Dear parents of missionaries in the Texas Fort Worth Mission,
I know you are excited to be able to visit with you missionary on Mother’s Day on the phone. The Missionary Handbook states:
“You may telephone your parents on Christmas and one other time
during the year (usually Mother’s Day), according to the guidelines from
your mission president. Take care that these calls do not pull your thoughts
away from your service…Keep them short (preferably no longer than 30
to 40 minutes). Other than these calls, do not telephone family members
or friends unless you have permission from your mission president.”
I would like to emphasize who the missionaries are to phone—parents. Sometimes everyone (brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends etc.) want to talk on the phone as well. Parents of course want to visit last and often they will only have a few minutes left. After some rationalizing and justifying, the missionary standard of 30 to 40 minutes is exceeded which causes the missionary to be disobedient. Please help your missionary be obedient. Receiving the Lord’s help in this work is so very important. As the scriptures say “And when we obtain any blessing from God, it is by obedience to that law upon which it is predicated.” (D&C 130:21)
I would also ask that you erase and not write down their phone number after they call. You may be tempted just to keep the number for some reason or another. I assure you it will not be necessary and in fact may be detrimental to the success of the missionary. I am aware that some parents have kept this phone number and later phoned or texted their missionary with some news they just felt was needed immediately. I assure you that this is a major distraction to missionary work and indeed does much more harm than good. If there is an urgent need to get information to your missionary, please contact your stake president and he will contact me. I will do likewise if there is urgent information we need to get to parents.
I know it is sometimes difficult to understand but missionaries are under the direction of their mission president. We will take good care of them. We know we cannot eliminate challenges but we can teach and love them—and we do. We will do all we can to see they are successful. Please know of our love and appreciation for the sacrifice you make to keep your missionary on a mission. Helping them be obedient will be a great blessing for all.
Joseph M. Sagers
Texas Fort Worth Mission President
