Crystal Copithorne
No Compulsion Needed
Story by Jennifer Dorozio
The wind blew cold in the downtown Minneapolis park that Crystal Copithorne and her Mormon companion had chosen for their outreach. Her black winter coat fell to her knees, covering the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS) mandated dress skirt below. Her name tag was pinned, scarf secured and the thick grey tights paired with brown riding boots she wore did their best to keep out the bite of wintertime air, but she was still shivering. Despite the frigid air the two women knew their divine purpose for being in the park far overshadowed any temporary cold.
A lady approached them, her dog leading the way.
“Cute dog,” commented Copithorne with a smile.
Then began an exchange between the three ladies lasting far longer than the cold should have allowed.
“She just kept asking us questions and so we kept answering them and she commented about how we were so happy
and how there was a light about us,” recalls Copithorne. After taking down the ladies contact information for a more formal visit and presentation later, Copithorne and her mentor strolled away, smiles tugging at their faces.
“A lot of the time we face rejection so when things like that happen you just feel like...” says Copithorne pausing before she adds, “Like it was cold outside and you just feel this warmth that’s not like a physical warmth, it just kind of feels really good and happy.”
Copithorne is a practicing Mormon from Springbank outside Calgary who recently finished up an 18-month mission with the LDS in Minnesota. At the time of her mission, she was just 19, and she paid her own way. Many of the people she came across questioned why she was spending some of the “best years of her life” this way.
Her answer is simple and immediate, “For me, my religion isn’t just something that I do, that I go to on Sundays and I’m passive about it. It’s something that’s really a part of my life, like a lifestyle.”
She says she has never felt pressured by her family to be religious. “Maybe for other people there is pressure but there was no pressure that I felt obligated too. I wanted to please my God and do what I could to show my love for him by helping others too.” For Copithorne, going on a mission was an extension of this devotion.
While historically, Mormon women were acknowledged as counterparts in missions as early as 1898, it is not compulsory in the LDS that young women complete a mission, as it is intended for young men.
A mission is no snap undertaking, there is an application and training process; the level of sole dedication required is elephantine. Copithorne was not allowed Internet access more than once a week to send an email home and all other forms of contact to her family were restricted to a Skype call home once or twice a year.
Mondays were called “preparation days,” where she received 12 hours for rest and every other moment was expected to be dedicated to the church’s cause.
“People thought we were pretty sheltered especially in modern days like today where I’m on Facebook all the time now. So, it was kind of a bit of a shock in that way,” admits Copithorne.
She spent her time on mission and off social media keeping very busy. Copithorne and a companion would go door-to-door telling people the Mormon message about Jesus, doing community service and volunteering their time, even doing things like writing inspirational chalk messages on the sidewalk. Copithorne says Interacting with people was her favourite part but, she admits, she doesn’t like knocking on people’s doors, describing it as a“necessary evil sometimes.”​
The main goal of her Mormon mission was to, “share the happiness and joy I felt through my beliefs,” says Copithorne. Although, upon reflection, she realized, “I was not only helping others but also increasing my faith. It really is a deep personal experience.”
She says she now uses Facebook to keep tabs on the people she met while on mission and often she is comforted that, “their life is better because of the message that I shared or something kind a missionary had done for them that bettered their life.”
"Maybe for other people there is pressure but there was no pressure that I felt obligated too." - Crystal Copithorne
Copithorne, who is now studying athletic training at Brigham Young University in Utah, says she also learned good study habits from the sheer amount of time she had to spend studying the Book of the Mormon while on mission,"I learned to be disciplined in my time and studying,” she says.
Copithorne now tries to take the unselfishness she sought to practice on mission and implement it in her day-to-day life.
“We’re always encouraged after our missions to keep providing service, to keep volunteering in your community and keep making sure the people around you are okay.”
For her, this means making herself available to those who are on campus for whatever they may need, although, she adds as a formality, “I wear pants now.”