Lesson 201: Missionary Preparation

Choosing to Serve a Mission

Blessings of Missionary Service

One way Heavenly Father blesses His children is through missionary work. He blesses missionaries as they serve and teach people in their communities and around the world. He also blesses those who accept the gospel message and receive the service offered by missionaries. This lesson can help students feel a desire to serve the Lord as His missionaries.

Possible Learning Activities

Our responsibility to serve as missionaries

Consider explaining that during this lesson about missionary work, students will work with a companion. One way to create companionships is to prepare a basket with sample mission assignments written on pieces of paper. These could include locations where missionaries could be assigned to teach, such as Guatemala or Hungary. They could also include possible service mission assignments, such as temple ordinance workers or at a local food bank. Ensure there are two copies of each assignment in the basket. Invite each student to take a piece of paper from the basket and then sit with the classmate who drew the same assignment.

Give each companionship a copy of the following statement and display the three instructions that follow.

President Russell M. Nelson reaffirmed the Lord’s call to serve as missionaries:

Today I reaffirm strongly that the Lord has asked every worthy, able young man to prepare for and serve a mission. For Latter-day Saint young men, missionary service is a priesthood responsibility. You young men have been reserved for this time when the promised gathering of Israel is taking place. As you serve missions, you play a pivotal role in this unprecedented event!

For you young and able sisters, a mission is also a powerful, but optional, opportunity. We love sister missionaries and welcome them wholeheartedly. What you contribute to this work is magnificent! Pray to know if the Lord would have you serve a mission, and the Holy Ghost will respond to your heart and mind. (Russell M. Nelson, “Preaching the Gospel of Peace,” Liahona, May 2022, 6)

1. Read the statement with your companion.

2. Discuss what impresses you from the statement.

3. Prepare to share your insights with the class.

Invite a few companionships to share their insights with the class. If students have questions about the statement, consider helping them find answers or directing them to discuss their questions with the Lord, their parents, or Church leaders. Ensure that students understand the Lord’s expectations for young men and young women regarding missionary service.

Personal reflection

Display the following statement and questions and invite students to reflect on their personal feelings about missionary service. Giving students time to ponder and respond to the questions can invite the Holy Ghost and prepare their minds and hearts to be inspired as they study.

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

Dear young friends, you are each vital to the Lord. He has held you in reserve until now to help gather Israel. Your decision to serve a mission, whether a proselyting or a service mission, will bless you and many others. (Russell M. Nelson, “Preaching the Gospel of Peace,” Liahona, May 2022, 6–7)

Ponder and write your answers to the following questions in your study journal:

• Which parts of this statement are most meaningful to you? Why?

• What did President Nelson teach that could affect your desire to serve a mission?

Invite a few volunteers to share their answers. As students share, some might express the following truth in their own words: The Lord will bless us and many others as we choose to serve as His missionaries. Consider writing this truth on the board. Encourage students to seek help from the Holy Ghost to know how Heavenly Father would have them apply this truth to their lives.

If you feel students could benefit from learning more about service missions, consider using the material available in “Supplemental Learning Activities.”

Blessings of missionary service

The following activity can help students better understand the blessings the Lord can give them and others as they choose to serve a mission.

As a companionship, search the scriptures, general conference addresses, hymns, or Gospel Library, looking for the following:

1. Blessings the Lord can give others through our missionary efforts.

2. Blessings the Lord can give us for serving a mission.

If you feel students could use more specific guidance, consider providing each companionship with the handout titled “Blessings of Missionary Service.”

Blessings of Missionary Service

Study the following scripture passages and statements. As you study, look for the following:

1. Blessings the Lord can give others through our missionary efforts.

2. Blessings the Lord can give us for serving a mission.

• Doctrine and Covenants 4:1–4

• Doctrine and Covenants 15:6

• Doctrine and Covenants 18:14–16

• Doctrine and Covenants 31:3–8

• Doctrine and Covenants 50:22

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

Brothers and sisters, the gospel of Jesus Christ has never been needed more than it is today. Contention violates everything the Savior stood for and taught. I love the Lord Jesus Christ and testify that His gospel is the only enduring solution for peace. His gospel is a gospel of peace [see Doctrine and Covenants 27:16]. …

All missionaries teach and testify of the Savior. The spiritual darkness in the world makes the light of Jesus Christ needed more than ever. Everyone deserves the chance to know about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Every person deserves to know where they can find the hope and peace that “[pass] all understanding” [Philippians 4:7]. (Russell M. Nelson, “Preaching the Gospel of Peace,” Liahona, May 2022, 6–7)

Elder Marcus B. Nash of the Seventy taught:

Sharing the gospel kindles joy and hope in the souls of both giver and receiver. Truly, “how great shall be your joy” [Doctrine and Covenants 18:15] as you share the gospel! Sharing the gospel is joy upon joy, hope upon hope. …

Choosing to not hold up the gospel light moves us to the shadows, where we are susceptible to temptation. Importantly, the converse is true: choosing to hold up the gospel light brings us more fully into that light and the protection it provides against temptation. What a tremendous blessing in today’s world! (Marcus B. Nash, “Hold Up Your Light,” Liahona, Nov. 2021, 71–72)

When students have finished studying, invite each companionship to write around the truth on the board at least one blessing of missionary work. After multiple blessings have been listed, consider asking questions such as the following to give students an opportunity to share or testify of what they learned:

• Which blessings on the board have you or others you know received through missionary work?

• What is one scripture or statement you read that has helped increase your desire to serve the Lord as a missionary?

• How do you think missionary work can influence your relationship with the Lord? Why?

Consider sharing experiences you have had or your testimony of missionary work. You may also want to show the video “Value of a Full-Time Mission” (5:22), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and invite students to look for reasons someone would choose to serve a mission.

Consider directing students back to President Nelson’s statement from the beginning of the lesson. Invite the young men to continually pray that the Lord will increase their desire and ability to serve a full-time mission. Invite the young women to pray to know whether the Lord would have them serve a full-time mission.

Additional Resources

How can God bless me for serving a mission?

Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis of the Seventy shared:

Among the many rich blessings He has given me for serving Him as a full-time missionary are a greater faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement and a stronger knowledge and testimony of His teachings, so that I am not easily swayed by “every wind of doctrine” (Ephesians 4:14). I lost my fear of teaching. My capacity to face challenges with optimism increased. By observing individuals and families I met or taught as a missionary, I learned that the teachings of God are true when He says that sin does not bring true happiness and that obedience to the commandments of God helps us prosper both temporally and spiritually (see Mosiah 2:41; Alma 41:10). And I learned for myself that God is a God of miracles (see Mormon 9).

All of these things were instrumental in my preparation for adult life, including possible marriage and parenthood, Church service, and professional and community life. …

My mission completely shaped my life. I learned it is worth the effort to trust in God, to trust in His wisdom and mercy and in His promises. After all, He is our Father, and without any doubt, He wants the best for us. (Marcos A. Aidukaitis, “Lift Up Your Heart and Rejoice,” Liahona, May 2022, 42–43)

Why is serving a mission an important responsibility?

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught:

Proclaiming the gospel is not a part-time priesthood obligation. It is not simply an activity in which we engage for a limited time or an assignment we must complete as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Rather, missionary work is a manifestation of our spiritual identity and heritage. We were foreordained in the premortal existence and born into mortality to fulfill the covenant and promise God made to Abraham. We are here upon the earth at this time to magnify the priesthood and to preach the gospel. That is who we are, and that is why we are here—today and always. (David A. Bednar, “Becoming a Missionary,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2005, 47)

Supplemental Learning Activities

A mission call

Invite students to share if they have ever watched someone open a mission call.

• What was that experience like?

• What do you remember from the mission call letter besides where the person was assigned and the language they would be speaking?

Point out that sometimes we might overlook the promised blessings listed in a mission call. Provide students with a copy of a recent mission call letter. Invite them to look for the blessings the Lord promises through His prophet to those who are called to serve.

Service missions

Explain that worthy young men and young women who are unable for physical, mental, emotional, or other reasons to serve a proselyting mission may be called to a service mission. Service missionaries might serve the Lord in multiple assignments, including with charitable organizations, through Church operations, and in stake-assigned opportunities. To see an example, consider watching “Service Missions: Elder Quade’s Story” (5:19), available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Invite students to read the following from the guidelines provided for service missionaries, looking for insights about service missions:

The First Presidency provided a service missionary purpose to guide you in your sacred call to serve:

• “Our purpose is to help others come unto Christ by serving them as the Savior would. We serve voluntarily in charitable organizations, Church functions, and within the community. We will minister in His name to the one, just as He did, expressing His loving kindness.”

Remember that how you serve the Savior is more important than where you serve or what you do. President Russell M. Nelson declared: “Through a lifetime of service in this Church, I have learned that it really doesn’t matter where one serves. What the Lord cares about is how one serves” (“Ministering with the Power and Authority of God,” Ensign or Liahona, May 2018, 68). Your service is for the Master, and you are invited to serve like Him! (Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ—Service Missions, 1.3)

• What impressed you?

• What insights did you gain about representing Jesus Christ as a missionary?

• How can this information expand our vision of missionary work?

For more information, you could invite students to search details available at ChurchofJesusChrist.org/service-missionary or in the Gospel Library app.