On the 25th of this month, my brother is heading to Asuncion, Paraguay for 2 years to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Most people ask, "How much does he get paid for doing that?"
or "What fun tourist things are you going to do while there?"
or "Will you come home for holidays?"
or even "What made you choose Paraguay, of all places??"
But this whole mission trip is a little bit different than most people think.
The Pay
My Brother Carter doesn't actually get paid for doing this, HE has to pay to go and teach the people of Paraguay about religion. All missions for the LDS church costs $400 a month, but there are several other initial expenses on top of that for things like immunizations, proper clothing, required materials to bring, etc. The total cost of a mission ends up being about $12,000 per missionary, give or take.
What He Will Do There
Most people assume that Carter will be taking part in lots of tourist attractions with friends for portions of his mission, as a sort of leisure travel activity. However, these types of missions are fully devoted to sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Every day, he will be teaching people, serving people, and also growing himself by being completely devoted to his faith and his relationship with his Savior. Not to mention that he will do all of this in a shirt and tie. Say hello to a permanent farmer's tan after 2 years without being shirtless! Ha! This is no vacation, he will be there to work and serve!
Visiting Home
Carter, along with the other LDS missionaries worldwide, will not be able to visit home for the holidays. In fact, he stays in his mission boundaries for the entire 2 years of his mission, aside from the first few weeks of his mission while he is being trained in one of the Missionary Training Centers. Carter will be attending the Missionary Training Center in Mexico City, Mexico.
Visiting home is not the only limitation on communication with family and friends. Missionaries like Carter are only aloud to communicate with family and friends through email once a week while on their mission. There are 2 times a year that they are aloud to Skype their families, Mother's Day and Christmas. Very exciting days for families at home!
Why Paraguay?
For many other mission programs, people get to choose what location they would like to do a mission trip in. For this type of mission for the LDS church, the leaders of the church actually assign each of these missionaries to an area based upon promptings they receive from the holy spirit. So after submitting one's mission papers, they will receive an assignment anywhere from somewhere in the States, to somewhere over in Africa. The possibilities seem endless.
Carter has been assigned to labor in the Paraguay Asuncion North mission. He had no idea where this was before he received this assignment, but is so excited to go and serve these people.
With all this being said, I am so proud of Carter for giving up 2 years of his life, 2 years away from college, friends, etc. to forget himself and SERVE.
The next time you see a missionary on the streets, instead of dodging them and avoiding eye contact, take a moment and think about what they gave up to be there and show them a little love. Every smile and wave makes a difference.
Hope you enjoyed these photos I took yesterday, paired with the background story.
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