Missionary Ideas

Mix Chips in, or Melt on Top!

Remember, sister missionaries will probably be excited about decorations, but elders probably won’t go to too  much trouble. One way to cater to both groups is by sending a Valentine’s Day breakfast-in-a-box. Very easy: measure out an appropriate amount of dry pancake mix (I love Krusteez brand), and include a ziplock bag full of chocolate chips. Mail with instructions on how much water to add. Even if the chocolate chips melt on the way, they can be broken up again and thrown into the batter. The result: delicious chocolate chip pancakes — a perfect Valentine’s Day breakfast! This delicious image comes from Amarand Agasi — thank you!

Create Your Own Decorations

There is no right way to “heart attack” someone for Valentine’s Day. These hanging hearts are simple and fun: all you need is pink and red paper and several lengths of string. Or apply the hearts horizontally on one longer piece of string for quick and easy decoration in the missionary’s apartment. Other items you can mail include heart-shaped confetti, Valentine candies, paper plates and napkins, doilies, and hand-written notes.

Send Some Love!

My cousin loved this! One Valentine’s Day, I sent her cookie cutters, just-add-water sugar cookie mix, pink frosting, sprinkles, and a few plastic knives, and she and her fellow sister missionaries actually made them! Make sure you get a very simple mix, and maybe double check to see if your missionary has a cookie sheet, or even an oven in their apartment! If not, you can always send pre-packaged Valentine cookies! This beautiful image comes from My Flour Garden — thank you!

I love this album. My mother-in-law, who sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, gave this album to me for Christmas last year, and I have listened to it hundreds of times since then. I will never tire of hearing it! For those of you unfamiliar with the artist Sissel, you can get a taste of her voice, and of the album itself at the deseret bookstore site:

Deseret Book

Be sure to play track 11, “Like An Angel Passing Through My Room.” When my grandma heard this song, she made me promise I’d sing it at her funeral!

My sister and I are sending this album to my brother this Christmas. It is the CD that the Mormon Tabernacle Choir recorded with the King’s Singers, an AMAZING choral group, which you can read more about at the following website:

http://www.kingssingers.com

This has a very bright and classical tone to it, very upbeat and jolly. You can listen to some clips at the Deseret Book website:

“Rejoice and Be Merry” Album

The King’s Singers are phenomenal, and combined with the Tabernacle Choir, this compilation is completely awesome.

A nativity set is a wonderful Christmas gift for any missionary. It works as a decoration, but reminds the viewer that Christ is the center of Christmas — something very important to remember, even though we may ship lots of fun or silly things to our missionary during the Christmas season. There are many simple nativity sets, without breakable parts. My sister and I found an inexpensive set at Walmart (not the classiest place, but undoubtedly useful), pictured here. The figurines look like ceramic, but they are of a sturdier material, and are fastened to the wooden frame of the stable. This is perfect, because not only will my brother not have to set up lots of pieces, but nothing will be damaged during shipping — at least not the figurines. I have wrapped this already, but am going to ask that it be wrapped in bubble-wrap before it goes in the shipping box. I’m sure you could even find smaller sets if you looked around a little bit.

There are so many inexpensive decorations you can ship to your missionary this time of year. My sister and I found these window stickers — kind of silly, I know, but still festive and fun!

A Variety of Shapes and Sizes

Organizational supplies, while not the most exciting present, are still a good idea when mailing a Christmas package to a missionary. I have purchased the Command brand of hooks and wall mounting supplies, and I really like them. My sister and I found several other types of hooks and hangers that our brother could easily install without damaging walls or doors. Anything to help him get organized!

Colored or White -- You Choose!

I picked up a set of Christmas lights at Walmart for $2.00, and the extension cord was less than a dollar. This is a very inexpensive idea, which will spread a lot of cheer! I included the ruler in the photo that I took, so that viewers can get an idea of size. There were several different color options, and each box is lightweight. You could send more than one, if you like.

It seems like it’s always harder to think of presents to ship to missionaries serving in warmer climates. My sister and I searched hard to find things for our brother (who is leaving for Honduras today). One of our ideas was a lightweight, battery-operated fan. I know that when I lived in the Dominican Republic, it was so nice to have a little breeze when trying to fall asleep — the rooms were usually sweltering. When I asked my husband if a fan would have been nice in Brazil, where he served his mission he said he would have loved it, and added that the smaller hand-fans work out very nicely, too. This is a picture of the fan we bought for my brother. I included the batteries in the photo to show the size of the fan (they are D batteries), but my sister and I decided not to send them — way too heavy! You be the judge.