To be called on a mission
The call and preparation of a missionary is a litany in contemporary Mormonism. The young man approaching 19, or young woman at 21, fills the requisite application and medical papers. Interviews with the Bishop and Stake President. Waits for the mail and the manila envelope. The MTC. As inculcated as this process is, it is only a generation old. The experiences of our 19th century counterparts prove an informative and inspiring counterpoint.
In 1897, C. T. Nelson was 37 years old, was married and had 4 children: 13, 11, 9 and 4. On the 10th of May, C. T. received a call from president Woodruff to fill a mission to Scandinavia and was to leave Salt Lake City no later than the 17th of July. With the support of his wife, Anna, C. T. prayed and received a greater witness than he had ever before received. He wrote to President Woodruff and accepted the call.
In his personal writings, C. T. recounts that after he accepted the call, he sought to receive a special blessing in the temple:
[H]aving been bothered for years with a skin disease on my legs and Back, I asked the Bishop of our little town of Redmond, to reckemend me to the House of the Lord, ar Temple at Manti, to recive Baptism for my health, this he did. and on the fifth of July I was Baptised in the Holy Temple of our Lord, for my helth and the promise was made by thous [w]ho seald the Ordenance on me that I should be heald and be able to walk and perform my labor and that the desease should leave me, these words sank deap in my harth. (1)
(For more information on Baptism for Health see this short write-up.)
C. T. notes that many “Relatives Friends bouth Mormons and Gentiles” were generous in their financial contributions in support of his mission and he kept precise records. He received $82.75 ($1833.74 in 2005 dollars) from 122 donors. Donations ranged from $0.05 from Josephson Madsen in Salina to $3.00 from the Redmond Relief Society. C. T. Nelson also sold some property:
I also sould a pease of my forest land[,] 2 ½ acre of waterrite[,] 8 acre Dichrite for the sum of one Hundred and fifty Dollars in cash ($3324 in 2005 dollars) (2)
C. T. drove his team to Salina, where he left his family with his Mother, and from there took the train to Salt Lake City. On the 16th of July 1897, C. T. received a blessing from J. Golden Kimball and George Reynolds. On the 18th, he took a train that would take him from Council Bluffs, to Chicago, to Philadelphia. He took steamer ships from Philadelphia to Liverpool, then Hamburg and rail to Kiel, from which he finally sailed to Copenhagen.
The feelings of a mother as she releases her child for service are poignant. I have taken the first steps of the missionary path with my two young children. We sacrifice so little. I find the community support for C. T.’s mission admirable, both Mormon and gentile. And I think of Anna.
___________
- Christian Theodore Nelson, Papers, 1897-1901. LDS Church Archives. pg. 3-4 unnumbered pages.
- ibid. pg. 11.
Excellent point. The faith of Anna…I can only imagine since I’ll probably never have it. Still, we do sacrifice a great deal to prepare our missionaries: the price to be worthy of a call in our wicked age is a high one.
Comment by B. Dylan — 6/5/2006 @ 5:43 pm
We can learn so much from those that have gone before.
Thanks J.
Comment by Eric — 6/5/2006 @ 10:30 pm
Wonderful post. Thank you.
Comment by Brooke — 6/5/2006 @ 11:43 pm
Geez, that’s a great story. And even better, I’ve no doubt it’s true.
Comment by Mogget — 6/6/2006 @ 8:01 am
Thanks for putting this up, Jonathan.
Comment by John Mansfield — 6/6/2006 @ 10:05 am
Thanks for the kind comments.
Comment by J. Stapley — 6/6/2006 @ 10:44 am
Good stuff, J. I love seeing the original writings. What do you know about Nelson’s background with regard to the church?
Comment by Justin — 6/6/2006 @ 4:07 pm
Thanks, Justin. Andrew Jensen reported in the LDS Biographical Encyclopedia vol. 3 pg 469:
Family search indicated that His father was a polygamist but that he was not.
Comment by J. Stapley — 6/6/2006 @ 4:29 pm
Our mailbox was across the street visible from our picture window. We knew mission calls would arrive on Thursdays, having been mailed on Tuesdays. So after the requisite number of weeks had passed the arrival of the mail truck on Thursday was awaited with anticipation. The mail came between 1 and 3 P.M. Since our first two sons had summer jobs and my husband was at work, I was the watcher and I carried the large envelope into the house. There it would wait for the son to arrive home from hanging dry wall. No matter how bright the light the discovery of place and time is not visible through the heavy paper covering that call. The last two sons were away at school. I was again the watcher. The third son called and I went across the street while he waited by the telephone. We had moved to the Midwest by the time the fourth call was issued. Our mailbox was a long walk away. Again the elder was waiting on the telephone. The first three calls were to foreign countries and I worried if this last envelope would be a call as exciting. We know the litany. Every call is wonderful and exciting. But what if that last call is to Iowa or Kansas or Wyoming? What if no language is involved after the ones who had gone before had learned German, Japanese and Czech? Would this call be valued as much the so called exotic ones? Again I knew that all calls came from the Lord. But I am so human and so tender toward the feeling of my children that I wanted that last missionary of mine to feel that same exhilaration as his brothers.
As these boys left one by one, I was to learn that the anxiety of the call was the easiest part. The mailbox was my hangout as I waited to read a precious line or two confirming that all was well. Success was not the issue. If they became district or zone leader didn’t matter. I knew by the time the second kid left that missions were hard. The fervent hope was that discouragement, loneliness, danger and sometimes deprivation would not interfere with the errand of angels they had been sent to accomplish.
A friend one asked how I could sent my boys away for two years. I remember responding that I could imagine no other way.
Comment by jns — 6/7/2006 @ 7:55 am
That was beautiful, jns. Thank you.
Comment by J. Stapley — 6/7/2006 @ 9:38 am