Scoring goals on and off the soccer field
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For Guillermo Franco, playing soccer at the professional level was something he always dreamed of doing. When he signed his first professional contract at the age of 19, he was thrilled.
Although life was headed in the direction he had always hoped, he knew there was another place he needed to be. He realized the best goals in life aren't always ones that glide through a net.
As a convert to the Church in 2002, the same year he signed with a professional team, he hadn't planned to serve a full-time mission.
"When I first joined the Church I didn't have the desire to serve a mission because I had just begun my career," Brother Franco said. "In my mind, there was no possible way I could leave the game for two years to serve a mission and expect to come back and play. But when I got baptized and began going to institute, I began to feel the desire to help other people."
Although leaving to serve a mission at that point in his life was not logically a good time, he knew he needed to serve. He called his agent to see about getting out of his contract. With no promises to play when he returned, he left Buenos Aires in April 2005 to serve in the Argentina Mendoza Mission.
"At that point, the Church had helped me develop a lot of faith and I had a lot of confidence that if I did my part, then the Lord would bless me," he said. "And if it was His will that I never play again, then He'd open the doors so I could work doing something else.
"When I was on my mission, however, I felt I was going to keep playing soccer," he said. "So when I returned from my mission I immediately began training and the Lord placed in my path the people that would sign me on and immediately put me in a club."
After he completed his mission in 2007, he signed with the Argentine team Godoy Cruz where he currently plays and recognizes the many blessings received because of his missionary service.
"The greatest blessing really is that my wife (Lorena) and I were sealed last December, soon after our missions. Now we're expecting our first child."
While recognizing his blessings, Brother Franco, currently in the Mendoza Ward, Mendoza Argentina Stake, also realizes the great opportunities for missionary work in his profession. Not only have teammates and coaches seen him live his beliefs, even reporters have commented on the role religion plays in his life.
"I feel that with each article that's written, many people are learning about the Church, and that makes me happy," he said. "Everybody knows I'm a member because the news stations here have all mentioned it. In fact, there's a radio station that when I have the ball, they refer to me as 'the Mormon, Franco the Mormon.' So the whole world knows."
Although the two-year break from soccer didn't help his soccer statistics, Brother Franco knows the impact his mission has had and will have for the rest of his life.
"The Lord made me progress a lot on the mission and now I'm at a level that perhaps I would not have reached if I hadn't served a mission," he said. "My gospel understanding after the mission is much greater and I feel more useful when serving here in the Church. Living in the world, but serving in the Church."
E-mail to: mholman@desnews.com
