"Perfectly balanced, as all things should be"
--- Thanos from Marvel's Avengers: Infinity War
You can have too much of a good thing. Too much of anything isn't very good for you. Life requires moderation. Too much sleep is bad for you. Too much exercise is bad for you. And as I had to experience the hard way, too much pizza is bad for you.
Too little of something can be bad too. Too little sleep is bad for you. Too little exercise is bad for you.
But speaking of balance, do you know what's one of the things that I noticed a lot of missionaries had a hard time balancing? Their bank account. Learning how to manage what you earn and what you spend is a life skill as essential as any and it should begin no later than the Mission, ideally before.
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After a hard day’s work, sometimes you just want to eat but you’re too tired to cook anything, and if you’re like me, you don’t have a smorgasbord in the cupboard or fridge to choose from. Sometimes I’d entice the other Elders, “I wouldn’t mind buying pizza if you all want to share. I’m not going to buy it just for myself”. I didn’t have to treat the others but I would have felt bad if they were hungry while I was off in the corner stuffing my face. Most of the time, they kindly rejected the offer but it never hurt to ask. I didn’t buy troughs of food but my philosophy was always, “What’s mine is yours if you ask first”.
FINANCE
I'll remind you that missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are unpaid volunteers. They usually save up before the Mission by working, or other friends and family might contribute to their fund; a lot of parents start saving for their children's Missions when they're young, setting aside a little bit here and there over the course of years.
The Mission Offices reimbursed us for (reasonable) amenities, such as gas, electricity, and water so long as we had receipts, but to do that, we still had to pay with our own money upfront (See "Mission Administration"). The reimbursement could take from days to weeks to show up in the bank because the Zone Leaders had to deliver the paper receipts to the Offices in Reynosa. Even then, we still had to go to the store to check and take it back out; we only ever used cash in Mexico because we didn't have a credit or debit option. So the only chance we had to check our bank accounts and withdraw money was once a week on Monday. (See "P-Days & Peceras")
In Buena Vista, all of the other Elders usually spent all of their money on groceries as soon as they got money for the month, sometimes even having none left over for buses or taxis. Because I was usually the only one with extra money on hand in Buena Vista, it fell on me to pay the rent and other bills and to await reimbursement. The water bill alone came out to 512 pesos which is only about $26 USD but take into account that in our specific Mission we were living off of a fixed monthly allowance of only about 3400 pesos ($170 USD) per month for everything, mostly food and transportation! I believe we did have the option of our families setting up other bank accounts for personal use but that was a little more work to set up internationally and so forth and I didn't want to spend any more than what was necessary, so I only used it for emergencies. Our monthly allowance was absolutely doable seeing as we weren't living extravagantly and weren't there to vacation.
I couldn’t understand how missionaries could spend their whole monthly allowance in the first two weeks, usually on excessive shopping; the real problem was failing to budget in other expenses like bills or transportation. That’s why budgeting is important and it's wise to have a little extra laid aside in case of an emergency. Why not store up during our seven years of plenty now before the seven years of famine come (Gen. 41:17-49)? It is better to prepare and prevent than to repair and repent.
Financial responsibility is a lesson that many missionaries I knew failed to learn or practice whilst serving. I believe that thriftiness as a missionary is a considerable indication of his or her future financial habits. Some fail to completely comprehend what it means that “the Mission is to prepare you for life after the Mission”. The sooner you learn to make and keep a budget and live within your means, the better off you will be later on. How can you take care of others if you can’t take care of yourself? I think, at least in part, how we use our money can demonstrate our prowess to be stewards. Now, I’m not talking about becoming rich but I am suggesting that we cannot be trustworthy stewards over many things if we are incapable of being responsible over fewer things (Matt. 25:23). At one time or another, one must become financially self-reliant. The sooner the better.
I only wish to speak a little more about money and I’ll leave you to dwell on it however long you think it’s worth dwelling upon. Money is not evil. The scriptures are sometimes misquoted when Paul writes, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith” (1 Tim. 6:10). The danger is abandoning or betraying the spiritual for the unending pursuit of personal worldly gain. Selfishness and loving money more than God is detrimental. Money is an object. It is the way it's used for good or evil that makes it a blessing or a curse. I will only say here that having just sufficient for your needs shouldn't be the greatest sorrow to us; most of the non-First World falls under this category. But neither does being rich mark you as a sinner. Try reading everything the scriptures have to say about money, for good and for bad and I will leave you to make your own judgments.
HEALTH & WELLBEING
Papa John’s pizza was a favorite of mine because it was the only restaurant that delivered late at night. I thought it was not only appropriate but called for us to spoil ourselves occasionally.
Then in a single week, I completely annihilated my appetite for pizza for a few months. All of our lunch appointments and activities aligned such that we were fed pizza every day for an entire week! It wasn’t our fault! We didn’t usually know what we were eating until we got there. We couldn’t do too much about it because some lunch hosts had things come up that meant they didn’t have time to cook so they figured they'd buy us pizza instead. Others thought we'd appreciate pizza as a break from the usual Mexican dishes. At a missionary activity hosted by the Zone Leaders, they bought pizza for refreshments after the film. For the first two days, we dealt with it but we quickly got sick at the thought and sight and smell of it. To add mystery to the phenomenon, every day happened to be a different brand of pizza. It all became equally repulsive!
One day soon after, I woke up sick to the stomach. I made several trips to the bathroom because I was nauseous. I drank more water, just in case I was dehydrated, which helped a little
but I felt like all in all my insides were in a blender. I felt flush. I felt weak. One second, my stomach would feel bloated like it would explode, and the next I would feel empty and hungry. I couldn’t stop belching and my entire body felt gross and weak.
It wasn’t like me to get sick. Otherwise, when I did get noticeably sick, it was maybe twice a year like back in Rio Bravo (See "Celebration"). I’d heard of many missionaries getting sick and going to the hospital for a myriad of reasons. The only reason I was even slightly admitted into the hospital was after I’d sprained my little finger playing basketball back in Rio Bravo on a P-Day (See "P-Days & Peceras" and "1st Area: Monterreal, Rio Bravo"); they took an x-ray, wrapped it up, and that was about it. I’m grateful I’ve never had serious cause to go to a hospital although I’ve had dozens of opportunities to visit those who must. I wasn’t going to excuse myself so easily from my duties. After all, most of the work done in this world is accomplished by people who aren’t feeling very well.
Each missionary household had a wellness manual with instructions indicating what to do when showing symptoms before calling Hermana Morales who was the Mission's health expert; anything ranging from migraines to stomach problems, to insomnia, and so forth (See "On the Third Day"). We all get sick from time to time and I wasn’t the first missionary to feel less than my best. The instructions said that I should let time run its course before calling in sick and if the symptoms didn’t stop after a few hours to stay home. Until then, I toughed it out and went to work. I felt my stomach make all sorts of uneasy audible sounds but I held myself together even if I did walk slower. After lunch with M.M. which I could barely consume comfortably, to her recommendation and to my approval, we called it an early day and I went to bed. ("See Others As They May Become")
I was grateful I didn’t suffer anything worse. I didn’t have Chikungunya. I had, what was called, “Gastritis”, an inflammation of the stomach lining. There were things we’d been warned to avoid, especially in the hot months, that attributed to Gastritis such as the excessive consumption of white flour products, and dairy products which were risky, especially to those unaccustomed to them. As an American, I felt like I ate flour every day in some way of my life up to then. It should come as no surprise however that I got Gastritis after eating greasy pizza for a week. I'm surprised that no one else had it like me but I’m relieved that they didn’t.
There was one video that Hermana Morales showed us once at a multi-Zone conference reminding us to drink plenty of water. It was probably one of the most memorable moments from a multi-Zone conference I had. So here it is:
PERFECTLY BALANCED
I was fine the next day but I learned my lesson. There must be moderation in all things. The scriptural terminology is “temperance” which means “moderation in action (especially in eating and drinking), thought, or feeling”, or “self-mastery”. It comes from the Latin root “temperare” which means “restrain”. The Greek word found in the New Testament is “enkrateia” which means self-control or discipline. Temperance is one of those things that’s easily looked over in common conversation but is one of the fruits of the spirit (Gal. 5:23, Alma 7:23, 38:10; D&C 4:6). It is a virtue shared in theology from Christianity to Buddhism to Hinduism. There is such a thing as ‘too much of a good thing’. Life requires balance. As all things should be.
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