Yesterday, they were wearing jeans and t-shirts. Today,
they are referred to as "elder" or "sister." Immediately,
they are thrown into an unfamiliar world. UNIDENTIFIED MALE MISSIONARY #1: I have this -- (shows blue card)
Off-screen voice: That gets you lunch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE MISSIONARY #1: Good. Lunch would be good.
MR. DANCY: When they agree to serve a mission, they commit to go anywhere the Church needs them. Men serve two years, women 18 months. They pay their own way, or their family or congregation does. The Church now has missions in 120 nations and territories.
The missionaries will spend three to eight weeks here, depending on the language they study, learning how to be missionaries. Training goes on from dawn to late at night.
DAVID WIRTHLIN (president, Missionary Training Center): We have an advantage you haven't had. We know where your missionaries are every minute of the day.
MR. DANCY: As the moment arrives to say goodbye to families, the enormity of this commitment hits them. It will be two years before they come home again.
The regimentation begins immediately.
ELDER EARL C. TINGEY (executive director, Missionary Department): We want them to leave home. We want them to leave home and go out and start this new venture, learning a new language. It's not easy to be there -- eight weeks -- and learn a new language, and to learn new techniques of meeting people, learn how to take care of yourself, [and] learn how to wash your own clothes. That is new to most of these young men and women. And by leaving home, to look forwards and not backwards.
MR.
DANCY: The Missionary Training Center teaches 48 different
languages, more if necessary. That is because the LDS church
believes every person should hear the Gospel in his or her
own language. Teachers are usually returned missionaries.
Often, in the early going, the spirit is willing, but the tongue won't cooperate.
But within a few weeks, missionaries have mastered basic conversation -- enough to teach others about Mormon beliefs: That God appeared with Jesus to young Joseph Smith in a forest grove in upstate New York, in 1820, and told him He was restoring the true church, originally organized by Jesus Christ. Mormons also believe Jesus appeared again after his Resurrection, this time to an ancient civilization in the New World. The record of that event is contained in the Book of Mormon, which they believe is divinely inspired, like the Bible.
Training is sophisticated. Computers help students master pronunciation.
The young missionaries are taped as they practice presenting their message to native speakers. The early going is painfully difficult.
From now on, the missionaries get one personal day a week. Most use it to keep up the rigid personal appearance standards the church demands.
Laundry and letters go together. Missionaries are encouraged to write home once a week -- cheerful, faith-promoting letters are preferred. Phone calls are not allowed here. In fact, over the next two years, missionaries will be allowed only one or two calls home a year. Often, tape cassettes are the only way to hear the sound of a girlfriend's or boyfriend's voice.
In this ecclesiastical army, just as in the real one, mail becomes a lifeline to home.
Serving a mission is voluntary, but the LDS culture exerts strong social pressure on young people to serve. About 40% of all young Mormon men agree to put their shoulder to the wheel.
Male missionaries singing: We all have work -- let no one shirk. Put your shoulder to the wheel.
MR. DANCY: Last year, the Mormon church had 60,000 missionaries in the field. How many is 60,000? Think of the BYU football stadium on a Saturday afternoon in the fall, and it'll give you an idea. Now, imagine all those people knocking on doors, and you get a picture of the Mormon missionary effort.
MR.
DANCY: Missionaries -- whether they serve on Temple
Square in Salt Lake City or in Outer Mongolia -- must learn
to deal with rejection. Most people they approach don't
accept their message. 
