Until he put on a name tag in August 2012 and became a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Cole Butcher had always identified himself as a baseball player. The Utah native planned to return home two years later and pursue a professional baseball career, but after his missionary service, his life would never be the same.
“The mission just helped me to gain such a greater ability to not only be a better person but set me on a course that I will never forget and that I will continue on,” Butcher said. “It just helped me to set aside the world for a time and helped me to put in some effort in the right areas so that I could progress in what is truly important.”