Student Missionary Spotlight

Where did you serve as a missionary, and what made you want to take on this role?
I went to Saipan, which is a commonwealth of the United States, so it's still part of America, just very distant. Both my parents served as student missionaries and I grew up hearing about all of their really cool stories and their experiences and it made me want to do it. I'd been planning it forever.

How did your actual experience as a missionary deviate from your expectations?
Before I went, I talked to, like, literally every student missionary I could find and I asked them one question: “What is the one piece of advice you'd give to somebody who's going to go be a missionary?” A lot of people had the same answer and they just said, “Go with no expectations,” and I thought, “Okay, I will do my best.” A lot of them also said just “keep God in your life every day, all day long,” and I was like, “Okay, cool.” So I guess I didn't really have a ton of expectations; I just expected a general teaching job. I ended up doing after-school care too and before-school care. I taught a cooking class and a baking class. I did a lot of homework help too–that part was a little unexpected.

What was your living situation like, and what did you do on a typical day?     
There were three student missionaries (SM’s): one guy and two girls. So me and the other girl ended up living together in an apartment, and then at some point we ended up moving and then we didn't live together. On a typical day, I woke up and got ready for school, which was like three minutes away. I would do before-school care so that the elementary school teachers could go to worship, and then I would literally hang out with my kids until 10:30, and then I was on a break for two hours. And when I came back, they were in nap time and then we had snack time. Then I did after-school care and then came back to my room, and I just hung out with them until they all went home and home around like 5:30.

Was it hard adjusting to becoming a teacher? Were there aspects of it that you prepared for beforehand, or did you just go and adjust as the year progressed?
I can't say that I was prepared to be a teacher. I guess maybe one of the aspects that I wasn't really prepared for was just how much time I would spend with my kids. I knew I would bond with them and stuff but we spent all day together, all day every day.

How did it feel being away from your family during the holidays?
It was weird because I've never been that far away during a holiday. Around Thanksgiving break we had our Thanksgiving program, which I almost missed because my kids gave me the flu. I spent like two days in bed, so I was recovering by the time it started, but we had a really big Thanksgiving meal with just a bunch of people from church and the community. So even if it wasn't Thanksgiving with my family, we still had like the Thanksgiving community spirit. It was really nice.

Are there any ways that you think your experience had an impact on your life as a whole afterwards? Do you think you were changed as a person?
Oh absolutely. It sounds weird but I actually think I became more easygoing. I like things a certain way a lot of the time, and I learned that everything is not always going to go your way and you kind of have to pick and choose your battles. With my kids, there were certain things, like, “you know what, if you want to wear goggles for the entire afternoon that’s fine. I would rather motivate you to get your work done versus try and force you to take off the goggles because it's not hurting anybody.” And it's kind of cute.

How did you feel about having to go home early because of COVID-19? What was that experience like?
So, before we all went to Saipan all of the student missionaries who were going to the islands hung out in Hawaii for five days, and so we met most of the other island SM’s. And so we were in contact with them while we were all gone, and sometimes you ask other people for advice or they ask you and it's fun to just talk to other people because you guys are kind of all in the same boat. And so we had heard some of the other schools, like Southern, were saying “hey, you guys are coming home.” Andrews was like “you guys are probably gonna have to come home, but if you sign this paper that's like a waiver, you don't have to.” But that was before any of the COVID cases got close, and then they got to Guam, which is about a 20 minute plane ride away. And so, Andrews was like “we are really leaning towards you guys coming home.”

Everything kind of happened in a blur. I know some people left their islands literally within a day. The principal of my island actually ended up leaving. He found out, I think it was like Sunday night that he was leaving Monday morning. For us we actually had a couple days, so I called all of the parents that I could get a hold of and asked them to bring their kids to school because I was like, “they’re not going to understand what's going on because they're on spring break right now. They're gonna come back from break”–they actually didn’t end up coming back–“and not understand why they can't see their friends and why teachers are gone,” and so I was like “this will provide at least a little bit of closure for them because they're only four, and for me because I won’t see them again for a long time.” I gave them all my address so that we could be pen pals. But yeah, I was really angry for a while because, I don't know, being an SM was being right where God wanted me to be, and it didn't make sense that I had to come home.

What were your favorite parts of being a student missionary?
My kids. My kids and getting to know a new culture, because Saipan is a really interesting mix: they were colonized by Spain, but a lot of people from the Philippines moved there, and it’s a tourist spot for Korea, and Japan, and Russia, so the culture there is just an interesting blend. Also, we went swimming a lot because the beaches were amazing, and the snorkeling there is so cool. I saw sea turtles, and stingrays, and those really bright colorful fish that are just like in entire schools. It was amazing.