Making a Mission Happen, Part Two
By Laurie Williams Sowby

Edtor’s note:  This is the conclusion of a two-part article on the process of getting ready for a senior mission.  To read part one, click here.

Options for Couples

It’s important to know that senior couples have options that younger missionaries do not. They can choose what type of mission they want to serve (proselyting, welfare/humanitarian, temple, office staff/administrative, medical, etc.), how long they want to serve (12, 18, or 23 months), and what they prefer and don’t prefer in the way of assignments. Couples can even choose  the climate: I requested nowhere with high humidity coupled with heat, and Steve requested no extremely cold climates where his frostbite-damaged hands and feet would suffer.

With so many choices and possibilities, there’s no reason not to serve in some capacity. Because we’re younger than many senior missionary couples and in relatively good health, we were able to request the Santiago West Mission. (We were advised to put down 18 months on the application, then extend later, on the premise that it’s easier to extend than to get an early release. Although our call says 18 months, we intend to stay 23 —and get home just before our son does.) So we made a written request, and the president likewise requested us. (We’re told this method works about 85 percent of the time, but of course, the final decision is always up to higher authorities.)

Mini-Mission

In June, we began a four-month project as part-time service missionaries in a Spanish branch of the Utah Provo Mission. (Rob called it our “warmup.”)  Attending branch services, playing the piano and leading the music, visiting members’ homes, teaching the two Young Women to conduct music, giving prayers in Relief Society, and listening to talks and lessons in Spanish gave us a preview of full-time missionary life as well as an understanding of what we were up against, language-wise.

I worked hard to be able to introduce ourselves and give my testimony in Spanish our first fast Sunday in the branch. I practiced for hours to get the pronunciation correct and not sound so choppy. By the time I did it again three months later at our farewell, I sounded fluent. Steve wrote his brief testimony out, including phonetic pronunciation, and courageously presented it in his farewell talk also. A week later, back in the Spanish branch, we sang an a cappella duet of “Pequeño niño fue Jesús” (“Jesus Once was a Little Child”). They loved it! So did the Primary children. So we worked on teaching them (and ourselves) the Spanish words to “I Love to See the Temple” our final Sunday there.

Working with the Spanish branch has been a valuable experience with humble, kind people whose patience for our mistakes is much appreciated. Our last Sunday there would be a week before we entered the MTC. It wasn’t easy to say goodbye, but we knew we had the same kind of warmth waiting for us in Chile.

Getting the Call

It was mid-July when we heard from a friend in the missionary department that our papers had been processed and we should expect our call, pronto. But when none of our calls had come the day we expected them, and they still hadn’t arrived the next day, we got curious and phoned the missionary department.

“Your call is sitting right here on my desk,” someone assured us, “waiting for the prophet’s signature. But it has a note attached that says not to send it until your son is assigned.” I asked him to go ahead and send us our call, and to please check on the status of Rob’s papers, which would have gone to a different department than the senior couples’ do. He called back a half-hour later.

“Your son’s not in the computer, and no one’s been able to locate his papers,” he told me. Our bishop and stake president then took over, trying to trace their path. The stake president called us that evening with news that they really hadn’t been able to find Rob’s papers, and that he’d need to re-submit them with new photos (mug shots). Fortunately, the president keeps copies of all these things, so we printed off another set of photos from our computer and the packet was sent anew to the Church Office Building. They promised Rob would have his call within 10 days. So the waiting game was on again.

A few days later, we got an early-morning phone call (a woman in our ward works at the post office) and quickly opened the packet addressed to “Elder Stephen Ellis Sowby” and “Sister Laurie Williams Sowby” and read what we’d expected: Chile Santiago West. And the entry date was Oct. 10. “Well, I’ve got to get to school,” said Rob a little dejectedly as he headed out the door for BYU.

This must’ve been pretty disappointing to have to wait yet another week for his call, but it did come — after it had been hand-carried through the missionary department and assigned with extra speed. “I’m going to Berlin!” Rob shouted, probably waking the neighbors at 7 a.m. We all hugged and he was off to BYU, cell phone in hand to wake his friends and other family members with the happy news. His entry date was Oct. 5, just five days before ours. Two two-pant suits, a versatile winter coat, sweater, gloves and hat, plus extra warm socks, and he was ready to go.

More Language Opportunities

Whereas young, single missionaries such as our son get two or three months of intensive language training in the Provo MTC before they head to a foreign country, senior couples go the MTC for only five days, plus Sunday.  But if they’re going to a foreign-speaking mission, the MTC offers private language tutoring as soon as they have their call (which is a good reason to get the papers in and get the call a few months ahead of time). If couples live a distance away, they do it by phone. Since our home is less than a half-hour from the Provo MTC, we opted to go in person. We called the appropriate department and made arrangements to go three times per week until we enter the MTC officially for our five-day, pre-mission training.

We’ve read scriptures in Spanish, sung hymns in Spanish, studied grammar, and learned the basics of the missionary discussions in Spanish, working with separate but equally skilled tutors for each of us. We appreciated Spanish more as we met other missionary couples trying to learn Russian, Mongolian, and Slovenian.

Our family prayers have been in nothing but Spanish for the past month (although Steve’s are much shorter in Spanish than they are in English, owing to a limited vocabulary). Rob, who took Spanish his senior year of high school, has picked up enough from listening to me that he can also pray in Spanish. Now at the MTC, he’s learning to pray in German.

Farewell and Hello

On Sept. 18, the three of us had the rare experience of speaking together in our ward’s sacrament meeting. (I recall how happy I was when my husband and sons came home from General Priesthood meeting a couple of years back and informed me that I’d never have to speak at another farewell. So much for that!) Our assigned topic was faith, and I used 1 Nephi 3:7 as the basis for my talk on the courage to act on faith. Heaven knows we’ve had plenty of experience with it since making the decision to serve a mission, and the Lord has certainly provided ways for us to accomplish the task so far. We trust it will continue.

Five days after our “un-farewell” (our ward doesn’t have farewells!), our daughter gave birth to a healthy baby boy with lots of black hair. (When I told the sisters in the Spanish branch about his hair, they insisted, “He’s one of us!”) He arrived eight days ahead of schedule. With the permission of their bishop, our 11^th grandchild, James Henry Hilman, was blessed at home Oct. 2, after General Conference, with all our family in attendance and all four sons standing in the circle. We took the opportunity then to give each of the grandkids a CTR ring in Spanish — HLJ, for “Haz lo Justo” (“Do the Just”). Three days later, on our way to tutoring, we unloaded Rob and his gear at the Provo MTC.

The three Sowby missionaries pause in front of the Mount Timpanogos Temple.

Timing and Technology

We couldn’t have asked for better timing with everything — more of that 1 Nephi 3:7 coming to pass. (Our mission president had also asked us to wait another week before coming in order to accommodate their transfer schedule, so altogether, we got two extra weeks to help our daughter, tend three-year-old Emily, and hold the new baby.)

My husband has made noticeable progress with the language but maintains that learning a foreign language at 60 is the hardest thing he’s ever done in his life, as well as the most humbling. I say that’s not all bad; the struggle’s been good for him. But between language study, trying to finish up engineering projects so he can hand them off to his partners, hiking with Rob, making chocolate-chip pancakes for grandchildren’s sleepovers, and getting all our financial things in order (bills such as utilities and insurance premiums still have to be paid while we’re gone), he’s had his hands full. And we’re still packing.

On our tutoring excursions to the MTC, we’ve been able to have lunch with our son, hear his quick progress in German, and say a longer goodbye than we’ve been able to with his three older brothers. Once he’s out of the MTC and in the mission field in Germany, we’ll be able to communicate with weekly emails —another perk that didn’t exist when his brothers served in Peru, Japan and California between 1990 and 1999. We’re looking forward to regular email communication with others in our family as well.

And thanks again to modern technology, we’re taking several CDs loaded with valuable music teaching materials and the Spanish translations of Janice Kapp Perry’s wonderful songs, as well as instrumental accompaniment tracks. The CDs take up far less space than books would, and we can print off what we need in Santiago. This will come in handy, as one of our major missionary assignments will be with music.

The week-long training at the MTC has involved long hours of sitting in meetings, practicing discussions with live volunteer "investigators," and being at the Tuesday night devotional. I’ve never heard "Called to Serve" so powerfully and convincingly sung as it was by the 2,300 missionaries in attendance. It’s been great getting to know the other 85 "senior" missionaries who entered the MTC with us — a record number for this year. They have a variety of assignments all over the world, and their willingness to serve is amazing. One little woman who calls herself a "homeless bag lady" is beginning her sixth mission; her husband died in the middle of their first one, but she went back into the field and finished it after the funeral! Many couples have already served one mission, and some have served two or three. What an inspiration they’ve been!

I feel confident in my ability to express myself, although listening to rapidly spoken Spanish challenges my understanding; I simply can’t listen as fast as some speak! (And I hear that the Chileans speak faster than anyone else in South America!) I’m not expecting it to be easy, but my faith tells me we’ll not only survive but also enjoy the experience.

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