Whilst full-time missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints live lives designed to increase spiritual guidance, these days they can also draw upon their individual pre-mission talents, skills and experiences, ranging from musical to digital. And beyond.
In the Australia Sydney Mission, Elder Jacob Schwabe, from Mudgeeraba, Queensland, studied music before his mission.
"Originally, when I was asked to prepare a piece of music for zone conference and then for the mission page, I couldn't think of what to write or arrange. The more I thought about it, I wanted to write something that would both invite the spirit, and be personally meaningful to myself and to others—particularly missionaries.”
He added, “That's when ‘I'm Trying to be Like Jesus’ came into my mind. I don't think there's many other phrases that describe missionaries, and the work so well. We are not perfect, but we're trying to be like Jesus. I think that's a pretty beautiful idea.”
Elder Schwabe says he already had some ideas for variating the music too.
“So, with that decided, I went to the piano and knelt and prayed that I would be able to write something that both invited the spirit, and shared a bit about who I am through my love for Jesus Christ and classical piano. Over the process of about a week or so these ideas just came to my mind and this is what I ended up with."
Sister Chelsea Orth and Sister Sharrae Madla, both from Queensland, plus Sister Katie Grant, from Victoria, are part of the Australia Sydney Mission’s media team.
They became aware of Elder Schwabe's musical talents, and the arrangement he was working on.
Missionaries edit a music video. Sydney, Australia. 2022.
Missionaries edit a music video. Sydney, Australia. 2022.© 2022 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved.Recalling their experience bringing his music to others, they reported: "We could definitely feel the spirit guiding us when creating content! When we were filming and editing Elder Schwabe's musical item we often had ideas for the project that we know came from the spirit. The spirit was also able to help us overcome challenges we faced while creating it. "
They shared that Elder Schwabe's musical item was filmed in five takes, two of which were for audio and the other three were for the main video and b-roll.
"When filming we were having an issue with the microphone, and we couldn't get it to sound right,” Sister Orth said. “The spirit guided us as we tried to find a solution by changing the settings and we were able to solve this issue quite quickly. Furthermore, as we were also short on time, this was stressful, but we definitely felt the spirit guiding us and the Lord sustaining us as we edited the video and we were able to complete the work on time!"
A decision was made to not do close-ups of Elder Schwabe as the intent was to help viewers focus on the music and the message, and the invitation to draw closer to Jesus Christ.
View the original sheet music and lyrics here.
