What Exactly Do Member Leadership Support Missionaries Do?
There are many ways that as mature adult, church members may serve missions. There are stay at home opportunities and serving away from home. On the church website you can see a list of the many ways that you can serve either as a single sister or a couple away from home.
The types of missions include either Teach and Fellowship, Interact with the Public, Preserve and Share Church History, Help People Find Their Ancestors, Preserve History Records, Provide Humanitarian Aid, Feed the Hungry, Help People Become Self Reliant, Support Church Operations, Serve in a Temple, Support Young Adults, Manage and Maintain Church Properties and Facilities, or Use Your Professional Skills. There are just so many ways to serve.
Our mission type is to Teach and Fellowship. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Website has a descriptions of this-
Minister one-on-one to help people understand and receive the blessings of living the gospel of Jesus Christ. Assignments include working in stakes and wards, at visitors' centers and historic sites, and with military families.
Types of opportunities to expect
We were called to serve as Member Leadership Support Missionaries in the Newport Beach, California Mission and to be totally honest it is the one assignment that I kept saying I did not want to do. We put down as our preferences- visitor centers, construction, records preserving, and family history but God knows best and called us as MLS missionaries. The reasons that I didn't want this assignment was because we had previously served a MLS mission and wanted to try something different but now that we are serving we are very happy with our assignment.
In Preach My Gospel the handbook for missionaries, on the very first page in the very first chapter it states that a missionary's purpose is to
Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.
We wear a name tag that reminds us minute by minute that we are here serving in his name which helps guide what we do and how we act.
Senior missionaries have the same main purpose as the younger missionaries but we also have a more specific purpose for our assignment. As Member Leadership Support our purpose is
Under the direction of local priesthood leaders, MLS senior missionaries help their assigned units fulfill the Church’s divinely appointed responsibilities of living the gospel of Jesus Christ, caring for those in need, inviting all to receive the gospel and uniting families for eternity
We serve in a ward in San Marcos, California and work with the leaders of the ward and help the members of the ward in whatever way they need support. This would look different for each ward according to their needs.
We also receive special assignments from the Mission President, ours being inspection missionary apartments every transfer, and we help out the younger missionaries.
Our rules are very different from the younger missionaries and we are allowed to have family and friends visit with us. Our time is basically our own to find ways to fulfill our purpose.
Just to give you an idea of what this may look here is what we did one week of our mission-
Sunday-
- 7:30 am- be at Ward Council at the church which is a 25 minute drive
- Speak in Sacrament
- Met a sister in Relief Society that just moved into the ward and was having a difficult time so we exchanged numbers to stay in touch
- Give the younger missionaries a ride home from church
- Stop by and visit an inactive member that we had never meet before
- Stop by and visit a member in an assisted living facility that we were supposed to give a ride to church but wasn't answering our calls for a couple of days- he had lost his phone. Ran into another church member who just moved into the same facility.
- Start cooking dinner- our daughter and son and their families were in town and coming for dinner to celebrate our granddaughter's sixth birthday.
- We missed our 9 pm mission wide Zoom because family was still here.
- Read our scriptures and got ready for the day
- 9 am- Senior Missionary Devotional on zoom
- Played pickleball at the church with the other senior missionaries in our apartment complex
- We showered and did some studying
- In the afternoon, we stopped by a member's jewelry store but it is closed on Mondays, we visited an elderly member who lost his wife last October but he wasn't home, dropped some papers off at another inactive member who wasn't home and finally knocked on the door of an inactive member who we hadn't met before and she invited us in for a visit.
- After dinner we played some games and watched some TV. We like to watch a conference talk on youtube besides Someone Feed Phil on Nexflix.
- Read our scriptures and got ready for the day
- District meeting at 9:15 am at a church building that is about a 15 minute drive
- Drive to our church building another 15 mins drive and eat lunch in the car
- Serve in the FamilySearch Center for 2 hours
- Stopped at Trader Joe's to buy some groceries
- Drive the 25 minutes home
- We were supposed to stop by a member's home and show them how to get on Family Search but she had a cough so instead I trained her over the phone how to reserve names for temple ordinances and add memories to her ancestors tree.
- Went to visit a sister that was having eye surgery the next day so we could give her some pillows that we had that would aid her in being able to sleep upright
- After eating dinner we made some calls and texts to remind members of upcoming appointments and see how they are doing
- Worked on our blog
- Watched some TV
- Read our scriptures and got ready for the day
- Reach out to some members by texts and calls
- Do some house cleaning
- Joe went and got his haircut
- After lunch we picked up the younger missionaries to do service for a member that we recently met. We weeded her yard, and after the younger missionaries left we stayed, visited and drank homemade lemonade.
- We went home, showered, changed our clothes, and ate dinner.
- We had an appointment to met a member at his office, heard about his struggles and offered a message of peace and hope.
- We went to the home of a young family that had recently moved into the ward, and had a family home evening lesson prepared along with refreshments. They have three young children so after the lesson we talked about easy ways to study Come Follow Me as a family. We all shared ways that we follow the spirit. Had a great meeting but probably stayed too long.
- Played pickle ball at the church at 8:30.
- Read our scriptures and got ready for the day
- Did some laundry
- Ate lunch
- Drove to the church 25 minutes away and served in the Family Search Center for 2 hours
- In the afternoon, we spent time calling and texting members that the Bishop wanted us to get to know and trying to set up appointments.
- Had dinner
- Played games and watched TV
- 8:30 played pickleball
- Read our scriptures and got ready for the day
- Picked up two ward members who don't drive far and took them to the San Diego Temple-we left way early and got there early so they decided to do some other work before the endowment session.
- Was in the temple for quite a long time so it was dinnertime by the time we got out
- Stopped and got some food at Rubios
- Took the members home and drove home ourselves.
- That's pretty much our day
- Took a P-day and went to a car show at a local high school
- In the early afternoon we picked up the younger missionaries and took them out to eat- it had been one of the Elder's birthdays and we wanted to treat them.
- After dropping them off somewhere else for them to do some tracking, we went home and had a nap
- Woke up and wasn't really hungry enough for dinner but had heard about an ice cream shop that members from another stake owned and the ice cream was supposed to be amazing.
- We tried to pay for ice cream but since we were missionaries they won't take our money.
- Spent the evening at home and played games over zoom with one of our kids.
- Worked on and put out the Blog for the week
- Elder Prater will take an afternoon to drive the young missionaries around since they are on bikes and do visits with them
- We inspect the younger missionaries apartments
- We help plan a FHE evening once a month for Empty Nesters which we invite many to attend
- Get assignments from Elder Quorum President, Relief Soceity President and Bishopric of people to check on
- Help update records by making a list of moved members from the Area Book
- Take younger missionaries in our ward out to dinner for their birthdays
- Make treats for younger missionaries
- Take the opportunity to explore the area and have fun
President Nelson and repeatedly stated that
These surely are the latter days, and the Lord is hastening His work to gather Israel. That gathering is the most important thing taking place on earth today. Nothing else compares in magnitude, nothing else compares in importance, nothing else compares in majesty.
He also explained
Anytime you do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—take a step toward making covenants with God and receiving their essential baptismal and temple ordinances, you are helping to gather Israel. It is as simple as that.
As senior missionaries we understand that we are here to gather Israel as President Nelson has stated and we have the privilege to do that work in many ways as we follow the spirit and work with our leaders. We love serving as Member Leadership Support missionaries. If you are considering serving a full time mission, we would be happy to answer any questions you may have. It is a rewarding way to spend your days!
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