Dear new Texas Houston South Missionaries, parents, and mentors:
Please carefully review all the information that was included in the booklet you received from the Church with your mission call.
Please also read and familiarize yourself with the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ and the accompanying Appendix. They are also found in the Gospel Library App under Handbooks & Callings and then under Mission Callings. You will be expected to both know and live by these sacred standards.
The follow answers to Frequently Asked Questions emphasize points and provides examples to help you live the Standards. You may want to keep this for future reference.
Please prepare your personal Facebook page so you can begin immediately to use it for missionary purposes. You do this by the following:
Set the expectation with your loved ones that you will only use Facebook for missionary work. Tell them that you will only read and respond to emails, texts, and other messages on Monday during your P-day. (See below regarding communications with family and friends.)
Use the “hide” feature or delete previous posts, pictures, and videos that are not in harmony with your sacred calling.
Unfollow all pages of friends. (You don’t have to “unfriend” people, just “unfollow” them so their stories and posts do not automatically show up in your news feed.)
Unfollow all groups that are not in keeping with your missionary purpose.
Only follow official Church published pages (for example, the apostles and sister leaders). This can be done by clicking Settings, then Preferences, then Newsfeed, then unfollow people to hide their posts.
Also under Preferences, click Media to turn off autoplay for videos, block all Notifications, and remove Shortcuts for Watch, Marketplace, News, Groups and Pages.
Under Audiences and Visibility, limit who can send you friend requests only to friends of friends.
Under Permissions, click on Ad Preferences and review the categories used to reach you and delete any that are not in harmony with your sacred calling.
Do the same for Interest Categories in your Profile.
In addition, please take time to read and study The Safeguards for Using Technology found in the Gospel Library App under Handbooks & Callings and then under Mission Callings. Please also complete the mobile device training found on your missionary portal prior to using your device. If you have not completed this training prior to your arrival, your device will be placed on "limited mode” so you will not have access to some apps.
BICYCLES
All ELDERS and SISTERS, are required to have a bicycle, front and taillights, bicycle lock (U-style type combination locks are preferred), and helmet. You will use your bike extensively while serving the people of Texas.
See detailed information and answers to FAQ about bicycles by clicking here.
Please also feel free to call the THSM vehicle coordinator at 281-565-7117 or email him at 2010569-VC@churchofjesuschrist.org with any questions or concerns. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you call during non-business hours, please leave a message so we can respond to you.
BOOKS AND OTHER LITERATURE
You will have access to a wealth of study resources on your mobile device through the Gospel Library App and Gospel Media App, so you do not need to bring any books or literature with you other than your scriptures, Preach My Gospel, the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, Adjusting to Missionary Life, and any other printed materials you might receive in the MTC.
If you strongly prefer to read a book in paper form, the only additional books you may bring are (the Church Distribution Center catalog numbers are in parenthesis following the title):
Jesus the Christ – James E. Talmage (80352000)
Our Heritage: A Brief History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (35448000)
Our Search for Happiness – M. Russell Ballard (80870000)
True to the Faith (36863000)
No other books or literature are authorized. Parents, please do not send any books to your missionary. Any unauthorized books or literature brought or subsequently received will have to be sent home by the missionary.
CLOTHING
Carefully review the Dress and Grooming Guidelines online in the missionary portal and in the Clothing section of the packet you received from the Church Missionary Department with your call. Remember that summers in this part of Texas are quite hot and humid. Winters can have days that feel quite cold also due to the high humidity. Select clothing that is “wash and wear” and “wrinkle free” whenever possible. In addition, please note the following:
Sisters:
Cotton blouses and tops are recommended for summer wear.
At least one dress or skirt and blouse to wear to Church meetings and missionary conferences.
Bring a warm, dressy jacket or overcoat.
Elders:
Colored shirts are not approved in our mission. We only wear white shirts.
Most of your white shirts should be short-sleeved. We recommend shirts made of moisture wicking fabrics that are wrinkle and stain resistant.
4 to 5 pair of slacks in addition to your suit pants. Again, performance fabrics are best. All suits should be conservative.
Bring a light-weight overcoat for winter and a raincoat that can be worn while on a bike.
SHOULDER BAGS
Missionaries are to bring “shoulder bags” to carry their proselyting literature and supplies while working. For examples, click here. Please DO NOT bring backpacks or briefcases into the mission field.
BEDDING & TOWELS
Please bring your own bedding (including twin sheets, pillow, pillowcases, and a blanket or comforter), a bath towel, a hand towel and two washcloths. If you have questions about bedding, please call the THSM office directly at 281-565-7117. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you call during non-business hours, please leave a message so we can respond to you.
DO NOT BRING THE FOLLOWING
Computers, tablets, or electronic games. No electronic devices except for an approved smartphone are approved for full-time missionaries.
Smart watches
Weapons of any kind
Packages for other missionaries
Playing cards or games
Backpacks or briefcases
CORRESPONDENCE
The First Presidency has stated, “Full-time missionaries may communicate with their families on their weekly preparation day via text messages, online messaging, phone calls, and video chat in addition to letters and emails. One of the major purposes of this adjustment is to encourage families to be more involved in their missionary’s efforts and experiences” (see announcement from the First Presidency, February 15, 2019).
Section 3.9 of the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ teaches the principles to follow in your communications with family during your mission.
During your communication with your missionary, we invite you to be encouraging and uplifting, expressing an interest in their work, the people they are teaching, and their successes in sharing the gospel. Advise them of good news happening at home. Let them know you are praying for them. Engage in missionary opportunities as a family and share with your missionary your own experiences. This will inspire them, and they can share ideas and best practices with you that will bless you in your efforts. Please be careful not to burden them with family problems that are out of their control.
If there is an illness, death or other family circumstance in your family, please communicate directly with the Mission President or his companion. You missionary should be informed through the Mission President. Sometimes, the mission president is not notified of difficult family circumstances and is unaware and unable to offer support and love to your missionary at these most important times.
Expectations for Communication:
Missionaries can call, text, or chat with their immediate family. They do not call, text, or chat with friends, although they can email.
Family is defined by the Missionary Department as the missionary’s immediate family (mom, dad, and siblings living at home). Families may add other siblings or extended family to the calls so long as a parent is also on the call.
Missionaries should be the only one to initiate all communications with their family.
Missionaries may call home for parents’ birthdays. They can also call home for major holidays, such as Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and Christmas.
All communications should be done only on preparation day and conclude by 6:00 pm. If an emergency arises and you need to communicate with your missionary on any other day, please call President or Sister Richards.
Missionaries should not include personal information in written communications that could compromise themselves, their family members, local members, or friends. Parents, if you share your missionary’s communications with others (such as on a blog or social media post) please edit out names of investigators, members, and missionaries.
MAIL AND PACKAGES
Letters and packages sent to the mission office will be delivered to your missionary as soon as possible.
Packages may be sent via the United States Postal Service, United Parcel Service (UPS) or FedEx or similar carriers. To ensure delivery, we request that they be sent to the mission office as follows. If sent to their apartment they sometimes must pay a fee to get them from the leasing office. Please do not send packages to their apartments!!
Elder or Sister (his or her full name)
Texas Houston South Mission
602 Eldridge Road
Sugar Land, TX, 77478
Please do not send frequent packages. They become a distraction and cause clutter. At transfers, missionaries are only permitted to transport their bicycle and what fits in their three suitcases. Anything that won’t fit in those three suitcases must be discarded or shipped home by the missionary at their own cost before transfers as well as before they return home at the end of their mission. Missionaries must not leave things for others to mail or ship to them.
MISSION FIELD VISITS
Parents, do not plan family vacations or business trips to the area where your son or daughter is serving with the expectation that you will be able to see him or her. Such visits are strongly discouraged. If you are going to be in the area, we recommended that you not advise your missionary of your presence as it can be difficult for them to know how close by you are.
FINANCES
Full-time missionaries are provided a monthly allowance that is adequate for essential needs. This includes food, haircuts, laundry, and essential personal care items. You will need to carefully budget these funds. Apartment rents, furnishings, utilities, and car expenses are all provided by the mission.
Expenses for clothing, personal luxury items, cameras and film, photo development, souvenirs, traffic fines and penalties, bicycle repairs, luggage and other similar items are not authorized from Missionary Support Funds. You must pay these expenses from your own personal funds.
Parents, we recommend that you establish a debit card account with a financial institution in your local area where you can deposit the additional funds your missionary may need. These additional funds, if any, should be kept to a minimum. Too much disposable income for a missionary is a temptation that can lead to improper purchases and behaviors inconsistent with their sacred callings.
If you need to send your missionary additional funds by mail, send him or her a United States Postal Money Order. You can get these at any U S Post Office. Please do not send personal checks or other money orders to your missionary. No two-party checks or any other type of money orders can be cashed in Texas.
HEALTH & MEDICAL CARE
Missionary work requires physical and emotional health. The Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ (especially Section 4) sets expectations for you to live to keep your body and mind strong to better serve the Lord. Review these standards regularly. They teach essential principles about nutrition, exercise, managing stress, and responding to medical situations. You will be expected to follow them.
You as a missionary are primarily responsible for your own health. We make every reasonable effort to help you. We provide all of the following resources for you:
Daily exercise time
Sufficient funds in your monthly allowance to buy nutritious food
The standards taught in the Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ
Tools for managing stress, as found in Adjusting to Missionary Life
A series of ”Safety Zone” training videos, such as this video about diet, hygiene, and exercise. There are also videos for situational awareness, automobile safety, bicycle safety, pedestrian safety, safety in preparation day activities, safety while providing serving, etc.
A mission medical advisor or nurse
Many other resources available to your mission leaders to assist you if you have an emergency or need special care
If you have a medical condition requiring notification to medical personnel, you may want to wear a Medical ID Bracelet. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist about this. Also, if you are a citizen of resident of the United States, please memorize and write down your Social Security number and put it in a secure place other than your wallet (do not bring the original card).
Parents, you can support your missionary’s health by regularly encouraging him or her to follow the rules of good health and sensible diet. To be covered by the Church, all medical care must be authorized by the mission president, or his designate, unless it is an emergency. At the time of medical care IF your son or daughter is covered by personal insurance, this should be the Primary Card presented for medical coverage and the Missionary Medical card presented as secondary coverage. Please send, with your missionary, a copy of your family health insurance card. He/she will need the front and back. If you should change insurance plans, please send, FAX, or e-mail a copy of your new card, and we will get it to your missionary. When missionaries arrive, they will be issued a medical card from the Missionary Medical/First Health Network. Medical expenses, including the cost of prescription medicines, incurred to treat illness and injuries that occur in the mission field are covered by this plan. Missionary Medical expenses are paid from the tithing funds of the Church.
The Church does not pay for dental care, eyeglasses, or medical treatments or medicines needed for pre-existing conditions. There is a $10.00 co-payment for doctor visits and prescriptions that are the responsibility of the missionary. These co-payments are not to be paid from Missionary Support Funds.
Please make sure you bring all the following with you to the mission:
Have AT LEAST a 90-day supply of any prescription that you will be taking on a regular schedule.
If possible, bring a written prescription that can be filled in Texas for any medication that is taken on a regular schedule for the first year of service.
Bring a workable thermometer.
Have AT LEAST two face masks.
Obtain the COVID-19 vaccine if at all possible.
It is also highly recommended that missionaries who enter the field during the fall and winter months have a flu shot before arriving.
MUSIC
Appropriate music can be a powerful source of inspiration. Missionaries should select music that is consistent with the sacred spirit of their calling—that edifies, not just entertains. Music should be used to invite the Spirit, provide spiritual motivation, help focus on the work, and direct thoughts and feelings to the Savior (see Alma 37:36). Missionaries should not listen to music that distracts or that dulls spiritual sensitivity by its tempo, beat, loudness, lyrics, or intensity. Listening to music must never interfere with personal preparation or teaching.
Ask yourself this question, “Do I feel closer to my Savior when listening to all of my playlist?” This is a time to consecrate yourself to the Lord.
As a guide, the following music is authorized in the Texas Houston South Mission: approved hymns and primary songs, music of the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, and music from the Music Library or Youth Media library on the Church website (such as from a Face-to-Face, from seminary or a Church magazine, from the youth albums produced annually by the Church, or Savior of the World).
When listening to music, be courteous to those around you. All missionaries within hearing of the music must agree that the music is consistent with missionary standards and helps forward our missionary purpose; otherwise, it is turned off. Music should be used intentionally to help you invite others to come to the Savior, not merely for entertainment, and should have a holy, unifying influence in your companionship (See Missionary Standards for Disciples of Jesus Christ, Sections 3.6.3.2 and 7.5.2-3).
You are required to use speakers when listening to music on your mission. Headphones are only used for approved missionary activities such as communicating with family or taking missionary courses.
If you sing or play an instrument, you will have opportunities to share your talents on your mission. You may bring sheet music of hymn arrangements and similarly inspiring pieces that may be appropriate to share in a sacrament meeting or zone conference. You may also bring an instrument if the instrument is inexpensive, appropriate for Sunday meetings (see General Handbook, 19.4.2), easily to transport, and meets airline baggage requirements.
TRANSFERS
You will be transferred from time to time from one area to another. This is a normal part of full-time missionary service. Transfers are made after much prayer and evaluation of missionaries currently serving, those that are scheduled to return home, those that are arriving, and other needs of the mission. The assignment of missionaries to senior companion, district leader, zone leader, sister training leader, assistant to the president, or trainer is made in the same way. Missionaries usually gain renewed enthusiasm and energy as a result of these transfers and assignments. Of course, a change can also be stressful as you adapt to new companions, assignments, or areas. As you pray and humbly strive to fulfill your assignment, these challenges will teach you important lessons that will bless you throughout your life. As always, those at home should be supportive and encouraging in letters and phone calls during these times of transition.
RELEASE DATE
Elders have been called to serve for twenty-four months. Sisters have been called for eighteen months. Please do not ask for an early release because of family vacation plans, work, school, or other personal reasons. Missionaries are strongly encouraged to serve for the time period set by the call issued to them by a prophet of God, returning on the departure date set by the Missionary Department that marks the intended end of this sacred period of service. An early release should only be sought in rare circumstances, such as where a scholarship cannot be extended and will expire. Any such requests must be sought six months in advance of the scheduled departure date.
Parents, as the time for your missionary’s release approaches, please avoid distracting him or her from missionary labors by talking of plans and preparations for their return. Do everything you can to encourage them to serve with all their “heart, might, mind and strength” so that they can receive the blessing of serving with all diligence up to the last day.
Thank you for your preparations! We are excited to meet you and welcome you to the great Texas Houston South Mission. If you have questions, you are welcome to call or email our wonderful office missionaries at 281-565-7117 or 2010569-VC@churchofjesuschrist.org. The office is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. If you call during non-business hours, please leave a message so we can respond to you.
With love,