When my mission call came, I was heart-broken. I didn’t want to go to the Navajo Mission. I had experiences in sports competing against the Indians at Intermountain Indian School that had soured my feelings towards them. Now I had been asked to speak Navajo and live on the reservation in Arizona and New Mexico. I called my stake president, President Baird, and told him I didn’t want to go. He came to our house and we sat down in the living room. He asked, “Where would you like to go?” I said something like, “anywhere but there.” Then I said lamely, “Hawaii, or Japan.”
“Well, I’ll call the mission department and tell them how you feel, then I’ll let you know what they say,” President Baird said kindly. I think he called me the next day and related this story:
“Walt, I called the mission department in Salt Lake and I was put in touch with Elder Spencer W. Kimball, the committee chairman. I told him what you said and asked him if there could be a change in your assignment. He listened carefully; then he said, “Tell Brother Stone this story and see if he changes his mind. Yesterday, we met together in our committee meeting. We had a large stack of mission papers before us. What we would do each time we met was look at a large map of the world and see what missions needed new missionaries. Then, prayerfully, one by one, we would pick up a missionary’s papers and read them through. Next, we would look at the map and look at the openings. Then we would make the call for that missionary and send the papers down to our staff to be recorded and sent to the President of the Church for his approval and signature. Yesterday, we met as usual, and at the beginning of the day we made the call to ‘John Doe’ to serve in the Florida South mission. Then we sent his papers down the line for processing. However, his paper work, for some unknown reason, ended up back in our stack of missionaries who had not yet been issued their callings. When we came to his papers, it was late in the afternoon and we did not recognize them as already being processed. So, we proceeded to go through the regular procedure of reading the papers, praying, and issuing the call. In this case we called ‘John Doe’ to serve in the Florida South mission, and then sent his papers on to the staff. They discovered that ‘John Doe’ had been previously called to the Florida South mission! Now, President Baird, will you please tell that story to Brother Stone, and see if he still wants us to change his assignment? Perhaps he will gain a witness that his call is from the Lord and the Lord got it right the first time.” President Baird then asked me to consider the words of Elder Kimball, pray about it again, and then call him the next door and let him know how I was feeling.
When I called the next day, I told President Baird that I was fully committed to serve the mission the Lord had called me to serve: the Arizona-New Mexico (Navajo Speaking) mission. The Spirit had given me a personal witness and I felt it way down inside of me. I knew that the Lord wanted me to learn to love and serve the Navajo people. President Baird was overjoyed and so were my parents.
In Mosiah 28, the sons of Mosiah ask their dad if he will go to the Lord and gain approval for them to go on a mission to the Lamanites. I’m sure their mother was a little nervous about the request! When King Mosiah prayed, he recorded the following: “And the Lord said unto Mosiah: Let them go up, for many shall believe on their words, and they shall have eternal life; and I will deliver thy sons out of the hands of the Lamanites.” Not only had the Lord given his approval, he had also told the boy’s father that his sons would have eternal life. He was also assured that his sons would be kept safe. What greater promises could a father and mother receive from the Lord?
My mission has shaped my life more than any other experience. I love the Children of Lehi. The Lord kept me safe, planted a testimony deep in my soul, and promised me through the covenants of the temple that I will have eternal life if I will stay faithful. My mission shaped my life, but I would also add that my marriage has made my life. All of my attention goes to Jean and my family throughout eternity.
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