by Category
by Year
2008
AML Award:
Personal Essay
Presented to:
Stephen Carter
For:
"Calling" (Sunstone)
Missions are filled with pressure. You commit yourself to work hard. You set high goals. You push and push to achieve them. Nothing, however, prepares you for the disappointment of not baptizing, especially in the face of so many promises that baptizing is the certain reward for your labors. The deliberate assertion of this nearly scientific, cause-effect relationship between missionary effort and convert baptizing can result in spiritual confusion for young Elders in countries where baptismal rates are very low. It can also create an unhealthy cynicism in seasoned missionaries about the blind optimism and open striving exhibited by younger elders determined to move onto the fast track to become zone leaders and assistants to the president. What is such a slightly amused and bemused elder to do? Stephen Carter recounts, with a lightly cynical tone and some satisfaction, the rededication of grizzled missionaries to spending time they might have used to help meet the goal of giving 100 first discussions per week to love and serve more genuinely the people they have been sent to teach. In an explosion of spiritual synergy, the nearly washed-up companions use the last month of their missions to find, teach, and baptize without any concerns for goals they now find superficial. They know how to love and the Lord blesses others through them. For a sweet reminder of the power of love in the process of conversion, the Association for Mormon Letters is pleased to present an award in the personal essay to Stephen Carter for “Calling,” published in Sunstone.