Four young adults have been called to serve as missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Brady Haws has been called to serve in the Uruguay Montevideo West Mission. David Sturgess, is now serving in the Samoa Apia Mission. Allison Snyder, is now serving in the New York City North Mission and Steve Done has just been called to the Guadalajara, Mexico South mission.
These graduates of Douglas High School have decided to put their lives and schooling on hold temporarily. Haws is leaving his freshman year at Brigham Young University's Idaho campus. Sturgess is in the middle of his freshman year at Brigham Young University. Snyder is also a student at Brigham Young University, postponing her senior year. Done is attending the University of Utah. They all have chosen to dedicate the next 18 months to two years of their lives to missionary service. Missionaries fund their own missions and are not paid for their services.
Contacts with family and friends during this time of service are limited to letters, e-mails and occasional phone calls to family at special times. Missionaries avoid entertainment, parties or other activities common to their age group as long as they are on their missions, so they can focus entirely on the work of serving and of teaching others the gospel of Jesus Christ. Missionaries believe that people throughout the world can obtain life's greatest happiness from following the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Missionaries begin their service at one of 17 missionary training centers around the world. The MTC curriculum consists of up to 12 weeks of studying doctrine, learning to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ effectively and developing excellent communication skills. When missionaries are called to serve in foreign lands, their training also includes learning a new language. Haws is currently learning to speak Spanish and Sturgess says he "loves learning Samoan."
Of her MTC experience, Allison wrote, "I have loved being at the MTC and would probably pay to go back there."
