By extremely popular demand I am publishing my talk on the internet as so many people have asked me for it. So here it is!
My name is Shelbie Drake and next Sunday I will be released from my service mission. Today I have been asked to talk about a few of my mission experiences But to do that I thought I would give you some background on my story.
On February 10th of last year, I entered the MTC to serve a Spanish speaking mission in Rochester, New York Hill Cumorah Visitors Center. I loved my mission experience there and found many amazing opportunities to serve the people there.
New York taught me a lot of things. I learned to see other’s as God saw them, and as I walked where Joseph Smith had walked and taught others where he had taught I came to adore the people of New York, as well as those who came from all over the world to see the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center, the Joseph Smith Farm, the Book of Mormon Publication Site, and the Whitmer Farm.
I learned that the restoration really happened and that this church is true without a shadow of a doubt as I came to know Joseph Smith and his family extremely personally. The sweetest spirit resides in the Log Cabin at the Smith Farm, and at the frame home just a short two-minute walk down the road. I love that fourteen-year-old boy who walked into a grove of trees near his house with all my heart and I am so grateful for the decision he made that day.
I had the amazing opportunity to teach several people, and serve several people. One was named Travis, he had dropped off the face of the planet until I was transferred to my second area, Newark (spelled n-e-w-a-r-k) and he suddenly reappeared again.
Travis was amazing, he literally did everything we asked him to. One day my companion and I were starving and decided to turn around in the church parking lot and go grab something fast to eat as we were fifteen minutes early to our appointment.
I don’t know if any other missionaries or return missionaries have had to do this but we had to actually hide from our investigator as he was there, fifteen minutes early sitting in the bed of his truck and reading the Book of Mormon.
Travis reminded me of Nephi from the Book of Mormon with his, “I Will Go and Do” attitude and that was and is something I have adapted more fully into my life because of his example. He was baptized and two weeks later my companion and I were able to witness another one of our investigators be baptized named George.
George is a man that was introduced to the church by his friend Laurie. Laurie was an amazing member missionary, serving George by taking him to church, helping him read the Book of Mormon when we weren’t there and answering many of his questions.
Laurie was an amazing example to me and my companion as she often would say oh, could we maybe meet this time instead? I’m taking so and so to a doctor’s appointment, or to this event. And I often wondered how George’s life would have ended up if she hadn’t introduced him to this amazing gospel.
The story of how we challenged him to baptism is one of my favorite experiences on my mission. There is a line from the hill Cumorah pageant that says, “Baptize me Alma!”. So one day George called us asking if he could be baptized, my companion and I just stared at each other in shock just as the sisters we were living with walked by. We overheard their conversation and it went kinda something like this,
“Okay sister, that line is funny because Baptize me Alma never ever happens in the mission.”
Me and my companion bust out laughing and then told them the conversation we had just had with our investigator. The knowledge of the Gospel brought George so much peace as shortly after he was baptized he had several struggles in his life but the knowledge of the gospel gave him the strength and courage to make it through.
Sadly Laurie, the member who introduced George to the gospel, passed away last year a couple of months after I came home and I still look up to her as an amazing example of service, member missionary work and an example of righteousness. I am so grateful for the knowledge of the Plan of Salvation and that I will be able to see Laurie again.
New York was rough for me, in a lot of ways. I had amazing experiences and I will treasure them but during my mission, I knew something was wrong. I thought it was home sickness so determined to push through I did. Preach My Gospel said that if I worked harder than the home sickness would go away and I was so confused as everything got harder and my mental state quickly deteriorated.
On June 13th, 2016 I was diagnosed with Anxiety and Depression and I was terrified. I was over a thousand miles away from home, I had no idea what to do and I suffered from daily panic attacks and depression that left me unable to do much.
However, because of my amazing wonderful Heavenly Father and a companion who I know I was meant to be with I was able to hang on until July 9th. One of my favorite quotes from that time period is (read from quote book of Mormon).
I found that quote to be incredibly true as I learned to trust my Heavenly Father with all my heart might mind and soul and he got me through the remaining time on my mission until I came home. When I came home in a lot of ways I felt slightly broken. I knew I was supposed to be home but being an Early Returned Missionary is difficult in a lot of ways.
I felt broken, I felt like a failure, I felt like maybe if I had had just a bit more faith I could have stayed but I learned that God’s ways certainly not my ways and his plans are definitely not my plans. My mission plaque Scripture is Be Still my Soul verse two which reads Be Still my Soul thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past thy hope they confidence let nothing shake, all now mysterious shall be bright at last, be still my soul the waves and winds still know whose voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
I found that my mission plaque scripture was not meant for my mission, it was not meant before my mission it was meant for when I came home. There was a lot of uncertainty but I clung to that line, “Thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past”
Ten days after I returned home from New York, on July 19th, Sister Annette Hemsly called me asking me if I wanted to be on staff for the Layton Family Search Center and I immediately said yes. August 8th Staff Training Started and I was the first Young Church Service Missionary at the Layton Family Search Center.
I questioned myself a lot during that time period, the doubts of had I done the right thing by coming home circled through my mind almost continuously until a very sacred experience I had during the Center’s dedication.
It was right before the dedicatory prayer and suddenly the thought entered my mind, “Sister Drake, this is why you had to come home.”
In that moment I realized that the Lord had intended me to serve in New York, but a greater calling that he needed me at more was at home, at the Layton Family Search Center. Again, thy God doth undertake to guide the future as he has the past.
I realized I wasn’t a failure, that it hadn’t been a matter of faith and that my mental illness had not left me broken and worthless. I realized that he has a plan for me that’s way bigger and grander than anything I could have imagined and that I just needed to hold on and trust him because even though it was hard and it was scary he knew I could do it.
This next Sunday I am being released from my service mission and it breaks my heart. I want to stay there forever, to teach people about family history work and serve others on both sides of the veil. It has been such a blessing in my life. And I found my mission in New York prepared me to serve there in so many ways. From leading tours, helping those not of our faith, and teaching others about something I love so much.
I have had so many amazing experiences, one of my favorites was helping an older gentleman who was part of a highpriests group and had obviously been dragged there by his wife. He seemed determined to not like the center or to do anything with family history work.
After much persuasion, we started doing some research and we found a name. Slowly but surely his countenance began to change. At the end, he left with six of his own names and he told me a little bit about himself. I came to find out that this man was a Temple Worker and had never brought his own names to the temple before.
I could just feel the excitement on both sides of the veil as this good brother held those names in his hands, his cousins. Another amazing experience happened with a young girl who was fourteen, she was new to family history work and try as we might her account seemed to determined to not let us in. After a good forty five minutes and a rather long phone call to Salt Lake City, we finally got her in just as her leaders said that they needed to leave.
Frantically I begged them for five more minutes and the first line this girl and I went down we found her three temple names. Again, I could feel both sides of the veil in that moment as I told this sweet sister that not only did those people that were on the temple card’s love her, but the Savior did as well because we had both obviously just witnessed a miracle.
I have witnessed many miracles at the center. I have found people lost to time and felt their excitement. I have been led to find the names of many by the Savior. One of my favorite examples of this is a Sister I have helped with many family history questions. She asked me to help find the brother one of her cousins, who was not a member but was desperately seeking peace as he still might be alive. She had petitioned the state he was born in for his death record, and they had not been able to find one.
From what I was told the family had never talked about him and she had learned of his existence only ten years ago and the family legend was that he had been institutionalized shortly after birth and again witnessed another miracle.
I found a record on Ancestry, indexed terribly wrong and without a strong feeling to click on it I never would have found the answer. It was a death certificate, where the child was listed simply as Unnamed. This baby had been born three months early, and unfortunately, his birth certificate, with his name, had been written two days after his death certificate. Which is why the state had been unable to find it. The news of this brought that sweet sister an incredible amount of peace as she knew at last where her brother was.
I am so grateful for my Savior, and that he has guided my future just like he has guided my past. I am grateful for my mission in New York and the people that I was able to teach and serve. I am grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be a Young Church Service Missionary and learn more. I will be studying Family History and Geneology at BYU this fall and am grateful for all the preparation my Service Mission has given me.
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