Preparing for a Mission

Teaching by the Spirit is one of the most important skills you can learn as a missionary. If you have the Spirit of the Lord with you in all your mission activities, teaching, tracting, reactivating, etc., you will be a more effective instrument for God.  President Ezra Taft Benson once said: “The Spirit is the [...]

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When I arrived in my first area in Argentina (the city of Parana), I was shocked at how fast my companion walked. He didn’t quite run, but he sure did speed walk, and it took a file for me to get used to it. When Ezra Taft Benson was President of the Church in May 1986, [...]

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As you may have read on LDS Church News and Events, the pamphlet For the Strength of Youth has been updated and refreshed. Young Women general president Elaine S. Dalton explained, “the standards have not changed, but times have changed… For the Strength of Youth has been revised to address the issues youth face today—to [...]

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The LDS Seminary and Institute programs are wonderful tools in helping young men and young women prepare for full-time missionary service. The year 2012 marks 100 years since the first Seminary class was establish. To commemorate this anniversary, the Church held a worldwide Seminary Centennial Broadcast on Sunday, January 22, 2012 with President Boyd K. [...]

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As I mention in my post on the mission application timeline, if you have not received your patriarch blessing by the time you begin to fill out your missionary paper work, you should make arrangements at that time to get it. Missionaries are required, per the instructions in the mission call letter, to receive a patriarchal blessing [...]

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A reader emailed me and asked what are the requirements to serve a mission. It was then that I realized that I had never put all the qualifications for full-time missionary service in one place, so here we go. Full-Time Missionary Requirements The Lord expect each able young man, and as many young women as [...]

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Let’s talk about what it means to be worthy to serve a mission. The prophets have long taught that every worthy young man should serve a mission, and that every young man should strive to be worthy. Worthiness requirements for missionaries are set forth in the scriptures and through the living prophets. Let’s first discuss what [...]

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Keeping the Sabbath day holy is one of the best things you can do to prepare yourself for a mission. As you keep yourself unspotted from the world through proper Sabbath Day observance (see D&C 59:9), you will draw closer to the Lord, and you will find yourself more willing to make sacrifices in order [...]

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Last year, Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared this story as an indroduction to the vital role that mothers play in preparing their sons and daughters to be missionaries: “I was in charge, chairman of the Priesthood Executive Council. We’re together and talking about how we can get more [...]

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