Helaman Sons Letters - An Introduction

The Helaman Sons Letters is the name of a missionary newsletter I published monthly during the 1990s exclusively for alumni of the Arizona Temple Youth Guides. Each issue was a source of much strength for all of those who read it and was eagerly anticipated, read, saved, and re-read during those 18 months to two years an individual was serving away from home. Although it started out modestly enough, it eventually grew to eight pages front and back (the maximum I could send for one postage stamp), in very small print, with most issues containing up to 20,000 words. Even more remarkable, at its height it was being received by 135 missionaries in 21 countries and 28 of the United States and many of the Islands of the Sea. What makes it so valuable today is that I was able to keep it going for almost a whole decade, cycling through hundreds of missionaries and amassing letters containing 2,000,000+ words from the mission field. Believing I had something unique in my extensive files, and wanting to share it with the members of the Church throughout the world, I have created Helaman Sons Letters. Please be kind enough to share it far and wide.

As far as I know, the Youth Guides was the only program of its kind in the Church and an outstanding organization made up of young men and young women of pre-missionary age who were preparing for their missions. They each wanted to have actual experiences teaching nonmembers before they left for the MTC. To get this experience they agreed to work one night each week in a mission-like organization and were trained to give tours in the beautiful gardens between the Visitors’ Center and the Mesa Arizona Temple. The program was in existence for approximately 17 years, before being discontinued in 1998, along with the rest of the “youth missions” of the Church.

While I was an Assistant Director of the Youth Guides, one of the young men in the program, David Porter, came by to see me before leaving for the MTC. I asked him if there was anything I could do for him to support his mission. He responded by saying that at one time he and I had considered having a newsletter for the alumni of the program that would help them keep in touch with each other. Since there were so many of them going on their missions, it would be easier to write to me and I could publish their letters and send them back around the world to their friends. I said I would see what I could put together and the result was The GUIDElines. Over the years the name was changed several times [which will come to light as the issues unfold] and ended up as The Helaman Sons Letters.

I soon learned that the letters they wrote to their friends chronicled their “real” missions, and was sometimes, but not always, what they wrote to their families. Much of the correspondence was spent teaching each other the things they were learning in their respective missions and has become a treasure of information about how to be a successful missionary. Many of the alumni spent more than a year in the Youth Guides before their missions and as they served with their friends they became familiar with what I call “fealty.”

I explained fealty as that special kind of love for your fellow workers, which is developed as you serve together in the trenches. It was true for the adult leaders as well as for the youth they led. Those who have served missions, or in presidencies or bishoprics know the feeling well. Love for your companions in the work is one of the strongest feelings around. Often it is the most valuable thing you take with you when you are released.

As a result of working so long and hard together, they felt comfortable talking about discouragement and disappointments as well as their successes, which have made their letters valuable learning tools. They knew they didn’t have to dress up their letters for their friends, because their friends were feeling some of the same things they were feeling. They also knew that their friends liked to learn, so there is a lot of sharing within the pages. One of the youth said that even though he and his friend were serving a continent away from each other, he still loved his friend, and his friend still loved him. When they met again they would take up exactly where they left off because of this brotherly love.

It was hard to keep track of all of the Alumni around the world, so while I was in the temple each Saturday I would review their assignments beginning in England with the three missions there and remember as best I could the rest of the missions throughout the world. From England my mind would consider Belgium, Poland, Germany, Russia, Hungary, Romania, and Austria. Then down to Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Over to Bulgaria and Greece. From there to South Africa, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. The Philippines, Singapore, Australia, Fiji, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Hawaii, Canada (Vancouver, Winnipeg, Toronto, Halifax). Then the U.S. with Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Illinois, Minnesota, Indiana, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Texas. I would end with the Dominican Republic and Jamaica. It was amazing! When the Olympics were in Barcelona, Spain, we had five Alumni there at the same time. Not everyone wrote every month, but enough wrote that I would receive a letter from somewhere almost every day of the week.

The young men and women of the Youth Guides were a unique group. It isn’t that they had more faith than many LDS youth, but they did have a vehicle to use to work with that faith and build on it and help it to grow into something so marvelous they were amazed at what they could accomplish. That vehicle was the Arizona Temple Youth Guide program.

They were a constant reminder to me of the Ancient Stripling Warriors; hence I began to refer to them in my letters as my “Helaman Sons and Daughters.” I had no idea at the time that our newsletter would eventually be so big. In fact, during the height of the program, Youth Guide Alumni were serving in 25% of the missions of the Church. In addition to their letters, I would keep them up to date with the Youth Guide program. Each month the arrival throughout the world of the GUIDElines was eagerly anticipated and because of their faithfulness in writing it was a living journal of missionary work during those years.

At each Youth Guide’s Missionary Farewell, I would go up after the meeting, give him or her a hug, and with a smile on my face, and often a tear in my eye, hand to each a white envelope. On the outside was the missionary’s name with the title “Elder” or “Sister” preceding it and the mission they would be going to. Inside, printed in small type on both sides of four sheets of paper, were up to 30 letters from their Youth Guide friends already in the mission field. At that moment we each began a special relationship that would last an entire mission, and for many of them has continued to this day. One wrote me every week and at least one never wrote me at all, but I sent him every issue for 24 months as though he had written me. Most wrote when they could, or when they had something important to say to all their friends.

The handing off of the white envelope at the Missionary Farewell was a rite of passage eagerly anticipated by each of us. It truly signified they were actually leaving the Program and joining the ranks of the awesome Youth Guide/Missionaries serving throughout the world. At long last, they were on their way to join the alumni brotherhood/sisterhood of former Youth Guides as a full time missionary for the Church.

Special heroes of the Youth Guides were Elder M. Russell Ballard who introduced SETADATE to the Church, Elder Gene R. Cook who talked and wrote so convincingly about faith, and Grant von Harrison who wrote some wonderful books and had so much to do with the creation of the Missionary Guide. The Missionary Guide was read and re-read by the Guides, talked about, taught about and its principles used in all we did. In addition, there was an anonymous letter we called the President Hurst Letter, that had been written about how to use covenanting to increase a missionary’s success. The President Hurst Letter was not universally supported, but the discussion about it and how its ideas could be used occupied lots of space in the pages of The Helaman Sons Letters and provided a valuable learning experience.

To better understand the information in The Helaman Sons Letters, it is important to know how the Youth Guides used SETADATE and the Standard of Performance (these will be chronicled in future posts). These are two components of the Youth Guide program, which can be used by anyone in the Church to help them supplement their preparations for a mission. SETADATE is a familiar way of using goals to help create missionary experiences and was introduced many years ago by Elder M. Russell Ballard. It can still be a powerful tool in your mission preparation.

The Standard of Performance was a list of commitments an individual agreed to accomplish in order to learn obedience and through obedience receive great blessings in his personal missionary work. These commitments included generally five things, which started with upholding the standards of the Church as found in the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet. Also, studying the Gospel for a certain amount of time each day to include reading in the Book of Mormon, but not limited to that alone. We found that in their busy schedules, sometimes they could only listen to a tape by Elder Cook or another GA on their way to work or the Visitors’ Center. We did all we could to make it possible to learn more about the Gospel each day in a variety of ways. Other parts of the Standard of Performance included inviting not-yet-member friends to Church functions, attending all meetings, etc. By adhering to a Standard of Performance you can accomplish those tasks that will help you become a better missionary.

In future posts there will be a brief explanation of how these tools were used by the Youth Guides as they prepared for their missions. Perhaps they are tools you might want to use to supplement, but not replace, your individual missionary preparation training. Share them with your friends and family, or if you are a youth with your parents and Priesthood leaders for their input prior to using them. Part of the obedience you will learn is to be obedient to what your bishop and stake president have outlined for your training for missionary work. Never let fads or new ideas replace the Missionary Prep Class in your stake. However, use wisdom to investigate and utilize those things that will supplement your training.

The Helaman Sons Letters started with an issue dedicated to the first Youth Guide to leave on his mission after I began to work in the Program. He had been the Youth President and I remember the night he came back from receiving his own endowments in the temple. As he came into the Guide Room a few of his friends went over to greet him with handshakes and hugs. They were so happy for him! I remember seeing one young man reach up and trace for a few inches on his chest the outline of his Holy Garment of the Priesthood, which faintly showed through his white shirt. As he did so they both had tears of joy and happiness in their eyes. I knew right then and there that I was working with some special young men, and now, over ten years later, they have proven to be as awesome in “real” life as they were then.

So, I invite you to come with me on a wonderful adventure of discovery. Join with me in a figurative “Hosanna Shout” as we remember what was happening in the program when the newly refurbished Mesa Arizona Temple was opened after having been closed for six months. Only those who had labored in the gardens next to the temple can understand how hard it was to have it closed for six months, or the longing for it to open, as night after night we gave tours next to the temple with its inner lights off. I eventually made arrangements with the temple Engineer to turn on the lights in the Terrestrial Room, the ones that shown down on the Gardens, during the time the Youth Guides were there each evening. Although the temple was closed, we knew it was only a matter of a short time until it would be in full operation again.

Come with me as we recap some of what they did in the Youth Guides and then we’ll follow the alumni all over the world to their missionary experiences.

Read along as they expand their faith and work on solutions to the challenges they find on their missions. I can assure you that it will be a trip you will never forget.

My fondest hope is that as you read these pages you will better understand what it is to train for and serve an honorable mission, and that for others there will be a rekindling of the missionary zeal you once had.