Spring Board

Springboard…a jumping off point for missionaries…it’s both a starting and an ending, or rather, an ending that becomes a new beginning.  This is the name of a special meeting held for missionaries who are going home in the next transfer.  About five weeks before departing, they’re invited to the mission home to have a meeting with the mission leaders.   You want to finish strong and also prepare to start strong in your life after a mission.  There is a definite coming transition that has to happen, and the president and his wife take this time to counsel us and to have us sit down and WRITE out our own goals for the last weeks of our mission and for the first months back home. (One of my goals is to share the adventure for the 6 months after the mission on Faithisnotacrime.com)

Spot your landing:  I like the springboard analogy because I really enjoyed watching my son, Alex, diving in high school.  Actually, I have been watching him dive all his life.  He used to ask me to judge his dives off our springboard at our pool.  If I gave him a 6 out of 10, he would protest and say “no way” and go and do a better one.  He was, and is, really skilled because of the years of practice on the diving board and on the trampoline.  I think he was good because he looked at where he wanted to go and went there.   He knew where he was in the air at all times and where he was going to land at any point.  You could see him in a spin, looking at where he planned to land his feet or hands in a dive.  If you know how to see where you want to land, you have a better chance of hitting that goal or mark.  Writing your goal(s) is like looking at where you want to land in the future.  Your takeoff will be with the “end in mind,” and you can do the little things to twist and turn and adjust to reach your goal and land where you want.

Dive in: Sometimes we dive into the water with enthusiasm, not knowing what to expect.  Or we see someone else’s success, and we just assume it will be that easy.  Some people dive into a mission and immediately want to go home…and do, and there are many reasons that is OK.  Not my place to judge.  Others dive in and struggle, but they twist and turn and adjust until they find a comfort zone that allows them to go on.  This is the time that we need to reach out to Jesus and lean on Him and let him support us and teach us what we need to do to help him and become a good disciple (follower) and missionary.

Stay focused and make sure you land somewhere near Jesus Christ…

"Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life."

-2 Nephi 31:20

“If it were easy, everyone would do it.”

-Tuilimu Siaosi

Go ahead, dive right in…I remember a fun boat trip with the Browns (Now serving a senior mission in France).  Someone on the boat dove into freezing water in Alaska, swam over to a small piece of ice, and climbed on top like it was a paddleboard. It looked fun. I thought I should be able to do that.  I dove in with confidence, only to be shocked at how cold it really was. My body constricted. I barely made it back to the boat.

Lesson learned…Easy Cowboy, you will not be able to do everything, but pick the important things and strive to do those things well.  Maybe do less and do it better. 

Powder skiing:  Something I can’t wait to do again is powder skiing—about as different from Ghana as you can get. I love skiing in the trees.  Some people get freaked out about skiing in the trees because it is dangerous.  But here’s the key: don’t look at the trees. Look at the spaces between them.  That’s how you get through.  Ski/Follow the covenant path and make sure you follow the guides/Jesus Christ so that you end up at the right place…

Questions:  When you start your mission, the Mission leaders will ask the incoming missionaries the question, “What kind of missionary do you HOPE to become on your mission?”  It is a big question, and most missionaries start with a lot of enthusiasm that can grow or diminish depending on the twists and turns in their mission and how they choose to react or respond to it.  We are agents unto ourselves, and we are not compelled to be here.  But we are here, so make your mark while you can…

“Finishers Wanted”

-a sign at a furniture store and the subject of President Monson’s talk

“There are two kinds of people in the world, finishers and everyone else…”

-Unknown

“There are two kinds of people in the world: those who divide the world into two kinds of people, and those who don’t.”

-Robert Benchley

“Finishers are few.”

-Steven Covey

“You are leaving…we are leaving too.”

-Sister Jacobsen with Intro to departing missionaries in the LAST Springboard

“Be exhausted…We can sleep on the plane…”

-Sister J on not letting up…

“We can sleep when we are dead…”

-Elder Blodgett (my replacement), who would rather go directly to a baptism than rest after a long flight to Ghana…I like this guy already.

“Leave it all on the field.”

-Coach E. Jacobsen…there are two in my life, but they both say it…jump ball!

“I will miss the people, the missionaries, and their redneck abilities”

-President Jacobsen

“I eat a lot of Garlic.”

-Missionary on why he doesn’t take anti-malaria medicine

“Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead. You keep your eyes on Christ.”

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

Let us be spiritual finishers—not just those who start the dive of discipleship, but those who fix their gaze on Christ and land faithfully, cleanly, and with joy.

Elder Bertha

Ghana Accra West Mission

June 4, 2025