Some AC, so I didn’t put this on the agenda, but it just scripts me.
Uh, yeah.
As as performing this series, you’re gonna be performing out of doors most of the time, right?
So it’s gonna be hot.
It’s gonna be humid.
There’s gonna be bugs.
Be prepared.
I’m being prepared, bringing lots of sunscreen.
Lots of bugs spray.
Umm.
And also note that pretty much the whole summer you’re gonna be in long sleeves and long pants because of your costume.
And even for the rehearsals in May, they say no shorts for rehearsal in. It’s just long pants.
So get some good breathable exercise pants.
Umm.
Maybe a thin long sleeve shirt.
So, and it’s humid, it’s it’s, it’s on a river, it’s in right on the Mississippi.
Yeah, it’s.
It was as those of you who’ve done your church history, you know, it was swampland and still very humid there.
Uh, it was swampland.
When the the the early Latter Day Saints, Joseph Smith and the Saints bought it and they drained the swamp and and made a town out of it.
But anyway, OK, let’s see.
Let me look back at our agenda.
See what else we were gonna talk about.
The housing, I believe.
Umm, I’ll probably be able to give more information whenever I come back, but what I’ve been told is that there is a house for the elders and a house for the sisters and I don’t know if that’s just for the band or if that’s all the performing missionaries, but we have loads of house, little cabin or something. Umm.
OK.
Yeah. Cool.
Yeah, I’ll be anxious to learn more about that because I, you know, I’ve been to navu a time or two over the years and there’s, like, they’re all this, like, kind of red brick and and and there’s places you visit as tourists.
But I know there’s a lot of homes like that that you don’t ever go into.
And is that where the missionaries live?
I don’t know.
I was told we’re in the kind of middle of nowhere by some cows, so OK, well, we’ll find that out.
The only other thing I saw that we wanted to touch on was or that I thought would be interesting was they gave you a list like a checklist of assignments to do you wanna tell?
Ohh little bit more about that.
So once you get accepted into the as a performing missionary, it may be different in futures with different leaders, but we use a Google Classroom and that has dozens and dozens of assignments.
If you’re an actor or singer, then you will have way more segments than any of the band or technician people.
And So what I had to do, there were some a driving safety videos, some staff use technology stuff, maybe talk about phone stuff. Mm-hmm.
Uh.
Songs to learn.
So there’s a couple of songs like songs they have to sing in, like to, to sing, to learn, even if you’re for the band and technicians.
And then there’s also some they post some of the concerts just to listen to and watch and get used to the other logistical things like the past.
Uh ID for getting a plane ticket.
Couple other uh, housekeeping things like that.
OK, cool.
Very good.
And I think I I asked you about of full time processing missionaries nowadays all have to have their own phone and the church install some software on their phone so they can only access the church approved apps.
That’s not the case with you.
You will bring your own phone, but still church communication rules are probably in effect, like you could call home probably once a week.
Like other missionaries, everything is pretty much the same.
We’re going technology and most of the things in missionary handbook all applies to the novel performing missionaries, except for some obvious ones that would be apparent to our job.
Right.
But you don’t have to install anything on your phone.
You don’t have to get new SIM card I, but you can only contact people once a week.
You just use normal text saying applies rules apply where you have to be.
You know, in the open or you probably have the same rules with your companions, but they’re just because it’s only three months, they’re just they don’t want to deal with that.
And they’re just trusting.
Yeah, trusting them to deal with that and and one of the other differences is it is common for the family to go visit their performing missionary during the summer, and we’re gonna do that in June.
We rented an Airbnb, or VRBO or something, so we’re going to go to navu and stay for a few days and we’re going to see ape.
But, and that’s OK.
They do tell parents and family members not to distract the missionary.
You’re not supposed to go out to eat with them, but you can’t go to their performances and you can’t say hi to them briefly.
But their missionaries, their full time missionaries, are not supposed to distract them.
So we’ll of course try our best to keep those rules.
Umm.
Let’s see.
I was gonna say the band used to have huge folders of music cause the band has like 133 songs and then each year they just add more at that and so it used to be huge packet of music but now it’s all electronic so all the people in the brass band will have their own little tablet which has all of the music.
So do you have the tablet?
Do you need one?
No, they provide, they provide us, yeah, they provide it for us.
And so I’ve never really used their that software of like the music.
It’s becoming an increasingly common for musicians to have that OK, so just to note, cool, cool.
Let’s see.
Is there anything we miss?
Uh, the looks like we hit everything.
Anything else you can think of that that the audience might want to know before we wrap this up?
Uh, I’m sure there’s a few things we missed.
Yeah, if the if they’ve missed anything, I’ll try and post it on the website or or add additional links or or things to the web post on this topic.
Ohh temple attendance.
Ohh that’s a good thing.
Yeah.
So in previous years, the temple was always open on Monday, which is our P day.
This year is a little different.
Hopefully it’s not like this in future years, but the temple is actually closed on Mondays this year, and so for us, we’re gonna have to go at, like, we’re going to have to do like, 6:00 AM sessions on Tuesdays before the performances start.
And so hopefully in in the future it will be.
They’ll be better so that you’ll be able to go to the temple on your P days.
Yeah, because.
Uh, you don’t have to be endowed to be a Navy performing missionary.
Abe did recently receive his endowment.
So he’s anxious to go back, and typically, I mean the since the Nauvoo temple is right there once a week, the missionaries are able to go to the temple and sounds like for whatever reason.
And they’re not gonna be open on your P day anymore.
But you they’ll still make sure you have opportunities to to go to the Nov temple, so that would be really cool, right to go do a session there.
Uh, OK, very good.
Well, ohm the umm, do you mind a maybe finishing with your testimony and then we’ll wrap this up.
Is that alright?
Sure thing.
I have just testimony of the power of music and how much good music can bring the spirit.
And because music is the the international language, and you can feel of the love of the savior through music, and you know that through our example, through our actions, through smiles, we can share.
Share the Savior’s love.
Great.
Thanks Abe.
Uh, I I I’ll echo that it it this is an awesome opportunity to share the love that the Lord has for all of his children through through music and.
We’re super excited that you get to be a missionary and share the gospel in this really unique way.
And I’ll I’ll also leave you with my testimony of the Savior. Jesus lives.
He died for us.
He’s our Savior and Redeemer.
He guides us through living prophets in the church.
Today we, umm are are so blessed to be living in a time where we have the gospel restored.
So grateful that Abe has this opportunity to be a missionary and share the gospel this way, and anyway we look forward to your reports throughout the summer and at the end of the summer we’ll get a full lengthy report as well.
So until then, thank you all for watching and listening and we will see you next time on the latter day St Mission Prep podcast.
Bye.
Thank you.
The post Leaving for Nauvoo Performing Mission – Interview with Abe Smith – Episode 20 appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
34 min
February 14, 2024 The Transfer Home – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 19
This video and audio is episode 19 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast recorded on Feb 12, 2024. In this podcast you will hear Hannah Smith talk about her transfer home at the end of her 18 month mission to Lisbon, Portugal for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We talk about the last weeks of her mission and her first week back home. We cover topics such as:
• How she approached the last week of her mission
• Saying goodbye to friends, members, and missionaries
• How to not get trunky
• Going to the mission home for her farewell interview with the mission president
• Traveling home and meeting her family at the airport
• Being released: meeting with Stake Pres
• Homecoming talk and open house
• Getting back into life with family and work
• Goals, My Plan, challenges, growth, testimony, and much more
The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post. For other video/podcast episodes, check out the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast page.
***Begin Transcript***
0:0:22.430 –> 0:0:29.340
Smith, Jimmy
Welcome to another edition of the Latter Day St Mission Prep podcast.
0:0:29.750 –> 0:0:36.530
Smith, Jimmy
I’m here today with my daughter Hannah, who just got back from her mission to Lisbon, Portugal.
0:0:36.540 –> 0:0:39.690
Smith, Jimmy
So she’s gonna tell us all about that today.
0:0:39.900 –> 0:0:43.450
Smith, Jimmy
The topic for today’s podcast I’m calling it.
0:0:43.940 –> 0:0:46.590
Smith, Jimmy
This is my draft, I might change it when I published it.
0:0:46.600 –> 0:0:48.480
Smith, Jimmy
I’m calling it the transfer home.
0:0:48.700 –> 0:0:56.230
Smith, Jimmy
We’re we’re primarily going to talk about the last week of your mission and your first week back home after you mentioned you’ve been home.
0:0:56.240 –> 0:0:58.660
Smith, Jimmy
I think about two weeks, but we’re going to focus on that.
0:0:58.990 –> 0:1:8.340
Smith, Jimmy
Last week in the mission and the first week home after the mission, so that that that transition from being a missionary full time to being a.
0:1:10.680 –> 0:1:11.570
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, yes.
0:1:11.640 –> 0:1:14.650
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, a normal ladder?
0:1:14.700 –> 0:1:16.890
Smith, Jimmy
Non missionary, Latter day St.
0:1:17.360 –> 0:1:20.330
Smith, Jimmy
So anyway, that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
0:1:20.340 –> 0:1:21.890
Smith, Jimmy
In fact, I prepared a little agenda.
0:1:21.900 –> 0:1:22.950
Smith, Jimmy
I’m going to share briefly.
0:1:22.960 –> 0:1:25.500
Smith, Jimmy
We’ll see how how this works.
0:1:26.230 –> 0:1:30.390
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, OK, not not as smooth as I thought.
0:1:30.400 –> 0:1:31.840
Smith, Jimmy
But anyway, we’re gonna talk about.
0:1:32.770 –> 0:1:36.460
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, uh, you how’s the approach?
0:1:36.550 –> 0:1:44.120
Smith, Jimmy
The her last week in the mission field, we’ll talk about your interview with your mission president.
0:1:44.360 –> 0:1:46.190
Smith, Jimmy
I’ll talk about traveling home.
0:1:47.0 –> 0:1:50.610
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, and you’re experience is traveling home.
0:1:50.620 –> 0:1:53.280
Smith, Jimmy
They will and meeting course your family at the airport.
0:1:53.380 –> 0:1:58.520
Smith, Jimmy
We’ll talk about meeting with the state president and at the next stage we got home late one night, right.
0:1:58.760 –> 0:2:2.30
Smith, Jimmy
And your homecoming talk and open house.
0:2:2.40 –> 0:2:5.180
Smith, Jimmy
We had biting friends over and now getting back to work.
0:2:5.190 –> 0:2:12.260
Smith, Jimmy
You’ve been got a job and you’re going back to work and you have, you know, it’d be good if you could tell about your plans and so forth.
0:2:12.310 –> 0:2:14.120
Smith, Jimmy
So anyway, that’s our agenda.
0:2:14.130 –> 0:2:18.700
Smith, Jimmy
I’m going to stop sharing the screen so you know see that gene anymore.
0:2:18.710 –> 0:2:20.920
Smith, Jimmy
You can just focus on on him.
0:2:20.970 –> 0:2:24.730
Smith, Jimmy
So I guess let’s let’s jump into this first.
0:2:24.780 –> 0:2:28.20
Smith, Jimmy
Maybe Hannah do a brief intro.
0:2:28.480 –> 0:2:31.490
Smith, Jimmy
To yourself about, you know, your student.
0:2:31.500 –> 0:2:35.50
Smith, Jimmy
You went that called to Portugal and your mission said, etcetera.
0:2:35.360 –> 0:2:38.50
Smith, Jimmy
And so do that really briefly.
0:2:38.60 –> 0:2:39.540
Smith, Jimmy
And then we’ll jump into the other agenda.
0:2:40.100 –> 0:2:41.370
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, sounds good.
0:2:41.420 –> 0:2:45.40
Smith, Jimmy
So, umm, basically four.
0:2:45.90 –> 0:2:45.880
Smith, Jimmy
I was actually.
0:2:46.100 –> 0:2:58.630
Smith, Jimmy
I was studying art at the IU I say and I got called to go to Lisbon, Portugal and then mentioned, and I just spent the past.
0:3:1.0 –> 0:3:2.930
Smith, Jimmy
You could say 18 months there.
0:3:3.40 –> 0:3:5.590
Smith, Jimmy
I spent a little bit of time in California.
0:3:5.600 –> 0:3:6.870
Smith, Jimmy
Riverside as well.
0:3:7.550 –> 0:3:9.260
Smith, Jimmy
I’m waiting for my visa to go to Portugal.
0:3:10.280 –> 0:3:13.770
Smith, Jimmy
Umm but yeah, and then I know.
0:3:13.900 –> 0:3:15.400
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, so here I am.
0:3:15.410 –> 0:3:15.710
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:3:15.720 –> 0:3:23.430
Smith, Jimmy
So she did the two weeks at the home in PC and that would have been we’re recording this in February of 2024.
0:3:23.440 –> 0:3:25.710
Smith, Jimmy
So it was summer of 2022.
0:3:25.720 –> 0:3:28.930
Smith, Jimmy
You did two weeks of Homeland TC and then for Visa.
0:3:28.980 –> 0:3:29.470
Smith, Jimmy
Oh, no.
0:3:29.480 –> 0:3:48.200
Smith, Jimmy
Then she went to the Provo MTC for four weeks and had, it was hoping the visa for Portugal would arrive, but it didn’t, so she spent a transfer, which is a six week period with temporary mission in California and then finally around the 1st of October.
0:3:48.210 –> 0:3:53.930
Smith, Jimmy
I think you like that October, yeah, mid October of 2022 made it to Portugal.
0:3:54.450 –> 0:3:55.70
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:3:55.110 –> 0:3:58.60
Smith, Jimmy
So there 15 months.
0:3:58.110 –> 0:4:0.80
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, yeah.
0:4:1.60 –> 0:4:1.510
Smith, Jimmy
Cool, cool.
0:4:1.520 –> 0:4:1.810
Smith, Jimmy
Cool.
0:4:2.340 –> 0:4:2.770
Smith, Jimmy
So.
0:4:2.840 –> 0:4:3.870
Smith, Jimmy
So that’s Hannah.
0:4:4.580 –> 0:4:5.890
Smith, Jimmy
And and her mission.
0:4:6.240 –> 0:4:12.50
Smith, Jimmy
And maybe we’ll have other podcasts where we talk about more details of things that happen on her mission.
0:4:12.340 –> 0:4:17.850
Smith, Jimmy
But while it’s fresh in your mind, I wanted to ask you about that last week in the mission.
0:4:17.860 –> 0:4:18.890
Smith, Jimmy
So why don’t you tell about that?
0:4:18.900 –> 0:4:23.890
Smith, Jimmy
What were your thoughts as your mission was coming to a close and how did you approach that?
0:4:23.900 –> 0:4:25.730
Smith, Jimmy
How did you make sure you didn’t get trunky?
0:4:25.740 –> 0:4:35.850
Smith, Jimmy
You know and and lose focus had you know, how did you make sure you worked hard until the end of your mission and and and what were your thoughts is you were approaching that? Yeah.
0:4:38.120 –> 0:4:48.430
Smith, Jimmy
Well, it is a lot more than just like the last week because I feel like the last like several transfers of my mission, I was like at the end is coming.
0:4:48.540 –> 0:4:53.250
Smith, Jimmy
You have to kind of start preparing yourself, and the church gives you some resources.
0:4:53.360 –> 0:4:58.430
Smith, Jimmy
I think we’ll talk about later for kind of preparing yourself to to go home.
0:4:58.440 –> 0:5:0.870
Smith, Jimmy
And so you kind of have to start thinking about it more than a week.
0:5:0.960 –> 0:5:2.590
Smith, Jimmy
No, go ahead and mention that now.
0:5:2.600 –> 0:5:3.480
Smith, Jimmy
So what is?
0:5:3.490 –> 0:5:7.0
Smith, Jimmy
What resources do the church give you as you’re preparing to come home?
0:5:7.660 –> 0:5:11.720
Smith, Jimmy
So there is this lovely thing called my and.
0:5:11.730 –> 0:5:21.690
Smith, Jimmy
So basically, in your missionary portal it just pops up one day whenever they sign it to you, and it’s basically like a six week little course you just do.
0:5:21.880 –> 0:5:23.780
Smith, Jimmy
I just did on my phone because that’s what I had.
0:5:24.500 –> 0:5:25.300
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:5:25.480 –> 0:5:35.160
Smith, Jimmy
And it just asks you it like has some quotes, some videos, series of questions about what your plans are for going home.
0:5:35.170 –> 0:5:39.50
Smith, Jimmy
You make a lot of goals, a lot of reflecting on the things you learn throughout your mission.
0:5:39.960 –> 0:5:42.330
Smith, Jimmy
Umm so it’s I was.
0:5:42.500 –> 0:5:53.210
Smith, Jimmy
I thought it would be a lot more like specific and detailed about like the plans I would make going home, but a lot of it was just like reflecting on what things like I learned spiritually on my mission.
0:5:53.220 –> 0:5:54.350
Smith, Jimmy
What like habits again?
0:5:54.360 –> 0:6:6.680
Smith, Jimmy
What I want to continue and like plans with that which I actually think is better that they make you plan to think about that than like your logistical plans of what happens when you get home.
0:6:6.690 –> 0:6:15.680
Smith, Jimmy
Because I think the church has seen that like one of the biggest struggles with returned missionaries is that they like they, like, flounder.
0:6:15.690 –> 0:6:25.340
Smith, Jimmy
A little bits spiritually, sometimes, because the mission is very it’s just spiritual every moment, and it’s very it’s very structured.
0:6:25.350 –> 0:6:27.920
Smith, Jimmy
And so yeah, when you get home, it’s just like, wow.
0:6:27.990 –> 0:6:30.950
Smith, Jimmy
So it’s just a way for them to help you.
0:6:31.560 –> 0:6:32.310
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:6:32.430 –> 0:6:34.830
Smith, Jimmy
Kind of reflect on your mission and set goals for the future.
0:6:34.840 –> 0:6:37.450
Smith, Jimmy
They also share it with your Bishop and your state president.
0:6:37.760 –> 0:6:43.340
Smith, Jimmy
My Bishop and state president both mentioned to me that they like looked at it and they read it and they were like, that was really good or whatever.
0:6:43.840 –> 0:6:46.490
Smith, Jimmy
So yeah, yeah.
0:6:46.770 –> 0:7:8.380
Smith, Jimmy
I think you’re right in that the church is very concerned with missionaries making this transfer home because it’s it’s a it’s a transition from the structured life of a missionary where you have to get up at a certain time and have scripture study at a certain time, and then all of a sudden it’s completely unstructured because you’re at home and no ones forcing you to get up at a certain time or do Scripture study it or certain time.
0:7:8.390 –> 0:7:9.710
Smith, Jimmy
So it’s very unstructured.
0:7:9.720 –> 0:7:20.920
Smith, Jimmy
So if you have a plan, you’re more likely to keep up your good habits and and keep your your spirituality high and and I think you’re transitioning to civilian life.
0:7:21.390 –> 0:7:25.120
Smith, Jimmy
Probably the churches found, I assume much better when they have a plan.
0:7:25.450 –> 0:7:26.200
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:7:26.270 –> 0:7:27.480
Smith, Jimmy
No, I think it’s.
0:7:27.530 –> 0:7:28.570
Smith, Jimmy
I think it’s really good.
0:7:28.810 –> 0:7:34.100
Smith, Jimmy
And so they give you that like, umm, I got it like 2.
0:7:34.590 –> 0:7:36.990
Smith, Jimmy
My my like second to last transfer.
0:7:37.0 –> 0:7:38.480
Smith, Jimmy
OK, actually I think I got it.
0:7:38.490 –> 0:7:42.60
Smith, Jimmy
My third to last transfer, but I didn’t start working until my transfer.
0:7:42.110 –> 0:7:45.500
Smith, Jimmy
OK, umm and it says to finish in your last six weeks.
0:7:45.510 –> 0:7:52.510
Smith, Jimmy
I just took 12 weeks to do it because I wanted to use the last like couple weeks I had during personal study to not just work on my plan.
0:7:53.110 –> 0:7:53.570
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:7:54.230 –> 0:7:57.480
Smith, Jimmy
But anyways, the point of all this is to say that basically.
0:8:0.130 –> 0:8:4.680
Smith, Jimmy
I feel like you have to start preparing yourself, at least for me.
0:8:4.690 –> 0:8:9.540
Smith, Jimmy
I had to prepare myself mentally to go home a lot more than just like a week before, but I did.
0:8:9.990 –> 0:8:11.350
Smith, Jimmy
I didn’t want to think about it.
0:8:11.360 –> 0:8:20.480
Smith, Jimmy
I didn’t want to face it and I think that’s a lot of missionaries who are very like, you know, just if you’re trying to be consecrated dedicated, it’s going to be harder to want to think about home.
0:8:20.490 –> 0:8:35.820
Smith, Jimmy
But I remember in the very beginning of my mission, I heard all the time about missionaries just being trunky, and they’re like, and to explain, if you don’t know what trunky means, basically it means you your bags are packed, your bags are packed, the truck packed.
0:8:36.0 –> 0:8:38.10
Smith, Jimmy
You wanna go checked out of your mission?
0:8:38.420 –> 0:8:38.690
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:8:38.700 –> 0:8:41.320
Smith, Jimmy
And so a lot of there’s I think there’s different ways to be.
0:8:41.330 –> 0:8:42.380
Smith, Jimmy
Absolutely. Yeah.
0:8:42.420 –> 0:8:52.780
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, there’s like some issues are chunky and so they won’t like do the work or they won’t work as hard or they’ll take longer or some missionaries will be like more disobedient.
0:8:52.790 –> 0:8:56.930
Smith, Jimmy
Like they won’t be as like obedient to the rules because they’re, like, I’m going home so.
0:8:57.940 –> 0:9:2.540
Smith, Jimmy
But also it can just be hard because sometimes you’re just chunky like you’re just thinking about home.
0:9:2.550 –> 0:9:5.310
Smith, Jimmy
That’s all you could think about because you’re like, it’s so imminent.
0:9:5.360 –> 0:9:5.660
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:9:5.670 –> 0:9:5.850
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:9:5.860 –> 0:9:13.370
Smith, Jimmy
So anyways, at the beginning of my mission I just heard all about like everyone gets trunky at the end of their mission, they stopped working hard and they stop being obedient.
0:9:13.380 –> 0:9:16.270
Smith, Jimmy
And I was like, I never wanna be like that.
0:9:16.360 –> 0:9:17.130
Smith, Jimmy
Ever.
0:9:17.200 –> 0:9:21.320
Smith, Jimmy
So I made that promise to myself, like at the beginning of my mission.
0:9:21.330 –> 0:9:30.650
Smith, Jimmy
I was like when I get towards that end, I do not wanna be the missionary that everyone looks at and it’s like, yeah, she’s really chunky and I think I succeeded.
0:9:30.710 –> 0:9:32.880
Smith, Jimmy
Well, I don’t know because it’s hard to.
0:9:32.950 –> 0:9:33.400
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:9:33.410 –> 0:9:42.440
Smith, Jimmy
And I have a biased opinion too, probably cause I mean as parents we talk to you once a week, you know, did about an hour of a video call every week and read your letters.
0:9:42.450 –> 0:9:45.680
Smith, Jimmy
And from everything we could observe, we weren’t drunk at all.
0:9:45.690 –> 0:9:46.700
Smith, Jimmy
You worked hard till the end.
0:9:46.710 –> 0:9:48.740
Smith, Jimmy
I hope that’s that’s the case.
0:9:48.830 –> 0:9:49.400
Smith, Jimmy
So.
0:9:49.450 –> 0:9:52.640
Smith, Jimmy
So let’s talk then about that last week.
0:9:52.740 –> 0:9:53.490
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, mission.
0:9:56.580 –> 0:9:56.790
Smith, Jimmy
What?
0:9:56.860 –> 0:9:57.910
Smith, Jimmy
But what more can you tell us?
0:9:57.920 –> 0:9:58.990
Smith, Jimmy
Because, because yeah, I wanted.
0:9:59.0 –> 0:9:59.800
Smith, Jimmy
Not very specific.
0:10:0.990 –> 0:10:4.480
Smith, Jimmy
I mean it’s it’s a partial week for one right cause.
0:10:4.530 –> 0:10:10.780
Smith, Jimmy
Usually you the end of one week in the beginning of the next is generally P day, right Sunday is is.
0:10:10.790 –> 0:10:17.520
Smith, Jimmy
Is is also kind of a marker, but then Mondays, your PDA and and and then, but it’s.
0:10:17.530 –> 0:10:20.940
Smith, Jimmy
It’s kind of a short week because by Wednesday or Thursday you were.
0:10:21.120 –> 0:10:24.980
Smith, Jimmy
You’re going to the mission home to meet with the mission president, and you’re taking a flight home.
0:10:25.350 –> 0:10:25.750
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:10:26.610 –> 0:10:27.880
Smith, Jimmy
Well, I don’t know.
0:10:27.890 –> 0:10:42.230
Smith, Jimmy
Maybe it’s this is what we want to talk about, but the the last full week that I had of missionary work was obviously not my last full week as a missionary, because half of that week was, as you said, spent running around and traveling.
0:10:42.450 –> 0:10:52.780
Smith, Jimmy
But I remember in order to try and I told my companion I was like, we are gonna work so hard this last week that we have like, we’re going to set some really high goals.
0:10:53.190 –> 0:11:2.960
Smith, Jimmy
And so that like we’ll just work really hard and like we’ll feel like we finished this transfer all feel like I finished my mission well, like, go out with the bang kind of thing.
0:11:2.970 –> 0:11:8.210
Smith, Jimmy
And I always like heard about machines doing that, so we it was funny because that transfer we had had a goal.
0:11:8.220 –> 0:11:18.810
Smith, Jimmy
We wanted to baptize 3 people that transfer and that last week came and we had a baptized anyone and we were kind of sad and I was like, why on Earth did we make that goal?
0:11:18.820 –> 0:11:20.570
Smith, Jimmy
And like like we could do that.
0:11:20.580 –> 0:11:43.290
Smith, Jimmy
But so we decided we were like, well, maybe we can’t baptize 3 people this week because we don’t have a new one that’s ready yet and we don’t wanna brush them, but we like, we’re gonna put four people on baptismal date this week, which means like marking a specific day that they’ll be baptized, not only inviting four people, but having four people.
0:11:43.300 –> 0:11:45.320
Smith, Jimmy
They yes, committed to a day.
0:11:45.680 –> 0:11:54.550
Smith, Jimmy
OK, which in order to do that, if you think about it, there’s six days to the week because P day and Sundays are Sunday.
0:11:54.560 –> 0:11:55.430
Smith, Jimmy
They’re interesting.
0:11:55.470 –> 0:12:2.480
Smith, Jimmy
So basically we’re like we have like kind of five days to do this and that’s four people and we had zero and we were like ohh my goodness.
0:12:2.580 –> 0:12:15.920
Smith, Jimmy
So we made a goal to do a real baptismal invite every day, like with a date, which was like kind of scary because I was like, I don’t think I’ve ever done that in my home mission, but I was like, we are here to like, this is part of our purpose.
0:12:16.400 –> 0:12:29.60
Smith, Jimmy
Invite people we baptized, so we did it and we didn’t Mark 4, but we marked 3 baptismal dates that week and we we invited someone every day to be baptized, and we obviously didn’t want to.
0:12:29.70 –> 0:12:38.120
Smith, Jimmy
Just like do it like just doing just to do it like we were trying to follow the spirit through the motions and wanted to be a sincere, no authentic invitation.
0:12:38.870 –> 0:12:42.700
Smith, Jimmy
And I feel like the Lord just kind of like gate not not gave us.
0:12:42.710 –> 0:12:45.260
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, just like he helped us, like, make that goal.
0:12:45.270 –> 0:12:54.820
Smith, Jimmy
Like one day at the end of the day, we’re supposed to have a lesson with this lady and we had planned that we were gonna invite her to be baptized, and she didn’t answer the phone when we called her to do a video call.
0:12:54.830 –> 0:12:57.140
Smith, Jimmy
We’re like, no, and it was the end of the day.
0:12:57.150 –> 0:12:58.590
Smith, Jimmy
So it was like, well, what do we do?
0:12:58.600 –> 0:13:6.430
Smith, Jimmy
Like we haven’t invited anyone yet, and I was thinking I was like, oh, well, this lady is the aunt of another guy we’re teaching.
0:13:6.440 –> 0:13:7.730
Smith, Jimmy
We should call him.
0:13:7.780 –> 0:13:8.930
Smith, Jimmy
So we called him up.
0:13:9.680 –> 0:13:18.70
Smith, Jimmy
I spontaneously and we ended up having a nice lesson with him and we invited him to be baptized and so the Lord like kind of gave us like, it worked out really well.
0:13:18.80 –> 0:13:18.350
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:13:18.400 –> 0:13:34.70
Smith, Jimmy
And he didn’t say yes, but I was like, that is just the Lord showing that, like when we make goals and we include him in our goal and say like, ask for help to meet our goals, that like he really will help us because he doesn’t want us to fail.
0:13:34.400 –> 0:13:37.210
Smith, Jimmy
And sometimes, you know, it doesn’t plagues out exactly how we want.
0:13:37.220 –> 0:13:39.690
Smith, Jimmy
We didn’t mark for baptismal days, but we marked three.
0:13:40.50 –> 0:13:40.400
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:13:40.450 –> 0:13:47.0
Smith, Jimmy
And it was like those three people that the Lord had prepared, and because we were saying we were willing, then he was able to help us.
0:13:47.150 –> 0:13:52.220
Smith, Jimmy
So I loved that that was kind of like the way we went out, that that was my last week.
0:13:52.230 –> 0:13:53.60
Smith, Jimmy
It was really cool.
0:13:53.170 –> 0:13:56.320
Smith, Jimmy
We saw a lot of other miracles too, that I won’t go into well.
0:13:56.330 –> 0:13:58.290
Smith, Jimmy
And you didn’t know this?
0:13:58.300 –> 0:14:12.950
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t think at the time, but like my last full week of my mission in Argentina 25 years ago, I had very similar experience where we invited three families to get baptized in my last full week.
0:14:13.40 –> 0:14:15.370
Smith, Jimmy
So I reading your letters home and talking to you.
0:14:15.380 –> 0:14:18.790
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, astounded, like Hannah’s last full week.
0:14:18.880 –> 0:14:29.40
Smith, Jimmy
She had committed three people to baptismal dates and the last full week of my mission, saying we we invited and in my case we invited three families, that we were teaching to be baptized.
0:14:29.50 –> 0:14:32.510
Smith, Jimmy
I think two of the three said yes to the invitation.
0:14:32.520 –> 0:14:38.440
Smith, Jimmy
So anyway, I was just amazed at at the parallels and the parallel miracles at that.
0:14:38.500 –> 0:14:47.700
Smith, Jimmy
OK, so, so that was your last full week of work and then you have Sunday and P day and you just you have a couple days and then over there something else you were gonna share about?
0:14:47.800 –> 0:14:53.60
Smith, Jimmy
Ohh well there there were like a there were a million miracles that week, but I just saw it.
0:14:53.70 –> 0:14:56.300
Smith, Jimmy
It was really cool because I know like that’s not how everyone’s like.
0:14:56.310 –> 0:15:10.580
Smith, Jimmy
Last week is, but I just felt really grateful to see, like so many of the fruits of our laborers like coming forth that week because we had worked really hard and like we weren’t really seeing any of those like fruits or things.
0:15:10.590 –> 0:15:15.550
Smith, Jimmy
But it was really great and I’m just looking at my email to see if there’s anything else specific.
0:15:15.620 –> 0:15:19.550
Smith, Jimmy
I think that was like, well, we don’t need to end up more, but yeah, yeah.
0:15:19.620 –> 0:15:23.50
Smith, Jimmy
OK, but yeah, so my last like full day of work was like Sunday.
0:15:23.440 –> 0:15:25.930
Smith, Jimmy
And I remember I thought it would like feel different, like.
0:15:25.940 –> 0:15:38.540
Smith, Jimmy
Well, my last real cross lighting day, it just felt like a normal day and then we had P day, we had District Council P days Monday District Council was Tuesday, and then Wednesday you were traveling.
0:15:38.550 –> 0:15:39.420
Smith, Jimmy
And then mission home.
0:15:40.220 –> 0:15:41.60
Smith, Jimmy
It was insane.
0:15:42.610 –> 0:15:43.560
Smith, Jimmy
You want me to go into that or?
0:15:43.570 –> 0:15:43.820
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:15:43.830 –> 0:15:44.680
Smith, Jimmy
Well, it’s just briefly.
0:15:44.690 –> 0:15:44.880
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:15:44.890 –> 0:15:52.830
Smith, Jimmy
Talk about talk traveling to the mission home and I think you had a final interview with the Mission president and then you were off to the airport.
0:15:52.880 –> 0:15:53.450
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:15:53.510 –> 0:15:54.140
Smith, Jimmy
Something like that.
0:15:54.190 –> 0:15:57.840
Smith, Jimmy
Everyone, like every mission, does it differently, like the kind of send off.
0:15:57.850 –> 0:16:11.750
Smith, Jimmy
I think all are pretty similar, so I was in the most northern area in our mission, so I had quite a traveled down to get to Lisbon, but so we was on a train for like 8 hours or something.
0:16:11.920 –> 0:16:12.990
Smith, Jimmy
Well, that’s ridiculous.
0:16:14.730 –> 0:16:17.740
Smith, Jimmy
Several hours and hours from it was not.
0:16:17.750 –> 0:16:19.540
Smith, Jimmy
It was probably like six.
0:16:20.130 –> 0:16:21.670
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:16:21.790 –> 0:16:24.760
Smith, Jimmy
So that night we stayed with just with some other sisters.
0:16:25.820 –> 0:16:26.770
Smith, Jimmy
Thursday.
0:16:27.0 –> 0:16:45.480
Smith, Jimmy
Ohh this is another resource at the church has for Mishearings returning home Thursday morning we had a self reliance class like for us so one of the counselors in the Mission presidency and a senior couple that in art serving in our mission they gave us a self reliance class.
0:16:46.190 –> 0:16:58.250
Smith, Jimmy
Umm, so we got like a little packets and stuff and but I didn’t read it, but just kind of like it was like a big, like covering up all the churches, self reliance classes, just like condensed into one.
0:16:58.320 –> 0:17:4.90
Smith, Jimmy
So I talked about, you know, like spiritual self reliance and, like, goals with that talked about like jobs.
0:17:4.100 –> 0:17:8.430
Smith, Jimmy
We talked about marriage a little bit and like dating, I missed most of that park.
0:17:8.440 –> 0:17:13.330
Smith, Jimmy
So it’s in my interview, but I’m twenty groups, stuff like that.
0:17:13.620 –> 0:17:14.70
Smith, Jimmy
OK.
0:17:14.880 –> 0:17:15.580
Smith, Jimmy
We had lunch.
0:17:16.640 –> 0:17:19.490
Smith, Jimmy
Oh yeah, and I had my my interview with my mission president.
0:17:19.500 –> 0:17:20.550
Smith, Jimmy
And how did that go?
0:17:20.920 –> 0:17:21.770
Smith, Jimmy
It was great.
0:17:22.480 –> 0:17:23.700
Smith, Jimmy
I love my mission president.
0:17:23.710 –> 0:17:25.290
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, you had a great mission president.
0:17:25.300 –> 0:17:27.650
Smith, Jimmy
You had a really good relationship with an I felt so.
0:17:28.50 –> 0:17:28.210
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:17:28.240 –> 0:17:30.770
Smith, Jimmy
So yeah, so So what?
0:17:30.780 –> 0:17:33.700
Smith, Jimmy
What did you talk about and what were you feeling then?
0:17:34.710 –> 0:17:38.740
Smith, Jimmy
You don’t have to go into a lot of details, especially if it’s private or tender, but no.
0:17:38.950 –> 0:17:40.680
Smith, Jimmy
That’s just we.
0:17:40.730 –> 0:17:50.290
Smith, Jimmy
So we talked about where he had me try and reflect a little bit about like what were the biggest takeaways that I had, uh, things I learned like ways.
0:17:50.300 –> 0:17:51.700
Smith, Jimmy
I grew closer to the Savior.
0:17:52.750 –> 0:17:59.370
Smith, Jimmy
That was funny because I felt like I always feel like when you, like, have gained a stronger testimony.
0:17:59.380 –> 0:18:6.680
Smith, Jimmy
I always thought it would be like some like crazy thing that like made it so that you hadn’t increased testimony and love for the savior.
0:18:7.10 –> 0:18:7.930
Smith, Jimmy
But I was thinking about it.
0:18:7.940 –> 0:18:21.480
Smith, Jimmy
I was like at the end of the day, like, really what made a difference was, like my daily Scripture study and my prayers and like, taking the sacrament like it really was like those simple like things.
0:18:21.490 –> 0:18:22.100
Smith, Jimmy
Couple things.
0:18:22.110 –> 0:18:26.580
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, it wasn’t like obviously like when you get to share your testimony too.
0:18:26.590 –> 0:18:33.70
Smith, Jimmy
That’s a big thing, but I felt like those biggest moments where I like felt it most in my heart.
0:18:33.80 –> 0:18:39.250
Smith, Jimmy
Like the truthfulness of these things like was in like those private moments of like prayer and scripture study.
0:18:39.360 –> 0:18:42.270
Smith, Jimmy
So that was interesting to reflect upon.
0:18:43.20 –> 0:18:44.210
Smith, Jimmy
We talked a little bit.
0:18:44.260 –> 0:18:44.970
Smith, Jimmy
I’ll pull it up.
0:18:45.310 –> 0:18:46.640
Smith, Jimmy
Let me look at my I took some notes.
0:18:46.930 –> 0:18:51.410
Smith, Jimmy
Two, umm, we talked a bit about my goals for coming home.
0:18:51.900 –> 0:18:52.470
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:18:52.740 –> 0:18:56.90
Smith, Jimmy
And he gave some saw your my plan too, I presume.
0:18:56.180 –> 0:18:58.150
Smith, Jimmy
Ohh think so.
0:18:58.160 –> 0:19:0.660
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t know, but you talked about your goals for coming home.
0:19:0.700 –> 0:19:1.570
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah. OK.
0:19:1.890 –> 0:19:3.350
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, let me write.
0:19:3.360 –> 0:19:7.20
Smith, Jimmy
Ohh yeah, he made me a promise.
0:19:7.30 –> 0:19:17.940
Smith, Jimmy
He said if you will pray every morning in Portuguese, then you will like be like fluent enough for the rest of your life.
0:19:17.950 –> 0:19:21.40
Smith, Jimmy
And I was like, well, OK, so I’ve tried to.
0:19:21.50 –> 0:19:21.750
Smith, Jimmy
I’ve done that.
0:19:21.790 –> 0:19:22.240
Smith, Jimmy
It’s good.
0:19:22.290 –> 0:19:26.160
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, my mission president is hurting me to read the Book of Mormon.
0:19:26.170 –> 0:19:27.810
Smith, Jimmy
And Spanish, my mission language.
0:19:28.230 –> 0:19:31.390
Smith, Jimmy
Every year I’ve read it, I read it.
0:19:31.440 –> 0:19:33.490
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, I’ve rented a few times.
0:19:33.500 –> 0:19:34.190
Smith, Jimmy
That’s cool.
0:19:34.230 –> 0:19:35.920
Smith, Jimmy
My mission, but I have not done.
0:19:35.930 –> 0:19:40.490
Smith, Jimmy
Every year I’ve read the Book of Mormon holy once in prison.
0:19:40.540 –> 0:19:47.100
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, but it’s I mean, but, but that’s something in your language sounds more doable.
0:19:47.110 –> 0:19:48.690
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, keep your language up.
0:19:48.700 –> 0:19:50.190
Smith, Jimmy
So anyway, that’s great idea.
0:19:51.190 –> 0:19:52.790
Smith, Jimmy
We talked about my other goals.
0:19:52.800 –> 0:20:5.960
Smith, Jimmy
He talked about how and I thought this is interesting how serving in the church and like having callings can be a like really big source of spiritual growth because he’s like on the mission.
0:20:6.30 –> 0:20:24.70
Smith, Jimmy
Like you have this like calling of being a missionary that I’ll like through this calling and serving you like have this big amount of spiritual growth and obviously like the pace that you have can have it as a missionary and like that sometimes can’t be like you may not have that that equal pace at any other part of your life.
0:20:24.400 –> 0:20:27.410
Smith, Jimmy
Maybe I don’t know if that’s a true statement or not, but.
0:20:28.240 –> 0:20:33.200
Smith, Jimmy
And he was saying callings can help you have that same kind of spiritual growth like you have on a mission.
0:20:33.210 –> 0:20:39.240
Smith, Jimmy
So he encouraged a lot, like serving in the church, helping with the missionaries at home.
0:20:39.310 –> 0:20:40.200
Smith, Jimmy
John trying to do.
0:20:40.970 –> 0:20:45.970
Smith, Jimmy
I’m trying to like that we talked about my job.
0:20:46.10 –> 0:20:51.680
Smith, Jimmy
Like future job and school ideas, he gave me marriage advice, which was fun.
0:20:54.160 –> 0:20:56.810
Smith, Jimmy
And yeah, no, but it was really great.
0:20:56.820 –> 0:20:59.710
Smith, Jimmy
Let’s just kind of like wrap everything up like this.
0:20:59.770 –> 0:21:1.160
Smith, Jimmy
We both like cried a little bit.
0:21:1.170 –> 0:21:5.880
Smith, Jimmy
It was so sweet cause I’ve, like, loved my interviews with my mission president and I love him.
0:21:5.890 –> 0:21:9.940
Smith, Jimmy
So it was like it was kind of sad be like, oh, this is the last one.
0:21:10.30 –> 0:21:12.400
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, but it was really, really good.
0:21:13.210 –> 0:21:14.560
Smith, Jimmy
OK, very good.
0:21:14.630 –> 0:21:22.590
Smith, Jimmy
So, uh, so then you you were off to the airport at that point off to the temple at that point.
0:21:22.750 –> 0:21:23.830
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, we went to the session.
0:21:23.840 –> 0:21:31.780
Smith, Jimmy
We did a session at the temple and then we had like goodbye dinner at the mission home and this was all on Thursday on Thursday.
0:21:31.790 –> 0:21:32.820
Smith, Jimmy
OK, packed in.
0:21:33.570 –> 0:21:35.680
Smith, Jimmy
OK so and this, it was fun.
0:21:35.690 –> 0:21:37.0
Smith, Jimmy
It was like the whole day.
0:21:37.10 –> 0:21:38.960
Smith, Jimmy
It was just like me and all the other machine is going home.
0:21:38.970 –> 0:21:42.970
Smith, Jimmy
And then when we went to the mission home, like the apps and the sister apps were there.
0:21:43.270 –> 0:21:43.590
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:21:43.960 –> 0:21:45.850
Smith, Jimmy
It’s just a personals made it all the food.
0:21:45.860 –> 0:21:54.450
Smith, Jimmy
It was really good Brazilian food and we just like all chatted and we’re like reminiscing and they gave a little devotional.
0:21:54.460 –> 0:21:55.280
Smith, Jimmy
President Brussels.
0:21:55.290 –> 0:21:59.870
Smith, Jimmy
Since parcels did and we sing our mission home, it was cute.
0:22:0.690 –> 0:22:3.650
Smith, Jimmy
And we were all just, like, really sad.
0:22:4.520 –> 0:22:8.30
Smith, Jimmy
But it was like good, but yeah, lots of crime anyways.
0:22:8.40 –> 0:22:14.690
Smith, Jimmy
So that went to the hotel by the airport and we had to make sure backs were all good.
0:22:15.20 –> 0:22:19.350
Smith, Jimmy
And then, yeah, the next morning, Friday morning, we’re off to the airport.
0:22:19.560 –> 0:22:19.950
Smith, Jimmy
OK.
0:22:19.990 –> 0:22:22.590
Smith, Jimmy
So Thursday night you went to a hotel right by the airport.
0:22:22.600 –> 0:22:25.970
Smith, Jimmy
So you can get up bright and early like very early Friday morning to.
0:22:25.980 –> 0:22:30.190
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, a flight from Lisbon to New York. NY.
0:22:30.200 –> 0:22:30.650
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:22:30.660 –> 0:22:35.150
Smith, Jimmy
So we, me and the six other missionaries I was with, we.
0:22:36.680 –> 0:22:37.790
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, we had.
0:22:37.840 –> 0:22:39.190
Smith, Jimmy
We dragged all of our backs.
0:22:39.740 –> 0:22:40.950
Smith, Jimmy
It was horrible.
0:22:41.140 –> 0:22:41.840
Smith, Jimmy
Ohh my goodness.
0:22:43.260 –> 0:22:48.390
Smith, Jimmy
And the missionary knows, like, just transfers and like bags.
0:22:48.400 –> 0:22:48.710
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:22:48.720 –> 0:22:49.100
Smith, Jimmy
Horrible.
0:22:49.740 –> 0:22:53.430
Smith, Jimmy
I’m yeah, but once you like checked our bags is a lot better.
0:22:53.480 –> 0:22:55.130
Smith, Jimmy
I had a heavy duffel bag, though.
0:22:55.180 –> 0:22:56.570
Smith, Jimmy
The an elder carried for me.
0:22:56.630 –> 0:22:57.310
Smith, Jimmy
Shout out.
0:22:57.400 –> 0:22:58.250
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, awesome.
0:22:58.260 –> 0:23:0.400
Smith, Jimmy
Heavy one that it was really never a minute.
0:23:2.80 –> 0:23:7.480
Smith, Jimmy
So OK, packing is like wait like packing to go was way harder than I thought I was.
0:23:7.490 –> 0:23:9.490
Smith, Jimmy
Like I will leave everything I have.
0:23:9.500 –> 0:23:9.850
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:23:9.920 –> 0:23:13.590
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t wanna take anything home like like like, closes.
0:23:13.600 –> 0:23:16.900
Smith, Jimmy
Random like shampoo like hairbrush, like?
0:23:16.910 –> 0:23:17.790
Smith, Jimmy
Just whatever.
0:23:17.900 –> 0:23:19.430
Smith, Jimmy
But that thing you could well.
0:23:19.440 –> 0:23:19.810
Smith, Jimmy
Nope.
0:23:19.820 –> 0:23:24.890
Smith, Jimmy
Well, I thought I would, but then I was like, well, then I have to buy it all.
0:23:25.820 –> 0:23:29.230
Smith, Jimmy
So I’m not doing that, so I left a lot less than I thought I would.
0:23:29.600 –> 0:23:31.330
Smith, Jimmy
So then I saw a lot of stuff, but I left all I could.
0:23:32.710 –> 0:23:33.290
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:23:33.330 –> 0:23:46.640
Smith, Jimmy
Anyways, see how so we flew from uh Lisbon to JFK and then uh didn’t have about 5 hour later there at JFK airport in New York before.
0:23:47.410 –> 0:23:56.50
Smith, Jimmy
Well, yeah, the six, each of you 6 missions from there split off to your, you know, whether they’re going to Salt Lake or North Carolina.
0:23:56.60 –> 0:23:57.940
Smith, Jimmy
And Hannah’s case coming to Dallas.
0:23:58.320 –> 0:24:0.70
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, yeah.
0:24:0.140 –> 0:24:1.590
Smith, Jimmy
Yep, it was fun too.
0:24:1.600 –> 0:24:3.840
Smith, Jimmy
In the airport, we met a bunch of members of the church.
0:24:3.850 –> 0:24:6.110
Smith, Jimmy
We met Ohh two Brazilian members.
0:24:6.120 –> 0:24:7.910
Smith, Jimmy
We met a Portuguese member.
0:24:8.360 –> 0:24:10.210
Smith, Jimmy
It was fun and we were so excited.
0:24:10.220 –> 0:24:13.850
Smith, Jimmy
We were like we even spoke Portuguese in like 7 hours.
0:24:14.100 –> 0:24:14.990
Smith, Jimmy
We’re so excited.
0:24:15.0 –> 0:24:20.240
Smith, Jimmy
We’re like, yeah, missionaries always stick out of their pork because obviously they’re dressed.
0:24:20.250 –> 0:24:22.90
Smith, Jimmy
And their name tag and you were still.
0:24:22.100 –> 0:24:29.380
Smith, Jimmy
You haven’t been really, so you’re still full time missionaries, and you’re supposed to stay as much as possible with companion and with mission rules, right?
0:24:29.390 –> 0:24:29.960
Smith, Jimmy
Right, right.
0:24:30.730 –> 0:24:31.870
Smith, Jimmy
OK cool so.
0:24:33.870 –> 0:24:42.270
Smith, Jimmy
Anything else you want to say about that, or should we jump to you arrived in Dallas where me and your mom and siblings met you at the airport?
0:24:42.320 –> 0:24:45.150
Smith, Jimmy
I will just add like Oh my goodness.
0:24:45.160 –> 0:24:50.410
Smith, Jimmy
Like that was the most like I felt so anxious that whole entire day.
0:24:50.500 –> 0:24:53.790
Smith, Jimmy
It was just like, oh, no, it’s all coming to an end.
0:24:54.260 –> 0:25:4.10
Smith, Jimmy
Like I have to leave Portugal, I have to, like, leave all those people that I like met and, like, loved and like, it’s just like I don’t know what.
0:25:4.20 –> 0:25:4.610
Smith, Jimmy
I’ll go back.
0:25:4.620 –> 0:25:7.830
Smith, Jimmy
So that was just kind of like it’s just it was just kind of like sad.
0:25:7.840 –> 0:25:8.250
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:25:8.330 –> 0:25:14.400
Smith, Jimmy
And then it was like, once we, like got out of Portugal like, OK, I’m like that it’s there now.
0:25:16.330 –> 0:25:21.40
Smith, Jimmy
But then he was like, oh man, I’ve got, like, a whole bunch of other things to like, think about and worry about.
0:25:21.50 –> 0:25:25.320
Smith, Jimmy
And I felt like, you know, that last week to couple, you know, transfer.
0:25:25.330 –> 0:25:26.330
Smith, Jimmy
I was just trying to like.
0:25:26.390 –> 0:25:28.610
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, just what’s the word?
0:25:30.450 –> 0:25:31.360
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, like?
0:25:31.370 –> 0:25:32.260
Smith, Jimmy
Enjoy that.
0:25:32.310 –> 0:25:36.440
Smith, Jimmy
And like I don’t know the word I’m thinking, of course he’s up.
0:25:37.770 –> 0:25:39.220
Smith, Jimmy
Just like that, end of the mission.
0:25:39.230 –> 0:25:42.240
Smith, Jimmy
Like, really like worked really hard.
0:25:42.250 –> 0:25:42.430
Smith, Jimmy
Like.
0:25:42.440 –> 0:25:42.660
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:25:42.670 –> 0:25:43.870
Smith, Jimmy
Take advantage of it the most.
0:25:43.880 –> 0:25:45.30
Smith, Jimmy
Make the most there you go.
0:25:45.650 –> 0:25:48.900
Smith, Jimmy
Umm, so it was like I felt like I didn’t like think.
0:25:49.340 –> 0:25:52.940
Smith, Jimmy
I mean, I thought about home a lot, but I like.
0:25:52.990 –> 0:25:56.940
Smith, Jimmy
For me, I was just like I just put it in the back of my mind because I was just like I can’t right now.
0:25:56.950 –> 0:26:2.880
Smith, Jimmy
I can’t think about that, but then on that traveling day home, I was just like, oh, man, it’s all coming.
0:26:3.590 –> 0:26:8.700
Smith, Jimmy
So it was like, of course, like lots of excitement like happy emotions.
0:26:8.770 –> 0:26:11.870
Smith, Jimmy
But it was a lot more like, just like, Oh my goodness.
0:26:11.880 –> 0:26:13.80
Smith, Jimmy
Like scary.
0:26:13.140 –> 0:26:19.790
Smith, Jimmy
More than I’ve ever thought it would be because I was always like, I won’t be that missionary because, like, stared in like, sad to go home.
0:26:19.800 –> 0:26:25.710
Smith, Jimmy
I’ll just be fine, but then it’s like when you really dedicate yourself like to the work and the loving the people.
0:26:25.720 –> 0:26:28.530
Smith, Jimmy
It’s like it’s harder to leave than you think it would be.
0:26:28.580 –> 0:26:29.30
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:26:29.80 –> 0:26:29.370
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:26:29.380 –> 0:26:34.470
Smith, Jimmy
Well, really is they always say mixed emotions and that’s described because you love your mission.
0:26:34.480 –> 0:26:35.290
Smith, Jimmy
You love the people there.
0:26:35.300 –> 0:26:36.150
Smith, Jimmy
You don’t want to leave.
0:26:36.380 –> 0:26:37.340
Smith, Jimmy
You missed home.
0:26:37.360 –> 0:26:38.380
Smith, Jimmy
Didn’t want to stay in?
0:26:38.560 –> 0:26:40.550
Smith, Jimmy
Well, the answer like I was that was done.
0:26:40.560 –> 0:26:40.940
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:26:40.990 –> 0:26:44.150
Smith, Jimmy
And you were looking forward to seeing your family again.
0:26:44.160 –> 0:26:47.90
Smith, Jimmy
And and and moving on with your life and so forth.
0:26:47.100 –> 0:26:54.590
Smith, Jimmy
So it really is this, this probably flood of emotions as as you’ve described and it’s it’s a flood of emotion for parents as well.
0:26:54.670 –> 0:27:0.470
Smith, Jimmy
I mean I I uh, uh, your mom, my wife Heather.
0:27:0.530 –> 0:27:4.570
Smith, Jimmy
She had a countdown on her phone from like more than a month.
0:27:4.700 –> 0:27:5.950
Smith, Jimmy
It’s like this countdown.
0:27:6.400 –> 0:27:10.410
Smith, Jimmy
Penney’s Hannah will be home in 31 days and 20 days.
0:27:10.420 –> 0:27:11.590
Smith, Jimmy
She was counting down.
0:27:11.900 –> 0:27:14.490
Smith, Jimmy
She she missed you greatly as than me.
0:27:14.500 –> 0:27:16.950
Smith, Jimmy
And and and all all the family.
0:27:17.640 –> 0:27:29.150
Smith, Jimmy
So but maybe we can talk transition and talk about that now as as a family, we did like most other families of share my screen really briefly.
0:27:29.900 –> 0:27:30.180
Smith, Jimmy
Uh.
0:27:31.400 –> 0:27:35.110
Smith, Jimmy
The I have some pictures I wanted to show.
0:27:35.180 –> 0:27:36.200
Smith, Jimmy
Well, one picture.
0:27:36.210 –> 0:27:41.400
Smith, Jimmy
I’ll, I’ll show you know, like, like a lot of families do.
0:27:41.410 –> 0:27:43.110
Smith, Jimmy
We went to the airport to meet Hannah.
0:27:43.120 –> 0:27:49.30
Smith, Jimmy
We were there, you know, we thought we were there plenty early and and we were there plenty early, but we you know.
0:27:52.190 –> 0:27:53.550
Smith, Jimmy
We made these posters.
0:27:53.560 –> 0:28:0.250
Smith, Jimmy
Everybody had a poster and we were, you know, we were running around when we got to the airport, we kind of frantic because we went to where we thought you were going to be.
0:28:0.260 –> 0:28:5.750
Smith, Jimmy
And then we went to this other terminal and then we came back and we were worried we were going to miss you.
0:28:5.760 –> 0:28:13.510
Smith, Jimmy
But then we were way early because then we were still, you know, we were standing outside the door where you came out for at least 20 or 30 minutes before you finally came out.
0:28:13.550 –> 0:28:14.370
Smith, Jimmy
So it was.
0:28:14.380 –> 0:28:15.110
Smith, Jimmy
It was totally fine.
0:28:17.280 –> 0:28:27.510
Smith, Jimmy
Well, the DFW airport is huge, is one of the biggest in in the in the nation and the signage was not clear because we went to the right place to begin with.
0:28:27.520 –> 0:28:29.570
Smith, Jimmy
But then it didn’t seem like the right place.
0:28:29.580 –> 0:28:32.890
Smith, Jimmy
So we went to the other place and then we came back anyway.
0:28:32.900 –> 0:28:33.410
Smith, Jimmy
It was about.
0:28:33.420 –> 0:28:44.970
Smith, Jimmy
But anyway, we made pictures, so there’s myself and my wife and and three of our our four kids, four ABS on the phone.
0:28:45.40 –> 0:28:45.450
Smith, Jimmy
Five.
0:28:45.500 –> 0:28:47.130
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, our son’s at BYU.
0:28:47.140 –> 0:28:49.90
Smith, Jimmy
He’s there on the well.
0:28:49.100 –> 0:28:57.60
Smith, Jimmy
We so Hannah plus three of our kids that are living at home, plus our college kid A+.
0:28:57.70 –> 0:29:0.420
Smith, Jimmy
Truman was tired and didn’t want to come.
0:29:1.20 –> 0:29:5.130
Smith, Jimmy
He’s he’s he’s our son with some mental health challenges.
0:29:5.140 –> 0:29:6.280
Smith, Jimmy
So he was at home.
0:29:6.690 –> 0:29:7.720
Smith, Jimmy
Uh, very way.
0:29:7.730 –> 0:29:8.980
Smith, Jimmy
So we met Hannah Anderson.
0:29:8.990 –> 0:29:12.800
Smith, Jimmy
This was the picture, so just wanted to and you’re looking at it.
0:29:12.810 –> 0:29:14.730
Smith, Jimmy
Yes, I look exhausted.
0:29:15.250 –> 0:29:17.760
Smith, Jimmy
It’s because I had traveled for like 18 hours.
0:29:17.770 –> 0:29:18.840
Smith, Jimmy
So yes, stupid.
0:29:18.850 –> 0:29:24.660
Smith, Jimmy
Traveling all day and this was like 10:10 PM, ten or 10:30.
0:29:24.770 –> 0:29:29.620
Smith, Jimmy
Our time like 3 it’s would have been like, yeah, 3:00 AM this time.
0:29:29.630 –> 0:29:34.360
Smith, Jimmy
So like 4 no by that time.
0:29:34.370 –> 0:29:40.20
Smith, Jimmy
So so that that’s from our perspective as parents and family, you coming home?
0:29:40.30 –> 0:29:46.380
Smith, Jimmy
We waited anxiously and of course, when you walk through that gate, everybody came and gave you big hugs and so forth.
0:29:46.610 –> 0:29:51.580
Smith, Jimmy
What were your thoughts and emotions at that time bouncing.
0:29:52.120 –> 0:29:52.950
Smith, Jimmy
That’s exciting.
0:29:53.10 –> 0:29:54.910
Smith, Jimmy
OK, it was just. It was crazy.
0:29:54.920 –> 0:29:56.30
Smith, Jimmy
I was like what?
0:29:56.180 –> 0:29:57.620
Smith, Jimmy
And like feel like I never left.
0:29:58.650 –> 0:30:0.280
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t know that’s how it felt for me.
0:30:0.290 –> 0:30:1.920
Smith, Jimmy
I’m just like ohh my gosh.
0:30:1.930 –> 0:30:7.850
Smith, Jimmy
Like I’m back, it was like, wait like on that like it just it.
0:30:7.910 –> 0:30:11.640
Smith, Jimmy
It felt kind of like surreal I was, but it was.
0:30:11.650 –> 0:30:12.580
Smith, Jimmy
So I don’t know.
0:30:12.630 –> 0:30:12.960
Smith, Jimmy
It’s good.
0:30:12.970 –> 0:30:15.720
Smith, Jimmy
Just like ohh yeah.
0:30:15.760 –> 0:30:21.940
Smith, Jimmy
You guys are cute and everything is so big I think lies is so like tall and like.
0:30:21.990 –> 0:30:25.0
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, the charity devices right now, she’s probably 10.
0:30:25.10 –> 0:30:28.0
Smith, Jimmy
When you left, all the kids are sprouted up.
0:30:28.310 –> 0:30:38.870
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, but it’s interesting that you say it’s like you never left because I’ve kind of had that same feeling like, like within a day or two is like, Hanna’s back in our family, in our home.
0:30:38.880 –> 0:30:41.590
Smith, Jimmy
It’s like she never left, even though she was gone for 18 months.
0:30:42.300 –> 0:30:44.890
Smith, Jimmy
Well, it’s crazy too, because it’s like in my brain.
0:30:44.900 –> 0:30:49.790
Smith, Jimmy
I’m like, I’m just back in high school cause like I haven’t really lived at home since I like left high school.
0:30:49.840 –> 0:30:50.770
Smith, Jimmy
I liked it.
0:30:50.880 –> 0:30:51.500
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:30:51.740 –> 0:30:52.110
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:30:52.150 –> 0:30:58.370
Smith, Jimmy
So yeah, cuz you graduated high school and then soon you’re off to BYU and then you came back briefly and then off to the mission.
0:30:58.380 –> 0:31:0.210
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, but it’s good.
0:31:0.220 –> 0:31:13.740
Smith, Jimmy
I’m like, I’m like trying to spend every spare second I have like my siblings and with mom and dad and talking and just like, taking it all in because yeah, it’s precious time.
0:31:13.790 –> 0:31:14.290
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah.
0:31:14.350 –> 0:31:19.370
Smith, Jimmy
So a let’s briefly talk about you got home.
0:31:19.380 –> 0:31:22.790
Smith, Jimmy
It was late on a Friday night on Saturday.
0:31:22.800 –> 0:31:29.230
Smith, Jimmy
Let’s briefly talk about how you were released by your state president and then Sunday was your homecoming talk.
0:31:29.240 –> 0:31:31.30
Smith, Jimmy
So let’s talk about those things.
0:31:31.160 –> 0:31:33.240
Smith, Jimmy
Talk about like billion things back to back.
0:31:35.60 –> 0:31:36.140
Smith, Jimmy
So yeah, Saturday.
0:31:37.680 –> 0:31:38.50
Smith, Jimmy
Uh.
0:31:38.500 –> 0:31:40.170
Smith, Jimmy
Ohh yeah, stake president.
0:31:40.640 –> 0:31:45.490
Smith, Jimmy
So he came over to our house at, like, 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon.
0:31:45.680 –> 0:31:56.150
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, he had some meetings all morning on Saturday morning, so as soon as he was done, he came over to our house, which was a surprise to me because when I was released from my mission, I went to the stake center.
0:31:56.240 –> 0:32:2.250
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t know if if that’s if that’s just differs based on the preferences of the state president.
0:32:2.260 –> 0:32:4.150
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t know, but you know his?
0:32:4.640 –> 0:32:5.190
Smith, Jimmy
His.
0:32:5.240 –> 0:32:12.640
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, his executive secretary reached out to me a couple weeks ago before that and said, hey, he wants to come to your home to release Hannah.
0:32:12.710 –> 0:32:13.520
Smith, Jimmy
So.
0:32:13.590 –> 0:32:14.150
Smith, Jimmy
So he did that?
0:32:15.350 –> 0:32:15.910
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:32:16.300 –> 0:32:21.960
Smith, Jimmy
So yeah, I like had spent that morning still as like a set apartment share was like my tag and stuff.
0:32:22.10 –> 0:32:25.410
Smith, Jimmy
And yeah, so he came over, he met with me, like, privately.
0:32:25.420 –> 0:32:26.170
Smith, Jimmy
We talked about.
0:32:27.930 –> 0:32:33.600
Smith, Jimmy
And we talk about, we talk about you mentioned my my plan, umm and.
0:32:36.60 –> 0:32:41.310
Smith, Jimmy
Basically was like you did good and he was like sometimes or not.
0:32:41.320 –> 0:32:46.610
Smith, Jimmy
Sometimes, most of the time, it’s the best missionaries that have the hardest time coming home.
0:32:46.620 –> 0:32:55.450
Smith, Jimmy
He’s like, so if you feel like you’re having a hard time, it’s probably because you were a good missionary and you’re actually, like, obedient and dedicated and consecrated.
0:32:55.460 –> 0:33:0.440
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, this is good to know, so keep that in mind.
0:33:1.970 –> 0:33:8.580
Smith, Jimmy
But anyways, yeah, we just basically talked about that and then we met, we grow the whole family were in the room.
0:33:9.240 –> 0:33:14.210
Smith, Jimmy
Umm, it’s like interesting when you get set apart to be a missionary.
0:33:14.220 –> 0:33:22.280
Smith, Jimmy
It’s like they do it by the laying on of hands and it’s like not like very formal, but it’s like it’s more formal.
0:33:22.290 –> 0:33:24.250
Smith, Jimmy
Well, you have that formal step of the mission.
0:33:24.260 –> 0:33:28.0
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, the state president putting his hands on your head is setting your partner right there.
0:33:28.50 –> 0:33:31.260
Smith, Jimmy
But when you’re released, it’s it’s just thanks.
0:33:31.270 –> 0:33:34.980
Smith, Jimmy
There’s no setting setting on of hands and just shook my hands.
0:33:35.370 –> 0:33:36.420
Smith, Jimmy
And thank you for your service.
0:33:37.400 –> 0:33:38.970
Smith, Jimmy
So he was like, Are you ready?
0:33:38.980 –> 0:33:40.40
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, huh?
0:33:40.540 –> 0:33:45.540
Smith, Jimmy
And he just, like, stood up and shook my hand and said, yeah, like, thank you for your service.
0:33:45.550 –> 0:33:47.770
Smith, Jimmy
You are hereby like released.
0:33:47.880 –> 0:33:49.620
Smith, Jimmy
You take off your tag.
0:33:49.630 –> 0:33:56.130
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, I know he was crying and I took my tag off and it was sad.
0:33:56.140 –> 0:33:58.690
Smith, Jimmy
And then I was, like, holding it.
0:33:58.700 –> 0:34:1.930
Smith, Jimmy
And I kept like trying to put it back on and it kept going to put it back on.
0:34:2.120 –> 0:34:14.100
Smith, Jimmy
So I was like ohh no, I was like why isn’t my title like it’s just umm but it was just like, no, no, they always say like you know, it doesn’t matter if you have the tag.
0:34:14.110 –> 0:34:17.160
Smith, Jimmy
You’re not cause like it’s the name of Christ is written in your heart.
0:34:17.170 –> 0:34:18.400
Smith, Jimmy
Like it’ll stay there.
0:34:18.470 –> 0:34:24.740
Smith, Jimmy
So just kind of try and keep that in mind, but it’s still like it’s kind of like sad to take it off.
0:34:24.840 –> 0:34:30.790
Smith, Jimmy
And then at the same time I was like, OK, like this is a relief like I did it.
0:34:31.720 –> 0:34:37.390
Smith, Jimmy
And like I I had, I was talking to one of my old companions and she was like you did it.
0:34:37.400 –> 0:34:41.380
Smith, Jimmy
Like, celebrate like, look at like, look at what you did.
0:34:41.390 –> 0:34:50.560
Smith, Jimmy
You just did these like 18 months of, like, precious service for the Lord and like, that was like, hard and like you did it.
0:34:51.260 –> 0:34:53.400
Smith, Jimmy
And you lived in another country and you learned a language.
0:34:53.410 –> 0:34:57.730
Smith, Jimmy
And you’ve taught people and you love people like pat yourself on the back and not don’t.
0:34:57.740 –> 0:35:5.410
Smith, Jimmy
Just like while the when you said, you know, like it’s like now go like be excited and go like continue with your life.
0:35:5.420 –> 0:35:10.610
Smith, Jimmy
It’s like your missions not over, like you’re still you can still serve the Lord.
0:35:10.740 –> 0:35:14.170
Smith, Jimmy
So anyways, just yeah.
0:35:14.180 –> 0:35:19.380
Smith, Jimmy
So that’s that’s interesting that you put it that way because like I, I wasn’t planning to talk about this.
0:35:19.390 –> 0:35:25.810
Smith, Jimmy
But the week after Hannah came home, I had her come to my office and talked to my colleagues just at at kind of a luncheon.
0:35:25.820 –> 0:35:35.950
Smith, Jimmy
Learn just because while she was gone for 18 months, every once in a while, I would talk to my all my coworkers knew she was on a mission and I would show him pictures.
0:35:35.960 –> 0:35:39.420
Smith, Jimmy
And they would ask about House Hannah doing in Portugal says so.
0:35:39.430 –> 0:35:45.620
Smith, Jimmy
I thought I’ll just have her come talk to them, but every one of my colleagues at work and and none of them are members of the church.
0:35:45.990 –> 0:35:47.240
Smith, Jimmy
We’re so complementary.
0:35:47.250 –> 0:35:52.140
Smith, Jimmy
They’re just like, so amazed at the sacrifice that our missionaries make.
0:35:52.150 –> 0:36:9.360
Smith, Jimmy
And I think I think it’s, it’s taken for granted somewhat within the church that your missionary service, but it is a huge accomplishment to totally give up your life for 18 months or 24 months for the elders and to leave home and leave school and work and and family and friends behind.
0:36:9.370 –> 0:36:12.300
Smith, Jimmy
I mean it’s it’s it’s an amazing sacrifice.
0:36:12.370 –> 0:36:13.410
Smith, Jimmy
It’s a great experience.
0:36:14.50 –> 0:36:20.280
Smith, Jimmy
You I you grew in, in, in amazing ways both physically and spiritually.
0:36:20.810 –> 0:36:23.620
Smith, Jimmy
But it is a an amazing accomplishment.
0:36:23.670 –> 0:36:28.860
Smith, Jimmy
And as as as you know, I don’t like to use the word proud.
0:36:28.870 –> 0:36:37.870
Smith, Jimmy
So you should be proud of yourself, but you should be very pleased of yourself and of the the accomplishments of serving and faithful mission.
0:36:41.180 –> 0:36:52.10
Smith, Jimmy
So umm, let’s try and wrap this up within the next few minutes, but let’s you’ve been released on Saturday.
0:36:52.20 –> 0:36:57.160
Smith, Jimmy
On Sunday, you gave a homecoming Talk 1 won’t you just briefly talk about that and the rest of the day Sunday?
0:36:57.850 –> 0:37:1.290
Smith, Jimmy
Umm yeah, just spoke at church about.
0:37:3.180 –> 0:37:7.730
Smith, Jimmy
I tried to sum up my entire 18 months in basically 12.
0:37:8.0 –> 0:37:10.800
Smith, Jimmy
Now, I don’t feel like 15 minutes 15 minutes.
0:37:11.450 –> 0:37:12.110
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:37:12.590 –> 0:37:13.820
Smith, Jimmy
Which it was so funny.
0:37:13.830 –> 0:37:27.940
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, I could not even think about what I would possibly could say like about so much in so little time, but I ended up and I ended up writing it like the night before because I didn’t.
0:37:28.50 –> 0:37:46.550
Smith, Jimmy
I’ve tried to write it on my travel day home, but I couldn’t focus and but I mean I guess you guys don’t need to know what I spoke about, but I spoke about like the Holy Ghost and the influence of that has like on the mission and just in general and life as a member of the church and as a person.
0:37:47.200 –> 0:37:52.90
Smith, Jimmy
Umm and yeah, it was a good experience.
0:37:52.220 –> 0:37:55.390
Smith, Jimmy
I bore my testimony at the end of what you can’t worry.
0:37:55.680 –> 0:37:57.170
Smith, Jimmy
And I did cry a little bit.
0:37:57.380 –> 0:37:59.780
Smith, Jimmy
So, umm yeah.
0:37:59.840 –> 0:38:8.110
Smith, Jimmy
And then that later that day, we had a little open house and we just had some food in our house and we invited people to come say Hi to me if they wanted. Yeah.
0:38:8.120 –> 0:38:12.390
Smith, Jimmy
And yeah, most of the people from the ward pain that like, you mean yeah.
0:38:12.500 –> 0:38:24.600
Smith, Jimmy
From when I was like a use but it was good and just fun little like it was fun to see everyone again at church and we’re in a different ward now than we were when I left because their boundaries changed.
0:38:24.610 –> 0:38:28.30
Smith, Jimmy
But there were still a lot of familiar faces, so it was like, yeah.
0:38:28.850 –> 0:38:34.610
Smith, Jimmy
But yeah, so OK, so UM then.
0:38:34.890 –> 0:38:39.600
Smith, Jimmy
So then it’s it’s it’s kind of like being thrown back into life.
0:38:39.610 –> 0:38:40.950
Smith, Jimmy
You, you you got released.
0:38:40.960 –> 0:38:44.690
Smith, Jimmy
You did your homecoming talk and it’s.
0:38:44.740 –> 0:38:51.40
Smith, Jimmy
Let’s let’s briefly talk about well, well, the transition into regular civilian life.
0:38:51.50 –> 0:38:57.560
Smith, Jimmy
You applied for a job and and we don’t need to go into a lot of details and and maybe we’ll have other podcasts.
0:38:57.570 –> 0:39:8.860
Smith, Jimmy
We’ll go into more detail about life after the mission, but you’re you’re planning to go to back to BYU in the fall, and until then you’re going to work.
0:39:9.270 –> 0:39:10.320
Smith, Jimmy
Try and earn some money.
0:39:10.330 –> 0:39:11.790
Smith, Jimmy
Pay the bills, you.
0:39:13.10 –> 0:39:24.250
Smith, Jimmy
UM, you’ve you’ve been accepted being FSY counselor this summer, but until then you have two or three months, and so you’re just working.
0:39:24.850 –> 0:39:26.240
Smith, Jimmy
How’s that been going back?
0:39:26.250 –> 0:39:27.440
Smith, Jimmy
Back to work and.
0:39:28.950 –> 0:39:37.120
Smith, Jimmy
Anything else you want to say about getting that first week or two back and getting used to regular life?
0:39:37.130 –> 0:39:39.170
Smith, Jimmy
Because now you’re going to work every day.
0:39:39.180 –> 0:39:40.360
Smith, Jimmy
You’ve been home for two weeks now.
0:39:40.370 –> 0:39:43.520
Smith, Jimmy
You’re going to work and kind of back into yeah.
0:39:43.620 –> 0:39:44.490
Smith, Jimmy
Life where?
0:39:44.530 –> 0:39:45.670
Smith, Jimmy
How’s that feel?
0:39:45.680 –> 0:39:46.360
Smith, Jimmy
How’s that going?
0:39:47.430 –> 0:39:49.0
Smith, Jimmy
It feels so weird.
0:39:49.890 –> 0:39:51.100
Smith, Jimmy
It’s interesting.
0:39:53.160 –> 0:39:57.470
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, it’s just like, feels like a fish out of water.
0:39:57.960 –> 0:40:0.590
Smith, Jimmy
That’s I I don’t.
0:40:0.600 –> 0:40:1.850
Smith, Jimmy
I can’t even describe.
0:40:1.860 –> 0:40:2.890
Smith, Jimmy
It’s so interesting.
0:40:3.900 –> 0:40:9.500
Smith, Jimmy
My first week back I wasn’t working and I was just doing like checkups, appointments like Dennis and stuff.
0:40:9.570 –> 0:40:10.210
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:40:11.40 –> 0:40:17.790
Smith, Jimmy
And then I started working the week after it, which is like quick turn around, but I didn’t want too much time, just like sitting and not doing anything.
0:40:19.60 –> 0:40:31.390
Smith, Jimmy
It’s so interesting because even like working like every day it’s it feels different than like being busy as a missionary, because like, you’re busy, like, doing things.
0:40:31.500 –> 0:40:33.930
Smith, Jimmy
But it just it’s like feels so different.
0:40:33.970 –> 0:40:44.50
Smith, Jimmy
Umm it’s interesting cuz like it’s crazy like I just went through these like 18 months and I just like have so many things about it that I like.
0:40:44.60 –> 0:40:54.860
Smith, Jimmy
I’m thinking about but I can’t like put it into words and it’s not like most people I interact with like know about it or like would know how to ask me about it or like want to talk to me about it.
0:40:54.970 –> 0:41:2.930
Smith, Jimmy
So it’s hard because I’m just like, well, there’s so many things and it’s not like like most of the people around me did not just get home from my mission.
0:41:2.940 –> 0:41:21.270
Smith, Jimmy
So that’s kind of just like this is just like me and like trying to figure it out, I really should just reach out to more friends that just got home, but it’s like it’s crazy because, you know, you spent 18 months like messaging people and calling people like crazy and like, literally my will to miss message.
0:41:21.280 –> 0:41:24.480
Smith, Jimmy
Anyone is like out the window you’re talking about?
0:41:24.490 –> 0:41:33.50
Smith, Jimmy
Like investigators, friends that you’re messaging Alzheimer or the other missionaries were both just like people in general.
0:41:33.180 –> 0:41:35.110
Smith, Jimmy
Like for me, I’m kind of like introverted.
0:41:35.120 –> 0:41:46.230
Smith, Jimmy
So me reaching out to all my friends, return missionaries like probably be good to talk to them and like stroike stay caught up and like we can help each other and the transition.
0:41:46.240 –> 0:41:50.630
Smith, Jimmy
But it’s kind of just like, whoa, like it’s so much and just.
0:41:50.640 –> 0:41:54.630
Smith, Jimmy
I’m not doing great at talking to all of them, but that’s just part of the life.
0:41:54.640 –> 0:41:56.630
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, but but there is.
0:41:56.640 –> 0:42:6.620
Smith, Jimmy
You are going to the Yasa brand and our state is wysa branch and there are a couple recently returned missionaries that error Ghost image ohm.
0:42:6.990 –> 0:42:9.600
Smith, Jimmy
But yeah, basically I don’t know.
0:42:9.610 –> 0:42:11.80
Smith, Jimmy
There’s some of sum it up.
0:42:11.90 –> 0:42:12.720
Smith, Jimmy
It’s very interesting. And it’s.
0:42:14.0 –> 0:42:20.350
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, I haven’t really processed what’s happening yet, but it’s.
0:42:20.980 –> 0:42:27.650
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, it’s interesting to think about like all the way I perceived going home the way it would be.
0:42:27.820 –> 0:42:30.200
Smith, Jimmy
Just like freedom?
0:42:30.210 –> 0:42:30.990
Smith, Jimmy
Yes.
0:42:31.40 –> 0:42:32.590
Smith, Jimmy
And I’m like you’re doing it.
0:42:32.600 –> 0:42:38.650
Smith, Jimmy
And I’m like, I have so much I need to do like so, even though like, I’m not going to school right now.
0:42:38.660 –> 0:42:43.990
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, I’m not like, yeah, they’re not going to school, but it’s just like ohh wow.
0:42:44.0 –> 0:42:55.280
Smith, Jimmy
Like normal life like I was thinking today, it’s like, wow, it’s like I just wish I could do what I was doing on the mission, just like, only focus on, like Jesus Christ 24/7.
0:42:55.330 –> 0:43:0.220
Smith, Jimmy
And I didn’t realize what, like a blessing that was just to like, I don’t have to worry about myself.
0:43:0.230 –> 0:43:3.40
Smith, Jimmy
And I have to worry about my financial needs.
0:43:3.370 –> 0:43:4.200
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t have to worry.
0:43:4.210 –> 0:43:5.540
Smith, Jimmy
I don’t have to worry about these things.
0:43:5.550 –> 0:43:9.670
Smith, Jimmy
I can just like focus on this and like it was interesting on my mission.
0:43:9.680 –> 0:43:11.310
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, I would like be like ohh.
0:43:11.320 –> 0:43:16.390
Smith, Jimmy
But I need to like take care of myself like and I would think that I was getting like caught up in myself.
0:43:16.440 –> 0:43:17.610
Smith, Jimmy
I was not.
0:43:17.680 –> 0:43:22.410
Smith, Jimmy
I was just like, caught up in the fact that I thought I was caught getting caught up in myself.
0:43:22.420 –> 0:43:24.330
Smith, Jimmy
But you’re so selfless.
0:43:24.880 –> 0:43:26.470
Smith, Jimmy
And you’re so focused on Jesus Christ.
0:43:26.480 –> 0:43:32.280
Smith, Jimmy
And now I’m like, it’s kind of frustrating because I’m like I I’ve heard before.
0:43:32.290 –> 0:43:34.60
Smith, Jimmy
Missionaries like return missions get pressure.
0:43:34.70 –> 0:43:39.690
Smith, Jimmy
They can’t spend an hour in the scriptures everyday and like I’m frustrated that I like I probably could and probably find the time.
0:43:39.800 –> 0:43:41.990
Smith, Jimmy
But it’s just so different to like, I’m frustrated.
0:43:42.0 –> 0:43:46.40
Smith, Jimmy
I can’t find that solid hour to have like a solid person sitting.
0:43:46.50 –> 0:43:53.620
Smith, Jimmy
I’m like frustrated that not every conversation I have I can talk about Jesus Christ like naturally and normally in the way I would like to.
0:43:53.630 –> 0:44:0.780
Smith, Jimmy
And it’s frustrating that I have to like, think about money and I have to think about a job and I have to think about school and friendships and family.
0:44:1.70 –> 0:44:2.120
Smith, Jimmy
Which is it? Bad?
0:44:2.170 –> 0:44:9.500
Smith, Jimmy
Those aren’t bad things, but it’s just like a hard perspective shift because I it’s not that I don’t want to have to focus on those things.
0:44:9.570 –> 0:44:18.540
Smith, Jimmy
I’m just kind of like frustrated and annoyed that it’s like, why do I have to focus on those things when like, there’s this other thing that’s just like, way more important?
0:44:18.550 –> 0:44:22.160
Smith, Jimmy
And above all these things that you can’t focus all your time on.
0:44:22.230 –> 0:44:32.240
Smith, Jimmy
So then it’s like how do I integrate that into every bit of my time and how do I prioritize that in a way that I maybe didn’t before my mission?
0:44:32.720 –> 0:44:41.140
Smith, Jimmy
And like, how do I take what I learned in prioritizing him in every 2nd and still apply that now and still apply that in like everything in my life?
0:44:41.220 –> 0:44:47.330
Smith, Jimmy
Yeah, I think that’s a an amazing insight and and an important learning.
0:44:47.540 –> 0:44:53.950
Smith, Jimmy
And I I hope I’m not discouraging you by saying this, but I don’t know that it gets much better the rest of life.
0:44:53.960 –> 0:45:18.980
Smith, Jimmy
Because I mean, I still deal with that same thing because as a parent of six kids and a full time job and looking after, you know, my family and their needs and trying to take care of the house and the yard and fulfilling church callings and feeling like the call that I feel from the Lord to, like, do Mission Prep website and and stuff.
0:45:19.30 –> 0:45:28.980
Smith, Jimmy
Anyway, balancing all that but also trying to find that like you said and and hour a day to do Scripture study, that’s nearly impossible.
0:45:28.990 –> 0:45:37.210
Smith, Jimmy
So I have to do it in chunks here and there and and make use of time but but figuring out that balance in life it’s tough.
0:45:37.220 –> 0:45:38.470
Smith, Jimmy
It’s rewarding you.
0:45:38.480 –> 0:45:42.620
Smith, Jimmy
You can do it, but it is very different than it being a missionary.
0:45:42.630 –> 0:45:54.760
Smith, Jimmy
Like you said, you’re so focused on as a missionary, you don’t have to worry about earning money, or you don’t have all these distractions are left, but to the wayside or or.
0:45:54.830 –> 0:46:2.160
Smith, Jimmy
Or, you know your parents and other people handle those, so you can just focus on finding and teaching and inviting people to come unto Christ.
0:46:2.170 –> 0:46:15.540
Smith, Jimmy
And it’s it’s a wonderful time in your life to be a missionary, but now you’re transitioning to another phase and you’re going to you’ll learn how to master that as well, no doubt about it.
0:46:15.590 –> 0:46:18.100
Smith, Jimmy
But I think we better wrap up.
0:46:18.110 –> 0:46:20.180
Smith, Jimmy
Let me give you the last word, Hannah.
0:46:20.190 –> 0:46:26.390
Smith, Jimmy
Any parting comments, advice, testimony before we conclude?
0:46:27.500 –> 0:46:27.990
Smith, Jimmy
Umm.
0:46:28.30 –> 0:46:33.680
Smith, Jimmy
She umm, just you can you can think up our our topic.
0:46:33.690 –> 0:46:54.480
Smith, Jimmy
You know, being that the transfer home your your final week or weeks in the mission and your first few weeks home any any, any advice for missionaries who will be going through this soon and what what what can you you know briefly tell them to to you know, wrap this up in conclude this.
0:46:54.490 –> 0:46:55.550
Smith, Jimmy
Any any thoughts?
0:46:56.0 –> 0:46:57.440
Smith, Jimmy
I I just had a thought.
0:46:57.450 –> 0:47:11.320
Smith, Jimmy
From what I I was reading in my scription yesterday, cause I’ve been like like I said, I’ve been trying to keep up with my like Scripture study every day because I found that was such like an empowering tool in my mission.
0:47:11.330 –> 0:47:14.270
Smith, Jimmy
Like gotta keep it going after.
0:47:14.280 –> 0:47:23.260
Smith, Jimmy
So I’ve been really trying to do that and I found in my study yesterday I don’t think this doesn’t like I’m it’s gonna make sense.
0:47:23.430 –> 0:47:30.340
Smith, Jimmy
Umm, I was studying about like forgiveness and like repentance and stuff like that.
0:47:30.590 –> 0:47:37.40
Smith, Jimmy
And I read something that said that forgiveness is an act of faith and.
0:47:39.190 –> 0:47:45.900
Smith, Jimmy
What I’m thinking right now is like not only is like forgiveness and act of faith, but like.
0:47:48.250 –> 0:47:53.140
Smith, Jimmy
Everything that we do can be inactive faith in the Lord.
0:47:53.210 –> 0:48:5.740
Smith, Jimmy
I remember at the beginning of my mission and the MTC I kind of had this, like, little epiphany in my brain where I was like, whoa, me, like, just being here and like, trust, like just being here and, like, trying to be a missionary.
0:48:5.750 –> 0:48:7.740
Smith, Jimmy
That is like me waking up every day.
0:48:7.750 –> 0:48:18.270
Smith, Jimmy
That’s an act of faith like I have faith that, like God, is going to help me today and like me, just waking up, that’s like, activate me going to eat breakfast.
0:48:18.600 –> 0:48:23.210
Smith, Jimmy
That’s an act of faith because, like, I have faith that like that food will fuel me for the rest of the day.
0:48:23.220 –> 0:48:24.170
Smith, Jimmy
And the Lord will help me.
0:48:24.380 –> 0:48:39.50
Smith, Jimmy
And so I think, umm, maybe something we think about a lot is like going on a mission and takes a lot of faith, takes a lot of faith to leave your family and your home and and your friends and your studies.
0:48:39.820 –> 0:48:49.430
Smith, Jimmy
But then I think I’m just this involved and just random right now coming up, but I think like coming home takes a lot of faith too.
0:48:49.440 –> 0:49:1.870
Smith, Jimmy
It takes faith to to, like, leave, not leave those things behind, because obviously, like those things of the mission, like you keep them in your heart and they’re with you and you apply the things you learn.
0:49:2.640 –> 0:49:5.230
Smith, Jimmy
Umm, but still leaving.
0:49:5.240 –> 0:49:12.70
Smith, Jimmy
It takes a lot of of faith and I think I think we all can give ourselves a little bit more credit.
0:49:14.120 –> 0:49:25.120
Smith, Jimmy
Of the the amount of faith that we have and it because it takes, it takes faith and it takes courage to to make transitions and to do hard things.
0:49:25.130 –> 0:49:25.760
Smith, Jimmy
And so I think.
0:49:28.270 –> 0:49:34.500
Smith, Jimmy
That when you coming home you just have to keep having faith and keep focusing on Jesus Christ.
0:49:34.510 –> 0:49:42.520
Smith, Jimmy
Keep Jesus Christ the center of your studies and your life and your prayers, and just try and include him in everything.
0:49:42.530 –> 0:49:47.440
Smith, Jimmy
Cuz I’m I feel like that has been a helpful tool for me.
0:49:47.670 –> 0:49:49.60
Smith, Jimmy
Yesterday it was just funny.
0:49:49.70 –> 0:49:54.880
Smith, Jimmy
We were at church and our Bishop gave a talk and I felt like he the whole talk.
0:49:54.890 –> 0:50:0.330
Smith, Jimmy
He just only talked about Jesus and maybe he talked about other things and that was just the only thing that called my attention.
0:50:0.340 –> 0:50:1.60
Smith, Jimmy
But I was just.
0:50:1.430 –> 0:50:2.300
Smith, Jimmy
I was so impressed.
0:50:2.310 –> 0:50:3.220
Smith, Jimmy
I was like, wow.
0:50:3.230 –> 0:50:8.830
Smith, Jimmy
Like you can just like focus on Jesus Christ and it just makes you feel like so much better.
0:50:9.120 –> 0:50:15.850
Smith, Jimmy
Like obviously, everything in the gospel is like beautiful and good, but Jesus Christ, being our like Savior and Redeemer and our friend.
0:50:15.900 –> 0:50:19.560
Smith, Jimmy
Like, that’s powerful and that, like is what can fill your heart.
0:50:19.710 –> 0:50:32.510
Smith, Jimmy
And we sing a him right after that was, I stand all amazed and just made me like feel so full of love for the savior and really like feel kind of this.
0:50:32.520 –> 0:50:41.320
Smith, Jimmy
Just like peace and, like comfort that I hadn’t felt for a while, just like sitting there thinking about Jesus Christ and I.
0:50:41.550 –> 0:50:57.510
Smith, Jimmy
I’m just trying so hard to have faith in him, but I know that he has faith in me and then his faith in all of us, and that’s why he he died and suffered for us because he has faith that we all will be able to do it, and otherwise he wouldn’t wouldn’t have done what you’ve done.
0:50:57.620 –> 0:50:59.460
Smith, Jimmy
See you speak and helping us.
0:51:0.670 –> 0:51:1.450
Smith, Jimmy
Well, thank you, Hannah.
0:51:1.460 –> 0:51:2.520
Smith, Jimmy
It’s a beautiful testimony.
0:51:2.530 –> 0:51:3.240
Smith, Jimmy
Thank you.
0:51:3.310 –> 0:51:10.130
Smith, Jimmy
Thank you for joining me for this podcast video and thank you for serving a awesome mission.
0:51:10.140 –> 0:51:11.170
Smith, Jimmy
And thank everyone.
0:51:11.320 –> 0:51:14.950
Smith, Jimmy
Thank you all for watching and listening and we will see you next time.

0:51:14.960 –> 0:51:15.540
Smith, Jimmy
Bye bye.
The post The Transfer Home – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 19 appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
52 min
August 11, 2022 Mission Farewell, Setting Apart, and Home MTC – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 18
This video podcast is part 3 of my interview with my daughter, Hannah Smith, a young woman who recently began her full-time missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode, Hannah talks about her mission farewell sacrament meeting, her setting apart, and her two weeks of Home MTC before heading to the actual physical Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post. For other video/podcast episodes, check out the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast page.
Smith, Jimmy
Hello and welcome everyone. My name’s Jimmy Smith. I’m here with my daughter, Hannah, on another episode of the Latter Day Saint Mission Prep podcast.
Today we are talking with Hannah about her home MTC experience, so Hannah has been doing home MTC for the past two weeks and two days from now she is flying to Provo for four more weeks of MTC training. So. Welcome, Hanna. Welcome all viewers and listeners. And let’s jump in.
I guess just a brief background, if you haven’t seen part one and Part 2, this is part three, but if you haven’t seen others go back and watch the others in the first time I interviewed Hannah, I talked Sister Smith, I guess I should be calling you now. You’re officially set apart missionary. The part one we talked about the mission application process and paperwork and medical stuff and talking to your bishop and stake president and getting it all applied and sent to the church.
Part 2 we talked about. What did we talk about? Getting ready to go, going to the temple, going to the temple. I think opening my opening should call. We talked about that. Ohh like applying for a visa and a passport? Maybe mention prep class taking them that anyway. Part 2 was really good now. OK, so now here we are. Part three. We’re going to talk about primarily about home, MTC and a few other topics about maybe packing and getting ready to go and.
You know, and anything else you’re experience is getting set apart as a missionary. Your farewell talk. We can hit on all those things that have happened roughly in the last month. So in fact, one we do take it chronologically there, so. About I guess it was it 2 weeks ago today. You had your farewell talk. Yeah. So two weeks ago. Farewell talk. So we’re recording this on a Sunday in August. And so two weeks ago you had to farewell talk in Sacrament meeting and then that night set apart by the state president. Why don’t you talk about those anything that stands out?
Hannah:
Yeah, and those experiences. Ohh. No, no. Giving my talk was good. Mm-hmm. They, like, assigned me a topic to speak on, but I don’t really know if I really spoke about it. I just talked about, like. I don’t know. I talked to him a lot about. And then the willingness it takes to go on a mission and to like, just serve the Lord in general, but I don’t know. I thought that it went good. Yeah, we, me and my brother. That’s just sang you than me. We did a musical number together as well. So that was really good. Yeah. That turned out really nice.
Smith, Jimmy
Hannah plays the piano very well. Her younger brother Abe plays the trumpet and in the band and is very good as well. I had never heard a trumpet played in Sacramento. Yeah before. So I was surprised. I was surprised that you asked the Bishop because I don’t know that I would have dared to ask the Bishop if Abe could play his trumpet in sacrament meeting and he said yes, as long as it was reverent. And as long as it was a hymn. And so I thought it sounded excellent. I thought it was very reverent and very appropriate for sacrament meeting.
Hannah:
It’s fun and yeah.
Jimmy:
I was as a someone in the audience sitting there. In fact, I was very proud. Proud isn’t the right word. Pleased to see my daughter and my son up there. Made me feel like maybe I’ve done a semi good job as a parent to see Hannah giving her mission farewell talk and have Abe up there playing as well. Anyway, it was it was. It was good to see. It brought warm feelings to my heart, to quote Yoda.
So we also had an open house for you. Maybe briefly. Talk about that. That was the week after. But yeah, the week after that a lot of people would do that on the same day as the mission farewell. We didn’t have it coordinated. But the next week since you were doing home MTC for two weeks we did an open house and invited people from the ward over. Anything you want to say about that?
Hannah:
I don’t know. It was. We just had, like, a little bit of food. I just talked to some people. Yeah. Mostly just giving me like advice about when they went on a mission like Ohh do this with your companion being nice and good luck and just asking me all these questions about mission stuff. But it was really fun to talk to everyone. Yeah, it went really good.
Jimmy:
Great. OK, so the night of your mission farewell, two weeks ago, we went to the stake center and met with our state President to get you set apart as missionary. So tell us a little bit about that experience.
Hannah:
Umm well, I guess right beforehand I was trying to figure out like it’s like, OK, well, I guess when I get back home after I’m set apart like. I gotta, like, live all the missionary standards, which is a little weird. So I like deleted all my like social medias and like was texting bad all my friends. So that was like very weird sad moment. Uh, good, obviously. But just like, very weird, but especially because they’re not. They weren’t very specific to me. Like, I don’t know. What I could and couldn’t do with like phones at home, MTC, which is kind of weird, but that’s not the that’s not the main deal, but that it was a little weird.
Yeah. Anyways, we drove to the church. Our whole family went and met with. It’s just our family in the state president and we sat down. I will. Chat super short. I was crying my eyes out. I was just crying. The whole like car ride and like crying. Alright before I think just like. All the emotions like kind of finally hit me about like. I don’t know.
Just being real, it was real like this, is it? Yeah. Like there’s a lot of end of my, like, Pre-mission life of my, like, normal social. Yeah, civilian life. So I don’t know. It was definitely emotional. I was just like, am I really doing this? Oh my gosh, what am I getting myself into this like questioning like is this even right even though obviously it’s been like very exciting and it’s something I know I need to be doing. I just feel like every step of the way, I’m like, am I really supposed to be doing this?
Jimmy:
Yeah. Well, I and I think that cause we were sister, you have a little more of those emotions because you don’t have to do it. It’s a choice. (What I was trying to say is that a mission is considered a priesthood duty of the young men, but that same expectation is not there for young women.)
And I thought it was so interesting when you sat down in the chair with the say present behind you. He asked, Are you ready? And he was. He wasn’t about to lay his hands on your head and set you apart until you said yes, I’m ready.
Hannah:
And I like sat there was like, I don’t know. And I cried for a second and then he was like, OK, Are you ready now? It’s like. Yep. So you did it. The setting part was good. I wrote down like, right immediately after the stuff he had said, I wrote about it that night. But I kind of like it was all, like, jumbled in my head. But he had said, but lots of just like I really. Good things competing. Things like yeah. That mission is a good thing. Yeah, even though it’s a hard thing. So that was great.
And then, yeah. We took picture of, well, I put my name tag on. That was fun. Couldn’t figure out how to do it on straight. I’m getting better. It’s getting easier so yeah.
Jimmy:
Well they have these little magnet things now. They didn’t have those when I was a missionary.
Hannah:
There is a piece of pen. It’s like a little magnet. Yeah. So I just stick it in. Yeah. You are getting to be a price and better. Yeah.
Jimmy:
Well, I remember as we were driving away from the stake center. Like a weight coming over me, but not a heavy or burdensome weight, but like the responsibility and a blessing that we have a full time missionary in our House now. I mean in our car and in our home and you’ve been in our home for two weeks now doing home MTC. But I just like I knew as a as a parent and as a family we needed to, you know, make sure that we took care of one of the Lord’s missionaries in our home and we need to make sure it was a good environment. And so I really felt that as we were driving away.
One other thing that I should say I was impressed with you from the beginning and that that we never even really talked about. It was like you said that when you’re set a partisan missionary. But I say, President, you need to start going by the mission rules. Right. Right then and there.
And I’ve been very impressed with how obedient you have been in keeping the missing rules and learning and knowing what the mission rules are and following them. And to me again, that brings warm feelings to my heart because I know missionaries who are obedient to the mission rules are going to more likely to have the spirit of the Lord with them and are going to be more safe and successful in their missionary efforts. So that’s been really good to see.
Hannah:
Thanks.
Jimmy:
So then the next day you started a home MTC and have been doing that for the past two weeks, so yeah. Talk to us about the home MTC. What have you liked about it? What have you not liked? What’s been fun? What’s been difficult? What? What’s the schedule like? And all those thing?
Hannah:
Yeah, yeah. So my first day at Home MC was my P-day actually. So that was kind of really weird. I had like one large group meeting on zoom and I had my evening class, but besides that I had a free day and I was really sure to do yet. So I like had been given no instruction about what to do. But evening class is from 7:00 to 10:00 PM (6PM to 9PM Utah/Mountain Time). So yeah, your evening. So yeah. So every day, I guess after that Monday.
Umm, we have a 3 hour class in the morning so I had it from like 9:30 to 12:30 because I’m Texas time and then we that the first week of Home MCT I had two weeks because I’m learning language the first week we had like an hour they called it a large group meeting with like 500 missionaries. So it’s everyone who started that same day that I did. We would all hop on the zoom and have meetings at the same time.
The first one was like Ohh welcome to the work, kind of one they had one about like mental health resources and like just learning to adjust. They had one about like learning a language like gifted tongues kind of thing. Like a teaching one anyways, so those are always fun, because gotta see, like my friends who started missing the same week I did on there. Umm, yeah. So we have. So we had three hour class, we had our one hour 2 meeting with everyone and then we had a 3 hour class in the evening. Also, so that was from like 7 to 10.
Ohh. And we also have an hour of language tutoring every day and then in between all of that. Umm was just fitting in an hour personal study. Our of language study and then a 30 minute companion study and 15 minute planning with my companion.
My companionship study was done all on zoom and stuff because my companion lives in Oklahoma. So yeah, so most yeah. Most of the missionaries in your district. And there’s like 12 or 14 and your district, we. Yeah, we have 14 in our district team. I’ll learning Portuguese will go in some to Brazil some to us some to Portugal. Yeah mostly elders are you the only two sisters or we have 10 elders, four sisters all four of the sisters are going to Portugal.
Umm for the elders to go into Portugal and then two elders are going to Orlando. Two are going to Boston and two, our Brazil Porto library. They were supposed to go to Brazil MTC, but it got changed for some reason. So now they’re our district. Just cool. But yeah, so $10 for sisters. Roll pretty spread out. I mean majority going to Portugal but. Yeah
Jimmy:
You said you’re in Texas, you’re companion is from Oklahoma, the MTC teachers who lead the discussions and so forth, all in Provo, they’re in the Provo MTC or at their homes in Utah. Yeah. And most of the missionaries are like, 50% or more are in Utah. So most of the meetings are Utah time. So I know I told Hannah that I thought it was fine if she did go to bed at 11:30 and get up at 7:30 because that’s 6:30 to 10:30 Utah time and most everybody else is on Utah time. So I thought it would be fine for her. Is that what you’ve ended up doing?
Hannah:
That’s what I. That’s what I’ve done. And my companion, I think, did. The same thing. Yeah, I think she might have done, like, 7 and 10. Yeah. Or 7 and 11. But it’s hard because, like, our class ends at 10. Yeah. And so it’s like we would only have 30 minutes to, like, yeah, get unwind and go to bed and write in your journal and all the Utah people help out. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So. And then plus, like, in the morning. I don’t know what I would have done if I had had that much time in the morning. Ohh. Excellent. Yeah. Because I do my personal study before my class and eat breakfast and get ready and stuff. Yeah. You would had an extra hour in the morning to kill before. Yeah.
So it just it made it’s made sense plus then like when I get to Utah like I’m already like adjusted to that same schedule. Yeah. So but yeah, the classes. So all of our like long classes and are like daily tutoring list just with our district.
Umm. And then like a teacher but and right now? Or I guess the past two weeks it’s been all in English. Umm except for like language tutoring, the one hour language. But yeah during the day. But uh, like the three hour classes? 2 or 3 hour classes are all in English. And so once we get to Provo and get started, everything is in Portuguese and the teachers have heavily emphasized that they will not be speaking to us at all in English. So it’s a big jump.
Jimmy:
Baptism by immersion in the Portuguese language. Yep. Yeah. So I learned Spanish at the MTC and that was, and I was there for 9 weeks. And now you’re just doing six weeks, two at home and four at the Provo MTC. So yeah, makes sense. You got it. Immerse them right away. And that is the best way to learn a language.
Hannah:
Yeah. They said it’s like, super successful. So. Yes. So I’m trying to think what else about home and you see it’s a lot of zoom, it’s gotten really tiring towards the end of. Last week we were just. We were also done. Everyone in our district. We’re just tired of zoom. Yeah, and like, ready to meet each other.
That’s another thing like something really positive about home MC like that. I’m really glad about is getting to like know my district and my companion before I meet them in person, because now I’m like super excited to meet them and I’m not just going to Provo like not knowing anybody and being like, scared and nervous. Like I know when I get there, there’s going to be a bunch of people who are like, we’re all excited to see each other.
Jimmy:
Yeah, the Provo MTC president tonight in the fireside for families said that’s what missionaries typically do. Now, as soon as they get to the MTC, they’re looking for their companions and their districts who they met originally at Home MTC and he said it’s been a great thing to see.
Hannah:
Yeah. So yeah, that is that that’s a good part of the home MTC I know the first couple of days you just had a hard like kitchen chair. And then after a couple of days were like, oh, let’s say, like your dad’s good. The fancy desk chair. This more comfortable with better back support and stuff. So we switched that. So yeah, tip for everyone out there. A good chair get a good chair you can be sitting in it a lot a long time.
Jimmy:
And you said some missionaries did it on their phone. Most had a laptop and laptop. We had probably better. Yeah. We had one elder do it on his phone every time. But.
Hannah:
Yeah, I would suggest a laptop. Yeah. Yeah, I didn’t for sure. Yeah. So I’m trying to think, what else? The first I will say the first, like, few days. We’re just super, like, weird. Because I was like, I. And I guess I called him to see in general’s weird because you don’t feel really like a missionary. Like I don’t know. I come downstairs during my break and like the kids are watching Lego Ninjago or like they’re out swimming. And I’m just like here and it’s hard. It was hard. It’s been hard for me to like. Stay motivated to like, take the time to do my language study and my personal study just cause I’m like, Oh well, I could be spending this time on with my family. And before I go, so it’s weird. ’cause. I’m like with my family, but I’m not. And like, I’m glad I’m here to do it, but it’s like, really difficult to, like, get into it. So that’s one thing I’m like looking forward to going to Provo for. It’s just to like, really immerse myself in it. Yeah, so.
Jimmy:
Talk to me a little bit about the technology you zoom for online video conferencing and there’s a chat feature in your zoom calls and you guys make use of that a lot. But you’ve also talked to me a lot about chatting within Facebook and I know you’ve done some Facebook posts like as a missionary. So yeah, just talked to me about those things. Maybe a little.
Hannah:
Yeah. So our teachers, I think the first day of classes were like, someone needs to make a Facebook Messenger group chat with everyone in it. And on so you guys can like talk to each other, I think it’s more of like a bonding thing and then anything because they, I mean they have emailed to get contact with us. So my companion made a group chat, it had our teachers in it though and we quickly realized that they probably had the chat muted and were irritated by US goofing off. So we made a separate one just for all the district and then like we have like a sister sisters group chat that I know the elders have. Your chat, who knows what goes on in there, but it’s, I don’t know. It’s been super fun just to like. I don’t know. That’s our only source of entertainment is each other. And the young elders are very entertaining. Yeah, we love them dearly.
Yeah. Yeah. So the because elders are on average a year younger than the sisters. That’s yeah. There’s only one elder in our district who did like, year college before. The rest are all like straight out of high school. Yeah. And then three out of four of the sisters did school before, and one of them just did. Like, I took a gap year. So yeah, it’s kind of funny. They’re all like college people are so old. They were like, yeah, we’re old.
Ohh sisters are, but the elders are fun. They bring good energy for sure. But yeah, so we keep in contact with Facebook Messenger. That’s super fun. And then the Facebook posts. I know something that they offer throughout the whole MC is like workshops and so my companion and I signed up for a social media like posting social media workshop. That’s good. They have all sorts of cool workshops.
Jimmy:
So MTC teachers teaching you well, what’s the appropriate thing to post on Facebook?
Hannah:
Yeah. To respond to people or. Yeah. So in one of just our regular classes, that was when we first talked about Facebook because we were just talking about technology in general. And then we went into the details of when we post what it should look like and then like we also talked about how to respond to people on Facebook. Umm yeah, I guess they they told us in your post on Facebook they the use of visual keep it brief and if you’re posting, just make sure you’re like staying in line with your missionary purpose.
So basically like if you’re going to another country, don’t make it look like you’re just traveling, like vacationing. Vacationing. Yeah. So, like, if you’re going to post a picture like relate to the gospel. And so I know a lot of missionaries will do, like little analogies. Like one of my good friends is in Scotland right now. And she visited like, a castle, and she had these, this picture in front of, like, prison bars. And she was like, sometimes Satan puts us in prisons. So yeah, so in prison does but. Yeah. Yeah. So they’re like, use visual, be brief. And they always like, want you to make an invitation or like a little like thing at the end. Yeah. So that’s super great.
And then another thing I just thought of when I was talking about the workshops was during home MTC and also regular MTC, they have you sign up for these things called helping others, which is just basically teaching practice lessons to people who are actors. So there are people at the MTC hires to pretend to not be members of the church so that we can practice teaching to them.
So my companion and I have done, I think three of them. They were all in zoom in English and they’re like 30 minute lessons. So our first two, we taught like the first lesson, which is the restoration. Then we taught plan and salvation. So a lot of what we do in our classes is just like teaching us how to do that, like how to start a lesson, like how to talk to someone and get to know them. So it’s not just awkward and you don’t just jump right into it.
And then like lots of like, how do you ask questions and like, what’s the best way to phrase this? And like teaching you that you don’t have to teach the entire lesson in one sitting, you can break it up. You want to. But those I’m always get really stressed right before them. But usually during them it’s like pretty chill. Our first one was. Super scary. She’s tough. And the lady was super intense. Bless her.
But she was intent. She like, I don’t know. we have to do these surveys after to like. Well, me and my companion will fill out like how we think it went from their perspective. Like how do we think they would have thought it went. And then we get a compare it to how they actually thought it went. We get feedback after we fill it out and it actually went a lot better than we thought it did. So that was good. And then they’ve just progressively been getting better. Our plan of salvation one I think went really awesome. So yeah, it’s really interesting to learn how to teach with two people just because I think my companion I have like, kind of different, like teaching styles like ways of explaining things and structuring things.
Yeah, but she’s ohh sorry. She’s she’s like, super spiritual. And like, I think as long as you’re both, I don’t know, in tune with the spirit. Yeah, it will be good. And I think also once we get in person, it will be a lot easier to bounce back and forth. Well, because on zoom there’s no, you can’t give each other a little queue except for like sister to Gaston. What do you have to say about that?
Jimmy:
Yeah. I was going to say when you’re in person or together, you’ll be planning lessons together and you’ll say. Why don’t you teach this principle? Then I’ll teach this principle and then it’s easier to do the handoff. Or like, like you said, when you’re not in a digital online forum and you’re like, it’s just easier to get. Yeah, these nonverbal cues.
Hannah:
OK, you take it away, sister. Yep. So. OK, cool. Yeah. And then once we get in person in Provo, it will be in person in Portuguese. And they’ll be like, I think we start with 15 minute ones and then it jumps back to 30 minutes. Well, so they do that a lot more than.
Jimmy:
When I did the MTC, I remember doing it once, maybe twice in nine years. So sounds like they’re doing that a lot more and that was least once a week. OK, that’s great.
Hannah:
So I’m good practice. Super stressful. Yeah, but very good, I think.
Jimmy:
Cool. Anything else to say about the online MTC? I also want to talk briefly about your packing your luggage. You got up in our our playroom. Your luggage spread out and you’re going to be packing that. So why don’t you talk about that, but before we move on to that and we’ll wrap up pretty quickly after that. Anything else about the home MTC experience that others might be interested to know?
Hannah:
With pretty much everything, I would definitely say though, like. It’s going to feel weird at first, but just try to embrace it and put your heart into it because it is what you make it for Home MTC. Yeah, you’re not with the people in person. Umm, I don’t know it can. It’s a lot easier to get distracted. Yeah, so it is what you make it.
How I will say I am. Usually terrible at staying focused, like over long periods of time, and I think a blessing that I’ve had is like being able to actually stay focused and engage like pretty well, especially those long classes. It’s, I mean, granted, our teachers are super awesome. But yeah, I would definitely say I’ve been blessed with and enhanced ability to focus because it’s not something I’m usually get.
Jimmy:
That must be one of the gifts of the Spirit. I don’t know that that’s listed anywhere, but there it does say in the scriptures But there are many other gifts of the spirit that aren’t listed in one of those. Maybe is to help you focus during home MTC. Yeah, certainly a blessing from the Lord.
I should say from the families perspective it it’s been good to have Hannah in the home and I’m glad. Like I said earlier that you’ve taken it upon yourself to obey the mission rules to always dress appropriately and listen to appropriate music and so forth. Because if we as parents had to say “Hannah, stopped doing XYZ,” I don’t think that would go over very well. So, I’m glad you’ve policed yourself there. I think the sign of maturity and a blessing.
From our perspective as a family, whenever you’re on breaks or out. So I out, I don’t, you know, not in your zoom online meetings. You know we’ve tried to turn off the TV or turn off worldly music and have church music or other music. We’ve tried to have a good schedule for dinner, like, we’re feeding the missionaries every night so we know Hannah’s schedule, her class ends at 5:30 so we need to have dinner between 5:30 and 6:30 or 7. And so we’ve been better as a family at planning meals and having it on time just to so everything goes smoothly with Hannah so she can come eat and then go back.
And the same with lunches. I guess you’re a little more on your own. Yeah. Leftovers or whatever.
Hannah:
It’s been really good, though. Mom, if she’s sensing I need to get out of the house because I’ve been locked up in a closet for eight days, she’ll be like, let’s go, like, get lunch or something. I’m like, thank you. Yeah. Give me out of here. Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah. We have gone to the park a few times.
Jimmy:
Hannah is in a closet. But it’s a big closet. With a big desk. It’s where we did our last podcast. She’s not Harry Potter. No. It’s got a window. It’s got air conditioning.
Hannah:
It’s giant. I think my district thinks I’m rich because I told them I have a big closet. And this, that was sitting in the closet. Like, what, like. We live in Texas and markets crazy, but yeah, I will say though I am been really like there’s any like parents watching or I don’t know. I would just say like I’m super like grateful every time. Like you like, ask me about how it’s going and stuff. Well, like you want to talk to me about it because I mean there’s like that’s who I talk to. Yeah. And so it’s like really fun that like you get excited for me about it. And I’ve been really grateful for that well. It’s like it makes it more fun to talk about it.
Jimmy:
Yeah, well, good. I have made that effort. I go to bed really early. You know, I’m usually going to bed around 10:00 o’clock when she’s finishing. So I’ve made an extra effort to stay up a little late. So as soon as she gets out of her class, I can ask her what she’s learning and how it’s going and so forth. And have those good conversations.
Hannah:
I’ve appreciated it.
Jimmy:
Great. All right, let’s wrap this up then with a little discussion of packing and then two days from now, we’re taking you to the airport and saying goodbyes to the family for a year and a half. So talk to tell us about any final things we haven’t talked about in terms of what you’re buying, your suitcases packing and trying to fit everything you need for 18 months into, you know, two big suitcases in a small carry on.
Hannah:
Yeah. I don’t, I don’t know. It’s a lot. I haven’t actually finished packing yet. We barely started. Yeah. So I don’t know. I have. That’s kidding. Yeah. I’m anticipating we’re going to have to. Uh soliday.
Jimmy:
Yeah. I was going to say. We’re going to have to have a priority list because I don’t think everything’s going to make the cut into the suitcase because everything you bought, you and mom and I don’t know. That’s going to fit.
Hannah:
I don’t either.
Jimmy:
So, anyway, maybe after Tuesday would be better to talk to you. But I don’t think we’ll be able to do this once. Once you leave. So. But anyway, it’s, I guess, a challenge for all missionaries. I’ve seen videos out there about how to fit everything in.
Hannah:
The church. Gives you a list of things you need. Yeah, they do. So just follow that, I guess and yeah, and you know. Yeah, I will say like I know me and the other sisters, we are like how many clothes are you bringing this cause the church says to bring like 8 outfits or something. And we’re like.
About it’s because, I mean, I guess elders like getting over variety, they get ties, but they don’t really. I feel like they don’t care as much. Maybe I’m Jeff don’t like that, I don’t know. But like, I definitely have more than eight outfits and a decent amount of shoes. Well, so. But I may not walking mission. So I kind of have to get lots of good shoes.
Jimmy:
And Mom used some term I had never heard before where you like, get a bunch of different shirts and skirts that match and coordinate. What does she call that I don’t remember.
Hannah:
I didn’t know how to name no anyway, but to get to anyway, to address your point. Yeah. Getting that variety. So it’s having pants and shirts and skirt. Different combos. Yeah, I don’t know. Don’t procrastinate packing is that that’s good advice. Yeah, I’m also the hard thing is I’m packing up my non mission stuff at the same time.
Jimmy:
Anything from college packing up her room so we can because we have lots of kids and there’s enough. Another one. We talked for a while, so use her room while she’s gone. So it’s OK? Yeah. So don’t procrastinate. I think you get that suitcase packed as early as possible so you can see what’s going to fit, what’s not going to fit. So you can weigh it because there’s a certain weight like 50 pounds.
Hannah:
Yeah. And then, yeah, the airlines will charge you if it’s over that. So you don’t want to go over that. Yeah. And the church gives you these dimensions. It’s like 62 or 63 inches. And it’s in the mission portal. Yeah, where I’m guessing also heads up that stuff does go off of the mission portal. A lot of the checklists and stuff. They start just to start home MTC. Yeah. So download it before you start your PC is I feel like as long as you download the big packet, I think that’s actually just everything.
Yeah, something else. I just thought of as a. And if you’re doing a phone, like if you’re having a phone. That I know. For me, it’s been a little like different than most missionaries I know, because I already have a Samsung phone. Umm, that works for a mission. Because you have to have a Samsung going to ask be like certain Umm has certain requirements so I know a lot of missionaries just like got their mission phone and like set it up so that they’ll have it at the MTC. I still haven’t set mine up yet because I’m trying to get everything off of it but you have to get it all set-up I think.
If you don’t set it up before you get there, they make you set it up right when you get there, and that’s basically just like you do like a factory reset.
Jimmy:
So I was going to ask you factory reset totally wipes the phone. So it’s starting from clean. So if you have like in your case a bunch of pictures and text that you want to save your backing those up because you have to do that factory reset either here at home or as soon as you get to the MTC. Yeah. Because then the church they make they put some software on it so they can control. So you can use church approved apps, but nothing else.
Hannah:
Yeah. So yeah, you they have you like sign in with your missionary e-mail and down certain stuff just automatically is like downloaded once you sign in with that. And then there’s like certain apps you can download but.
Yeah. So I guess. Cool. Yeah, that’s the thing. You also have to, and I’m sure anyone who’s doing MTC will be told this, but you have to do these, like, safeguard for technology, little lesson things before you’re able to use your phone in the mission field. So you have to finish that before MTC. And I haven’t started that. But I have four weeks, so. So you’re doing the right thing. I’ll do it all on there.
Jimmy:
Yes, very good. Or tomorrow? I don’t know. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Today’s Sunday tomorrow, Monday. You would typically have class, but they give it to you off because everybody’s traveling Tuesday. You fly to. Yep, to Salt Lake and you’re staying with a friend there. And then Wednesdays the day all the missionaries go into the MTC. At your appointed time. So. Ohh, that’s it. That’s your next couple of days and any thoughts on your or better not go there. I know him. Like I’m not a I’m not as emotional person in terms of I theory and so forth. And I already shed some tears when she got set of partnership will be more tears shed when you say goodbye to mom and your brothers and sisters and you and me. Yeah. But I mean I shouldn’t say I’m not emotion. I am emotional and I’m excited for you. I know it’s going to be a great experience going on a mission. I’m not sentimental maybe. Yeah. Yeah.
You know, when some people feel the Holy Ghost, they cry when I feel the Holy Ghost, I’m happy and I’m animated, and anyway, I’m excited for you. I know you’re going to be a great missionary. I know you’re going to have a wonderful experience. It’s going to be hard. Don’t get me wrong. There will be days where it’s going to be really hard. Hard to be away from the family. Maybe you have difficult companions and just maybe difficult to, you know, keep them, stay motivated, learning the language. They’re gonna.
You’re going to have your fair share of challenges, but you’re going to persevere. The Lord will bless you and be with you. You’re going to do so much good. You’re going to plant seeds. You’re going to harvest some seeds. Hopefully. And you’re going to be doing what the Lord wants you to do. You’re going to be building his Kingdom. You’re going to be blessing people in ways that that will bless them here in this life and in and in the eternities, so that you know, in this life and in the next life, when you meet those people that you influenced on your mission, I know it’s going to be a warm embrace and they’re going to be so grateful for you sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with them. So anyway, I’m excited for you, for all those reasons.
Hannah:
Thank you. But yeah, I don’t know. That’s just. That’s a lot. Yeah, it’s been good to kind of say goodbye to people in stages. Yeah, like when I left Provo (from her freshman year at BYU), I said bye to all my like Provo people. Yeah. And then when I got set-up, like, right before I got set apart, I said bye to all my friends who don’t live in Texas, who I’ve just been keeping in touch with over text. And then there’s been some friends that are leaving for college or stuff or just. Yeah. So I’ve had to say bye to them before. Yeah.
Family’s the last goodbye. So it’s kind of crazy. I’m definitely already had some cries about it. Yeah. So, yeah, when we’re trying to come, but that’s OK.
Jimmy:

OK, very good. Well, that seems like a good place to stop. And we’ll, yeah, we’ll just, we’ll just wrap it up there. Thanks everybody for watching. I you know if possible, maybe I’ll put some updates if anyone in the in the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep audience is interested, put some updates on the website or you know somewhere about how you’re doing on your mission. And yeah, I guess that’s it. Thanks everyone. We’ll talk to you again soon. Bye bye.
The post Mission Farewell, Setting Apart, and Home MTC – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 18 appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
40 min
July 04, 2022 Submitting Mission Application, Receiving the Call, and Preparing to Leave – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 17
This video is part 2 of an interview with Hannah Smith, a young woman in the process of submitting her application to be a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hannah talks about submitting her mission application, receiving the call, preparing to leave, and receiving the temple endowment. The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post as it comprises Episode 17 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast.
Jimmy Smith:
OK. Well, welcome to the latter day St Mission Prep podcast. My name, Jimmy Smith. I’m the host of the podcast and this is my daughter, Hannah. And we are here on the video podcast and on audio podcast. For those of you without video support, we’re here for Part 2 of my interview with Hannah about her mission about preparing for applying for mission and preparing to go on a mission.
Let’s see. Let’s start Hannah by introducing you to to the the library sync mission prep audience, and then we’ll review what we covered in our last interview and then we’ll go into some new stuff. We’re gonna talk about today. So Hanna introduced yourself.
Hannah Smith:
Cool well. Like you said, I’m Hannah. I went. I just finished my freshman year at BYU up in Provo. It’s super great, super fun, great experience. I’m studying studio art. Hope you are you and that’s also been great. I really like to play the piano. I like to go hiking. And lots of good hikes in Utah. Yes, so many great, like national parks. Highly recommend. But yeah, that’s that’s kind of me.
Jimmy Smith:
That’s great. Great. And so we’re we’re here at our home in Texas recording this. Hanna just have great freshman year. So we’re glad to have her home. We have her home for just one month before she starts her MTC (Missionary Training Center) experience with two weeks of home MTC followed by four weeks of Provo MTC. And then she’s off to Portugal. So.
In part one we talked about uh deciding to serve a mission, which isn’t required as as a young woman. And what made you decide to go? We talked about the application process of filling out the paperwork. All the online paperwork. Yeah, the missed the medical stuff and the dental staff and all, all the other forms you have to. Fill out. So we talked about that last time we check out the previous podcast. Uh, if you’re interested in that. So when we when I talked to Hannah last, she had finished all the online application process, but she hadn’t hit the submit button. So like literally the next day after we had our last interview, the next day she hit submit and that submits her mission application not to the church headquarters but to her Bishop and stake president.
So tell us, Hanna, if you can about your final interviews with the Bishop and stake president before before your application was submitted to the church.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah. So let’s see. For segment with my Bishop, I don’t know. It was nothing crazy. He basically was just asking me about. Like how filling out my papers want. He had me bring my all of my like medical forms and like my dental stuff and I’m trying to think if there is anything else. Think so? That sounds about right. So yeah, so you have me bring those? Umm, he looked over them. Just like checked. They’re all correct. And then we went through what I had submitted. Umm to him like on the churches website. So we looked through that together and he just kind of went through and double check that everything was right. Like names, addresses, all that stuff. And then there’s a part where like he can add a little comment if you wants so.
I had felt like I really wanted to serve internationally. That that would be like a good experience and something that I would like be able to do. And I like really wanna learn a language. So I asked my Bishop if he thought it’d be OK if he put a comment that like. I wanted to do that, so keep it a little comment. We like wrote it out together. Had just said. I would love the opportunity to learn a new language or like go. Serve internationally if I can. Because I like love learning about other cultures and I think it be great. So I don’t know if that actually had any factor in the decision. Do you mean never know. I don’t think I will ever know. But one of my friends did that and I was like, you know what? Why not? Because it doesn’t hurt that. But it’s asking it. It certainly worked out in your favor this time. Yeah. So. Yeah. So I had. Yeah, that was great little interview.
You just talked about anything I was like, nervous about or what? I was excited for. Basically, just like double checking. Like my worthiness too. Umm, he asked me a bunch of questions. He was really similar to the temple recommend questions. You just have to explain a little bit more. So like he asked me like to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ and like. Maybe like Joseph Smith, I there’s somewhere online that, yeah, has a list of the questions. So I went over the questions and he didn’t ask me all of them, but he asked like, yes, for most of them cool. They explained most of them. So then you had to meet with the state president after the Bishop and that you had to wait a little longer. Right. Yeah. So I think I’m being involved too weeks apart.
So yeah, the big thing was. You can only submit your mission papers. Like four months, four months before your availability availability date. So my availability date was June 2nd and so I had to wait until February 2nd to submit them. So that was the earliest I could submit them. You could submit them anytime after, but I just wanted to get them like quick. Again, it worked out. Interesting, but that’s fine anyways so.
Yes, I met with him like a February 6th. I think, right? So like a couple days after on I went in, it was basically. It was way more chill. I felt like than the Bishop won. Not that my Bishop’s not chill. It’s just like he was reviewing all the technical stuff and they were more like. They asked similar questions I just met with like a counselor in my stake presidency. Ohh, cause your stake president. Yeah, well, something so you I think. With my stake, our stake is like the biggest stake in the whole church. I think just for like number of missionaries being sent out. Ohh for number of missionaries being sent. Yeah, not not a surprise with the BYU. Exactly. And it’s, you know, on campus. So everyone’s pretty much pre-mission. Yeah, so. They like allowed it, so you don’t have to interview with the stake president. You can interview with counselors. Umm. So I think normally you would have to wait to meet and do with the state president. Yeah. He was out of town. I think you’re right. So I just met the counselor. Yeah. And he did at the same time as your mission. And your final mission. He did my temple recommend interview live and Downt Temple Records. Right. I did that with my Bishop too at the same time. Yeah. See, I was like a interview. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
So you met with the Bishop. You met with the state president, and then a lot of people don’t realize this. It’s actually the stake, generally the stake clerk, who submits your application to the church. So, and probably the next day or so after you met with state president, it got submitted to the church.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah. So I met with them on, like, Wednesday or Thursday. Or maybe it’s a Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday anyways. But I asked them. I was like, so when will? You submit these papers because they still have to double check everything because I want it to be right so it doesn’t get sent back. Right? So I think they submitted it. They said they’d submit it before the weekend. Yeah. And I think they did. They did. You got some kind of alert that it was in, in process or something. Well, the next week I guess. I asked my Bishop cause your Bishop can check your status of your. I guess this kind of is this OK if we can. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So your mission papers go through, like, different phases.
Umm, I don’t remember what they used. Yeah, I have them written down somewhere. It’s like last one in process. Yeah. In process. Ready for assignments. Like one of the last. Ready for assignment / assigned. Ohh. Assigned is like the last one I think. Right. And there’s there’s probably there’s another. There’s another one. But basically like a week or two after they had been submitted. I asked my Bishop to check on the status of them and I expected it to be like ready for assignment and it was still in process. And so I was like, what is going on?
And like not the next day of the stake, president called me and said like, hey, we need the name of your eczema cream. Yeah. Ointment. Medication. Yeah. So like what? I never used that, but OK. Because I’d put, I had eczema on my health history because I have gone to a doctor for it. Yeah, this is like, legit. I just don’t super use the oil. Yeah, it’s no big deal.
Jimmy Smith:
And you kind of put it on your application just in passing because it asks your full medical history and you just put, oh, I have eczema. And it takes some cream for it. Every once in a while. And like the church literally would not move your application forward until they found out, well, what’s the name of the medication?
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, like taking. But anyway, you got that. I see. Yeah. As soon as I told them. Yeah, it went through and I think they were ready for assignment after that. Then I’m trying to think so. It took like three weeks for me to get my mission call. Hmm.
Before can I talk about like the e-mail thing? Yeah. Yeah. So. So you it was about three weeks. And and from the time the the stakes submitted it until you receive your call right. And and for some it’s it’s even faster like it’s like a week. Yeah. My friends got hers literally less than a week. Yeah but three weeks isn’t bad. So then yeah. Talk about what you’re gonna talk about with finding out that the assignment had been made yeah so. Normally.
And the way that you like officially find out that you’ve got your mission call is like the day you get it, they church sends you an e-mail and a text. I’ll talk about that in a second. Get an e-mail. And that’s like, ohh my calls here. The way you can kind of check though, if it’s if you have been assigned like if you have your mission assignment and it’s not just ready for assignment is you can go to the missionary e-mail website and. Sign in with I think just your church login and if it signs you in and it shows your missionary e-mail, then that means that. Your assignment has been made. Yeah, you’ve received the call. Yep. And possibly give your call. They’ve signed you to a mission, and they’ve star missionary e-mail is set up. Yeah.
So I think it was the Wednesday before. Usually I was checking like every day, even though I think generally what I’ve heard, I don’t even know if this is true, but I’ve heard they assign them on. Thursdays and then on Friday, if you check your e-mail, usually it’s there like Friday or Saturday, but I was checking it like every day because I was super anxious about it. Yeah. And so I was checking it on a Wednesday night and it, like, popped up. That it was ready and I was freaking out. I was super excited. Yeah, so.
Jimmy Smith:
So then, but then still you’re waiting still e-mail to come?
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, with with the call letter and all the official stuff and mission calls. Come on, Tuesdays. Yeah, 99% of the time. So, yeah, so so on Wednesday or so you knew it was coming the following Tuesday and the following Tuesday. It did come to your e-mail. Yeah. So in the day it did. Yeah. Usually they come at like 910 in the morning. You what happens is you get a text. From the church you’ll get it says like your mission call is ready to be viewed at, and then it inserts a link and then so you’ll also get an e-mail that says the same thing. OK yeah, so that if you have a phone and an e-mail, then yeah, application system. They’re gonna send it to both. Yeah, both stuff. So once you click on that link, it won’t automatically pull up your call. It just says, Are you ready to view your call and you can click like? Yes. So it’s not like you open it and it’s immediately there. Yeah. And they do that intentionally because a lot of people they wanna. Have have have a moment with their family and friends where they kind of a reveal of of the call and so they don’t wanna accidentally spoil it for you by you clicking on a link and it right up. Yeah. So yeah, a lot of people.
Some some people just read it by themselves. They want to read it by themselves, and then they read it with a group of people. I just read it for the first time with a big group of people cause. I don’t know. I wasn’t. I knew I’d be OK wherever I went. So I was like, I don’t have to brace myself. Yeah. So to react properly. So what you did was you downloaded your mission call PDF, but you didn’t read it. You sent it to a friend, had them print it, and then then you read it for the first time in front of your friends. Yeah. So it came along. I was at work at, like, four or five PM Super late in the day. I had given up hope that I would get it. I didn’t think I was gonna get it that day. I was like, there’s no way. It’s too late. And it came.
So since I was at work, we had a printer and the person I was working with them get friends with and I asked him if he’d printed out for me. And like, cover it up and stuff so I could have like a paper want to read out. So he printed it out. And so he knew where I was going, which is kind of funny. And then everyone I worked with found out where I was going, but I didn’t know the paper. Yeah. So it’s funny. But yeah. So then I came home. I set up a time that was gonna read it. I went live on Instagram Live.
So all that friend record it just normally, yeah. Even though Instagram live takes the recording, right, right, right. And so you send the Instagram live well basically just tell all your family and friends, hey, I’m going on at this test time and then they can join the Instagram live feed and watch you. That’s how I did it. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, I think that worked well. Yeah. It’s fun. Hanna was at BYU doing this with her friends and at home here in Texas. My wife and I and and and Hanna siblings were all were watching. And it worked great. So yeah, I just invited like. My close friends and to my apartment when we and I opened it. Mm-hmm. Umm, I was super anxious that I only had to wait a couple hours to open it. Some people wait the whole day to open it. Yeah, and they open it in the evening. Yeah, so. But yeah, it was great. It was cool experience. We can sing a little song before. Yeah. Or instead of prayer, I think we said a prayer and then.
I read it. I’m going to. Drum roll, please. Umm, the Portugal Lisbon Mission, I guess Dad already mentioned. Yeah. Portugal. No, that’s OK. Portugal has been mission. I start home MTC on July 25th. So that’s three weeks from tomorrow. If I guess. We’re filming this on July 3rd, 2020 222. So yeah, so I do in my. They send you your call. You have, like the call letter. That’s what my friend printed out. And then they also give you, like, a call packet that has all the information about what you need for your specific mission.
At the time it you it told you what your MTC plans are. What I’ve heard is that it no longer says that, a little more on the fly. It’s the church wants to be adjusting right now with online and stuff. Because, yeah, there’s a there’s a figuring out, but mine said online for two weeks and then four weeks in Provo, right?
So yeah, so so OK, so that takes us through. You got the mission call. You read it to your friends along with the mission called letter, which is the letter from the Prophet assigning you to a mission and the start date. There’s all kinds of other.
Jimmy Smith:
Uh, I think the call other paperwork I they call it the the general instructions checklist or something like that. There’s. Uh, I was pleasantly surprised that there’s tons and tons of documentation on just what to get ready do to get ready for a mission in general. What you needed to do specific for going to Portugal in terms of getting a passport and visa and all that stuff. I think there was a letter from your mission president or contact information from your mission. I think you heard from him shortly thereafter. Yep. So tons of information highly encourage everyone to read that carefully and follow those.
Hannah Smith:
We’ve tried our best. And again, yeah, I mean and it’s it’s it’s a lot of work to get someone ready to go on a mission just from physically getting ready like suitcases and clothes and stuff and but also. Yeah, the the the legal requirements of a passport and visa and so forth.
Jimmy Smith:
So let’s talk a little bit more about that. I know you had to get like an FBI background check and talk about getting your passport and visa and take us up to the point of just last week where you went to the Portugal consulate to finalize all your visa paperwork. So take us through that.
Hannah Smith:
OK, so yeah, after I got my call on the Missionary Portal website. Mm-hmm. It had instructions on what to do for my passport. How would highly recommend getting your passport before you get your mission call, though, because. It all goes. It’ll it go my. It would go much quicker and smoother if you’re in your passport and there’s no reason as a high schooler, you can’t go ahead and get a passport. So if you get that done with, everything else is gonna go smoother. Once you work on your visa and other stuff. Yeah. And even one of my friends, she had a passport. She had to get it renewed because it was gonna expire while she’s on her mission. But that’s still.
I mean, you still have to wait for your passport to come, but it’s a little less passport renewals pretty quick. Yeah. Easy though. Yeah. So, yeah, I had to get my passport. I mean all the regular passport things. Nothing too crazy there it took, I think, like two months to come in the mail, which was kind of really long for your passport to arrive to you. Yeah. For my passport to come from the government to me. Yeah. Took a while. There is an expedited process which I expedited that that was, yeah. But the church says they say you need to pay the expedited fee. Yeah. It was like 60 or 70 bucks.
And I think just at the time like it was just, it was a bad time to get a passport because that it was, it was middle of COVID, you know, like coming back from COVID back from COVID. Yeah. OK, because yeah, I got. I got my mission calling in February. End of February. Let’s see. So yeah, I had to wait. Till my passport came to submit anything with my visa stuff. So visa. All the visa stuff, I think varies a lot from mission to mission well, based on the country you’re going to, because each country has different requirements for like what documents they want from you and like how they want it done. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Just I guess for maybe high schoolers watching this at the passport is what you need as an American or U.S. citizen to be able to come back to the United States after you’ve been abroad. A visa is basically permission to live in another country for a time. I went to Argentina on my mission. I had to get an Argentine visa for the two years I was there. Hanna going to Portugal. She has to get a Portuguese visa, so she has to make an application to the country of Portugal to get permission to live there for a year and a half and be a missionary.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah. So the church in my, they sent me an e-mail, I think, like two or three weeks after I got my call with a packet with very specific instructions on all of my visa stuff. And they said follow this to a tee basically. So I’m not going to go too much into like what they specifically required just because I think it varies from mission to mission. Right. But basically I gathered everything up I had. Yeah, get an FBI background check. I did my passport and then a visa application in a couple other things. I gathered that all up. Umm and mailed it to the church travel office. And then. Let’s see. I was in contact with the lady who works at the Church Travel Office who’s like in charge of the Portugal visas. So we should. Any questions I had, I just would e-mail her and be like, hey, is this right? Yeah. So that that’s just important to mention work with the Church Travel Office and they’ll have someone reaching out to you. Someone who’s got some expertise in getting visas and in making travel arrangements and so forth. So there’s been someone at the church we could work with. Uh, with with. With all these steps? Mm-hmm. So it was kind of a whole thing with, like, the actual getting of my visa. Like, I sent in all the stuff to the church.
And then with, I don’t know about with other countries, both Portugal, you basically have to appear in person at. Basically a fancy DMV. Yeah, so it it’s it wasn’t the actual Portuguese consulate. It was just like a third party that gives all your stuff to the consulate. Right. So in theory, you can mail in your visa application to the Portuguese consulate or empty whoever. But I think the reason we didn’t was because it could be sitting in the mailroom for 60 up to 60 days. It’s gonna say. And we were like in a time crunch. Yep. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
So it’s faster if you go there in person. The person said so the church was willing to send. Hanna to San Francisco to go to the the office there to do it. So they arranged flights. It was the whole thing. We don’t need to do it.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, but it was winter. We just go there crazy. Yeah. They paid for my flights. Told me, alright, this is step by step. What you’re gonna do. Like we’ll pay for your Uber school. I need to send them my receipts. They’re like we’ll pay for Ubers and food and your hotel and your flights, and like, basically they were like, we’ll reimburse you for anything. Umm so I think usually it’s a one day thing you fly in in the morning, have your appointment and then go home that night they didn’t have any direct flights for that morning. So I wouldn’t make my appointment. My appointment was at like 9:30 in the morning in San Francisco. So I flew in the night before, stayed in the hotel and downtown San Francisco by myself and then had the console thing the next morning and then.
That went it all went super smoothly. The people there were like ohh man. Like you’re a missionary. And I was like, yeah, I am. And they’re like, ohh, great. Sadie always knows what she’s doing. Shout out to Sadie Cordelli. She’s awesome. She’s the the church channel office. Yeah, for Portugal. OK. Umm yeah. They’re like she always just gets everything totally put together. So I had no issue. I took. I had to wait for like an hour. But then the IT only took like 10 or 15 minutes. I designed a couple things super easy.
Umm. Yeah. And then I flew home. Yeah. So so the the application for the visa is all done now. We’re just waiting. They said it should be a month or two and it’s shouldn’t be any problems from here on. Yep. And they’re sending it to the church and they’ll send the visa to the church service. So they’ll either send it to me here or maybe just to the MTC. Yeah, in Provo. Yeah, I don’t really sure, yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Cool. Now we’re just waiting for that to come. They said take like 30 to 60 days. Yeah. So which is will be good timing because that’s that’s right around the time she’s still be in the MTC. Yep. So hopefully the visa will come before she’s done with the MTC so she can go straight to Portugal. Otherwise that’s you might get assigned temporarily temporary mission somewhere else. Cool. So let’s talk about a couple more things before we wrap up. I’d like you to talk a little bit about.
Shopping for clothes and stuff. This is something I, as your dad, not involved with. I know you and mom have been doing a lot of shopping for dresses and and shoes and stuff and yeah, and so maybe talk about that. And then also before we end, I wanna talk about your receiving your own endowment at the Temple. So let’s we’ll finish off with the temple. So let’s go into now getting ready to go and maybe also Oh yeah the your pre MTC. I forgot about that so talk about. Getting all the gear you need and ready to go, and also about the MTC.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah. So the church gives you a list of all the things you need to bring. Umm, like we talked about and they have a couple missions specific things. The only like I think weather specific things for my mission. Where rain boots and like a raincoat because it rains a lot in the winter. Uh. So depending on what mission you’re going to. Umm. It all different things. One of my friends went to Africa. They said don’t bring any suits so he didn’t bring any suits. And then my cousin’s going to the Philippines. They said the same thing. He got like water resistant shirts or something. Cool, they said, like bring Crocs and stuff to walk around. And because it’s just like flooded all the time. Yeah. And if you go somewhere cold, they’re gonna tell you not only definitely bring a suit, bring an overcoat, right, other winter gear. So it’s just a lot of, like, the really, like, winter cold missions. Like one of my friends is supposed to go to Moscow on her mission, didn’t end up happening. But they said, wait until you get to Russia to buy your coats and stuff. Just because they’re more prepared for the specific weather there. So anyways.
I the church recommends like you bring I think 6. Like for me it was like 6 to 8 like church outfits basically like dresses or like top and like Mm-hmm. Skirt or pants combos they have on. I forget what website, but they have like links to. (Here’s the link to Missionary Dress and Grooming standards.) Like they have pictures where they show mission clothes ideas, right? Like what shoes you could bring or like dresses and tops would be appropriate. And pants, right. Pants. I’m very. I don’t know what I’ve heard. It varies a lot from mission to mission. Oh, what kind of pants are kind of pants you can wear? Yeah. And I think a lot of the clothes. And this is more for a girl. Thanks, guys. It’s pretty straightforward. Yeah. I think a lot of, like, how casual you can be really depends on your mission and the mission president. Yeah. Like a lot of European missions, I want you to dress nicer because. The people there have good fashion and they dress nice and if you go to South America, they say don’t bring nice clothes because makes you target. Yeah. OK, so. Long story short, I’ve been shopping. It’s hard to find long sleeve dresses in the spring and summer, but I think I will need some. Ohh yeah, I bought rain boots.
Umm, something that’s been really helpful for me for shopping for clothes and other things and has been talking to people that either just got back from the mission I’m going to or like Argo like are in the mission right now. Yeah. So I’ve reached out to some people to like, ask them what kind of shoes they would recommend. I found out that. In my mission, you can have backpacks. And you don’t have to bring side back, so that’s nice.
Other things like that, any people who are in Utah, if you for sisters, if you go to the sister missionary mall, they have a nice little binder. At least someone in Provo. Or am I don’t know they have a binder that has all the missions and people can go in and write like what brands they used, what kind of things they like. Any mission specific like gear or like clothing that they recommend. So I went there and looked at that and that was good to get kind of a idea what my mission looks like more specifically at that great.
Jimmy Smith:
Great. And we had bought you luggage before you went out and BYU. Yeah. So hopefully that that will do. Otherwise there are some specific requirements to church recommends for what kind of luggage to to have. It’s all in your mission packet. Yeah. It’s all packed in the paperwork that it’s all church is all pretty good. Yeah. Specifically thorough. Yep. Yeah. OK, cool. Let’s see. Ohh and and the worse. There’s like a couple other shots. You need to get before you go that. Yeah, it gives you the list of immunization. Yeah. So again, the church will tell you. COVID booster. Yeah, that’s good stuff. You need to get. Let’s see. OK. Anything else in terms of of of that before before you tell us about your pre MTC experience with the pre MTC is something new to me. They didn’t have that when I was a missionary 25 years ago, so.
Hannah Smith:
I don’t know. Just talking to my friends has been good. Getting like, different recommendation recommendations of where to shop because we’re all. Yeah, a lot of us are going on missions. Yeah. So that’s fun to, like, talk to each other about that. So if you’re going right out of high school and don’t have a lot of friends go on missions, find people on Facebook. Honestly. Yeah. And talk to them. Oh, this is fun.
Umm, a girl that’s going to my same mission, same day as me. Reach out to me on Facebook and we were chatting on Facebook and then she said that she was gonna be in Provo for weekend. So we went and like, got smoothies and chatted. Nice. So that was fun that I gotta meet her like before we start the mission. I’m guessing she’ll be in my MTC district, so it’s it’s. It’ll be nice to like, go and like, you know, a familiar face. Yeah. Yeah, that’s. That’s awesome.
Ohh and sorry. One more thing. With the visa stuff usually. I think they send you in a group. They don’t usually send you by yourself. Right? Right, right. They the week before they’re there had been a group. There’s a group of six, five or six missionaries that all the way out for you. And you went by yourself. Yeah. So you either, like, I think a couple of the missionaries that went. They were in the MTC at the time the Provo MTC and they sent them from there. Some of them were home MTC and some of them hadn’t started MTC yet. Yeah. So I think for me, they’re they’re trying to send us before the MTC because they knew it would take a while. Right. But. Some countries aren’t as strict. So yeah, alright, cool. So tell us about the pre MTC.
OK Pre MTC is super cool. I didn’t realize it was a thing and till I guess I mean I knew before I got my mission call. I had some roommates that got there mission calls and they were like I couldn’t e-mail about doing pre MTC and I was like, what is that? I’ve never heard of that. So basically what it is is. It’s someone who teaches at the MTC, UM reaches out to you through like e-mail and is basically like, hey, do you want to have some language lessons and training before you go out on your mission before you start the MTC. So honestly, like I don’t. I don’t know how. Like necessary it is and it’s totally optional.
But for me, I was like ohh, I’m trying to, you know, prepare. It’s hard for me to learn how to speak Portuguese on my own. Umm, because a lot of Portuguese, like on Duolingo. It’s Brazilian Portuguese to the pronunciation is totally different. So for me, I was like, yes, I totally want this opportunity. I think it depends on who your teacher is, how early they reach out to you, my reach out to me like right before I think the week I was leaving Provo. So like a month and a half before I started my mission. Umm. On my friends it was like two or three months before. OK, but it just depends. So I’ve been meeting with her just on zoom.
And she’s, I don’t know, just teaching me gospel basics in Portuguese. Pretty much it had it had a speak gospel basics. How to pray, how to conduct a church meeting, stuff like that. Yeah. So we’ve gone over. There’s this app called embark and that’s an official church. It. I don’t know if it’s official church, but the church uses it for all the missionaries. OK, for learning languages. So we’ve just been going through on embark. It has. It’s it’s really cool. You should like attach a link to it or something. Yeah, we’ll just put a link in the in the. Yeah, show notes. It talks about like it has a little things. It’s like how to pray, how to testify, how to meet someone. And I think it goes pretty in-depth. It has like, a little grammar things and listening things. I haven’t explored the app too much.
So in pre-MTC like we’ve just gone through like how to pray, how to meet someone we’re starting on how to testify. And so I can do a little that yeah and so so this MTC teacher reached out to you and said hey do you wanna meet over the the online video conferencing and you’ve done it two or three times a week for the past couple of weeks or tried yeah it’s just basically you sign up for a time whatever they are they have times so a lot of mine have been conflicting with work.
But I’ve done it. I’ve done it like four or five times. Cool, cool. And it’s been fun. Yeah, well, it’s it sounds like a great, you know, program that they put together just to give you a head start because you’re only gonna be in the MTC two weeks at home, four weeks in Provo. That’s only 6 total weeks. You know, when I went Spanish speaking and I was in the Provo MTC for 9 weeks. So you were. You were. Yeah. So you’ll have a lot less in missionary training set of time than I did. I know that. So the free MTC really helps. You get a head start since you can have more limited time, yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Cool. Alright. So let’s spend the last few minutes talking about the temple. We mentioned that when you have your final mission interview with your Bishop and stake president, they also gave you a recommend for a living ordinance at the Temple to receive your own endowment. So in February or March, was it you came home and February and you and Mom and I went to the Dallas temple with you to receive your your endowment. So talk a little bit about that experience. And I think that will be a good way to wrap this up on a spiritual note.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, for sure. Umm. Let’s see. So I scheduled to do that. It was the weekend before I got my mission call. So I went to the temple on Saturday. I got my mission called following Tuesday. Ohh. In in years past. I know you had to have a mission call before you could go to the temple. That is no longer the case. Yeah, you can go to the temple before you have your mission call. And. And that and Hanna’s was like a week or two before she got her call. But he was literally like, three days before. OK, but yeah. So I have a lot of friends who did go, like, several months before they got their machine call. A lot of them. So after yeah, and just as you know, personal. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So I went. Yeah. And back in February.
I’m trying to think I tried to prepare as best I could. You took a class? Yeah, they my steak at BYU. Or maybe it’s just my ward. I think you’re just my ward, offered Temple Prep. For it was like 3 Sundays, they did just three lessons for like an hour. It’s very hard, I feel like. When older adults try and prepare you to go to the temple because it’s been so long since they’ve gone to the temple, it’s hard to get very vague. It’s hard to remember what it was like that first time. Yeah.
Well, and with the temple, you have to you can’t give you details too specific, so it makes sense. But it’s just. For me like. I was very anxious about wanting to prepare just because, Umm, I had no idea what was gonna happen, but it was hard for me to prepare because you can’t know exactly what’s gonna happen. So it requires a lot of faith. Yeah, but yeah, so I did temple Prep. I tried to do some research on my own I found. A bunch of like, great things that churches website has some good stuff. Umm.
Just like after this is kind of random, but after I got endowed something that I’ve like told all my friends that are preparing, I’ve been like just let me know if you everyone like talk about stuff. I’ll send you all these links and I always tell them, like, reading the Old Testament stuff. Yep, old test is great. Great prep because it kind of just literally says old stuff. Yeah. And that you do right there. Yeah. And it’s great because then you can, like, draw that comparison a little better when you’re in the temple. And it doesn’t seem as. Interesting, right? Right. I mean, not as interesting as. New and strange. Yeah. Yeah. And then after. Yeah, we went through the temple.
Jimmy Smith:
I was just gonna say, yeah, you went back to Provo and yeah, you’ve been going. I mean, luckily at BYU, you have four temples within 30 minutes. Distance. Vicinity. Yeah. So you’ve been going back to the Temple Weekly or roughly since then. Trying. Yeah. So the first time you go to the temple and receive your endowment, it’s probably a fire hose kind of a metaphor. But, but you’ve been able to go back many times since then. And and and and be more contemplative about it. And. Yeah, and. And. And you’ve learned a lot more as you’ve gone back again and again.
Hannah Smith:
Right. Yeah. And yeah, for sure. And something great for me was. Going back to Provo and talking to my friends who had already been through the temple, I was like one of the first of my like mission aged friends like the ones that are all going on missions, but I have some friends who are back from their mission and it was great to talk to them about it and they were just kind of validating me and what I was feeling and like saying, but they’re still like learning stuff and understanding. So it was great to to talk to them about it. Yeah, because I felt.
Like at home I was like, whoa, this is crazy. And I was kind of like in shock and you and mom were just like, well, yeah, it’s like how it is, but it’s and not. Not that you weren’t validating me, but it was just like hard cuz that was like, well, they’ve just been in the temple so much and I haven’t. So it’s great to talk to people who have been like more recently, like for the first time. Yeah. But yeah anyways, but the actual endowment it was, it was good.
Jimmy Smith:
And you had. Yeah, you had by garments, obviously. Yeah. 4 You went and received your endowment. Yep. And try them on, though. So you have to buy a lot of new garments. Well, yeah, that’s gonna say. And plus you have to stock up for your mission. Yeah. And yeah, and so forth. That’s part of getting the gear ready. So there’s that. But anything else about? The temple, or about anything else? I mean, we’re we’re wrapping up here. Yeah. Anything else? We’ve talked about that you wanna add to or maybe that we forgot to mention that you can briefly add here as we conclude, yeah.
Hannah Smith:
Well, I’d say that the temple definitely for me has been. It’s been a faith building thing to like go back and I don’t know. It’s required me to put a lot of trust in God. That what he’s asking us to do is like, really what he wants, yeah. Umm, I also think going to the temple I would encourage if. You feel like it’s the right time to go. A decent amount before your mission. Yeah, so that you can go back a bunch. Yeah, before you leave on your mission. Yeah, because the temple, like, going to the temple like, you know, after you go for yourself, you’re doing it as like proxy work. And so it’s honestly great missionary work.
The temple is and you know our whole. Your whole goal is missionaries is not just like baptize people but to prepare them to receive the ordinances and temple right so that they can, you know, have exaltation and eternal life and go back with God. Yep. And so going and like understanding those things a little more yourself that you’re trying to prepare people for is great. And then also like being able to. Kind of be a missionary in, you know, doing that proxy work. Yeah, and helping them learn more through you going. Yeah, is great.
I’m trying to think if there’s anything else. Yeah, I don’t know. That’s I think that’s a great way to prepare for a mission. So it’s going to the temple because, yeah. Spiritual thing. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, it is. And so you start the home MTC in about 3 weeks, and if possible, I’d like to do a third part of this interview series before I believe before. After you’ve done home MC before you go to the Provo MTC. Be a I’d like to do that to to to give the audience an idea of what the the home MTC is like and maybe also talk about your final preps before starting your mission. So so we’ll we’ll try and schedule that and I certainly appreciate, Hannah, you taking the time to do this. I think it’s helpful for the audience who comes to the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep website to get your perspective and to learn more. I think this will help a lot of people.
And I want to leave you with my testimony as well that this is the work of the Lord, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the the Lord’s true church on the earth were led by living prophets of God. The temple is is the House of the Lord, and a place where you can go and and be endowed with power from on high. I know that you know there’s no greater work to be involved in than the work of the Lord and in the temple, helping yourself and and those beyond the veil to receive the ordinances they need for salvation and as a missionary to, to preach the gospel, to further the work of the Lord. There’s no greater work to be involved in. It’s a blessing for us to be involved in this work. And I know that’s true, and I leave that testimony in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thanks everyone for joining and we’ll talk to you next time. Bye.
The post Submitting Mission Application, Receiving the Call, and Preparing to Leave – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 17 appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
46 min
January 08, 2022 Deciding to Go on a Mission and Filling Out the Application – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 16
This video is an interview with Hannah Smith, a young woman in the process of submitting her application to be a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hannah talks about what made her decide to serve a mission and gives information about the process of filling out the paper work and the online mission recommendation system. The transcript of the interview can be found below and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post as it comprises Episode 16 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast.
Jimmy Smith:
Hello and welcome to our latest episode of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast. My name is Jimmy Smith. I’m the founder of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep website and podcast, and I’m pleased to have with me today, my daughter Hannah Smith who is on the on the call or on the on the video call with me if you’re watching this on video podcasts, you’ll hear the audio.
Hannah is my daughter and she’s here today to talk about her decision to serve a mission and the process she’s gone through in applying for a mission. She’s in the middle of that process right now. Hannah is a freshman at BYU (Brigham Young University). She recently turned 19. She’s been working on her mission application with her BYU Bishop for the last couple of months.
We’re recording this in January of 2022, and she has scheduled her final interview with her Bishop and stake president, and that’ll happen in about a month, and then she’ll get her mission papers turned in. So welcome to the podcast Hannah. Thanks for being with us today. Is there anything else you’d like to say about yourself by way of introduction?
Hannah Smith:
I don’t think so. Thanks for having me.
Jimmy Smith:
Alright. Thanks for thanks for being with me today and I appreciate it all right. I think, what you’re going to have to say and what we’re going to say to the audience today is going to be interesting and beneficial for a lot of missionaries. The process you’ve gone through with applying for your mission, it can be long and complex and as I’ve run the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep website for the past 12 years, that is one of the biggest areas of questions and concerns people have is about this application process, so you’re really going to be helping a lot of people by just telling them what you went through, what your experience has been. And so that they can help maybe avoid some pitfalls as they go through this process.
So the first thing I want to talk about before we talk about the application process is how you decided to serve a mission. Obviously in the church, young men have an expectation to serve a mission as part of their priesthood duties. Every church president in my lifetime has said that all worthy enable young men should prepare to serve a mission. Young women have also been invited and welcomed in serving a mission, but there’s not that same expectation for young women like yourself. So if you could, let’s start out by talking about your desire to serve our mission, why you want to go? What made you decide to serve a mission?
Hannah Smith:
Well so, I guess the main thing that like made me decide to want to serve a mission, I was just I was like I don’t know. I was thinking about it a lot and like oh it’s like this could be an option for me. And like the more I thought about it I was like wow like putting aside like a whole year and a half, so like just serving the Lord and serving other people and like you know, being able to grow your testimony. I was like that. Seems like a really cool opportunity and like it seems like a really good thing. And so that’s kind of where like started.
There was a point. I think it was like during my senior year in high school. There was a girl in our ward that came home from her mission and she like gave her homecoming talk and they had her give like a little fireside. Like after she got home. Just like telling about like her mission experience and like they like allowed the youth to ask questions and stuff door and I think just like a lot of the things she said about going on a mission like. I don’t know, it just like it sounded really exciting to me, like even if it was like partially like, oh wow, that sounds like a really like cool adventure like, you know going and just putting yourself out there and teaching the gospel for 18 months. It just sounded like she really enjoyed it and that it, like, really helped her grow her testimony.
And so I was like, thought it was just really inspiring to me to, like, hear all of that and then also like just talking to like one of my friends who’s preparing to serve mission and like his reasons why you want to go. That really helped me figure it out and then also prayer and scripture study, but I never had like a really big like moment where I was like. Yes, I want to serve. I was just like little things and I just felt like it was the right thing whenever I thought about it, I was like oh, should I go. I just felt like a good feeling. So do you can’t go wrong with good feelings.
Jimmy Smith:
Well, it sounds like the Spirit of God has moved upon you in many ways. You said it was on your mind a lot, and I think that’s a sign of the spirit. Uh, yeah, you talked about the good feelings you had the, as you’ve heard other missionaries come home and talk to other missionaries were preparing to go, it’s just it felt good. It felt right, and I think all these things you’ve said indicate the Spirit of the Lord working upon you so. So that’s good.
I was just, you know, as your parent, I’ve personally tried not to like…I didn’t want to Make it appear that that we wanted you to go on a mission. I mean, I’m we do want you to go on a mission but we didn’t want to make it appear like you had to go on a mission because your dad runs a mission prep website. So hopefully that’s not the case, because, like honestly, until your senior year of high school, I didn’t even think you were seriously considering a mission. Obviously you grew up in the church, you knew it was an option, but we did. Parents didn’t pressure you, but so I was kind of surprised at some point in your senior year, you’re all of a sudden talking about a mission. It was a pleasant surprise and we’re glad to hear it.
But anyway, it does sound like you’ve been trying to follow the Spirit, which is like I feel like exactly what all of us should be doing.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, I also want to add, just because it came to my mind, before I came to BYU, I was like I wanted like decide if I want to go on a mission before I come to BYU because I was like I think once I get up there, the people I meet like and talk to him become friends with I’d like know how influential that can be. So I wanted to like decide for myself without any like extra influence before I came up here and it actually like worked out pretty well because like I decided I want to go and then I’ve been able to meet like a lot of my roommates like decide to serve missions too, and so it’s been really cool. Like talked to them and then, you know, talked to people who’ve come home from their missions, and like just every time they talk about it, it’s like they get so hyped and excited. And then like I think about it, and I get so excited and like this. This is the coolest thing, sort of mission so.
Jimmy Smith:
It is cool and you’re going to love it. It’s hard to obviously missions are hard work, and they’re difficult and they can be trying, spiritually, physically, emotionally, you name it.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Uh, they’re not easy, but you know, uh, Intellectually look back on my mission, which was 25 years ago now and I remember that there were those hard times, but I really have to kind of think about it to remember those hard times. You know you’ve heard me talk about my mission, I loved it and most of the feelings and remembrances I have for my mission is nothing but positive and good.
So anyway, you’re going to have a great experience. Alright, let’s move on. Let’s see what my next question is. What have you done to prepare yourself for mission?
Hannah Smith:
Honestly, I think the biggest thing is like trying to change my mindset. I’ve been trying to like do better at my daily prayers and like Scripture study just because I know that’s like a really important thing. I mean, just in general, but like on a mission, that’s like a huge thing like you have hours of study every day and like being in tune with the spirit is really important. So I’ve been trying to, I guess do better at that.
Jimmy Smith:
Right, so Scripture study and prayer. You’ve also when your senior in high school here in our local stake in Texas, you took a class.
Hannah Smith:
Oh yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Uh, which I think helped you, Right.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, so I took a class they called it Hope of Israel. And it was basically like mission and college prep combined, like our stake just offered it up. But yeah, that was kind of helpful to. I don’t know, just I guess get more like perspective from other people on. Like what serving a mission entails and like kind of it was more of like. The physical preparations I felt like for a lot of it, and if they did talk about like this spiritual side too but like. Just like preparing to live on your own, I think was a big part of that preparation.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
And I guess in that case then part of my preparation to serve mission was coming to college because.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
Uh, my was like, well, I guess if I can live on my own at college and I can do it on mission so.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, I think that’s a big deal. It’s having a long term away from home experience, but you know, not like a year and a half or two years, that of a mission like a college experience or some other kind of, you know, a few months away from home, I think is great experience just for learning to live on your own, because if going on a mission is the first time in your life you’ve lived away from home, away from mom and dad for a long period of time that that adjustment can be a lot harder.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
So, you did the Hope of Israel class, which was kind of mission prep in our stake as well. You and I and your other brother, Abe the younger brother Abe, went through the church’s mission prep courses like 15 lessons. So I know you’ve done that and did you sign up for a mission prep class through BYU or through your BYU ward or stake?
Hannah Smith:
Yes, so uh I signed up through BYU, so it’s like one of my classes. It’s a missionary prep, so I just started at the start of the semester. Was like 3 days ago so. Yeah so I think I think it’s going to be really good class, though it seems like they really focus on like, my reading like Preach my Gospel and like working through that. And then we also like, uh, required to do like a Book of Mormon, like journal, and we’re supposed to read it like 30 minutes every day. And like report back on that. So I think that’ll be good preparation, even if like.
People listening if you don’t have the opportunity to do that, I think reading preach my gospel and like getting familiar with it and then like getting in a better habit of like Scripture study. I think that’s going to be really beneficial. Just because that’s something I wanted to do anyways and so it’s kind of nice that I have a class that I have to do it for, but yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Then you get credit for college credit for it?
Hannah Smith:
I get a credit. I get religion credit so there you go. So yeah, I’m super excited for that class.
Jimmy Smith:
Cool. So you’re hoping to leave on your mission this summer, so it like I said, we’re recording this January of 2022. You’re hoping in early February to submit your mission papers, and you hope you get your call to go this summer. You know, June is your hope.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Uh, we we know summer is a busy time for a lot of people want to go in there mission so.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
So what are you going to do over the next four, five, six months until you go to continue to prepare for your missing anything else? I mean, I guess the things we’ve talked about you’re going to take your BYU class. You’ll keep you know, Scripture, study and prayer anything else?
Hannah Smith:
I’m planning on taking Temple Prep from my stake.
Jimmy Smith:
Oh, right.
Hannah Smith:
Because you have to go to the temple, get your endowments out for you on a mission so uhm yeah, I guess that’s one thing is. I’m taking Temple Prep and I’m trying to like do a bit of study on my own to prepare to go to the temple, and then I’m hoping and once I do that, I’ll be able to go to the temple a couple times up here before I leave on my mission. So I think that’ll be good preparation. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, uh, I think it was Elder Bednar who said that we should make going to the temple and receiving your own endowment there as big a highlight as your mission and mission call. Because obviously the temple is so important for your eternal covenants and eternal life and salvation.
Let’s see, what would your advice be to other young women who aren’t sure if they should go on a mission or not? Any thoughts on that subject? because I know there’s a lot of young women out there who you know they don’t have to go, but they can go and they’re not sure if they should any. Any thoughts of what they should consider and making that decision?
Hannah Smith:
Oh man. I’m trying to think of like what I’ve told my some of my roommates because my like room roommate she, she’s pretty young like she’s still almost has like another year before she could leave on a mission. But anyway, so she’s like, been, you know, trying to think about if she wants to serve a mission or not. And I think what can be hard is like there can feel like there’s a lot of peer pressure.
Depending on like who you’re surrounded by, I think for her it was. It’s been a little more pressure because. Uhm, like almost all of like our roommates last semester, like all but her were like pretty like set on going on a mission and so I think it was hard because like people would like come up to us and be like hey like are you?
Like oh, you have your mission call and you put in your papers and then I’d be like, yeah, and I’m like playing on putting in my papers and then they’d like get to her and they’d be like, oh like, are you going in Russian? She’s like I don’t know yet and I think it like seems like a lot of pressure.
Jimmy Smith:
Uh-huh
Hannah Smith:
To go and I’m sure it could be the other way around too. Like if you just had a bunch of friends that weren’t going and you like wanted to, then that could seem like kind of weird because maybe you would feel like you’re missing out on something. I think. Either way, there’s like this sort of like fear of missing out, which I think is a big thing for my generation, especially like we all have this kind of like fear of missing out on something.
Jimmy Smith:
yeah.
Hannah Smith:
Uh, which is actually something I’ve been thinking about, but that’s I mean, that’s different conversation anyways. So I guess my advice would be try not to let like peer pressure like what other people are doing like super affect you. I think like for me that was doing.
Like the way for me to do that was to decide before I came to you, because I knew there would be that pressure. So I guess just thinking about like maybe what your goals are in life. I like your long term goals and then when you’re like thinking about a mission, maybe like reading, you know your scriptures like thinking about.
Like other missionaries think like, is that something that is going to help me like reach my goals in life and I think also like reading your patriarchal blessing and I know like my patriarchal blessing doesn’t say “You will go on mission,” but like there’s part of it that I like kind of interpreted as like, I mean, for me, like interpreted it this way. I was like it said that you have the potential to be a really good teacher and so for me I was like I know there’s like so many ways that can apply, but I was like, Oh well, if that means that maybe I could be like a good missionary. Like really good missionary then like why would I not at least like go out and try doing that? And throughout my life I’m sure I’ll try other ways of applying that, but yeah, so I think.
Studying like on your own time, trying to ignore peer pressure and just like listen to the spirit. I’m thinking about like your long term goals and it will help you meet it and then like reading your patriarchal blessing.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, great no. That’s all wonderful. Thanks for remembering about your patriarchal blessing. So yeah, for those young women out there who are thinking about. And if you haven’t had your patriarchal blessing yet, well, talk to your Bishop and see if see about getting your patriarchal blessing. That is something that can certainly help you in deciding your course in life and whether or mission is in that or not.
Cool, so OK. Now let’s transition to some of the steps and processes you’ve gone through for a for applying for admission.
Again, we are talking to Hannah Smith. She’s a young woman preparing to go on a mission. She’s she happens to be my daughter. I’m Jimmy Smith on the host of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast and website. And so Hannah, like you said at the beginning, you have been working with your BYU Bishop and you’ve been on the church’s website and you’ve been going through the application process. So let’s talk about that.
So once you decided that you wanted to apply for a mission, one of the first things you had to consider was when you would go, right? We talked about that a little, but you know, you could have decided to go before college, or you could have gone after your first semester. You’ve decided to try and go after your first two semesters, after first year at college. So what factors did you consider? And how did you, basically, how did you figure out when you want it to go on your mission?
Hannah Smith:
I think a big factor for me was, I guess in the summer I was, I’m thinking a lot about like, you know, I guess I’m trying to think because I had to decide before that. I guess one thing that I was really thinking about was I’m leaving home, like how going to college versus going on a mission like right out of high school. I was like kind of like weighing, which would be like a harder transition for me.
For me, the thought of like leaving all my friends at like leaving my family was like really, really difficult and so and the more I thought about it, I was like I can’t imagine like going from, you know, hang out with my friends all the time and like, texting them all the time and like you know having social media like being able to talk to them. I could imagine like going from that so like immediately going so like being on a mission and like only you know, being able to email anyone except my family.
So I was like Oh well, I think would be a better transition, at least away from like my home friends, to be able to go to college and like, you know it was like it, like it seems like a slower transition like away from them. I guess. I kind of like, I don’t know if that really is super beneficial because now I have new friends and like it’s still going to be hard to leave them, but like at least I know that I’m able to make that transition because like a lot of my friends that I thought I was going to keep in touch with from high school like I really like, didn’t keep in touch with. And like I mean it makes me like a little sad. But it’s been OK and so I think.
Yeah for me, just like thinking about what the transition was going to be like was a big deal and I thought that like college was going to be better for me to start with that and then the reason that I did decide to take two semesters before going instead of justice. One was like I felt like your freshman year in college is like, something that’s like kind of special, like you can’t really replicate, and so I wanted to get the full like experience of having a freshman year before I went out, because like once you get back from a mission, like if you’ve already been to college.
It’s a little different because it’s not like you have like freshman orientation and all that and like. They expect you like, Oh yeah, you’ve already like had classes here. You know what’s going on so I just wanted to like I don’t want to get the full freshman experience and I’m really glad that I did because of one semester like it seemed so short, I can’t imagine. Just like leaving right after that so.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, well I was going to ask you about that because as your parents we encourage you to go your whole freshman year, both fall semester and winter, and for similar reasons that you’ve expressed so I was just curious if you thought that was a good idea. It sounds like you do.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah. Yeah, oh shoot, I had a thought. I forget.
Jimmy Smith:
It’ll come back to you.
Hannah Smith:
Oh I something else though I think like part way through my first semester I was like, I mean, I reach like kind of a point where it’s like kind of hard, like my classes were hard and like there are a couple like social things that were going on that were difficult and I just kind of was like Dang like it would be so much easier just to like hurry and finish my papers in like oh right now. Like after this semester.
Jimmy Smith:
Uh-huh
Hannah Smith:
Uhm, but then like the more I thought about it, I was like OK, well like this might just be like a rough spot though like.
You wanted to do to stressors like just do it. So I mean I ended up, you know, just doing that but first second I was like it might just be easier, but the mission is not necessarily easier than college. I’m sure it’s actually harder, so I don’t know when my logic was there.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah. It’s different. Yeah, well and you know? Uh, I think maybe we mentioned this earlier. Like several of your first semester BYU roommates have are leaving on their missions, so you’re an apartment with six girls and three of the six got their mission. Call the uh, a month or so ago and are leaving on their missions within the next. Uh, you know, month or so. So obviously I mean that that’s a fine route. If you want to take it.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
And a lot of people.
Hannah Smith:
No, definitely yeah. But I just knew for me that that was not what I want to do, and so I’m glad I stuck with it. But it’s all about just like following dispiriting like whatever personal revelation you’ve received so.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah. Well, good so. Right, well and the reason why we’re talking about this is because it’s important to know when you want to leave on your mission because.
You take that date you want to leave on your mission and in the church mission application process, they call that your availability date and so when you’re planning your meetings with your Bishop and your doctors, visits and all the things for the application, all the timing is dependent on your availability date. So that’s why we talk about when you want to go first. So you decided you wanted to leave the first part of June. That’s your availability date.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
So, you know you want to leave the 1st of June but you went ahead and talk to your Bishop, probably in October. How many months in advance is that? That’s like eight or nine months in advance. If you going, you would talk to your Bishop, right?
Hannah Smith:
It was. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Let’s get things started.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah, and I did that because.
Jimmy Smith:
Which I think is what most people will need to do, but go ahead.
Hannah Smith:
I’m honestly I think I definitely like could have opened them much later, like started doing or favors much later, but I wanted to do my like dentist and doctors appointments at home and I also wanted to, like just be able to like be looking at the papers and I was like I figured like if I have them open and like I’m you know working on them like it’ll just like get me more excited for it.
And so that’s why I opened them so early. So yeah, it worked out because like over the two like Thanksgiving and Christmas break, I was able to get some stuff done at home. So end up working out that I didn’t so early. I definitely don’t think you have to open them that early, but definitely. I mean it does take some time to take. Do all your appointments and stuff so.
Jimmy Smith:
Right, I mean, yeah, you may have done it a little early, but not a lot early. So talk about that process of getting started. Your first meeting with your Bishop and him enabling the online mission application system, enabling you to go in. Talk about that a little.
Hannah Smith:
Uhm, well. So first of all, before I met with my Bishop I like had to schedule to meet with him and so I just talked to the Executive secretary in our ward. We have a couple actually because motherboard, but so I just talked to one of them and I was like hey like I’m wanting to like open up my mission papers. Can I like scheduled to meet with the Bishop. [He] was like yeah sure and then we just set a time.
So I went in and did that with him, pretty much like well. He talked to me about during that like it’s kind of like an interview and it’s kind of like he’s just telling you some stuff like my Bishop asked me like why I wanted to serve a mission and like what I think like the hardest part of being serving mission is going to be and like the best part and stuff like that.
And then he asked me like about like I guess my like physical and mental health just like kind of determining if like if it’s a, you know, good idea if it will work for me to go on a mission. So we talked about that and then my Bishop was super awesome. He wrote up this whole like I guess like packet of information that he emailed me that had like the Missionary Portal website and just kind of like the steps to take after you open up your papers. So that was nice.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, let’s mention what that addresses. So Hannah you mentioned the Missionary Portal. The address is missionary.churchofjesuschrist.org so that’s the Missionary Portal. Anybody can go there, parents, leaders, youth, anybody can go to that Missionary Portal. I think it has some information about preparing for missionary service and so forth. But after you talk to the Bishop he enabled a link that you’re not [previously] going to see.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Unless you’re a youth preparing to go on a mission and your Bishop has enabled you and that’s he enabled the online recommendation system. So like if I was to go to the missionary portal today, I would not see that there’s a big button that says apply for missionary service. But after you talked to your Bishop, he went into his Bishop systems and he basically enabled that for you so that when you went back to this Missionary Portal you can see this.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Big button that says apply to serve a mission. Which if you click on that, took you to the online recommendation system, which you can go to directly. I’ll mention with that addresses as well to help people out. It’s missionaryrecommendations.churchofjesuschrist.org, but only people like yourself, Hannah, missionaries that are applying can get to that online recommendation system.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
So you talked to the Bishop you guys talked about physical and spiritual worthiness and abilities. It’s a serve and he was very supportive and gave you even a packet of information to help you as you prepare to go on a mission. He enabled the online recommendation system. So what were some of the next steps you took after that meeting with the Bishop?
Hannah Smith:
Uh, after that I honestly I just went in and filled in as much information as I could. Read it on the thing I guess I can. Are we going to talk about this specific sections? Do you want me to like talk about overall first or what?
Jimmy Smith:
Ah yeah, I don’t. I mean, I don’t think we need to go into a lot of detail, but do mention you know, at a high level the things that you’ve filled out. I would ask for like personal information. And obviously there’s health stuff as well, but yeah, just at a high level, maybe go over some of the things like that. Then you’re going to have to fill out when you said you went in to the online recommendation system and filled out as much as you could. What were the types of things you filled out?
Hannah Smith:
OK. Yeah. So it was things like, uhm, yeah, personal information. They ask about your education like if you had seminary. If you did seminary how many years you did it where you went to high school? If you’ve done any college they asked me about, like my work experience, so I told him, like the places I’d worked and how long I worked there and they ask about like.
The financial side. So they ask, like how much you’re going to be able to put in every month and like who’s going to be putting in money. So it’s like $400 a month so you just have to say who’s putting what in. Now they ask health insurance. I had to, yeah, to look at like the insurance card and stuff for that. And then yeah, they ask you like general questions about your help.
And then you also have to get a dental evaluation and like a physical valuation. So I like scheduled those.
Uh, and I did them at home and I’m trying to think what else you have to like put in your driver’s license if you have one. I’m so just like scan that in. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
And you have to upload a photo which you haven’t done yet of yourself looking like a missionary that you’ve done. Almost everything except that.
Hannah Smith:
Oh yes. Yeah. It’s like it’s like. Showed it’s like from here up, like your shoulders are showing like straightforward playing background missionary attire.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, kind of like passport photo but uhm.
Hannah Smith:
So. Yeah, except you get a smile so.
Jimmy Smith:
And they also asked in in the information you filled out about like your family history in terms of where your ancestors were from and they asked about language learning and what you’re desire was to talk about that.
Hannah Smith:
Oh yes. So yeah, they asked about like my top, I guess. Like heritage or something, I don’t know, or I guess ancestry? Yeah, that’s the word they use so I just put kind of from like my biggest like percentage to like a smaller percentage. I listed a bunch.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah.
Hannah Smith:
Uh, I’m looking right now. I listed like English, Norwegian, Scottish, Swiss, Swedish, Irish, Danish, Canadian. So I’m guessing you don’t have to list that many, but I’ve heard that like, surprisingly, that is one of the like parts that. State like look at a lot when determining where you’re going up, like one of my, I mean, this might just be a coincidence. One of my roommates he ready has her call. She has a lot of like German ancestry, and she’s going to Germany, so I don’t know like how big of a factor it is, but I know it’s something they do look at.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah.
Hannah Smith:
Uh, and then for language, what did they ask? Let’s see.
Jimmy Smith:
They ask like your desire to learn a language like high, medium, low or something like that.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah they do, so they ask two things. They say what is like your willingness or I guess, not willing. It’s like Oh no. What is like your interest in learning language on a scale of 1 to 5 and then they ask? Like what is your ability to learn a language well on scale and five? And so I was like, well, I’ll be able to learn a language just fine. because I did in high school. So like I put a 5 and then I also was like oh I really want to learn a language and I put a five I think.
That is definitely something they look at because my roommates, who have got their calls. They put like a higher like a four or five on like interest. And I think they all put five on ability, and they’re all speaking when I’m speaking Russian ones learning Mandarin and once winning German. So I think if you put that, you’ll probably learn a language. Uh, so that’s pretty cool. I also I just noticed they ask about like where you have relatives that have served missions, so I put in like where you served your mission and like my grandparents, their missions and like.
Jimmy Smith:
Oh, right.
Hannah Smith:
Your parents served a senior mission, so I put that up. And they also ask, like if you have any siblings or a boyfriend or girlfriend who are currently serving up so that they won’t put you in the same place so.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
Anyways. Also related to like I guess like kind of location. They ask like where you’ve lived recently. Like the most recent places you go, or if you look somewhere for an extended period of time. So I put Texas in Utah because like I’ve lived there.
Jimmy Smith:
Alright.
Hannah Smith:
Both of those places pretty long so. Yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Cool, so yeah, I don’t think we need to go in a lot of detail about the dental medical stuff, but you you were home and Texas is our home Europe, BYU and Utah now. But you were home for Christmas for a couple of weeks and you had your wisdom teeth out and you also had your medical physician form anything to say about the about those.
Hannah Smith:
I’m probably just you don’t have to have your wisdom teeth out. I just knew that like the dentist had recommended it. And like you don’t want it causing any issues while you’re on your mission, especially if you’re like in out of the country. And so I was like, well, I may as well just get him out. Now I’m going to have to get him out eventually.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
And then I think, yeah, the physician. It’s just like a pretty much a regular physical like got my blood drawn. It’s pretty chill so.
Jimmy Smith:
Cool, cool you know and I guess I should also say the church is looking for any red flags that they needed to take into account when they’re doing the mission call. If you had a physical or mental health issue, they might take that into account for. I’m not talking about you, Hannah, but anyone in general.
Uh, your health is pretty good, thankfully, but anyway, the church wants to know your medical history and any medical conditions just so that’s that can be taken into account when determining where you’ll serve a mission.
Hannah Smith:
Yeah. Can I can I add something to that real quick? So two things hopefully remember both one is.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah, absolutely.
Hannah Smith:
Uhm Dang it. I already forgot the one. OK anyways the other one.
Jimmy Smith:
Go to the other one.
Hannah Smith:
Is that when you’re filling out just like on your own thing on the website, I’m not like during the physical it asks you to like check if you’ve ever had. Like certain conditions and like same with like mental health stuff so it you know it’ll be like have you had a heart condition or diabetes or anxiety or depression. I like it lists all these things and.
I wasn’t sure for a couple of them what to put because I didn’t have like a doctor’s diagnosis, but I was like I think I like may have had symptoms rose this for like mental health stuff. This is just because I’m sure people have questions about this.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah.
Hannah Smith:
I guess I’ll just say I like have had some like experience with anxiety and stuff, but I’ve never been to a doctor about it. It’s nothing like major crazy, but not that it’s bad if it is. But anyways, I just wasn’t like sure what to put up. Because I’m like, I don’t think that’s going to impact me while I’m on my mission, really. And it’s not going to like impact my ability to serve. I don’t think so.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
But the way that they word it on the application is like have you expand to a doctor had like symptoms?
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
Like in the past or present. And so I was like, not sure what to put it because I was like well I guess like had symptoms, but I’ve never been to a doctor, but when I asked my Bishop about it he was like, yeah, if you haven’t been diagnosed by a doctor. Don’t put it on there because and I talked to you about this yesterday.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
That will just like I guess what you were saying was if you had indicated that you had anxiety, but it’s like minor and you’ve never been to a doctor about it. And then when they’re overviewing your forms after you submit them, then that’s kind of like a red flag to see for them. They’re because they don’t know how major your anxiety is. They go, oh yeah, she puts that she’s anxiety, but she’s never been to a doctor like that’s kind of bad. And then I guess what you were saying was that can really slow down like the process of getting your call. So I would just be like.
Jimmy Smith:
Well.
Hannah Smith:
You, I mean like obviously you want to be honest, and if it’s like a legitimate concern or condition, like you definitely want to put it down just because like.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
If it’s really going to impact you and your service, like, even if it’s like a physical thing or mental thing like you want to put it, but I’m, yeah, like for me it was something that I don’t need to put.
Jimmy Smith:
Right, right I think.
Hannah Smith:
But I just was wondering if I needed to watch I don’t so.
Jimmy Smith:
Right no I think there’s some subjectivity there. There’s a judgment call and that’s why you asked your Bishop and actually parents what they thought and we both, your Bishop and I your father, thought that there’s really no need to put anything there because when the church receives your mission application, they’re going to have they have a team of doctors, there at church headquarters, and they’re going to review the medical forms. And so if they see things that are concerned, you know, medically speaking, it could delay your mission call so. Uh, people watching and listening just need to be aware of that.
So that takes us basically to where we are today in your mission application, you filled everything out. You’ve gotten all your doctor stuff done, and you set an appointment to talk to. Have a, uh, final interview with your Bishop and your stake president the first part of February because your availability date is the first part of June and the church has 120 day rule. You can’t submit your mission application more than 120 days before your availability date and so that’s what you’re planning to do. You’ll talk to your Bishop and stake president in early February and then the stake actually will submit your papers to church headquarters right around 120 days before you your availability date, so you know that’s where we are with you. We’ll probably do a follow up podcast and video after you get your call to talk about the call packet and anything we’ve missed here.
I’m just trying to think is there anything else we need to talk about before we wrap things up? Any major parts of the application process, anything we should have talked about up till this point? You’re at now and your mission application process, anything we we’ve missed that we need to talk about?
Hannah Smith:
Not that I can really think. I think that’s everything.
Jimmy Smith:
One thing I just remembered was when you turn in your papers.
Hannah Smith:
Uh-huh
Jimmy Smith:
Uh, for application to go on a mission a full-time mission, you come. There’s probably a check box, I don’t know. We can confirm this. Maybe next time where you say you know I’m willing to go wherever the Prophet sends me. I don’t know if there’s literal checkbox for that, but it’s definitely kind of part of the church culture and just kind of understood that.
You’re going to be assigned to a mission by prophecy and revelation, and if you’re willing to go wherever the Lord sends you, any thoughts on that?
Hannah Smith:
Uh, I’m trying to. I’m looking right now actually because they have like a privacy agreement. So you have to sign. So I’m like curious if it is in there. I don’t think it is, but I mean that is.
Jimmy Smith:
But the concept in general is going where, you know, the Lord could send you to.
Hannah Smith:
Obviously something yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Utah or Mongolia. Argentina it’s a good place, I think, to serve a mission anywhere in the world go to Europe. What do you think about just going where the Lord calls you to go?
Hannah Smith:
Well, I think I actually think that’s something you need to consider when you’re deciding if you want to go on a mission is like, oh, am I willing?
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
To go wherever because that’s something I’ve noticed. Like when I’m talking to my friends of other religions about serving a mission for our church. That’s like a pretty big difference to them and how they do missions. You know other churches will do missions they’ll be like.
A month or it could be a couple weeks and months, a couple months, but they get up like pick where they go. Generally, from what I’ve gathered, and so whenever I tell people I’m like working on my paperwork and they’re like, oh, that’s so cool. Like where are you going?
All right now, I don’t know where I’m going and I’m like, ah, I don’t know where I’m going to like oh, you don’t get to pick. I’m like no like it’s by like revelation from the Spirit where, who are the words of apostles, decide for me to go, which I mean, I worded a little differently for people that don’t know the terminology but I’m I think that’s like such a crazy concept to them that they’d be like you would put a year and a half of your life like in the hands of the Lord, just like you’re going to trust him to like.
I mean, he could send you somewhere like super sketchy, I mean obviously like they take care of missionaries and make sure they’re safe. I don’t know where I was going out with that, but I think that that was something I definitely I’ve been thinking about a lot more, especially like the closer I get to turning in my papers. And like I really am like going to have to just go wherever they tell me to go. I’m like in that could be. Yeah it could be Utah. It could be Alabama. It could be.
Jimmy Smith:
Right.
Hannah Smith:
I have a friend in Ghana like. I mean I don’t know if they think like girls to Ghana but I’m like it could be anywhere and so I think just having like an open mind and like for me right now I’m not thinking too much about like I’m trying not to speculate too much about where I could go because I think there’s no point until I know where I’m going and then at that point I can prepare myself. More specifically for that, but anyways, yeah.
Jimmy Smith:
Well, I, I think it is, as you indicated, a real demonstration of faith, in your priesthood leaders and in your faith in general too. So you said it really well to be willing to go wherever the servants of the Lord would send you for a year and a half of your life.
Uh, and I think, I think that is very commendable I. I think it shows your faith and your testimony. And as your father and friend and I couldn’t be more proud of you and I say friend, that is, friend of the Mormon Mission Prep community because we were really appreciate all your contributions. I think this is been a great conversation and I really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule. I know you’re busy with classes and stuff, so I appreciate your time. I love you and admire you. I know you’re going to have a great time on your mission.
It’s going to be hard at times, but you’re going to grow and develop in ways you can’t even imagine. Now you’re going to have a great experience. You’re going to meet great people. You’re going to help serve the Lord and serve your fellow beings, and you’re going to build the Kingdom of God and you’re going to be blessed for it. And you’re going to bless others eternally by being a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And anyway I know that’s true and I again thank you Hannah and any anything you want to say before we end. You don’t have to.
Hannah Smith:
Ah, I don’t think so. Let’s follow the spirit, guys.
Jimmy Smith:
Yeah alright, thank you Hannah.
The post Deciding to Go on a Mission and Filling Out the Application – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 16 appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
50 min
January 03, 2021 Mission Prep Class: Lesson 15: Temple and Family History Work – Video and Podcast
In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 15 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Temple and Family History Work” and discusses how temple and family history work are an integral part of missionary work for both the missionaries and those they teach.
I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic and government restrictions on travel and personal content. The video/audio is about 42 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded.
Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap.
The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 15: Temple and Family History Work – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
43 min
December 14, 2020 Mission Prep Class: Lesson 14: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2) – Video and Podcast
In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 14 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2)” and discusses how missionaries help investigators complete the first principles and ordinances of the gospel–baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.
I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic quarantine. The video/audio is about 40 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded.
Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap.
The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 14: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2) – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
40 min
November 22, 2020 Mission Prep Class: Lesson 13: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1) – Video and Podcast
In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 13 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1)” and discusses how missionaries help investigators complete the first principles and ordinances of the gospel–faith is Jesus Christ and Repentance.
I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus quarantine. The video/audio is about 43 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded.
Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap.
The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 13: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1) – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
44 min
November 09, 2020 Mission Prep Class: Lesson 12: Finding People to Teach – Video and Podcast
In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 12 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Finding People to Teach” and discusses how missionaries should exercise faith to find the people God is preparing to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.
I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus quarantine. The video/audio is about 46 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded.
Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap.
The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 12: Finding People to Teach – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
47 min
October 18, 2020 Mission Prep Class: Lesson 11: Teaching the Plan of Salvation (Part 2) – Video and Podcast
In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 11 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Teaching the Plan of Salvation (Part 2)” and discusses how the atonement of Jesus Christ overcomes the effects of physical death and spiritual death (sin). The lesson also provides an overview of our eternal progression and the three degrees of glory.
I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus quarantine. The video/audio is about 44 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded.
Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap.
The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 11: Teaching the Plan of Salvation (Part 2) – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.
45 min

About Latter-day Saint Mission Prep

From the publisher's feed

Resources for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preparing for a mission. Practical tips and spiritual advice for missionary preparation, including our 15 part series where we…

Share Latter-day Saint Mission Prep

Sign up to save your podcasts

Latter-day Saint Mission Prep

Latter-day Saint Mission Prep episodes

About Latter-day Saint Mission Prep