Military Relations Opportunities

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/callings/missionary/senior-missionary/senior-missionary-opportunities.pdf?lang=eng

Military Relations Specialists Missionaries

Here is some more information on these special missionaries from Meridian Magazine

http://www.ldsmag.com/1/1/article/7643/page-1

 My husband and I are currently serving a full time mission in Jacksonville, North Carolina, as military relations specialists. We work mainly with YSA Marines at Camp Lejeune, Camp Geiger, and Camp Johnson. The prerequisite for this calling is prior military service. (My husband is a veteran of two foreign wars, Vietnam and Desert Storm.)Our work is both rewarding and difficult because members currently serving move around so often with training and deployment that their records have a hard time following them. However, here is the good news. There are senior military mission couples at almost every major base around the world, in all branches of the military. We have couples in Japan, Italy, and many of the bases in the U.S. We are here, waiting to be contacted by the Marine/Soldier or his family.
We are constantly praying for divine help in finding these young people. Sometimes we find them because the spirit sends them our way. For example, we were sitting in our car in a parking lot looking for another Marine and a car pulled up beside us and said (and I quote), "Do you need help? I'm a Mormon but I'm inactive!" It's as if he had no idea that he was going to say that; it just came tumbling out. As it turns out, he was on our list of people we'd been unable to find ― and there he was!
My husband drives more than 100 miles on Sundays making pickups at all three bases to make sure these young people can't use the excuse that they don't have transportation. We have home evenings on Mondays, Institute on Tuesdays and conduct sacrament meeting on Sunday evenings for those coming in from a long 29-day Marine Combat Training in the field. We go to all of their graduations, we take them to the airport, and we pick them up when they need it. We also make blessings available for the sick and ailing, mentally and spiritually. We provide all of that and so much more, but unless we know they are here we can't help them.
Military life is both difficult and rewarding. The greatest challenge is in keeping spiritually in tune to be able to avoid the inherent pitfalls ― the drinking, smoking, tattoos, and other facets of military social life.
The Lord has provided a way to both serve in the military and stay as active as possible but it's a two way street. You need to want what is available. We are all here to help!
Elder and Sister ZollingerNorth Carolina Raleigh MissionMilitary Relations, Camp Lejeune

http://ldsmag.com/article/7716

"...we have a letter from a missionary couple who were featured in our last column.  They sent in a great story that illustrates just how much help our young men and women who are being deployed can find from their fellow Latter-day Saints.  Here is what they have to say:

I wish that the Church would find a way to list all the bases that have Military Relations Specialists Missionaries in the Ensign or Church News. I can't tell you how many calls we get from parents who tell us how hard it was to find a representative on base.

When we first came out here we were told that we could not wear our name badges on any of the bases unless we were conducting sacrament meeting at Camp Geiger. As we developed a good working relationship with the chaplains we discussed the fact that our own membership couldn't recognize us without the name tags. They were surprised that we had been told not to wear them because as far as they are concerned they know that our members need to know we are here and they (the chaplains) can't do what we do!

So now we wear our name badges everywhere on base and as a result we have military personnel come to us and introduce themselves. We have begun to find many of these young kids who really need to know they are missed in Church. 

I want to share an experience that is the defining moment for us in this mission.

We went to a nighttime farewell for two of our members who are currently deployed to Afghanistan. While we were standing there, some parents came over and introduced themselves, telling us their son was a returned missionary who had gone inactive. He was also there that night to deploy. We only had a ten-minute time window to talk with him, but in that ten minutes we were able to get the military set of scriptures in his hands with his promise that he would start reading them again.

The last thing he told Elder Zollinger was that as soon as he was able, he was going to get active again. That young man, Lucas Pyeatt, was killed by an IED just two weeks later. (You can do a web search to find his information.)

You tell me, just how important was that nametag? I hope that you are able to let people know how important the Military Relations Mission is to our Marines/Soldiers."

Elder and Sister Zollinger 

North Carolina Raleigh Mission
Military Relations-Camp Lejeune

Mormon Military Missionaries

In Honolulu, Lloyd and Ann will be working on military bases as Military Relations Specialists Missionaries. Here is some information I found in a Desert News article by Joe Walker about the program.

"The most recent numbers from the Defense Manpower Data Center indicate there are nearly 20,000 Latter-day Saints on active military duty — 7,174 in the Army, 2,694 in the Navy, 2,486 in the Marines and 5,787 in the Air Force — among the top 10 most common religious preferences in the U.S. armed forces. For those who choose to enlist, local LDS leaders provide a pre-military orientation meeting so they can know what to expect regarding church services and activities for those in the military, Purdy said. The orientation 'offers suggestions on how service men and women can remain faithful and practice their religion in the armed forces,' he explained.

There are also 64 retired military couples serving as senior missionaries at U.S. military bases around the world. Purdy said these couples assist local church leaders in serving and encouraging LDS service men and women.

'Stake presidents and bishops around the world are responsible for making the blessings of church participation available to service men and women,' Purdy said. 'Members in the military normally participate in wards or branches located near their military installations. In some instances, a new branch or service member group may be formed for deployed members of the church.'"

 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765608238/God-and-Country-Mormons-mix-missions-military-service.html?pg=all

Contact Info and Dates

Ann will be using her personal e-mail and cell phone while in Hawaii, so you will be able to contact her the same as in the past.

They are speaking in church Aug 25th, then flying from St George to Salt Lake City Sept 2 and will be in the MTC 2 weeks.  They are scheduled to arrive in Honolulu Sept 14th.