Here are some ideas regarding your physical and emotional preparation for a full-time mission.
1. Learn about and practice good physical health.
“Maintain your health so that you can serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength.”
Missionary Handbook (2006), 50.
- Learn more about maintaining good physical and emotional health.
Additional Helps
- Complete the “Physical and Emotional Health” project in Duty to God.
2. Learn about the basic physical requirements for a mission.
“A missionary must be able to walk an average of six miles (10 km) per day and ride a bicycle 12 miles (19 km) per day.”
Donald B. Doty, “Missionary Health Preparation,” Ensign, Mar. 2007, 64.
- Find suggestions for preparing physically, and make a plan for increasing your fitness to meet these guidelines.
3. Learn about and practice good emotional health.
“Missionary service is emotionally demanding. Your support system is going to be withdrawn from you as you leave home and go out into the world. … There will be days of rejection and disappointment. Learn now about your emotional limits, and learn how to control your emotions under the circumstances you will face as a missionary.”
Elder L. Tom Perry, “Raising the Bar,” Liahona and Ensign, Nov. 2007, 48.
- Read eight important tips for preparing emotionally for missionary service (in Ensign, Mar. 2011, 22–26).
Additional Helps
- Robert K. Wagstaff, “Keeping Your Head (and Heart) in the Game,” New Era, May 2009, 10–13.
- Go to For the Strength of Youth, “Physical and Emotional Health,” and click Show More.
- Read the article “Missionary Health Preparation” (Ensign, Mar. 2007, 62–67), and find the section on mental health.
