Autistic twin is service missionary
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Jonathan Miles of the York Pennsylvania Stake very much wanted to serve a mission like his twin brother, David. But Jonathan has a mild form of autism called Asperger syndrome that prevents him from service as a full-time proselytizing missionary. So when the two young men submitted missionary papers at the same time in 2007, David received a call to the Thailand Bangkok Mission while Jonathan got an entirely different kind of letter.
"Jonathan received back an honorable release as a full-time elder," said the boys' mother Nina Miles, "and was encouraged to become a service missionary."
With the help of their bishop, Brandon Bushey, and stake president, Dennis Tyson, the Miles family made arrangements for Jonathan to fill a service mission in order to help him realize he is as important and useful as his twin brother.
"The goal," Sister Miles said, "was to find something for [Jonathan] to do that would let him serve for two years and come home, so they could go at the same time and come home at the same time.
"We live in Pennsylvania, so there wasn't anything local at the time we felt would work well for Jonathan. He did have brothers out in Utah, so we looked there because there seemed to be more service opportunities in Utah."
Eventually arrangements were made for Jonathan to simultaneously be a service missionary at the Missionary Training Center, Provo Utah Temple and bishops' storehouse in Lindon, Utah, for a period of 18 months. Jonathan would live during that time with a brother who attended BYU. After that, he would return home and spend the last six months of his mission serving from home until David returned from Thailand and the two brothers could be released at the same time.
"He kept extremely busy as a service missionary," Sister Miles said. "He worked six days a week, sometimes 10 hours a day. But, of course it could've been less, and there were days when he made it less. That's the nice thing about a service mission; is it can be accommodated to his needs."
In April, Jonathan completed his 18 months of service in Utah and returned home to York, Penn., to spend the last leg of his mission serving in the Washington, D.C., Temple and going on splits with the full-time missionaries in his ward. He'll continue in that routine until David comes home in November.
"We've been able to fill his needs to have the opportunity to serve," President Tyson said. "There's a young man that's an example, with a milder form of autism, that has provided meaningful service to the Church, and I think that's just wonderful."
Sister Miles said: "It's been a wonderful experience. Service missions are great things, and I'm hoping there will be more and more people doing that in the future."
