009: Blake shares his experience of serving in the Utah Valley Service Mission after returning home early from Brazil due to anxiety

When Blake came home early from his Latter-day Saint proselyting mission in Brazil, he had many questions: Why? What was the purpose of coming home early? What was he supposed to do? How could he move forward? He was initially not interested in serving a service mission until he learned about the Utah Valley Service mission where he would have the opportunity to serve beyond the temple and the Bishop's storehouse. Upon learning this, he felt like he wasn't done and that there was more that he could do and was reassigned to labor in the Utah Valley Service mission where he now happily serves in the MTC. He shares with me a powerful testimony about the validity and power of service missions, talks about the growth he has experienced by serving one, and also discusses facing the stigma that his reassigned mission is less than his first mission. Blake also discusses the culture shock he faced in Brazil that triggered his anxiety so badly that it began severely affecting his physical health and the anxiety he faced about coming home.

This episode is broken into two parts. First, Blake discusses coming home early from Brazil and the things that led to that decision. Then, at about 21:40, we transitioned to talking about his decision to serve a service mission and the highs and lows of his new assignment.

 You can learn more about service missions at churchofjesuschrist.org/service-missionary.