Wendy McCollum
By Torre Peña
When Wendy McCollum, 21, leaves Saratoga this spring, she will be packing her warmest winter jacket.
Joining the 58,000 Mormon missionaries in over 160 countries, McCollum will be serving as a volunteer for 16 months in the Yekaterinberg Mission in Siberia.
McCollum graduated from Saratoga High in 1994, where she was a swimmer and cheerleader. But she will be relying on different skills in Siberia.
Expanding on her knowledge of Russian through college courses at Brigham Young University, she will begin an intensive two-month Russian language course at the mission training center in Provo, Utah. McCollum will also draw on her experience providing health-care services in Ecuador during a summer with the Amigos program.
Currently, she is studying in Europe via the BYU London semester abroad program. At BYU McCollum is a senior with a double major in English and linguistics. She has maintained a 4.0 grade-point average through her college career.
After spending two months of training in Provo, McCollum will leave for Siberia. Teri Jones, director of public affairs for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said that Mormons choose at a young age whether or not to go on a mission. The men are 19 when they make this decision, women are 21. The only choice they don't have is where they get placed.
The missionaries' goal is twofold. In Siberia, McCollum will recruit prospective Mormons and provide health education. Jones added that the importance of getting an education is also stressed. "The goal is not just the spiritual message but also to solve temporal problems," she said.
Another 1994 graduate of Saratoga High, Mindy Avondet, has already embarked to serve in a mission on the other side of the globe. She will spend 16 months in Chile.
Wendy McCollum's missionary farewell will be at 9 a.m. on May 18 at the Church of Latter-day Saints, 19100 Allendale Avenue.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 16, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.