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Mormon missionaries

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints encourages all young men who are physically and mentally fit to serve as missionaries. Young women can also serve, but they are not under the same obligation as young men. Older couples can also do mission work.

Missionary service ©

About 40% of young Mormon men do missionary service. The Church has around 60,000 people serving missions at any one time.

Men usually serve for 2 years from the age of 19 and are given the title of Elder; women serve for 18 months and take the title Sister.

Missionary service is quite like a tithe on 20 years of a person's life: they give a proportion of their time to their church in the same way as they give a proportion of their income.

To become a missionary a young Mormon applies to the Church and is interviewed to assess whether they are worthy to be a missionary.

Missionaries pay their own way, or their family or congregation does.

President Thomas S Monson said the most important advice he could give anyone setting out as a missionary was,

The Biggest Test

Perhaps the biggest test for the missionaries is not living away from home, or having to proclaim their faith publicly every day - it's coping with the rejection and remaining confident in their own faith in the face of people who either tell them they're talking nonsense, or who aren't interested.

Find out more

• The story of Christian missionaries
• Jehovah's Witnesses