Today I did some reflecting on this, and yes, I love both parts of my life.

The reason I was thinking about it is that I was creating a podcast on how my mission to Germany decades ago actually influences our nomadic retirement today.

There are lots of ways it does.

It feels good to be at peace with my past in that way. This feeling has been a long time in coming.

It’s great that you are able to reconcile parts of your past and bring the experiences forward and use them as a way of inspiring your present and future.

Not to rain on your parade, but I read the stories of a lot of RMs, and their missions sound like 18mos-2yrs of intense work where they were often hungry, cold, uninspired, scared, tired and I’m glad I never went on a mission. I’m pretty nomadic myself—I get itchy feet every six months or so and feel the need to travel. I pack up my campervan and hit the road for a few days just to get that itch to ‘leave’ scratched, so I know it’s satisfying being able to live simply, frugally and with the intention of being a nomad.
I wish you well in your travels.

I guess I was simply on an adventure from the start, and just so happy to be doing it, that I never thought it was hard.

Of course, being in a beautiful place like Southern Germany right next to the Alps didn’t hurt I suppose.

Yet, happiness comes from inside, and perhaps I learned that from my dad.

No, we chose it, and planned for it for six years before retiring. Highly intentional.

Southern Germany is beautiful—I have been to Munich a few times and if you spent your mission tracting that area you will have seen some very lovely places.
I think you’re right, looking at experiences as either adventures or a chance to learn something can give things meaning. I am interested in your nomadic life—it’s something I really enjoy. I’ve made my own campervan from a cargo van, and waking up in different places is heaven to me. I’ve managed to travel the length and breadth (except Northern Ireland) of the UK, and over to France and Germany in my van. It’s a great way to be, I think, unless it’s not something you have chosen for yourself, or have no other options, I guess.

No amount of fun travel can compensate for the 18 months I spent on my Mormon mission.

I spent my mission in a beautiful European country. I loved living there and returned several times after my mission. I didn't love: tracting for 10 hours/day, being with my companion 24/7, constant feelings of inadequacy and self loathing even though I gave it my all, constant rejection, night terrors, being away from loved ones, neglecting my education, etc.

I suppose I can focus on the good parts, but the bad parts don't make up for it.

Southern Germany is beautiful, but wouldn't you have been better off if you had studied abroad there? There are better ways of living abroad (joining the military is probably a better option) than serving a mission.

I had no other option at the time. Sure, study abroad might have been good.

However, had I not tracted day in and day out, I would have never met so many history eyewitnesses.

Perhaps the hardships I went through were to enable those priceless moments?

When I was a young woman, if I met someone who was likely of an age to have served during WWII, I would often ask them where they were and what they were doing during the war. I heard so many interesting stories. One mild-mannered salesman had fought in North Africa, and a Japanese-American man talked about how his family was separated during the war.

Nice.

I’m thinking that such magic surrounds me everywhere and everyday.

The only thing keeping me from it is my lack of effort.

I'm glad that you were able to extract something positive from the experience. Indeed, it sounds like you were in a beautiful area.

It has been a surprise to me as I've grown older how much my tastes, opinions, and attitudes have changed. You retain some things, but move on from others.

I think the main thing I learned there, and am still learning, is that anywhere and in every situation, I have the option to “take a sad song and make it better.”

I think that when you are able to change things for the better, you do so. It's when you are stuck in one way or another that you have to look for the positive.

I've done that with my job (urban teacher.) It is a second career for me, into which I invested a lot of money and time in order to get established. Once in, there was no way out. There were about fifteen years in it that no human should have to endure. But I simply put my nose down and did what I had to do, educating my students to the best of my ability. Like you, I focused on whatever good I could find. In recent years, I've moved into a much more peaceful, fulfilling role. It's a good way to finish off my career.

Sometimes the “peaceful and fulfilling” are a long time in coming. I think that’s an important life lesson.

Unconventional wrote: "However, had I not tracted day in and day out, I would have never met so many history eyewitnesses."

I find it really hard to believe that anyone who served a tracting mission has anything positive to say about the experience other than perhaps it helped them to lose weight. Most of us RMs have recurring nightmares of being called on another mission, mostly because of tracting.

Are you saying that the German people welcomed you into their homes when you were tracting and told you their war stories? I find that a little unusual as the German people aren't so open and willing to share with strangers.

There are posters here who enjoyed their missions, but mostly because they figured out "the church" was not true and goofed off. I don't recall anyone posting about positive experiences because of tracting. Somehow I get the feeling that you're a shill for LDS Inc.

I have found that mission experiences can be incredibly varied in nature. I loved my mission. I was in a place where we worked a ton and the conditions were such that I felt like I was camping for two years. But, the culture was such that I didn't feel that people didn't like me for doing what I was doing. There was also less supervision and I had some genuinely cool people as fellow missionaries. I was TBM the whole time and followed the rules and it was still fun.

Was your mission a tracting mission where you knocked on doors for up to ten hours a day - often in the bitter cold - without anyone letting you in?

I suppose a mission in an area where people are friendly and tracting is not required could be a different experience from a mission where the norm is knocking on doors without being let in because people aren't very receptive to hearing about the Mormon church. Even so, is it worth two years of a young person's life, especially when the missionary's efforts are not contributing anything to the well-being of the people of the country, and converting them would mean that they have to give 10% of their meager income to the Mormon church and possibly sever family ties? Think about it.

I think what haunts me is knowing that during my mission I thought I was doing something important, which kept me in the grueling daily routine of knocking on doors all day long, enduring to the end of each day till the end of my mission. Now I realize that what I did had absolutely no positive impact on anyone (especially not me), with the exception of a few people I visited who were not candidates for baptism for various reasons. Was it worth 18 months of my time just to have a few chats with those people? No.

Mine was a tracting mission exactly as you put it.

Imagine if you got sent to your favorite place on the planet where you were presold years before you even got there?

Wouldn’t you think it might be easy to enjoy the place regardless of the White Handbook and all of the rules?

Well, that’s what my mission was.

My comment wasn't a defense in general of missions and their purpose. It was a response the doubt that anyone would have fond memories. I think that there might be a discrepancy in how we're defining a "tracting" mission. Did I spend 10 hours minimum per day teaching or finding? Yes. However, that wasn't as dreadful because the culture I was in was friendly enough, that even rejection was done without a lot of vitriol...and we were let in a fair amount. Luckily, the bitter cold didn't come into play too much for me.

So, if by "tracting" mission, the qualification is that there's cold and no one lets you in, then I guess mine wasn't a "tracting" mission. Hence my opening by saying that I've found great variety in people's mission experiences. I have 3 siblings that served missions and 2 have left the church. Oddly, the one who stayed is the one that probably wouldn't say they loved their mission.

I was specifically referring to knocking on doors tracting (is there any other kind?) in Germany, which was the OPs mission experience.

Today, since missionaries mostly no longer tract (knock on doors) for various reasons (safety concerns, waste of time, etc.), non-tracting efforts to connect with prospective converts are called "finding" since it's no longer knocking on doors (tracting). If you didn't knock on doors on your mission you have no idea what it's like, especially in a country where people were not receptive to Mormon missionaries. I'm sure you used other methods to "find" people but I specifically addressed tracting because of the OP's comment: "However, had I not tracted day in and day out, I would have never met so many history eyewitnesses."

As far as tracting in the bitter cold, obviously it wasn't every missionaries experience, but Germany during much of the fall, winter and spring is very damp and cold - the kind of damp cold that seeps into the skin that even a warm coat can't keep out. Knocking on doors in the damp bitter cold is no fun.

As I mentioned above, my tracting mission in a European country (similar to Germany) was really difficult. I worked hard and didn't goof off. I suffered physical and emotional distress that left lasting scars. I also loved living there and met some interesting people. I traveled with ease throughout Europe intermittently during the 30 years following my mission, probably because I had lived there as a missionary and made a great friend who lived in Germany, whom I visited frequently. Still, I would never make a podcast about how serving a mission resulted in travel adventures unless I also talked about the hardships of my Mormon mission.

I'm wondering who the target audience is for the OPs podcast? Is the OP going to tout the benefits of a Mormon mission? I sincerely hope not.

Perhaps the OP is trying to look at the positive side of his mission experience. I just hope he isn't encouraging young Mormons to go on missions, even if it does lead to travel adventures.

If they listen to my podcast, they will find that I left for reasons of protecting my integrity. So it’s clear I don’t support the idea of a mission. The only idea is that it was my lot, and I suppose I learned to make it fun and worthwhile. That’s it.

Yes, that was me pretty much as well.

Yes, they let us in and told us their stories. Mind you, they weren’t interested in our religion. They were interested in part because I was from California, and in part because I was simply fascinated with their culture.

I simply love the German language and the cultures there. That’s the bottom line.

Not a shill, I resigned from the church in 2005.

Each stage of life can and should be embraced because life is a miracle. Given the circumstances, I am not sure I could have better spent those 18 months. Yes, I was one of those who got called on a two year mission, but my mission was cut short because of an experiment the church was doing at the time.