Develop a loving rapport
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Elder Alex Nevarez, now serving in the Utah Provo Mission, was a tall handsome young man who felt in his heart that he would serve a mission but, while a teenager, he was more interested in the hair that draped down his back.
"President John Hadfield would tease me about my hair," Elder Nevarez said. When he was asked to cut his hair and speak during a stake priesthood meeting, the young man waited until the last minute, but did cut his hair — impressing his peers who were inclined to follow his lead.
"President Hadfield had frequent interviews and would always talk about missions," Elder Nevarez said from his missionary apartment in Payson, Utah, where he now serves with his companion, Elder Jordan Zamora.
"President Hadfield often had a printout of a General Authority talk for me to read," he said.
"He had little lapel pins that stated 'Men of Truth' — taken from Alma and the Stripling Warriors. If I failed to wear the pin on Sunday, he'd reach into a pocketful of them and hand me another. I collected about 10 pins."
When leaders of the Rancho Cucamonga California Stake organized a Young Men conference two years ago, they organized their young men according to the missionary model of leadership. Alex Nevarez was called as an assistant to the president, along with his friend, David Veirs.
Commit early to serve a
mission
David Veirs made up his mind as a 12-year-old to serve a mission. Later, when he was 18, he took added confidence that he could endure the rigors of missionary life when he worked with full-time missionaries in the San Bernadino mission near his home.
"Then I knew I could do it," he said, speaking from the Provo Missionary Training Center during the last hours of his training with his companion, Elder Bryant Soloman, before departing to the Alabama Birmingham (Spanish-speaking) Mission.
Elder Veirs gained early training in leadership while working with other young men in the Rancho Cucamonga California Stake with President Hadfield. Serving as an assistant to the president in a mock-missionary leadership setting, he exercised initiative in befriending and including other young men who were less interested.
Other factors that influenced his desire to serve came from his father who taught him to love the scriptures, and a close rapport with the bishop who cared for him like a big brother. "Seems like I was always eating dinner with his family," he said.
"What didn't the bishop do for me," Elder Viers said. "He did everything."
"I'm the first to serve a mission from our ward since it was divided. The bishop said he was starting a tradition. We trade ties before leaving. We are to wear the ties when we speak, as we depart, and again when we return. The bishop will wear the tie after my first baptism."
