“Reaching for Mars,” Friend, Apr. 2023, 40–41.
Reaching for Mars
Michelle had a mission. And it all started with learning.
This story took place in the USA.
Michelle scooped potatoes onto her plate. She looked around the table at her family. She was the youngest of 10 siblings, and some of them were in college now. She liked to hear them talk about what they were learning.
“What do you want to study when you go to college?” her brother asked. He was studying to become an engineer.
“I don’t really know yet,” Michelle said.
“You can be an engineer too,” he told her. “You’re really smart.”
Michelle liked that idea. She loved math and science. She was good at them too. She knew God wanted her to learn. And she knew that He would help her.
When Michelle got older, she did go to college to become an engineer. She worked hard to learn. Some classes were difficult. But Michelle never gave up.
While she was in college, she shared the gospel with her classmate John. Later they got married in the temple. Michelle graduated and got her master’s degree. She became a mother. She even got her dream job helping launch rockets to explore space! She was a leader and organized projects for her team.
One day Michelle’s boss asked her to work on a special project. She would help create a robot called a rover to send to Mars. Michelle was excited! For months, she built new designs and ran tests.
But after she had worked on the Mars rover for almost a year, Michelle and her husband had an important video call. It was with President Henry B. Eyring. “We’d like to invite you to be mission leaders,” President Eyring said. “Will you accept this calling?”
Michelle and John looked at each other. Serving a mission meant Michelle would have to leave her dream job. She would miss the launch of the Mars rover! But she knew serving the Lord was more important. When she was baptized, she had promised to do whatever He asked.
“Yes,” she said. Her husband nodded. “We’ll serve.”
A few weeks after Michelle and John started their mission, a rocket carrying the Mars rover took off. Michelle didn’t get to watch it. She was doing other important things. She shared the gospel and helped the missionaries in their mission. Every day, she wore a black name tag that said “Sister Amos,” with the Savior’s name underneath.
After seven months, the rocket carrying the rover finally reached Mars—more than 100 million miles (160 million km) away. Sister Amos got permission to watch the landing online. She invited their missionaries to watch too.
Sister Amos was nervous. She and many others had worked so hard on this project! Would the rover land safely?
It did! All the missionaries cheered. Then Sister Amos shared her testimony. “Jesus Christ created worlds without end,” she said. “He made the stars, the planets, and the whole universe. He wants us to learn, grow, and use our talents for good.”
She smiled. She was grateful for the ways God led her during her life. And she was grateful to be a missionary—sharing His amazing love.
Illustrations by Alyssa Tallent