Book Review: Becoming a Great Missionary

My husband is currently serving as mission president in the New York New York South mission. I just finished your book and I enjoyed it very much. I have been reading parts of it out loud to my husband when we are in the car together. I need to study the book more closely - there are so many great suggestions. The one we have particularly grabbed onto is the idea of business contacting. There are so many small store owners here in New York City - and they are the employed husbands and fathers (and potential Priesthood holders!) who our missionaries don't normally get to meet during the day! I just mentioned it to the assistants, and they are very fired up to try it. And that's just one of the great suggestions!

My mother grew up in Salt Lake, and my parents have been very good friends with the Pinnocks over the years. The Pinnocks are incredible people. You are very blessed to have had him as your mission president and friend. It is somewhat comforting to read your book and know that we are doing many, many things that President Pinnock (and you) recommend. And it's always great to get new ideas and perspectives on our calling.

I'm looking forward to reading your other two books. I'll keep you posted on the successes that ensue using the ideas we have gleaned from your excellent book. I can't even imagine how much work writing this book was. Thanks for writing it for those of us currently in the trenches who can benefit from your experiences.

I received my 5 books ordered and the two you gave me as gifts. Thank you for your generosity. I am the Ward Mission Leader here in the Niceville, Florida Ward and I am giving the books away to my missionaries. I sent a copy to the Mission President, President Bradshaw, and he has authorized my giving them out. I will order them in no less than 5 at a time as I'm able to afford them. Thank you for writing the book.

As a priest quorum advisor, and after reading this book, I realized that our priests need to read this book now, before they go on their missions, to be wonderfully prepared, confident missionaries. I truly think every priest should have this book.

I only have 10 more pages to read in your book, and I can’t tell you how important this book is to me. I wish that I had read this book before my mission! Years ago, I was transferred to a new area where the sisters played basketball with investigator sisters every week. I know that when I was transferred into the area, their only wish was that I played basketball. Well, I didn’t! I talked to my companion about why we continued to take the time to play basketball each week with these sisters who didn’t want to join the church and her reply was, “Because the sisters before me did it.” I considered what she had said and then told her that we had to stop playing basketball and go out and find people who truly wanted to learn about the gospel, which we did. I have spent all these years feeling guilty, in my private moments, about perhaps having thwarted a teaching moment. But after reading your book, I am finally at peace with my decision. I know that these investigators were simply “professional investigators” who enjoyed our company but would never have been baptized. Thank you for writing clearly and plainly about the things that should matter to missionaries and how they should conduct themselves. My children (primary age) will learn to be effective, confident missionaries as we teach them in family home evening directly from your book.

The missionary book is really really really good! I could hear President Pinnock as I read, it brought back great memories. Thanks! You were very lucky to have him for your whole mission. You cannot even imagine the difference of before he arrived and after. My mission would have been very different had I had him the whole time. As an example, when I arrived in PA I did no missionary work for almost two weeks as opposed to later, under Elder Pinnock, when we would pick up new Elders at the airport and take then out tracting before we got back to the mission home.

Dear Brother Clawson,

When I started reading your book last night I was very impressed with the pragmatic/idealistic precepts and ideas in your book! This morning early, as I started to share with my wife, who had spent the night at Primary Hospital with our 6 month old grandson, I received a somewhat surprising witness that I did not yet know the worth of this book to Father, to myself, and to every member and missionary if we are to harvest the "that I know is still ripe ready to harvest."

Your book, in the few pages I have read in the chapter on tracting mostly, has helped me to understand that the miracles all of us could have part in are limitless!

As President Kimball and all prophets and other visionaries have said we must become messengers worthy of our message and better in every way in finding and teaching.

Since we must, we can. Your book will help anyone, anywhere, to do so. Thanks for your sacrifice to share God-given insights and experience with me.

I have recently purchased "Becoming a Great Missionary" and am some what disappointed in it, especially since the local LDS book store where I go, has ordered several books for their shelves. After a brief review, I find that the book contains outdated and incorrect information, i.e., it refers to the Stake Mini-mission program as an inspired and effective program and recommends that the program be extended to the Ward. We had the Mini-mission program for a couple of years in the San Antonio area and subsequently receive a letter from Church Headquarters directing us to cease and desist since the mini-mission program was not authorized and supported by the Church and was thought to be counter-productive with a detrimental affect on youth of the church. While I found the opposite to be the results, we still follow the brethren and complied with their directive.

The author also refers to a Member-Missionary Course given on a quarterly basis with manuals provided by the Church. Such is no longer the case. This course hasn't been available for quite some time. As best I can remember it is not listed in the LDS Distribution Catalog any longer. If you find otherwise, I'd be interested in knowing.

The author repeatedly refers to himself as one of the most "successful" missionaries in the Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania mission, the quintessential missionary that Elder Pinnock referred to for 20+ years thereafter. Indeed, the forward refers to him as "a legend" in the mission. Most people would shy away from such self-agrandizement.

Generally, the book is an anecdotal review of the author's own missionary experiences, re-cast as a how-to book for "success" on a mission. The author is very laudatory of himself in many ways, for example, getting up at 5:00 a.m. each morning, memorizing discussions within a very short period of time, and "smashing all records" in a particular district. If new missionaries emulate this, they will not get 8 hours of sleep each night, and may define failure as failing short of the author's own self-promoted examples. In another passage regarding "bad thoughts", the author suggests that it is OK to take "one look" at a woman, but not a second look. Maybe a better rule is to avoid even the first look if it is a "bad thought". In another passage, he critizes other mission presidents for having rules that he feels as too strict. I'm concerned that members and missionaries who read this will see fit to criticize their mission presidents for rules they find offensive.

Another passage is shocking in its implication: the author states that missionaries should plan their tracting route in advance so that God and angels will know where to go beforehand to prepare the minds and hearts of potential converts. I simply do not believe that God's forknowledge is so limited. The book attempts to cast the Harrisburgh mission in the mid-1970s under Elder Hugh Pinnock as the ideal for missions worldwide, and the author's activities as those of the ideal missionary. While there are some good things about the book, such as tolerance for others, the importance of scripture study and keeping mission rules, the book is far too much a personalized endorsement of the author's own mission. I got the feeling that the author was angling to have the book adopted in whole or in part as a standard missionary manual worldwide. And I would guess the he started his own self-publishing business in part because conventional LDS publishers were not interested in his book. No doubt the author means well, but this is not a good book and I don't recommend it to any. I'm disappointed the author makes money from members who buy the book because the title seems so appealing, without taking a critical look at what's in it.

The subtitle of this book says: “A Training Manual for Missionaries, Members and Priesthood Leaders.” Twenty-six years ago today I entered the Missionary Training Center. Is this book for me to improve my member-missionary work? Is it for my son Brian who has been on his mission in

Mexico

for a year or is it for my son Spencer who just turned 18? The simple answer is that this book has applications for all three of us – and yet in other ways some of the excellent material in this book is not a perfect fit for any of us three; the RM, the Missionary or the Prospective Missionary.

Brian could probably make the best use of this book. After a year on a mission he knows the realities of what missionary work is like. The stories and suggestions in this book could have great application to any missionary currently serving. According to my son Brett, who just got home from his mission – missionary’s gospel study was to be exclusively from the scriptures, Preach My Gospel and the four books that comprise the missionary set: Our Search for Happiness, True to the Faith, Jesus the Christ and Our Heritage. According to what Brett said, missionaries are to focus on the basics found in these approved materials. President Hinckley’s book “Be Thou an Example” is not on the list either – but the goal is to have missionaries focus their study on the basics.

This book review is not the place to debate whether or not missionaries’ reading material should or shouldn’t be limited to those books. A quarter century ago I don’t remember any guidelines of what we could and couldn’t read. Some missionaries spent more time studying the Journal of Discourses trying to figure out if rocks had spirits than was really necessary. I had a short book Making the Most of Your Mission which I read several times during my time and found had very practical suggestions. However, if this book is outside of the normal reading material for currently serving missionaries, those who would benefit most from the book are not reading it.

My two pre-missionary sons could read this and get some great ideas of what missionary work could be like. My son and I will discuss some of the points in this book. However, talking to a pre-missionary about the realities of missionary life is difficult. I told Brian that when he got out of the MTC there would be a difficult cultural transition once he is in the field. Brian understood that concept as well as any pre-missionary could. The first week Brian was in

Mexico

, the culture shock made it the hardest week of his life. After that culture shock week – he understood what I meant when I said it would be hard. My two pre-missionaries (age 18 and 14) and I will talk about some of these concepts.

What about old RMs like me? I would love to take this book and travel back 26 years and apply these principles. So far my time machine doesn’t work. There are practical ideas that can apply to member-missionary work.

This 391 page book largely draws upon the author’s experience as a missionary and as a member-missionary. Clawson shares his successes and failures as a missionary. As I read I felt like he was showing ordinary missionaries and members that there was more we could do to help spread the gospel.

In this book review I have chosen to highlight some specific strategies and ideas that Clawson puts forth. Each of them gave me a different perspective on how I can be a better member-missionary, father of a missionary and father of a prospective missionary:

Keep the mission rules: “No matter how silly they may seem at times, those rules are there for a reason… I promise you that the more perfectly you live the mission rules, the faster you will progress as a missionary, the more blessings you will receive." (p.41).

Sitting here as a 46 year old father, I realize now better why we had some of the rules we did. Even at age 19 most of them made sense…except one. On my mission we weren’t allowed to listen to any music at all. I know how people (missionaries) can push the limits, if we first listen to the Tabernacle Choir, then Saturday’s Warrior, then the Bee Gees (hey they were popular back in 1982). I obeyed that rule even though I would have liked to feel the spirit of the Tabernacle choir.

Bad Companions: Clawson does an excellent job in describing how to deal with disobedient companions. For many missionaries their companions are among their first roommates. As a new missionary I did not fully appreciate my first hard working companions because they did things differently than I would have. Later, I wished I could have had those Elders back, because I realized their quirks were easier to deal with

than companions who blatantly disobeyed the rules. Clawson puts some of the onus on the individual to make a good companion. His section “How to create a bad companion” is summarized as follows:

Sometimes as missionaries (and in our marriages) we create some of our own problems by how we act and react. However, Clawson is clear that missionaries should not cover for companions who are breaking the rules.

“We can lay aside our egos and trust that God will do what is best for us.” (p. 69)

“The secret is hard work…We learn to constantly look for ways to use our time more wisely.” (p. 73)

Tracting: “Most missionaries hate it. Great missionaries find it fun. The reason? Great missionaries have the confidence to know they will get into doors and teach.” (p. 105)

He has several suggestions for making tracting more effective including singing to people. What a unique idea I wished I had thought of 26 years ago; even though I can’t sing a note the song of the righteous can bring the spirit.

Finding People to Teach: Most of us think that tracting and asking members for referrals are the two options. Clawson describes how they used local newspapers; visited schools and colleges and taught in other churches. Each area is unique – but as we think outside the traditional box other ideas will come to mind.

Working with members: If there is one weakness in the book it is that only one chapter was specifically dedicated to working with members. The ideas here are unique – but to be more effective missionaries must somehow get members involved.

Ward Mini Missions: “…a few members were called to serve on month mini mission. They were released from whatever callings they had at the time and called as and set apart as stake missionaries… Under the ward mission leader’s direction, the member-missionaries were used as much as possible in missionary work with new members, providing support for Book of Mormon programs, open houses…. Once a month the members who had completed their mini missions were called to speak in Sacrament meeting about what they had learned and experienced… After one month these members were released… Almost without exception after this experience was over, these members continued to work with the missionaries… Everyone seemed to become more energized, more focused and more willing to sacrifice…” (p. 186). This one idea alone if implemented could change the whole mindset of a ward as members get involved.

Stop and Listen: “Listening provides you with the inspiration you need to discover what to teach them next.” (204)

The Power of Faith: “Work is the key to performing miracles… Rather than spend time increasing your faith, you should spend your time learning how to use your faith… I learned that the golden family was waiting at the end of that last street, and I was determined to find them.” (p. 311-313)

One of the final chapters of the book deals with the sensitive subject of Going Home Early. While there are myriads of reasons people could come home early, Clawson’s suggestion is simply that we make them feel loved no matter what the reason they came home early.

In short — this is the longest book review I have ever written. I could turn around again tomorrow (because my memory is fading) and rewrite the book review using totally different quotes and suggestions.

No matter what your station in life, if you sincerely want to do more to become a more effective missionary there are stories, examples and scriptures throughout this book that can reach and teach you how you can be more effective in your unique situation.