Do Missionaries Get To Have Fun??

What kind of a question is that? Of course missionaries get to have fun. We have fun every day as we go out and we do our missionary work but I know that isn't what you are talking about. You are wondering if missionaries get to have fun time set aside where they can do things beside missionary work. Well that answer to that question is simple... Yes! We do have some time set aside for us to have fun outside of missionary work.
      The time that is set aside outside of missionary work is called our Preparation Day or P-day for short. On P-day missionaries still begin their mornings as described in my earlier blog post. We wake up, work out, get ready, and study. P-day is also the day we have to do personal things like:

•  Laundry
• Write Letters Home
• Email Home
• Clean Apartments
• Clean Cars (If we have one)
• Go Shopping

After we study and get these other tasks done, then we have the opportunity to go and play basketball or look at some local sights and things. We have rules as to what we can and can't do on a P-day. Mainly we are allowed to do activites that will keep us safe. Some of the fun things I have done for a P-day include:

• Basketball
• Go to Mammoth Cave
• Raquetball
• Frisbee
• Dodgeball (Pakistani 1 ball style)
• Bowling

We can do these activities until about 5 O' Clock and then we will eat dinner around that time. After dinner we go out and do regular missionary work from 6:00 until 9:00. Then as you know we will come home and get ready for bed and do those types of things. And that basically answers your question that missionaries get to have fun. Missionaries LOVE their P-days.
           P-days come around once every week. For the Tennessee Nashville Mission in which I am serving our P-day is on Mondays. Its great because now Monday is like my favorite day unlike most people.

Communication

Some of you may wonder, How do missionaries communicate with their families and friends while they are away from home for two years? Well let me tell you.
        
        So some missionaries are allowed to email their families once a week (like me) and they are also allowed to write letters once a week. I write letters to my family and I will email them as well. Missionaries are only allowed to E-mail family but they can write letters to friends to stay in touch with them. The reason missionaries are only allowed to write letters or email once a week is because we go around every day wearing the name of Jesus Christ on our chest spreading His gospel. So in order to do that we need to be very focused and if we are always thinking about our family and writing them all the time we wouldn't be able to stay very focused. I think it is a blessing because it has really helped me to realize how much I truly love my family and when I have served my two years on my mission I will be much more appreciative of the time I get to spend with my family.


     What about calling family on the phone? Missionaries get the opportunity to call home and talk with their family twice a year. We are authorized to call home for Christmas and that is really fun and I enjoy that and can you guess what other holiday we get to call home on? Thats right! Mothers Day!!! Why Mothers Day you might ask??? Because our Mothers are everything!! Without my mom I wouldn't be where I am today. We should all have deep respect for women but especially our Mothers and with that knowledge it only makes sense that missionaries would call home on Mothers day!

Us missionaries love when we get mail! It makes us very happy! This picture shows perfectly what it's like when we dont get any mail. I am very grateful for all who write me and for the wonderful opportunity I have to be a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!

The Evening

Well you pretty have the just of what a missionary does in a day. The remainder of our day is from 9:00 until 10:30. As stated previously we are out working until 9:00 PM at which time we will return to our living quarters. From 9:00 until 9:30 missionaries will sit down and talk about the day, how things went, and also plan for the next day. From 9:30 until 10:30 the missionaries will get ready for bed. Brush teeth, put on pajamas and so forth. Then of course we go to bed, Sleep, wake up and do it all over again! Isn't mission life the best???? Yes it is!

The Day For Dallof (and other missionaries)

So... What does a missionary do during the day after they get ready and study and do all of the stuff in "The Morning Hours"? Well I'm glad you asked and I am going to tell you! After our studies we go out into our area that we are serving in (I am in Fairview, Tennessee right now) and we go and visit people, talk to people on the streets, and knock on doors. We do that from 10:00 AM to 9:00 PM.
      I know what you are thinking and yes, they do give us time to eat during the day. We have an hour for Lunch and an hour for Dinner. We will usually take Lunch around 12:00 and Dinner around 5:00. It doesn't give us a whole lot of time to cook huge meals so a lot of missionaries will have Ramen Noodles and Macoroni and Cheese in their diets (myself included). In the picure below I am eating just the brick of Ramen because its faster and easier. Mmm Tasty!

 

How do the missionaries get around?
          You may have seen missionaries walking around before. A lot of missionaries will walk to the places they are going. You may have seen the missionaries on bikes before as well. That is another form of transportation that we have. In some areas the missionaries are really lucky and will have a vehicle that they are allowed to drive around. BUT with the vehicles we are limited on our miles so we have to be smart and plan our miles accordingly.

Does Weather play a factor on whether missionaries go out or not?

          Missionaries love to meet people and we love to go out and work. There is very few weather storms that will stop us from going out to visit people. Missionaries will go out in Rain:

Missionaries will go out in the Snow:

And of course Missionaries will go out in the Shine!



There are few things that stop a missionary from going out and talking with people. If there is a tornado close to our area and we are in danger of it then we will stay in until it passes. But you better believe as soon as it passes we are back out there working. If an earthquake hits then we would probably stay inside for a little while or go around and check to make sure people are okay. Im serving in the South so I dont have to worry too much about earthquakes. Its tornadoes that I have to worry about. Luckily I haven't had to deal with too many of those.



The Morning Hours

What time do missionaries start their day? All missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wake up at 6:30 AM and begin their day.

After we wake up and get out of bed and say our prayers than we have the opportunity to work out from 6:30 to 7:00. After all missionary work is pretty hard work and we have to make sure we are staying in shape!

        After we work out we have from 7:00 until 8:00 to get ready for the day. We use this time to shower, eat, and get dressed for the remainder of the day. In all of these pictures I am by myself but I wanted to make note that we always have a companion with us. We are always together. The reason you can't see my companion is because he is taking the pictures for me! :)

        From 8:00 until 10:00 is time that missionaries have set aside to do their studies. From 8:00 until 9:00 we have what is called personal study which is a quiet time where each missionary has time to study. I usually study from The Bible and Book of Mormon. I also will study from a book called Preach My Gospel which is a book that all LDS (Latter-day Saint) Missionaries have to study from. Then from 9:00 until 10:00 I study with my companion and we will review what we did in our personal studies and we will also talk about people we are teaching and how we can help them to improve. We also discuss what we can do as missionaries to do better.

What Do Missionaries Do?

Hello Everyone! Elder Dallof here!

I am a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This blog is going to be a little bit of what I do each day as a missionary. It will talk about what I do in a regular day and I will also share personal experiences of things that happen while I am serving as a missionary. Please feel free to comment or ask questions about any of my posts! For a little bit more information about me and why I am out here serving as a missionary check out my other blog http://elderdallof.blogspot.com/.

Well I'm off to do some missionary work! Have a great day and God Bless! Check back soon for more posts!