What to Expect When You're Expecting the Missionaries

One of the primary ways that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spreads its message is through its missionaries. You’ve probably seen the missionaries on the streets, riding their bikes, or knocking at your front door. If you’re curious about the church and want to learn more, talking to the missionaries is a great way to have your questions answered. It can be scary, though, inviting strangers into your home to share a message you don’t know a lot about and are not sure you’d believe even if you did hear it. Today I hope to alleviate some of the fears you might have about inviting the missionaries into your home by explaining what to expect when you have the missionaries over for the first time.

Expect Them to be Young

One of the identifying characteristics about the missionaries is that most of them are young. Although older couples do have the opportunity to serve a mission when their children are grown, for the most part, the LDS missionaries serving around the world are between the ages of 18 and 25. This may be surprising to people outside of the church. However, scriptures suggest that the Lord has used the younger generation to do His work in times past too. For instance, in the Old Testament, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were children when they stood up and requested to not eat the king’s meat (Daniel 1:6). In the New Testament, though it does not explicitly give Mary’s age, we can guess, based on social customs of the time, that she was around the age of 16 when she gave birth to Jesus Christ ("Marry and Joseph"). These and other examples suggest that the Lord does not always have old age as a requirement to serve in His kingdom. He is the one who has called the young people of the church to serve. He trusts them with His message, and so do the members of the church.

Expect Them to Teach You

The duty of a missionary is the preach the word of God. They do this through teaching lessons and answering questions about the church. If you’ve never had the missionaries into your home before, expect them to teach you the first time you invite them in. On their first visit, they will probably teach you about Heavenly Father’s love for His children and the importance of families. In addition to this, they will probably teach you about Jesus Christ and how He restored His church through the prophet Joseph Smith. Feel free to ask the missionaries questions you have while they teach you these things. If the missionaries don’t know the answers to your questions, they will do their best to find the answers to them as long as you ask with a sincere and humble desire to know the truth. Remember that the missionaries do not want to debate or argue with you over rights and wrongs. Rather, missionaries merely desire to share with you what they know is true and then to leave it up to you to pray and discover for yourself if it is true. Ultimately, the missionaries are only tools in the hands of the Lord. The real teacher is the sweet spirit you feel as the missionaries testify. That spirit is the real teacher who will let you know what is true.

Expect Them to Invite You to Act

At the end of your time together, it is likely that the missionaries will invite you to act. They may invite you to read a passage of scripture. They may invite you to pray over the message they have shared. They may even invite you to get baptized at some future date. The reason why missionaries invite people to act is because they know that one of the best ways to find out if something is good is to try it out. We do this all the time with other important decisions we make in life. When buying a car, we take it for a test drive. When purchasing a house, we inspect it before making the sale final. When dating, we spend a lot of time getting to know someone before we commit to marrying them. When making decisions with far-reaching effects, it only makes sense to try something out before fully committing. Acting on the invitations that the missionaries extend to you is how you can put the gospel to the test before fully committing. Reading the scriptures will invite the Spirit into your life. Praying to God and asking Him your questions will invite Him to answer. Pondering over whether or not you should get baptized will give you something to pray to Him about. The Lord Himself endorsed this pattern in John 7:17 when he said: “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” When the missionaries invite you to act they are merely extending this ancient invitation from the Lord to you today.

Expect Good Things
Meeting with the missionaries can be the beginning of many good things. I have seen one visit with the missionaries lead to better decisions and brighter futures. I have seen one visit with the missionaries lead to changed hearts and mended families. I have seen one visit with the missionaries lead to greater desires to be good and increased feelings of self-worth. I have seen one visit with the missionaries lead to deep joy and lasting peace. These, and many more blessings await those who have the courage to reach out and seek to know for themselves if what the missionaries teach is true.

Whether or not you invite the missionaries into your home to hear their message, I hope that you can appreciate the work they do and the effort they put into sharing what they believe to be true. They may be young, but they work tirelessly and with fierce determination, which to me speaks volumes about the message they have to share. As with all good things related to the church, it focuses on Jesus Christ. I know for myself that their message is true and that it is the best message in the world. I invite you to find out the same thing for yourself.

*If you're interested in meeting with the missionaries, click here for more information. 

Also, click here to watch a fun video my husband's friend recently posted called "6 Things You've Always Wondered About Mormon Missionaries" 

Lately

The past month has been full of so many fun adventures for Jon and me!

In the middle of April, we hiked Mt. Si, a peak up near Seattle. It was a fairly steep 4 miles and a very busy trail, but it proved to provide a beautiful view at the top!

Then, the last week of April we ventured into Seattle for our first Mariner's game. The whole ordeal took us quite a few hours because we took the bus and wanted to get there early, but it was all worth it.

One of the best parts of the evening was getting to see Jon's friend from growing up, Tex. Tex works at the Mariner's games, but was able to come and sit with us during his break for quite a big chunk of the game. Jon especially appreciated having him there so that he could have someone who understands what's going on to the same degree that he does!

Today we spent several hours bike riding along the Foothills Trail, starting in Puyallup. This trail is wonderful for intercity bike riding! It's over 30 miles long and paved the whole way, weaving through several cities. We hope to make it back sometime soon to bike along another part of it!

Why I'm Not a Mormon

I spend a lot of time doing what I love most—being Mormon. "Mormon" is a nickname for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In a world that is growing more and more disinterested in religion, it’s easy to assume that Mormons have ulterior motives for being members of the church. I want to take a moment to address some common conceptions skeptics have about why people join religions, and why none of these are reasons for why I’m a Mormon.

I'm not a Mormon because it makes me feel good.

There are many wonderful doctrines of the church that, when I hear and learn about, make me feel good. We believe that every person has great worth. We believe that there is life after death. We believe that families can be together forever. The list goes on. But I’m not religious just because it feels good. In fact, there are many cases when being Mormon doesn’t feel awesome. It doesn’t feel awesome to resist temptation. It doesn’t feel awesome to be the odd one out. It doesn’t feel awesome to be the subject of criticism. If a good emotional high is what I was after, I’d find it somewhere else.

I'm not a Mormon because it provides me with a place to make friends.

I meet most of my friends at church, not because I don’t want friends outside of the church—in fact, some of my best friends are not members—but because I tend to make friends where I dedicate my time, and for me that is at church. This is not, however, my motivation for attending. Being a member of the church is a very time intensive commitment, and I’m sure I could reap the benefit of friends through other, easier venues. To add to this, there have been times when it was hard for me to find friends at church; or times when, though I did make friends, people in my congregation were moody, critical of my efforts, and hard to get along with. In both these cases, I stayed true to the faith. Yes—my membership in the church does provide me with wonderful friendships, but the effort it takes to be a member, along with the occasional less than ideal circumstance or fellow worshipper, confirms to me that I don’t show up to church every week just to make friends.

I'm not a Mormon because I was raised in the church.

I am incredibly grateful that I was born and raised in the church. Because of this, I was blessed with opportunities to learn about and experiment living the gospel from an early age. Many skeptics would argue that my membership in the church today is due to this, and that if I were raised in another home where my parents taught different values, I wouldn’t be a Mormon today. In response to this, I would point out that as I’ve left home to create my own life, there are things that I have chosen to not do the way my parents taught me to. Going through this process of deciding how to live my adult life has forced me to pause and question whether my membership in the church is due to my parents’ faith or mine. After many anxious days and months of sometimes feeling uneasy and doubtful, I have affirmed that the reason I keep going to church is because I have a testimony, not because my parents do. I will always be grateful for the sacrifices my parents made to raise me in the church, but my membership now is a decision made by me, not any outside party.

I'm not a Mormon because I am scared of what others will think if I leave.

If I left the church, more than one person’s jaw would drop. My non-member friends might wonder if I accidentally sipped a lick of beer at their last party, while those in my congregation and family would be disappointed. Surely for some people, the thought of what others might think of them if they were to leave the church is enough to scare them into staying. However, I believe that I receive just as many critical opinions of others by being a member of the church as I would if I were to leave. Being a member of the church brands me as different, and sometimes it’s hard to be the different one. It’s embarrassing to correct myself when I unintentionally tell a little lie. It’s scary being the one who walks out of the movie. It’s hard speaking-up and sharing my church beliefs with others—beliefs that are personal and priceless to me—only to have them turn me down. Of course some people would think badly of me if I chose to leave the church, but by remaining a member I choose to belong to a religion that many people believe is too strict and kooky, therefore making me the target of many unfavorable opinions. Leaving the church would be scary because of what others would think of me, but as a member of the church I already deal with other people’s critical opinions every day; jumping ship will not change that.

Why I am a Mormon.

I am not a Mormon because it makes me feel good or because it’s a great place to make friends, and I’m not committed just because I was raised in the church or because I’m scared of what others will think if I leave. So why am I a Mormon?

Though it can be hard at times, and though it is not the popular thing to do, I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because I believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer of the world.

I love Him.

I honor Him.

I trust Him.

I believe Him and in Him.

I believe that Jesus Christ volunteered Himself before the creation of the earth to come down and sacrifice Himself as our Savior so that we might one day return to live with our Heavenly Father, despite our faults.

I believe the Jesus Christ was born of Mary in a stable, and that this humble beginning was just the start of a gloriously humble life.

I believe that Jesus Christ lived His life as the perfect example of how we should live our lives if we want to be happy, clean, and good. He served constantly, lifting those around Him regardless of faults, and willingly offered second chances.

I believe that Jesus Christ suffered the Atonement and died on Calvary’s cross for each of us. I believe that because of this, we can all access the power to change and become clean again through repentance.

I believe that Jesus Christ rose from the grave three days after His death, breaking the bands of mortality that bind us all, thereby promising each of us life after this one.

I believe that Jesus Christ appeared to the boy Joseph Smith and restored the church that He had originally established when He was upon the earth, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

I believe that I will see Him one day, but that I do not have to wait until that day to come to know Him. I can know Him now, though reading the scriptures, praying, keeping the commandments, and continuing faithfully as a member of His restored church.

Everything else around me may change: family, friends, location, politics, pop culture, jobs, health, socioeconomic status, and on and on. However, one thing that I know will never change is Jesus Christ. He is constant. And because He’s constant, I will be too. I am fixed firmly on being a member of this church because He has asked me, through living apostles and prophets, to be a fully committed and contributing member of this church from yesterday to today until the day I die and on into eternity. And so I will be.

This is why I am a Mormon.

He is why I am a Mormon.

In essence, I choose to be a Mormon because I choose to follow Jesus Christ.