Call Me On A MissionLDS missionary tips to help you hit the ground running

I think there is something very important to understand about time on a mission. You have an incredible ability to affect not only your own life or the lives of converts, but you will be able to affect the lives of your family perhaps just as much as anyone else.

So let me just begin by telling you that preparation days are extremely precious! It is hard enough to get everything done when you study in the morning; do laundry; go shopping; write to the family; write to friends; get together with your zone; play soccer, fubíto, or basketball; and any other activity you want to do for the week before beginning work again at 6:00. Sometimes it is easy to give a half-hearted effort to write a mediocre letter home—there just isn’t a lot of time!

One of the most important things you can know is how much your letters can change, empower, and teach your family. I remember when I began the mission, I set a personal challenge for myself to write my letters to my family as if they were journal entries. I wrote about the spiritual experiences I had and the things I had learned. I would write about the investigators, the church, my testimony, and the scriptures. They were very personal to me, and I was eager to share them with my family.

When I was just over half way through my mission, I had an incredible experience. I received a package from my sister. When I opened the letter that was on the package, I remember it was written on stationary with chocolate-chip cookies on it. I thought it was a little mean that she would use that stationary, as there is no such thing as home-baked cookies in Bolivia. However, when I opened the package, I found an entire bag of chocolate-chip cookies!!! It was about the best thing in the world!

As I began to read the letter, it became an even more special experience. My sister told me about the prior Sunday when she was in Sunday School. They were singing the opening hymn to the meeting, and she began to think about me. She said that she began to think about the missionary service I was giving, and she began to cry as she thought about how much I had grown and how much the work had come to mean for me. I never knew the effects that my letters were having, and this was the first I realized their power. My sister and I had actually developed a spiritual relationship through my letters that we had never previously had. And since coming home from my mission, we have become the best of friends.

Never underestimate the power of your letters to your family and friends. You are a chosen servant of Jesus Christ Himself, and you have a great power that is given to you. You have the power to affect lives, change people, and testify with a conviction that can be heard and felt through your words, whether written or spoken. That is the power you carry as a missionary, and it is given to bless lives. Remember to exercise this gift and never settle for mediocrity.