Youth donate time, money to spread the Word

Mormon missionaries currently serving Washington County include, from left, Sister Krebs, Sister Christopherson, Elder Hill and Elder Wilcox. The Washington County missionaries will be giving a talk at 11 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 29, at the Mormon church, located at 3080 Northride Lane in Bonifay. The service will be followed by a baptismal service at 2 p.m. and the public is invited to attend.

CHIPLEY, FL — Everyone is familiar with the sight of clean-cut young men in dress clothes, bicycling through the community. But not everyone is used to seeing young women in dresses on bicycles.

“The hardest part was learning how to ride a bicycle in a dress,” says Sister Christopherson, 19, a Wyoming native who has been called to Washington County to serve part of her time as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Of course I rode a bike when I was younger, just not in a dress,” she adds, laughing.
Christopherson is one of four young people presently living in Chipley as part of their missionary service to the Mormon church.


The Mormon church is based on the revelations of Joseph Smith, who said the heavenly messages were delivered to him in the 1830s. Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, the church has more than 5 million members in the U.S. and over 14 million worldwide.

As part of their tradition, the young missionaries use the designations “elder” or “sister” and forego first names while serving their terms and they typically will serve their mission in two or more locations.

Young men will serve two year missions while young women will be called for 18 months, said Elder Hill, a 20-year-old Fort Worth, Texas native who quietly assumes the role of leader when the four missionaries gathered for an interview on Dec. 23.

“It is our choice to put off school and donate our time to serving the Lord,” Hill said. “I know how much the Lord has changed my life, and I am happy to have the chance to share that experience with others.”

“We get a lot of opportunities as missionaries to share the gospel,” Christopherson said. “I want people to know that this is the one true church that was started by Jesus Christ.”

“We aren’t out to take away anything from people, but we want to add to what they already have,” Sister Krebs said. “The Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, and it adds to what is in the Bible.”

“We’ll talk to anyone, anywhere,” Elder Wilcox said. “We talk to people on the street, in their homes, and people ask us to come by and visit. We just want to share the gospel.”

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