I spent 12 weeks at the missionary training center studying the language for up to 10 hours a day. This was an amazing eye-opening experience for me. I learned how awesome learning was. I learned how awesome gaining knowledge was. Before that point in life I was only concerned about sports and games. It was a new and amazing experience to get excited about learning and be entertained by studying. It changed my life. I think I read like 5 books before that time. On my mission I fell in love with reading, and it's now one of my favorite pastimes. Who would have thought learning a "useless" language would have such an impact on me and my learning for the rest of my life.
Missions are great! I have been amazed at how the skills I learned on my mission have been able to help me out here at BYU. Before my mission I didn't really like to talk to new people and as a missionary, that doesn't really fly! Now my whole life is different thanks to who I am becoming because of my mission.
ReplyDeleteI think that this is an awesome life lesson you learned, and so cool that it completely changed your outlook on learning, and reading. Not only did you go on a physical journey on your mission, but you also discovered how to study and how to learn. Sounds like God had a little bit of a sense of humor with you. You weren't in the habit of doing homework in high school but he sure hit you with a lot of studying on your mission!
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