Malie Niu English 11 3/13/14 What is life like as an LDS sister missionary?

Niu1

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, boys have more responsibility to go on a mission then girls do. Now that the age changed, girls are able to serve at the age of 19. How is the mission life like for them now? Since the announcement of the sister missionary age changed in General Conference, the number of female missionaries has more than doubled, rising from about 8,000 in October, 2012 to over 19,500 now. Because I am an LDS member myself I know the main principles of being able to serve a mission. For missionaries of both genders, they have to be worthy, clean, and being able to live a righteous life. They also have to be single and unmarried. For all those preparing to serve have to be physically, mentally, financially, and emotionally stable. One would also have to receive their temple endowments prior before starting their mission. For females they have to be 19 years of age and ready to serve 18 whole months on the field. Although I have obtained all this information throughout my life, I wanted to know what trials and or blessings do sister missionaries acquire in their daily life while out on the field. Luckily for me I started out my research by asking my mother, Neomai Niu. She served her mission before the age change happened and served at 21 in the Nukualofa, Tonga mission. Her biggest weakness was leaving her family and boyfriend for 18 months but her strength knew that she was able to change the lives of others through the beautiful gospel only she was able to teach to the people. I then emailed my three cousins who are now serving, Sister Tukuafu,

Niu2 Sister Lutui, and Sister Otukolo. In a summary of all their emails combined they all agreed that getting rejected over and over again is one of the hardest and most discouraging things to get over, but the blessings and feelings they receive when they are done with a discussion, baptism, or simple talks with their companion are far more inspiring. From being able to talk with my close family members, I learned that what they are doing is for a greater purpose. For missionaries they leave everything behind, their job, schooling, family and many other things. One wouldnt leave that for two years or 18 months to teach false principles. It is incredibly important that there are sister missionaries out in the field because there are some things that sisters are able to do that elders cant, sister missionaries have a different type of touch and approach to investigators and their situations that elders wont have, which makes a womens mission so much more special to her and whoever she may cross paths with. In conclusion, missionary work for a female is wonderful. From waking up at 6:30 then fulfilling a full days work of proselyting, teaching discussions, scripture study, walking, biking, and many other duties and then retiring to bed at 10:30 just to replay your day for about the next 540 days is more important than one will ever come to understand if you havent experienced it for yourself. A missionary is someone who leaves their family for a short time, so that others may be with their families for eternity.