Why should you serve a mission?!?


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As a youth leader I have encountered a lot of young men in the Aaronic Priesthood who seem a little on the fence about serving a mission. Therefore, I thought I would bring into light some of the benefits of serving a mission that are not often discussed.

I asked why one should serve a mission during Priests quorum meeting one Sunday and got the expected primary answer, “You should serve a mission to spread the gospel and because it is right and it will help you spiritually and so on and so forth”. Well, yea, those are the most important reasons for serving but how many youth can really understand them? Until you have had similar experiences you really can’t. For some youth, this is not enough to get them excited about serving a mission. If you feel like you need a little additional incentive then consider the following benefits of serving a mission:

1.Travel to new places, see new things, have new experiences, meet new interesting people, improve yourself, etc.

A mission is a very eye-opening and educating experience and will help you learn about the world around you, especially if you go to a foreign country. You may learn a new language, figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life and meet people who have a great impact and beneficial influence on your future career. In addition your experiences will help you develop critical life skills that most people take for granted such as cooking, money management, scheduling and planning, social skills, cleanliness in appearance and living conditions, street smarts and self defense, event organizing and other useful responsibilities.

2.Free college credits!

If you go to a foreign speaking mission and plan to attend school afterwards your new language skills can help you test out of a whole semester worth of language classes! After my mission in Russia I was able to test out of 3 Russian courses (12 credit hours). I took an advanced Russian class later and got an ‘A’ even though I practically slept through it! Some schools offer scholarships for finishing your degree in 8 semesters or less and this will drastically improve your chances of doing that! You might even be able to count your mission experience as an internship at some schools.

3.Missions make a resume shine!

What a great capstone for your education! Serving a mission gives you loads of bragging rights for job interviews and you will have advantages in your career that others just will not have. Some of these things will include (but are not limited to):

•Sales Experience -

As a missionary you have gone literally door to door selling religion. You have had to come up with new creative and attractive ways to get people interested. Sales jobs are generally not hard to get but you will have a great head start over the competition!

•Teaching (aka training and development) –

What are missionaries if not teachers? They teach by having discussions with members and investigators, train and receive training in district meetings and other leadership meetings, teach youth and children, teach in Sunday meetings, etc. Any large and reputable company has a training and development department and they will pay through the nose for experienced and qualified trainers.

•Leadership Experience –

Some who serve missions will be lucky enough to hold the position of district leader, zone leader and/or assistance to the president. Serving in these positions will teach you loads about group behavior, motivational skills, team work, organizing meetings, etc. In many foreign missions the missionaries are seen as the leaders of the branch they serve in since there is a lack of priesthood leadership in many parts of the world. If you find yourself in one of these areas you will be seen as a leader whether you like it or not. You will be organizing church activities, presiding in Sunday meetings, directing services and representing the local church community, and so forth. These experiences will teach you about how to be an effective leader and will benefit you in your future career, Sunday callings and family life.

•Counseling and Therapy –

Every try to help someone stop smoking or overcome an addiction? If you are a missionary your chances are more than likely. You will also help people around the world to cope with tragedies in their lives as you teach them truths of the gospel such as the eternal family, repentance and forgiveness.

•Multi-lingual Skills –

Though not everyone who serves a mission will receive the opportunity to learn a new language, those who do should consider themselves extremely blessed! Even learning a language in school will not get you anywhere close to the fluency you will attain by living and working with those native to that language (trust me, I took 4 years of Russian before my mission and thought that I was taught the wrong language when I arrived in my area). Many companies drool over the language abilities that returned missionaries bring them. Some companies pay more if you speak a second language even if you do not use it!

•Public Speaking –

Get over your stage fright before you serve a mission because you will find yourself constantly at the pulpit. The more you do it, the better you get at it. By the time you come home you will be a pro! Did you know that most people fear public speaking more than death? I guess that just one more way the gospel brings peace to our lives.

4.Chicks dig RMs!

Ok guys, Mormon or not, possessing the above characteristics will make you a much more eligible bachelor! Not to mention if you did a lot of biking on your mission you will probably be pretty ripped when you get back. If you plan on attending an LDS school afterwards… well, you get the picture. You know all those stories about BYU being a “meat market”? They are all true. Just don’t come back with a “more holy than thou” attitude.

Over all I would say that serving a mission is like going on a roller coaster. There is a lot of suspense and anticipation before it, thrills and excitement while it is happening (sometimes a little dizziness and vomiting) and a yearning to go through it again after it is over.

Now lets hear some comments of other reasons why you want to serve a mission.

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As a youth leader I have encountered a lot of young men in the Aaronic Priesthood who seem a little on the fence about serving a mission. Therefore, I thought I would bring into light some of the benefits of serving a mission that are not often discussed.

I asked why one should serve a mission during Priests quorum meeting one Sunday and got the expected primary answer, “You should serve a mission to spread the gospel and because it is right and it will help you spiritually and so on and so forth”. Well, yea, those are the most important reasons for serving but how many youth can really understand them? Until you have had similar experiences you really can’t. For some youth, this is not enough to get them excited about serving a mission. If you feel like you need a little additional incentive then consider the following benefits of serving a mission:

1.Travel to new places, see new things, have new experiences, meet new interesting people, improve yourself, etc.

A mission is a very eye-opening and educating experience and will help you learn about the world around you, especially if you go to a foreign country. You may learn a new language, figure out what you want to do with the rest of your life and meet people who have a great impact and beneficial influence on your future career. In addition your experiences will help you develop critical life skills that most people take for granted such as cooking, money management, scheduling and planning, social skills, cleanliness in appearance and living conditions, street smarts and self defense, event organizing and other useful responsibilities.

2.Free college credits!

If you go to a foreign speaking mission and plan to attend school afterwards your new language skills can help you test out of a whole semester worth of language classes! After my mission in Russia I was able to test out of 3 Russian courses (12 credit hours). I took an advanced Russian class later and got an ‘A’ even though I practically slept through it! Some schools offer scholarships for finishing your degree in 8 semesters or less and this will drastically improve your chances of doing that! You might even be able to count your mission experience as an internship at some schools.

3.Missions make a resume shine!

What a great capstone for your education! Serving a mission gives you loads of bragging rights for job interviews and you will have advantages in your career that others just will not have. Some of these things will include (but are not limited to):

•Sales Experience -

As a missionary you have gone literally door to door selling religion. You have had to come up with new creative and attractive ways to get people interested. Sales jobs are generally not hard to get but you will have a great head start over the competition!

•Teaching (aka training and development) –

What are missionaries if not teachers? They teach by having discussions with members and investigators, train and receive training in district meetings and other leadership meetings, teach youth and children, teach in Sunday meetings, etc. Any large and reputable company has a training and development department and they will pay through the nose for experienced and qualified trainers.

•Leadership Experience –

Some who serve missions will be lucky enough to hold the position of district leader, zone leader and/or assistance to the president. Serving in these positions will teach you loads about group behavior, motivational skills, team work, organizing meetings, etc. In many foreign missions the missionaries are seen as the leaders of the branch they serve in since there is a lack of priesthood leadership in many parts of the world. If you find yourself in one of these areas you will be seen as a leader whether you like it or not. You will be organizing church activities, presiding in Sunday meetings, directing services and representing the local church community, and so forth. These experiences will teach you about how to be an effective leader and will benefit you in your future career, Sunday callings and family life.

•Counseling and Therapy –

Every try to help someone stop smoking or overcome an addiction? If you are a missionary your chances are more than likely. You will also help people around the world to cope with tragedies in their lives as you teach them truths of the gospel such as the eternal family, repentance and forgiveness.

•Multi-lingual Skills –

Though not everyone who serves a mission will receive the opportunity to learn a new language, those who do should consider themselves extremely blessed! Even learning a language in school will not get you anywhere close to the fluency you will attain by living and working with those native to that language (trust me, I took 4 years of Russian before my mission and thought that I was taught the wrong language when I arrived in my area). Many companies drool over the language abilities that returned missionaries bring them. Some companies pay more if you speak a second language even if you do not use it!

•Public Speaking –

Get over your stage fright before you serve a mission because you will find yourself constantly at the pulpit. The more you do it, the better you get at it. By the time you come home you will be a pro! Did you know that most people fear public speaking more than death? I guess that just one more way the gospel brings peace to our lives.

4.Chicks dig RMs!

Ok guys, Mormon or not, possessing the above characteristics will make you a much more eligible bachelor! Not to mention if you did a lot of biking on your mission you will probably be pretty ripped when you get back. If you plan on attending an LDS school afterwards… well, you get the picture. You know all those stories about BYU being a “meat market”? They are all true. Just don’t come back with a “more holy than thou” attitude.

Over all I would say that serving a mission is like going on a roller coaster. There is a lot of suspense and anticipation before it, thrills and excitement while it is happening (sometimes a little dizziness and vomiting) and a yearning to go through it again after it is over.

Now lets hear some comments of other reasons why you want to serve a mission.

Just a warning, you want to be very careful with using a mission on a resume. Where ever I've been it's been flagged instantly and tends to get the resume tossed . Recently i went through an outsource company and while going through their classes and talking to their resume people they specifically brought up mormon missions on resumes as a sure fire way to have no one take the resume seriously. So while it does offer a lot of value to a persons life, bringing it up out side of places where it holds cultural value might do more harm than good.

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Just a warning, you want to be very careful with using a mission on a resume. Where ever I've been it's been flagged instantly and tends to get the resume tossed . Recently i went through an outsource company and while going through their classes and talking to their resume people they specifically brought up mormon missions on resumes as a sure fire way to have no one take the resume seriously. So while it does offer a lot of value to a persons life, bringing it up out side of places where it holds cultural value might do more harm than good.

I see your point. I think how it's worded and placed on a resume can make a big difference. If, for example, it's pretty much the only qualification or experience listed, of course it's going to be a red flag -- the applicant is trying to skate by on semi-real life experience. If it's tucked in with other real job history, and worded effectively, it can be an asset. Here's how I used to have it listed in my resume:

7/02-2/04 | Foreign Language Missionary | San Jose, CA

• Served as full-time volunteer proselyting missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

• Developed leadership capabilities, sales & marketing techniques, problem solving and conflict resolution skills, teaching and training experience.

• Intercultural relations, serving Hispanic communities of San Jose, California.

Accomplishment: Mastery of oral and written communications in the Spanish language in a near-total immersion program. Also gained some experience with Portuguese.

This is actually at the bottom of other jobs that I had after my mission, and right before "7/98-6/02 Various customer service and retail jobs."

In my case, having the Spanish language skills, and knowing how I gained them, as well as listing the intercultural relations experience, helped me get jobs. I was told as much specifically.

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I see your point. I think how it's worded and placed on a resume can make a big difference. If, for example, it's pretty much the only qualification or experience listed, of course it's going to be a red flag -- the applicant is trying to skate by on semi-real life experience. If it's tucked in with other real job history, and worded effectively, it can be an asset. Here's how I used to have it listed in my resume:

This is actually at the bottom of other jobs that I had after my mission, and right before "7/98-6/02 Various customer service and retail jobs."

In my case, having the Spanish language skills, and knowing how I gained them, as well as listing the intercultural relations experience, helped me get jobs. I was told as much specifically.

See and the recruiters and such i talked to said any mention of it period was enough to get you blacklisted. Every seminar and hand out they gave made it clear. No religious affiliation and no missions ever mentioned on a resume.

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See and the recruiters and such i talked to said any mention of it period was enough to get you blacklisted. Every seminar and hand out they gave made it clear. No religious affiliation and no missions ever mentioned on a resume.

Which is why you list it as Volunteer Work when you have skills you want to make sure the employeer knows about while down playing the religious aspects.

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See and the recruiters and such i talked to said any mention of it period was enough to get you blacklisted. Every seminar and hand out they gave made it clear. No religious affiliation and no missions ever mentioned on a resume.

As I think about it, actually, at first, I was unsure whether or not to include it as I applied for jobs immediately after my mission. I decided to leave it off to avoid religious bias. A placement worker at a temp agency told me that I needed to account for the last 18 months -- I couldn't have a gap that large on my resume, especially with nothing following it. I told her what I'd been doing and why I left it off, and she helped me figure out how to include it appropriately.

I'm not what you'd call a "working professional." My jobs prior to my mission were almost exclusively retail, and after, almost exclusively clerical and administrative positions. In my case, I found I was the most successful when I went through temp agencies. From them, I received nothing but positive feedback on both the layout and the content of my resume (after accounting for the break of "unemployment").

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Guys please. I was trying to post something encouraging for any young man struggling with the decision on whether or not to serve a mission and get additional encouraging comments, not start a thread about resume writing. Your comments should probably be PM’d to each other anyway.

You did bring up what a great resume filler it was, and comments warning these young men/women that it could cost them the job instead of getting them the job are fair comments. Personally i kinda find it sad we have to kinda bribe the people to go on missions. "Look what you get out of it, look at all the possible rewards, never mind it's supposed to be selfless service, look at all the girls you might get because of it. Serving the lord is just a bonus" If they need that kind of encouragement i worry that they possibly shouldn't go until they find their own spiritual reasons to go vs all the perks.

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You forgot one very important thing: TO SERVE GOD.

And the 2nd thing:

Mastery of the foundation of the restored gospel. Learning how to get in tune with the Spirit. Solidifying your existing testimony and gaining new ones. Learning first-hand the blessings of putting God first in everyday life - and even just how to do it.

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i guess i see it as, if one needs extra incentive to serve god in the form of rewards and extras then they've already missed the point in serving. I'd rather 10 young people out serving of free will with no expectations of reward or perks than 10,000 young people out in the field with the mind set " I'm here because of what i'm going to get out of it back home"

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See and the recruiters and such i talked to said any mention of it period was enough to get you blacklisted. Every seminar and hand out they gave made it clear. No religious affiliation and no missions ever mentioned on a resume.

As I think about it, actually, at first, I was unsure whether or not to include it as I applied for jobs immediately after my mission. I decided to leave it off to avoid religious bias. A placement worker at a temp agency told me that I needed to account for the last 18 months -- I couldn't have a gap that large on my resume, especially with nothing following it. I told her what I'd been doing and why I left it off, and she helped me figure out how to include it appropriately.

I'm not what you'd call a "working professional." My jobs prior to my mission were almost exclusively retail, and after, almost exclusively clerical and administrative positions. In my case, I found I was the most successful when I went through temp agencies. From them, I received nothing but positive feedback on both the layout and the content of my resume (after accounting for the break of "unemployment").

You might need to take into account the difference in location on if it's a help or hindrance to resume. Here in the bible belt it could be bad to say LDS but great to say you served a mission.

Maybe the advise should be that it could help a resume. Always strongly consider the area and job you are applying for and make sure you professionally word it.

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I think the point and the spirit is somewhat being lost from the OP's intent. While I agree the OP does mention resumes, I don't think that was the intent of this thread. The intent was to give a positive spin on reasons one should go on a mission. Let's try and get back to that and not make this into a debate about the pros and cons of resume writing and what should be included.

Debating how a resume mentioning missionary service could be a hinderance is hardly a motivator to get people to go on a mission.

Edited by pam
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That is one of my biggest regrets. I wish I had gone on one. But I can see so many positive things in serving a mission. Not just in serving the Lord, but just in life experiences. Some of those experiences you will never have anywhere else.

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You will always have lots of conversation starters and stories to tell. I always enjoy telling the one about how I was arrested while tracting in Nizhni Novgorod (Moscow North Mission). They threw me and my companion in the slammer for a couple of hours but by the end of it we had a 1st discussion with a couple of the officers and they let us go inviting us back to have tea with them sometime! :D

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My sister wanted to go to a foreign mission without learning a language. So she was sent to the Canada Winnepeg mission. She actually met her husband on her mission. He was her zone leader at one time. 4 kids later.... But they are already planning on a family trip to Winnepeg when the new temple will be dedicated. They were so excited over the news.

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Do you get the opportunity to use the Russian language much?

Nope. I haven’t had a good conversation in Russian since I have been back. I have seen some jobs for Russian customer service reps and interpreters but wasn’t interested. I could always go on Russian forums or chat rooms but I am not all that social to begin with :P . The biggest plus for me is knowing how languages can change and get all messed up through translation. That kind of re-enforces my testimony of the JST of the Bible. Even the Russian translated Book of Mormon has all kinds of errors in it. Mosiah 3:19 hardly comes close to the English meaning.

I would say that Spanish and French missionaries are the ones who luck out the most as far as using their language when they get home. Not German though since almost all Germans speak English anyway.

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My sister wanted to go to a foreign mission without learning a language. So she was sent to the Canada Winnepeg mission. She actually met her husband on her mission. He was her zone leader at one time. 4 kids later.... But they are already planning on a family trip to Winnepeg when the new temple will be dedicated. They were so excited over the news.

Uh... I guess that could be a benefit of serving a mission. LOL! :D

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I don't disagree with your points Bumper, and I understand what you say about looking for the tangential reasons. . . still . . . I suspect that any young man that has a true testimony will in and of themselves want to serve a mission. IMO, the issue with the kids you run into isn't a lack of exciting or good reasons to go (they have heard plenty through the years in various classes and sacrament meeting talks), but they don't have a strong testimony.

Help them gain a stronger testimony, help them hear (and recognize) the enticing of the Holy Ghost, and then there is no need to entice or persuade regarding benefits of serving a mission.

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I dont know about anyone else but my true testimony was born on my mission as I studied the scriptures and had experiences. It seems that several people are implying that the first incentive for going on a mission will remain the ONLY incentive throughout- as if there will be no spiritual growth or realization of why somone really should be out serving. All I am trying to do is convince the fence-sitters who's testimony is almost, but not quite there yet.

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Many don't have testimonies before they go out. Sometimes it takes going on a mission and serving for them to fully gain an appreciation and a testimony of the gospel. They know why they are going but don't really have a testimony of it.

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Since the bar was raised almost a decade ago, people are specifically discouraged from serving a mission without having a strong testimony already, or using the mission as a vehicle to gain the testimony. Of course a testimony is going to be enriched and strengthened on a mission, but the mission field is not the place to do most of the growth. By the time you get to the mission field, your testimony needs to be pretty solid already.

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Many don't have testimonies before they go out. Sometimes it takes going on a mission and serving for them to fully gain an appreciation and a testimony of the gospel. They know why they are going but don't really have a testimony of it.

Yeah, I had a number of those as companions or roommates (back before the 'raising of the bar'). As a recent convert with a burning testimony, it was very disappointing to be held back by a companion that 'didn't know', and was wishy-washy about getting out the door and testifying.

My personal opinion is that a mission is not to be looked at as an opportunity to gain a testimony. I feel that is a fundamentally flawed attitude in generational LDS culture. Many people's opportunities to hear the gospel may be soured on the example of one missionary goofing off because he/she didn't really know what they were doing out there. Better IMO that a smaller, more effective, Spirit-guided group of missionaries represent the Lord than a watered down larger group.

D&C 4:5 - And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of God, qualify him for the work.

(Nope, I don't see in there "a desire for worldly rewards" [such a getting the hot chick] as a qualification).

A testimony is still necessary to qualify for the work. Focus on the testimony, not treasures on earth. Those within your power to influence will be much more abundantly blessed than if their spiritual leaders turn their eyes from the spiritual way to focus on worldly rewards to be gained.

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I've met enough bitter ex-mormons who went on missions without having a testimony, to make me very hesitant to tell anyone "just go - you'll come to believe as you go".

From where I'm standing, training kids to go "door to door selling religion", finding "new creative and attractive ways to get people interested", without actually believing in what they're doing, is a horrible thing to do to a kid. Fraught with all sorts of negative consequences should they ever decide to have truth do battle with their upbringing.

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