FIRST EXPERIENCE IN THE FIELD.
The excitement or the interest of travel generally keeps up one's
spirits while on the way; but soon the journey is at an end. Arriving
at the headquarters of the mission to which they have been appointed,
the missionaries are assigned to various conferences or fields of
labor. During the short time they have traveled together they have
become quite attached to each other. They appreciate one another
the more through being alike newly separated from near friends and
traveling through strange lands among strange people. It is another
affecting experience to part from traveling companions; and when each
one finds himself singly cast among strangers, or rather among new
friends, he is for a little while lonesome. If he allows himself to
take a cheerless view of the situation he may feel somewhat home-sick;
and if he makes no effort to cast aside his gloomy thoughts he will
soon be feeling extremely unhappy. He can encourage this feeling
until it becomes a serious malady that can only be cured by the most
heroic treatment, or else have the cause removed by a far less heroic
method--that is by returning home at once. On the other hand, if the
newly-arrived missionary fully determines to go to work immediately,
to become familiar with the labor before him, to get acquainted with
the people, and make himself at home among them, and take advantage
of every circumstance that surrounds him, he will soon feel contented
so far as personal comfort is concerned.
Although people are inclined
to regard it as a trifling ailment, and extend no sympathy for those
who suffer with it, homesickness is a very serious affliction. It is
even fatal in some instances. A soldier of a Massachusetts regiment
is reported to have died in Cuba recently through homesickness.
Fortunately there are remedies for the complaint in cases where
missionaries are attacked with it. The most effective remedy is for
the one afflicted to go to work at once upon his missionary labors.
He may meet with rebuffs, but such experience will be just what is
needed to dispel the feeling of home-sickness and to inspire him with a
determination to battle against discouragement.
A young man who lately returned from the mission field related that
when he first arrived in his place of labor he felt symptoms of
home-sickness. He determined to shake off the feeling at once, and went
out to deliver tracts and seek to get Gospel conversations with the
people. The first man he met opposed him and used considerable abuse.
This treatment aroused him to put forth efforts to defend the cause
he represented as well as his own character, for both were attacked.
It also furnished a favorable opportunity for doing so, as the man
made charges which he felt fully able to refute. The young man did not
retaliate with abuse, but patiently and in a kindly spirit undertook
to set the truth before his misinformed opponent. His pleasant manner
and humble spirit conquered his antagonist and made him a lasting
friend. The missionary received a standing invitation to his house,
and besides this the gentleman who first opposed afterwards, with his
family, attended meetings and they all became interested in the Gospel.
The missionary continued his active efforts and had no more feelings
of home-sickness. He subsequently became one of the most energetic and
successful workers in the field.
Quite a number of missionaries who at first have become somewhat
discouraged, and partially made up their minds to return home, have had
dreams just at the critical time, and have been influenced thereby to
continue in the field. They have dreamed that they had returned home
without fulfilling their mission. The humiliation and chagrin they
experienced in their dreams appeared so real that they have thereby had
their minds changed by it, and once more determined to continue their
efforts.
There have been instances where missionaries have returned home
on account of home-sickness, but almost invariably they have felt
dissatisfied with themselves until they have returned to their fields
of labor and made a more successful effort to fill a mission.
It sometimes occurs that a missionary goes to his field of labor with a
misapprehension of the nature of the work. Returned Elders in reporting
their labors abroad often speak of the success they met with, and of
the opportunities and needs there are for missionary work in the world.
In listening to such reports a person sometimes gets the idea that
those who go out as missionaries will find people anxiously waiting
for them, and ready to receive their message. A missionary soon learns
that such is not the case, and sometimes feels that it is only a waste
of time for him to remain and try to do anything. How frequently has
the remark been made by a newly arrived missionary, "Why, I could do
more good at home than I am doing here!" But he soon discovers that to
gain success he must work for it. If the people will not come to him,
he finds that he must go to them. He must awaken an interest in the
message he bears, and to do this he must be patient and diligent as
well as prayerful. It is a common remark among missionaries that they
are just beginning to do real missionary work that is satisfactory to
themselves when they are about to be released.