"Once we end our missions, it's not like we stop doing stuff. "I did a year of college before I left," said Dunn, who is 21. He is heading back home to Utah this month. After stints in the Sandy, Tigard, Milwaukie and Beaverton areas, he is finishing up his mission in Tualatin. Both Nordfelt and Dunn chose to become missionaries, saving up money, getting a crash course in Spanish and going where church leaders wanted them.ĭunn is nearing the end of his two-year mission in the Portland area. While going on mission is often a big part of early adulthood for devout Mormons - elders are typically assigned to serve for two years, while sisters' missions usually last about 18 months - it is not compulsory, and in fact, they have to pay their own way for the experience. "And so if we're not out there (volunteering) and showing people that we actually care about serving others, they're not going to really care about our message if we're not showing them." "There's a quote I really like that says, 'No one will really care until they see how much you care,'" Dunn said. "Just because when we can serve people, it shows them that we're normal people just here trying to help." "We've found that serving is sometimes a way more effective to finding people that are willing to hear our message than knocking on their door and them telling us to get off their porch," Nordfelt said, chuckling. While out in the communities to which they have been posted, missionaries are expected to be spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ while also emulating Christ's good works. They have moved around the region since being assigned to it for their mission, but right now, they are living and serving in Tualatin, Sherwood and Wilsonville.įor young Mormons, mission serves a dual purpose. Nordfelt, who is from Fountain Valley, Calif., and Dunn, who is from Pleasant Grove, Utah, serve in the Spanish-language branch of the LDS Church in the Portland area. They wear black name tags with their names and titles etched in white: Elder Nordfelt and Elder Dunn.
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Nordfelt is 18 years old, but he goes by the title of elder, like his roommate Hunter Dunn and other male Mormon missionaries.
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"We're called to teach people, to help people come closer to Christ by teaching them about repentance and baptism and how they can become closer to our heavenly Father, to our God," explained Caleb Nordfelt. The quickest giveaway, though, is the name tags. Missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are typically clean-cut and well-dressed, following the guidelines of their church that direct them to wear formal attire - traditionally including a white dress shirt and tie for "elders," or men, and long skirts for "sisters," or women. No doubt you've seen them, or other young men or women like them, out and about. While their role is to spread the gospel, elders and sisters also give back to their temporary communities, as at Tualatin's Juanita Pohl Center.