Immunization

          In my mission we have a set of things we are supposed to do to help a person who has already agreed to a be baptized on a certain date like contacting them daily, making sure they read the scriptures, planning the baptismal program, etc. One of the essential things we are supposed to do is called ‘immunizing.’ 

          Immunizing is when you warn the person who has accepted baptism that there will almost certainly be resistance to their decision. When someone makes a good decision that will affect their eternal happiness they often experience adversity. This may come in the form of disapproval from family, problems at work, a crisis of faith, or what might usually be perceived as general ‘bad luck.’ 

          See, people are way more dependent on ‘signs’ than they think they are. So when someone experiences all these hardships after they make the commitment to be baptized they often think that these are bad omens or sign from God telling them to change their path. Well, of course, I would argue that the opposite is true. The devil doesn’t worry too much about people who are content with their current relationship (or lack of) with Jesus Christ. The devil is more concerned with those who are moving towards light. He wants to stop us in our progress. 

          I experienced this exact phenomenon after I made the decision to come on my mission. After I got my mission call life just seemed to move into the fast lane for me with opportunities to postpone or forgo my mission popping out of the woodwork. I was overwhelmed with a lot of distractions and couldn’t think clearly. Luckily, the Lord didn’t give up on my and gave me the undeniable prompting that, whether I liked it or not, I needed to go on my mission.

          So I did. And that was probably one of the top 5 best decisions I’ve ever made. 

          And then I had to go home. The realization,  actualization and aftermath of this return journey have resulted in a rather uncomfortable bout of cognitive dissonance.

          I’m kind of tempted to think that I am entitled to a bit more ‘immunization’ than I got for this transition. I mean, when we come into the field they give the missionaries this pamphlet thing called ‘Adjusting to Missionary Life.’ I refer to it as the ‘Missionary Stress Book’ and there may or may not have been a period near the beginning of my mission when I carried that book around with me. 

          So, where is my ‘Adjusting to Post-Mission Life’ book? I mean there is some real reverse culture shock going on here! I should have prepared more mentally for this! 

          My ideal ‘Adjusting to Post Mission Life’ book would have sections and subsections similar to the following; 

          1. How to Respond Rationally to Facebook

                    A.) How to handle yourself when you discover the marriages of those people that you are close enough to that you resent them for not telling you about their marriages but not close enough to that they told you about them.

                    B.) How to regain self-esteem after facebook-stalking yourself and realizing that the ‘you’ of three years ago is way hotter than the ‘you’ of today.

                    C.) How to not get sucked into the vortex of little red notification numbers in the top right corner of your screen.

                    D.) Words of validation to practice when you start to feel suffocated by the fact that practically everyone your age is married, pregnant, and/or in graduate school and you realize that you still haven’t received your bachelors’ degree.

          2. How to Manage the Alarming Amount of Time You Suddenly Have at Your Disposal

                    A.) Coming to grips with the fact that not everything you do will be of eternal importance.

                    B.) Why It Is Infinitely easier to dinker around the internet than do your scripture study and How to Overcome That.

                    C.) Maintaining a Steady Sleep Schedule

          3. Overcoming Your Fear of Media

                    A.) TV

                    B.) Movies

                    C.) Music

                    D.) Books

          4. Not Falling into pre-Mission Bad Habits

          5. How to Interpret Dreams About Your Mission

          6. Tips on How to Draft people into your personal ‘Rehabilitation Support Group’

          7. Staying Within the Bounds of Social Acceptability When Talking About Your Mission

                    A. The Rule of Karma: If you didn’t really care about other people’s mission stories, chances are most people won’t really care too much about your mission stories.

                    B. Consider the amount of context needed before starting a story. Evaluate if this is worth your listener’s time.

          Wouldn’t that be a nice book to have around? So many advices! So many specifics! No more of this ‘it will be hard, and you will be awkward but it will go away’ crap. I want deliverables! 

But on the other hand…. I kind of had immunization to prepare me for post mission life. I mean, we had a good ‘trunky chat’ with President and Sister Packard in the mission home before we left. But it’s more than that. In a very real way, everything about my mission was a preparation for post-mission life; working hard, putting God first, developing Zion in your companionship, always looking for ways to serve others, maintaining a steady schedule, setting goals, etc. etc.

It’s just so hard to continue doing those good things without the constant support and encouragement and expectations that we had in the mission. How do I maintain the awesome spirit I felt on my mission and listen to regular music and read normal books?

I’m fumbling to figure it out-what Does God expect of me in this stage of life? And how do I muster up the energy to do it? President Packard always talks about going home in the sense that the ‘training wheels’ for how to live a consecrated life come off. That’s certainly true. And I am a-wobbling. 

But I think it’s going to be okay. If there is anything that I learned in the past 18 months it’s that God has a plan for me. As President Packard once said, “Let the kaleidoscope of life turn again and again: the true believe of Christ will always find purpose and meaning.”

Or as Peter Pan said; “to live would be an awfully great adventure.”

Immunization or not, look out life! Here I come.