Dear Family and Friends,
It has been a few weeks since you have
received a letter from Elder Sork. It is important we share with you why
that is. While his recent letters have sounded more positive, Elder Sork
has been quietly dealing with a debilitating medical condition. Out of concern
for his family, church members, and friends serving in the mission field he
only wrote about the positive experiences while he tried to work through his
illness with mission doctors and the mission president.
We received word this morning that our
son would be returning home from his mission today or tomorrow. He is
being honorably released as having served a full-time mission for the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His return is sooner than originally
planned. When he left he was worthy, willing, and able to serve a full 2-year
mission. He is still worthy and so very wiling, but unfortunately, due to
health issues, he is no longer able to serve out the remainder of his 2-year
call to Brazil. Elder Sork has been diagnosed with severe anxiety and
depression that has not been able to be adequately treated in Brazil. For
those of you unfamiliar with this disease, I liken it to someone who has
diabetes and needs insulin. With continued anxiety and depression
the body’s ability to produce the required serotonin levels for proper physical
and mental functioning is depleted. Elder Sork is coming home to find
the proper care and treatment for this disease so he can continue to serve the
Lord in other capacities throughout his life.
Elder Sork returning home is an answer to
the fasting and prayers of Eric and I. Yesterday we had a special fast
for Elder Sork, knowing he was meeting with his mission president. Our
desire was that President Dias and Elder Sork would be able to counsel
together, and under the direction of the spirit, know how to handle the
struggles Elder Sork has been facing since entering the mission field in
August. After speaking with President Dias this morning, I know our
prayers have been answered.
Now, as we write to you we are facing
another fear – how will he be received home by those he loves and looks up
to? It would be easier if this struggle were more medically noticeable.
Instead, he is fighting chemically induced depression and anxiety.
Something no one can see and few understand. He struggled with this
throughout his high school years; we just did not understand how severe it
was. The stresses of the mission field just exacerbated the condition to
the point his safety had to be considered. Our fear is that because he
comes home with no physical indicators of his struggle, his release from
service will be questioned by those he is returning to.
I would like to refer you to Elder
Holland’s talk “Like a Broken Vessel” in the October 2013 conference where he
specifically addresses people who struggle with anxiety and depression and
those that care for them. In this talk he speaks “of an affliction so
severe that it significantly restricts a person’s ability to function fully, a
crater in the mind so deep that no one can responsibly suggest it would surely
go away if those victims would just square their shoulders and think more
positively—though I am a vigorous advocate of square shoulders and positive
thinking!”
We cannot imagine what must be going
through Elder Sork’s mind while he is on the plane today. Maybe it is
something like this: mourning the months of his mission he would not get
to serve with the people of Brazil he has come to love so much, weeping at the
thought of the people he feels he is letting down, and trying to understand how
God’s plan for him included coming home early. We do not know why God did not
heal him so that he could stay and serve. However, we DO KNOW that God is
mindful, aware and loving! He loves our son and He has a plan for him.
We all have a different path to walk as
we try to become the person the Lord knows we can be. Each experience is
just for us, for our learning and growth. Many may judge Elder Sork and
think that he should have fought harder. Many might tell him he should have had
more faith, prayed more, worked harder, understood the atonement better, etc.
Please refrain. God and his mission president know that our son has given
his all. He did all that he could. He prayed fervently, he fasted often, he
worked with everything he has, he studied endlessly. He NEVER quit. He NEVER
gave up. The mixed emotions he must have felt when President Diaz told him that
he felt it was time for him to return home and get the help he desperately
needs, we cannot fathom.
It takes a lot of faith to follow the
call of a prophet to leave family, friends, and your life behind to serve. It
takes faith to get up every day to teach the gospel when your mind and body
refuse to corporate, but you do it anyway because you are obedient. It
takes great faith to do everything the mission president and doctors ask you to
do to receive the gift of health, but to have those efforts fail. It
takes faith to listen when the Lord says, “Well done thou good and faithful
servant! It is enough!” It takes even more faith to leave earlier than you want
to, knowing how hard it can be in our church to deal with everything and
everyone that is waiting for you upon return.
Thankfully, our son does not need
intensive physical treatments, but what he needs medically is just as important
to him living and being healthy as chemo is for those who suffer from cancer. If
you know him, if you see him, PLEASE, ask him what he loved about his mission.
PLEASE, ask him to share his experiences and speak in the language that he was
able to conquer! PLEASE, love him and give him a hug. PLEASE tell him how proud
you are of him! He needs our support, unconditional love, and for everybody to
rally around him and help him carry his burdens. Help him remember, he is
a Son of God, who loves him and is proud of him. He served an honorable
mission! We can’t wait to welcome him home and to help him find joy in
his service and hope for his future.
Sincerely,
Eric and Keri
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