Lessons on Missionary Service Preface

The need for greater missionary preparation – The age for missionary service is now 18 for young men and 19 for young women.  This has greatly increased the number of missionaries.  We hope that all our grandsons will serve, and that many of our granddaughters will also.      

As the age for missionary service is lowered it requires even greater preparation.  In the words describing athletic performance our preparation must be faster, further, higher, and stronger.  In a statement concerning lowering missionary age requirements Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said: “Prospective missionaries will be asked to enhance and improve and take more seriously their pre-mission preparation…. You must prepare with personal worthiness and gospel knowledge.  We want you teaching effectively from the first day onward…. We ask parents to take a strong hand in this preparation.  Don’t expect that it is the responsibility of the church and the MTC and the seminary program to prepare your children for missionary service.  You are a critical part of this process.”

Missionary service in our family and other considerations in preparing this book – As grandparents we also want to have a roll in preparing our grandchildren for missions.  We want to share our experience and testimony as missionaries.  Larry served a mission in London as a young man from 1963 - 1965, and Larry and Susan served together in the Kentucky Louisville Mission as mission president and mission mother from 1990 – 1993.  We also served together as ward missionaries from 2004 – 2006 and again from 2014 – 2017.  In all these experiences we were blessed with success and experienced the joy of missionary service.

We have wonderful examples of missionary service in our family.  John and Sydney Lunt, Michael Lunt, Dan Hilton, Josh Bradley, Jeff Jackman, and Scott Rynearson were all exemplary missionaries.  This book gives them an opportunity to share their feelings of missionary service. 

Our grandchildren Jessica Hilton Mostert, Hannah Lunt Anderson, Joseph Lunt, and Kristina Hilton are, or have been, very successful missionaries.

Susan and Larry jointly wrote this book.  We have served together as full time missionaries and as ward missionaries.  In very meaningful ways we served missions together as we served in the leadership of the Salt Lake Temple and the Louisville Kentucky Temple.

We prefer the phrase “missionary service”.  Certainly, the phrase “missionary work” is common and acceptable, but “missionary service” is more descriptive and emphasizes an essential aspect of being a missionary.

The importance of the Book of Mormon in missionary preparation and in missionary service – During our service in the Kentucky Louisville Mission we gave each of our missionaries a list of Statements by President Ezra Taft Benson on the Use of the Book of Mormon in Missionary Work.  This is Lesson 29.  These statements apply just as much today as they did then.

Most of the lessons in this book are tied in some way to the Book of Mormon.  

Testimony – We testify that there is sanctifying power in missionary service that blesses our lives and the lives of our family and many others both in this life and in eternity.

Larry and Susan Lunt

Lesson Index

Description of the Front and Back Covers

Chapter One - The Doctrine of Missionary Service

1.  Willing Obedience - The First Law of Missionary Service
2.  Doing Missionary Work the Lord's Way
3.  Bearing Testimony is Key to Conversion
4.  The Lord’s Church is the Greatest Power for Good in the World

Chapter Two - Preparing for Your Mission

5.  Preparation is the Key to Missionary Service
6.  The Temple is an Important Part of Missionary Preparation
7.  Understanding Patriarchal Blessings is a Powerful Motivator for Missionaries
8.  The Temple Endows Missionaries with Power

Chapter Three - Characteristics of an Effective Missionary

9.  Teach and Testify of Christ
10.  Teach and Testify of the Restoration
11.  Invite All to Come and be Baptized
12.  Missionaries are Blessed by Singing Hymns
13.  Prayer - A Vital Part of Missionary Service
14.  Obedient Missionaries are Protected
15.  Quiet Dignity
16.  Missionaries are to Avoid Contention
17.  Be True to Your Trust

Chapter Four - Our Family Missionaries

18.  Called to Serve
19.  Service Brings Blessing to Individuals and to Families
20.  My Mission and My Testimony of the Book of Mormon
21.  Faith - by John Lunt
22.  Charity - by Sydney Lunt
23.  Humility - by Michael Lunt
24.  Patience - by Jeff Jackman
25.  Diligence - by Josh Bradley
26.  Knowledge - by Scott Rynearson
27.  Our Family Legacy of Missionary Service
28.  Lessons Learned as Member Missionaries

Chapter Five - The Book of Mormon and Sending it on a Mission

29.  Sending the Book of Mormon on a Mission
30.  A Prophet on How to use the Book of Mormon
31.  The Way the Book of Mormon Brings Us to Christ
32.  The Book of Mormon and the Gathering of Israel
33.  The Book of Mormon and the Battle for the Souls of Men

Chapter Six - Kentucky Louisville Mission

34.  Missionaries Minister in the Inner Cities of Louisville and Cincinnati
35.  Building Relationships of Trust in the West End of Louisville

Appendices

Appendix A - Sister Lunt’s Missionary Messages
Appendix B - President Lunt’s Missionary Messages
Appendix C - Dedicatory Prayer of Paintsville Building