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Supporting Your Child on a Mission
Parents can begin laying the mission groundwork as soon as their child is born.
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A full-time mission is a two-year commitment for a young man, 18 months for a young woman. Parents can begin laying the mission groundwork as soon as their child is born. Preparation and support continue until the missionary is safely home and successfully reintegrated into normal, post-mission life.
Several years ago a bishop stopped me in the hallway and said, "President Bott, I’m not interested in a 28-hour lecture (the number of hours I teach Missionary Preparation classes each semester). I’ve been asked to speak at sacrament meeting on what makes a successful missionary. I want to focus on the one characteristic most likely to result in a successful mission."
He obviously didn’t want to hear about my lifetime of missionary experiences. Putting my wounded ego aside, I answered: "I can’t give you one, but I can give you two!"
"From you, that’ll probably be good enough,” he said. “Shoot."
"Diligence and obedience," was my response. Then I elaborated: "If a missionary is diligent, but not obedient, he’ll not be sensitive to the whisperings of the ‘Still Small Voice’ so essential to doing the Lord’s work His way. If the missionary isn’t diligent, he may be obeying the mission rules—but won’t be where he needs to be, when he needs to be there in order to be the instrument in the Lord’s hands to accomplish His will."
That answer seemed to satisfy the bishop, who thanked me and left. Then this question crossed my mind: "What should parents do to help their son or daughter serve an honorable mission?" There are three basic preparation periods, each requiring constant vigilance.
Pre-Mission
Although mission preparation begins at birth, it should intensify by the time the child reaches the age of twelve. Think about what missionaries do, and you’ll be able to identify needed areas of attention. For instance, missionaries teach. Help your future missionary learn to organize a talk, use effective body language, and control voice inflection and volume. Teach him to be sensitive to the audience, and how to fit the talk into the allotted time.
Right now you may be saying, "but I don’t know how to do those things myself." Maybe not, but you’ve attended many more meetings than your child has, and likely have a built-in sensor of what works.
Give your budding missionary multiple opportunities to speak in public. Family Home Evening lessons provide a friendly (sometimes only semi-friendly) audience and what may be a very willing and vocal group of critics. Nothing comes closer to real missionary work than Home Teaching or Visiting Teaching. Encourage your child to teach most of the lessons to the assigned families. Sacrament meeting talks, firesides, youth conferences, substitute teaching at Primary and a hundred other opportunities are available.
Young people sometimes need serious training in using appropriate language, especially when speaking with adults. Terms such as "dude," "rad," "cool," may endear them to their peers, but ostracize them from adults they’ll be called to teach. If tics or habits need to be eliminated or modified, you’re in the best position to help.
Washing their own laundry (no colored with whites!), keeping their rooms tidy, doing their own grocery shopping, and cooking their own meals give teenagers a huge head start when they enter the mission field.
>> Click here for entire article
By Randy Bott
>> Click here for information about LDS Living Magazine
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 Searching the Scriptures
In Searching the Scriptures, Elder Cook explores how we can effectively ponder, question, and mark the scriptures and understand how they apply to our lives. He also shares his testimony of the power and blessings that come from knowing God's word.
>> CLICK HERE
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Scripture Power
Is scripture study in your home a chore, or even a bore? Liven things up with Scripture Power! This practical guide identifies developmental characteristics of children in four categories: birth to age 2, 3 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12 to 18. Then it gives specific ideas for scripture-study activities that 'connect' with children in each stage, including art activities, scripture decorations, collages, coloring books, mini-dramas, scripture journals, word cards, slide shows, scripture games, and much, much more.
>> CLICK HERE
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