Why we go on missions?

We have been called as Public Affairs missionaries in Birmingham, England and leave in January. While we are assigned to the Birmingham mission, we will report directly to the Assistant Area Public Affairs Director for the United Kingdom and Europe which covers England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, France, Netherlands and Norway.

For us, we began feeling the stirrings of the Spirit for a church mission when we were asked to create a Stake mission preparation class in 2012 when the missionary age was lowered.

We also felt urgent promptings once again last year in Stake and General Conference.

We both recognize the blessings we have experienced from being a member of the restored Church of Jesus Christ. Our marriage has been blessed, our children have been blessed and we have personally been blessed each time we take the sacrament and apply the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives.

So, just like every good thing, we want to share it with others.

How do you know when it is the right time to go?

This is a very personal and prayerful decision for anyone considering a mission.

One factor for us is that we are experiencing a measure of good health now, and the longer we wait the harder it may be to leave. There will always be something put in our way that could be used to delay our mission. It could be work, projects, money, housing, family and the list grows.

“And he received the word with gladness, but straightway Satan tempted him; … and the cares of the world caused him to reject the word” (D&C 40:2).

Contrast that with the Lord’s clear statement: “He that receiveth my law and doeth it, the same is my disciple” (D&C 41:5).

Deciding to go now was harder for Delynn, than for Butch. Delynn is a planner and struggled with this. She thought we should go in about 5 years after Butch had retired. Delynn was worried about the timing of a mission and having enough money for retirement.

It was when Delynn shared concerns with a coworker, who is a devout Christian, and he suggested to exercise faith and trust God, that was when Delynn was able to let go of her worry and recognize this is Heavenly Father’s timing, not hers.

It also got easier for Delynn when Butch suggested that he work longer if she would retire earlier.

So we put our papers in for a March 1,  availability date, thinking that we would go next summer. Little did we know that we would be asked to accelerate our plans to leave in January.

What did we do to get ready to go?

Preparing to serve may look different for each individual or couple. For us, our preparation fell into three areas: Spiritual, Mental and Physical

 Spiritual: Do the basics to strengthen your testimony like regular prayer, scriptures, temple work, church attendance and then serve where ever we are asked – even in callings where we are scared or feel inadequate. These are very humbling experiences and usually, require us to rely heavily upon the Lord to carry us through.

Mental: We began thinking about what our contributions to a mission would look like. When Delynn went back to school our youngest child was in junior high and she had put off earning a degree for many years but had a very strong impression to study Public Relations. At the time, she was our ward young women’s president with plenty to do and even had a few friends tell her she was crazy to do this. But her goal was to prepare her mind and hands to serve.

What she didn’t know was that she would have a career for many years in the field of Public Relations.

Butch decided to create a video business and trained in video depositions. We had no idea that it would lead to a video business that took us to multiple states in the USA and to places in Canada covering business conventions and doing interviews.

Physical: Missions can be expensive. We have worked and saved throughout 40 years of marriage. We have also tried to limit debt so that when the time came we would be ready.

About three years ago, we put our big house that we raised our kids in up for sale and down-sized. This was part of our plan to reduce debt and leverage our resources for retirement.

We hope we don’t regret it, but we plan to sell our cars and also lease out our home to offset expenses.

We are also working on getting our affairs in order; insurance, wills, those types of things.

 

What about the family members you leave behind? How do you maintain those relationships?

It is a hard thing to consider. Butch’s mother is turning 98 this year, Delynn’s mother is 88. Our 16^th grandchild was just born in July and number 17 is coming in October.

We plan to spend time as much time as we can with them before we go. After we leave, there will be plenty of Skype and FaceTime calls especially for birthdays, baptisms and special events.

We are also all on a social media app, just for the Bodine family where we all share what is going on in our lives in “real time.”

There is Amazon Prime even in England where you can send presents home. We also plan on sending postcards home with pictures of the Queen (a request by one of the grandkids).

A few things we didn’t know are:

Senior couples can also have visitors on their mission and we hope that our children will come to see us. We’ve had some children already inquire about flights to England. We will not be alone.

We also didn’t know that, if needed, we can come home for important family events like weddings, the birth of a baby and funerals if needed.

  What do your children/grandchildren think about you leaving?

They are happy and sad but very supportive. We have included them in our mission experience as much as possible.

We had regular family home evenings with all the children and grandchildren. We would update them often about where we were in the process for submitting our mission papers, phone calls we have had and the information we have gathered.

When our mission call finally came we had them all guess where we were going by putting a sticker on a world map. The grandchildren loved this and were very excited.

Can you go where you want to go?

Yes and no. You can list preferences.

Butch had a preference for 1st world countries where they speak English have clean water and a variety of facilities. Delynn, not so much and was open to more “exotic” locations. We listed our top six preferences, that were spread from New York to England to Singapore.

There are no guarantees as to your requested location and as with any mission call we would accept and go wherever we are called. We do this because we believe our mission call is given through revelation.

In April, we attended a fireside for prospective senior missionaries where we learned about a “Senior Missionary” website that lists about 30 types of missions around the world such as Leadership, Family History, Self-Reliance, Church Education and many more. In addition, there are opportunities to serve close to home on a Church Service Mission.

The site lists current and future openings and saves your preferences in your profile. It is kind of an addicting site and we guarantee you might get hooked as you look around the site.

How long will you be gone?

Depending upon the type of mission, you can serve a 6-month, 12-month, 18-month or 23 month.

We were asked to serve 23 months because of the Public Affairs training involved for our type of mission, as well as the relationship building that takes place.
We were okay with 23 months because the preparation process is quite complex and consumes a fair amount of time. Our thought was, “if we are going through this much effort, we might as well stay a while”.

Missions can be physically demanding. Will you have the energy you need to keep up?

This is a valid concern. We are not as young as we used to be. The good news is that senior missionaries are not expected to keep the same schedule as younger missionaries.

If you need a slower pace or need to rest in the middle of the day, you have that flexibility, just ask.

Our mission encourages cultural activities and days. That means when the time is available we are encouraged to get to know the country and its people better by travel and attending events. It’s a great way to relax and see the country.

Are you worried about spending this much time together?

Yes. So we have been practicing right now.

♥We carpool to work
♥Go grocery shopping together
♥Take walks together
♥Go on regular date nights and
♥Attend family functions together
♥We acknowledge that it’s OK to do things
by yourself
♥Separate computers and cell phones help too

Are you excited?

Yes, we are very excited. Butch served a church mission in England from 1973-1975 and is looking forward to serving there once again.

We are scared too. It’s the unknown…food, housing, responsibilities, cost, adapting to changing technology.

There is comfort in what Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once said: “The Lord has more in mind for you than you have in mind for yourself! …..The Lord needs you to change the world. As you accept and follow His will for you, you will find yourself accomplishing the impossible!”