Serving a mission - Cook Islands
My LDS "Mormon" mission was easily the hardest thing I've done. Founding and failing a dozen companies, raising tens of millions of funding, hiring hundreds of people, four kids, 20 years of marriage...nothing is close to my mission in the Cook Islands.
We slept on small mats on the floor - or on the floor directly when the blistering night heat was too much, boiled all water, scrubbed our clothes clean, cold bucket showers, lived with a stranger for seven months without a break, survived a devastating hurricane, taught ourselves to speak an ancient Polynesian language fluently without teachers or training, fell out of coconut trees, had rocks thrown at us, broke up fights, buried friends, carried machetes, biked thousands of miles, no internet or phone calls ever and no letters for weeks on end, had more children hysterically laugh at my language attempts than any human should have to endure and....
I am grateful for it all. While some 19 year olds pledged a fraternity, we pledged to God. Had the most sacred spiritual experiences almost daily, grew to deeply love Polynesian Islanders and their beautiful spirits and faith and generosity, learned more about myself than anything before or after, deeply studied the Bible for hours each day, learned that deep happiness comes in the simplest ways, and wept with the local people when it ended.
It has made me the man, husband, and father that I am today.
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