The Highs and Lows of Mission Life

The highs and lows of mission life
Are born of service, love, and strife

Books are read as minds prepare
Calls are made, before thoughts fade
From what is born, wisdom is shared
A seedling grows, a pattern is laid
All because two Elders cared

The spirit is felt... the joy is sweet
The cigarettes are tossed at the third meet

But... a night with friends, bad habits return
The investigator starts to avoid...
Yet...what once was discerned can be relearned
For there is a void when something is destroyed
Years pass...there's a hunger that burns

An Elder only see's the width
And knows not of the length nor breadth

Thus time goes on with or without the song
And the spirit proves what God behooves
For He's never gone, and His arms reach long
What's been buried moves when what's hard removes
A brightness dawns and light burns strong...

To witness new that with God we belong
So missionaries please carry on and on and on...

And come the day you go home... what of your life?
Will you soon comb for and find a wife?

Will you serve with an increased verve?
As love more flows and the family grows
What has been reserved will you preserve?
One must not doze, but train as example shows
For children observe as too they curve and swerve

On what descends, whate'er life dishes
Good luck my friends and best wishes

deflection:
turn aside, turn from a straight course ,
fixed direction, or line of interest
draw someone's attention away from something
prevent the occurrence of; prevent from happening
impede the movement of