Mission Assignment Changes

We accepted our call and the assignment to serve in Hong Kong the night we received our call. I added a line about my concerns with my military background and being able to serve in Hong Kong. The next day, I got a call from the missionary department saying they read my acceptance note and had consulted with the Church's legal department. They wanted to know if I had ever had a military assignment in China. Since I had not, they had no concerns so neither did I.

The week we got our call, I completed the visa applications to get into Hong Kong and sent them to the missionary department. The next week, Elder and Sister Davis reached out to us with an introductory call sharing that they would be training us in the MTC in July. They explained that different departments review missionary applications and have an opportunity to make recommendations when they feel prompted. They felt strong impressions to recommend that we be considered for an Area Welfare Specialist assignment. They also gave us key contact information.

A couple days later, we were able to make contact with Elder and Sister Dandoy who were serving from Cambodia as the Area Welfare Specialists. They had been training Elder Curley, in Hong Kong, to pick up the role of Area Welfare Specialist. Two days later, on 28 Jan, we had a meeting with Mickey Lui, who suggested that our assignment might be changed as Elder Curley was trained and they needed more humanitarian couples. This was hard to understand how 10 days after our call and assignment, we might be needed elsewhere in the Asia Area. Mickey told us that Elder Meurs, the 1st counselor in the Asia Area Presidency, would be reaching out to us.

On 30 Jan, I got a call from Elder Meurs who asked if we had time for a video call with him shortly that evening. I was just finishing with a Bishopric youth discussion and was able to quickly return home for the call. We had an amazing visit with Elder Meurs who suggested there were great needs for more humanitarian couples in East Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Cambodia. We told him we would be willing to serve wherever the Lord needed us to serve. A week later, the Area Presidency was still considering options and working with the missionary department. I got a call around the 11th of February from Elder Meurs saying they had a stupor of thought and felt our assignment should not be changed, but we said we would move our date up to 30 May.

Everything continued as planned until around 14 Apr when we got a letter from the Asia Area Office from the visa application department that had 31 detailed follow-up questions asking for more information including information that we were not willing to disclose. I consulted with a member of the military relations department for the Church, and he said we would need to be reassigned. He then contacted the missionary department to explain why a reassignment would be necessary. We were very disappointed and I reached out to Elder Meurs to explain the situation to him. We also found out that another military veteran had been denied a visa after providing sensitive personal information.

We were now totally in limbo. We had moved up our start date to 30 May and canceled our trip to Germany and Europe. We were saddened that we couldn't go to Hong Kong where our oldest son had served. Our reassignment letter was dated 20 Apr to serve in the same capacity from Singapore. We were delighted to learn of this when we got an urgent message from our stake president, David Waddell, letting us know on 25 Apr that a reassignment had been made. We were actually on vacation down to Arizona when we found out. We had a month to get ready to serve from a new country, and we can see clearly now why the Lord needed us here at the right time and the right place.

The most important lesson I learned about this was to be flexible and willing to serve whenever or wherever you are needed. Sometimes we get fixated on a particular assignment or location, but God is in the details and will make sure we are where He needs us to serve. The best we can do is remain open to following the inspiration and revelation we receive. It doesn't always make perfect sense at first, but I guarantee that if we will let the Lord be the author and finisher of our story, it will turn out better than we can plan or imagine.