Wednesday, March 5, 2014

MISSION PREP (physical prep)

So, you're prepping for a mission.  You've heard countless stories and phrases: Knocking on that last door, baptizing in the muddy river, 'It's the best two years', etc.
But to be honest, despite how much people tell you and how much you hear, you can't ever exactly be sure what it's going to be like.  If you're anything like me, you hear tips from a random Mom for Georgia, or a link to Mission-impossible.
WELL NOT ANYMORE!!!!
Real advice on how to prep for a real mission from a real missionary on a real mission, this is gonna be real.
This is:
HOW TO PREPARE FOR YOUR (LDS) MISSION!!!

Physical Preparation:
1. Make sure you can walk. (Go ahead, practice.)
2. Make sure you can ride a bike. (Really, make sure, a missionary fresh from Utah just came to our mission who had never ridden a bike before in his life.  After a short five minute lesson, he was shooting down a hill with concrete buildings two feet to his left, and Japanese cars whizzing by two feet on his right.  he made it to the apartment trying his best not to cry....)
3. You might as well learn how to drive a car. (A useful skill, you may or may not need it... They knew the food was so good that in order to keep the image of missionaries from becoming two fat guys in tight suits they didn't give us cars.)
4. (Speaking of fat) Make sure you can eat all kinds of food. (You might think it's a good idea to use the "I'm allergic" excuse, but when you're reading scriptures like 2 Nephi 9:34 every day, you'd rather stab your leg than lie. (Though if you're lucky you'll get a comp that'll help you pull through and secretly eat some of your food for you.)) Depending on the culture you might really offend someone if you fail to finish off your plate.
5. See if you can survive a regular sleeping schedule.
I'm convinced that I'm not alone in this, but many younger people of today engage in an activity called
"Sleep Sluffing" and "Sleep Binging" It's where you go throughout the week surviving on anywhere from 0-6 hours of sleep and then Saturday morning hits and you "Sleep Binge" and it's 12:00 in the afternoon and you're finally crawling out of bed.  It's actually quite different to get the proper amount of sleep every night.  You're not tired when you should be, and you're exhausted when you shouldn't.  My suggestion is to do the missionary 6:30 wake-up 10:30 turn-in, but to just establish a standard schedule of when you're going to wake up and when you're going to go to bed, and keep it constant throughout the week.
6. Clothes
Though you may desire to look stylish, keep in mind efficiency as well as looks.  A suit that fits you perfect when you leave, after working out every day and eating MTC food (which might be against the Word of Wisdom. :)) you're perfect-suit, will now be your plain-suit, or your torn suit. But, you know. Whatever SUITS you...pfft. (I'd give advice to sisters, but I seriously have no idea how to help you. Good luck. :)
       -RANDOM TIP #1: So, the MTC takes a toll even on the skinniest Elder of Sister alive.  To avoid getting fat, remember: Even though it's all you can eat, doesn't mean you have to eat all you can.  If you're really that hungry, then just really don't eat that much. (They do have a salad bar! Also, beware the orange juice...)







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