137. Second and Final Interview
- L Rshaw
- Jul 19, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 26, 2022
"Every exit is an entry somewhere else"
--- Tom Stoppard (Playwright & Screenwriter; 1937 - Present)
As difficult as it is to end one chapter of your life, life goes on. In telling my stories of my time as a missionary, I in no way believe my story to be the most important one out there. But I don't know enough of anybody else's story to share it, and even if I did, I don't know what right I'd have to do so. Missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have been around for a long time and their experiences don't end with me. As heavy in the heart I felt to be letting go, I was ultimately at peace with the past and excited to see what came next.
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PRESIDENT REGALADO
Many have counseled returned missionaries throughout the years: how to
best adjust to life home, how to keep good habits, how to serve, and so forth. For missionaries about to go home, a last interview with the Mission President is traditional to talk about plans and express last thoughts and feelings as well as get advice (See "Mission Administration"). My final interview was also the second interview of my whole Mission. I had landed one interview with President Morales about three months into the mission in Rio Bravo. My second and final interview was with the new Mission President, President Regalado who had just replaced President Morales less than a week earlier when the Morales' finished their 3-year service (See "Assemble"). We didn’t know much about one another but there was a feeling of love in that interview. It wasn’t a particularly long interview in the least. For whatever reason, he didn’t ask me what my plans were for back home, where I’d be studying or working, or anything of the sort typical of final interviews. Given that we didn't know each other and he was new at being a Mission President, I'm not complaining. Instead, we just sat together and talked about my feelings. The spirit in his office was so strong. Besides my “almost-interview” in Bugambilias as a District Leader (See "Lord, Is It I?"), this was only my second time in the Mission President's office. I was in surreal shock yet bliss such that I didn’t have much to say. I just wanted to sit there and remember it. Whereas some people in the world take out their phones to capture a moment, I prefer to just see things as they're happening; that's what it was like just sitting there and soaking it in. About the only thing that happened was that President Regalado just asked me how I felt, thanked me for my service, and asked if it would be okay to give me one last priesthood blessing, a blessing of comfort, while I was there (See "Priesthood" and "Administering to the Sick and Afflicted"). I wanted to scream, “Please! Yes, please!”. It had been a while since I'd gotten a blessing and I could think of nothing I wanted more than that at that moment from the man I knew held the priesthood keys for the Mission. But I just nodded that I did. That blessing was one of the most beautiful priesthood blessings I had ever received. It was like what the Nephites said of Christ when He visited the Americas and prayed for them, “And tongue cannot speak the words which he prayed, neither can be written by man the words which he prayed…so great and marvelous were the words which he prayed that they cannot be written, neither can they be uttered by man” (3 Nephi 19:32,34). Admittedly, I was so caught up in the moment that I don't remember everything he said, but in short, he blessed me for my faithful service and that I’d continue to be blessed in the future and endure to the very end. I stood up and gave him a hug and still lacked the words to say, completely absorbed in the moment, not wanting to miss a speck of detail— the shine of his desk, the texture of the wall, the color of the seats, and the feel of the fabric. I'd never remember every little detail but I wanted to know that it was
I knew the Mexico, Reynosa mission was in good hands and I knew that I’d served well. I had no regrets. Maybe I hadn't changed the world, but the lives of many individuals had been touched for the better and the kingdom of God grew all that much more. My life wouldn't be the same without it and I know that the same is true for all who serve with real intent.
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