Deseret Industries helped me learn a lot of different things. I learned to put clothing in the right places, how to colorize, and how to clean the sales floor. I learned how donations come to the store and how to help people. Most important, I learned to have confidence in myself.

My favorite part of working at Deseret Industries was making friends with the other associates I worked with. When I first started at Deseret Industries I had a hard time talking with customers and my co-workers. With help from my job coaches and my new friends at DI, I learned that I can talk with customers, make eye contact with them, and ask them if they need help. I am now able to provide great customer service.

The confidence I gained at Deseret Industries made it possible for me to get a job at a local grocery store. I did all of the interviews and follow-up without any coaching or without anyone with me. I also decided that I should take a break from my paid employment to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I did receive a mission call—to serve at the Utah Bishops’ Central Storehouse! This is an enormous Church welfare facility where commodities are distributed to those in need throughout the world. For example, as a missionary I helped maintain more than a million square feet of warehouse space, driving the scrubbers twice a day. I also helped on projects, such as loading ten ocean containers for a special project to Zimbabwe, representing 300 tons of relief supplies, and putting together food boxes for disaster relief used for Hurricane Sandy and a flooding disaster in Denver. My mission has been an amazing experience, where I continue to use the job skills I learned at Deseret Industries. Through Deseret Industries and my incredible mission, I have learned so much and I have received the privilege to participate in blessing the lives of many needy people throughout the world.