My wife and I served a senior mission together in South Africa. It was one of the greatest experiences of our lives.

There are lots of ways to serve the Lord. Some of those ways are teaching the gospel as the young missionaries do. But there are also lots of support roles that are needed to make the Church function. All of these are equally valuable:

• You can be called as a senior missionary beginning at age 40 or as a senior service missionary beginning at age 26. You can serve if you are married or single.
• You can serve part-time before you retire. Or you can serve full-time after you retire.
• You can serve from 6 months to 2 years.
• You can serve from home or away from home. So, if family, health, or financial circumstances don’t allow an away-from-home mission, there are many live-at-home options.
• As a senior missionary, you don’t have to maintain the same rigorous schedule as young missionaries. You can serve a mission as a couple or as individuals with different assignments.
• You can serve as leadership and fellowshipping missionaries, or in a mission office, in a family history center, at a Church recreation camp, in humanitarian efforts, as a seminary or institute teacher, in property maintenance, at a visitors’ center, at a bishop’s storehouse, in a temple, or in many other ways. There is a place for everyone who wants to serve.

The number of senior missionaries serving around the world is only about half of the current need. So, if you are even the slightest bit interested, take a look at SeniorMissionary.ChurchofJesusChrist.org. This interactive site lets you enter information about your talents, skills, financial situation, and family, and it shows you missionary opportunities that may be a good fit. You can then submit your preferences. Your assignment will be determined by an Apostle, but your preferences are taken into consideration.

One of the greatest joys of life is to realize that your children have grown up to be decent, wonderful people. So here is the dichotomy—there is no one we would rather be with than our children and grandchildren. So why did we choose to be away from them serving a mission for 18 months? To set an example by showing them that we also love the Lord and want to serve Him. Serving the Lord on our mission was what we needed to do at that time in our lives. We had planned our whole married lives to go on a mission together when we retired.

If you feel even the smallest desire to serve a mission, act on it. If you delay, the opportunity may pass you by. Your life situation may change, and you may not be in a position to serve a mission. Please consider going on a mission. It will change your life.

Read the Liahona article “Don’t Miss Out on a Senior Mission” to learn about some of the blessings of serving.