Serving with Purpose: My Journey as a Senior Service Missionary

Some time ago I was invited to write up an explanation of what it means to me to be a Service Missionary. Then, I completely forgot about it. Last week I received a text from a Service Missionary in the Service Mission Office in Salt Lake City. They had published my thoughts on their Joyful Senior Service Facebook Page!

Here's what I wrote:

𝑩𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒐𝒓 𝒔𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒊𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏’𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒅—𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑰’𝒎 𝒎𝒆𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆.

Hi! I’m Sister Laura Brown, a senior service missionary supporting the Oregon Portland Mission. I train full-time missionaries on using Facebook and Instagram effectively, mentor social media page leaders (Polynesian and Spanish pages), conduct mission-wide trainings, and coach sisters leading temple tours—both in-person and online.

This calling has been a powerful experience for me. Every step of my life—career in corporate training, mission in Spain and north Africa, the places I’ve lived, courses I’ve taught—has prepared me for this exact role. It’s incredible how the Lord uses our unique backgrounds to “reach the one.”

We recently introduced the #JesusBrand to help missionaries reflect Christ more clearly in their online presence—and the impact has been amazing! Who benefits from these trainings? It’s incalculable really. My role is to teach and inspire young missionaries who in turn inspire and teach; go forth and serve.

The rising generation is eager to learn, and we have so much to offer them. As adults we bring 𝘷𝘢𝘴𝘵 knowledge and experience. Concepts I taught on a regular basis in my career are brand-new and revolutionary to these young missionaries. They often tell me “I never thought of that.” Exactly! 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭’𝐬 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐨f 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝: 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐠𝐮𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞’𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚 𝐥𝐢f𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩.

𝐈 𝐡𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞!

#ServiceMissionary #CalledToServe #LDSMission

If you've ever given any thought to a Service Mission I highly recommend it!