Thousands of American full-time missionaries from around the globe will be contacting their mothers by Skype this weekend on US Mother’s Day. Mormon missionaries can be seen on the streets of hundreds of major cities in the world as well as in thousands of smaller communities, including around the United Kingdom. The missionary effort is based on the New Testament pattern of missionaries serving in pairs, teaching the gospel and baptizing believers in the name of Jesus Christ (see, for example, the work of Peter and John in the book of Acts).
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More than 80,000 missionaries are serving missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at any one time. Most are young people under the age of 25, serving in more than 400 missions throughout the world. Many young men, aged from 18 years and young women aged 19 years from the United States will be serving in congregations throughout the UK and will this year be able to contact their families by Skype.
Missionaries receive their assignment from Church headquarters and are sent only to countries where governments allow the Church to operate. Missionaries do not request their area of assignment and do not know beforehand whether they will be required to learn a language. Male missionaries are addressed with the title “Elder” and women are addressed with the title “Sister.”
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints launched a Mother’s Day initiative Wednesday to celebrate the divine calling of mothers and women around the world. The initiative, sponsored by the Missionary Department of the Church, includes a YouTube video titled “It Was Mom,” which depicts all that a mother does in the lives of her children and emphasizes the crucial role mothers play in God’s plan.
http://motherhood.mormon.org/?cid=HPTH050814094
“No matter where you are in life, whether you are a woman looking forward to one day having a family, currently in the trenches of motherhood, or a seasoned grandmother, there is a mother to be found in each of us,” said Sister Linda K. Burton, the Church’s general Relief Society president. “A nurturing influence is not limited to those who bear children. The effect of righteous women is felt in communities throughout the world.”