MILLCREEK, Utah — Elder Austin Evans has busy but fulfilling days serving at the Maliheh Free Clinic.
He speaks Spanish and has medical certifications that he earned in high school, making him a valuable asset to the health clinic.
When Elder Evans became ill while serving in the Texas San Antonio Mission (Spanish speaking), he went home and transferred to the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission, where he is now a service missionary.
“I was sad about leaving the people of Texas and all the people from many different countries that I met there, but it is the same here,” Elder Evans said. “It is cool to be able to serve the same groups of people.”
Elder Evans loves the medical field and plans to study it more in college after his mission. At the clinic on Wednesday, Jan. 17, he helped input data for the health professionals, called pharmacies and acted as an interpreter for Spanish-speaking patients.
When asked if he feels like he is serving them as the Savior would, he said, “Absolutely.”
Elder Evans also serves in the temple each week and will soon start helping other nonprofit organizations in Salt Lake City. He works with the service mission leaders in his mission and has interviews with his mission president. He attends district councils and zone conferences.
President Justin Spencer, who leads the Utah Salt Lake City West Mission with his wife, Sister Kristen Spencer, said they are grateful to have young service missionaries like Elder Evans in their mission.
“They have infused an exciting, new energy into our mission,” he said. “It is so rewarding to see the teaching and service missionaries interacting with one another at zone conferences and in other settings. To us, they are all simply missionaries who are striving to fulfill the Savior’s purpose.”
Service missionaries integrated into teaching missions
Beginning this month, all young service missionaries are becoming part of teaching missions under the leadership of mission presidents.
Mission presidents will begin meeting with service missionaries, either in person or via technology. The focus of the meeting is to become acquainted, help address any concerns, and to welcome the service missionaries to the mission.
Young service missionaries will also begin attending zone conferences, participating in interviews and other activities.
Service mission leader couples will continue to provide day-to-day assistance, love and care for service missionaries.
Because young service missionaries live at home, the local stake president and bishop continue to function as the service missionaries’ ecclesiastical leaders. The families of young service missionaries will also continue to be responsible for providing emotional and physical care for each missionary.
Service missionaries in action
As of this month, there were 3,885 young service missionaries serving around the world — about a 50% increase from one year earlier, when there were 2,674.
Two of those young service missionaries were serving at Catholic Community Services in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Jan. 17. The nonprofit organization helps refugees and immigrants meet different needs.
Sister Mary Donahoe, a young service missionary from Centerville, Utah, spends her days helping the office run smoothly. She fulfills tasks for the attorneys, greets clients — “I hope I am a friendly face for them” — and has many other duties. “I go back and forth a lot,” she said. “I really enjoy it.”
Elder Carter Volle, from Bountiful, Utah, showed the archive room where he organizes records. He also recently made an animated video to help people new to the U.S. understand public transportation. He is now working to dub the video into different languages.
Sister Donahoe and Elder Volle are in the Utah Layton Mission. On different days of the week they go out on teaching visits with a companion, serve in the temple and help other community organizations, some of which may be located outside the traditional missionary boundaries.
Recently, Elder Volle was able to help teach a young woman about the gospel and be at her baptism. “It was the most incredible experience,” he said.
Mariza Gallegos, the volunteer and community relations director at Catholic Community Services of Utah, is grateful for all the young service missionaries who help her organization.
“I have nothing but great things to say about them,” she said. “We love it.”
The purpose of a service mission
The purpose of a service mission is “to help others come unto Christ by serving them as the Savior would.”
Service missions are designed for young women ages 19–29, for a period up to 18 months, and young men ages 18–25, for up to 24 months, whose talents and abilities are better suited to a service mission due to their mental, physical or emotional health. Service missionaries live at home and serve locally as close to full time as their abilities and circumstances allow.
Each service missionary is given a customized mission experience tailored to his or her talents, skills and gifts. Service missionaries commonly serve in multiple assignments for approved charitable organizations, temples, Church operations and stake-assigned service opportunities.
Where appropriate, service missionaries may participate in teaching people the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The key objectives of a service mission are to:
- Provide an opportunity for all willing young women and young men to serve the Lord and increase in testimony of Him.
- Help each service missionary prepare for a lifetime of service.
- Provide needed and valuable service to Church and community organizations.
January also marks the five-year anniversary of the service missionary program where service missionaries go through the same recommendation process as teaching missionaries and receive their mission calls from the President of the Church.
The role of mission leaders and service mission leaders
A mission integration guide from the Church’s Missionary Department explains that mission leaders’ primary role is to help missionaries become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ. Mission leaders love, teach and inspire in zone conferences, group video calls, leadership meeting and other settings. Mission leaders provide high-level oversight for service missionaries.
Mission leaders counsel with service mission leaders to help provide mission experiences that encourage spiritual growth and development of service missionaries.
Service mission leaders serve under the priesthood keys of the mission president and provide day-to-day supervision and support for service missionaries. They serve as the link among mission presidents, stake presidents, service missionary candidates, service missionaries, parents, community and charitable partners, and Church operations.
Service mission leaders find service opportunities and then match missionaries with the best assignments and schedules for their circumstances. They also work to increase awareness of service mission opportunities in wards and stakes.
In a Church News article in September 2023 about the upcoming integration, Elder Marcus B. Nash, a General Authority Seventy and then executive director of the Missionary Department, said integrating service missionaries into the traditional mission structure is an inspired step in the forward progress of missionary work.
“Both service missionaries and teaching missionaries are important to the call to gather Israel. As the teaching and service missionaries fulfill their respective missionary roles under the loving direction of their mission presidents, missionary work will be enhanced, and the missionaries — both service and teaching — will be uplifted and blessed through their association.”
To learn more about the service mission program, including how to get started, resources for leaders and the role of parents, go to ChurchofJesusChrist.org/service-missionary.
Young service missionaries
Total: 3,885 as of January 2024
In each of the Church’s administrative areas:
Utah — 1,363
North America Central — 488
North America Southwest — 480
North America West — 355
Mexico — 201
Brazil — 175
North America Southeast — 163
North America Northeast — 138
South America Northwest — 110
Philippines — 106
South America South — 99
Pacific — 62
Europe Central — 56
Europe North — 56
Central America — 12
Asia North — 11
Asia — 5
Caribbean — 5
