Rewards overshadow hardships in mission work
By LARRY PETERSON - CNA assistant managing editor lpeterson@crestonnews.com
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| Alyce Allen of Corning, right, approaches a home in Elizabethton, Tenn., with a missionary companion. Allen is serving an 18-month mission in eastern Tennessee for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. (Contributed photo) |
Alyce Allen calls it a crash course in living on your own.
Allen, 21-year-old daughter of Clinton and Monica Allen of Corning, and a 2005 graduate of Corning High School, began an 18-month mission in Tennessee last September. Her father is pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Lenox, which serves church members throughout the area.
Like the out-of-state missionaries serving in the Creston zone, Allen is getting used to living in an unfamiliar setting. Male members of the LDS church often serve as missionaries at age 19, while female members can begin their mission work at age 21. Alyce's 19-year-old brother, Clark, begins a mission in Honduras in August.
Getting by on $165 a month for personal expenses and food — rent and automobile expenses are covered from a mission fund in which missionaries and their families contribute $400 a month — teaches frugality.
Staying focused on their work visiting with people and teaching the gospel, missionaries are not allowed a television or radio, no computer except limited use of one in a public setting like a library or college, and telephone calls to family only on Christmas and Mother's Day.
"There are times I miss home," Alyce said, "not only my family, but things like not being able to curl up on the couch and watch a movie. But I know how important my message is, and how I can bless their life."
Career plans
Young people who do mission work become independent in a hurry. Often, they find new directions for their own lives.
As a freshman at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Allen knew that someday she wanted to get married and have a family. She also thought she wanted to study neuroscience, perhaps someday be involved in medical study of the brain and nervous system.
During that year, she began thinking about a change to the education field at the University of Northern Iowa.
"Coming out to serve a mission came at a perfect time, because I was at a crossroads of my life," Allen said. "My confidence in teaching has greatly improved by being a missionary. I'd like to do the all-science major at UNI, so I could be qualified to teach high school physics, chemistry, biology and geology."
There are more than 50,000 Mormon missionaries worldwide. After application to the church and approval, prospective missionaries receive a "call to serve" which is an official notification of their location assignment.
In July, Allen was notified she would serve in the Knoxville, Tenn., region, and she reported for three weeks of training at the Mormon Training Center in Provo on Sept. 3.
"I was totally open to going anywhere in the world," Allen said. "It's funny, but one place I said I didn't want to go was Alabama. Maybe it was things from American history I'd heard about Alabama. So, when I heard Tennessee and that we'd have a little portion of Alabama, I started laughing."
Besides learning the local dialect — y'all and you'ns are part of her daily conversations — Allen has learned to enjoy her mission area. She's worked in Elizabethon in northeast Tennessee and Chattenooga in southern Tennessee.
"Iowa will be my home, I love Iowa," Allen said. "But I really like Tennessee. I've had some awesome experiences."
Door knocking
Missionaries always work with a companion, with work groups changed every three months. Allen said their week includes a lot of meetings with people in their homes, often follow-up calls from meeting them while "tracting" door-to-door. Her training helped overcome apprehension about knocking on strangers' doors.
"You learn to embrace the awkwardness," Allen said. "I've only had five experiences where someone really yelled at me or didn't at least show the courtesy of saying thanks, but they're not interested. When you go door to door, you have your guard up. You never know what people are going to say."
In Chattenooga one time, a meeting with a 22-year-old woman in a church ended abruptly when one of the local church leaders scolded them for preaching in their church, and raised his voice as they were told to leave.
But, overall she said the positive experiences of mission life overshadow the setbacks.
"I think people can sense that we're happy, and that interests them," Allen said. "I smile and they start smiling. People will thank you for coming by, and comment how good they feel. Even if they're not interested in the gospel, if we're able to share a spiritual thought, it's so precious."
It's that feeling that makes young people put their lives on hold for two years, Allen said.
