73. Mckell Draper and Being a Service Missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

This week on the podcast I am featuring my niece, Mckell Draper. Mckell is currently serving as a service missionary for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. As a service missionary, she is dedicating 18 months to full time service at a variety of church and community organizations. Mckell takes us through what a typical day and week look like for her, she shares about some of the service sites she gets to work at, and she tells some really touching stories of times she’s been able to connect with and lift people one on one.

Missionaries in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints truly see themselves as representatives of Jesus Christ, and I love how Mckell shares her testimony of that and the ways she has found that to be true in her unique experiences as a service missionary.

Links from the episode:
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
More info about Service Missionaries

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Transcript

Melissa: This week on the podcast, I am featuring my niece, Mikel Draper. Mikel is currently serving as a service missionary for our church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. As a service missionary, she is dedicating 18 months to full time service at a variety of church and community organizations. Mikel takes us through what a typical day and week look like for her. She shares about some of the service sites she gets to work at, and she tells some really touching stories of times she's been able to connect with and lift people one on one. Missionaries in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints truly see themselves as representatives of Jesus Christ. And I love how Mikael shares her testimony of that and the ways she has found that to be true and her unique experience as a service missionary. Welcome to the Do Something More podcast, a service oriented show where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more. I'm your host, Melissa Draper. Thank you so much for being here.

Melissa: Welcome to another episode of the podcast.

Melissa: And I'm super excited this time because.

Melissa: I get to interview my awesome niece, Mikelle Draper.

Melissa: Mikel is currently serving as a service missionary for our church, the Church of.

Melissa: Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.

Melissa: And so she works with a lot.

Melissa: Of different organizations, has had some really cool experiences, experiences. And I thought it would be perfect to have her come on the podcast since that is what she's doing with most of her life right now is serving and helping and serving different community organizations. So I'm excited for this interview for you to meet her and to hear more about the good that she's doing. But, Mikael, welcome to the show.

Mckell: Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

Melissa: Why don't you start off by just giving a little introduction of yourself?

Mckell: All right, so I'm Mikel, currently going by Sister Draper. I'm a service missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. I've been currently serving for six months in the Saratoga Springs mission. Before I started my mission, I did two years at BYU Idaho, studying art with an emphasis in painting. Yeah, so that's me.

Melissa: Awesome.

Melissa: Yes.

Melissa: Mikael is a very gifted artiste and has lots of other things to share, too. So, Mikael, I know we have many.

Melissa: That might be listening that do not.

Melissa: Know exactly what a service missionary is. So do you want to just start off by explaining that for a little bit? What is a service missionary? What does your day to day look like? What are the types of things that you're doing?

Mckell: Of course, as a service missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter day Saints. So a lot of people know about proselyting missionaries, where they go out two by two and teach people about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But as a service missionary, it's similar. You get a call to go on a mission to serve the Lord, but we are not teaching the gospel. Instead, we are serving people and helping others come unto Christ by serving them as Christ would. And a lot of that entails going to service sites every day. So we work five days a week, six to 8 hours at different service sites.

Melissa: I love that. That's why I wanted to feature you, because you're literally working full time serving.

Melissa: And you're not paid.

Melissa: That's something else maybe people don't know you're not paid for any of this service and you get to live at home and visit all of these different organizations. So what does kind of a day in the life or a day in the week look like for you specifically as a service missionary? I know for all service missionaries it's a little unique. You're all getting opportunities to work at different organizations. But what does yours look like?

Mckell: Our sleep schedule is go to bed at 1030, wake up at 630, and usually I get up in the morning, I go on a walk. I then have a zoom call with my companion, which is another service missionary in my area, and we just talk for 30 to 40 minutes about Jesus Christ and the gospel and reading the scriptures. And then after that I usually do my own personal study for about a half an hour, reading the scriptures, studying gospel topics. And after that it depends on my schedule because my sites are different. Every single day I either will work out or I'll go to my service site. And then after I come home, there's honestly a lot of free time when I get home, which is interesting because a lot of proselyting missionaries don't get free time. But when I'm home, I do a lot of my own hobbies that I enjoy doing. I can hang out with friends, hang out with my family. So that's really fun because I get kind of the best of both worlds doing that.

Melissa: Well, you work with a lot of different organizations, so I would love to hear what are some of the ones that you are working with now or you've had the opportunity to work with.

Mckell: Okay, so I have worked at seven different service sites thus far.

Melissa: Oh, wow.

Mckell: To start off the week, I work at the Karen Food Coalition in Provo, Utah, and Melissa actually did a podcast on it and I listen to it and it's great. So I recommend that.

Melissa: That's awesome.

Mckell: And basically there we just prepare and serve meals for the homeless or less fortunate population who don't usually get food to eat. And then on Tuesdays, I also work at the family history center, and there I get to do research for my ancestors and put a family tree together. That's a super exciting for me because I get to learn about, like, where I come from and learn about the different stories and the places people lived. And in doing family history, our goal is to build the family tree of all humanity. And that's kind of a huge task. We're not going to get it done right now. It's just kind of. We're just doing it.

Melissa: Yeah. There's lots of people that work with the familysearch and family tree that are members of our church and not members of our church because many people find that genealogy important. And you get to do just a small part of that. That's awesome.

Mckell: That's my favorite thing. And then I also get to help people build their own family tree, which is super exciting. And then I also work at the bishop's storehouse, mostly just doing stocking shelves and filling orders for people in need so they can have food.

Melissa: Yeah. For those that don't know what that is, that's something in our church, it's almost like a little grocery store and there's product there. And bishops or leaders of congregations can refer people there in their congregation that need help with food. And you get to stock it. Do you fill orders sometimes, too?

Mckell: Yeah, that's mainly what I do is fill orders, stock shelves, and prepare produce.

Melissa: Wow, that's fun. I've only been there like once, but I remember when I visited there, the couple that ran it said that they loved their service missionaries. They thought they were the best.

Mckell: I've also served at the veterans home, basically just going around and talking to the people there who are lonely or need visits. I also serve at the temple grounds, just doing maintenance there. I'm a temple ordinance worker. And then I just started a new site working on a horse charity branch. And that one is awesome. I love it.

Melissa: That's great. My kids and I helped at the temple grounds back in April, and we met a couple service missionaries there again. And so I love that you just started the horse charity ranch. That was a new one. Right? So do you want to just explain a little bit what that is exactly or what they do there?

Mckell: Yeah. So my job there is basically maintenance on the grounds, taking care of the horses, mucking stalls and such. But the main goal of ITC, it's called it's time charity is to help kids in need who have mental issues or physical ailments, and they give therapy through teaching them how to ride horses. And I think it's a really great mission and it's complete. It's a nonprofit charity organization, and I feel like they do a really, a lot of good for these kids.

Melissa: That's awesome. We actually, I did a podcast episode back in February on someone in my neighborhood who does equine therapy. So that's very cool. So I'm just curious, when you're a service missionary and you're, because you have a combination of church organizations and nonprofit organizations that you're spending your time in, how do service missionaries go about getting those assignments? Do you kind of seek for different areas you want to work in, or are there specific needs they ask you to fulfill, or how does that all work out? How did you build your schedule and get involved in these different places?

Mckell: Okay, so we have our service mission leaders, which are an older couple that are kind of in charge of us.

Melissa: And mentor you a little bit.

Mckell: Yeah, mentor. They had a list of sites that we could go to, and we kind of basically just got to look through the list and be like, oh, that's interesting. That's really cool, or I want to serve there. And then they would take us on tours of all of the different service sites that we were able to serve at. And then after we've kind of gotten an idea of what we're getting into, we get to choose our own schedule. We get to choose where we want to serve, what day, when, and I think it's really neat that we kind of get to build our own. Cool. That we get to build our own mission.

Melissa: Yeah, cool that you get to choose the causes and things that are important to you or kind of speak to you and decide on what exactly you want to be involved in. So do you get to interact a lot with other service missionaries besides your companion? And do you ever share about your different experiences or the things that you're doing together?

Mckell: Yeah. So I have what's called a district, which is all the service missionaries within a certain area, and we get together a couple times a week either doing gospel study or doing activities together. So I have my companion and I study with her every day, but with my district, we study every week. And also at my different service sites, there's plenty of missionaries depending on where I'm at, but, and I get to know them and make a lot of friends and we get to talk about our experiences and help each other kind of boost each other up and hype each other up for being on a service mission.

Melissa: I love that.

Melissa: And I love that there are so many, I say young people like, you're really super young, but that are young adults that want to serve and to help and to spend their time doing that so well. Mikel, on the podcast, we love to hear stories, and so do you have any specific stories or experiences from some of these places that you've worked that have really stood out to you or helped remind you about the good that you're doing or why this has been meaningful for you?

Mckell: Yeah. So I kind of want to first talk about the why. Why? I'm on a service mission, and originally I wanted to go proselyting, to go teach people about Jesus Christ and his restored gospel. But I was assigned to be on a service mission, and I want to go out and serve people and bring them closer to Christ and our goal as service missionaries, we have a statement that we say that is our missionary purpose, and it's help others come unto Christ by serving with loving kindness as the savior would minister in his name to the one through the power of the holy ghost, and live as an example of faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance, covenant, keeping with God and enduring to the end. And being a service missionary is really close to my heart because we're helping others come unto Christ, but not in the way that you might expect. Jesus Christ was a servant to all. He didn't only just teach, but he mostly taught through his actions and how he treated people. And that's kind of our mission as service missionaries, is to serve others and love them as the savior would and help them out.

Melissa: Yeah, that's beautiful. Yeah, I love that. And I love that statement. I think anyone could take that to heart and wanting to spread the light of Christ through your actions. So do you have any of those specific stories or experiences?

Mckell: When I was working at the veterans home, it was honestly probably my most difficult site. It was really hard to kind of go up and talk to people, especially when a lot of them probably didn't really want to talk to. And so I was going in one day and I kind of prayed that I would have someone that heavenly father would have me talk to. And I went to the activity where they have all the veterans, and we were doing like a manicure day and like a spa day. And I met this one guy who hadn't been helped yet, which was kind of interesting because they'd gone down the line, but they, like, missed him. And I got to meet him. We'll say his name's John, and he was just a very sweet old man, and he kind of talked to me about how he was feeling kind of really lonely and just needed someone to talk to and be there with. And I felt like that was an answer to my prayer to know that, like, there is someone that needs that kind of service that I'm offering. And so I met with him the week later, and we just talked for, like, 2 hours.

Melissa: Wow.

Mckell: And it was really cool getting to know about his life experiences, but being in the veterans home, and his wife passed away about three years ago, he was definitely struggling and had a lot of kind of mental issues, I would say. And I. It was kind of funny because, like, he was an old man. He asked me to be his girlfriend, and I was like, no, no, let's.

Melissa: Just be good friends.

Mckell: Yeah. So it was good. The next week I go in, and the next week was the 4 july, and we had a lot of stuff going on, and so I was kind of like, I don't know if I need to go to my service site today, especially since it's a holiday. And I felt this very strong impression that I needed to go in, and. And I met some people there that I'd never talked to before. And then I went to leave, and I had this very strong feeling, like, you need to visit John. And I was kind of debating it for a while. I was like, no, I don't. Like, I already spent, like, a couple hours here. I'm good. As I was walking out the door, I kind of felt this feeling of, don't you dare. And so I walk back in, and I go to his room, and of course he's not there. And I'm like, great, I'm gonna leave now. And I asked the nurses where he was, and they're like, oh, we don't know. I was like, okay, I'm gonna leave. And again, I get the feeling, don't you dare. And so I kind of waited around for a while, and he came out of the bathroom. I was like, oh, okay. I saw him, and I was like, hi. And he was like, who sent you? And I was like, what do you like? What do you mean? I'm here. I want to talk to you. I want to. We're friends. And he was kind of like, who sent you? Because I was, he was feeling suicidal, and he was considering ending his life, and I was able to kind of talk with him, and we we sat and talked for like 3 hours, and I think it was really an uplift for him, and it was definitely an uplift for me as well. And it's a testament to me that Jesus Christ, that heavenly father, really just cares about the individual and everyone's needs, and he's willing to send people into your life to help you. And I definitely feel that with my own life as well. And that's what I love about service missions, because we're not just, I feel like proselyting missionaries are the mouthpiece of the Lord, and we're the hands of the Lord, and we get to show others what Jesus Christ really is about, which is loving others. The first two great commandments is love God and love your fellow man. And that's what we really get to do, just kind of get in the nitty gritty of things, and it's a really amazing opportunity.

Melissa: Yeah, you're definitely sometimes down in the trenches, and that was a down in the trenches story where you were able to be there for someone because you'd taken the time to build that relationship with him, first of all. So he trusted you and felt that love from you. And so that really is, that's a beautiful story of you wanting to serve and him accepting that friendship from you. And something that kind of stood out to me as you were sharing that in the beginning was how it wasn't easy for you at first to go in and serve in that veterans home. Right. And I think all of us can relate to that feeling of feeling awkward or I don't know what I'm doing, or can I even really, does anyone even really need my help, what I have to offer? And so we talk about that on the podcast all the time, that, yes, we all have something to offer and to give, and you just being you was what was needed in that moment. So that's a beautiful story. Thank you so much for sharing that. A tender, kind of sensitive one, too. Thank you so much. Were there any others that you wanted to share with some of the other places you've served?

Mckell: Yeah, so I have another one. When I kind of was first starting out, I was serving at the food coalition, and I was, this lady came through the window, and she was kind of talking about how she was just having a really hard day, and I noticed that, and I asked her name, and later I was washing tables, and she was kind of off to the side talking to another volunteer at the coalition, and the guy later comes up to me and is like, would you please pray for her? She was having a really hard time, and I was like, of course. She was kind of walking around just in the kitchen for a while, and I was talking to another. I was talking to another client, and she kind of comes up to both of us and is like, hey, you're a missionary. She's like, I would really appreciate it if you guys could pray for me. And so all three of us, this lady, the guy I was talking to, and myself, kind of stood in a circle, and each of us offered a prayer for her. And it was just a very tender and sweet experience. I think everyone was kind of tearing up, and she started crying, and I was able to give her a hug and just let her know how much she is loved and how much God loves her. And that was a very tender and sweet experience, and I feel very grateful that I was able to be a part of that. And through being a missionary, she could see that I could. That I was.

Melissa: You were willing.

Mckell: Yeah, I was willing to hold.

Melissa: Right.

Melissa: I think from some of these stories and experiences you've shared a. It just is a good reminder to all of us how so many out there are feeling lonely, downtrodden. Life's not always easy, and how you, anyone can take that opportunity to lift and to listen or to pray for someone. So both of those, I think, are beautiful examples of that. Well, Mikael, sometimes we've talked about this a little bit, but sometimes I ask people, what are some of the challenges that you've had with the service that you do just to show that it's okay to have those, but we can keep moving forward with what we want to accomplish. So, what are some of the hard things that have happened? What are some of the good things that have happened to help you continue moving forward in the work that you do as a service missionary?

Mckell: Yeah. So I think I. To start off, one of the hardest things to begin with was that I was being called as a service missionary, and it wasn't quite what you'd planned. Yeah. I feel like there's a little bit of a stigma, or at least in my own mind, that I'm kind of lesser because I wasn't capable or good enough, I suppose, to go out and proselyte, but that's not how it is at all now that I realized. And so that was kind of a real struggle to begin with, kind of feeling inferior, and I'm not good enough, and why am I here? And that's something that I think a lot of service missionaries deal with. I think, honestly, the most that has helped with that is just being able to talk with other service missionaries and hear their experiences and hear how service missions has really helped them grow. And as I've talked with them and as I've been on a service mission, I realized that everything we offer matters to God. Yeah, I think the hardest thing, one of the more I think another difficult thing being a service missionary is self discipline, because we're completely in charge of ourselves. We don't really have people going everywhere with us, and we have to get up on time, do our study by ourselves with no supervision. And I think it's kind of hard staying motivated sometimes and really being like, okay, this is what I'm here to do. I'm here to serve the Lord and love others, most importantly, love others and be focused on them and be focused on the service rather than just kind of my own life or, you know, whatever is going on. So I think discipline has been the hardest thing for me personally.

Melissa: Right.

Melissa: I think anyone can relate to that one. So. And to the first one, I don't know. From my perspective, all the service missionaries I meet, they're just awesome. I love hearing about their experiences.

Mckell: Another hard thing is just kind of, in general, putting myself out there. There's some of the service sites, specifically the veterans home that I went to, that were just very difficult for me personally.

Melissa: Yeah, no, I can totally, and I think anyone can relate to that again, as well. And any kind of service or good that we're wanting to do requires a little bit of that, either being willing to kind of step out of your comfort zone, being willing to talk to someone you've never met before, or even being willing to be rejected for the good that you're trying to do. It can all. Yeah, it can be hard, but I think some of those stories that you shared show that it can be worth it, too. So what are some of the benefits and things you've liked about being a service missionary? You kind of mentioned a little bit the flexibility that you got to choose where you wanted to spend your time or some of the things you wanted to do. What are some of the other good things that you've experienced?

Mckell: So I absolutely love the social life that comes with being a missionary, and I get to know a lot of different people, not only with the service missionaries that I get to serve with, but at the sites I serve with, I get to talk with a large variety of different kinds of people, and that's kind of really helped me grow socially, being able to talk to them and learn about their stories. I think the main thing that is just the greatest about the service mission is the joy that I feel serving others. And there's a lot of days that are just really kind of dull, which I think we all experience that in our lives. And it's not something amazing every day. And people talk about the joy of service, and I agree, but it's not like every day I'm having this very joyful feeling of experiencing and just like, yes, this is so amazing, which I think generally, it generally just makes me feel good. I look back on myself before the mission and I am so much happier and so much more at peace and have more love in my heart and understanding. For other people, I would say it's kind of like pouring water into a cup. It's just rising the level of everything just a little bit. And I'm. I just generally feel so good. I am so happy.

Melissa: Right.

Melissa: I think that's such a real description of service, right. Because there is monotony sometimes or there are hard experiences. But as you said, it's not really like one super exciting thing that's happening all the time. It's the general feeling in your entire life and your everyday routine. When you are more outward focused, when you're wanting to serve and help others, it does, it lifts, it helps, and I completely agree. So sometimes I think of motherhood when people make those comparisons, right. Motherhood definitely has its monotonous moments, or it's not always a walk in the park, but in general, having that experience serving my children, mothering them, parenting them, has brought great enrichment and joy to my life that I couldn't have had any other way. And, yeah, I think you can say the same about service. So that's great.

Melissa: Well, I always love to end each.

Melissa: Episode with just general advice that you would give to anyone, maybe that is thinking about doing a service mission or just anyone in general that wants to serve and get involved in these kinds of things. What encouragement or advice would you give?

Mckell: Okay, so for people who are considering doing a service mission, my main thing is you are not inferior. And the service that you're doing matters, and it matters to God. And he really is in the details and cares. He's really in the details. And I believe that where we're called is where we're supposed to be for service in general. I think there might be an idea that you have that you have to go out and do something really big and important to be serving other people. But something I've realized on my mission is, and just in life is that I am very grateful, and I feel very blessed by the people around me that I get to know. And I think we don't need to miss, like, don't miss the value in just being someone's friend, in just being there for another person. And I think we don't actually see very often the positive impact that we do have on people.

Melissa: Well, Mikael, thank you so much for taking the time to come be on the podcast. I love hearing these stories, some of them I hadn't heard before. So I love hearing about the good and the experiences that you're getting to share.

Mckell: Thank you.

Melissa: That concludes my interview with my niece, Mikael Draper, who is currently serving as a service missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. And I loved hearing, especially those sweet stories that she had to share, those opportunities that she's had to really connect with people and lift them and show some love to them one on one. And I had the thought as she shared those, and I listened to those stories again, is what she really gave was something that we all have, and that's her time. I think most of us in this everyday world, we are rushed a lot of the time. We feel short on time. We are super focused on our day and the things that we're doing, moving from one thing to another. But sometimes we miss opportunities like the ones Mikael described, opportunities to really stop and to connect with someone. And that was a thought that I had as she shared those. That's something that she really has to offer as a full time service missionary is the opportunity to slow down just a little bit, to pay attention and to take the time to show people love and connection. And even in the one story she shared, build a relationship with them. That's a beautiful service to do. And you could tell how she truly sees her role in being the arms of the savior and helping and reaching out to people. And it's a powerful way to serve, really, is just being able to pause and give our time. And I also love the reminder that she gave there at the end. That service doesn't always feel grandiose or amazing all the time. It's hard work. It can be mundane work at times. It can stretch us in lots of different ways. But I loved how she also shared that when we have a life where we are regularly looking outward and focusing on helping and serving others, it can generally bring us so much happiness and peace. And as she said, the ability to develop love in our heart for other people, even those that may be different than we are. And I loved that she gave that reminder. Service has a powerful way of lifting us again. That doesn't mean it's going to feel magnificent all the time, but it can bless us in so many ways and really enrich our lives. So I'm going to leave some links in the show notes, a link to our general church website if you're curious and want to learn more about that, and also one about just service missionaries and service missions in general, if you're curious to learn a little more exactly about what Mikael does and what she's doing, although I think she described it really well. So thank you so much for being here today. I also want to give the reminder that if you want to show the podcast some love, you can share this episode with a friend. Maybe you thought of someone that would really appreciate or learn something from this podcast episode. Or you can follow the podcast or even leave a rating or a review. Or you can follow us also on Instagram and Facebook, and the links to those are in the show notes as well. And of course, this week I hope you find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire, or make a difference.