Two Years of Faith

Australia called me back, this time for a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I returned not as an engineer's son but as a missionary responsible for meeting people, teaching, organizing, and living closely with companions whose strengths and habits differed from my own.^[1]

Missionary service made faith practical. Belief had to survive fatigue, rejection, schedules, personality differences, and the obligation to keep serving when a day had not gone well. It also brought friendships and reunions that continued long after the formal assignment ended.^[2]

I once imagined returning home by traveling through Asia, but plans changed and resources found another use, including a grand piano that became part of family life. The return itself included an unexpected delay in Hawaii. By then, travel no longer meant escape. It had become one of the ways life taught me patience and proportion.^[3]