The following is an email sent by Aragon, a dentist, to his parents. Aragon served in the Sydney Australia Vietnamese speaking mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and then attended University of California at San Francisco dental school. During his senior year he traveled to the Philippines to serve with “Kids International Dental Service.”
Hi family,
I just wanted to give a trip report for the past two weeks that I have been in the Philippines; apparently some of you…did not even know I was over there.
The trip was very special for me and reminded me of some of the feelings I had had when I was much younger as a missionary. As a missionary you are able to feel the peace that comes from focusing on others’ needs as opposed to just your own. It was during that time as a missionary that I knew I wanted to integrate such a lifestyle into the rest of my life.
The first summer back from my mission I spent four months in Vietnam, one day I was eating lunch at a café, and I started talking to a person that was sharing the table with me. I told him how I really wanted to help out with the poverty I saw around me but I did not know how. I remember him telling me that if I really wanted to help that I would need to go back to America to gain a skill first, then I really would have something to offer.
Over the next eight years I have been putting a lot of time into gaining that skill that I could offer others. I think during that time I have been so focused on myself and what I needed to do that I kind of forgot some of the reasons that I was doing all of this school work anyway. I was starting to think that getting a dental degree would enable me more personal attainment and thus more personal happiness. I had somewhat forgotten that a dental degree would enable me more ability to serve others, and in the focus of serving others I could once again experience the peace I had while a missionary. I hardly blame myself for forgetting; eight years of pursuing education trying to make grades, padding your transcript for recommendation letters and instructor brown-nosing will make anybody become a little self-centered.
The Lord blessed me to remember during this trip. I can remember particularly a 12 year old girl where I was overcome with godlike empathy. I had to extract most of (rotten to the gum-line) the adult teeth in a 12 year old girl. Can you imagine that? A girl not even a teenager yet who would have to go through her dating years with no front teeth and missing many of her back teeth? It was very difficult for me emotionally. Even though I was taking her out of pain my removing the rotten teeth, I felt as though I had failed her because I was not able to intervene sooner when the problem was small and I could have saved her teeth. But as difficult as it was, it was so peaceful to spend my waking moments during the day to figure out how I could set goals in life on how I could prevent this for other people.
Prayers during the trip became so much more powerful. It is one thing to pray to God to help you pass tests and such, and I am sure I have been blessed in that regard. The veil truly became thin when I was praying for God to bless my hands because I wanted so much to help these children with dental problems that I felt my skills were inadequate to treat.
I felt the power of these words in my patriarchal blessing on this trip: “You loved your spiritual brothers and sisters with all your heart and the Spirit of Charity is beginning to blossom within your soul at this time”
It is true that I do not have to go to the Philippines to focus and serve those around me, but perhaps I needed to see the shocking state of oral health over there to remind me and teach me things. I am looking forward to setting new goals in my life and I hope these memories will always be fresh with me.
Love, Aragon
