Future missionaries: start preparing now to love, serve, teach
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Preparing for a mission is akin to shaping up for a track meet — both demand plenty of training, focus and flexibility to ensure a strong start and a successful finish.
Many young men and women across the world are planning to serve full-time missions. But what exactly makes for a prepared elder or sister missionary? Church leaders have challenged families to save for missions, And, yes, it helps to know how to iron a shirt or maybe select the right apples at the grocery store. But what about spiritual fitness and the ability to accept and get along with others?
For legions of young people, full-time missionary service marks the first time they are asked to balance a personal budget, cook for themselves, live with someone outside their family and, perhaps, adjust to life in a new culture. Missions are a challenge for everyone. But prospective missionaries and their parents can do much to train for such challenges long before the mail carrier delivers the formal call to service.
The Church News spoke with several former mission presidents who recently returned home from their assignments. During their three-year tenure, they welcomed hundreds of young elders and sisters into their missions. Many new missionaries had done their spiritual roadwork and were ready to contribute. A few struggled to catch up.
So, we asked, what can young men and women do to ready themselves today to one day be strong missionaries? How can their parents help?
Spiritual readiness
"First, missionaries need to be spiritually prepared," said President Jack Peck, who returned home in July after presiding over the Philippines Manila Mission.
Teaching the gospel to others is all but impossible if the missionary does not have the Spirit in his or her life, President Peck said. Embarking on a mission while still burdened by past mistakes can undermine both the work and the new missionary.
Arriving in the mission field well-prepared starts by being morally fit, President Peck said.
"[Prospective missionaries] need to make sure they are working closely with ecclesiastical leaders before they come," he said.
The Lord and the mission president and his wife can work wonders with a new missionary who arrives fueled by a strong and spiritual desire to teach the gospel, said President Wilbur Wagner, former leader of the Mexico Tijuana Mission.
"A missionary doesn't have to know all the intricacies of the gospel, but he or she has to have a testimony of Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ," President Wagner said.
Young people should also take full advantage of the spiritually supplemented programs of the Church, added President Robert Grow, who was recently released from the California Sacramento Mission.
"The easiest thing a parent can do to help children prepare for a mission is to send them to seminary," said President Grow. Seminary, he added, should never be negotiable between parent and teen.
President Grow and his wife, Linda, said that young people arrive better prepared for missionary work if they have witnessed missionary work in their own homes. Get to know the local missionaries, they say, and let children see the missionary discussions and programs first-hand.
The scriptures should always be a missionary's teaching and testifying anchor. So don't learn to love the Book of Mormon and the other Standard Works only after clipping on a missionary name tag.
Young people preparing for missions "should have some daily scripture reading," President Peck said.
Obedience brings blessings
Obedience is pivotal in preparing for and serving a successful mission, President Wagner said. Full-time missions, as in life, are governed by rules. Would-be elders and sister missionaries should learn long before they enter the Missionary Training Center that mission rules are designed for their safety. There is wisdom and protection in worldwide mission rules such as staying with companions and adhering to the mission schedule.
President Wagner recommends young people obey as many of the mission rules that are practically possible even before becoming full-time missionaries. The same "sorry music" and "sorry movies" that are off-limits to missionaries should also be sidestepped by young folks, he said.
"We stressed obedience in our mission so much," said President Peck's wife, Sherry. "If elders or sisters were disobedient, we saw it in their work."
Develop flexible social skills.
Full-time missions are synonymous with change. Each week hundreds of young elders and sisters begin their missionary service in places foreign to their eyes and ears. Many are asked to learn new languages and live in lands far different than their own. And every missionary becomes part of the universal "mission culture" of companionships, district leaders and transfers. An elder may serve six months with one companion and six days with another. One sister missionary may spend a year in one area while another is transferred each month.
Flexibility is a life-skill that will serve young people well before, during and after their missions, say former mission presidents. It's especially valuable in companionships. The person you will spend every mission hour with may come from a different culture, speak a different language and have far different interests. Young people should learn how to get along with people from different backgrounds long before meeting their missionary trainer.
Find unity through gospel service.
A flexible missionary is like a skilled basketball player — constantly moving back and forth, adjusting and stepping around or over obstacles as they come, said President Peck.
Moms, dads and Church leaders should find ways for young people to build social skills that are key to missionary work. Good friendships and multiple, wholesome relationships give boys and girls experiences they will need later during missions to get along with companions and relate to the people they will teach, President Grow said.
Too much time in front of the computer, away from others, erodes those same skills, he added.
Parents can also identify social traits in their children such as speaking too softly or avoiding eye contact that might keep them from effectively communicating with others. Then help them improve, President Grow said.
"Fix what you can to get them ready," he said.
Learn now to love people and work
Young men and women preparing for missions, say the former presidents, should decide now to love and accept the people they serve — be it in Idaho, Indonesia or climes in between.
"Missionaries need to be able to look beyond, say, poverty and look into the hearts and souls of their investigators," President Peck said.
Words echoed by President Wagner: "Learn to get along with people and accept them for who they are."
Sister Peck said she was thrilled whenever she learned one of their new missionaries was a cowboy. Cowboys, she said, know how to work.
For those without much cowpoke or other job experience, the mission may be the first time a young man or woman is expected to adhere to a schedule, fullfil responsibilities and, well, work. Those who arrive in the mission armed with an established work ethic more easily adjust to the rigors of missionary labor, Sister Peck said.
Both President Wagner and President Grow agreed well-prepared missionaries arrive with a personal understanding of the law of the harvest: you reap what you sow. Parents can help their mission-bound children learn that success in music, Scouting, sports, school and other worthwhile ventures comes after prayer and perspiration.
Mission success is no different.
Practical preparation
Missionaries can't teach the gospel if they're laid up in bed battling food poisoning, nasty colds or ingrown toenails.
Prospective missionaries can learn early how to take care of themselves. The mission president's wife often assumes the task of teaching Nutrition 101, the benefits of frequent hand washing and basic health care. But parents can help. Take sons and daughters to the grocery store. Teach them to launder and iron a shirt. Introduce them to mixing bowls, measuring cups and the stove so they don't have to exist entirely on costly, fat-laden junk food.
Prospective missionaries with special health needs should also know how to care for themselves long before stepping into the field. If a young sister missionary, for example, has diabetes, she should know how to control her glucose levels, said Sister Grow.
And don't ignore the missionary clothing and supply guidelines included with each mission call. The heavy-duty shoes that are recommended in rural Brazil may not be appropriate in Denver, Colo.
Join in the miracle
Finally, while young men and women can do much to prepare for missions, many aspects of teaching the gospel and building lifelong testimonies occur only amid the hardships and joys of the mission itself.
Still, parents can help lay a strong, preparatory foundation before bidding farewell to their missionary son or daughter, said President Grow.
"Parents, help them prepare for that miracle to happen."
E-mail: jswensen@desnews.com
