By Ashton Ward
A year after returning from a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Steve and Cecilia Hurst received a call from their local bishop.
Would they serve another mission?
The Hursts now spend several mornings a week as missionaries for the LDS church. Unlike many other missionaries, though, they don''t wake up a 6:30 a.m. to work on assignments from the mission president. Instead, they go to the cannery.
The Hursts are responsible for calling high councilors in local stakes to remind them of their assignments to help at the cannery. They also help schedule appointments for individuals.
Their mission is a service mission, and there are nearly endless opportunities for service missionaries to support the church''s mission, from coordinating Conference Center events or helping prison inmates with their family history. Service missionaries differ from full-time, proselytizing missionaries in that they are given more specific assignments.
Service missions can be part time or full time, and can be as short as three months or as long as a full two-year mission, said Kit Taylor, a Salt Lake City resident currently serving with her husband as an inner-city missionary. Taylor and her husband support Salt Lake City bishops in helping families in their wards.
'Our stake president called us, and really we were both quite excited,' Taylor said. 'Some weeks it takes a lot more time than others, and some families take a lot more time. Our recent families have not been quite so demanding. It kind of depends on the circumstances and level of independence.'
Among other duties, the Taylors help member families overcome addictions, recover from bad financial situations or get affordable medical assistance.
'The church has a network of specialists for housing refugees, dental, medical, just about anything you can think of,' Taylor said. 'These are people who are professionals of their field who are willing to donate all or a lot of their time or services.'
The services aren''t free, Taylor said, so those who receive services are asked to serve in some capacity in Deseret Industries. One woman helped people write resumes in return for medical service.
Steve and Cecilia Hurst served as missionaries at the prisons in Utah several years ago, helping in the family history centers there.
'The inmates are about the second section of the church that does so many names,' Cecilia Hurst said. 'They''re right after the family history center.'
While many service missionaries are senior couples, there are young sisters and elders who serve in a service capacity as well. For example, some people who have mental limitations that prevent them from serving full time missions are offered an opportunity to serve, like one young woman who served in the Temple Square cafeteria, said David Broadbent, a former mission president in Chile.
Service missions are not all involved with humanitarian work either. Many church programs are only possible because of missionaries and volunteers. One example of such a missionary is Rita Jensen, currently serving with her husband as an event coordinator at the Conference Center. They coordinated the Salt Lake broadcast of the recent Helsinki Temple dedication.
'I do believe that that''s one of the reasons that the church is so successful - because we have so many people that give their time,' Jensen said. 'The more you sacrifice the more blessed you become. I don''t know if you agree with me, but I think the Lord wants us to sacrifice.'
For Steve and Cecilia Hurst, the opportunities to serve have enriched their lives, Cecilia said. After serving at Winter Quarters, in the prison family history lab and now at the cannery, she said they''re happy to be able to serve the Lord and the church.
'It''s just really a good opportunity,' she said. 'We''ve got the time. We''re both retired, and we might just as well do something.'