A New Transition

Missions and Family

“Missionary service is emotionally demanding. Your support system is going to be withdrawn from you as you leave home and go out into the world. … There will be days of rejection and disappointment. Learn now about your emotional limits, and learn how to control your emotions under the circumstances you will face as a missionary.”

Family is important. To have family is to have people to love, to grow with, to be yourself with. It's very obvious when you meet someone who does not have some form of a family.

In America today, nuclear families are quite uncommon. You don't know many families anymore who are mom, dad, and kids. Most are non-traditional The majority of families are parent, step parent, and kids or grandparents/aunt and uncle and kids. Some are foster parents and kids. Still yet, others have surrogate families such as a person's church steps in as their family. Regardless, each of these are still family.

When you meet someone who doesn't have a family, you know it. They tend to be more bitter, angry, depressed, sorrowful, anxious, and lonely. This shows just how important a family is in a person's growth and how they behave/feel.

When you have a family, you're going to be happier. That's a given. Because when you have a family, no matter what form of a family it is, you have people there to help you and encourage you through your circumstances. You never have to feel like you don't have anyone because your family is always there.

You won't always like each other, though. There are days you will want to choke each other. Even on those days you still love each other and would do anything for one another, though. A family is a mean of constant love and support even when they don't want to show love and support to one another.

What happens when families are separated though? One of the biggest problems for missionaries is coping with leaving their family. When a missionary goes out into a mission they never know when/if they'll see their family again. There is a way to cope with that, though. Tonight, I'm not sure what it is, but there's a way. Together we will figure it out over the next few weeks.

Heavenly Father, I thank You that you set the lonely into families. I just pray that You'll help us to learn how to cope with leaving our families. Whether it be for missions, college, deployment, jobs, whatever it may be. Help us to cope, Lord. Strengthen us. Comfort us. Bring us peace, Lord.