A few days after we received and accepted our call, we got a phone call from some senior missionaries who got us started on the financial aspect of our mission, including health insurance, car insurance, and car registration.
To be honest, we didn’t realize the importance of this phone call and had no idea what questions to ask or what was important to address. So, look at your health coverage. Will it cover you where you will be serving? If you are from the United States, and you will be serving in the United States, you will be taking your car with you. That is required as a senior missionary. So, make sure you know the status of your vehicle. If you are serving outside of the U.S., you don’t have to worry about any of that. And depending on where you will serve, these missionaries will tell you how much to pay on your tithing slip.
On our application forms, we decided to not specify a location, but we did request to serve as MLS missionaries. (I’ll address that in my next post.) There are many different areas to serve and I’m sure there will be senior missionaries assigned to explain to you what specifically you will be doing on your mission. We were assigned to an MLS mentoring senior couple about a month, or so, before we left for the MTC. In several sessions, over Zoom, they explained the various ways we can help wards.
We loved hearing from these missionaries. They were enthusiastic and helpful and willing to answer all our questions. We didn’t always know what to ask, but little by little we were able to pull everything together and understand just what we were getting ourselves into.
The MTC emailed us with lists of things to bring for our MTC stay and gave us a brief overview of what to expect for the two weeks we would be there.
We were also advised to call our mission president. Apparently, he is informed that a senior couple will be arriving, but he isn’t told when they will arrive, or even their names. So, we introduced ourselves during that first call. The office couple was full of all kinds of advice for us, which was very helpful. And they sent us a packing list. Because we drive ourselves out to our mission, we can bring whatever we want. The last thing on their list is to be sure to leave room for yourself in the vehicle. Funny! But I had to leave a few things behind because there really wasn’t going to be enough room for me.
The list they sent told us what items would be furnished for us in our apartment. There are basics such as tables, chairs, lamps, dresser, and sofa. I think everyone gets a queen size bed wherever you serve, but it took a long time for me to finally get confirmation on the size. I needed to bring sheets, blankets, bedspread, and towels. The mission will provide lots of kitchen equipment, but I brought an Instant Pot, a blender, and my KitchenAid mixer. I heard I might be making lots and lots of cookies. You will likely have a washer and dryer. These days it’s easy to look online to see what stores will be nearby. I was happy to discover a Costco was in the town we are living in. There are some real benefits to serving in the United States. 2nd world countries should be fairly comfortable, except for possibly drinking the water. For 3rd, and 4th world countries, be brave.
If you have, or are, serving a senior mission, I’d love to hear what experiences you are having.
For my next post, I’ll finally explain what an MLS missionary is. It’s still in the process of being established and known mission wide.
You can catch up with our journey here.
You can follow along with us on our journey here.