If you would've asked me a few months ago if I was planning on serving a mission my answer would have been, "No way. It's not for me. I can't do the whole mission thing. I'm going to London instead, etc, etc, etc." Now here I am, in the middle of my junior year of college in London, England waiting for a mission call to come in the mail. The one thing I said I would never do in my young adult life is about to happen come January ish 2015.
It took almost two years of pondering off and on about serving a mission before I realized that going on a mission is exactly what I wanted to do. As I've been thinking about why this decision was so difficult for me, I have come to better understand the reality of Satan and the opportunity he took in my life to make an extremely good decision seem like a very bad one.
Satan led me to think, I am a "depressed person." Depressed people don't go on missions. They can't. It's simply not possible and the fact that I was considering a mission was ludicrous considering I would never be up for the task. Satan led me to believe that my emotions were too much; that in order to serve a mission I had to be perfectly well and happy all of the time. Now it seems ridiculous but at the time, it made perfect sense that I simply couldn't serve even if I wanted to.
Then it hit me. All of the reasons I didn't think I was fit for a mission were the exact reasons I needed to serve a mission. I struggle with an emotional disorder but so do millions and billions of people all over the world and one of them might just need me. One person I meet on my mission might just really need my experiences with depression to help them. And for whatever reason, right now, September 2014 is my time to serve.
Depression isn't easy. It is still a present difficulty in my life; however, I have grown so much through depression and through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have found the Lord through my struggles with something that could have ended in my life in a very literal sense.
I want to go on a mission because I want other people to find the peace and joy that I know only the gospel can bring. I want people to know that there is hope for each of them through our Savior, Jesus Christ. I want people to know that it is only through the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints that true joy can be found.
Although there are many different things that help my depression, (medication, therapy, art, etc.) there is really only one thing that continues to help me cope with this mental illness: my faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Because I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and because I know that I have a Savior who died and suffered for me, I know that I can experience true joy. And that's why I want to serve. Not because I'm some Gospel scholar or because I feel pressured to serve a mission or because I am not married and bored, but because I know that this gospel is the ONLY way to find peace in a world full of chaos. And I can't wait to teach people, even just one person, of this beautiful reality.
I know this gospel is true and I simply want to share it.
Cheers,
Hannah soon to be Sister Wood (WEIRD!!)
P. S. Special thanks to a dear friend who inspired and encouraged me to write this post. I love you with all my heart.
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