Submitted by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Clermont residents Christopher and Anne Condie just returned home to Central Florida after serving for three years as mission leaders for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Many Floridians have seen this Church’s young missionaries proselyting in pairs with their familiar black name tags. But fewer are aware of the role of the missionaries’ mission leaders. Such leaders, typically more experienced devotees of the faith such as the Condies, are married couples who oversee missionaries in one of 411 missions around the world. The missions span 150 countries in six continents and comprise some 72,000 missionaries who teach in one or more of 60 different languages. The Condies were assigned to serve in the Utah Salt Lake City mission, where they supervised over 700 missionaries, during their three years, hailing from six continents and over 30 countries.
Specifically, the Condies oversaw the missionaries’ efforts to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and to render service in various non-profit, charitable organizations, including refugee centers, women’s shelters, animal shelters, food banks, hospitals, and other relief organizations.
The majority of the 700 missionaries under the Condies’ supervision were between 18-25 years of age and served for 18-24 months. These young men and women put their lives and education on hold to serve as unpaid volunteers. In fact, the missionaries and their families typically pay the cost of these Christian missions. “We loved these young men and young women who sacrificed two years out of a very busy time in their lives to serve Jesus Christ. They became surrogate children to us, and many of them even referred to me as their ‘mission mom’”, said Anne Condie.
Christopher’s family has a legacy of devoted missionary service. His father, DeLyle Condie, felt called to serve a mission while playing basketball for the University of Utah’s basketball team. This was remarkable not only because of his willingness to put his promising basketball career on hold for two years but also because at the time, his team was ranked 2nd in the nation. His basketball coach cautioned him soberingly, “If you leave to serve a mission, you will not play basketball on this team again.” So when DeLyle left for his mission in Australia, he expected to never play basketball again. But after his arrival to Melbourne, the Australian National Basketball Team contacted DeLyle’s mission leader to ask whether the American missionaries could help prepare its inaugural Olympic basketball team for the 1956 Olympics, being held in Melbourne Australia. The mission leader agreed. The young missionaries assembled a talented team of players with college basketball experience to scrimmage against national teams from around the globe. Soon enough, the Australians dubbed this make-shift squad of Latter-day Saints the “Mormon Yankees.” In an astonishing feat for the “Mormon Yankees,” DeLyle, the team captain, led them to beat many national teams during scrimmage games. These missionaries’ saga is depicted in a 2016 movie, Spirit of the Game featuring DeLyle Condie as the protagonist. DeLyle’s father is played by Kevin Sorbo, a popular Christian actor. DeLyle’s missionary story and legacy lives on through his posterity, including Christopher and Anne Condie.
Christopher Condie is a retired attorney and title insurance executive. Anne Condie holds a Bachelor of Science in Health Education. The Condies have four children, two living in central Florida (a son in Minneola and a daughter also in Clermont). “I cannot express what a wonderful blessing it was to serve Jesus Christ by sharing His gospel and His love with those with whom we served over the past three years. It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but it also brought me some of the greatest joy I have experienced in my life”, said Christopher.
For more information about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, visit www.ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
