Week 3- How to Write Matt

Dear Family,

What a privilege it is to serve the Lord as a missionary in the Nevada Las Vegas Mission!   I believe that you will see many blessings in your own life as you support and sustain your missionary.   We want to work together with you to help make the mission a focused experience for your missionary.   Here are some reminders:

MAIL – Missionaries are lifted and inspired by encouraging emails and letters from home.   Your missionary counts on hearing from you each week.   Include any good news from home.  Avoid writing about family concerns or problems.   Missionaries love packages.   Address your items with both the first AND last name; we have missionaries with the same last name.   Send all letters and packages to the mission office not directly to the missionary.  We deliver to every zone weekly.

Elder/Sister first and last name                                        To contact the mission president or our office staff

Nevada Las Vegas Mission                                            please email us at:      2013800@ldschurch.org

9270 South Maryland Parkway

Las Vegas, NV  89123

Please use US Postal Service for your mail.  We are not able to forward packages sent via FED EX or UPS.  We can however forward mail or packages that are sent by the United States Postal Service at no cost to your missionary if sent by Priority Mail or Flat rate boxes.  If sent Parcel Post there will be a small fee due upon pick up by your missionary, or they can be held with the FED EX and UPS boxes until the next round of Zone Conferences.

VISITS - “Visits from family members, friends and acquaintances are against church policy.  The impact of such visits may extend far beyond the visit itself, both before and after the visit and among other missionaries.  It can often take some time for missionaries to refocus on their callings and their work after such visits.”

Missionary Handbook, pg. 37.   Thank you for helping us live this rule.

Every year there are many people who visit Las Vegas.  Please respect this Church policy and consider the mission “off limits” while your missionary is here.  If you or friends and family come to Las Vegas for any reason, please do not try to arrange contact.

BEST HELP - Consider what YOU can do to be a missionary.  Invite your ward missionaries over for dinner or go to a lesson with the missionaries serving in your ward.   Find a family to have taught in your home.  You will find that your service will inspire your missionary here and you can share experiences in weekly emails.

PHONE CALLS - Missionaries may call their parents on Christmas and Mother’s day.   Take care that these calls do not pull their thoughts away from their service.  Keep them short (preferably no longer than 30 or 40 minutes).  Other than these calls, missionaries are not to call family members or friends unless they have permission from their mission president.  Missionary Handbook, pg. 37

MONEY – A mission provides an opportunity to live on a budget.   Every missionary is given the same monthly allowance which will meet their normal daily needs.   Occasionally a missionary may need to make an unusual purchase (bike, helmet, medicine, replacement clothing)  in these cases they may email you with a request for additional funds.    To help missionaries learn to live on a budget we ask that you do not provide access to excessive personal funds.  Equality contributes to greater companionship unity.  Keep excess funds to a minimum. 

Thank you for all that you do to inspire and motivate your missionary and to help them be focused on the work.

Sister Royal

Mission Secretary

NEVADA LAS VEGAS MISSION