For young members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a calling into the priesthood means they must spend two years apart from their families to proselytize their faith in strange lands.
The missionaries do not get to choose where they will go but rather are sent out in pairs to far flung places, determined by church leaders, where they live a life of piety and service to God and the church. Augusta became the destination for two of them.
For Jackson Bench, 20, of Draper, Utah, and Coleson Lake, 21, of Eagle, Idaho, their mission is not in any way meant to be a sacrifice, but rather a personal choice to show they are willing to follow God by going to wherever in the world they are directed and share their personal stories with strangers.
“It’s not a requirement to remain a member of the church, so everyone has their own reasons on why they want to serve. I think the most common reason is that we understand how important it is to have a relationship with Jesus Christ, we’ve seen how it has blessed our lives so early on and we want others to have that same blessing,” Lake said.
Both Lake and Bench are serving in the Augusta area which has roughly 600 active Latter-day Saints members. The faith claims to be the fourth largest Christian denomination in the United States with roughly 16.6 million members and 51,000 full-time volunteer missionaries spread out around the globe.
“Our missionaries go to literally any country that allows foreign missionaries,” Bench said.
The church was founded by Joseph Smith in 1830 and expanded greatly under Brigham Young, as the adherents, who were largely the targets of discrimination and even violence, migrated to what was the Utah territory in 1847 after Smith was assassinated in 1844.
According to church theology, Smith, while still a youth himself, compiled The Book Of Mormon after discovering inscribed golden plates shown to him by an angel named Moroni. Smith claimed the plates contained evidence that Jesus Christ had visited North America after his resurrection and came into contact with Native Americans who became prophets and keepers of the golden plates that Smith later translated into English.
Bench and Lake both say that part of their mission experience is dispelling myths and misinformation about the faith.
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“We prefer to be called Latter-day Saints as opposed to Mormons because we worship Jesus Christ and people, for a long time, thought we worshiped the Prophet Joseph Smith, which we don’t,” Bench said.
It is true that members of the faith lead “clean” lives, mostly foregoing the use of alcohol, tobacco and even caffeine. However, according to Bench and Lake, Latter-day Saints are certainly allowed to have fun.
“Yes, we are allowed to have fun, listen to music and dance just like everyone else,” Lake said.
Bench and Lake say that people still have the misconception that the faith still allows polygamy, which is not true. The church officially renounced the practice of having plural wives in 1890 as a condition of statehood for Utah; however, the practice had already waned over the decades.
While contraception is not specifically banned, it is frowned upon and as a result, Latter-day Saint families tend to be larger than average.
Potential missionaries save their own money up as a contribution to the church and in return the church supports their living expenses such as rent, food and gasoline as they travel the world.
Despite the stereotype of immaculately dressed young men traveling on bicycles in the summer heat in Georgia or the winter snowstorms in New York to spread their faith, Bench and Lake say that while they do wear suits to proselytize, they commonly use automobiles to get around.
Bench and Lake say that while the people of Augusta have largely received them with open arms, they still get homesick from time to time. They are allowed only a weekly phone call with their families.
“I really love Augusta, everyone here is very friendly and I’m a big fan of golf, but really have little time to actually play,” Bench said.
Both men say that when their mission is completed, they plan to return to their hometowns and eventually attend college in Utah before starting families of their own.
Scott Hudson is the senior reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
