The big white envelope came in the mail today, and with over 400 possible missions, you are almost dying with suspense! When you finally open it, the “Armenia Yerevan Mission” sounds exciting but foreign, and questions quickly start flooding your mind: What are the people like? How different will the culture be? What is the dominant religion, language, and food there?
Now you can get answers at the click of a button.
Deseret Book Company recently launched a yearlong project and newest missionary resource, MissionHome.com, a site designed specifically to answer questions like the ones above. Laurel Christensen Day, vice president of product development at Deseret Book, spoke about the motivation behind MissionHome.com: “We saw a way that we could provide a gathering place for missionaries and the families of missionaries to become acquainted with the area where they would be serving, as well as provide other unique resources, and MissionHome.com was born.”
The new site reveals an extensive mission directory with individual pages for each mission. The goal is to provide useful information about the people and the area where missionaries will be serving, such as typical meals, customs, climate, and transportation tips. In addition to the directory, other practical links and articles are provided that will help missionaries prepare, serve, and return from mission life. Senior couples can also watch for content just for them in the future.
Deseret Book is especially excited about the site’s care package program feature. Families can build their own care packages for their missionary or choose a pre-created one, always with guaranteed delivery. We sat down with MissionHome.com product manager Liz Alley and asked her about this useful new project.
LDSL: How did you gather information for the newly-created missions?
Liz: We wanted to get firsthand experience for every mission, reliable, expedient information as fresh from the field that we could get. We reached out to returned missionaries through various social media channels as well as by various grass roots campaigns and have had a great response of RMs willing to share their experiences with us.
LDSL: What was the best part of working on this project?
Liz: It’s been an exciting, and slightly overwhelming, quest to find all 406 missions but the great thing about missions is that they are contagious; you can ask just one question to a returned missionary and their eyes will light up and they’ll get an excited note to their voice. The majority of people love to talk about their missions, and we want our directory to be at the heart of that conversation.
LDSL: How often will the directory be revised?
Liz: Our mission directory is a living site, designed to allow for continuous updates as people write in and share their experiences and advice. If you or someone you know wants to contribute to our site, we would love to hear from them at editor@missionhome.com
You can explore this new resource on Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube in addition to visiting the actual website, MissionHome.com
