Digital Only: Young Adults
Advice from Returned Mission Leaders for the Rest of Your Life
Mission leaders who have served around the world share their advice on how to stay strong in the gospel after coming home from a mission.
You served with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, and now it’s time to come home. You might be worried about keeping your testimony as strong as it was when you were a missionary. You might be afraid of letting good gospel habits slip. You might be worried about the craziness of life and the world coming between you and your Heavenly Father.
These are all very real and valid concerns. So we asked mission leaders who served around the world, “What three pieces of advice did you give your missionaries as they left the mission?” Here are three takeaways they had to share:
1. Do the Small and Simple Things
When we’re young, we might not fully appreciate the power of the “simple answers”—read your scriptures, go to church, and pray. But on a mission, these simple practices start to hold deeper importance to us. Yet, when we return home, it’s often “because of the simpleness of the way, or easiness of it” that some start slowly neglecting these essential spiritual practices (1 Nephi 17:41).
Mission leaders Paul and Susan Harman served in the Brazil Santos Mission. When asked what advice they would share, they answered, “Pray and read the Book of Mormon—every day! Go to church every week. Pay your tithing every month.”
David and Bianca Palmieri Lisonbee served in what used to be the Brazil Salvador Mission. Their advice is to “make your first conversation every day be with Heavenly Father, your first reading every day be from the scriptures (especially the Book of Mormon), and your first 10th of all you earn belong to the Lord. Always place others first and prepare for and plan to come forth in the First Resurrection.”
It is easy to commit to living these fundamental spiritual practices when you are still a missionary. But once you come home, the worldly temptations you have worked so hard to block out are now all around you.
Craig and Melissa Ballard served in the Oregon Portland Mission. They answered this question by saying, “Repentance is a gift. Repent, reset, and refocus every day. Remember it is more about progression than about perfection.”
Mission leaders Thomas and Susan Mullen served in what used to be the New York Utica Mission. They counseled, “You will need the revelations, promptings of the Spirit, and the increased faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement that comes from your prayerful, daily study of the Book of Mormon.”
2. Remember Your Covenants
The world we live in is filled with distractions. When we lose sight of what is most important, it becomes very easy to stop living the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Many mission leaders counseled their missionaries to stay focused on Jesus Christ by keeping their covenants and attending the temple.
Brother and Sister Ballard said: “Remember that being a covenant keeper is what entitles you to access priesthood power. If you want to keep the spiritual power you had as a missionary, keep your covenants!”
Marl and Dana Wiest served in the Mexico Veracruz Mission. Here are their thoughts on the temple: “Having a current temple recommend establishes a pattern of decisions and a lifestyle that is consistent with that same positive and upward spiritual trajectory.”
Mission leaders Brad and Debi Wilcox served in the Chile Santiago East Mission. Their advice is this: “Find joy in your covenant relationship with God and Christ and feel confident in Their care. Feel Their love and trust Their grace so deeply that when you slip up, you don’t give up.”
3. Remember Your Experiences and Endure to the End
Remembering the spiritual experiences you had on your mission can strengthen your resolve to continue living the gospel throughout your life. There is power in remembering what the Lord has done for you.
Mission leaders J. Scott and Shiree Nixon served in the Brazil Fortaleza East Mission. They sent their missionaries off with this advice: “Just because you are returning home does not mean your mission is ending. Your mission actually continues forever.”
Larry and Lisa Laycock served in the Chile Santiago East Mission. Their final advice to each missionary is to “become a lifetime disciple of Jesus Christ. Magnify callings and serve with a happy heart. Press forward with steadfastness in Christ. Be not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.”
Coming home from a mission is a unique experience for each person. But it doesn’t have to be a fearful experience. By doing the simple things every single day and staying worthy to enter the temple, you will be blessed with spiritual protection.