When my son and I sat in the missionary training center in Provo, Utah, on his first day as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I suddenly didn’t want all the change his mission would bring to our relationship. I turned to him and whispered, “Daniel, you don’t have to go.”

“I want to go Mom,” he reassured me.

So he went. And I let him. Like every missionary mother, I looked forward to every letter and phone call I received in the two years he was away.

Young men and women who serve missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often inadvertently called the Mormon Church) are permitted to contact their families and friends through letters or emails written once a week. But missionaries are allowed only two phone calls home each year: on Christmas and Mother’s Day. These phone calls are the highlight of the year for many Mormon families, especially for the mothers of the missionaries.

Why do Mormons Serve Missions?

The ultimate goal of missionary work in The Church of Jesus Christ is to invite all the inhabitants of the earth to come unto Christ, gain a personal testimony of Him, and make and keep covenants to follow Him.

The Church of Jesus Christ began sending out missionaries immediately after the Church was organized in April 1830. The first missionary was Samuel Smith, a younger brother of Joseph Smith, who was the first prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ. He traveled through upstate New York bearing testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and selling copies of that book. Since that early beginning, the missionary force within the Church has grown to more than 65,000 missionaries serving throughout the world. Missionaries always serve with a missionary companion but they are assigned a new companion from time to time.

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ believe that the command from the resurrected Jesus Christ to His disciples to “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19) applies to them too. In a revelation given through Joseph Smith, the Lord commanded the Latter-day Saints to “Go ye into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, acting in the authority which I have given you, baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Doctrine and Covenants 68:8).

In The Church of Jesus Christ, all worthy and able young men who have graduated from high school or its equivalent may serve a mission beginning at the age of 18. Able, worthy young women who have the desire to serve may begin service at age 19.  Retired couples may also serve missions. The missionaries or their families generally cover the cost of serving a mission for the length of the service, which is 18 months to two years. No missionary is paid for his or her service.

Preparation for missionary service begins in the home. Mothers and fathers teach their children the gospel and start saving money for their future service. Missionary training continues through informal training in the ward (congregation) or stake (group of congregations). Brief formal training in a missionary training center occurs when a missionary begins his or her mission. Each missionary receives on-the-job training from a senior companion and other mission leaders when he or she arrives in an assigned geographical field of labor.

The Busy Schedule of a Missionary

The day of a missionary begins at 6:30 a.m., which includes an hour of gospel study with his or her companion and an hour of personal study. Morning, afternoon, and evening are devoted to finding people who want to learn about the gospel and teaching them. Service, goal setting, and meetings are also part of their day. Sunday is devoted to attending church. One day a week is set aside for missionary personal preparation when missionaries do their laundry, shopping, and errands. This is the day they write letters or emails home.

Mothers and Fathers Feel Connected to Their Missionary’s Work

Mothers and fathers do not visit their missionary son or daughter while they are serving. But mothers and fathers think about their missionaries and pray for their well being and effective service every day. Parents love to receive letters and emails that detail their missionary’s experiences. These experiences are spiritual, life altering, and faith affirming. Reading or hearing the devotion and testimony of their son or daughter is deeply gratifying for parents.

Talking to Missionaries through Phone Calls or Skype

Mothers and fathers look forward to Mother’s Day and Christmas when they are permitted to talk to their missionary son or daughter. It is a moment of relief and happiness for families to hear and see each other, to share experiences, to ask questions that can be quickly answered, to laugh with each other, and to express love to each other. This connection energizes the parents, the missionaries, and the other family members and helps them all remember the purpose for their separation: to invite all the inhabitants of the earth to come unto Christ. They feel blessed to participate in missionary service.

These phone call are some of the sweetest moments for a mother who has willingly sent her son or daughter to serve a mission away from home.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sometimes inadvertently called the Mormon Church, every member is a missionary. Thousands serve full-time and wear missionary tags, but most are missionaries in their everyday lives. For some, like me, this is a scary prospect. Clayton M. Christensen is a Mormon who takes this responsibility seriously. He is a Harvard business professor, a New York Times best-selling author and one of the world’s top management thinkers. But “first and foremost, he is a missionary,” according to a recent Meridian Magazine article by Andy Proctor titled “The #1 Business Innovator is a Missionary First.”  He has had decades’ worth of missionary experiences and has written what he learned in his new book, “The Power of Everyday Missionaries,” according to the article.

Christensen, who has served in various Church responsibilities, has observed that Church members generally “struggle to magnify their callings because they simply don’t know how to do them. That realization led to another realization, which became his motivation for writing” the book, according to a Deseret News article, “Clayton Christensen hopes ‘The Power of Everyday Missionaries’ spurs discussion about member missionary work,” by Trent Toone.

“I realized, ‘Oh, my goodness, this is why most of the members in the Church aren’t engaged in sharing the gospel.’ They want to—they just don’t know how,” Christensen said in the Deseret News article. “So over the last 10 years or so, I’ve tried to be reflective of my own experiences and how I have learned to share the gospel. Friends and others have encouraged me to share it so other members have access to it.”

Christensen’s book “provides tools and principles of sharing the gospel that make everyday missionary work easy and less intimidating. Applying these principles can help you transform missionary work from a nerve-racking inconvenience into a joyful way of life,” Proctor wrote in his Meridian Magazine article.

“In every chapter I have tried to teach ‘how’ in the way that the Savior taught—through parables,” Christensen wrote, according to the Deseret News article. “I use them to simply show what we have tried to do, what has worked and what has not, and what we have learned from each other about how to do what God wants us to do.”

Some Points to Ponder

Proctor, in his Meridian Magazine article, said he found 6 important points to remember in the book.

1. Call Yourself on a Mission

The Deseret News article quoted from the book’s introduction:

“Under license given to each of us in section 4 of the Doctrine and covenants, I ‘called myself’ on a mission,” he wrote. “I love my life as a missionary, keeping myself on the front lines. The image in my mind is that God, my general, stands at the door when I go out every morning; and, knowing what the war is like, day after day he gives me his most powerful weapon: his Spirit. For this I am grateful.”

Proctor said in his Meridian Magazine article, “The Lord asks us to be agents to act and not be acted upon. [See Doctrine and Covenants 58:26-28.] I strongly believe that the Lord desires for us to become to creators of our circumstances instead of the creatures carried by circumstance. Many wait for a call to do missionary work or believe that they are not expected to do missionary work unless they have a calling to do so. This is not so.”

In my family, when we invite the full-time missionaries over to our house for dinner, they inevitably ask about our missionary efforts. I have heard more than once the elders (because we only have elders in our ward right now, no sister missionaries) tell us that those who already have a connection to the Church through friends or family are often more prepared to hear and accept the gospel than those they meet by knocking on doors.

Christensen said we should try to incorporate the gospel into our everyday conversations, according to the Deseret News article. “I do not know who is interested in the Church. God doesn’t want me to judge other people; therefore, I need to figure out how to have a conversation about the Church with everybody I meet,” he said in the Deseret News article.

2. We Succeed When We Invite

“So often we think of success in missionary work as someone getting baptized, or even just saying yes when we invite them to learn more about the Church. The fact is, as Christensen says, ‘we succeed when we invite.’ If we keep inviting we are succeeding, even if no one agrees to listen,” Proctor wrote in his Meridian Magazine article.

“Because I can’t predict who is interested, I need to have opportunities with everybody. But I need to give them the opportunity to use their free agency to say they’d like to know more. That’s why in every conversation I use ‘Mormon’ words. Then everybody knows, ‘This guy is a Mormon.’ I open the door to have a conversation about the Church. Most people just don’t walk in the door, and that’s fine. But on occasion, somebody comes in, giving me an opportunity,” Christensen said in the Deseret News article.

Sometimes an invitation is a chance to discuss the gospel. But each gospel conversation that invites the Spirit is an opportunity to plant a seed that might bloom one day.

3. Be Friends

Be a genuine friend before and after you invite a friend to hear more about the gospel, Proctor wrote. “If they reject your offer, don’t let them think that you were only friendly to them so you could convince them to be a Mormon,” Proctor wrote in his Meridian Magazine article.

In junior high school, a new girl moved in. She happened to sit at the lunch table with the five girls in school who were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We found out she had moved from Salt Lake City, Utah, where the headquarters of the Mormon Church are, and we were so excited to ask her about it. I started by asking if she was a Mormon. She said no, she didn’t like Mormons because they didn’t like you if you weren’t a member. I hadn’t meant mean to put her on the spot and wasn’t prepared for her reaction. We told her that we were Mormons, and we were sorry that she felt that way. She backed off a little and said that she did have friends in Salt Lake who were Mormon but that she had more than one person de-friend her after she declined an invitation to join the Church. Luckily, she didn’t hold that awkward experience against me, and we were best friends throughout junior high. But it was a powerful experience for me.

4. Sharing at Work

“If we only share the gospel outside of work, this will greatly decrease the influence we have. Christensen suggests that keeping us from sharing the gospel at work may actually be one of Satan’s most effective ways to stop missionary work from happening,” Proctor wrote. “We should never be ashamed to share our beliefs boldly and openly. [Christensen] suggests many things to make it easy at work. For example, appropriately using Mormon words and talking about your faith online where many of your colleagues anonymously view your social networking profiles.”

These include Facebook, Mormon.org and personal blogs. And, Proctor wrote, there are many online resources to help people get started with their own blogs.

5. Ask for Help

Christensen suggested that one way to invite someone is to ask for his or her help, Proctor wrote. Some may take an invitation to learn about the gospel as an implication that they need our help, and they don’t feel that they need or want our help, Proctor wrote. But, often, “they have been blessed in many ways and have the ability to help others with their knowledge, skills or even their money. So why not ask for their help? This often opens their hearts to learning more about the Church,” Proctor wrote.

6. The Potential of Online Missionary Work

“Elder Christensen points out that there is a huge potential for online missionary work. There are millions who search on Google everyday, and a good portion of them are asking questions about something for which the gospel of Jesus Christ could provide an answer,” Proctor wrote.

Proctor wrote that Christensen explains the process in more detail in his book. Proctor also lists a website where you can read more about how to help with online missionary work: http://www.thereturnedmissionary.com/OnlineMissionaryWork/.

Member Missionaries Can Teach Each Other

 “Ultimately, Christensen hopes the ideas in the book are shared and discussed by member missionaries. He doesn’t claim to have all the answers—he just wants to get people talking,” the Deseret News article said.

Christensen’s book has a website, www.everydaymissionaries.org, where member missionaries “can share their thoughts, ideas, impressions and experiences,” according to the Deseret News article.

“I think this is one reason why the Lord invented the Internet—so members can teach one another how to succeed in assignments the Lord has given us, and to give us opportunities to inspire and bear testimony in a horizontal way,” Christensen said in the Deseret News article. “Hopefully, little by little, the book can become a mechanism by which the members of the Church teach themselves and each other how to be great missionaries.”

With the wealth of resources available, from “Preach My Gospel” to the Internet and Christensen’s book, member missionaries are running out of excuses for not sharing the gospel. Sharing what works—and what doesn’t work—is one way to ease the fears of sharing the gospel. And, as the saying goes, practice makes perfect. The more we practice inviting people and sharing the gospel, the easier it becomes.

I had an experience a few years ago that taught me a lot. I was walking with a friend and we were talking about religion. We had talked for awhile, and finally I said, “I need to tell you that I am a Mormon.” And her answer really struck me. She said, “I know. I’ve known almost from the first day we met.” She had had experiences with the Church, and she recognized that in me. The thought of being a member missionary has always scared me, but Christensen’s book helps me see that sharing the gospel begins with living the gospel and being willing to share.

As missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints go forth on the Lord’s errand proclaiming the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they strive to emulate the Master by putting what they teach into action – or in other words, by “Walking the Walk.” During the week leading up the greatest charitable act the world has ever known – the Atonement of the Savior for the sins of the world – twelve full-time missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ rendered aid to victims of a massive fire which destroyed 678 homes in the Khayalitsha Township near Cape Town, South Africa, on New Year’s Day 2013. They assisted by building permanent houses for the victims.

Donning yellow “Mormon Helping Hands” vests, and equipped with shovels and picks, the young Elders dug through layers of trash and broken cement chunks to prepare 5m x 3m forms for permanent cement pads of twelve new houses. They dug 40 cm trenches in the former junk pile field which would soon be the new neighborhood for thousands of displaced families.

After the trenches were dug, the forms were built; foundations of sand were carefully laid and smoothed to receive the top layer of 10 – 15 cm of concrete. The preparing of the pad surfaces for the cement had been the object of long delays for homes being finished for displaced recipients who were living in the O.R. Tambo Community Hall, as well as other places in Khayalitsha. The volunteer effort of the missionaries helped dramatically in speeding up the effort to restore normalcy to the lives of the displaced families.

The missionaries are part of the South Africa Cape Town Mission of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  The Cape Town Zone is lead by Elder Dallin Horen and Elder Michael Knight, who charitably volunteered to rally all missionaries in their zone to assist in the building of permanent houses for the victims. [1]

Sister Susan Roberts, a full-time Senior Missionary commented,

When I see the blisters on those willing young men’s hands, I truly see Christian acts and love at work.  They are building firm foundations of homes for others they don’t even know, and are also building a firm foundation for their own lives simultaneously without realizing it is happening as they serve. [1]

Upon completion of the project on Thursday, 27 March 2013, the missionaries gathered in the O.R. Tambo Community Hall with the children, mothers, fathers, mamas and papas who were displaced to have a prayer of thankfulness to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and for a brighter future and hope through hard work and supporting each other through community service and neighborly love.

Additional Resource:

Mormon Missionary Work

During the opening session of the 182nd Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( mistakenly referred to as the Mormon Church by the media and others) held in October 2012, President and Prophet Thomas S. Monson announced the lowering of age requirements for young men and young women desiring to serve a full-time mission. Young men may now begin their full-time missionary service following their graduation from high school, even if they are only 18 years of age at the time. Young women who have not been eligible for full-time missionary service until age 21, may now begin their service at age 19.

The Church of Jesus Christ currently has 64,373 missionaries serving worldwide, with an average of 1,400 missionaries per week being called to serve in the Lord’s vineyard since 1 January 2013. Of those called, 57% are elders, 36% are sisters, and 7% are seniors. Each person who is called is essentially commissioned of Jesus Christ to “Go [ye] into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15.) Further instructions are given in modern-day scripture used by The Church of Jesus Christ, as recorded in Doctrine and Covenants 18:28, “Therefore, go ye into all the world; and unto whatsoever place ye cannot go ye shall send, that the testimony may go from you into all the world unto every creature.”

“I am not suggesting that all young men will — or should — serve at this earlier age,” President Monson said. Rather, he said, the option is now available based on individual circumstances and the recommendation of their local church leaders.

“We reaffirm that missionary work is a priesthood duty,” President Monson said. “Young women are not under the same mandate to serve.” But, he added, the young women missionaries “make a valuable contribution as missionaries, and we welcome their service.” [1]

Plans are currently being reviewed for expansion of the Missionary Training Center (MTC) in Provo, Utah. Options are being discussed with the city and neighbors that would approximately double the capacity of the Provo MTC, however, the plans are not yet finalized.

In the interim, to better accommodate the recent increase in new missionaries, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is expanding its missionary training operations by securing the use of additional buildings near the Provo MTC. Missionaries are temporarily occupying the Raintree Commons apartments at 1849 North 200 West and portions of the BYU-owned Wyview Park apartments at 146 West 1940 North in Provo, Utah.

“We are grateful for all those who have chosen missionary service,” said Elder David F. Evans, executive director of the Church’s Missionary Department. “Regardless of where they are trained, missionaries will have a rich and inspiring experience that prepares them for their labors in their assigned missions.” [2]

As early as May 2013, approximately 2,000 missionaries will be occupying the facilities.  Both English-language missionaries and those learning foreign languages will be trained there. Those missionaries who are housed at the Raintree Commons and the Wyview Park apartments will eat, exercise and attend classes and worship services on-site. Additional temporary structures will also be installed nearby to provide services to missionaries. And, all missionaries being trained in Provo will still have opportunities to attend the Provo Temple.

Mormon Missionary Work

A new ruling seems to be making it harder for colleges to recruit Mormon athletes who are headed for voluntary missionary service. The new ruling only allows a school 25 scholarships, and some are interpreting that to include Mormons who commit, but who leave for missions prior to attending school. Others believe it only refers to the students actually in school.

Mormon missions are voluntary, but strongly encouraged among young men. Young women may also serve, although they are not under the same sense of obligation to God to do so. Recently, the age of missionary service was lowered for both men and women. Men may now attend at age eighteen if they have finished high school and women at nineteen. This causes coaches to realize they don’t have a few years to convince an athlete not to serve a mission, and some are refusing to recruit Mormons planning on a mission—and some are refusing to recruit Mormons at all, which is, obviously, inappropriate, particularly if the school is a public college, which can’t discriminate.

Some coaches are engaging in unethical behavior, telling the parents what they want to hear, but privately trying to talk the teenager out of serving a mission. For many, this is backfiring, since the young athletes often quickly lose respect for these coaches and recognize that the essential aspects of their faith would not be respected if they were to attend the school. Many also report the conversations to their parents, since Mormon young people generally have strong relationships with their families.

One father noted that the new mission age should actually make it easier for schools because they now know for certain many of the Mormon students they are recruiting won’t start for two years. It makes planning much easier than it was when students left at nineteen.

The lowered missionary age is only an option. Missionaries may leave at any age. While many are choosing to leave straight from high school, others prefer to get some college behind them first. Most, however, have made that decision by the time colleges are recruiting them.

Many schools that have taken returned missionaries find that the new maturity and ability at teamwork more than makes up for the time required by the athlete to rebuild his skills. Missionaries are assigned a companion of the same gender with whom they share housing and spend all their time. These companionships are changed often and the missionaries learn to get along with all sorts of people as a result. Because they must work together for a higher goal and learn to put themselves last, they improve the teamwork athletes so desperately need. Missionaries must live by very strict rules and a tight schedule, giving them incredible self-discipline when they return home. In addition they have many leadership opportunities and many Mormon athletes are noted for their leadership ability.

In a time when many college athletes are making headlines for immoral behavior and even for arrests, returned Mormon missionaries are more likely to make headlines for service projects and high values. The self-discipline gained in missionary work and the understanding they achieve about how choices affect destiny prevent many from getting caught up in the fame and adulation that negatively impacts many young celebrities.

It is suspected that many schools just don’t yet understand the new rules and are avoiding Mormons due to a lack of education. As more schools take their chances and things work out, it is likely the other schools will decide not to pass up a brilliant opportunity simply because they don’t like that the student might value something even more than football. As one student said, football was very important to him and he couldn’t imagine living without it—but since God gave him football, the least he could do was to spend two years thanking God for it through service to others.

Read more about how rule changes affect Mormon athletes.

Read about the impact of the lower Mormon missionary age.

Three new buildings were expanded at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. The Center serves missionaries training to serve full-time voluntary missions. The new buildings are part of an ongoing process of renovation and upgrading. They were dedicated by Jeffrey R. Holland, a Mormon apostle, as part of an address he gave on the campus. The buildings are Matthew Cowley Instructional Building, the Addison Pratt Residence Building and the Dan Jones Residence Building and are named after famous Mormon missionaries.

Missionary training centers help new missionaries learn how to find people to teach, how to teach them, and how to succeed in their new location. Those learning a new language begin to learn it there. They become familiar with the rules and standards they are expected to uphold and begin to understand that being a missionary means to serve and to love others. The time spent in these centers has recently been shortened, in order to accommodate the influx of new missionaries that began when the minimum age for service was lowered. Additional training is provided in their assigned missions.

The missionaries for whom the buildings are named were offered by Elder Holland as examples of the kinds of missionaries the young men and women in the center should strive to become.

Addison Pratt became a Mormon when he was thirty-six and at age forty-one was sent by Joseph Smith to serve a mission in French Polynesia. He was the first known missionary to learn a new language for a mission, something that is very common today. One of the three men sent on that mission died at sea. Elder Pratt went to Tubuai while the remaining two men went to Tahiti.

He organized the first branch (small congregation) of the Church in the Pacific on July 29, 1844. The boundaries for the branch covered two villages and in time, half of the people in those villages would be converted.

In 1850, Elder Pratt’s wife Louisa and their four daughters would come to Tubuai. He and Louisa, along with several other married couples, would become the first missionary couples to serve a foreign country and foreign language mission and the first to be asked to serve in primitive areas. When she arrived however, he was under house arrest. The government had not understood that the missionaries were self-supporting. It took him until 1851 to be freed and to return to the island to join his family.

Besides teaching the gospel, they ran a school for their own children and the native children together. They tried to teach modern sanitation habits through example. They earned their own living by farming and through trade of their crops. When they finally had to leave due to changes in French laws, they were heartbroken, but they left behind many good friends, who brought so much food to their ship they had more than enough for the long journey home.

Although today’s missionaries do not serve until they are at least eighteen, there was a time when they could go at any age. Matthew Cowley served his first mission at age seventeen, and was sent to New Zealand in 1914. He taught the Maoris in Tauranga. He quickly came to love the Maori people, although he found the fleas a challenge and soon took to covering himself in flea powder at night. He faced a wide range of illnesses in this new culture, but said that knowing his family was praying for him at home helped.

He had vowed to learn twenty words of the native language each day, which he did. Unfortunately, he found himself unable to get them into proper sentences, despite studying long hours each day. He fasted and then went into a cornfield to pray privately one day, asking the Lord for help. However, he was not able to speak any better that night. He fasted a second time and again went into the cornfield to pray. That night he was somewhat more successful, but not enough to suit him, so he fasted once again. In his next prayer, he reminded God he had been called by authority from God to teach the gospel in this place, but that if it was the wrong place, he’d like to know. He wanted to serve where he could do the most good. The next morning, he was asked to offer a prayer in a Maori home. He tried to speak in English and found himself unable to do so. He switched to the native language and the words began to flow easily. He knew this was God’s answer that he was called to serve where he was. He was able to give a fifteen or twenty minute speech in fluent Maori at a missionary conference just two and a half months after his arrival.

He served three years as a missionary and then was asked to remain to translate the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, two Mormon books of scripture used in addition to the Bible and the Book of Mormon, into the native language. He would later return to serve as president of the New Zealand Mission and presiding General Authority over the Pacific area. He was able to speak fluent Maori all his life and his missionary efforts there were legendary.

Dan Jones is considered by many to be the greatest missionary in church history. The very last revelation given by Joseph Smith, the first Mormon prophet, was to Brother Jones. Dan Jones was with Joseph just before he was murdered in Carthage Jail. Joseph assured him he would survive the murder attempt and serve a mission in Wales that would bring many people into the church. His two missions would bring 5300 people into the church. Not all were his own work, but he was a part of the missionary effort for those people.

Mormons have a long history of missionary work going back to the earliest days of the Church. They have spent untold hours sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ throughout the world, following the Savior’s command to do just that.

Read more about the expansion of the Mormon missionary training center.

Read about temporary locations used for training missionaries in Provo, Utah.

When Mormon prophet Thomas S. Monson announced that the ages for Mormon missionaries was being lowered, the response was instantaneous. Some young adults began texting their church leaders for pre-missionary interviews before President Monson was finished speaking. Young Mormons were excited to get out into the world to share their faith—the earlier the better. The excitement was particularly intense for young women.

Effective immediately, young men could leave at age eighteen if they had finished high school and young women at age nineteen. In a post-conference announcement, it was noted that experience had shown it best to provide a little age difference in the missionaries, many of whom are living away from home for the first time. Missionaries follow very strict rules. They are not allowed to date, enjoy secular media of any kind, or be alone. They are with a companion at all times in order to reduce temptations and prevent problems. They are to focus their missionary time on serving Jesus Christ and building their own knowledge and testimony of the gospel. Seldom will they ever—until they are older and able to serve another mission—be able to set aside so much time for these spiritual goals. It is a time to learn to focus outside themselves, giving them a certain advantage over their peers, who are often living a very self-focused life at that age.

Nearly half the applications began to be from women, who previously made up only about eighteen percent of all missionary applications. When women, who are not under the same expectation to serve as men are, had to wait until they were twenty-one, many were married or launching careers by the time they were old enough and therefore, did not serve. With the new lower age, more women who have hoped to serve have an opportunity. Missionary applications are currently up about 500 percent.

The Church anticipated an increase and made plans to accommodate it. Time spent in missionary training centers was to be reduced, with additional training instead provided in their actual mission assignments. This allows the training to be more personalized to the area and allows the missionaries to learn in context of their work. A new missionary training center is opening in Mexico, at the site of what was a private school.

In addition, to accommodate so many new young missionaries, fifty-eight new missions are being created. These do not open new areas for missionary work. Rather, they divide the existing missions into smaller regions to manage the number of young people who must be supervised in each area. Many areas will have more missionaries to cover smaller territories, allowing them to teach more people.

It is anticipated that it will be several years before the numbers of new applications level out. Once all those in the new age ranges, or approaching it shortly, have left on missions, prospective missionaries will reach a level number. This new number is still likely to be higher as fewer young adults find themselves involved in other aspects of life by the time missionary age arrives. It is expected that the numbers of women serving missions will remain far higher than in the past.

Missionary service provides young people with opportunities that are fairly unique in their age range. Young men serve at age eighteen, with an upper age limit of twenty-six. Young women serve beginning at age nineteen but there is no upper age limit for them. They may serve at any age. Older married couples who are retired or can take time away from work sometimes choose to serve as well and couples also supervise missionaries in the field.

Because of the strict schedule and rules, they learn self-discipline (in much the same way a military school teaches discipline through unusually strict rules).  Because they are with a companion around the clock, they learn to live with another person, making the adjustments needed to live harmoniously with another person who may have a very different personality or come from another culture. This helps prepare them for the challenges of marriage, and may be a contributing factor to the fact that Mormons experience fewer divorces.

Missionaries agree to serve wherever the Lord wants them to serve. They are frequently placed in a culture very different from their own—another country or a very different part of their own country. For instance, a small town Utah person living in a largely Mormon, upper-middle class environment might find himself in an eastern inner-city. His companion might be from another country. This enlarges his understanding of the world and exposes him to other ways of life, the realistic challenges of the world, and to other cultures.

Because missionaries are expected to place serving others before serving themselves, they learn to recognize and meet the needs of others. Because they are to put God’s work before their own desires, they learn to prioritize with eternal priorities.

These experiences help make Mormons what many studies have shown them to be—people who live and believe their faith, who serve others, and who are good citizens in their nations.

Meet with Mormon Missionaries

At the beginning of the 132nd Semiannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (mistakenly referred to as the Mormon Church by people of other faiths) held in October 2012, Prophet and President Thomas S. Monson announced the lowering of age requirements for both young men and young women desiring to serve full-time missions.

I am pleased to announce that effective immediately, all worthy and able young men who have graduated from high school or its equivalent, regardless of where they live, will have the option of being recommended for missionary service beginning at the age of 18, instead of age 19. I am not suggesting that all young men will—or should—serve at this earlier age.Rather, based on individual circumstances, as well as upon a determination by priesthood leaders, this option is now available. [1]

As we have prayerfully pondered the age at which young men may begin their missionary service, we have also given consideration to the age at which a young woman might serve. Today I am pleased to announce that able, worthy young women who have the desire to serve may be recommended for missionary service beginning at age 19, instead of age 21. [1]

Following that church-wide announcement there has been an enthusiastic response from thousands of young perspective missionaries who are willing to answer the call to serve. In order to accomodate the influx of new missionaries The Church of Jesus Christ has put several new plans in place to include:

1. Changes will be made in the amount of time that is spent in the Missionary Training Center (MTC).
2. The LDS Church-owned high school in Mexico City will be converted to an MTC starting in July. The new center will train between 1,200 and 2,000 new missionaries called to serve in Mexico and other Latin American countries every year.
3. Some of the 347 existing missions will be divided to form an additional 58 missions. The new missions will function in the same areas covered by existing missions.

New Mission Presidents have already been called to open the new missions. A Mission President is a High Priest called to watch over a specific region and its missionaries, called a Mission.A Mission President and his wife will typically serve in this capacity for a period of 3 years, managing the affairs of the missionaries in their assigned area. It should be noted that no new countries or territories are opening to missionary work. The creation of the additional 58 missions will bring the total number of Church missions to 405.

The new missions that will be created are as follows:

North America

• Arizona Gilbert
• Arizona Scottsdale
• California Bakersfield
• California Irvine
• California Rancho Cucamonga
• Colorado Fort Collins
• Idaho Nampa
• Idaho Twin Falls
• Georgia Macon
• Illinois Chicago West
• Kansas Wichita
• Ohio Cincinnati
• Oregon Salem
• Utah Salt Lake City East
• Virginia Chesapeake
• Washington Federal Way
• Washington Vancouver

Central America

• Ecuador Guayaquil West
• Ecuador Quito North
• El Salvador San Salvador East
• Guatemala Cobán
• Honduras San Pedro Sula West
• México Cancún
• México Ciudad Juarez
• México Ciudad Obregón
• México México City Chalco
• México Pachuca
• México Queretaro
• México Reynosa
• México Saltillo

South America

• Angola Luanda
• Argentina Comodoro Rivadavia
• Argentina Posadas
• Bolivia Santa Cruz North
• Botswana Gaborone
• Brazil Curitiba South
• Brazil Fortaleza East
• Brazil Juiz de Fora
• Brazil Natal
• Brazil Piracicaba
• Brazil Santos
• Brazil São Paulo West
• Chile Santiago South
• Perú Huancayo
• Perú Iquitos

Africa

• Ghana Accra West
• Liberia Monrovia
• Nigeria Benin City

Asia

• Japan Tokyo South
• Korea Seoul South

Europe

• Ukraine L’viv

South Pacific

• Australia Sydney North
• New Zealand Hamilton
• Papua New Guinea Lae
• Philippines Cavite
• Philippines Cebu East
• Philippines Legaspi
• Philippines Urdaneta

“The enthusiastic response to the change in missionary age requirements has given thousands of young people more options to serve and they have responded with incredible faith,” said Elder Russell M. Nelson, Chairman of the Missionary Executive Council. [2]

The missionary program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of its most recognized characteristics. Missionaries can be seen on major city streets, as well as in small communities throughout the world. The missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of Christ’s disciples being sent out two-by-two teaching the gospel, and baptizing believers in the His name. The program is fulfilling the Great Commission which our Great Exemplar gave His disciples as recorded in Matthew 28:19-20:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Additional Resources:

Request a free copy of The Book of Mormon (Another Testament of Jesus Christ)

Jesus Christ in Mormonism

The Holy Bible in Mormonism

When most people think of Mormon missionaries, they visualize clean-cut, dedicated youth.  But The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often mistakenly called the Mormon Church) also sends out retired sisters and couples to serve in the “mission field,” and they are able to make a unique contribution in building God’s kingdom on earth.  A late Mormon prophet counseled seniors in the LDS Church to “Lengthen Your Shuffle.”  It’s a take-off on late prophet Spencer W. Kimball’s plea for all in the Church of Jesus Christ to “Lengthen Your Stride” in serving God and His children.  Aging members of the Church are not to rest on their laurels and cease serving, but do what they can with their dwindling resources of money and health.  The major resource seniors have to use in God’s service is their experience and knowledge gained over years of learning and serving.  They can use these gifts to inspire and train others who are new in the gospel.

The Church of Jesus Christ has a lay clergy.  That is, there are no trained, professional priests or pastors to lead congregations or administer the affairs of the Church.  As in the times of Christ and His original apostles and seventies, people are called from their earthly vocations and are taught by the Holy Spirit how to serve and lead in the kingdom.  This means that lay members are “called” by those in authority above them (who are also called to positions of service) to serve in a temporary position.  During a lifetime, a member of the Church of Jesus Christ will have delivered sermons, taught classes, planned activities, worked with children and youth, and exercised leadership in various ways.   In many parts of the world, where there are few members of the LDS Church, people don’t know enough to serve well.  They are beginners, and they need help to get started.  Senior missionaries are there to help.

“Service missionaries,” of which there are over 20,000 at any given time, may serve locally near their homes or in far-away locations, part-time or full-time.  As of 2012, the oldest service missionary in the Church was 98 years old.  Obviously, there is no age limit.  Full-time senior missionaries, however, need to have good physical health, good family health, and good financial health to be called into service in locations all over the world.  They serve six, twelve, eighteen, or twenty-three months, and many serve multiple Mormon missions.  They spend a short time in a Missionary Training Center before reporting to the mission field.  Senior missionaries are not called to proselyte.  There are Church Education Missionaries, Public Affairs Missionaries, Humanitarian Aid Missionaries, and Member-Leader Support Missionaries, among others.

My husband and I are 71 and 66 years old, respectively, and we are serving as Member-Leader Support missionaries in southeast Asia.  Our mission is drawing to a close and will last for 18 months.  Our local members number just over 100, and they are mainly of Chinese and Indian descent, having practiced Buddhism, Taoism, or Hinduism before their conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Our congregation has, during its 40-year history, functioned in English, with translation and some classes and materials in Chinese.  This means that members here are not only just learning the gospel, they are working with English language teaching manuals after having been called to be teachers — something they never imagined they could do.  One of our dear female members has actually had experience teaching in public schools, but they teach by rote.  We teach by the spirit.  She was asked to teach a class to youth on the Old Testament, which she had never read, and which she knew nothing about.  My husband and I were able to coach her on teaching by the spirit, teaching people instead of material, mastering the Old Testament, and understanding the cultural context of the ancient Near East.  She is soaring now, and is teaching New Testament.

Recently, a man in the congregation was called to be its president.  He will serve in this capacity for about 5 years, and he is just getting an inkling of how much work this calling entails.  My husband is getting him established, helping him learn was is expected, and teaching him how to do it.  He will also help the new branch president call others as counselors and clerks, teachers, and auxiliary leaders to keep things humming along.  The thrill is in watching these members grow spiritually and see their talents expand as they serve.

As senior missionaries, we are also an anchoring influence for the young missionaries in our area.  They are far away from home, most for the first time.  They are speaking a foreign language.  We are their local grandpa and grandma while they are away from their parents.

Serving a senior Mormon mission has been very rewarding for us.  We have found many ways to share not only gospel knowledge, but worldly knowledge as well.  Sewing, health, even bicycle repair.  Serving in God’s kingdom benefits everyone. The served, and those giving service.

And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God (Mosiah 2:17).

Additional Resources:

Jesus Christ, Lord and Savior

Mormon Temples

Mormon History

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are encouraged to follow Jesus’ command to take His gospel into all the world. They do this informally in their everyday lives, but many also choose to do it formally during several years of voluntary missionary service. Young men who are eighteen and high school graduates can spend two years away from home serving on missions. Young women may begin at age nineteen and serve for eighteen months. In both groups, they must be unmarried. Men have an upper age limit, but women may serve at any age at all if they are not married. They have another opportunity to serve when they retire. They serve as married couples during that time and many serve multiple missions throughout their retirement.

During this time, they serve as servants of God at even a higher level than usual. This entitles them to additional protection. Of course, serving a mission does not guarantee safety—even in the scriptures we note that people serving God were often harmed or killed. However, it does ensure they are in God’s hands and that He is watching over them. Because they must live the gospel at a very high level and focus their time on God’s work rather than secular concerns, they are very close to God at these times and have the Holy Ghost with them at all times. Mormons—the nickname often used to refer to members of this church—believe we are given the gift of the Holy Ghost soon after baptism and may have Him with us at all times if we are worthy.

One example of this unique missionary protection occurred in Mexico City. Several years ago two Mormon missionaries serving in Mexico City were asked to take a one-hour bus trip to a city that had been closed to missionary work for some time. They were told there was a woman who wished to meet with them. When they arrived in the area, a police officer stopped them and warned them the city was very dangerous in general, and even more dangerous for Mormon missionaries. The last set had been forced out of the city by dangerous mobs. They thanked him and promised to after they had contacted the person they’d come to see.

Unfortunately, that woman had moved. A neighbor suggested another person who might be interested in talking to them and they moved towards that gated home. A construction crew that was taking a lunch break and were all drinking beer surrounded the gate to the home they were approaching and began taunting them, demanding they drink beer. When the missionaries continued to refuse, the men closed in on them, clearly preparing to attack. The missionaries were pinned against a wall and all they could do is pray.

Suddenly all the men looked up at something behind and above them and fear crossed their faces. They hurried back to work, except for their leader, who shook hands with the missionaries and apologized. The missionaries looked where the men had been staring, but there was nothing there. They assumed God had sent an angel to stop the attack, just as He had sometimes done in ancient times.

Read the complete story.

In another situation, two female missionaries serving in Guatemala were kidnapped. During their captivity, they prayed for protection and reported feeling, but not seeing, the presence of angels with them. They were not harmed and they never felt frightened and never cried. They even dared to share some of their beliefs with their captors before they were rescued by the Guatemalan and United States governments.

Read about the Mormon missionaries kidnapped in Guatemala.

When we are on the Lord’s errand, we are promised His help, both physically and spiritually. He never gives us a job to do without helping us to do it. Even when a missionary dies, if he was making good choices, the family has the comfort of knowing he was simply called to finish his mission with God.

More Resources:

Angel Gabriel

Mormon Missionaries

Mormon Missionary Rules