Friday, October 3, 2025 | Deseret News Weekend
WWW.DESERET.COM
SPECIAL SECTION
E General Conference | E4
Gathering of Israel accelerating around the world
| E5
Highlights of Latter-day Saint athletes during past 6 months
| G1-7
Maps of temples dotting the world, including 27 in Mexico
Heeding the Prophet’s call
Senior missionaries listen as the Provo Missionary Training Center missionary choir performs during a devotional at the training center in Provo, Utah, on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
Isaac Hale, Deseret News
President Russell M. Nelson had called senior missionaries ‘irreplaceable’ and ‘often a literal answer’ to prayers By Kaitlyn Bancroft and Eastin Hartzell Church News
W
hen most people think of missionary service in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they picture name-tagged young adults preaching the gospel on distant doorsteps. But increasingly, a quiet movement of seasoned disciples is changing the face of missionary work — one phone call, one online lesson and one bishops’ storehouse shift at a time. These are senior service missionaries: everyday Latter-day Saints serving the Lord close to home in powerful ways.
Unlike full-time senior missionaries who serve away from home, senior service missionaries live at home and serve in their local communities. Men and women aged 26 and older — single or married, retired or still working — are eligible to serve in assignments that align with their schedules, abilities and spiritual gifts. For instance, Elder Gary Futral and Sister Nancy Futral serve up to 30 or 40 hours a week in their home of Acworth, Georgia. “Even if you don’t think you can do it because you don’t know anything about it, there’s training for every senior service mission,” Sister Futral said, adding: “The Lord doesn’t want us to just sit around and do nothing. Senior service missions are the perfect opportunity to be of use to the Lord.”
A prophet’s call The late President Russell M. Nelson spoke about senior missionaries multiple times, calling them “irreplaceable” during April 2022 general conference and “often a literal answer to the prayers of bishops and branch presidents” during April 2016 general conference. In the same April 2016 address, he also said: “If you are tempted to think you’re not needed, let me reassure you that you are. There is not a mission president in the Church who would not love to have additional couples serving in his mission.” And during October 2004 general conference, while still a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, MISSIONARIES E2