Hello! Today I wanted to share a little bit about what missionary work means to us in the Mormon church and what it means when you hear that so-and-so is going on a mission. First off, I want to say that I think any kind of missionary work is so great and important. I love that other Christian churches have missionaries that are all ages and in all stages of life. Sharing the Gospel of Christ should be our number priority, no matter what denomination we are, and I love that so many have the opportunity to travel (or not!) to do that.
Generally, when you hear the words “missionary” “mission” or “missionary work” in relation to the LDS church people are referring to our full-time missionaries. Full-time missionaries can be men or women, are single, and are generally 18-21 years old. Men are able to go as early as 18 and women are able to go as early as 19. (These ages were changed just a few years ago — before that men were able to go at 19 and women at 21.) In order to go on a mission, these men and women go through an application process, that includes meeting with their local church leaders and going to various check-ups to assess their physical and mental health. Once that process is complete, their paperwork is sent to our Church Headquarters in Salt Lake City, and a committee made up of church leaders prayerfully considers each one and then makes the decision on where this particular man or woman will be sent. Then the call, or the paperwork that gives them more information, comes in the mail. The day that call comes is such an exciting one! They will learn just where in the world they were called to (you can view here the list of missions around the world), what language they will learn (if any), and when they will enter the Missionary Training Center (MTC, which I’ll talk more about below).
Men serve for a period of 2 years and women for 18 months. While they are serving their missions, the only contact they have with anyone back home is through letter and email. Twice a year, on Christmas and Mother’s Day, they might have the opportunity to call or Skype home for about 30-60 minutes. They also always have a companion with them (of the same sex). The two of them will do pretty much everything together. These companions change every 6 or 12 weeks.
When missionaries leave (or are set apart) they are given a name badge to wear. Every day for the next 18-24 months they will wear a little black badge that says their name, with “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints” under it. They are literally representatives of God, and wear His name while serving.
When the appointed day comes (generally 1-3 months from receiving their call), these new missionaries will enter what we call the MTC, or Missionary Training Center. Currently there are MTCs in 15 different countries (see them here). Missionaries are in the MTC anywhere from 3-9 weeks, depending on where they are going and what language they are learning. In the MTC they are taught from the missionary manual Preach My Gospel (you can look through it yourself here) and prepare to be the best missionaries they can be. They also are taught a language, if they are going foreign speaking.
After their time in the MTC is up, they head off to their specified mission, to spend the rest of the time preaching the gospel to those there. I didn’t serve a mission, but my husband did, and here is what he says about serving:
Being a missionary for The Church or Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints involves an 18-24 month commitment. You work all day every day with limited contact with your friends and family at home. You can write emails once a week for an hour (on the same day you do your grocery shopping and laundry) and you only get to call home or skype with your family on Mother’s Day and Christmas. The reason for limited contact with home is so you can focus on the people you are serving. The purpose of LDS missionaries is to “invite others to come unto Christ” by serving and teaching everyone you meet.
The day begins at 6:30 and ends at 10:30 PM. You study scriptures and missionary materials from 8-9 by yourself and from 9-10 with your companion. If you are learning a language you study that from 10-11. The rest of the day until 9pm involves teaching as many people as you can. In Paraguay we had lunch appointments and then we worked until 9pm, then we returned to our apartment, ate dinner and planned for the next day when it started all over again. LDS missionaries are always with companions and it can be a real struggle to get along with someone that you spend 24 hours a day with for a minimum of 6 weeks straight. Part of being Christ like and inviting others to come unto Christ is loving your companion and it makes a big difference if you can do it. I wasn’t always successful but I tried hard and spent lots of time praying to know how to love people. It’s helped me a lot in my career as a counselor.
Missions are hard. So be nice to missionaries. It’s a really difficult job and people can be extremely rude. Missions are physically and emotionally exhausting. You care deeply about the people you get to know and want to do everything you can to help them improve their lives. Learning a language by immersion is extremely difficult and it sucks when you can’t understand people and they can’t understand you, but missionaries learn languages fast. My mission helped me to become a much better person and I LOVE PARAGUAY. I learned more there in two years about life than I would have in two years of college. It helped prepare me to succeed in my career and as a dad.
So there you go! I hope you learned a little bit about Mormons and missionary work. Just as an additional FYI, married couples also are able to be called on missions, once they’re retired. There are various other ways to serve missions in the church as well, such as service missions (which provides missionary experience to those who might not be able to serve a full-time proselyting mission for various reasons).
If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments! I’d love to answer them for you.
