Document Type

Learning Optimization

Publication Date

Summer 7-13-2026

Abstract

Guiding a struggling missionary back toward wellbeing—through one-on-one counseling and similar interventions—is demanding work that requires significant time and effort. I can only imagine how much of a mission president's already limited time is consumed by this kind of support, making it that much harder to fulfill the broader responsibility of leading an entire mission.

Yet this kind of one-on-one intervention has a drawback that is easy to overlook: it tends to keep the missionary receiving support permanently cast in the role of "the one being helped." As a result, the strength that already lies within that missionary often goes untapped—and, paradoxically, the very support meant to help him grow may end up narrowing his opportunities to do so.

This proposal offers a shift in perspective. Rather than treating a struggling missionary as "a problem to be managed," we might instead recognize him—exactly as he is right now—as someone capable of contributing to the growth of his fellow missionaries. Through the experience of helping others, a missionary comes to see himself in a new light, discovers that he, too, has something of value to offer, and grows into a more engaged, more productive missionary as a result. This is the central idea behind the proposal. It requires a measure of faith: faith that the Lord has placed real potential within every single missionary.

To make this concrete, imagine four missionaries living under one roof. All four take part together in an orientation session built around four key points. The more thoroughly the participants themselves understand these points, the more smoothly the program will take hold—and it works best not as a one-way lecture, but as something the four of them discuss and discover together.

One thing matters above all: this is not about singling out one missionary's "problem." The goal is a relationship of mutual support among all four—one in which the missionary who had been struggling comes to play a genuinely important role in helping the others grow. Building that kind of positive, equal relationship is what this proposal is ultimately about.

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