Mission accomplished
Mormon student returns after a two-year mission trip
Joel Pavelski
Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: News
Brad Lovett left Hillsdale in 2006 as a sophomore American Studies major. He'll return as a junior this fall, three years later, with a well-stamped passport and a new global perspective.
Lovett, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, returned from a two-year long mission trip in South Africa and Namibia last month.
In the Mormon church, Lovett said, most young men go on a two-year service mission at age 19.
"I'd always heard about it growing up," Lovett said, "but being at school and being away from my family really strengthened that commission."
Lovett grew up in Amarillo, Texas. His church assigned him to the Cape Town mission in South Africa, and he left in Feb. 2007.
Over the next 24 months, he knocked on doors to introduce his church, taught finance and career workshops, and learned about South African culture.
"It was as dull and repetitive or as fun and creative as you made it," Lovett said. "You could reach out to the community through service projects or just stand on the street and pass out fliers."
As a missionary, he was required to give up modern media: movies, music and secular books.
"I was really invested in those things before and now I've changed my focus to people and the relationships that I have in my life," he said.
Lovett said he doesn't know what his career plans are, but that the mission strengthened his plans to attend law school.
He worked for four months with a woman he met in South Africa named Asanda. She was battling cancer, could never have children, and at 26 years old was meeting her father for the first time, but was strengthened and encouraged by the message Lovett carried.
"She had a terrible life, but she told me that she was so happy because of what I'd told her about the church," he said. "Things like HIV and AIDS are pretty real down there, and people had hope because of what we shared with them."
Out on the mission field, Lovett experienced true diversity every day. There are 11 national languages in South Africa, he said, so nearly everywhere he went in the country he encountered a new language and a completely different culture.
Lovett, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, returned from a two-year long mission trip in South Africa and Namibia last month.
In the Mormon church, Lovett said, most young men go on a two-year service mission at age 19.
"I'd always heard about it growing up," Lovett said, "but being at school and being away from my family really strengthened that commission."
Lovett grew up in Amarillo, Texas. His church assigned him to the Cape Town mission in South Africa, and he left in Feb. 2007.
Over the next 24 months, he knocked on doors to introduce his church, taught finance and career workshops, and learned about South African culture.
"It was as dull and repetitive or as fun and creative as you made it," Lovett said. "You could reach out to the community through service projects or just stand on the street and pass out fliers."
As a missionary, he was required to give up modern media: movies, music and secular books.
"I was really invested in those things before and now I've changed my focus to people and the relationships that I have in my life," he said.
Lovett said he doesn't know what his career plans are, but that the mission strengthened his plans to attend law school.
He worked for four months with a woman he met in South Africa named Asanda. She was battling cancer, could never have children, and at 26 years old was meeting her father for the first time, but was strengthened and encouraged by the message Lovett carried.
"She had a terrible life, but she told me that she was so happy because of what I'd told her about the church," he said. "Things like HIV and AIDS are pretty real down there, and people had hope because of what we shared with them."
Out on the mission field, Lovett experienced true diversity every day. There are 11 national languages in South Africa, he said, so nearly everywhere he went in the country he encountered a new language and a completely different culture.
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