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Welcome to ZionsArmy!

“Every member a missionary,” rings in the ears of everyone who belongs to the Church, but in the ears of a young man preparing for his mission it rings the loudest.  Finally, there is a Web site for these young men, and all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who want to become better member missionaries but don’t have a plan to accomplish that goal.  It is based on a former program for youth that was called the Arizona Temple Youth Guides, and is especially designed for those young men who are preparing right now for their missions.

Take some time and go through the Toolchest.  There you will find everything you will need to be a better member missionary.

During the 17 years the Youth Guide program was in existence, those of us who served as its leaders learned a great deal about how to work with these young men, and I want to share what we learned with you.  I promise that if you will carefully follow the guidelines laid down at ZionsArmy you will become a much better member missionary and you will be successful beyond your wildest imaginations.

To prove to myself and to you how valuable the program was, I just reached into my files and pulled out at random the letters I have saved from one of the young men who is an alumnus of the program.   You need to understand that my files are extensive.  At one time I had a newsletter that went to 135 missionaries in 20 countries and 28 of the United States.  Together we wrote 2,000,000 words to each other.  His letters to me are a part of that record.

In this young man’s folder I found four letters and two post cards.  That is probably less than the average number, but I think they will illustrate my point.  They are from Elder Heward and are dated from May to November of 1992.  He went to Portugal on his mission and was a youth leader in the Youth Guides before he left.

I have not looked at these letters since 1992 and so this is somewhat of a test for me.  I know that living through my Youth Guide experience as one of the adult leaders changed my life forever.  I have always said that the record I have is invaluable, and now I hope to prove it.

In his first letter while at the MTC he writes:

I was so excited to hear from you.  I can really tell how you show your love for all of the missionaries in the field by writing and supporting them in their efforts to serve the Lord.

A part of this book will be about how we went about making sure our young men knew they were loved and respected by their leaders and how we trusted them with great responsibility for the program’s goals.

What a great thing to talk about…MISSIONARY WORK!  It gives me the most sweetest and awesome feeling to know that I am going to accomplish the Lord’s work, that which I have been set apart to do.  Yes!  How exciting!  I feel the Spirit even now as I talk about that great service.  Wow!

Loving missionary work, recognizing that we are serving for and with the Lord, and feeling the Spirit bear witness of that is what the program engendered in our youth.  If they had been in the Youth Guides any length of time at all, most were already highly trained prior to entering the MTC, which was a great help because it allowed more time to concentrate on a language or to polish their missionary skills.  They had learned many of the basics of the Missionary Guide, had taught them to the members of their Youth Guide Districts and Zones, and were familiar enough to be able to move on to other things at the MTC.

The MTC is otimo!  I have a companion who is 24.  One of my other roommates is from Phoenix.  His name is Elder Kessler.  Great things have been happening here.  We had Elder Joseph B. Werthlin come and talk to us about Obedience.  I can really see how we will be blessed as we obey the words of the Lord, our mission presidents, and those of everyday life.

 Having worked so hard in the Gardens at the Visitors’ Center at the Arizona Temple, when these young men arrived at the MTC and were privileged to hear from the General Authorities of the Church they felt they were actually close to being in Heaven!

The Youth Guide program got me started learning how to obey.  What a great blessing in my life to have served the Lord in the way that I did at the Temple in the Gardens.  I can really see now how much that taught me about loving others and taking upon me the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Each and every Youth Guide was so grateful to have had the opportunity to learn what they did in the Program.  They enjoyed their service and counted it a blessing and realized how much they acquired while serving in the Gardens.

Obedience plays such an important part in missionary work.  Indeed, obedience is the 1^st Law of Heaven.  It is sometimes hard to keep rules and live by them, but I know the Lord knows what He is doing.  I can see the blessing as I follow the MTC “White Bible.”

From their Youth Guide service they learned about rules and obedience, so when they were actually wearing the Black Tag of the full time missionary their allegiance to the rules was easy.

There is so much to say and so little time to say it.  I would like to thank you, Brother Parker, for being a great leader to me and those who served before me.  We all love you very much.  You certainly have a very special place in my heart along with all the Guides and Directors of the Youth Guides now.  If you see the “Warriors” of the Mesa Arizona Temple, please tell them that they are so close to my heart and are loved so very much for the service they spread onward in behalf of our Father in Heaven and His Son, Jesus Christ.  Let the work go forth, and let no one be left behind.  I love you, Brother P.

P.S.  Give everyone my address so I can get lots of letters.  Get those old, awesome Directors to write me some letters!

P.S.S.  Portuguese is celestial!!!

You will note in his final comments that he spoke of the bond he had with his fellow workers in the Youth Guides and with us as their leaders.  It is a love borne of working side by side in the missionary trenches and is one of the strongest kinds of bonds.

Along with everything else, they are typical missionaries, wanting lots of letters and thinking their mission language is the language of the Celestial Kingdom.  Elder Heward is typical of the kind of young man that came through the program.  Picked at random, this young man exemplifies those who used the program to prepare, and arrived at the MTC well trained and full of the fire for missionary work.

You would say that most young men arrive at the MTC full of this “fire.”  That is probably true, but none had the training that our Youth Guides did.  It is that system that I will outline in this book.  I promise to streamline it and make it as easy to follow as possible, so that those young men who are so active in the Church that they feel one more thing would swamp them will still be able to fit it into their training and be blessed for the effort.

Bro. P.