Friday, May 24, 2013

God be with you till we meet again...

Seriously... have you ever seen a more adorable Missionary?? 
 I am so excited for my baby brother to serve his mission. I realized recently that there may be many out there not aware of what "Missionaries" for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints do... I thought I might want to share what it is that these young men and women do...

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' missionary program is one of its most recognized characteristics. Mormon missionaries can be seen on the streets of hundreds of major cities in the world as well as in thousands of smaller communities.

The missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ (see, for example, the work of Peter and John in the book of Acts).

Nearly 60,000 missionaries are serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at any one time. Most are young people under the age of 25, serving in nearly 350 missions throughout the world.
Missionaries can be single men between the ages of 18 and 25, single women over the age of 19 or retired couples. Missionaries work with a companion of the same gender during their mission, with the exception of couples, who work with their spouse. Single men serve missions for two years and single women serve missions for 18 months.

Missionaries receive their assignment from Church headquarters and are sent only to countries where governments allow the Church to operate. Missionaries do not request their area of assignment and do not know beforehand whether they will be required to learn a language.

Prior to going to their assigned area, missionaries spend a short period of time at one of 15 missionary training centers throughout the world. There they learn how to teach the gospel in an orderly and clear way and, if necessary, they begin to learn the language of the people they will be teaching. The largest training center is in Provo, Utah, with additional centers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, England, Ghana, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and Spain.

Male missionaries are addressed with the title “Elder” and women are addressed with the title “Sister.”
A typical missionary day begins by waking at 6:30 a.m. for personal study. The day is spent proselytizing by following up on appointments, visiting homes or meeting people in the street or other public places. Missionaries end their day by 10:30 p.m.

In some parts of the world, missionaries are sent only to serve humanitarian or other specialized missions. Those missionaries do not proselytize.

Missionary work is voluntary. Missionaries fund their own missions — except for their transportation to and from their field of labor — and are not paid for their services.  

Contacts with family and friends during this time of service are limited to letters and occasional phone calls to family at special times. Missionaries avoid entertainment, parties or other activities common to this age-group as long as they are on their missions, so they can focus entirely on the work of serving and of teaching others the gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is TRULY amazing to me that Young Men and Women CHOOSE to serve in this way. My brother is serving a Spanish Speaking Mission in Houston Texas. This means he will also need to learn how to speak the language. My sister is serving her mission in Tampa Florida. I have had MANY friends serve, and MANY family members serve missions. It is the most selfless thing I can think of people doing to help others learn more about our religion.

I am very thankful for the missionary program our church has to offer. I know they young men and young women learn good things while serving, and are better able to come home and contribute to society in a productive way. I am thankful my husband served as well.
I know those two years helped him prepare for being married to me, and learning patience!
If you want to learn more about my church ASK ME! I can have missionaries visit you OR I would love to share with you why I live the way I do.
If you would rather look at stuff on your own... check this out...http://mormon.org/
I am a Mormon. I live it. I LOVE it!

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