Service projects on your mission

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

Service projects on your mission

fear of shiz · Profuse Pontificator

We often taught free English lessons. I hated those because the only people who showed up were teenage girls.

My favorite service was when we would go to the orphanages (this is former Soviet Union, btw) and just play with the little kids and give them candy and attention. That was so much fun and felt like really filling a need.

salesortonscom · Wise and Revered Master

My brother used to work/do service in a "hospital" in the Philipines on his mission. He told me how chickens and goats would wander through the place. People were mistaking him for a doctor all the time and showing him their ailments before he could tell them he was just a volunteer. I too read the Meridian article and was really impressed with how organized the service of those elders seems to be. Looks to be much more effective at building relationships of trust than helping some member move or spending a few hours at the stake farm.

PollyAnna · Senior Bucketkeeper

Son1's mission has a very good program for service and larger projects are often organized through the APs, ZLs and DLs... Those are some of the things he shared from his journals that touched us the most.

My favorite was his description of playing hopscotch & board games outside with Pre-School kids from a homeless shelter while a few parents at a time were allowed to pick out clothes gathered by local members... The event was staged at a school on a weekday, while older kids were in classes... The MP was there to mingle and show support... Later the local referrals they got from that service project were incredibly golden according to Son1... Many people could NOT really understand that there were NO strings attached to the clothes, and came looking for the missionaries during the next fews weeks.

We all want to feel we matter...

ETA: MANY years ago in Chile on my mission service projects were few and far between... I would have liked to do some of the ones Son1 did...

-- Edited by PollyAnna at 21:00, 2007-06-20

nitasmile · Senior Member

we had scheduled service- 4 hours a week, I think was our requirement. As I was in ID, I think lots more could be done via service than tracting, as in that neck of the woods, people often already had their minds made up.

IN one area, we went to a school for special ed students where a member taught. We assisted w/her class and activities w/her students. In another area, we went to a hospital where we gave water to patients- that place didn't use us well, people there either liked us or didn't. We could have been better used. In another area, we went to a nursing home and worked as the bingo callers- in that place, they earned a dime for each bingo. I remember one lady getting "mad" at me as I didn't do great as the caller. I don't remember if it was the same facility, but another time I remember our district was asked to go help clean some of the the bathrooms at the nursing home. (not heavy duty, just light cleaning)

My mission comp in one area provided a perm for a reactivated member.

A coupl times we helped w/heavy duty cleaning of homes- ie in one case, you couldn't walk as the family had 3 families worth of stuff in their home due to the death of their mom or someone.

We also painted a fence. In one area we helped clean up after someone's pizza place suffered a fire- the owner wasn't LDS, hopefully he did appreciate our help.

Another time we helped sort potatoes from a "potato holding unit/celler". (can't think of the name for it.

My alltime favorite was when our whole zone went to the Grand Targee ski resort and helped w/a Special Olympics Sking event. We cheered the skiers, this was lots of fun.

The one project I wanted to do at the time but am glad I never did: some of the
the elders would brag about helping w/cleaning slaughered cows or something like this. We offered to help, we were never asked to help. Thanks be to Heavenly Father!!

Valhalla · Profuse Pontificator

The service thing came after our mission. I do remember, though, in one area I opened, it was rural and the villages were, well sometimes a throwback to a different time. We were viewed with suspicion. We encountered a family one day, actually my comp wrecked his bike and while at the doctor a teenage girl took a shine to him and left a note on his bike. We ended up talking to her and she invited us to visit her parents and home.

They were farmers in a village. We ended up helping with harvests, spent a full week in the potato fields bringing in potatoes, harvesting hay, etc. and taught them about how to ear corn on the cob and bake potatoes, not something generally done in Europe.

Because of this service, they defended accusations against us the priest and villagers, such as we were there to steal their children and make off with them. It even helped a local member family come out of their shell and become invovled.

I was generally kind of an unorthodox missionary, kind of ironic in that for my mission with the baptisms I was involved, I would have been considered a "successful" missionary.

Once in working with an investigator, we spent the day running on trails and through forests and mountain biking to work with him.

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

I remember once helping a member pick olives in their olive orchard. I remember the spirit of friendship and just good ol'fashioned good feelings that came from doing that. Service was not a major focus of the missionary program at the time I served a mission, and so we were not entirely sure what was appropriate or permissible, and often just didn't think in that regard. Personally I kinda envy the elders who have this added responsibility, because I think it would've made a huge difference in feeling good about all the time we spent just banging on doors and feeling as though we were wasting our time.

--Ray

Cat Herder · Understander of unimportant things

I wish that this is something where time could be turned back and we could have that experience of plain old service on our missions. I think it really helps young people develop love for the people. It also helps them prioritize better what the real purpose is of being on a mission and serving The Lord as opposed to just being a numbers guy / gal.

That sounds like it would have been real interesting, Val. Where did you serve again? I too was never known for having consistently great numbers (proselyting hours, teaching, discussions, placings of Book of Mormons, joint teaches, etc)... I was not known for being a "go-to" guy as a senior companion (my mission president inferred a couple times I was a wimp...). After being the district leader in the MTC who had the guts to give push back to our P&R instructor in the MTC, I was never graced with the privilege of being a leader out in the mission itself. But, when all was said and done, I suspect I was likely one of the top missionaries in the mission when it came to teaching investigators who made the commitment to be baptised and followed through. How much more effective could we have been as missionaries, and as companionships, if we could have had more focus on things that would help us love the people instead of meeting numbers set by DLs, ZLs, and the Mission Office!

I think that having service as an integrated part of the weekly schedule is great! I think it is a shame that they can't do more than 4 hours a week (why not a whole day if the opportunity presents itself?), and it is equally a shame if the local mission rules state it has to be on their P-Day. But, I guess if the Church's Missionary Department had wanted my opinion, they would have asked.

TitusTodd · Senior Member

I don't recall my mission having a specific requirement for service but it was stressed that we look for opportunities when possible. I wished we could do more but at times it was difficult to find the opportunities. 1) I was in Utah and with many members they thought we should be doing other things - namely teaching the gospel. 2) Many people did not want to accept our help stating they didn't need it.

While I was serving in Ogden Valley (Huntsville, Eden and Liberty Utah) we were at a dinner appointment with someone who was a town councilman (or something like that) and I asked him if there was anything we as missionaries could do for the community. He mentioned the sad shape the Huntsville cemetery was with several tombstones sunk into the ground and no longer visible. As a district we decided to work on the cemetery for a service project and did so for three p-days in a row. I only got to participate once due to a transfer (the next week the local paper did a piece on what we were doing). I fondly remember cleaning up and more securely placing a tomb"stone" carved in wood by a father for his child back in the 1800s. A local non-member expressed his appreciation for our work commenting that the community should have done it long ago.

I'm glad more emphasis is placed on service. Serving the community and individuals is a way to show we are truly serving God by servicing our fellowman. Of course, secondary is building the relationships of trust.

rayb · Hot Air Balloon

Cat: I put in an INSANE amount of time proselyting. I was very "green" my entire mission. And very motivated, but I lacked a lot of perspective too, hence I agree with you (and my previous self :) ) about the service aspect. And if anything it gives elders something to do other than the same old stuff that isn't working... I think it is unreasonable to expect people to trust you if you don't do anything for them to demonstrate you're trustworthy. It's just the world we live in, and the renewed focus on physical service seems to attempt to bridge that gap.

--Ray