Anna Lee Greenhalgh

1980-1982

I considered myself quite a fragile little girl growing up. Life's circumstances for me as a young child were scary, hurtful and damaging. If it weren't for my mother's love, I think perhaps I would have withered away without learning about happiness. I thank her for each day in my life that brought me closer to turning 20 years old. That's when my first thoughts of serving a mission surfaced, and after a powerful prayer,  the decision was made that I would prepare for a mission. In fact, when I received my mission call to La Paz Bolivia, my mother was shocked, and wondered out loud how I would make it through serving in such a place as Bolivia.

My story is a happy one, although initially, my first six to eight weeks in Bolivia revealed an almost overpowering homesickness. I would try to think of incredibly strong excuses convincing President Hill to let me return home. Obviously that did not happen, and gratefully so.

With the help of loving and understanding companions, and countless prayers, I eventually reached a point to where I finally felt a tremendous love for all the Bolivian children, then the parents to those children, and then to the wonderful, amazing country of Bolivia itself.

What was the change? I submitted myself to the Lord and trusted in Him with all my might and strength. I remembered what my brother told me before I left home and entered the MTC. In the simplest words he explained that I would experience deeper emotions during the next 18 months, than I had ever experienced previously in my life. And he was talking about ALL emotions: sadness, fear, love, anger, anxiety, excitement, despair, and happiness. With every door I knocked with that rock, every struggle to learn the language, every message rejected, every bodily necessity expelled without a real toilet, every poor family I saw, and then the aching sadness I felt after learning of a child I had seen just a few days earlier pass away from starvation, I knew my brother was absolutely right.

And the truth of it all is that I would do it all over in a heartbeat. I am not the same person I was before my mission. Bolivia widened my view of what life is all about. Yes we taught the charlas, and I gained a very strong testimony, and felt the spirit of the Lord stronger than ever. I witnessed the power of the Priesthood, and learned that Heavenly Father knows and loves each of His children no matter where they live in the whole wide world. But immersing myself in everyday life in Bolivia, gave me strength then, and continues to give me strength now to face the challenges that life always, without fail, offers. 

Truly, there is not a day that goes by that I do not think of the enormous blessing it has been to have had the privilege of serving in the La Paz Bolivia Mission. It's impossible to name just one experience that made me who I am today. Who I am right now was greatly impacted by an accumulation of all the experiences I faced and endured, and ultimately treasured while living and serving among the beautiful people of Bolivia.

The fragile child I used to be blossomed, opened up, and learned to face scary unpleasant things in life, and continues to learn about her Savior who never would just leave her completely alone without a way to understand and accept the challenges that life must offer in order to progress. 

Thank you Bolivia for helping me feel all those emotions, and for allowing me to love you and your beautiful people. Heavenly Father knew I needed you and sent me far from my San Diego home to my new Bolivia home. You will always be in my heart and will always be my second home.

Since my mission, I have been blessed with 3 wonderful boys, a nursing career that has carried me through when I had to do it on my own, and experiences that continue to help me feel deep emotions, necessary for life's progression.

Melinda Andrus Jaggi Steve Morales