BYU Women’s Services and Resources hosted a workshop on Wednesday, Sept. 11 in the Wilkinson Student Center featuring associate professor Jared Halverson, who shared tips and advice for returned missionaries adjusting to life post missionary service.
Halverson teaches ancient scripture at BYU and has focused his studies on faith loss, secularization and anti-religious rhetoric, according to the BYU Religious Education website. Halverson also hosts a podcast and YouTube channel called “Unshaken.”
At the workshop, Halverson drew from his personal experience as a returned missionary, as well as his understanding to instruct attendees, particularly returned missionaries, on how to overcome doubt and other life challenges.
Though the workshop is held every semester, students filled every seat, with some siting on the floor or standing in the back of the room.
Elisabeth Beesley is a senior studying physical education who works for Women's Services and Resources. She said they will need to have more chairs next semester.
“We expected to have a good turnout, but not nearly like that,” Beesley said.
Halverson compared life post missionary service to mastering a portion of a piano piece.
“We have a really hard time reintegrating,” he said. “We've mastered those measures, but we still can't play the whole song because we come home and just can't fit it back into the music.”
Halverson described returning home from a mission in three phases: creation, fall and atonement. According to Halverson, returned missionaries start out in a state of simplicity. Then, life challenges come, but he said returned missionaries can eventually rise to a place higher than the simple life they had before.
“You can get to a place that's even better than where you started,” Halverson said.
With his experience helping people in faith crises, Halverson also addressed the topic of doubt in post missionary service. Halverson quoted Elder M. Russell Ballard and encouraged attendees to `give the Lord an equal amount of their time to counteract the adversary's attacks to their faith.
Halverson explained that while a returned missionary may hold onto many things from their mission, they do not need to have an “all or nothing” perspective. He said the purpose of missionary service is to prepare missionaries for life.
“Your mission, as long or as short as it was, is merely preparation for life,” he said. “Missions are not saving ordinances, but they might be saving experiences.”
Isaac Bingham, a freshman studying electrical engineering, returned from serving his mission in St. Louis, Missouri, at the beginning of September 2024. He said that going to the workshop helped him learn it is okay to experience weakness after serving a mission.
“When we return home from our mission we recognize that we still have weaknesses and we still have reasons to continue growing,” Bingham said. “That’s not a reason for disappointment, but it's rather a continual part of our growth, that’s where our faith in Jesus Christ comes in.”