I *love* seeing the nuances of difference while also taking great comfort from the similarities. Some of my deepest spiritual experiences in church meetings have occurred outside of my home country.

One thing I do think that US members need to be sensitive to, when visiting wards abroad, is to not take over testimony meetings, etc. or come across as “monitors” or I’m-bringing-the-true-way-to-you. Open eyes, hearts, and minds mixed with a measure of humility go a long way toward helping us all appreciate each other and find the good.

Welcome home, Michelle!

I consider myself a Utah Mormon, even though I live in California. I also feel Utah Mormons do sometimes get a bad rap and I try to dissolve any myths that other members of the church bring to my attention about members of the church there.

This post isn’t about Utah Mormons though – it’s about members of the church outside of the United States. I’m sorry I brought the focus away from them.

We have lived in our present ward for 11 years. In those 11 years of all the missionaries that were called from our ward only 1 served in Britain. We had a large map of the world at one point on the wall showing where all of the members had served, and there are quite a few of us, approximately 75% served abroad. I cannot remember the last time we had a British missionary serve here in this ward, at least not in the last 5 years.

We are all called for different reasons to go to different places. We are an international church. I would deny anyone the experience of serving abroad but would love a few home grown missionaries now and then.

As someone who has lived in S. America, on both coasts, in the midwest, and in Utah, I think that yes, we need to be careful that we aren’t too Utah-centric. BUT on the other hand, sometimes there ARE valuable things that people w/ experience where the Church is older and stronger might be able to bring to different areas. That’s part of why they call senior couples to serve — their experience is valuable in helping in places where the church is newer and still learning. Of course, again, that could be taken to an extreme, but I worry sometimes it’s easy to swing to a different extreme and discount the value of some of the things that Utah (or other more heavily-populated Mormon area) can bring to the table in a good way.

Just wanted to say that, because I think sometimes Utah can get a bad rap. Yes, sometimes it’s deserved, but sometimes it’s not. And honestly, there is something to having the strength of many people to really staff and run a ward. There are things that can be done when that happens that are amazing and bring the Church and its potential to new light. And there are lovely and wonderful things about the “Utah culture” that I have really come to appreciate as I have lived and served in several different places and then come back here.

I also really appreciated what a bishop recently said — missionary work is helping ANYONE endure to the end. That can include members, too. There’s plenty of mission field wherever you go. (It may also be cliche, but Utah continues to be one of the highest baptizing missions. There ARE missionary opportunities everywhere.)

I served my mission in South America and, due to immaturity and an enormous sense of pride, I felt it was my duty to make sure everyone did things like we Utahns did them…boy was I humbled quickly. Toward the end of my mission, I rejoiced in the differences. It was more of a cultural shock coming home than it was going there. Now I love to attend Latino wards and I long for the wonderful attributes of my South American wards and branches.

I live in California now and find that when my ward does things a little different (and let’s face it, my California wards aren’t much different than my Utah wards) than I was used to growing up, I simply shrug and go with the flow. It makes me love my ward for it’s individuality and the living, breathing organism that it is.

I also love the term “mission field.” It makes me feel like I’m running through a “white” field that is “ready for harvest.” I love living in a place where I get to share my testimony with people of other faiths on an almost daily basis. I love being the different one and getting missionary opportunities so frequently.

The blessing came as it was their ward’s Primary Presentation — my kids were the most attentive ever because they knew the songs, and the scriptures, and the theme since they had performed theirs the week before.

It was a beautiful experience!

“I served in France but would have loved to have served in England (although France was great). People need to see that it is not an American church, and the American missionaries often give the impression that is.”

On the other hand, they have recently been calling foreign missionaries to America, and as much as it might give Europeans the idea the church is American from all the American missionaries I think it is really good too show people in America that the church is not only American!

I too lived in a stake where a spanish branch had to be disbanded because there were too few members. I was disappointed to hear a member in our ward insist that we could do what we could to make accept the spanish members but that it would never work well because “the gospel is just different in Spanish.” During stake enrichment day, I was glad to see that half the talks were in spanish and we all had to wear headsets for half the meeting.

I also grew up in Europe in an international ward with members from all over Europe, America, and even South America. One thing I’ve learned is that if anything can overcome the barriers of language is the spirit of God and the love that follows it!