Called to Serve!

Hi there! We’re going on a mission! We are so excited to serve the Lord as full-time missionaries! The whole process began in late August 2024. We have always wanted to serve a mission together as a couple and planned to do so at some undefined future point in time. But as we attended the temple, we both independently received an incredibly strong, undeniable impression that we should go on a mission right away. We initially wondered if the timing was right with a variety of significant family challenges, parents who are getting older, and worries about finances. But as we talked and pondered, we realized that the timing was never going to be perfect; there would always be challenges and reasons not to serve. There were several other spiritual nudges that left us without a doubt that we were to serve a mission as soon as was reasonably possible. We made the commitment to submit to the will of the Lord and prepare ourselves to serve.

We met with our bishop the following Sunday and began the long process of getting our application ready to submit. At this point, we did not share our plans with anyone except for the bishop. The application process is straightforward but involves a significant time commitment with medical and dental exams, immunizations, gathering records, getting pictures, lots of paperwork to fill out, etc. We were also in communication with Bro. Mark Slight of the Missionary Medical Department who coordinates assignments of senior missionaries who will be serving in a medical capacity. He informed us of two basic types of medical missionary assignments: those providing support and advice in a single mission and those doing the same for an area of multiple missions. Much to our surprise, we learned that there was a waiting list for assignments of the multiple mission type, called Area Medical Advisors. In fact, most of the particularly ‘desirable’ or ‘sought after’ assignment locations were already spoken for or reserved out 10-15 years or more! For example, the Auckland New Zealand Area Medical Advisor assignment is currently ‘reserved’ out until June 2041! We were shocked! We had no idea of this waiting list!

While mildly disappointed, we were willing to serve wherever or in whatever capacity the Lord saw fit. However, as we prepared our application, we discussed, debated, and agonized over what locations and types of mission assignments to list as preferences when the time came to finally submit our papers. We had what we felt were righteous desires to serve in some sort of medical capacity, and we knew that there was a great need, not only for medical missionaries, but for senior missionaries of all varieties. We felt strongly impressed that we were to serve soon, and trusted that the Lord could use us where we could do the most good.

Due to challenges in scheduling and completing medical exams and various medical tests needed for clearance, as well as some travel that had been previous booked many months before, it took us until October to have our application ready to submit. There were several testing delays that were very frustrating at the time, but in retrospect, seem to have been part of the Lord’s miraculous plan.

The Friday before we were scheduled to have our final interviews with our bishop and stake president, we called Bro. Slight back as he had suggested to get an updated listing of all available medical mission assignments. This was important as we needed to know what was available to be able to note any assignment or location preferences on our application. To our astonishment, the Area Medical Advisor assignment in Brisbane Australia, which was previously not available until October 2038, was listed as available in May 2025! It turns out that the senior couple who had been penciled in for that assignment had completed four back to back medical missions, two of which were international. The day before we called back, they had called Bro. Slight and relinquished that assignment, for which they had been reserved for many years, stating that they were worn out and needed a break before serving a fifth mission in the United States.

We told Bro. Slight that we would love it if he would pencil us in for that assignment, which matched perfectly with our desired timeframe. He did, but cautioned us that if the Lord had orchestrated all of this to allow us to serve there at that time, that would be miraculous and wonderful, but that if the Lord chose to call us to serve elsewhere, that would also be wonderful.

Our interviews were wonderful and spirit filled, and by the middle of October 2025, our missionary application to serve the Lord as senior missionaries was submitted! Now the wait began!