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Craig Harline is an accomplished author and professor at Brigham Young University. He teaches Cultural and Religious History. He resides in Provo, Utah with his family but he also travels to Europe as he continues his research. Craig grew up in Fresno California. He was later called to Belgium to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It was those experiences he had while on his mission that lead him to write the book Way Below The Angels, the Pretty Clearly Troubled but not even close to tragic confessions of a real life mormon missionary. In this book he shares what his expectations for his mission looked like, and what really happened as he enabled the power of the atonement.
Episode Highlights:
- 5:32- Expectations for your mission or calling.
- 6:54- Your ideals are a starting point.
- 7:39 – Avoiding feelings of failure.
- 8:22 “Ideals are stars to steer by; they are not sticks to beat ourselves with.” (Barbara B. Smith)
- 12:28- How to help young missionaries set expectations before they leave on a mission.
- 15:45- The right answer is not always the heroic one.
- 18:37- We are not called to save everything, the Savior has already done that for us.
- 22:32- Sometimes we look for affirmations of success in all the wrong places.
- 28:16- Why people convert?
- 30:25-Helping missionaries understand social structures.
- 31:16- Who am I converting vs. Who am I befriending.
- 34:43-Learning to speak their language and learn their culture is an act of love.
- 35:53-Having unrealistic goals makes the mission about you, and not the people you are there to help.
- 38:15-The mission may not go the way you thought and it is ok to talk about it.
- 39:48-Sometimes you will not get along with your companion.
Links
- Craig Harline website
- Way Below The Angels, the Pretty Clearly Troubled but not even close to tragic confessions of a real life Mormon missionary
- Craig Harline’s published books
- Times and Seasons Blog
I had the 2nd mission dream for years…. but it wasn’t a bad dream. I was always kind of excited to go again, just puzzled about how to take care of my family while I was gone. Maybe it was because I was reluctant to go on my mission when I was 19, and it turned out to be a lot better than I expected. Like the best scout camp ever! I have really positive feelings about my mission, including the hard parts. Being a baby boomer I was also blessed by going in with the expectation that it would have ups and downs and didn’t have to be all good. I’m not sure my kids have the same expectations.
As I listened to the podcast I was reminded of some pre-mission advice that really helped shape my mission experience. I friend of mine wrote to me and told me that when making choices on the mission, to ignore what anyone else would think, or trying to impress the ZL’s, and just think about the mission being between me and God. I only had to answer to God and to myself for the choices I made. It really helped with some of the very issues Craig talked about. It forced me to consider my motives and try to act with integrity. What great practice for “real life”. Thanks for a great interview. I’m enjoying the book already!
I finally finished this episode after many interruptions. I loved the story and the insight. One comment that made me reflect was that we say all callings are of the same importance, but we don’t invite family to our setting apart when we are set apart in nursery. It was a pithy illustration of a much deeper principle.
While I’m not opposed to the love and support we show our family when someone accepts a heavy responsibility, such as a calling as Bishop, the thought did cause me to reflect on how our actions do not quite match our words in this area.
On a related note, I was sitting in a great Stake Priesthood training meeting recently, and wondering why the Relief Society leaders were not invited (other than the obvious answer that they do not hold an office in the priesthood). Every principle I was learning could be applied in their callings as well to help them improve their ministry. Anyway, maybe we have a way to go before we truly believe that all callings are of the same importance.
Thanks!
I loved this podcast. I especially enjoyed the entire part about the relationship between how missionaries feel about their success as a missionary and what they are asked to do on a daily basis.
I live in Friendswood, Texas. Recently, Hurricane Harvey flooded out this area and left great devastation in its wake. We’ve been out mucking homes for a month now. Our acts of service in this last month have done more to move the missionary work forward than probably the past several years.
People are open to our message because they have seen us out in force helping others. Doors have been opened, Hearts have been changed. And the missionaries themselves are working hard (and I mean HARD) mucking homes but they are having the best times of their entire mission (many have said this to me) because they are out helping people daily.
Like Craig said, why not allow the missionaries to do 20-30 hours a week of service. If it helps the missionary feel like they are accomplishing something and they feel good about their work and doors are being opened for missionary discussions, WHY NOT?
We are living in a day and age where knocking doors here in the U.S. is doing more harm than good. Remember the old adage, people don’t care how much you know (about the restored gospel) until they know how much you care.
Anyway, I loved Craig’s practical approach.