vicki haws church-service missionary

When Sister Vicki Haws’s grandson turned 16, she found herself out of a job. Though retired, she was used to acting as a chauffeur and nurse to her two grandchildren while her daughter worked.

But now that her grandson could drive himself around, Sister Haws’ services were no longer necessary.

“I was sitting at my computer, indexing, and started to cry and thought I needed something to do to make life meaningful for me. So I got online and looked at the Church-service missionary opportunities,” Sister Haws said.

At first, she couldn’t find anything that fit what she wanted to do.

“I wanted to do something outside of the home. I just kept getting deeper and deeper and deeper, and I ran into an organization called LDSTech and had no idea what it was,” she said.

After a series of phone calls and interviews, Sister Haws not only knew what LDSTech was but also had become an LDSTech Church-service missionary. On Oct. 8, 2012, she began serving as an administrative assistant to Alan Smoot, a solutions manager over LDSTech, at the Riverton Office Building.

She keeps his calendar, sets up interviews with potential Church-service missionaries, takes notes in meetings, provisions and instructs new missionaries, and helps organize meetings and special events such as LDSTech broadcasts.

“The day of a broadcast, I’m behind the scenes doing anything I can do. I get the loaner laptops, anything they need. I get refreshments for them and make the tables look nice, a little Relief Society touch,” she said. Her most important task, she added with a smile, is to keep the laptop that tracks incoming tweets from shutting off.

While her technology background doesn’t extend far beyond basic computer know-how, Sister Haws says, she does have an outgoing personality and enjoys talking to people. And, she points out, there are things to do that don’t require a lot of technological knowledge.

“The first day I came, I got some paper and a stapler and stuff for my desk,” she said. “The other LDSTech missionaries laughed at me. ‘You don’t need that stuff, Sister Haws, you’re with LDSTech.’ So every time I used the stapler, I turned around and said, ‘I’m stapling something.’”

Sister Haws plans to serve as a Church-service missionary for 18 to 24 months, but might extend or renew her mission until her husband retires in a few years.

“I’m 60 years old. I have two artificial knees. I was feeling very lowly and house-bound for no reason; I could get in the car any time I wanted to, but that involved spending money and I’ve retired,” she said.

Sister Haws says becoming a Church-service missionary brought a new light into her life.

“My husband says my eyes twinkle again,” she said. “When he comes home at night and says, ‘What did you do today?’ I have things to tell him.”


If you're interested to know more about Church-service missions, visit the opportunities page where you can see all available options and complete the LDSTech Missionary and Service Opportunities form.


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