Missionaries: Who Are They All, Where Do They Come From and Why Are They Here?

Who goes on a mission, why go on a mission, and who are all these missionaries anyways? What makes a young man or woman give up two years when in the prime of their lives?

I went on a mission, as did my wife and we raised our children on same the principles that helped prepare us for life when we were young. Our three sons all chose to serve on missions and one is still out there, as can occasionally be seen on the blog when we share some of his messages home. They are all too short but sweet, as we see him grow from his experience in the Lord's service. But, why did his brothers go and why did he go? In spite of them having been, or in the case of the last one still being a missionary, they are not naturally men of many words and I have never really asked them to go or why they went. They just did because they wanted to and it was the right thing to do, knowing what they know.

They are good and just men, the two that have returned from their missions are happily married and better men for having given up two years of their lives to serve God and what they believe in. The missions they served has served them well as they did so with all their heart and sincerity, and probably a little fun and goofing off just for good measure if I know them right.

Every young man and women choosing to give up their valuable time and money has a slightly different reason for going but the general purpose is the same. Some sell their cars, motorcycles or computers to go, most have to save up for a long time to go, often in menial and low paying jobs as they usually also must interrupt their not yet completed education, they all come to their missions with different levels of enthusiasm, some more timid than others but they come to share in the work of teaching a message of the gospel, they themselves love and live by.

They come to share this with those prepared to hear what possibly might be strong and significant enough to move thousands of young people to give up everything, with the sole purpose of telling you and your friends about it. Do you want to know why or what they have to say, does your friends want to know? If so, please follow this link:

http://mormon.org/missionaries/ 

If you reside near Antarctica (I am guessing there are no missionaries there but I could be wrong) and missionaries are few and far between or if you're the shy type, you may follow this link to chat with missionaries online:

http://mormon.org/chat/ 

If you don't live near Antarctica but rather in the US or Canada, you may also call the missionaries:

1-888-537-6600 

If you see them walking down the street, or coming to your door: Please, invite them in and hear what they have to say, give it a chance, open your heart a little and see if you might catch the Spirit of what they have say. You might discover it to be very much what you believed all along but never heard anyone else say out loud, the way it should be.