Latter-day Saint Mission Prep

Jimmy Smith
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  • RELIGION & SPIRITUALITY

Resources for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preparing for a mission. Practical tips and spiritual advice for missionary preparation, including our 15 part series where we present the Church’s Mission Prep class.

  1. 04/30/2024

    Leaving for Nauvoo Performing Mission – Interview with Abe Smith – Episode 20

    This video and audio is episode 20 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast recorded on Apr 28, 2024. In this episode, I interview Abe Smith who will be leaving this week on his mission to be a Nauvoo Performing Missionary, particularly, he will be playing trumpet in the Nauvoo Brass Band. He will spend the summer in historic Nauvoo, Illinois where he will be a playing his trumpet in the Nauvoo Brass Band. He will be entertaining tourists and sharing his testimony of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ through music, performances, and the spoken word. In the interview, we cover topics such as: • What is a Nauvoo Performing Missionary (NPM) and the types of performers they need (Brass Band, singers, dancers) • The application process for a NPM (deadlines, auditions, etc.) • Weekly Meetings for NPM (Jan-Apr) • Schedules, Costs, and Program Fees • Checklist of assignments, travel, housing arrangements, and much more The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version of the interview can be found at the bottom of this post. For other video/podcast episodes, check out the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast page. ***Begin Transcript*** OK, welcome everyone to another edition of the latter Day Saint Mission Prep podcast. My name is Jimmy Smith. I’m your host of the podcast with me. Today is my son, Abraham Smith. Today, we’re going to be talking about talking to Abe about his upcoming mission. He leads this coming week and just a couple of days to be a novel performing missionary, so he’ll be spending the summer and navu entertaining the tourists and giving his testimony through music for sure. Maybe through word as well his testimony of the restored gospel in that historic place of Nauvoo, Illinois. So welcome to the podcast. Welcome, Abe. Uh, why don’t you introduce yourselves to the audience, and then we’ll get into the the points that we want to talk about with the, with the Nauvoo performing mission, I’m sure. Hi, I’m Abe Smith,. Uh, I’m 19 years old. I’ll be turning 20 and I’m about a month or so and I’m going to Texas A&M Commerce to study music education and then as he said, I’m doing the naval mission this summer. Excellent. Thanks, Abe. So yeah, so we’re really excited about this. I think Avis, too. It’s gonna be an interesting experience. We we’re anxious to hear about it. So at the conclusion of the summer in August, we might do another episode and they can tell us more details about what it was like to be a performing missionary. Did you mention what instrument you play? Ohh, I played trumpet. OK, so Absa mastered trumpet player. I’m not a musician. They inherited all their music skill from their mother, he, he and the other kids. But uh anyway. Yeah, that’s we have the picture of the of the trumpet behind us. And then and Nauvoo temple. He’s older sister Hannah is an art major in and did this artwork for us, so props to her for that. OK. So let me refer quickly to the agenda on my screen. Uh, we OK? So Abe is gonna be in the Naboo brass band, and that’s one aspect of being a Naboo performing mission missionary. So why don’t you briefly tell the audience what is it? What is this Navy performing missionary program? You know at high level and then what are the different parts of it? And then you will be in the brass band. So why don’t you walk the audience through all of that? Can you do that? Yeah, of course. So there are a few different types of missionaries and navu. There the there’s gonna be some senior missionaries that are just regular senior missionaries. There are tour guides who give tour guides of all the different historic buildings, and then there’s the category that I’m in, which is the performing missionaries, and that’s and the performing missionaries are made up of two parts. The stage actually is made up of three parts. It’s the stage performers slash actors, the technique audio electronic technicians who do all the sound work and maybe light work and other technical stuff. And then there’s the brass band, which is based off of this historical brass banned. But it also has a couple woodwinds too, but that’s what I meant then. Brass band. OK, very good. Cool. So you’ll also notice Abe’s growing his hair. He doesn’t have a typical, really Short, missionary cut. That’s actually intentional, they told him. What back in January or February when you started doing the meetings to, like, let your hair grow out cuz and let your sideburns grow in and stuff like that and that right. Yep, yeah, they said they want it to be full and not modern, just to be more realistic to how it was back in the 1840s or whenever. Well, and a lot of the stuff that will, you’ll see that we tell you about a lot of it is to give the feeling that you’re actually that the tourists are actually in 1840s eighteen, 50s novu. So you’ll be wearing kind of pioneered dear like shirt and pants and boots. You have to. They gave you like a list of things to buy, right? I’m probably jumping ahead on our agenda, but so they want you to look authentic. Dress authentic, even have authentic like 1840s hair and so forth as you play in the breast. And I think that goes for all the performers. Like he said, there’s other tour guides and there’s other singing and dancing performing missionaries that are there. There’s a pageant for a couple weeks, maybe a four months, and in July there’s a pageant there. And anyway, OK, cool. So yeah, so you’ll be doing the brass band. Let’s go back umm to the agenda. OK, so you’ll be there. You leave May 1st hit. We’re recording this April 28th, 2024. So you leave on Wednesday, you’re flying into Saint Louis with a bunch of other people. And then from there you guys are taking a bus up to Nauvoo. It’s a couple hours drive north of Saint Louis. You’ll be there from May 1st through. August 7th through August 7th, you and all the other messages, and it’s a full time listen in terms of like it, it’s not not the not your typical full time mission for like 2 years where you’re a missionary. But for these over three months of the summer, it’s a full time mission in terms of your your you have schedule, you get up at 6:30, you do companionship study, you practice your instrument, you go do performances. And in the town and for the tourists and so forth. And anyway, it’s very it’s your whole day and week and month is all very scheduled. So it’s it’s it’s a full time gig in that in that respect, correct. Yeah. Anything to add to that? Yeah. Well, let’s add a little bit about the schedule. If we’re not talking about that later, no, you can talk about it now. So if it’s schedule you actually what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna spend the first three, 3 1/2 weeks of may just rehearsing. So we’re just rehearsing songs, and then the actors are gonna practice all their shows. Umm, I think the within within a few days though the band will be able to get on the bandwagon and play songs in the morning. Umm, but for the for. Basically, the whole month of May, we’ll be rehearsing, at least for the band. It’s like 9 hours out of the day you get an hour an hour and a half for for meal breaks. Umm. And then at the end of May’s, when the performances start, and that’s when we have bandwagon performances in the morning stage concerts in the afternoon, like little dancing around and stuff. And then the evening sit down. Concerts. Cool. OK, very good. So, uh, OK, so we’ve given you a good overview for the audience of what the Navy performing missionary program is. So let’s let’s rewind a little and talk about the process of becoming a Novo performing missionary. What made you decide you wanted to do that? What are the differences between this kind of mission and a full time processing mission? We can talk about that. I know you had to audition to be in the Naboo. The performing missionary program, so let’s let’s go back to the beginning and start there. What was the process like to become a Navy performing missionary? All right. So, uh, we our family had gone to navu back in 2019 and I heard that there was gonna be a brass band there and we weren’t able to see them, but it was something we knew about then. And so, a year or so ago, about two years ago, actually. And my mom was suggesting to me that I could maybe try out and do that. This was spring 2023 and she was hoping that I could do it for last summer, but we didn’t know like the timeline then. But we found out that the auditions actually opened in the summer before, so I’m serving this summer, summer 2024. If you wanna audition for it, you have to audition for it the summer before, as when you start preparing stuff. So last summer, summer 2023, I prepared a couple of audition things. You make a video and send it to them and you post the video on YouTube. I think it’s that and send the link to and there’s a probably a website I’ll I’ll put it in the in the in the show notes or on the web page. So you have a link, but there’s an information somewhere online about how to apply for this. We’ll get everybody links for that right and at least what I had to do as I had to prepare 2 exerpts and I just did two Short, attitudes. If you do like chromatic scale and then any other various musical instruments that you had, so I just showed that I can also do jazz as well as classical and then I had to prepare a little paragraph about why I want to be in the Naboo brass band and should I talk about that. My motivations? Yeah. Let let let me wrap one thing up on the the audition process. So yeah, it it was like August of 2023 was the deadline to perform in the summer of 2024. That’s so that I turned it in. S

    33 min

  2. 02/14/2024

    The Transfer Home – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 19

    This video and audio is episode 19 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast recorded on Feb 12, 2024. In this podcast you will hear Hannah Smith talk about her transfer home at the end of her 18 month mission to Lisbon, Portugal for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We talk about the last weeks of her mission and her first week back home. We cover topics such as: • How she approached the last week of her mission • Saying goodbye to friends, members, and missionaries • How to not get trunky • Going to the mission home for her farewell interview with the mission president • Traveling home and meeting her family at the airport • Being released: meeting with Stake Pres • Homecoming talk and open house • Getting back into life with family and work • Goals, My Plan, challenges, growth, testimony, and much more The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post. For other video/podcast episodes, check out the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast page. ***Begin Transcript*** 0:0:22.430 –> 0:0:29.340 Smith, Jimmy Welcome to another edition of the Latter Day St Mission Prep podcast. 0:0:29.750 –> 0:0:36.530 Smith, Jimmy I’m here today with my daughter Hannah, who just got back from her mission to Lisbon, Portugal. 0:0:36.540 –> 0:0:39.690 Smith, Jimmy So she’s gonna tell us all about that today. 0:0:39.900 –> 0:0:43.450 Smith, Jimmy The topic for today’s podcast I’m calling it. 0:0:43.940 –> 0:0:46.590 Smith, Jimmy This is my draft, I might change it when I published it. 0:0:46.600 –> 0:0:48.480 Smith, Jimmy I’m calling it the transfer home. 0:0:48.700 –> 0:0:56.230 Smith, Jimmy We’re we’re primarily going to talk about the last week of your mission and your first week back home after you mentioned you’ve been home. 0:0:56.240 –> 0:0:58.660 Smith, Jimmy I think about two weeks, but we’re going to focus on that. 0:0:58.990 –> 0:1:8.340 Smith, Jimmy Last week in the mission and the first week home after the mission, so that that that transition from being a missionary full time to being a. 0:1:10.680 –> 0:1:11.570 Smith, Jimmy Uh, yes. 0:1:11.640 –> 0:1:14.650 Smith, Jimmy Uh, a normal ladder? 0:1:14.700 –> 0:1:16.890 Smith, Jimmy Non missionary, Latter day St. 0:1:17.360 –> 0:1:20.330 Smith, Jimmy So anyway, that’s what we’re going to talk about today. 0:1:20.340 –> 0:1:21.890 Smith, Jimmy In fact, I prepared a little agenda. 0:1:21.900 –> 0:1:22.950 Smith, Jimmy I’m going to share briefly. 0:1:22.960 –> 0:1:25.500 Smith, Jimmy We’ll see how how this works. 0:1:26.230 –> 0:1:30.390 Smith, Jimmy Uh, OK, not not as smooth as I thought. 0:1:30.400 –> 0:1:31.840 Smith, Jimmy But anyway, we’re gonna talk about. 0:1:32.770 –> 0:1:36.460 Smith, Jimmy Uh, uh, you how’s the approach? 0:1:36.550 –> 0:1:44.120 Smith, Jimmy The her last week in the mission field, we’ll talk about your interview with your mission president. 0:1:44.360 –> 0:1:46.190 Smith, Jimmy I’ll talk about traveling home. 0:1:47.0 –> 0:1:50.610 Smith, Jimmy Uh, and you’re experience is traveling home. 0:1:50.620 –> 0:1:53.280 Smith, Jimmy They will and meeting course your family at the airport. 0:1:53.380 –> 0:1:58.520 Smith, Jimmy We’ll talk about meeting with the state president and at the next stage we got home late one night, right. 0:1:58.760 –> 0:2:2.30 Smith, Jimmy And your homecoming talk and open house. 0:2:2.40 –> 0:2:5.180 Smith, Jimmy We had biting friends over and now getting back to work. 0:2:5.190 –> 0:2:12.260 Smith, Jimmy You’ve been got a job and you’re going back to work and you have, you know, it’d be good if you could tell about your plans and so forth. 0:2:12.310 –> 0:2:14.120 Smith, Jimmy So anyway, that’s our agenda. 0:2:14.130 –> 0:2:18.700 Smith, Jimmy I’m going to stop sharing the screen so you know see that gene anymore. 0:2:18.710 –> 0:2:20.920 Smith, Jimmy You can just focus on on him. 0:2:20.970 –> 0:2:24.730 Smith, Jimmy So I guess let’s let’s jump into this first. 0:2:24.780 –> 0:2:28.20 Smith, Jimmy Maybe Hannah do a brief intro. 0:2:28.480 –> 0:2:31.490 Smith, Jimmy To yourself about, you know, your student. 0:2:31.500 –> 0:2:35.50 Smith, Jimmy You went that called to Portugal and your mission said, etcetera. 0:2:35.360 –> 0:2:38.50 Smith, Jimmy And so do that really briefly. 0:2:38.60 –> 0:2:39.540 Smith, Jimmy And then we’ll jump into the other agenda. 0:2:40.100 –> 0:2:41.370 Smith, Jimmy Yeah, sounds good. 0:2:41.420 –> 0:2:45.40 Smith, Jimmy So, umm, basically four. 0:2:45.90 –> 0:2:45.880 Smith, Jimmy I was actually. 0:2:46.100 –> 0:2:58.630 Smith, Jimmy I was studying art at the IU I say and I got called to go to Lisbon, Portugal and then mentioned, and I just spent the past. 0:3:1.0 –> 0:3:2.930 Smith, Jimmy You could say 18 months there. 0:3:3.40 –> 0:3:5.590 Smith, Jimmy I spent a little bit of time in California. 0:3:5.600 –> 0:3:6.870 Smith, Jimmy Riverside as well. 0:3:7.550 –> 0:3:9.260 Smith, Jimmy I’m waiting for my visa to go to Portugal. 0:3:10.280 –> 0:3:13.770 Smith, Jimmy Umm but yeah, and then I know. 0:3:13.900 –> 0:3:15.400 Smith, Jimmy Yeah, so here I am. 0:3:15.410 –> 0:3:15.710 Smith, Jimmy Yeah. 0:3:15.720 –> 0:3:23.430 Smith, Jimmy So she did the two weeks at the home in PC and that would have been we’re recording this in February of 2024. 0:3:23.440 –> 0:3:25.710 Smith, Jimmy So it was summer of 2022. 0:3:25.720 –> 0:3:28.930 Smith, Jimmy You did two weeks of Homeland TC and then for Visa. 0:3:28.980 –> 0:3:29.470 Smith, Jimmy Oh, no. 0:3:29.480 –> 0:3:48.200 Smith, Jimmy Then she went to the Provo MTC for four weeks and had, it was hoping the visa for Portugal would arrive, but it didn’t, so she spent a transfer, which is a six week period with temporary mission in California and then finally around the 1st of October. 0:3:48.210 –> 0:3:53.930 Smith, Jimmy I think you like that October, yeah, mid October of 2022 made it to Portugal. 0:3:54.450 –> 0:3:55.70 Smith, Jimmy Yeah. 0:3:55.110 –> 0:3:58.60 Smith, Jimmy So there 15 months. 0:3:58.110 –> 0:4:0.80 Smith, Jimmy Yeah, yeah. 0:4:1.60 –> 0:4:1.510 Smith, Jimmy Cool, cool. 0:4:1.520 –> 0:4:1.810 Smith, Jimmy Cool. 0:4:2.340 –> 0:4:2.770 Smith, Jimmy So. 0:4:2.840 –> 0:4:3.870 Smith, Jimmy So that’s Hannah. 0:4:4.580 –> 0:4:5.890 Smith, Jimmy And and her mission. 0:4:6.240 –> 0:4:12.50 Smith, Jimmy And maybe we’ll have other podcasts where we talk about more details of things that happen on her mission. 0:4:12.340 –> 0:4:17.850 Smith, Jimmy But while it’s fresh in your mind, I wanted to ask you about that last week in the mission. 0:4:17.860 –> 0:4:18.890 Smith, Jimmy So why don’t you tell about that? 0:4:18.900 –> 0:4:23.890 Smith, Jimmy What were your thoughts as your mission was coming to a close and how did you approach that? 0:4:23.900 –> 0:4:25.730 Smith, Jimmy How did you make sure you didn’t get trunky? 0:4:25.740 –> 0:4:35.850 Smith, Jimmy You know and and lose focus had you know, how did you make sure you worked hard until the end of your mission and and and what were your thoughts is you were approaching that? Yeah. 0:4:38.120 –> 0:4:48.430 Smith, Jimmy Well, it is a lot more than just like the last week because I feel like the last like several transfers of my mission, I was like at the end is coming. 0:4:48.540 –> 0:4:53.250 Smith, Jimmy You have to kind of start preparing yourself, and the church gives you some resources. 0:4:53.360 –> 0:4:58.430 Smith, Jimmy I think we’ll talk about later for kind of preparing yourself to to go home. 0:4:58.440 –> 0:5:0.870 Smith, Jimmy And so you kind of have to start thinking about it more than a week. 0:5:0.960 –> 0:5:2.590 Smith, Jimmy No, go ahead and mention that now. 0:5:2.600 –> 0:5:3.480 Smith, Jimmy So what is? 0:5:3.490 –> 0:5:7.0 Smith, Jimmy What resources do the church give you as you’re preparing to come home? 0:5:7.660 –> 0:5:11.720 Smith, Jimmy So there is this lovely thing called my and. 0:5:11.730 –> 0:5:21.690 Smith, Jimmy So basically, in your missionary portal it just pops up one day whenever they sign it to you, and it’s basically like a six week little course you just do. 0:5:21.880 –> 0:5:23.780 Smith, Jimmy I just did on my phone because that’s what I had. 0:5:24.500 –> 0:5:25.300 Smith, Jimmy Umm. 0:5:25.480 –> 0:5:35.160 Smith, Jimmy And it just asks you it like has some quotes, some videos, series of questions about what your plans are for going home. 0:5:35.170 –> 0:5:39.50 Smith, Jimmy You make a lot of goals, a lot of reflecting on the things you learn throughout your mission. 0:5:39.960 –> 0:5:42.330 Smith, Jimmy Umm so it’s I was. 0:5:42.500 –> 0:5:53.210 Smith, Jimmy I thought it would be a lot more like specific and detailed about like the plans I would make going home, but a lot of it was just like reflecting on what things like I learned spiritually on my mission. 0:5:53.220 –> 0:5:54.350 Smith, Jimmy What like habits again? 0:5:54.360 –> 0:6:6.680 Smith, Jimmy What I want to continue and like plans with that which I actually think is better that they make you plan to think about that than like your logistical plans of what happens when you get home. 0:6:6.690 –> 0:6:15.680 Smith, Jimmy Because I think the church has seen that like one of the biggest struggles with returned missionaries is that they like they, like, flounder. 0:6:15.690 –> 0:6:25.340 Smith, Jimmy A little bits spiritually, sometimes,

    51 min

  3. 08/11/2022

    Mission Farewell, Setting Apart, and Home MTC – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 18

    This video podcast is part 3 of my interview with my daughter, Hannah Smith, a young woman who recently began her full-time missionary service for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode, Hannah talks about her mission farewell sacrament meeting, her setting apart, and her two weeks of Home MTC before heading to the actual physical Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post. For other video/podcast episodes, check out the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast page. Smith, Jimmy Hello and welcome everyone. My name’s Jimmy Smith. I’m here with my daughter, Hannah, on another episode of the Latter Day Saint Mission Prep podcast. Today we are talking with Hannah about her home MTC experience, so Hannah has been doing home MTC for the past two weeks and two days from now she is flying to Provo for four more weeks of MTC training. So. Welcome, Hanna. Welcome all viewers and listeners. And let’s jump in. I guess just a brief background, if you haven’t seen part one and Part 2, this is part three, but if you haven’t seen others go back and watch the others in the first time I interviewed Hannah, I talked Sister Smith, I guess I should be calling you now. You’re officially set apart missionary. The part one we talked about the mission application process and paperwork and medical stuff and talking to your bishop and stake president and getting it all applied and sent to the church. Part 2 we talked about. What did we talk about? Getting ready to go, going to the temple, going to the temple. I think opening my opening should call. We talked about that. Ohh like applying for a visa and a passport? Maybe mention prep class taking them that anyway. Part 2 was really good now. OK, so now here we are. Part three. We’re going to talk about primarily about home, MTC and a few other topics about maybe packing and getting ready to go and. You know, and anything else you’re experience is getting set apart as a missionary. Your farewell talk. We can hit on all those things that have happened roughly in the last month. So in fact, one we do take it chronologically there, so. About I guess it was it 2 weeks ago today. You had your farewell talk. Yeah. So two weeks ago. Farewell talk. So we’re recording this on a Sunday in August. And so two weeks ago you had to farewell talk in Sacrament meeting and then that night set apart by the state president. Why don’t you talk about those anything that stands out? Hannah: Yeah, and those experiences. Ohh. No, no. Giving my talk was good. Mm-hmm. They, like, assigned me a topic to speak on, but I don’t really know if I really spoke about it. I just talked about, like. I don’t know. I talked to him a lot about. And then the willingness it takes to go on a mission and to like, just serve the Lord in general, but I don’t know. I thought that it went good. Yeah, we, me and my brother. That’s just sang you than me. We did a musical number together as well. So that was really good. Yeah. That turned out really nice. Smith, Jimmy Hannah plays the piano very well. Her younger brother Abe plays the trumpet and in the band and is very good as well. I had never heard a trumpet played in Sacramento. Yeah before. So I was surprised. I was surprised that you asked the Bishop because I don’t know that I would have dared to ask the Bishop if Abe could play his trumpet in sacrament meeting and he said yes, as long as it was reverent. And as long as it was a hymn. And so I thought it sounded excellent. I thought it was very reverent and very appropriate for sacrament meeting. Hannah: It’s fun and yeah. Jimmy: I was as a someone in the audience sitting there. In fact, I was very proud. Proud isn’t the right word. Pleased to see my daughter and my son up there. Made me feel like maybe I’ve done a semi good job as a parent to see Hannah giving her mission farewell talk and have Abe up there playing as well. Anyway, it was it was. It was good to see. It brought warm feelings to my heart, to quote Yoda. So we also had an open house for you. Maybe briefly. Talk about that. That was the week after. But yeah, the week after that a lot of people would do that on the same day as the mission farewell. We didn’t have it coordinated. But the next week since you were doing home MTC for two weeks we did an open house and invited people from the ward over. Anything you want to say about that? Hannah: I don’t know. It was. We just had, like, a little bit of food. I just talked to some people. Yeah. Mostly just giving me like advice about when they went on a mission like Ohh do this with your companion being nice and good luck and just asking me all these questions about mission stuff. But it was really fun to talk to everyone. Yeah, it went really good. Jimmy: Great. OK, so the night of your mission farewell, two weeks ago, we went to the stake center and met with our state President to get you set apart as missionary. So tell us a little bit about that experience. Hannah: Umm well, I guess right beforehand I was trying to figure out like it’s like, OK, well, I guess when I get back home after I’m set apart like. I gotta, like, live all the missionary standards, which is a little weird. So I like deleted all my like social medias and like was texting bad all my friends. So that was like very weird sad moment. Uh, good, obviously. But just like, very weird, but especially because they’re not. They weren’t very specific to me. Like, I don’t know. What I could and couldn’t do with like phones at home, MTC, which is kind of weird, but that’s not the that’s not the main deal, but that it was a little weird. Yeah. Anyways, we drove to the church. Our whole family went and met with. It’s just our family in the state president and we sat down. I will. Chat super short. I was crying my eyes out. I was just crying. The whole like car ride and like crying. Alright before I think just like. All the emotions like kind of finally hit me about like. I don’t know. Just being real, it was real like this, is it? Yeah. Like there’s a lot of end of my, like, Pre-mission life of my, like, normal social. Yeah, civilian life. So I don’t know. It was definitely emotional. I was just like, am I really doing this? Oh my gosh, what am I getting myself into this like questioning like is this even right even though obviously it’s been like very exciting and it’s something I know I need to be doing. I just feel like every step of the way, I’m like, am I really supposed to be doing this? Jimmy: Yeah. Well, I and I think that cause we were sister, you have a little more of those emotions because you don’t have to do it. It’s a choice. (What I was trying to say is that a mission is considered a priesthood duty of the young men, but that same expectation is not there for young women.) And I thought it was so interesting when you sat down in the chair with the say present behind you. He asked, Are you ready? And he was. He wasn’t about to lay his hands on your head and set you apart until you said yes, I’m ready. Hannah: And I like sat there was like, I don’t know. And I cried for a second and then he was like, OK, Are you ready now? It’s like. Yep. So you did it. The setting part was good. I wrote down like, right immediately after the stuff he had said, I wrote about it that night. But I kind of like it was all, like, jumbled in my head. But he had said, but lots of just like I really. Good things competing. Things like yeah. That mission is a good thing. Yeah, even though it’s a hard thing. So that was great. And then, yeah. We took picture of, well, I put my name tag on. That was fun. Couldn’t figure out how to do it on straight. I’m getting better. It’s getting easier so yeah. Jimmy: Well they have these little magnet things now. They didn’t have those when I was a missionary. Hannah: There is a piece of pen. It’s like a little magnet. Yeah. So I just stick it in. Yeah. You are getting to be a price and better. Yeah. Jimmy: Well, I remember as we were driving away from the stake center. Like a weight coming over me, but not a heavy or burdensome weight, but like the responsibility and a blessing that we have a full time missionary in our House now. I mean in our car and in our home and you’ve been in our home for two weeks now doing home MTC. But I just like I knew as a as a parent and as a family we needed to, you know, make sure that we took care of one of the Lord’s missionaries in our home and we need to make sure it was a good environment. And so I really felt that as we were driving away. One other thing that I should say I was impressed with you from the beginning and that that we never even really talked about. It was like you said that when you’re set a partisan missionary. But I say, President, you need to start going by the mission rules. Right. Right then and there. And I’ve been very impressed with how obedient you have been in keeping the missing rules and learning and knowing what the mission rules are and following them. And to me again, that brings warm feelings to my heart because I know missionaries who are obedient to the mission rules are going to more likely to have the spirit of the Lord with them and are going to be more safe and successful in their missionary efforts. So that’s been really good to see. Hannah: Thanks. Jimmy: So then the next day you started a home MTC and have been doing that for the past two weeks, so yeah. Talk to us about the home MTC. What have you liked about it? What have you not liked? What’s been fun? What’s been difficult? What? What’s the schedule like? And all those thing? Hannah: Yeah, yeah. So my first day at Home MC was my P-day actually. So that was kind of reall

    39 min

  4. 07/04/2022

    Submitting Mission Application, Receiving the Call, and Preparing to Leave – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 17

    This video is part 2 of an interview with Hannah Smith, a young woman in the process of submitting her application to be a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hannah talks about submitting her mission application, receiving the call, preparing to leave, and receiving the temple endowment. The transcript of the interview can be found below (it’s automated, so I apologize for any typos) and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post as it comprises Episode 17 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast. Jimmy Smith: OK. Well, welcome to the latter day St Mission Prep podcast. My name, Jimmy Smith. I’m the host of the podcast and this is my daughter, Hannah. And we are here on the video podcast and on audio podcast. For those of you without video support, we’re here for Part 2 of my interview with Hannah about her mission about preparing for applying for mission and preparing to go on a mission. Let’s see. Let’s start Hannah by introducing you to to the the library sync mission prep audience, and then we’ll review what we covered in our last interview and then we’ll go into some new stuff. We’re gonna talk about today. So Hanna introduced yourself. Hannah Smith: Cool well. Like you said, I’m Hannah. I went. I just finished my freshman year at BYU up in Provo. It’s super great, super fun, great experience. I’m studying studio art. Hope you are you and that’s also been great. I really like to play the piano. I like to go hiking. And lots of good hikes in Utah. Yes, so many great, like national parks. Highly recommend. But yeah, that’s that’s kind of me. Jimmy Smith: That’s great. Great. And so we’re we’re here at our home in Texas recording this. Hanna just have great freshman year. So we’re glad to have her home. We have her home for just one month before she starts her MTC (Missionary Training Center) experience with two weeks of home MTC followed by four weeks of Provo MTC. And then she’s off to Portugal. So. In part one we talked about uh deciding to serve a mission, which isn’t required as as a young woman. And what made you decide to go? We talked about the application process of filling out the paperwork. All the online paperwork. Yeah, the missed the medical stuff and the dental staff and all, all the other forms you have to. Fill out. So we talked about that last time we check out the previous podcast. Uh, if you’re interested in that. So when we when I talked to Hannah last, she had finished all the online application process, but she hadn’t hit the submit button. So like literally the next day after we had our last interview, the next day she hit submit and that submits her mission application not to the church headquarters but to her Bishop and stake president. So tell us, Hanna, if you can about your final interviews with the Bishop and stake president before before your application was submitted to the church. Hannah Smith: Yeah. So let’s see. For segment with my Bishop, I don’t know. It was nothing crazy. He basically was just asking me about. Like how filling out my papers want. He had me bring my all of my like medical forms and like my dental stuff and I’m trying to think if there is anything else. Think so? That sounds about right. So yeah, so you have me bring those? Umm, he looked over them. Just like checked. They’re all correct. And then we went through what I had submitted. Umm to him like on the churches website. So we looked through that together and he just kind of went through and double check that everything was right. Like names, addresses, all that stuff. And then there’s a part where like he can add a little comment if you wants so. I had felt like I really wanted to serve internationally. That that would be like a good experience and something that I would like be able to do. And I like really wanna learn a language. So I asked my Bishop if he thought it’d be OK if he put a comment that like. I wanted to do that, so keep it a little comment. We like wrote it out together. Had just said. I would love the opportunity to learn a new language or like go. Serve internationally if I can. Because I like love learning about other cultures and I think it be great. So I don’t know if that actually had any factor in the decision. Do you mean never know. I don’t think I will ever know. But one of my friends did that and I was like, you know what? Why not? Because it doesn’t hurt that. But it’s asking it. It certainly worked out in your favor this time. Yeah. So. Yeah. So I had. Yeah, that was great little interview. You just talked about anything I was like, nervous about or what? I was excited for. Basically, just like double checking. Like my worthiness too. Umm, he asked me a bunch of questions. He was really similar to the temple recommend questions. You just have to explain a little bit more. So like he asked me like to share my testimony about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ and like. Maybe like Joseph Smith, I there’s somewhere online that, yeah, has a list of the questions. So I went over the questions and he didn’t ask me all of them, but he asked like, yes, for most of them cool. They explained most of them. So then you had to meet with the state president after the Bishop and that you had to wait a little longer. Right. Yeah. So I think I’m being involved too weeks apart. So yeah, the big thing was. You can only submit your mission papers. Like four months, four months before your availability availability date. So my availability date was June 2nd and so I had to wait until February 2nd to submit them. So that was the earliest I could submit them. You could submit them anytime after, but I just wanted to get them like quick. Again, it worked out. Interesting, but that’s fine anyways so. Yes, I met with him like a February 6th. I think, right? So like a couple days after on I went in, it was basically. It was way more chill. I felt like than the Bishop won. Not that my Bishop’s not chill. It’s just like he was reviewing all the technical stuff and they were more like. They asked similar questions I just met with like a counselor in my stake presidency. Ohh, cause your stake president. Yeah, well, something so you I think. With my stake, our stake is like the biggest stake in the whole church. I think just for like number of missionaries being sent out. Ohh for number of missionaries being sent. Yeah, not not a surprise with the BYU. Exactly. And it’s, you know, on campus. So everyone’s pretty much pre-mission. Yeah, so. They like allowed it, so you don’t have to interview with the stake president. You can interview with counselors. Umm. So I think normally you would have to wait to meet and do with the state president. Yeah. He was out of town. I think you’re right. So I just met the counselor. Yeah. And he did at the same time as your mission. And your final mission. He did my temple recommend interview live and Downt Temple Records. Right. I did that with my Bishop too at the same time. Yeah. See, I was like a interview. Yeah. Jimmy Smith: So you met with the Bishop. You met with the state president, and then a lot of people don’t realize this. It’s actually the stake, generally the stake clerk, who submits your application to the church. So, and probably the next day or so after you met with state president, it got submitted to the church. Hannah Smith: Yeah. So I met with them on, like, Wednesday or Thursday. Or maybe it’s a Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday anyways. But I asked them. I was like, so when will? You submit these papers because they still have to double check everything because I want it to be right so it doesn’t get sent back. Right? So I think they submitted it. They said they’d submit it before the weekend. Yeah. And I think they did. They did. You got some kind of alert that it was in, in process or something. Well, the next week I guess. I asked my Bishop cause your Bishop can check your status of your. I guess this kind of is this OK if we can. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So your mission papers go through, like, different phases. Umm, I don’t remember what they used. Yeah, I have them written down somewhere. It’s like last one in process. Yeah. In process. Ready for assignments. Like one of the last. Ready for assignment / assigned. Ohh. Assigned is like the last one I think. Right. And there’s there’s probably there’s another. There’s another one. But basically like a week or two after they had been submitted. I asked my Bishop to check on the status of them and I expected it to be like ready for assignment and it was still in process. And so I was like, what is going on? And like not the next day of the stake, president called me and said like, hey, we need the name of your eczema cream. Yeah. Ointment. Medication. Yeah. So like what? I never used that, but OK. Because I’d put, I had eczema on my health history because I have gone to a doctor for it. Yeah, this is like, legit. I just don’t super use the oil. Yeah, it’s no big deal. Jimmy Smith: And you kind of put it on your application just in passing because it asks your full medical history and you just put, oh, I have eczema. And it takes some cream for it. Every once in a while. And like the church literally would not move your application forward until they found out, well, what’s the name of the medication? Hannah Smith: Yeah, like taking. But anyway, you got that. I see. Yeah. As soon as I told them. Yeah, it went through and I think they were ready for assignment after that. Then I’m trying to think so. It took like three weeks for me to get my mission call. Hmm. Before can I talk about like the e-mail thing? Yeah. Yeah. So. So you it was about three weeks. And and from the time the the stakes submitted it until you receive your call right. And and for some it’s it’s even faster like it

    45 min

  5. 01/08/2022

    Deciding to Go on a Mission and Filling Out the Application – Interview with Hannah Smith – Podcast Episode 16

    This video is an interview with Hannah Smith, a young woman in the process of submitting her application to be a full-time missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Hannah talks about what made her decide to serve a mission and gives information about the process of filling out the paper work and the online mission recommendation system. The transcript of the interview can be found below and an audio version can be found at the bottom of this post as it comprises Episode 16 of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast. Jimmy Smith: Hello and welcome to our latest episode of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep podcast. My name is Jimmy Smith. I’m the founder of the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep website and podcast, and I’m pleased to have with me today, my daughter Hannah Smith who is on the on the call or on the on the video call with me if you’re watching this on video podcasts, you’ll hear the audio. Hannah is my daughter and she’s here today to talk about her decision to serve a mission and the process she’s gone through in applying for a mission. She’s in the middle of that process right now. Hannah is a freshman at BYU (Brigham Young University). She recently turned 19. She’s been working on her mission application with her BYU Bishop for the last couple of months. We’re recording this in January of 2022, and she has scheduled her final interview with her Bishop and stake president, and that’ll happen in about a month, and then she’ll get her mission papers turned in. So welcome to the podcast Hannah. Thanks for being with us today. Is there anything else you’d like to say about yourself by way of introduction? Hannah Smith: I don’t think so. Thanks for having me. Jimmy Smith: Alright. Thanks for thanks for being with me today and I appreciate it all right. I think, what you’re going to have to say and what we’re going to say to the audience today is going to be interesting and beneficial for a lot of missionaries. The process you’ve gone through with applying for your mission, it can be long and complex and as I’ve run the Latter-day Saint Mission Prep website for the past 12 years, that is one of the biggest areas of questions and concerns people have is about this application process, so you’re really going to be helping a lot of people by just telling them what you went through, what your experience has been. And so that they can help maybe avoid some pitfalls as they go through this process. So the first thing I want to talk about before we talk about the application process is how you decided to serve a mission. Obviously in the church, young men have an expectation to serve a mission as part of their priesthood duties. Every church president in my lifetime has said that all worthy enable young men should prepare to serve a mission. Young women have also been invited and welcomed in serving a mission, but there’s not that same expectation for young women like yourself. So if you could, let’s start out by talking about your desire to serve our mission, why you want to go? What made you decide to serve a mission? Hannah Smith: Well so, I guess the main thing that like made me decide to want to serve a mission, I was just I was like I don’t know. I was thinking about it a lot and like oh it’s like this could be an option for me. And like the more I thought about it I was like wow like putting aside like a whole year and a half, so like just serving the Lord and serving other people and like you know, being able to grow your testimony. I was like that. Seems like a really cool opportunity and like it seems like a really good thing. And so that’s kind of where like started. There was a point. I think it was like during my senior year in high school. There was a girl in our ward that came home from her mission and she like gave her homecoming talk and they had her give like a little fireside. Like after she got home. Just like telling about like her mission experience and like they like allowed the youth to ask questions and stuff door and I think just like a lot of the things she said about going on a mission like. I don’t know, it just like it sounded really exciting to me, like even if it was like partially like, oh wow, that sounds like a really like cool adventure like, you know going and just putting yourself out there and teaching the gospel for 18 months. It just sounded like she really enjoyed it and that it, like, really helped her grow her testimony. And so I was like, thought it was just really inspiring to me to, like, hear all of that and then also like just talking to like one of my friends who’s preparing to serve mission and like his reasons why you want to go. That really helped me figure it out and then also prayer and scripture study, but I never had like a really big like moment where I was like. Yes, I want to serve. I was just like little things and I just felt like it was the right thing whenever I thought about it, I was like oh, should I go. I just felt like a good feeling. So do you can’t go wrong with good feelings. Jimmy Smith: Well, it sounds like the Spirit of God has moved upon you in many ways. You said it was on your mind a lot, and I think that’s a sign of the spirit. Uh, yeah, you talked about the good feelings you had the, as you’ve heard other missionaries come home and talk to other missionaries were preparing to go, it’s just it felt good. It felt right, and I think all these things you’ve said indicate the Spirit of the Lord working upon you so. So that’s good. I was just, you know, as your parent, I’ve personally tried not to like…I didn’t want to Make it appear that that we wanted you to go on a mission. I mean, I’m we do want you to go on a mission but we didn’t want to make it appear like you had to go on a mission because your dad runs a mission prep website. So hopefully that’s not the case, because, like honestly, until your senior year of high school, I didn’t even think you were seriously considering a mission. Obviously you grew up in the church, you knew it was an option, but we did. Parents didn’t pressure you, but so I was kind of surprised at some point in your senior year, you’re all of a sudden talking about a mission. It was a pleasant surprise and we’re glad to hear it. But anyway, it does sound like you’ve been trying to follow the Spirit, which is like I feel like exactly what all of us should be doing. Hannah Smith: Yeah, I also want to add, just because it came to my mind, before I came to BYU, I was like I wanted like decide if I want to go on a mission before I come to BYU because I was like I think once I get up there, the people I meet like and talk to him become friends with I’d like know how influential that can be. So I wanted to like decide for myself without any like extra influence before I came up here and it actually like worked out pretty well because like I decided I want to go and then I’ve been able to meet like a lot of my roommates like decide to serve missions too, and so it’s been really cool. Like talked to them and then, you know, talked to people who’ve come home from their missions, and like just every time they talk about it, it’s like they get so hyped and excited. And then like I think about it, and I get so excited and like this. This is the coolest thing, sort of mission so. Jimmy Smith: It is cool and you’re going to love it. It’s hard to obviously missions are hard work, and they’re difficult and they can be trying, spiritually, physically, emotionally, you name it. Hannah Smith: Yeah. Jimmy Smith: Uh, they’re not easy, but you know, uh, Intellectually look back on my mission, which was 25 years ago now and I remember that there were those hard times, but I really have to kind of think about it to remember those hard times. You know you’ve heard me talk about my mission, I loved it and most of the feelings and remembrances I have for my mission is nothing but positive and good. So anyway, you’re going to have a great experience. Alright, let’s move on. Let’s see what my next question is. What have you done to prepare yourself for mission? Hannah Smith: Honestly, I think the biggest thing is like trying to change my mindset. I’ve been trying to like do better at my daily prayers and like Scripture study just because I know that’s like a really important thing. I mean, just in general, but like on a mission, that’s like a huge thing like you have hours of study every day and like being in tune with the spirit is really important. So I’ve been trying to, I guess do better at that. Jimmy Smith: Right, so Scripture study and prayer. You’ve also when your senior in high school here in our local stake in Texas, you took a class. Hannah Smith: Oh yeah. Jimmy Smith: Uh, which I think helped you, Right. Hannah Smith: Yeah, so I took a class they called it Hope of Israel. And it was basically like mission and college prep combined, like our stake just offered it up. But yeah, that was kind of helpful to. I don’t know, just I guess get more like perspective from other people on. Like what serving a mission entails and like kind of it was more of like. The physical preparations I felt like for a lot of it, and if they did talk about like this spiritual side too but like. Just like preparing to live on your own, I think was a big part of that preparation. Jimmy Smith: Right. Hannah Smith: And I guess in that case then part of my preparation to serve mission was coming to college because. Jimmy Smith: Right. Hannah Smith: Uh, my was like, well, I guess if I can live on my own at college and I can do it on mission so. Jimmy Smith: Yeah, I think that’s a big deal. It’s having a long term away from home experience, but you know, not like a year and a half or two years, that of a mission like a college experience or some other kind of, y

    50 min

  6. 01/03/2021

    Mission Prep Class: Lesson 15: Temple and Family History Work – Video and Podcast

    In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 15 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Temple and Family History Work” and discusses how temple and family history work are an integral part of missionary work for both the missionaries and those they teach. I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic and government restrictions on travel and personal content. The video/audio is about 42 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded. Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap. The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 15: Temple and Family History Work – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.

    43 min

  7. 12/14/2020

    Mission Prep Class: Lesson 14: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2) – Video and Podcast

    In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 14 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2)” and discusses how missionaries help investigators complete the first principles and ordinances of the gospel–baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus pandemic quarantine. The video/audio is about 40 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded. Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap. The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 14: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 2) – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.

    40 min

  8. 11/22/2020

    Mission Prep Class: Lesson 13: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1) – Video and Podcast

    In this video and podcast, I am teaching Lesson 13 of the Mission Preparation class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to my teenage kids. The lesson is called “Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1)” and discusses how missionaries help investigators complete the first principles and ordinances of the gospel–faith is Jesus Christ and Repentance. I began planning this series of lessons (there are 15 lessons in all for the Church’s Mission Prep course) long ago but the timing could turn out to be very good for people stuck at home right now due to the COVID-19 virus quarantine. The video/audio is about 43 minutes, so you will want to set aside enough time to watch or listen to it. It could be a great Sabbath day activity to do on a Sunday. Enjoy! Here also is a link to the presentation slides if you would like to download them. And here’s a link to all the 15 online mission prep class lessons I have recorded. Disclaimer: While I am going by the Church’s Mission Prep manual, please remember this video is not a publication of the Church. I am simply a dad, teaching my children, and I’m sharing our lesson for others to enjoy. This video is not meant to replace the Mission Prep class people can take from their stake or ward or the Church Education System, but for those people wanting to prepare for a mission and unable to take that class, I hope this digital lesson helps fill the gap. The post Mission Prep Class: Lesson 13: Teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ (Part 1) – Video and Podcast appeared first on Latter-day Saint Mission Prep.

    43 min
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Resources for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preparing for a mission. Practical tips and spiritual advice for missionary preparation, including our 15 part series where we present the Church’s Mission Prep class.

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