Answering the ‘divine call’ a rite of passage for young Mormons
Standing in front of family and friends in a coat and tie on a Tuesday evening in late April, Jacob Epperson cradled a cell phone that held news of his future.
In it was an email he's been looking forward to getting for a long time — a letter from the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that would tell the teenager where he is being sent as a volunteer missionary for the next two years.
"Thanks everybody for being here," Jacob said to those gathered at his La Mesa home, and on Zoom, to witness what is tantamount to a rite-of-passage for young Mormons. "I'm glad you could all come. I really appreciate you all supporting me."
He clicked open the email, took a breath and began to read out loud.
"Dear Elder Epperson," he began, "you are hereby called to serve as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
The next sentences told him that he will be held to the highest standards of conduct and appearance and will need to muster all his strength and heart. Then came the good stuff:
"You are assigned to labor in the Honduras Comayaguela Mission," Jacob said, stumbling as he tried to pronounce that middle word. "You will be prepared to preach the Gospel in the Spanish language."
A smile flashed over Jacob's face and there was a smattering of applause and congratulatory texts.
The letter instructed him to report for training in Mexico in July, followed by his assignment to Honduras. Once there, he and his missionary partner will be sent forth to introduce residents to a faith that in less than two centuries has grown from a small movement in upper New York to the fourth largest church in America — and numbering more than 16 million members internationally.
Like his father before him, Jacob will become part of a defining characteristic of the Mormon church — an army of 54,000 proselytizing missionaries working out of some 400 missions around the world.
Jacob, who is 18 and will graduate from Helix Charter High School on Thursday, said there was never a doubt that he'd go on a mission. "I knew since I was a kid," he told me. "I've always wanted to go."
No, he doesn't speak Spanish. But he's looking forward to learning. Just like he's looking forward to being a missionary.
"I want to serve and to help. And to be able to share the joy that I've had with this church."
Never mind that when he's finished, his other classmates could be halfway through college. "I don't think I'm putting my life on hold or anything," he said. "I see it more as just one of those other steps that's a part of my life."
His father, Dirk Epperson, did his missionary service in Venezuela from 1998 to 2000.
"I knew it was the right thing to do but I didn't realize that I was going to get so much out of it," Epperson said. "Being able to serve Christ and spread his word to other people was just an amazing experience. From teaching lessons in people's homes with dirt floors and corrugated metal roofs to mixing concrete in the street to help people make blocks to build houses."
Those two years, he added, gave him a better foundation for adulthood.
"I gained so much from that experience. You have to live with somebody else who you don't know. You have to learn to do that and find compromise and winwin situations. So that taught me a lot about being a husband, being able to to care for somebody else, and put somebody else's needs completely before those of your own."
Jacob's mother, Megan Epperson, did not serve as a missionary when she was young — but she quickly added that she's looking forward to joining the senior missionary program after the children are grown.
Amid the congratulations and smiles on that evening, there was no mention of two sentences embedded in Jacob's email that would remind us that we still can't take anything for granted. But more on that later.
Assigning all these missionaries is a task of biblical proportions. Actually, the "divine call," as it's been called, conjures up images of a holier version of the Sorting Hat in the Harry Potter books.
Would-be missionaries submit an application, along with medical records showing they are physically able to serve, to their local church leaders, who then forward the package to church headquarters in Salt Lake City.
In a process described as part technology and part revelation, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles — one of the church's top governing bodies — works with the missions department and computer screens to prayerfully match up applicants and needs. The letter announcing each assignment is signed by church president Russell M. Nelson and emailed to the recipient.
Mormon men are encouraged — but not required — to serve a mission. The men — called elders — can start serving at age 18 for up to 24 months. Women — called sisters — can serve starting at age 19 for 18 months. Older adults may begin serving in the senior missionary program at age 40 for up to 23 months.
While pop singer Donny Osmond famously didn't go on a mission when he was young, several other Mormon celebrities did, including American Idol runnerup David Archuleta (Chile), Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder (Japan) and Jeopardy! phenom Ken Jennings (Spain). Elizabeth Smart, who drew national attention after she was kidnapped at age 14 and held captive for nine months, served in France after she grew up..
Their days typically begin at 6:30 a.m. with exercise, studying religious texts and their language lessons. By 9:30 a.m., it's off to their real work — proselytizing, visiting with people and doing community service. They are back by 9:30 p.m.
With some exceptions, the dress code for men involves a white shirt and tie. For women, they wear dresses or skirts and in some cases dress slacks. As for their code of conduct, there is no partying or dating during their assignments.
When Epperson served his mission, he said they were only allowed to call home twice a year — on Christmas and Mother's Day. With today's technology, missionaries may communicate with family weekly via everything from emails to video chats.
And now for those two pesky sentences that Jacob read in his commission:
"Please note that circumstances in the country of your assigned mission may require that you begin with a temporary assignment in your home country. You will receive further instruction, if this becomes necessary."
Could the "circumstances" have to do with COVID-19? Curious, I checked the Centers for Disease Control website. Its statement was blunt: "Travelers should avoid all travel to Honduras."
A search for news stories about how the pandemic was affecting Mormon missionaries turned up a piece from the Salt Lake Tribune in March 2020 about how the Latterday Saints were rapidly recalling thousands of missionaries.
"The global outbreak of the novel coronavirus has prompted the church to adapt its foundational proselytizing programs, shuttering Missionary Training Centers worldwide and scrambling to return young men and women to their native countries," the newspaper reported.
Some were being reassigned to temporary service areas closer to home and others were being released from their service.
It was time to summon church officials for a follow-up conversation. A spokesman confirmed that Jacob probably will not be sent to Honduras for the time being — or to Mexico for training. Instead, he likely will receive his training online and begin his mission domestically until it is safe for him to go to Central America. Details would be sent to him closer to his assignment date.
On a recent Saturday afternoon after a wrestling tournament, Jacob acknowledged that he was aware of the likely change in plans. Still, he said, he was excited regardless of what happens.
"I know that the church is trying to keep all the missionaries safe and all the people in the country safe and I'm not disappointed by that," he told me. "I know that all of the timing is how it's supposed to be. And I'm glad to go serve when and wherever I can."
And then the soon-to-be missionary, with so much in limbo, added this: "It's all in God's hands, you know."