9 Things You Can Do to Serve Your Companion

Your companion is the most important person to you on a mission. You are with them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Here are some ideas that I used to serve my companions on a mission. These tips don't only apply to the companionships, but to the all the relationships in life.

1. Write them a note
This was something I did a lot. Sometimes maybe too much. But writing a note is super easy, super quick and makes your companion smile immediately.

2. Give them a massage
Mission can be stressful, so show your love to your companion by giving them a short massage. Once one missionary asked me: "Hermana Koivisto, do you actually like giving a massage or do you just like being nice?" I laughed at her and told that I just like being nice.

3. Make a list of things you love about them - and then share it with them
I did this with all my companions and they all loved it. For example at the MTC I made a list of the good qualities of my companion in my journal - and I did it  in Finnish. When my companion had a hard day, I asked her to sit next to me and showed her the list and translated it to her.

4. Collect positive notes from the others
When I was at the MTC, I asked all the other missionaries to write something postivie about my companion. Then I made a big card of all the positive notes from the other missionaries and teahcers to my companion.

5. Ask them if there is anything specific you can pray for them
You should alwa pray for your companions, even better if there's something you can pray specifically about. Asking your companion about what is something that you can pray about, shows that you care about them.

6. Buy them a little gift
It can be a little chocolate bar or a bottle of hairspray. You don't have to use a lot of money, but buying a little gift to your companion shows that you really care. 

7. Ask your parents to write them a letter
At the MTC I received a letter from my companions parents! That was so super nice and showed me that my companion likes me so much that she has written good things about me to my parents. After that I told about it to my parents and told that if they want to be nice, my companions would be happy about receiving letter from them!

8. One of the day
This is a little tradition I learned from my mini mission companion Sisar B. She had had a tradition with all her companions to share one thing every night they liked about each other that day. I continued the tradition with all my companions in my real mission.

9. Do something extra in your apartment
Make her a meal, wash their dishes or clean your apartment. I always remember how good I felt one Sunday when we came home from the church and my companion said to me: "You can go and take a nap. I'll cook for us".

How Did I Become an Early Returned Missionary? My Story in 8 Steps

Step 1:  Missionaries are so cool
When I was "little", I always admired missionaries with nametags and wanted to be like them. I wanted to go to a different country and tell the people about the gospel and all the joy it can bring.

Step 2: The change in the age limit
I was one of those teenage girls who screamed when they heard that church made the change in the missionary service age. I decidedthat I'm going to go on a mission after graduating from high school.

Step 3: Receiving an answer
When I was seventeen, I was not so sure about it anymore. It was a time when I first time thought about my future seriously and wanted to really know what to do with my life. I wanted to know for sure if I should serve a mission and received an answer. Since that, I have known without a doubt that I want to serve a fulltime mission.

Step 4: Wearing a nametag for the first time
When I was eighteen, I served a mini mission in Finalnd in a city called Vaasa. Even though it was only one week experience, it still is the best week of my life and I wish my real mission would have been more like that. I learned so much about being a missionary and loved my companions Sisar P and Sisar B.

Step 5 - My mission call
When I was nineteen, I received my mission call. "Dear Sister Koivisto. You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. You are assigned to labor in the Spain Madrid Mission". That was the happiest day of my life.

Step 6: MTC
I stepped on the plane August 18, 2015. The first 6 weeks I spent at the Spain MTC in Madrid. I made friends and learned from the wonderful examples of the other missionaries. I learned how to speak Spanish.

Step 7: My mission in the Canary Islands and Madrid
After the MTC, I left half of my luggage and took a plane to the Canary Islands. My first 6 weeks I served in Santa Cruz de Tenerife with my wonderful trainer Hermana M who taught me a lot by her wonderful example of a dedicated missionary. I fell in love with the beautiful island of Tenerife and the friendly people there. Then I was transfered to Villalba, which is a little village close to Madrid. I made close friends and had fun with Hermana S, who was my companion there.

Step 8: Returning home
After 4 weeks in Villalba I made the difficult decision between staying on a mission or returning home when the both options were difficult. I don't like to talk too much about what happened, all you should know is that I had problems with my health that made the mission really hard for me. I returned home December 7, 2015. It was not easy, but I have trust in God and that He knows where I need to be right now.

I'm not wearing a nametag anymore, but mission has been always close to my heart. I have almost 30 friends on a mission right now that I e-mail every week, because I understand how HARD is it to be a missionary and I want to support missionaries in every possible way. I look up to those young men and women who talk about their mission with the light in their eyes.

I have always been a writer and I've had so many blogs that I've lost the track. This time I want to write a blog to support missionaries in different kind of situations, especially those who have returned home early or are struggling in any other way.