"It's quite exciting."
Every day brings something new for
Sister Emily Watson. "We got toothpaste, soap,
towels, combs, our main job is hygiene and
cleaning kits." All week she works hard
representing The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. "It's still a mission, just a different kind of mission."
Sister Watson wasn't able to serve a
proselyting mission as she had planned. "I
have a condition called pulmonary
arterial hypertension." Instead, she was
called as a service missionary for 18 months. She spends much of her time here
at the Church's Humanitarian Center. "I've
grown to love this mission as much as I
would have loved a proselyting mission."
The service missionary program began in
2014 as a pilot test. It just recently
expanded to the United States and Canada.
"They live at home, serve locally, they
serve in church operations or in
community functions." Until now the
process for going on a service mission
has been different than for a
proselyting one, but starting in January,
that will change. "Their call will be from
the prophet. They will apply just like
every other missionary to full-time
missionary service." All candidates will
first be considered for proselyting
missions, but if they can't, for physical,
mental or emotional reasons, they may be
called as a service missionary. The same
goes for those who serve a proselyting
mission but return home early. "I was out
on a teaching mission and I had to come
home, I had a health issue, and I still
felt like I needed to be serving."
Elder Joseph Horne now serves in the
Church's Publishing Services Department
providing technical and user support for
the gospel library app. "The only
difference between a service mission and
a teaching mission is our perspective on
them. It's the service to the Lord that
matters." "The Lord calls us to service
missions not just because we can't do
proselyting missions, but because there's
a specific reason he needs us in a
certain place." "They're dependable, they
show up, they do the work, they're
cheerful,
they're positive, they're enthusiastic,
they bring life and energy.
This is serving the Lord as a missionary
and bringing to pass God's work."
"You're still a missionary. You wear the
badge, you're called "Elder" or "Sister" and the
Lord loves what you're doing. I feel that
every day."
 
