I have my mission call…

I don’t think anyone here will scoff. We’re not into that. If someone does, I’ll deliver a cyber-slap upside their heads. 😈

I second the “emotion”.

What did I wish I had’ve known?

1. The importance of learning to create a spiritual atmosphere in the discussion. That’s what converts if the people are humble and spiritual. Learn how to consciously express love, share spiritual experiences, use scripture, testify, music, and describe sacrifices people have made for truth, and also, rely on prayer.

2. Learn when to drop an investigator. I hung on to mine too long in the beginning. Toward the end, I would go by their house the day before our next appointment with a reminder sticky note on their door. If they didn’t keep the appointment, and didn’t return the phone call afterwards, then they were off my list.

3. Avoid the situation where you teach the investigator to “GO AWAY AND PRAY ABOUT IT”. Work on creating the spiritual experience while you are with them so you can recognize the spirit with them, and point out the development of testimony.

4. Before you go, read “How Full is Your Bucket” available at Amazon. It describes the importance of making interactions with others as positive as possible, to fill their bucket. Draw members to you with your positivity and your kindness. I found most of my baptisms that stuck had member involvement, so their involvement is very important.

5. Figure out who the missionary minded people are in the ward and work with them. Get their confidence and invest in building good relationships with them. Don’t waste time trying to turn non-missionary-minded members into gospel salespeople. Develop the missionary minded ones. If they have an entrepreneural job, or a sales position, they might be good candidates for member missionaries.

6. Get the new move-in list if your Ward has one, and visit the heck out of that list. I turned up more referrals for missionaries that way than any other method when I was a High Priest Group Leader. People who move into the Ward are experiencing new things and tend to be more open. Also, keep an eye out for non-member people who have moved into an area (in American, evidenced by sold signs on lawns, or even members who say someone new has moved in). These people tend to be more open-minded about their surroundings, and will also be more receptive to a welcome to the neighbour hood visit with Church woven into it.

7. Conquer your fear. Don’t be afraid to talk about baptism, foreshadow baptism by saying “you are going to want to be baptized after you get a testimony”. “Given the testimony you’re feeling, wee think you should be considering baptism soon…” etcetera. Invite when the Spirit is present and smile when you invite people to do things.

8. Most of all, love the people, your companion etcetera.

9. Keep a good journal — mine pulled me out of less activity once in my life. The full-time missionary perspective can be uplifiting to the YOU 20 years into the future.

10. Learn to use the commitment pattern:

http://www.redmondfamily.com/Family-Resources/Missionary-Resources/Commitment-Pattern-Chart

And so ends my advice, taken from my memory as a young, enthusiastic missionary…that was how I looked at it back then!

Congratulations — remember, my advice was for a North American Mission, so if you’re in Asia things might be different culturally, and this stuff might need to be modified. But this is the best advice I can give.

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let you all know that I received my mission call last night…It will be a few months before I leave, and I wanted to be sure I’m at the top of my game when I actually go…My reason for this thread is to hopefully gain insight and advice from all of you. I admire your opinions, and really want to know what you wished you had known prior to serving a mission (for those of you who have). Please don’t try to persuade me into not serving a mission…because I’ve already settled the issue with myself and I will be going.

Congratulations and good luck. The main thing I wish I would have known is that what some mission presidents consider to be success like raw numbers aren’t really as important as they think. For example, if new members aren’t really comfortable and happy with the Church then there’s a good chance they will quickly become inactive anyway. The LDS lifestyle and doctrines don’t necessarily appeal to everyone. I spent a lot of time stressed out that we needed to baptize as many as people possible and if not then I thought it was my fault for not being good enough. Now I think it would be better to simply focus on making the most of the experience and trying learn from it and make a positive difference to those you work with without worrying too much about all the salesmanship.

What’s her name? Is she beautiful? Of course I’m guessing here, but I ran said marathon once. I even came home and married her, fathered five wonderful kids. If I’m totally crazy, please accept my apologies… and enjoy a foreign people and culture.

Congratulations! This will be an awesome adventure for you — spiritually and culturally.

I lived in Korea for a year as a soldier. I was a Korean linguist, and worked with Korean troops on a daily basis. It was a great experience diving into an Asian culture like that. I served my mission before that in Germany though. Asian languages are really tough for native English speakers to learn, but it is worth the effort. It’s hard to explain how much you will learn about yourself and your own culture when you start to learn a different language and culture. We don’t see all the things we take for granted, and it’s easier to see the mechanics of how we think after learning how other people think (which is closely tied to language).

So many great recommendations already, I couldn’t agree more with what has already been said.

1. LOVE PEOPLE! Ok. Others already said that, but it can’t be repeated too often. People listen to WHAT you have to say, but only after they know that you care about them.

2. Do what you think is right, and don’t get wrapped up in the numbers games. Know and deeply internalize that you are doing good, if you are preaching the Gospel and sharing its light. If you are not, fair enough. Be better the next day. Just don’t buy into the negativity that can sometimes develop in some missions that develop a culture of pressure and guilt for results. Maybe you won’t ever experience that, but it has happened often enough to be aware of it. I served in a mission that had that culture, and it was really hard on a lot of missionaries. (especially in a European mission, where baptism are not normally high).

3. Fully immerse yourself in the language and culture as much as possible!

Study the language in the morning along with your spiritual studies. I bought religious books in German when I was a missionary. I had several translations of the Bible (how could I not? Germany in the birthplace of this). I read an entire adult Catholic Catechism book in German. Those are just examples. It’s really hard at first, and takes a lot of determination. But you will be a MUCH better missionary if you are comfortable and natural communicating in your country’s language, and are natural with their customs. Not only that, you will be very thankful later post-mission because fluency in an Asian language and culture is a very valuable business skill.

4. Go visit as many cultural and historical places as you can get away with.

Go there on p-day. Make side-stops when going to and from regional zone meetings. Take lots of pictures. You can talk to people about the Gospel too along the way. I wasn’t technically supposed to do a lot of that as a missionary, but I am glad I did anyway. Love the culture, live the culture, breathe the culture.

5. Be you!

You are special. You will be able to share the Gospel with people like no other different person can. I know you will be wearing a quasi-uniform, but just be you and love people.

6. Don’t argue with people about the Gospel and try to persuade them in with clever debate.

I got into this as a missionary. I regret it a little now, looking back. I was not the message, the Spirit is the messenger. Perhaps it was also the country and culture where I served. Europeans have been arguing about Christianity for almost 2,000 years. Heck, they fought wars over it. But looking back, I don’t see that it did much good except provide entertainment for people who liked to argue religion and philosophy. The people who want the message and will benefit from it are not the ones who want to meet with you and debate for weeks and months. Spiritual conversion are greater than intellectual conversions.

That’s all I can think of for now. I am excited for you!

I don’t think anyone here will scoff. We’re not into that. If someone does, I’ll deliver a cyber-slap upside their heads. 😈

I second the “emotion”.

This is totally inappropriate, even “in jest”, and I am calling you out for it. The culture of violence is wrong. The culture of authoritarianism is wrong. It has no place in an enlightened society large or small.

Tom, I don’t think he meant it that way. If I thought for a second Ray was being authoritarian or serious I would have not made my Motown reference as a show of support. I think our overriding goal was to show CAndle this is a safe place to post about the mission.

However, I do see your perspective, and given our collective affinity for symbolism and the implications of words (something that intellectuals tend to attach importance to). Perhaps we were careless in that respect.

I have found that it isn’t difficult to be obedient as the default, allow exceptions when exceptions are needed and love the people you are teaching and serving – IF you are aware and striving to live that type of balance. It’s the awareness that’s important.

That’s my advice about the mission rules: Follow them almost always; make exceptions when you believe strongly that they are for the well-being of yourself and/or those you are teaching; don’t ever let the exceptions become the rule; focus FAR more on the people than any programs. “Preach My Gospel” allows missionaries to custom-teach people, and that is a wonderful blessing.