Into the Field By Benson Y. Parkinson Aspen Books, 2000. Softcover: viii, 226 pages. ISBN: 1-56236-245-3 Suggested retail price: $12.95 (US)
Reviewed by: Neal W. Kramer

For Without Me Ye Can Do Nothing

Since I thoroughly enjoyed Benson Parkinson's first novel, The MTC: Set Apart, I have really looked forward to the follow-up, the second in what should be at least a three-novel series. Into the Field did not disappoint, though it did surprise. The adventures of Elders Wilberg, Rignell, Jeppsen, Anthon, and Fergason are even more intense and challenging than their preparation for missions and the two months they spent together in the MTC, which were the focus of the first novel. The language, culture, and weather of France all require significant adjustment. The details of daily missionary life are hard to master, from riding bicycles in the rain to learning to limit pastry intake. Their new companions are less than perfect missionaries. The few investigators they do teach break their hearts. The local members aren't always helpful or friendly. At first, it seems like these young men will not be describing their twenty-two months in France as "the best two years of their lives."

Parkinson is not one to sugarcoat the missionary experience. His fictional MTC was very like the real place. Elders and sisters struggled with homesickness, companions did not like each other, some elders were aloof, others light-minded, thinking more of girlfriends than the gospel. Parkinson's elders even broke the rules, though they were always anxious to be good. Some couldn't learn the language, some struggled with memorizing the discussions, but all were blessed enough to survive the Provo compound and enter the field. His fictional France Toulouse Mission provides more of the same. From perpetual rain to blighted government housing, we are shown a grey world in which discouragement is never more than an angry woman's curse away.

Even with all these challenges, though, Elders Wilberg and Jeppsen sadly have their missionary experience first corrupted by their fellow elders. Lazy, discouraged missionaries populate their districts and zone. They waste time everywhere, anxiously avoiding contact with anybody except other missionaries. When they do visit a non-member, they have lost the courage to teach discussions. They look more like Americans in a study abroad program than servants of the Lord. Anthon and Rignell have a little better luck. Rignell's companion is a devoted, hard worker. But he has no creativity, and his perspiration outweighs his inspiration. He is not happy to tract the days and weeks away, but he is certainly willing. Rignell obediently follows. But despair will be their ultimate destination, if something does not change. Anthon is sent to an unorthodox, somewhat rebellious, successful missionary. "Beach," as he is infamously known throughout the mission, is a native elder who baptizes wherever he goes. He also shows little respect for traditional missionary methods or the mission rules. His success is still transitory though, as his converts remain active only as long as he stays in the area. I was surprised at the physically and spiritually dreary world these elders entered. I was also angry for them. They deserved better from their companions.

At this point in the story -- about 100 pages in -- I wondered whether I was reading a novel or a memoir. I had to shake myself a little to remember I was reading LDS fiction. Mormon fiction has not shown us many missions in this much turmoil. Missionary stories have tended to focus on the teaching and the baptizing -- or the sexual misadventures of individual elders and sisters. Mormon folklore, on the other hand, is replete with whispered rumors of missions or zones gone bad, with elders being rebuked, sent home, and generally chastised. Through this missionary underground we even hear of mission presidents suddenly released or church troubleshooters coming to clean up the mess. So I was beginning to wonder whether I was feeling honest suspense (How and when will this change!?) or I was reading the overwhelmingly bitter experience of an elder beaten down by his mission. (Not unusual for European missionaries at all.)

Thank goodness for the Burns conference! Hope arrives just in time in the form of an inspired church leader who confronts the missionaries with their failings and inspires them to repent -- or be sent home. We are not surprised that our MTC elders work hard to pull it together -- each in his own way, building on strengths we saw or suspected while they were in the MTC. I must admit that Parkinson had me practically on my knees, praying that each of these missionaries would have good missions, filled with spiritual vitality and just enough success to keep them humble instead of discouraged. The second half of the novel begins their salvation and my relief. I think many readers will need to be forewarned that that the first few chapters are disheartening. I also think that is a fairly accurate view of the the feelings of many young missionaries, though the laziness of some elders seems slightly exaggerated to me.

Ultimately, however, this is a book about surviving adversity by receiving small gifts of grace. Each missionary who honestly seeks to serve finally finds a blessing. The challenge for readers and characters alike, though, is learning to recognize the blessings in the midst of the harsh reality of missionary life in France. The blessings appear in the daily effort to work harder, to leave the apartment on time, to keep studying the discussions, to listen to the Spirit, to be more friendly with investigators and members, to suddenly discover that you really do love these wonderful people. I especially enjoyed how Parkinson allowed these little revelations to sneak up on you. One moment, the work is is distressingly difficult; the next moment, you can know the missionaries are on the Lord's errand and that He is walking beside them. Exactly like a real mission. Therein lay my relief following the revelations of a mission gone "pagan" in the earlier chapters.

Another strength of the novel is Parkinson's understanding that missionary work can become a tedious grind for even the best elders or sisters. He also understands that the most effective way to do the work has yet to be discovered. Therefore, through a variety of crises, he invites us to think carefully about how we honestly want to do this work. The crises are common to missionaries everywhere. Tracting is endlessly dull, yet it is the most obvious way to try to contact people. But it is often a monumental waste of time because it returns so few investigators for the amount of time invested. Friendshipping and fellowshipping are more successful, but they require the members to know and trust you. Teaching by the Spirit is very difficult. And even when investigators decide to be baptized, it is tricky business to know whether they have truly been converted. Within months, even days, of their baptism, many new members simply disappear. Retention rates are low. This all raises questions whose answers are crucial to the success of missionary work throughout the church. Should missionaries focus only on baptizing? How should members be included in the work? Why does the Lord send so much inspiration so freely and then allow the would-be convert to back out at the last minute? Why do the lukewarm get baptized, while those who would be strong, committed members, often decide against joining? Parkinson offers no simplistic answers, but he helps us see how central they are to the work. That, in turn, invites each of us sometimes too tepid members to reconsider our commitment to the work and support for missionaries around the world.

Should you buy this book? Absolutely. Should you read it? Absolutely. Should you be more anxiously engaged in this work? Yes, indeed. We can only hope that more writers will work this hard to engage us spiritually and intellectually about issues fundamental to our church membership. Benson Parkinson encourages us through his fiction to move beyond our flighty enthusiasm for missionary work to the bedrock principles of hard work, deep commitment, and simple faith. Indeed, he follows the admonition of Elder Maxwell: "The enthusiasm of 'I'll baptize a thousand on my mission!' is best tempered by 'I'll go where you want me to go dear Lord . . . I'll do what you want me to do,' letting 'God give the increase.'" (Neal A. Maxwell, Men and Women of Christ [Salt Lake:Bookcraft, 1991], 25.) We can only hope that LDS publishers will take more risks in the future on books like this one and that the growing LDS audience for spiritually compelling, serious fiction will buy books like Into the Field -- and even give copies to their friends.

Neal Kramer