Favorite mission memories

[wally]

I haven't found a thread covering this topic exactly.

For those who served, what are your favorite mission memories?

[il Padrino Ute]

One of my favorite memories is when I served the summer of '84 in Foggia, Italy. A city just north of Foggia had been closed, so it was the city the furthest away from the mission home. There were just 4 Elders and no sisters.

That was a good time.

[happyone]

Non Religious

New Years Day in Kyoto - all the young ladies wore there kimonos, including toddlers. Unfortunately I have never converted the slides to prints

Cherry Blossum time also in Kyoto and Nara

[clackamascoug]

My last p-day my comp and I helped a branch member round up his cattle, and move them from one pasture to another. We rode horseback all morning, and I got to wear my hat, boots, and custom belt with name, and bull rider buckle. That was on a Monday, and by Friday I was home.

or

I fell in love with a young lady taking the discussions, and she with me. That Sunday in late August when we taught her the 5th discussion in the park, and then played the game of LIFE, and ate the picnic dinner she brought - that was the happiest moment of my mission. The saddest was the transfer after she told my comp that she loved me.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Churchy: Near the end of my mish, being asked to speak extemporaneously at a mission conference, preceded by my mission president and followed by Gordon B. Hinckley and President Lee. I didn't get off any good one-liners, but I didn't faint, either.

Non-churchy: Three days later, sitting alone (ok, with my comp) in the Salzburg Great Concert Hall, about row 7 center, at the invitation of the concertmaster of the London Symphony, as they went through their dress rehearsal for that night's performance under the baton of Claudio Abbado. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring never sounded so good.

[wally]

One of my favorite mission memories was of helping out on some church members kitchen garden outside of the city. A lot of Russians had these gardens and they usually grew potatoes, onions, cabbage carrots, etc. It was fun.

Another favorite experience was getting hauled into the police station while tracting. Some old paranoid lady called the cops on us for knocking her door. My greenie was in seventh heaven the whole time talking about how this was going to be an AWESOME letter home this week. We actually expidited our release from the station by breaking out the Book of Mormon and offering to teach the police chief. I tell people that the Book of Mormon got me out of jail on my mission.

Good times.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Oh, and the time my companion threw a rock at a rat in a Viennese alley, killing it, then skinning it, tanning the hide, and using it as book cover for his missionary handbook, with the tail as a handy bookmark.

[SoCalCoug]

Did anyone else go raccoon hunting on their missions? I'm not admitting that I would have done such a thing, seeing as how it's done really late at night when good missionaries are supposed to be in bed, but hypothetically, did anyone else go raccoon hunting on their mission?

[LA Ute]

I'll follow PAC's template:

Churchy: A bus ride all the way from Guatemala City, Guatemala to Mesa, Arizona with two busloads of members who were going to the temple (the Mesa temple was then the closet one to them). For many of them it would be the only time in their lives they would attend the temple. It was a powerful experience. We also had a bad traffic accident on the way, killing some of the members and seriously injuring others. We continued to the temple anyway and President Kimball came to meet us there in Mesa. When he walked in the room the group, many of them banged-up and bandaged, spontaneously burst into "Te Damos, Señor, Nuestras Gracias," or "We Thank Thee, O God, for A Prophet." He stood, silently, while they sang to him, many in tears. Unforgetttable.

Non-churchy: Visiting the Mayan ruins in Guatemala. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

[wally]

Oh, and the time my companion threw a rock at a rat in a Viennese alley, killing it, then skinning it, tanning the hide, and using it as book cover for his missionary handbook, with the tail as a handy bookmark.

Epic.

[Sizzle]

This thread would have a totally different direction (at least for some) if it were titled favorite missionary moments.

[smokymountainrain]

The time when four of us missionaries (Uruguay) were standing around outside the post office near where a group of about 15 18-20 year old hoodlums had congregated and were sitting on top of a 4-5 foot wall yelling various insults at us. There was a fiery baseball player from Spanish Fork in the group of us who had been out at least a year and still could hardly speak a lick of spanish.

The Elder from Spanish Fork walks over to this group of 15 guys, and in his extremely broken spanish starts yelling insults at them and challenging them to a fight. Since he couldn't really speak the language, his insults really only consisted of calling them "idiotas" and saying "yo quiero pelear ustedes". Between his challing 15 guys to a fight and his lack of command of the spanish language, I don't think I'd ever laughed so hard before or since.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Road trip to Tokyo on the shinkansen (bullet train) with virtually every other missionary in Japan to see the temple dedication.

Baptizing a family.

Living in the Sennan area for the last six months of my mission. For some reason we were treated royally in our little suburb. Countless dinner invitations. Sacks of food on the front porch when we returned home. Tracting door to door and being invited in at almost every home. Baptisms almost every week. It was missionary heaven.

[Babs]

Road trip to Tokyo on the shinkansen (bullet train) with virtually every other missionary in Japan to see the temple dedication.

Baptizing a family.

Living in the Sennan area for the last six months of my mission. For some reason we were treated royally in our little suburb. Countless dinner invitations. Sacks of food on the front porch when we returned home. Tracting door to door and being invited in at almost every home. Baptisms almost every week. It was missionary heaven.

Temples, baptisms, and tracts...Lebowski is clearly more spiritual than the rest of you.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Temples, baptisms, and tracts...Lebowski is clearly more spiritual than the rest of you.

Damn right.