When missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serve in the field, they’re known as “Brothers and Sisters.”
It was no different for Laura and Mitch Gillins, of Beaver Dam, although they were also literally brother and sister, who have both recently returned from serving their respective missions in different parts of the country.
Laura, who’s older than Mitch, served in the Spokane, Wash., mission area, while Mitch was in Salt Lake City.
They kept in contact with each other, Mitch recalled.
“We’d talk about recent converts, people that we were teaching, mission details, and more spiritual things. Sometimes my sister was struggling and I was reaping all the progress, while sometimes it was flip flop. Our letters were pretty good to each other,” and they helped us keep a focused sense of purpose,” he said.
Laura mentioned that the day of a missionary is quite disciplined as they fill up their whole day under a plan and have a backup plan.
Learning how to plan and keep structure, she said, is how they insure success.
The plan is in writing, and no minute goes without a plan.
Laura said she enjoyed hearing from her brother and other family members.
“Missions are very hard,” she said. “You have people who slam the door in your face, who spit on you, people with knives and guns, just people threatening you.”
She said, “That Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ were always there. They were always our rock, and we could always look to them for strength and comfort. And sometimes they would send comfort through other people; your companion or your mission president.”
Mitch said, “The Lord has his hand in everything we do . . . you’re probably going to get discouraged, but don’t get depressed, because when you’re depressed you don’t get any work done.”
This brother and sister bring the number of missionaries from the Gillins family to four, while a fifth, brother Adam, is preparing to go out.
Mitch said he learned quite a bit from serving a mission, including how to plan effectively and how to set goals.
Laura said, “The benefits of serving a mission are the people.”
Laura is going on to college at BYU-Idaho and plans to study health science, while Mitch will attend BYU-Idaho to study auto mechanics.