Yesterday, my son began his two year missionary service for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints where he will be inviting and teaching people how to come closer to Jesus Christ. I though it was only fitting that today we are talking about how to help support our missionaries while they are away.

On our podcast today, we have guests: Lindy Shock and Jen Wright from My Missionary Box. Lindy served as as missionary, and Jen has had 3 of her children serve missions. They are going to teach us a bit about how to prepare our children for missions, be a support to them while they are out, what items you may need to gather or prepare before they leave, give some suggestions for how to support during home MTC (missionary training center), give gift ideas for missionaries, as well as share ideas for how siblings of missionaries can best stay connected during the time apart.

My Missionary Box has amazing resources for families and loved ones supporting the loved ones back home. For missionaries they provide tools, inspiration, and ideas to help study and teach while on a mission. They also have tips for helping your local missionaries with tips and products that help missionaries teach and build relationships.

Listen below or in your favorite podcast app!

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Show Notes:

First off - what are missionaries and what do they do??

Missionaries are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who leave their homes for 18 months-2 years to serve others and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. The single men are 18-25 and single women are 19-39. Married couples or adults in their retired years can also serve a mission.

During their time as young missionaries, they consecrate their lives to God. They have one day per week called “preparation day” (or P-day) where they can call their family back home, email family land friends, run errands & grocery shop, and do some more relaxed activities with other missionaries.

Missionaries are all volunteers and pay their own way ($400/month). You will usually see them in pairs. They have a companion with them at all times to keep them safe and focused.

What do Missionaries do?

Teaching missionaries help you feel closer to God by showing you how to pray & receive answers to prayers, teach about Jesus Christ, guide you to understand scriptures, support you through your personal challenges, encourage faith, repentance & baptism, and introduce you to a community of others striving to build their faith.

Service missionaries live at home, and give personalized service to others in many different ways such as serving locally in clinics, non profits, community outreach centers, at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temples. They help with, family history, provide help to refugees, homeless and at food banks. Sometimes they also have companions for study.

How to best prepare for a Spiritually, mentally, & Physically for a mission:

Have a scripture study routine - try to make this happen at least 6 months to a year before you leave (online resources for scripture study)
Take a mission prep class
Attend the temple often (More about the temple here)
Get the tools you need to navigate your mental health
Learn to work hard - yardwork, being on your feet for long periods of time, being in good physical shape to be able to walk or bike a lot each day
Practice being away from home for short periods of time such as a church campout, FSY (For the Strength of Youth) camp, flying to see grandparents or cousins, going on an HXP humanitarian trip
How to clean their home and space
Learning how to cook, menu plan, and grocery shop - (Check out our resources HERE you can also grab our cookbook here- delicious and tasty recipes that are easy to make!)
How to budget (two podcast resources for you: 5 Money Lessons All Kids Need to Know and Family Finances Refresher)
Practice using public transportation
Learning to drive
Making phone calls
Talking to adults

Info to gather & things to do before they leave:

cancel or manage subscriptions for while they are gone
get passwords for bank accounts, email accounts, college registration, FAFSA, etc
get prescriptions filled, talk to optometrist about contact lenses, mouth scan from orthodontist in case you need to replace a retainer, etc
go to the temple and receive endowment, attend often
get their passport

How to Make Home MTC (online mission training) more enjoyable:

family support missionary by keeping media super clean and missionary appropriate
play games and do puzzles together
go to the craft store and get supplies for water color or other crafts
go on walks, or head over to the church to play basketball in the gym
go on outings out to dinner or order in a fun lunch
make their favorite meals or treats

How to make the most of your missionary’s weekly phone call home

make a little list on your phone or a notepad of things you want to remember to talk to them about
take some notes about the people and experiences of things THEY are talking about to follow up on the next week. Pray for the people they are in contact with or teaching

IDEAS FOR WHAT TO TALK ABOUT - younger sibling edition:

Share what’s going on at school, something you learned or a funny thing that happened with your friends.

Share how things are going with extracurricular activities - sports, youth activities, music
What's the most exciting thing you've done recently?
How are things going at school? Any favorite subjects or new activities
QUESTIONS YOUNGER SIBLINGS CAN ASK:
What is different about where you live vs being at home?
Do you know anybody who is my age? Can you tell me about them?
Have you tried any new foods? What's your favorite and least favorite?

Fun ways to make corresponding special:

Lindy:

How do I keep in contact with my younger brothers, and make it fun, and make it interesting enough for them to write a letter back! If you ever have had a pen pal, you know the long wait for a response that may never come.
I tried to connect on the one thing I knew we all had in common - movie quotes! I know, not super missionary-like, but it was something that actually strengthened our relationship while I was gone. I wrote each of them a movie quote, and mailed them all separately. On the same piece of paper, they would guess the movie, and write a movie quote for me, then mail it back.
It worked so great for all three of my brothers. It was almost a competition to see which one of them could get the most movie quotes before I came home, so I was in constant contact with them for most of my mission.
In our wonderful world of immediate communication, snail mail might be a fun way to keep in touch in a special way. Email would work too. Movie quotes might not be the right topic for you, but our printable this week has many other ideas that can build your relationship and keep communication flowing.

Jen:

If they are foreign, make sure you are filling that expensive package with things they actually need, not just fluff. They don’t have a lot of room for things, and shipping can be very pricey. Send them practical things like little items they can give other people, supplies that will help them teach

Hillary:

For foreign missionaries where packages are tricky: wrap up gifts for birthday and Christmas and pop them in their suitcase for them to open later.

One other great thing my son loved when he was gone was when my 12-13 year old daughter would message him every night after she read her scriptures. It kept their goals in line and gave him a little I LOVE YOU everyday.

Things to do when they are stuck in their apartment or can do on p-day:

My Missionary Box has a set of anti-boredom cards that have lots of ideas
puzzles
watercolors
games (one of our favorites is “THE GAME” is a cooperative game you can play with a group or alone)
piano music to practice - Hymns Made Easy
rubix cube

Where to find more from My Missionary Box:

Website: https://www.mymissionarybox.com

Their weekly email has free printables nearly every week. All of those printables are also available for purchase on their website HERE: https://www.mymissionarybox.com/category/all-products