You’ve seen them on bikes, on foot, and on your doorstep. Now what are they really trying to do out there?

My experience comes, not only from meeting with the missionaries, but also eventually serving as a full time LDS missionary myself.

The Missionary Objective Statement:

“Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end.”
-Preach My Gospel, Missionary Handbook

Wait… what about the sentence that says ‘convert and baptize as many people as possible’?

Sorry but that part doesn’t exist. A missionary is only to find people who are interested, teach them about Christ, then invite them to make life changing actions. How do they do those three things?

Find:

Missionaries are taught to “Find Them That Will Receive You.” Meaning that they are looking for people that are prepared to respond to the teachings that they share. These people are often have questions about our life and our purpose.

Missionaries use a variety of ways to find people that are prepared to learn the gospel. The most well known is knocking on doors or meeting people in the streets. Other ways missionaries find may include online requests, invitations from members at church, or event just people finding them and setting up an appointment.

Teach:

Missionaries are to teach the purpose of this life and how Jesus Christ plays an essential role in it. People are better able to make changes in their lives when they understand the reasons that are behind all of those changes.

Missionaries teach the importance of commandments and where they come from. They teach how to become a better person by obedience to the teachings of God and how we know about them in these days.

They teach that God did not just speak to mankind a long time ago but he plays an active role in our lives as he did years ago. This involvement includes prophets, apostles, revelation, continuous scripture. They teach how we ourselves can communicate and follow after the manner of happiness.

Invite:

One of the most essential parts of being a missionary is to invite people to put the word of God to the test. They know that any change an individual makes to better follow God will lead them to a happier and more fulfilling lifestyle.

Some examples of invitations missionaries might make:

Living a standard of sexual purity in order to bless families with fidelity and stronger bonds.

Following a God given dietary guideline in order to improve physical, spiritual, as well as mental health.

Attending Church so that a person can learn more and begin association with other believers.

Missionary Service:

What these young people do for their 18 months - 2 years of service is incredibly simple in its purpose. Through my own personal experience I have found missionaries to be non-threatening and very respectful of personal choice to learn or discontinue learning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I invite you to approach a missionary the next chance you and ask them a few questions.

What can I do to learn about their message?

To learn more about the message LDS missionaries teach you can go to LDS.org to find a chapel(meetinghouse) nearby or go to Mormon.org and chat online with missionaries.