How to Prepare Your Son or Daughter for an LDS Mission

Have you wondered how families prepare their son or daughter to serve two years or eighteen - month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?  This type of commitment is very different from a two week or month commitment. This article offers ten consistent commitments that need to happen along the path to their adulthood and facilitate their preparation for the important commitment of serving a mission representing our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

The men and women that serve missions for the church are the best any establishment has to offer. They live what they teach and teach what they live. If they will not or do not fully follow the Commandments; they will not be serving missions representing The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is a fact that you truly cannot teach principles you are not living. These religious principles give these special young adults the righteous power they need to succeed and bring others to our Savior.

Of course, their success starts with concerned parents that lead them down the road to a lifetime of service to the Lord.  We have had six of our sons who are now serving or who have served missions.  We also have a seventh son who has expressed a desire to serve a full time mission when he turns 19, and is on track at this time to do so.  There are things we have noticed are essential to reaping the blessings of being honored to have your children serve full time missions and represent their Savior, Jesus Christ.

1) Parents need to start the day the child is born, if they have not throughout their life already, to live gospel teachings by example. It will mean more what they see you do than what they hear they should do. Try to live your life with impeccable obedience and happiness will abound.

2) Follow the principles and teachings of the church throughout their life.  “Out of small things proceedeth that which is great.” Be as perfect as possible about having your Family Home Evenings each week and regular family scripture study.  They need to know and understand every bit of doctrine they can possibly process through their minds. This will develop an immoveable testimony about true gospel principles.

3) Make whatever sacrifice necessary to have them attend all of their church meetings throughout the week and on Sunday. Let them know it is expected and should be their top priority along with their school responsibilities. They need to see your sacrifice and they will know it is important to you, too. It’s also important to have them at their meetings on time, so they can perform their Priesthood duties, such as preparing the Sacrament.

4) As parents, attend all your church meetings and offer to do service when the opportunities present themselves.  A two year or eighteen month mission is a great sacrifice and a son or daughter needs to know what you think about the importance of service to your fellow beings.

5) Expect your son and daughter to attend and graduate from seminary.  It is absolutely excellent preparation for a mission and they graduate with a comprehensive knowledge of the scriptures.

Importantly, they learn to recognize the spirit of truth as they are reading and studying. The spirit of God will bear witness to them of what is true and what is false and they will acquire an impermeable testimony that will endure the doubts of the world.

From these experiences, they will not lean on what anyone else says, but they will lean on what they know in their soul is the true word of God and the happiness following the Commandments brings in their life.

6) Call your family together morning and night and have prayer as a family.  Also, encourage them to have personal prayer for their own concerns and those around them. Don’t let any excuse get in the way.  It is another way they will build their faith in our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ, and they will have many experiences through their growing - up years knowing their prayers are answered.

This will continue throughout their missions as they pray for the word of the Lord to go forth and touch the hearts of people they are teaching, that they may know the true word of God.  It is also a time they learn the proper language that the Lord expect us to use in prayer, such as thee, thine, and thou; as opposed to “me” and “you.” Of course, we are taught that God hears all prayers, but the closer we come to Him, the more reverent we want to be to show our respect and our reverence for Deity. We want to lead by correct example.

7) Teach your son or daughter that fasting is a higher spiritual principle that will call down the powers of heaven.  Teach them that a true fast is to go without food and water for approximately 24 hours skipping two meals and donating the money you would spend on those two meals to the poor & needy, fast offering.

Certainly, they cannot be expected to fast when they are young, but as they turn eight years old and are baptized, you will see a desire begin in them and they will not want to eat while they are at church for three hours and they will go from there as to their choosing. They will also speak of religious subjects and how they are feeling. They will move at their own pace and by the time they are teenagers, they usually have the principle of fasting nearly mastered.

8) Teach your children to love another unconditionally. This is the Master’s way. They will quickly learn when they are on the streets of the world that things are very different from what they have experienced in the sheltered religious environment they have grown up in.  Have frequent conversations throughout their life about looking for the good qualities in all people and concerning themselves with serving humanity without expecting any reward.

9) Tithing is a powerful principle to teach by example. Be committed to paying an honest and full tithing to receive many blessings. Teach your children to pay an honest tithing too.  When children start young as they get their allowance or “earn” other money, they will feel the spirit of the Lord within them and they will receive the blessings of tithing.  They will learn to trust the Lord and that He always will do what He says He will do.  Importantly also, is they will know the Lord can trust them to give back 10% of all He has given them and to realize that everything they have actually belongs to Him. 

There is a huge different between "believing in Jesus" and "believing Jesus." Tithing is one of those principles that differentiate the two groups. People that tithe, "believe Jesus."

10)  Understand that participation in Scouting and the Young Men and Young Women programs teach them additional skills, such as integrity and honesty, they will need for their mission and throughout their successful adult lives.  All of our sons are Eagle Scouts. They learn good citizenship and service to others.  In addition, they learn to set goals and develop leadership skills that will help them during their mission and later with their families and occupation.

11)  Teach them temporal things with life management and problem solving skills. They will be on their own with their companion a lot of the time. They need to be taught to be an example for their companion also, in order to complement each other. One needs to be available to buoy up or help the other when the other one is experiencing a time of weakness or homesickness.

Although they may be able to call on members of the Church to help them in time of need, there may be circumstances where they need to be very independent. Teach them how to do laundry, how to sew on a button, and even how to hem a pair of pants. This can be initiated by having them sew on their Scout badges (we never could get ours to stick for any length of time). Don’t forget to teach them about basic cooking and what makes a balance meal with the different food groups, and how you can partake of nutrition on a very frugal budget.  Teach them to iron a shirt and the characteristics of an iron and the settings in case they have to press a pair of pants.

12)  Teach them financial management.   Teach them young to start saving their money for their mission. Our sons felt so much more commitment to their missions as they spent their time wisely for what they had given "sweat" for to earn their mission money and did want to make every minute count. Assure they know about a debit and credit card and the differences between the two. Teach them about safety precautions with the cards. Teach them about a budget and how important it is to stay within the budget because they will have a very small monthly budget to operate within.  If they spend all their food money at the beginning of the month, there will be troubled times for the rest of the month!

Again, each day it is vital to put a “little drop of oil in our lamps,” so when called upon, our lamp is full. These young people have UNlimited potential.  They were sent to this earth at this time for a particular reason.  They are special, they are strong, and they are righteous.  They are called and sent out to preach the Gospel, because they ARE living the Gospel and setting the example of “practicing what they preach”!

This is definitely a decision you cannot make for them.  There is too much sacrifice involved.  They have to be the type person that is ready for this commitment. They have to be the type person that possesses their own testimony that the Lord’s true church is here upon the earth and the Lord wants them to tell His glad message.

You will get from them what you expect!  Set high goals for them and live a righteous example for them to emulate.  (By thy fruits, ye shall know them) They will step up to the occasion when it is time to serve a mission. The mission experience will positively impact them for the rest of their lives.  As we all know, the rewards are heavenly!

Betty Gustin