YM Missionary Week

Dear Friends:

For a change, this post is not about a trip to a far-away land.  I'm still in good ol' Austin, Texas.  However, I held a truly unique event and wanted to share.

This week was Missionary Week for the young men (YM) in my Church's congregation.  As all of our leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is voluntary, my particular assignment is that of a youth minister, or what we call Young Men's President.  I have the spiritual responsibility for all young men ages 12 - 18.  In our Church, we believe strongly in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world.  That means that we send many young men and women as full-time missionaries to countries around the world.  One of my most sacred responsibilities is to prepare my YM to serve honorable missions when they reach the age of 18 or 19.

For the week prior to our annual YM Sacrament Meeting, we had our young men spend time as “missionaries” – with specific mission-related activities during the week.

The goal was to continue to build our young men’s excitement about serving full-time missions, give them practical experience in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and have them envision themselves serving honorably in the mission field.

One week prior, we sent out a “mission call” or formal letter from the Bishop to each young man in the Ward.

The mission call asked them - and their parents - to report to the Hill Country Missionary Training Center (MTC) to attend a special fireside on Sunday evening.  On that Sunday evening, the “missionaries” found out who their companions were going to be, met a member of the San Antonio Mission Presidency, heard a spiritual testimony of missionary work and saw some uplifting videos focused on sharing the Gospel.  After this, the parents said good-bye to their “missionary” and departed.

We then continued the meeting and explained a “point system” for the week that would help motivate the young men to accomplish various tasks related to missionary work.  This included daily prayer, scripture study, cooking their own breakfast (no cereal), wearing Sunday clothes to school (which would invite a discuss about our Church), handing out pass-along cards, and doing their own laundry. The biggest points were rewarded if the young men thoughtfully placed a Book of Mormon with someone who wasn't a member of our Church.

On Monday evening, each young man was encouraged to teach a Family Home Evening lesson in their own home. We asked them to create a lesson from the Preach My Gospel manual. We suggested that they prepare a lesson on the Restoration of the Gospel, which is the first lesson that missionaries typically teach.  I had reports from several families that were delighted with their son's interest in teaching their families.  I was also shocked to learn the many of the young men had vigorously embraced the challenge of earning points.  One young man had already placed a Book of Mormon with a friend at school, because he had worn his suit and answered questions that friends had posed to him.  To be honest, I wept that evening, as the Spirit was so strong with these young men.  I am always very proud of them and this week was really starting well.

On Wednesday evening we met for Mutual (our weekly youth-oriented meeting). There, each of our “missionaries” meet with our full-time missionaries to understand how they teach people about the Gospel and our Church.

The young men then went as companionships to teach that first lesson to a Ward family posing as investigators.  They pretended to teach in living rooms around the Church building:

In rotations they would return to the Chapel and work together to improve their teaching methods, learning from each experience.  Another of my proudest moments came as I watch them.  In the following pictures, you'll see our oldest boys - 16 and 17 - working with our youngest boys - 12 and 13 - to help them understand what they're teaching.  I was SO proud of the older boys who took these kids under their "wing" and instead of talking down to them, actually listened and learned from each other:

It was an incredible night, to be sure.  Several of these young men had grown-up in the Church and had been exposed to our doctrines their entire lives.  However, very few of them have taken the opportunity to articulate those beliefs to someone else.  I watched them struggle on the first attempt, stumbling for the words to express what was in their hearts.  However, by the second round of teaching, I watched them become more comfortable with each other, and with sharing their testimonies of the Gospel.  How lucky am I, that I get to witness this kind of thing?!?!?! What a blessing...

On Friday evening, we all met at the Church for a “Mission Conference.” Here, we heard talks from our Stake President,  Stake Young Men's President, and a recently-returned missionary.  The talks were inspiring.  I had a chance to talk to the young men about their experiences during the week.  I loved hearing stories about handing out pass-along cards to friends.  One young man had been praying to know who he might share a Book of Mormon with.  He decided to present each of his teachers with a Book, and thoughtfully wrote his testimony inside each copy.  Three of the young men had worn their suits to school every day.  One of these young men told me that while walking to school each day in his suit, with a backpack, he actually felt like he was on a mission.  Music to my ears, my friends.

Saturday was our P-Day.  In the mission field, this is "preparation day" where the missionaries have a chance to take care of their temporal needs, and perhaps a little recreation.  We had the YM show up at 7am and cook their own breakfast.  We taught them to make pancakes from scratch.

 We gave them points on presentation...

They burned their first pancake, but rallied with an incredible 2nd attempt...

We had to sit back and let them apply what they learned, without our help ; )

Some of the BEST pancakes that I've EVER had...

Some opted for waffles...

They considered this part of the "presentation" ; )

We also had them rotate through two other teaching stations, to learn some survival skills that will be required while serving a mission for two years.  First was learning to sew a button on a shirt:

One young man thought he had the whole process down. The only problem was that he sewed the button on the wrong side of the shirt:

Next, we taught them how to iron a dress shirt - something that they will need almost every day on their mission.  In addition, they can't tell their parents that they don't know how to do it, when asked any time in the near future ; )

I also included another activity - writing letters to "home".  Many missionaries get so busy that they forget to write letters home.  Thankfully, many missionaries can now send e-mail.  However, I wanted the parents to have something that their sons actually wrote.  In addition, I arranged for each family to write their sons a letter that I could deliver, as if they were hundreds or thousands of miles away from loved one:

Finally, the young men had a little athletic recreation.  We played volleyball and even let the YM leaders in on the fun ; )

The culmination of Missionary Week came on Sunday.  This was our annual Young Men Sacrament Meeting.  I had the chance to speak for just a few minutes, along with my counselors.  One of my counselors had an inspired idea.  He asked four of the young men to stand in front of the congregation, while he talked about the vision that we had for each of these young men.  He described each one of them as future leaders, husbands and fathers...in detail.  We wanted these young men to see their potential, as we do.  Following that, I had all of the YM sing a hymn (Called To Serve), and it was a stirring experience, as described by several in attendance.  The remaining time was...unique.  I told the young men that morning that I may call on them to perhaps bear their testimony, and talk about their experiences that week.  I wanted them to treat it like a "homecoming" of sorts.  I didn't know who would speak...or in what order.  I would let the Spirit guide me in selecting them directly from the pulpit.  You can imagine the look of terror in their eyes ; )  However, I knew that no matter who I selected, they would have the Spirit to help them talk about what was in their hearts.  I was fortunately correct.  I'm still blown away by what these young men shared.  I only wish I could remember it all word-for-word.  My heart was so full the entire meeting, as I beamed with pride for the dedication displayed by these twenty stalwart young men.

Later that morning, we "released" the young men from their assignment.  We reflected on the lessons we had learned.  I also awarded prizes for the points that were earned during the week.

I will say again that I was pleasantly surprised by how excited the YM were to earn points and fully participate in the challenge.  They enjoyed their prizes and we talked about how to improve Missionary Week for next year.

I still struggle for the words to truly express how amazing this experience became.  I had high hopes, but all of my expectations were exceeded.  These are some amazing young men, and some require more direction than others.  However, each has unique talents and they were on display the entire week.  I'm so grateful for the other leaders, helping me pull off all the logistics required to make this a quality experience.  The best summary actually came from one of the mothers:

"I fasted last Sunday for the young men and our son to feel the great spirit of missionary work and to want to do it.  I saw the results immediately at the fireside last Sunday night.  Our son was sitting up and listening to every word spoken at the fireside, which is unusual.  Then, Monday morning, to see him come down the stairs in his suit and tie, carrying his quad, and packing BOM's into his backpack was thrilling and wonderful.  It was the subject of most of our conversations today and all last week.
  
Thank you so much for doing this!  I feel it was literally a miracle in our son's life.  I feel it was the impetus which he will remember and feel as he nears the age for his mission.  I am eternally grateful to you wonderful young men leaders.  The difference in the way they sang "Called to Serve" and the way they sang the last time was obvious.  Today, they stood tall, all of them, and sang with their whole heart.  To see the young men as Bro. Severson described what he saw in them, was touching and inspiring and I couldn't stop the tears from flowing.  Leadership such as this, proves that if you set the bar high, have celestial aspirations for these young men, they will climb to new heights and meet our expectations.  What great leaders they all will be."

Amen.