Marathoner Mentality

Early on in my mission I found that I just wasn't all that happy. I missed my family, my friends, school, and my home. For the first time in my life I really felt as if there was no support for me. I was homesick and it was almost more than I could bear at that point.

There were many nights that me and my companion would come in from working and I would just feel as if I wanted to give up on my mission. I just didn't think that I could keep going. I knew that I was doing the right thing by going on a mission. I knew that I needed to spread the Gospel, but I just didn't feel as if I was made out of strong enough material to keep on going.

It was at this point in my mission that I drew on two strengths to keep myself going. I had grown up a distance runner. Running was one of my true loves and one of the few things that brought comfort to me when I was upset. At this time I remembered an important lesson that I had learned from years and years of running, that no matter how hard difficult a run got that I would always finish. I decided to look at my mission as a race that no matter how tough the race got I would always keep going until I did reach the end. The mission I realized like any race had its times when I could easily run along with confidence and strength, but there would also be times where it would be hard and I would want to quit. In the end though there would be a finish line as long as I kept going.

The thing that helped me the most though was the scripture 1 Corinthians 10:13:

"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be temped above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

After reading this scripture I knew that no matter what I faced in this life that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ I could survive the hard times and that good times waited ahead. Someday I would see all of my friends and family again. All I needed to do was to endure and rely on Christ. Since that time there have still been rough patches on my mission, but I've also see many happy times and there are still many happy times ahead.

We can all find these happy times in our lives. As we do they will help us to endure and to remember all that our Savior Jesus Christ does for us. Keep relying on Him and never give up. Keep the mentality of the marathon runner who never gives up. Remember the end goal. Endure and finish!