Mission Prep 2

Emotional Preparation:
1. Practice not getting your way.
When you're on your mission, your self-independence can often be a hindrance.  Now, instead of being on person , with one thought and will, you're two:  Your companion and you. (Did you see how I put "Your companion" first? Do the same.) There are many battles not worth fighting, We're not talking about all of WWI, but Rather it's the little things like, who gets to teach which part of the lesson or who gets the last instant ramen, etc.
Contention is of the devil, and it's a weed that always springs from the soil of pride.
2. Practice talking with (random) people.
You, more than anything else, will need this skill.  Preaching of the Gospel, as the creation of the world, occurred by word of mouth.  That is the medium through which you will be working.  This skill is vital as a missionary, it is better to learn it now than later.  Even the weakest thing (Ether 12:27) through the power of the Christ's Grace, can be made strong.  The quietest and most insecure person, through the Lord, can be made into a bold and powerful servant, but only upon the Lord's conditions. (D&C 4; D&C 84:85; D&C 42:14)
Just go up to someone and talk to them, rejection and awkwardness aren't going to kill you.  When it comes down to it "Fake it till you make it."  It's difficult at first, but it gets easier, and you must never stop trying.
3. Learn to laugh
This isn't just a tip for Missionaries, but for life in general. (I talked about this before in detail in one of my previous letters) but we all possess the ability to turn anything awful and embarrassing into something hilarious. A lady runs away from you and slams her door, laugh.  You fall on your face on the way to a teaching appointment, just laugh.  Don't be childish, or uncaring about the Lord's work. just accept and laugh at the situations you can't control.
4. Learn how to relieve stress a different way than you normally would.
On a mission you won't have your normal "stress-relievers".  When you're exhausted and emotionally drained, you can't just walk away and go play basketball, video-games, or piano. You'll have to learn to manage stress in a different way.
This is vital.  I dare say this is the 2nd biggest reasons why certain people can't make it through their mission (the first being worthiness, but we'll talk about that later).  In fact, it's so important to learn how to manage stress that the Church just put out a new booklet that every missionary gets called: "Adjusting to Missionary Life".  They just put it out during my 2nd transfer here; I'm not sure if it's available for non-missionaries, but if at all possible get your hands on that.  It teaches various methods for how to deal with stresses of missionary work.  Just for an example: For me, my stress reliever was playing the piano before my mission, and now I've just learned just to stand still for a moment, block out everything else and just focus on the good.  Prayers of gratitude and rejoicing in the little things have helped me out a ton too.