With the number of full-time missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving worldwide surpassing 90,000 in more than 500 missions, those missionaries and their families are finding that God is in the details of this great work.
Addressing new mission leaders at the 2026 Seminar for New Mission Leaders in June, Church President Dallin H. Oaks called the growth of the missionary force a historic moment for the Church.
“Missionary work is soaring to new heights,” the Prophet said.
The Lord knows where He wants each missionary to serve, explained Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, in his October 2011 general conference address titled “The Opportunity of a Lifetime.”
“Each mission is unique, with challenges and opportunities that stretch and test us according to our particular needs and personalities,” said Bishop Waddell, who was then a General Authority Seventy.
Many times, missionaries enter a missionary training center and then report to their mission not knowing anyone yet but full of faith and trust in the Lord.
And sometimes missionaries find beautiful connections.
One example is Elder Noah Doutt, from Stansbury Park, Utah, and Elder Devan Hoge from Paris, Idaho. They had never met until their seats were assigned next to each other on their flights to the Argentina Resistencia Mission.
Elder Doutt said he noticed that the other missionary next to him was already talking to a passenger about the gospel and invited her to watch general conference that upcoming weekend. On their next flight, Elder Doutt again saw Elder Hoge speaking to a fellow passenger.
“This time I thought I’d participate with him,” Elder Doutt said. “If I remember right, he said, ‘I just wish I had a Book of Mormon to give out.’ And so I was like, ‘Well, you’re in luck. I got a Book of Mormon right here.’”
As the two missionaries got to know each other, they discovered that their fathers, Nathan Doutt and Ephraim Hoge, served in the Ohio Cincinnati Mission from 1999-2001.
Nathan Doutt said, “When Noah landed and was able to call he said, ‘Guess who I am with? Elder Hoge.’ I was confused. He showed him on camera. I knew instantly it was Ephraim’s son, he looked like him at that age.”
While never companions, Nathan Doutt and Ephraim Hoge had done exchanges or splits or divisions together years before.
Doutt said he became emotional, not just to see the son of a former fellow missionary and friend, but to have that connection with his son — who is his first child to serve a mission. Elder Hoge is also Hoge’s first child to serve a mission.
Later that night, Doutt and Hoge talked on the phone for the first time in many years and caught up on their lives. “It was a very special experience,” Doutt said.
Others shared similar stories in a Facebook group for missionary parents. For example, companions in Portugal now have sons serving together in Bahía Blanca, Argentina, 26 years later. A sister missionary in Mexicali, Mexico, met the daughter of her mother’s companion when the mothers both served in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sister missionaries served together in Kentucky whose mothers were together in Wisconsin 24 years ago. Two sons were companions with two brothers in two different missions three years apart.
The Fellers, from Woods Cross, Utah, and Baileys, from Moroni, Utah, have two children serving in the same two missions right now. Elder Scot Feller and Elder Andrew Bailey are serving in the Fiji Suva Mission, and their younger siblings, Sister Rylee Feller and Elder Maddex Bailey, are serving in the Ohio Columbus Mission.
Vinnie Feller said having multiple missionaries out at the same time is not for the faint of heart. But she would not want them to be anywhere else.
“I know God has them, but sometimes it is hard to remember that, especially when you watch them struggle and go through hard things from thousands of miles away. But it is the moments like this that remind me that God is in the details, all we have to do is recognize it,” she said.
She knows all four of these missionaries are in the right place at the right time. “It warms my heart to know that they have a connection to home through each other.”
Elise Bailey said sending her children out to serve for two years has been hard and rewarding at the same time.
“I miss them terribly,” she said. “Making this connection, finding out my sons are serving alongside another set of siblings in very different areas of the world, I feel is more than just a coincidence. I feel that our Heavenly Father is letting us know He’s aware of us. There are blessings all around us, we just have to look for them.”
