Operation Back 2 School: LDS Missionaries Lend A Hand

Featured Image: Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are still smiling at the end of a long, hot day helping local children get ready for the new school year.

On a typical, blazing-hot August Saturday in Texas, missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in the Hurst, Texas, area donned face masks, grabbed a bottle or two of cold water, and spent the day serving at Operation Back 2 School (OB2S).  In its sixth year, OB2S provides new backpacks and school supplies for economically-disadvantaged students in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, as well as connects their families with resources that will help them all year long. This year, the missionaries’ foreign language skills were in particularly high demand, as the school district boasted a whopping 84 home languages spoken!

Sisters Stowers and Ford, both from Utah, had the opportunity to utilize their foreign language skills and assist families with translation needs, while also being slightly envious of all the cool stuff the students were receiving. 

“The event was super fun,” said Sister Stowers. “[…] we were getting to know people in the community better; it was also an awesome opportunity to speak French and help families.” 

To this, Sister Ford added:  “We were definitely jealous of some of the backpack patterns we gave to kids. [I] wish my backpacks growing up were as cool as the ones we were giving them!” 

Elders John and Froerer of Colorado and Utah respectively also shared from their experiences:  “The service helped us realize what a diverse community we live in and how many people there are that want to help, love, and support their neighbors.  It was wonderful to have the opportunity to serve alongside so many of other faiths and to get to know some of the leaders of 6Stones, an amazing service organization that began this tradition to help at-risk students and their families.” 

While also practicing their physical distancing skills, the missionaries were given a wide variety of tasks to perform throughout the day.  From parking lot attendants to box carriers to trash pick-up, no job was too big or too small. And at the end of a very warm day, there were still smiles all around as Elder John summed up the day perfectly:  “This event goes to show what southern hospitality really means…wow.”

Photos for this article are courtesy of Elders Spencer John and Hyrum Froerer.