Fact 5

As mentioned yesterday, I served as a missionary for the LDS Church. I spent two years (the standard time for guys) as a missionary, to Brazil.

Note: I’m going to say this right up front: I won’t tolerate any hateful speech or comments about any religion in the comments for this post, or any other on my site. I know that religion can be a touchy subject, especially on the ol’ interwebs, but this is still my blog. If I think you’re trying to say something out of line, or provoke anything, your comments are gone.

I served in the Brazil Porto Alegre North mission. I learned to speak Portuguese (which is good skill to have in Brazil) during that time, and I like to think I got to be pretty good at it. Of course, when you need to do something in order to survive, you’ll want to make sure that you get good at it.

Living and serving in Brazil was an eye-opening experience. I spent most of my time working in areas that weren’t exactly the types of places that I’d want to be, and I got to meet a lot of great people. In many cases, comparing the quality of life that I’d been used to in the US to the lives I was seeing in Brazil was a very humbling experience. It definitely made me appreciate the things in life that I have.

Many times you’ll hear someone come back from an LDS mission claiming that it was the best two years of their life. I’d be lying if I said that. Am I glad I did it? Yes. Would I say it was the best two years of my life? No. I would say though that it was some of the best two years for my life - there are a lot of things that I learned about the world, other people, and myself, that I’ll never forget.

Did I convert many people to my faith? Not really. The path I’ve chosen in life is what I believe to be the right one, and while technically it was my job for two years to try and bring people along that path, I didn’t believe it was my place to tell people what to do. I liked to present the option, explain why I thought it was a good choice for me, and let the people decide for themselves. After all, religion is something very important to people, and regardless of your decisions to follow a faith or not, you can’t deny that it’s something people hold very close to their hearts. It’s not a decision many make lightly. If you’re interested in my church, I’ll tell you about it. If not, I’m not going to cram it down your throat.

I miss Brazil, and one day, I intend to go back, but as a tourist. There were a lot of things I either didn’t get a chance to do or see, or just didn’t have the time for. There are also several people I would love to go back and see, and maybe one day I will.