Have a son, daughter, brother, sister, niece, nephew, grandchild, cousin, grandparent, aunt, uncle, friend, or someone else you know who is out on a mission?

As you’re thinking of potential goals for the New Year, don’t forget to consider ways you can support your missionary. The following are 20 potential goals you could adopt (we recommend just picking one!) that will make your missionary’s day, increase your testimony, unite you with your family, and help in the work of salvation. 

Prayer

If you don’t already pray regularly for your missionary, that’s a good place to start. If you do already pray for your missionary every day, here are a few ideas you might like to try to offer more specific, faith-filled prayers:

Try praying for your missionary's investigators by name. If you don't know their names, you could ask your missionary to include the names of their investigators in emails so that you can pray for them. 

Even if you don't know an investigators name, you can identify them by what you do know. Examples might be, "Please bless the young woman Elder Smith met in the bakery last week," or "Help the man Sister James is teaching who has questions about loved ones who have died." 

In addtion, you might try praying for an investigator to overcome a specific struggle or question or to reach a certain milestone. "Please soften the heart of John's mother so that she'll understand his decision to be baptized, even if she doesn't agree with it." 

Companion relationships are an important part of missionary life and have a great impact on your missionary. Whether your missionary and his/her companion's relationship is currently great or a little rocky, you can reach out through prayer. Offering thanks is also an excellent way to ponder more deeply on the ways God is taking care of your loved one out in the mission field.

The mission president and his wife become your missionary's surrogate parents out in the mission field. As you pray, take a moment to ponder and give thanks for their willingness to sacrifice and bear the responsibility for the mission you're missionary serves in. Pray for them to know how to organize transfers, to know what goals will inspire the missionaries, for their health, etc. If you know you're missionary has an interview coming up, pray that the mission president might have the inspiration he needs to be able to guide and support your missionary in the best way possible. 

You may or may not know much about the upcoming events of your missionary, depending on how detailed their emails are. But if they do tell you about upcoming events, you can pray for the success of those events. For example, if your missionary mentions that they are in charge of planning a role-play activity for district meeting, pray for their efforts. Or if he/she mentions that they're hoping to get more members to help with English classes, pray for that. Basically, the goal is to be aware of the details of your missionary's life, recognize needs, and offer support through specific prayers related to those needs. 

You never know what your missionary might currently be facing across the country or across the world. When you think of them throughout the day, make a commitment to offer a small prayer in your heart for their well-being and protection, or a small prayer of thanks for their dedication and resolve. 

Also, encourage your children or other family members to remember your missionary before family prayers or prayers before meals. 

Letters and Emails

If you're not communicating regularly with your missionary, that's a good goal to begin with! Here are some additional ideas for jazzing up your communication and making notes to your missionary more meaningful. 

Emails are wonderful, but as a missionary, there is something extra special about getting an ink-and-paper letter in the mail. It might take a bit of extra effort to hunt down an envelope and stamp and to walk it to the mailbox, but your missionary will feel that additional love and it will make his/her day. 

Old-fashioned letters are also great for sending mementos. When I was a missionary my mom would often send me uplifting clippings from newspapers or comics, our home-ward newsletter, doodles that my younger siblings had drawn, and other tangible tidbits that she thought I might find interesting. These little mementos were always a delight to receive and helped me feel more connected to my family back home. 

Writing, "We're thinking of you and praying for you!" is great, but even more meaningful is sharing  a specific example. Did you think of your missionary when you were in the grocery store and suddenly marveled about how they probably aren't buying peanut butter in Asia? Did you kneel by your bed Tuesday night and pray for them to be able to find someone to teach? Do you have a picture of them on your cell phone screen that makes you smile every time you get a text? Tell them so!

Make a more concerted effort to share your own spiritual experiences and insights with your missionary. If you make a goal to share at least one spiritual insight in each letter, you'll find yourself recognizing more often the hand of God in your life and placing a greater priority on spiritual matters so that you have something to share. Not only will your missionary appreciate the extra boost, but you'll receive the blessing of having your spiritual eyes opened to the daily tender mercies of our Heavenly Father. 

When you sit down to write a letter or email to your missionary, make it a goal to pull up the latest that he/she sent you so that you can respond to the happenings in their life, share additional insights, and ask good questions. As a missionary, it's incredible to hear from family, "How is so and so investigator that you mentioned a few weeks ago?" or, "I loved hearing about your experience on the bus last week. It reminded me of a time on my own mission when . . ." or, "Really? You ate that? DISGUSTING!" 

Show you care by engaging with the details of their letters. Who knows, you're responses may even inspire more details from a missionary who is less-inclined to share them. 

As appropriate, share your missionary's letters and emails with family and friends. Many families do this by forwarding emails or posting updates on blogs, but there are other ways to share as well. Consider making it a tradition to read your missionary's emails out loud each week during family home evening or when everyone's gathered at the dinner table. Or you might include your missionary at holidays or family gatherings by having a "missionary moment" where you share stories and chat with extended family about what your missionary is up to.

You can also share the love by encouraging others to send notes to your missionary. You could make it your goal to set aside time at family home evening or other gatherings for family members to write and send brief notes. 

Think Like a Missionary

Your missionary is mustering up the courage to talk to all kinds of people, everywhere, everyday. He/she may even be doing it in another language. Boost your own confidence, courage, conversation skills, potential for member missionary opportunities, and ability to empathize and share experiences with your missionary by making a goal to talk to as many people as you can. Perhaps you want to give yourself a number quota or a location to make this goal more measurable or attainable. Starting small and working your way up is never a bad idea. Examples of goals you could make include:

• Talk to at least two new people each day
• Talk to the person next to you whenever you're waiting at a crosswalk 
• Sit by someone on public transportation, instead of looking for an empty seat
• Give a compliment whenever you meet a grocery clerk, postman, office receptionist, etc.
• Make eye contact, smile, and say hello whenever you pass someone on the street

Church leaders have encouraged us to set dates for our missionary efforts. For the New Year, why not set a date by which you'll give away a Book of Mormon? If the thought makes your legs quake, you could involve your missionary in your goal, and they would love to help. Just say, "I'm thinking I want to try and give away a Book of Mormon this year, but I have no idea who I'd give one to or how to do it." I'm sure you're missionary would be happy to offer suggestions, pray for you, and be your cheerleader along the way. 

Preach My Gospel is one of your missionary's primary tools for learning how to share the gospel. Here are some ways reading this book could benefit both you, your family, and your missionary: 

• You'll better understand missionary jargon and your missionary's lifestyle
• You'll re-vamp your scripture study and gain new gospel insights
• You'll be inspired to share the gospel with people you know 
• You'll understand how you can better help the missionaries in your own area
• You'll have a great resource for family home evenings or church lessons
• You'll learn principles of time management, teaching, making commitments, language aquisition, etc. that can help you in other areas of your life
• You'll be able to prepare yourself and/or family members for full-time missionary work

If you've served a mission in another language, set a goal to brush up on those language skills. This could be as simple as deciding to say your personal prayers in your mission language, practicing on a language app for 10 minutes a day, or connecting with others who know the same language and can speak your language with you in conversation. 

In Preach My Gospel it says, "Strive to master the language throughout your mission and after you return. The Lord has invested much in you, and He may have uses for your language abilities later in your life" (Ch. 7). 

Your efforts to remaster your mission language will give you empathy for your missionary and connect you in your language-learning efforts. And if you're missionary happens to have the same mission language as you do, you have an even greater opportunity to practice and cheer each other on. 

As you think of your missionary in a far off place, you probably feel grateful for the efforts of the members in that area who invite your missionary into their home for dinner, give him/her rides when needed, attend member lessons, help at English class, greet them by name at church, strive to find people for them to teach, and help in a myriad of other ways. 

Why not be that kind of member for someone else's daughter, brother, or friend who is serving as a missionary in your area? You could start by learning the names of the missionaries in your area and praying for them. As you strive to get to know them, ways to help and serve will present themselves. 

Share the Experience

Chances are, your missionary has had to try a new dish or two while they've been out. From delicious cultural meals to unappetizing animal parts, there's probably some new food your missionary has eaten that you could try, too. If you like to cook, google a recipe, shop at a market that sells cultural ingredients, and whip it up at home. You could also go out to a restaurant or have a potluck with friends that cook the native foods of your missionary's land. 

Whatever food you decide to try, be sure to get some good pictures and share the experience with your missionary. 

Does your missionary sleep on a yo instead of a bed? Use chopsticks? Eat sitting on the floor? Ride a bike or walk everywhere? Live without amenities like electricity or running water? Your family (especially young kids) would love trying out these new lifestyles themselves by having a sleepover on the floor or using chopsticks for a meal. Once again, be sure to take pictures and share them with your missionary. 

Have you had the same New Year's resolution for the last few years in a row? You might find new motivation by putting a "missionary twist" on your goals. Trying to lose weight? Adopt you're missionary's 30-minute morning workouts and pretend like you're exercising together. Trying to find more meaning in your scripture study? Adopt the missionary practice of studying with someone else in mind. Want to take charge of how you spend your time? Adopt nightly or weekly planning, and adapt the items in chapter eight of Preach My Gospel to your own needs. If you get creative, you can put a "missionary" spin on almost any New Year's resolution for extra spiritual umph and an additional tie to your missionary. 

In the missionary world, time is primarily marked in six-week chunks called "transfers." Your missionary probably measures time by transfers rather than months because many missionary milestones happen at the beginning of a new transfer. New area? New companion? New leadership assignment? Unless it's an emergency, these changes will always come at six-week intervals. Missionaries also use transfers to track longer-term goals. 

Marking your calendar according to your missionary's unique six-week schedule will let you share in the periodic suspense of a new transfer and be more aware of the transitions that occur in your missionary's life. Thinking in terms of transfers may also be great for your own goal setting when a month is too short to accomplish a project or to formulate a new habit.

It's likely that your missionary often references cities and areas you are unfamiliar with as they explain their experiences. Instead of skimming over these places, try looking them up on a map. There are many street-view maps that have astonishing detail, and you can gain great insight by virtually walking the streets of your missionary's area. You'll get a feel for what the buildings look like, where the mountains are, distances between cities, etc. Immersing yourself in your missionary's location this way can often inspire new fodder for questions to ask them in your next email as well. 

Lead image from mormonnewsroom.org