In just a few months, while many seniors will be packing for college or starting new jobs, senior Carson Crockett will be boarding a plane to France — not for vacation, but for two years of service.
“I’ve always known that I was going to serve a mission,” Crockett said. “It’s something we’ve been asked to do as young men in the Church.”
A Mormon mission is a voluntary, 18- to 24-month period of full-time service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, where young men and women serve the community and teach about their religion. When assignments finally came back, Crockett was excited.
“I was really elated,” Crockett said. “ It’s a really cool mission. I wasn’t expecting it, because of how awesome it is, but I feel really honored and really blessed that I was able to be caught there.”
Even though Crockett’s mission has been in his future for a while, he finally submitted his application in October. To prepare for his application, he had to meet with his church leaders to make sure everything was properly prepared. Now that he has his assignment, Crockett has to make his final preparations.
“I need to get all my travel things ready to go,” Crockett said. “I just applied for a passport, and I’ll work on a visa next.”
The preparations for the mission extended beyond normal travel planning. Crocket is preparing his mind and spirituality, too.
“I’m making sure that I’m reading scriptures and preparing myself spiritually and mentally and physically to leave home for two years,” Crockett said.
To Crockett, serving a mission means sharing the joy he has found in his faith.
“It means sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” Crockett said. “It has brought me so much joy in this life, and I want to share it with others.”
Crockett is also excited to experience French culture. He plans to learn French, and is excited to meet French people.
“I’m really excited to learn another language,” Crockett said. “I know it’s really good for you cognitively, so to be able to interact with French people and get to know them better will be really good for me. I’ve also been hearing a lot of things from different people about what French people are like, and I just wanted to meet them for myself and be able to serve them.”
Even though he wants to learn French, he thinks it will be the biggest cultural barrier he will face on mission.
“I think probably the language barrier will be the biggest thing,” Crockett said. I will be speaking only in French for the most part, and I know that for at least the first couple of months, it’s going to be hard. But once I think I get past that wall, then I’ll be good to go.”
Crockett believes this mission will change him for the better. He thinks he will learn many skills that will help him better in life.
“Missions give you a really tactical edge because they help you with a lot of life skills, such as budgeting, planning, goal setting, and preparation,” Crockett said. “They also help you with social skills, being able to talk to people, introduce yourself, and make invitations to others. They also help you to be diligent, to work hard, to adapt, and things get difficult, and to take care of yourself and make sure that you’re making the best choices for yourself.”
Crockett said that anyone else who wants to go on a mission should start preparing now.
“I would say, start preparing now, really start praying and thinking about it now,” Crockett said. “Because it’s going to come up sooner than you think, and pray for courage to go, and if you feel like you should go, you should.”
