What is a Mission?

Many of our friends and family, may not know much about Missions for the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I gather some information to explain a little bit of what Josh will be doing for the next two years and why it's important to us to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Every week, close to 500 young men and women between the ages of 19 and 25 from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints leave families, friends, school and careers and travel to one of 17 missionary training centers (sometimes referred to as MTCs) around the globe.

• Before departing to a training center, missionaries receive a letter of assignment from the president of the Church in Salt Lake City telling them where they will serve for two years (for young men) or 18 months (for young women).

• About 80 percent of missionaries are trained at the Church's largest training center in Provo, Utah. It is home to an average of 2,700 missionaries at a time or 24,000 over the course of a year

• At training centers, missionaries receive religious instruction and language training and learn teaching skills. They also develop a respect and cultural understanding for the areas and countries where they will serve before traveling to destinations in more than 120 countries. Training lasts from three weeks to three months, depending on language needs.

• 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)

• More than 50,000 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 19 and 25, single women over the age of 21 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 17 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, Guatemala, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the Philippines, Spain and South Korea.

• 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.

Reference: Information from http://www.newsroom.lds.org