Meet Katie Gurney
Age: 27
From: Highland, UT
Job: Trip Leader Director at HXP
Family: 4 younger siblings; 2 sisters are pregnant with girls- so future aunt! Has a brother serving a mission and a teenage sister
Hobbies: Loves playing sports, especially soccer and pickleball! Enjoys watching sports, too
LDS Mission: New Zealand Hamilton Mission, 2016-2017
What was the process like for you in deciding whether to serve an LDS mission or not?
Soccer was my life! It was my goal to play soccer for BYU, but then I got injured my junior year. I ended up attending BYU-H and playing soccer with 5 of my best friends. I think thanks to them, I was involved with the Church and eventually served a mission.
Every Sunday in Hawaii, my friends and I would go to the temple’s visitor’s center. One Sunday, there were several sister missionaries bearing their testimonies, and the Spirit hit me like a ton of bricks: “You need to be one of these sisters.”
So I turned in my papers, and I got called to another visitor’s center. I had initially thought that I wanted to serve anywhere but a visitor’s center, but the visitor’s center in New Zealand was perfect for me!
What was hard about serving an LDS mission?
Learning to balance the letter of the law with the spirit of the law was hard. My mission had been pretty disobedient, and then my mission president came in and was strict. So I then became more about the letter of the law. It wasn’t until the end of my mission that I learned to balance those two things [letter of the law, or perfectly following guidelines word for word, with spirit of the law, or being true to the heart of a principle without being literal about each of its points).
One way to describe this balance is having high love and high expectations. If you only have high expectations, you won’t really reach people. If you only have love, then you’re not elevating yourself or others. It’s balanced to have lots of love and high expectations.
What did you love about your mission?
Everything!!! I loved the people. I loved how as a missionary, you get to focus on the two great commandments all the time, loving God and loving other people. I loved thinking about others and praying for them. I loved getting to be an instrument in God’s hands to bless people. Loving God and loving others: that’s the purpose of life.
What did you learn on the mission about yourself and about God?
In addition to learning about balancing the letter and spirit of the law, I learned that God will send you to do marvelous things. Do all that you can do by using your spiritual gifts and by being yourself. Your exact personality may be what someone needs. God will help you as you help others. You’re on God’s errand! Also, on and off your mission, you can be an instrument in God’s hands.
Your advice on: How to prepare for an LDS mission?
Do everything you can to love every single person around you. There are so many people you can impact, including the friends and family you are writing to back home. As a missionary, you have a responsibility and a calling, and God will magnify that. It’s incredible how many lives you can impact. Pray for who needs you and how you can impact others.
Serving with Companions on an LDS mission
I had two really hard companions. With one there was a personality clash, and with another, I wanted to be obedient and she was more disobedient. I had a really hard time with the second companion. I wanted to be exactly obedient.
One day, the mission president called for an emergency transfer (where missionaries get reassigned new companions due to some issue). I was really skeptical about this new companion, who had been disobedient before. But when she came, she just served me! She left sticky notes all over our apartment, like, “I love how Sister Gurney does this…” and she just loved me. She would compliment me, and she was so humble.
This felt like a chastisement moment for me. It showed me what it means to love God and others. This particular sister said, “I wasn’t obedient before, but I decided that I could do better.”
And this companion was a perfect example of sincerely loving others while still having fun! So companion tip: Strive to be the sister that sees the good and wants to continuously serve. Also, it’s hard not to love someone who loves you.
For more tips on effectively serving alongside companions, and being yourself and using your talents, check out YOMO! You Only Mission Once: A Guide for Sister Missionaries coming out in March 2025.
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