Beliefs > Question & Answer > Missions and Missionaries

Question

Donny, when you send your children away on a mission, what is the point of it? Is it sort of like a camp where they learn about being a Mormon. I am Roman Catholic and we do a thing called being confirmed. Is it like that?

Response

Thanks for your e-mail where you asked about missions and what’s the point of it all? You asked if it was sort of like a camp where they learn about being a Mormon and wondered if it was something like being confirmed as a Roman Catholic? It is policy in the church when young men reach the age of 19 or 20 that they are asked to go to many different parts of the world for a period of two years to teach people about the gospel of Jesus Christ and His plan of salvation. They do this at their own expense and they do great good and learn a tremendous amount about the gospel, the scriptures, prayer, and how to be guided by the Holy Spirit. There are currently in excess of 60,000 of our young people who are serving missions on a full-time basis in 167 countries around the world. There are several missionary training centers where they learn the language of the country they are being sent to. The entire experience, as I’ve witnessed with my own son, is a wonderful growing and uplifting opportunity. These missionaries are assigned companions of similar age. Usually the one who has been in the country for awhile would be the senior of the two companions, in order to properly orient the new missionary as to what they should be doing each day. Every day these missionaries get up at about 6:30 a.m. and study the scriptures individually. Following that they have a companionship study where they review gospel principles and their plan for what is to be taught to certain individuals who have made appointments to learn from them. They normally leave their apartment at about 9:30 a.m. and spend the day calling on new people either by knocking on their doors or just engaging them in conversation on the streets. They also go to teaching appointments where they share the gospel principles they have been studying. This is a great blessing. It is also a great sacrifice. Most of these young people interrupt their schooling or their employment in order to do this service, but it blesses the lives of countless thousands and enriches the missionaries themselves with experiences they could never have had otherwise. As a family, we are hopeful that all of our children will chose to serve a mission because of the great good that it can do both personally and in the lives of countless individuals whom they will meet. I hope this is helpful. Sincerely, Donny Osmond See related multimedia presentations

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