Preparing for a Mission

Dear Friends and Neighbors: 

          Everybody’s talking about the new revelation on missionary work!  In this MTC, we’re going to be inundated with “youngsters” and with passions aplenty!  Imagine putting together in one building 100-200 18 to 19 year-old beautiful and handsome, well-groomed teenagers all exploding with multitudinous  desires, uncurbed enthusiasm, high over-the-top-energy and a committed zeal without bounds!  Save me!! (Am I getting too old for this?!).  It’s good that they’re cutting the time down to just 13 days in the MTC.  (It gives the President and his wife a 36 hour break every two weeks instead of every 3 weeks!) 

          The Lord must know what He’s doing!  He’s unleashing a power which will change the world!  Who can resist an unyielding, unbending army of stripling spiritual warriors going out into the world with a faith and a trust which nobody, including many of us leaders can comprehend!  Only the prophets and the seers can see where this is going—but it’s sure going to go somewhere amazing!  Hang on to our hats (I don’t have a hat) and on to our chairs (I’m afraid mine is going to be a rocking chair soon!).  Any young person or older planning to go on a mission or helping someone to go on a mission better read Sister Taylor’s article, “Preparation Before and After a Mission” attached. 

 

Hurrah For Israel,

Love,

GT & DT

George & Debra

Terry & Debbie

 

How to prepare before and after your mission!

Being called on a mission is one of the most exciting times of life. It is a transition from adolescence to adulthood. There can be many conflicting feelings of anticipation, freedom, curiosity, joy, anxiety, and even fear.  A mission is an educational micro life experience.  It is a time to “live in the world, but not of it.”  It is a chance to prevent or eliminate destructive addictions and establish worthy habits.  Would there be a better thing to do than to “give” our children or ourselves unto the Lord as Hannah did with her son Samuel?  Who knows better than our Father in Heaven as to what we each need to learn?  Is there a better tithe than offering our hearts, might, mind, and strength for a short moment of time?  Our goal is to come unto Christ, then invite others to do the same!  We do it together!

President Spencer W. Kimball said: “The setting apart may be taken literally; it is setting apart from sin, apart from the carnal; apart from everything which is crude, low vicious, or vulgar; set apart from world to a higher plane of thought and activity.” PMG p. 4

Today I have been thinking a lot about preparing for a mission.  None of these things that I suggest are new, just very important. 

Before our mission:

Pray together morning and night

Read to and with your children, especially the Book of Mormon

Learn to play the piano

Keep a personal journal of insight, inspiration, and revelation

Play together

Eat together

Hold Family home Evening with other family members and friends

Give assignments to everyone and rotate them (Give everyone a chance to listen, speak, and do something)

Visit Family, friends, and neighbors weekly

Express Gratitude in verbal and written form

Teach your children how to use proper phone etiquette

Set limits on the TV and the internet

Set regular patterns for arising, going to bed

monitor comings and goings as a matter of respect

Require regular household duties such as: dishes, wash, bathrooms, vacuuming, windows, cars, lawn, weeds, garbage, shopping, cooking, and menu planning (work together and rotate).  If they need a friend, bring one in.

After our mission:

Our goal still remains to “Invite others to come unto Christ!” We do it together!

Our goal is not to “Get back to normal!” as I have heard expressed.  We want our mission to have changed us.  We want to feel, know, and say with a surety, that God is our Heavenly Father, He loves us personally, Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, that the Holy Ghost is our constant companion, that Joseph Smith restored the Church of Jesus Christ upon the earth for the last time, and that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.

We support each other and gain a renewed testimony by:

·                     Spending one on one time with a new return missionary.

·                     Letting them share their experiences without interrupting.

·                     Praying and reading scriptures with them.

·                     Encouraging them to share a power point presentation for a Family Home Evening about their mission. 

·                     Not making the newest movie our highest priority for them to see.

·                     Giving them a church job, home teaching, visiting teaching, and      service involvement.

·                     Treating them as adults.

How best can we see the face of God and prepare for the Second Coming of the Savior than by preparing to serve and serving a mission.