10 Gifts

For activity days, I decided to do a missionary lesson.  We put together missionary care packages and talked about what life is like as a missionary.

I put different items in a bag and as I pulled each item out, we talked about how it related to being a missionary.  Here are some of the items we discussed.

Scriptures- studying the gospel

Pot- cooking skills

Sewing kit-basic sewing skills

Shoes-missionaries walk a lot

Missionary tag-I used my old one

Preach my gospel- studying each day with companion

Piggy bank-financial prep

Clock-early rising/time management

Tithing slip-paying a full tithe before/support from ward members

Temple picture-receiving endowment

Picture of Christ-developing a testimony of the Savior

Then I printed up "future Missionary" tags and took a picture of each girl with the tag on.

Then we put together care packages for two sisters in our ward.  The package was based off of a talk from Pres. Hinckley gave about the 10 gifts he wishes every missionary will bring home from their mission.

I included this quote from the talk as the basis for the care package.

"These are 10 gifts that I would hope every missionary would bring home with him or her—not a lot of tinsel, not a lot of dolls, not a lot of rugs or furs or dresses or plates, but these great, enduring, wonderful things. God bless you to keep the faith, and while doing so, enjoy with great happiness that which you are called to do."

I had an envelope for each gift that had a quote from Pres. Hinckley's talk about each gift.

GIFT 1 - A KNOWLEDGE of God and Jesus (I placed the gift's title on the outside of each envelope).

Quote inside the envelope: “This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). There is no greater gift that comes to anyone in this world than a certain, reassuring conviction that God, our Eternal Father, lives and that Jesus is the Christ. I believe that. I think it is so very, very important."

This is the message or hint I put on each gift that associated with that gift.

"Let the Love of our Heavenly Father surround you like this big hug." 

I had the girls trace their hands and cut them out and tape a ribbon between the two hands to make a "pretend hug".

GIFT 2 - A testimony of the SCRIPTURES as the Word of God

"As a missionary, I read each evening before going to bed a few chapters of the Book of Mormon, and there came into my heart a conviction which has never left: that this is the word of God, restored to the earth by the power of the Almighty, translated by the gift and power of God to the convincing of the Jew and the Gentile that Jesus is the Christ. I thank the Lord for the testimony which I have of the truth of the word of God as found in these sacred revealed books. And I would hope that every missionary would leave his or her field of labor with a conviction in his or her heart that these things are true."

We know your working hard to be a scripture smarty. 

(I filled the bag with smarties)

GIFT 3 - An increased LOVE for your parents

"I have attended hundreds of missionary meetings over the years. I love to hear missionaries speak of their love for the Lord, but I also love to hear them speak with great appreciation and love concerning their parents. Boys who had been careless and indifferent stand on their feet and with tears in their eyes thank the Lord for their fathers and their mothers. In these days, what a salutary and wonderful thing it is to hear a strong young man stand up and speak with great feeling concerning his father and his mother, saying things he would never have said before in all of his life. Every boy and girl ought to come home with an increased love for parents."

Your mother and father love you so much.  Write to them and tell them how much you love them!  (

(thank you note cards)

GIFT 4 -  A love for the PEOPLE among who you labor.

I love the English people. No one can sell the English short in my mind because I labored with them, I lived with them, I was in their homes at their firesides, I learned to know their hearts, and I learned to love them.

I have learned to love the people of Asia. I spent 11 years among them, and I love them. To me, I love them as much as I love anybody because of the experience I have had as a missionary, as it were, among them.

There’s something wrong if a missionary doesn’t come back with a great love for the people among whom he labored."

A fisher of men = a great Missionary

GIFT 5 -An appreciation for HARD WORK

"Every missionary ought to come to realize that work, work, work is the key to getting things done, the key to success in life. There is no substitute for work, for getting up in the morning and getting at it and staying with it to get the job done. I don’t know of a greater asset for whatever lies ahead in life than the capacity to discipline oneself to work."

Work so hard that your hands (and feet) need pampering.

GIFT 6 - An assurance that the HOLY GHOST is with you when you live righteously.

"The availability of inspiration—each of us, if we live for it, if we cultivate it, can have it. I love these great words of revelation, these words of promise: “God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost” (D&C 121:26). What a precious gift to bring home—the assurance, the certainty that if we live for it, we have available to us that which comes by the power of the Holy Spirit."

The gift of the Holy Ghost is like chocolate chip cookies…. Soft and warm and makes you feel so good.

GIFT 7 - Understand the importance of TEAMWORK

"No one can do this work alone. We work in pairs. “In the mouth of two or more witnesses shall [all things] be established” (2 Corinthians 13:1). We work together. There is no place for prima donnas in the mission field. Our efforts are largely team efforts, and what a marvelous thing it is to learn to work with other people."

Work together with your companion as pair or team. 

(a pair of socks)

GIFT 8 - The value of PERSONAL VIRTUE

"I think there is no greater thing concerning future integrity that a missionary can learn than the value of personal virtue. I think there are fewer words greater than the promise given under the inspiration of the Lord as set forth by the Prophet Joseph Smith: “Let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly.” That’s the commandment. And then the promise: “Thy confidence [shall] wax strong in the presence of God” (D&C 121:45). That’s the promise to those who walk in virtue."

Remember that you are an example to those that look up to you – like us! 

I had the girls write each missionary a note and attached the group picture of the girls writing the notes and their individual picture and put it in each note (so they would know who was writing each note).

GIFT 9 -  The FAITH to act.

"'I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way … that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth' (1 Nephi 3:7).

We ask tremendous things of missionaries. It is so hard for shy and diffident young people to do the things we sometimes ask them to do. But what a marvelous thing that they try. They have the faith to do, the faith to act, the faith to go forward and make the effort. And what a marvelous gift that is to bring home."

Remember your faith is like a seed you need to nourish it to help it grow.  

a sunflower seed kit

GIFT 10 -  The humility to PRAY

“Recognize that there is a power greater than ours, that no matter how good a man is, he is not good enough, that no matter how wise he is, he is not wise enough, that no matter how strong he is, he is not strong enough for all of the things which he will face in life, and that there is a source of power to which he can go with the assurance that he will be listened to and that there will be a response."

All we have to do is use our lips and speak to our Heavenly Father in heaven.  He hears and answers our prayers. 

FINAL NOTE:  I got the idea about the "10 gifts" care package from this blog.  I took her idea and changed it to fit my needs.  I love that we can all share our ideas with each other to help each other out!