Santa Rosa, CA. Mission Reunion

It has been seven years since I last attended one of my mission reunions. I don't know what inspired me to go this year, but the night before the reunion I realized it has been 10 years since I have served in the field. Time has gone by so fast, it seems like only yesterday I was preaching the Gospel in California. Looking back now, I can honestly say I loved my mission and can see how it has benefited my life over and over again. It was not easy at the time, but the lessons I learned, the testimony that grew from experiences out in the field, the people I met along the way--cannot be replaced and I would never want to replace those memories.

When I first entered the field I became horribly sick. I was riddled with infection--eyes, ears, sinuses, throat. I was miserable and had to be left at members houses while my companions (I was in a threesome) went out to teach. I didn't know if I could bear to make it during that first two weeks. I received a blessing from some elders and in it I was told that my mission would not be easy--but it was a stepping stone to prepare me for what was to come. I was panicked.....I wondered what that meant and feared I would end up with cancer. Well, I didn't get the cancer, but I did face some tests and trials within the first two years after returning home.

Some of them include: being in agonizing pain for 7 months before being diagnosed with Crohn's disease. My grandma, (whom I was very close with,) died. Fighting with my family (the bottom line of that was they were not supportive of my marriage.) Having my mother die and being by her side when it happened. (we were still on the outs at the time and the spirit, trying to ease the blow I would receive and kept trying to warn me about what was about to happen. But that story can be saved for later.) Believing I would never have children, My husband's health challenges, unemployment, relocation....the list goes on and on.

How did my mission help prepare me for all this you may ask?

#1 No matter how bitter I may have been with life and with God--I could not deny what I KNEW to be true, which is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the church which I served for 18 months.

#2 While on my mission my Mother wrote me a letter in which she realized the reason why family members and missionaries are suppose to have such limited contact during the mission. It is found in Matthew 10:37-39. I learned to sever the "umbilical cord," so to speak. I was emotionally dependent on my mother and she told me in that same letter to develop a relationship with my Father and Mother in heaven, because my earthly parents wouldn't always be around to support me. I don't think she realized at that time, when she gave me that advice that she would only have 3 more years left on this earth.

#3 I learned to recognize and listen to the spirit. This has helped in so many ways, including when I decided to marry Corey. I didn't want anything to do with him just five years earlier. When he asked me out for the first time, I had just graduated from high school....I gave an excuse not to go on the date. (I thought he was too old for me at the time.) Five years later we started dating and the spirit confirmed to me line upon line that we were a good match. Being with him just felt right. I needed that reassurance from the Lord, especially during the conflict with my family. I needed to be able to stand my ground and defend my husband and my decision to be with him. I love my family and I can sympathize with some of their concerns at the time, however.....I learned a valuable lesson in helping to support and build a young marriage between two people rather than attempting to drive a wedge and cause conflict. Having served a mission has also served me in my marriage in so many ways, including, but not limited to: conflict resolution, listening skills, and building relationships of trust.

#4 Try, try again. We are not perfect and I tried so hard to be on my mission. I fretted and worried about so many things and looking back now, I can see that I made the experience harder than it needed to be. (I put myself through a lot of unnecessary guilt.) I needed to trust in the love and mercy of the Lord. At the end of the day, we all need the power of the atonement to help us try again tomorrow. My mission president, in an interview once compared me to Martha in the Bible. In that same conversation he said that I was "waiting for all the lights to be green down the street before moving forward." sometimes you have to just keep starting, stopping and starting up again in life. Today I find myself doing a lot of "starting up again," and now I realize that is exactly what the Lord expects of me. I'm not expected to be perfect, I'm just expected to strive to be better each day.



President and Sister Knudsen with my little family. Our mission reunion was held in Salt Lake City, UT on April 2, 2010.


Sister Moss posing with Brother and Sister Olsen. They were our senior/couple missionaries in the field. Brother Moss had just passed away a few weeks before our reunion. I hope to serve as as a senior missionary with Corey someday.