Preparing our Children for a Mission

Preparing our Children for a Mission
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Beverly van Zyl: I always spoke to my children about my mission, and we would invite the missionaries into our home. When they received their patriarchal blessings they studied them to know the Lord's will concerning them serving. We took the time to prepare them for the temple. They have learnt to turn to their Saviour for strength, and they have become spiritually self-reliant.

Beverly van Zyl:
Marlene Chater: We always made sure that Louis attended all his church activities, especially on the Sundays when he was with his Dad who isn't LDS. He loved Mutual and never missed attending it - he went to Mutual right up to his mission date. Early morning seminary was often a challenge, especially in winter, but he attended faithfully. I believe that seminary and the Spirit influenced him to serve a mission.
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Marlene Chater:
Wendy Adam : Since Mackay was young we encouraged him to go on a mission. He is a very shy child and as he grew older his desire to do the right thing started to prepare him spiritually. His attendance at seminary helped as well. His Young Men's quorum was also preparing for their missions, and having friends wanting to serve the Lord was a big contributing factor. Constant communication of where he was spiritually helped him keep check of himself and his feeling worthy of the blessing to be the Lord's servant for a couple of years as a fulltime missionary. He has come to know that the Church is true and the Book of Mormon is truly God's word after a prayerful fast for an answer to these questions.
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Wendy Adam
David Craig: At all times we told Travis that the decision to go on a mission was one that he needed to make and that we would love and support him whatever his decision would be. We tried to help him become converted to the gospel. We helped him to develop his own testimony and then taught him the importance of acting on his testimony.
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David Craig:

Edwin Louw: We as a family loved having the missionaries in our home, especially the special spirit that they brought with them. The messages they left us with always encouraged us to be more involved in missionary work, and reminded us of the importance of both families and missionaries working together as a team to share the gospel with others.

Edwin Louw:
We could see the excitement in our son’s eyes when the missionaries came to visit. He looked up to them and often spoke about the day he was going to serve a mission. We could see the influence they were having on his growth in the gospel.
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When the missionaries visited, Zack would take their name tags and parade around the house with the tag attached to his shirt, pretending to be a missionary. This started when he was in Primary and continued throughout the youth program. We always spoke about him serving a mission one day, not if, but or maybe. This was a goal he had set based on the teachings in our home.

Just before being transferred the missionaries would pop by our home and have pictures taken of them with us as a family. They would leave their spare name tags behind for Zack. This was always an exciting time for him and today, besides his own name tags, he has a collection of returned missionary name tags, a small way in which he was greatly influenced to serve a fulltime mission himself.

Charlotte Crankshaw: Hugh and I have been blessed to have two of our daughters go into the mission field to serve fulltime missions. From when they were young they participated in family home evening, we taught them the importance of daily personal prayer and scripture study, and we encouraged our daughters to each gain their own testimonies of the Saviour, His atonement and  the Book of Mormon. Both Maxine and Simone attended and graduated from seminary and attended Institute before going on mission.
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Charlotte Crankshaw:

They each received their patriarchal blessings which brought peace and guidance to their lives. We have always supported our daughters in their school and church activities, and church callings they were involved in, as we knew this would help develop their independence as well as leadership and social skills.

We encouraged them to choose friends who would respect their standards and not try to get them to do things that were contrary to their beliefs. We regularly had missionaries in our home who were always great examples for our daughters to follow.

They were taught basic skills such as cleaning, doing their own laundry, and cooking. They both had part time jobs which taught them to manage their money. Preparing our daughters to serve as missionaries was not a single event but a series of experiences that took place over many years.

Wendy Malpage:   Preparation for Matthew's mission started long before he left. As parents we always tried to instill in him a love for the scriptures and a relationship with Heavenly Father. We encouraged Matthew to pray and receive and feel personal revelation. This has has developed his testimony over the years and given him a love for his Father in Heaven and for the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Wendy Malpage:
Sheradon Muller:  W e started preparing Devin for his mission as soon as he was able to understand how much we love him and how important he is to Heavenly Father. We did this by teaching him the doctrines and principles of the gospel and trying to be examples of the principles we were teaching. As a family we read the scriptures and encouraged him to read them on his own while studying seminary. We discussed policies and principles freely and took him to all meetings and activities and enjoyed these with him so that he could learn that the gospel is to be enjoyed. When he was the right age, he asked us to help him get his papers and interviews sorted so that he could serve his mission. We are grateful for his willingness and the guidance of the Church leaders in preparing Devin for his mission.
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Sheradon Muller: