Mission Field Resources: 1-5

While serving my mission, I was able to speak on a weekly basis with the Area Psychiatrist who did his best to help my “cope” with Anxiety and help me to keep going. At one point in my mission, my Anxiety was so bad that I averaged about two hours of sleep per night. My chest and left arm seemed to be in constant pain from the heart palpitations. My body ached from all the tension in my back and shoulders. I was often very pale and shaky. Sometimes, the dizziness would fog my vision and I would fall in the middle of the street while proselyting. I did my best to laugh and have a sense of humor about it all, but honestly, it was incredibly hard to endure.

During this time, the Psychiatrist told me that my Anxiety would be a lot easier to control at home (this was one of many conversations that was meant to convince me to go home early). He had a very good point. In most situations, you can control anxiety at home by taking a breather, watching Netflix, listening to music, working out, talking to friends and family, etc. etc. However, those things cannot be done in the mission field. It is a lot harder to control Anxiety and Depression in the mission field. But, there are a lot of little things you can do to keep it in check, and these little things were the reason that I was able to finish my mission. After all, “by small and simple things are great things brought to pass (Alma 37:6, Book of Mormon).”

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   1. Be Obedient. Obedience is the key to success in the mission field. Being obedient helped me keep my Anxiety in check because I knew that, at the end of the day, if I was obedient I really did not have THAT much too worry about. Everything works out for the better for obedient missionaries.

   2. Church Music. Music is a quick way to invite the Spirit and bring peace to the soul.

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    3. Exercise. Never underestimate the importance of those thirty minutes given to you to exercise each day. I even woke up earlier than 6:30am most days to have more time to get the endorphins going.

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        4. Priesthood Blessings. Ask for blessings from your companion or a trusted leader. Although they may not make the trials go away, they do MIRACLES within you to help you deal with it. There were times when I would get a blessing or two just about every week from my Zone Leaders.

     5. Be open with your companion. I went through the same thing every time that I got a new companion. In my head, I thought “I’m not going to tell this new companion anything. I won’t let it be a problem this transfer and then there will be no reason to say anything. I’ll just hide it.” This would go on for MAYBE a week or two, but each time around, I realized that hiding it is just too much pressure. Although some companions did not quite understand, none of them was ever mean to me for it. They all did their best to help. Remember, we are all on the same team.