A Hard Two Years For A Mormon Missionary

Kevin Fernandes
A HARD TWO YEARS FOR A MORMON MISSIONARY
For most Mormon missionaries, the day they receive their mission call is one of the happiest days of their lives. However for some- -possibly many- -of these young men and woman who are sent out to spread the word of the Gospel, that day turned out to be a very bad one.
At least that was the case for return missionary John Frame of West Jordan, the day he received his mission call was the beginning of the hardest and most uncomfortable two years of his life.
Elder Frame was sent from his comfortable home in West Jordan to the dangerous slums of the Dominican Republic to spread the word of the LDS church. It was very hard to adjust to this different lifestyle, adjust to this different world, said Frame. “Within one month my companion Elder McMillan and I were robbed at knife point in the small city of Neyba, they took all of our money and our backpacks. Apparently there are some cities that are more dangerous for whites to travel to, we found that out quickly.” The dangers of being robbed at knife point would not be the only hardships that Elder Frame would face.
The language barrier posed as a big problem, Frame only had seven weeks to learn Spanish. “It was so stressful trying to convert people that I couldn’t understand, they mostly spoke in slang so I was completely lost for a month or two. Not to mention that many people there are very set in their ways and are comfortable with their lifestyle and their own culture, they didn’t want anything to do with us,” said Frame.
Frame recalls being called “sucio perros” which means dirty dogs in Spanish and “diablo blanco” which means white devil. Frame explained that the people their disliked them and they heard about it constantly, it got to a point where they were just numb to the harassment. This made it extremely hard to convert and baptize someone said Frame. “It gave me a lot of stress because I wasn’t meeting my mission president’s goals which he set out for me, we taught forty lessons a week and I couldn’t meet my quotas it was very frustrating.”
Perhaps the most difficult thing for a lot young Mormon missionaries such as Elder Frame is following the strictly controlled days that they go through for two years straight. They enjoy privacy only in the bathroom and they do not have access to a phone or internet, which makes communications with loved ones less constant. Every morning is similar for the missionaries, they wake up at 6:30 a.m. eat breakfast and get ready for the day. At 8 a.m. they study scriptures, work on their Spanish and then the elders spend time studying as a companionship, by 10 a.m. their out the door trying to spread the word of the Gospel. “We go through the exact same routines day in and day out, were also on the streets for 8 hours every day, it got to the point where my companions and I felt like zombies,” said Frame. “I hate to say it but by the end of my mission many of the elders had a lack of motivation, it seemed like we were just going through the motions.”
Frame said, “My mission was the hardest thing that I have done in my life by far, but it made me a stronger person. I learned a lot about myself and now know what I am capable of doing.” When asked if he had the opportunity to do his mission all over again would he. Frame replied with a smile, “Those were a very hard two years and I would be lying if I said I would do it all over again.”