How to Prepare for a Mission?

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, this post focuses on how to prepare for a mission and this post should take three minutes to five minutes to read from start to finish. 

Are you preparing for a mission? If you are, this post is for you. 

During my teenage years (between when I was seventeen years old to when I was twenty years old); I was focusing on preparing for a full-time mission despite of me going on some one on one dates and group dates between that time frame. I notice that I did have desires to serve a full-time mission but I didn’t ever have set a goal for myself to accomplish to serve a mission.  

If you’re struggling of preparing for a mission, let me help you with some suggestions of what has helped me to prepare even though I didn’t end up serving a full-time mission and I also didn’t end up serving a part-time mission. 

I’ve gotten my Patriarchal Blessing when I was fourteen years old turning fifteen years old. I definitely encourage you to get a Patriarchal Blessing if you haven't already got one. It's a great source to have a guide in your life. 

I've graduated Seminary. Seminary is a class that runs five days a week when school is on. Seminary consist of waking up early in the mornings between Mondays to Fridays prior to school starts, opening hymns, opening prayer, a lesson (sometimes include scripture masters, always include scripture verses to read), have a discussion to share what has been learned, and then a closing prayer. Seminary goes for four years. 

I did one year of home study for Seminary and I did the three years of Seminary online. I’ve learned so much the stories that's in the scriptures during my years in Seminary, I know that I was getting familiar with some certain scripture verses that would've helped a lot during a mission. Seminary has scripture masteries. Scripture masteries are certain verses from the scriptures to learn to memorize.  

"By helping others come unto Him you will
find that you have come unto Him 
yourself." - Henry B. Eyring."

I’ve graduated Institute. Institute runs differently. Similar to Seminary but Institute consist of no scripture masteries, have different lessons compared to Seminary, instead of waking up in the mornings - Institute is in the evening, instead of running five days a week - Institute runs one day a week, and there's no opening hymns. 

I believe if I remember correctly Institute runs either the same schedule when school is on or during university. I know most of the courses that I've chosen to do during Institute would've helped during a mission. 

I've chosen to do Doctrine and Covenants (I've done that course more than two times), I manage to choose Preparing for an Eternal Marriage course even though I wasn't thinking about getting married anytime soon when I took that class, The Book of Mormon course (I've done that course once), I've done Pearl Great Price course (I've done it once), I've done Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel course (I've done that course once), Foundations of the Restoration course (I've done it once), and I either done Old Testament course or New Testament course (one of those courses, I've done it once).

I’ve attended some mission preparation (mission prep) classes. I’ve made great friendships from that class. I really like the classes. The classes back then consist of opening hymn, opening prayer, role plays, learning how to teach lessons from Preach My Gospel and have discussion about what you have learned. 

I also have gone to lessons that missionaries had with investigators (people who are interested in and learning about the Church). I often share my testimony, share a scripture verse or two, and sometimes I was able to answer the questions that the investigators had. 

I also did home study of scripture reading and getting familiar with reading and memorizing the lessons from Preach My Gospel book. I would strongly recommend to listen to past General Conference talks that has topics that matches with Preach My Gospel book. 

If you have any concerns for your preparation for your mission, you can express them to your Bishop.

If you unsure if the mission is right for you, you can ask for a priesthood blessing and let the Holy Ghost guide you in the decision. You can tell your Bishop that you do have desires to serve a mission. 

Mission does come with its own challenges and I can share what to expect on missions for a different post for another day. 

Stay Tuned.