tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post3327820668604696659..comments2023-09-05T20:54:42.242-04:00Comments on A Latter-day Voice: On writing to missionariesPaulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-68170609630903826092011-03-07T19:14:26.377-05:002011-03-07T19:14:26.377-05:00Yes, you're right. I still remember Dan as a ...Yes, you're right. I still remember Dan as a deep-voice little boy. And I owe Bryce a letter... It's great fun reading his!Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-18064598720766157922011-03-07T18:58:59.945-05:002011-03-07T18:58:59.945-05:00Thanks for your good example and your letters (to ...Thanks for your good example and your letters (to Bryce). I am assuming your friends are the Treasures, :) how good of you to write him, I never even thought of it and he knows me. I am sure those letters are much appreciated!Leah McChesneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08614972102006980755noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-7420579106008853352011-03-03T09:33:17.806-05:002011-03-03T09:33:17.806-05:00graceforgrace, thanks for your comment. It reminde...graceforgrace, thanks for your comment. It reminded me of a missionary I served with. Any day he got a letter he'd say, "Well, someone thought of me a week ago!"<br /><br />:-)Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-85370242388243973612011-03-02T23:15:24.482-05:002011-03-02T23:15:24.482-05:00My companions and I wouldhave contests to see how ...My companions and I wouldhave contests to see how many letters we could get on a weekly basis. This was before the days of email, so some weeks were pretty heavy.<br /><br />I always appreciated a letter from anyone. Not only did it boost my totals, but it was nice to know others were thinking about me.<br /><br />I should be much better at writing than I am considering I have a brother-in-law out right now...better go write him one!graceforgracehttp://www.graceforgrace.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-17260543554018346092011-03-01T11:58:53.890-05:002011-03-01T11:58:53.890-05:00Thank you...I hoped I did not come across as bragg...Thank you...I hoped I did not come across as bragging...I just think it's an easy, meaningful thing to do, and wish more people did it. Imagine a day when you're discouraged. How nice it would be to find a cheery note in the mail, addressed to you, among the bills and To Occupant clutter! I think it's funny that my kids tell their friends as they prepare for missions "I'll get my mother to 'collect' you." It really is an easy thing to do---if you wrote one card during a tv program, just during commercials, you could make a difference, and the cost of a stamp is worth raising someone's spirits. Yeah, I'm a little passionate on this...debnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-19660838751255968022011-03-01T11:39:44.215-05:002011-03-01T11:39:44.215-05:00deb, thanks for sharing your experience. Sounds l...deb, thanks for sharing your experience. Sounds like the missionaries you've written to really appreciate it! That's terrific.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-10890305173650739742011-02-28T19:41:04.713-05:002011-02-28T19:41:04.713-05:00There's something so nice in paper letters, kn...There's something so nice in paper letters, knowing that far away, someone cared enough to put pen to paper. I am grateful my missionary son could email, but I also wrote to him, because I know email time is so short, and I'd prefer he spent it writing home, not reading my post! It's a treat to find a real live letter in the mail, and to be able to tuck in a pocket to read at leisure, on a bus, in the bathroom, is a warm thing. This is one of the very few Good Things I do well. I have "collected" over 125 missionaries over the years...including my own then-future son in law and daughter in law. I started writing to family members, then ward members, then my kids' friends, and along the way, missionaries I have heard of who have little or no family support. I, too, tell them not to write back (I don't need a pen pal, and they are supposed to be busy!) . The trick, I have found, is to be constantly on the look-out for pithy uplifting stories or analogies, and to use small paper. I may not have time ---or enough to say-- to fill a 4 page letter, but a card takes 10 minutes to write. I know I'm making an impact because many have thanked me after their missions. Several have hugged me on their first Sunday back. One senior couple even gave me a hand-woven tapestry of Christ and the children ---they had a postcard, and had it commissioned in Bolivia just for me! They said I had kept in better touch than their 8 children, combined...that was sad. I write to each every 4-8 weeks. I don't do much of value, but I do this well. And I strongly encourage others to write. You never know, your words of encouragement may be exactly what is needed the day it arrives. It's a cheap, quick, easy service.debnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-55196146211203194802011-02-28T17:35:57.363-05:002011-02-28T17:35:57.363-05:00I'd never heard of dearelder.com - thanks for ...I'd never heard of dearelder.com - thanks for sharing that.<br /><br />And maybe I'll find some missionary to write to...!Robin Vhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13762942736068477765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-57205787799629608272011-02-28T13:10:43.104-05:002011-02-28T13:10:43.104-05:00Thanks for the prompting. I don't write missi...Thanks for the prompting. I don't write missionaries very well. I will look up the few I know on missions.Richard Algerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08921970283086332560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-90190573766261483232011-02-28T11:34:39.686-05:002011-02-28T11:34:39.686-05:00(Of course when I was a missionary, we still rode ...(Of course when I was a missionary, we still rode dinosaurs to the airport, so there was no option like e-mail.)Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-60607619599177839142011-02-28T11:33:44.536-05:002011-02-28T11:33:44.536-05:00What a sweet thing your temple working home teache...What a sweet thing your temple working home teacher does!<br /><br />I don't know that the missionaries prefer paper over e-mail, but someone told me (and i could be wrong) that they typcially can't print their emails, and only get so much time to do emails on P-Day. I will always prefer paper, just because it allows me to go back and read a letter again. And as a missionary, sometimes I read letters many more times than once.Paulhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11294214866282354575noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8266009681076554415.post-89813485734634062222011-02-28T11:04:49.289-05:002011-02-28T11:04:49.289-05:00My mother was a constant correspondent when I was ...My mother was a constant correspondent when I was a missionary; other family members, not so much. I received only four "random" letters -- they must have meant something, or I wouldn't be able to identify them now, after all this time.<br /><br />My current home teacher, an 86-year-old temple worker, watches for elders attending the temple for the first time, especially ones attending without family members. He writes weekly letters to a dozen or more elders whom he met in the temple that way. I know it means something to at least some of them, because they write back, and they come to see him after their missions, sometimes for years. <br /><br />Interesting to hear that missionaries still appreciate paper letters in at least some cases. I wondered about that.Ardishttp://www.keepapitchinin.orgnoreply@blogger.com