“The Presidency of the Church recently ruled that prospective missionaries shall be recommended to them at least three months before the date when they will be ready to leave for the mission field. It was recommended that ‘during this period they should be assigned to special missionary work or ward teaching, and be given an opportunity speak in the sacramental meetings, and to assist in the ordinance work at fast meetings.’ In section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord has specifically enumerated three of these special preparatory activities as duties of the Lesser Priesthood. The ruling provides that the modern missionary shall not lack some training in these Lesser Priesthood duties even if his quorum work has been neglected. The era of the untrained, uninformed missionary is passing.”
– Presiding Bishopric, May 1929
As untrained as our younger “elders” may be, I imagine that most of them have *some* experience with home teaching, preaching, and administering the sacrament. And yet, the sisters who are not given an opportunity to “assist in the ordinance work at fast meetings” often seem to be the better-trained and better-informed missionaries.
I wonder if they were having problems sending the young missionaries into areas where the branches were nothing but new converts and looked to the missionaries for guidance on running the meetings and programs. From the training mentioned here, it seems like maybe the kind of problem they were trying to address.
The current equivalent of this is calling young-to-be missionaries – both brother and sister – to serve as temple ordinance workers between the time of their endowment and entering the MTC (if there’s at least a month’s space). I see daily with my own eyes the amazing preparation for missionary service this can be, and the deepening of spiritual understanding that comes as they serve. (And we would be lost without our young workers… they are amazing.)