Episode 2: Samuel Ralph

 

“You’ll never know how far you can push yourself if you don’t get out there and do it.”

Serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission is one moment in time when Samuel Ralph found out what he could do.

Ralph grew up in Kent, Washington, with his parents who taught him that he had as much potential as anyone and the ability to bless the lives of people that he came in contact with. So, despite living with Cerebral Palsy and strabismus, he knew from a young age that he wanted to serve a mission.

“I knew deep down that I wanted to serve a mission,” Ralph said. “I actually made that promise to myself, you know, no matter what. When I was actually baptized and still technically in primary that, you know, I would.”

However, Ralph and his family knew that the gap between desire and durability was the problem. Ralph knew that he wouldn’t be able to accomplish his goal of serving a mission without going through the necessary steps to physically prepare himself. With that as motivation, Ralph and his family took the matter to prayer. They went to the temple and had serious, heartfelt discussions.

After much research, Ralph came to the conclusion that in order to go where he wanted to be and where the Lord needed him to be, surgery was required. He had undergone several surgeries in the past, but this was different.

“I severely underestimated how serious the surgery would actually be because it was complete reconstruction of the foot to make sure I had at least a decent chance to hold up physically,” Ralph said. “With the physical therapy, it was, in total, about a four-and-a-half-month total recovery for both feet.”

That recovery was full of challenging moments—times that led Ralph to wonder if he was doing the right thing.

That is not to say that once he made it to the mission field, he glided through his mission. Some of his most challenging, heart wrenching experiences came during his mission. These periods drove him to his knees many nights. It was during those times that he gained a deeper appreciation for the priesthood and priesthood blessings.

He recalled when particularly difficult time during which he asked his companion and zone leaders for a blessing after a meeting.

“After that blessing, I felt like a weight had been lifted,” he said. “I felt confident that, that I could finish out the transfer strong, and that I could finish working on my goals, but also [help] my companion work on his goals as well so that we could be more unified.”

Thinking back on it now, Ralph would tell you that was absolutely all worth it. Worth it because of the lessons he learned. Worth it because of the people he touched and who touched him.

While in the mission field, Ralph used his challenges to help teach others. He went on to train a new missionary, was blessed to guide several people to the waters of baptism and help others to accept that invitation in the future.

“That was probably one of my greatest joys and greatest blessings on the mission, was seeing those seeds that I had planted previously being sowed and […] seeing those people come to the knowledge of their Savior and to take that next step,” he said.

Ralph has one piece of advice for anyone wondering whether they should serve a mission:

“Go out and do it,” he said. “Continue to push yourself, because you never know where you will end up if you don’t go out and push yourself. Become the best version you can be.”

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You can listen to the full episode with Samuel Ralph on the media player above. To listen to past and future episodes, search for “Called and Qualified: A Missionary Story Podcast” on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.