Guidelines for Missionary Families - Letters/Calls/Visits

Guidelines for Missionary Families

Utah Salt Lake City South Mission

Missionary Letters:  Missionaries are to write home each week to report briefly on mission activities, spiritual experiences, and to share testimonies.  Thank your missionary for the letter you receive.

Family Letters:  A weekly letter from home is vital to a missionary’s adjustment and provides incentive for him/her to write home weekly.  The letters should be full of encouragement and the assurance of your love and support.  Please do not share any word of problems at home because it can hinder missionary success.

            Regular mail is important, but too much can hurt the work.  Passionate letters from girlfriends or boyfriends are not appropriate.

            If you email your missionary weekly it is to be a letter and not an opportunity for online chatting. 

            Send all mail to the mission office with your missionary’s full name above the mission name.  The full name is important as there are many duplicate surnames.  Please share this with others who may write to your missionary.

Elder John Doe/Sister Susan Smith

Utah Salt Lake City South Mission

8060 South 615 East

Sandy, Utah   84121

Telephone Calls and Visits:  The Missionary Handbook states, “Visits from family members, friends, and acquaintances are against Church policy.”  p. 37

          Missionaries are allowed to call home only on Christmas and Mother’s Day.  Any exceptions must be cleared beforehand with the mission president. 

            Please feel free to call the mission office in the event of an emergency.  The mission office hours are 9:00am – 4:30 pm Monday through Friday, except for holidays.  If you phone after hours, a message will give you a number to call.  The mission president personally delivers any urgent message or unexpected news.

Finances:  Each missionary is given an allotment at the first of each month for food, haircuts, laundry, and personal grooming expenses.  This money does not cover clothing, cameras and film, bicycle purchase and repairs, traffic fines or penalties, eye care, luggage, souvenirs, dental care, or preexisting medical conditions.  These need to be covered with funds from family, ward, or stake.  If you are providing your missionary with a credit or debit card, we ask that you carefully monitor these expenses.  It is against mission rules for missionaries to use either personal or church funds to purchase unapproved electrical or computer devices.  An additional expense is the $10 copay