How your missionary writes home.

Each mission president sets one day a week as P-day. Your missionary does laundry, shopping and errands that day, rests, and writes home. Which day it is depends on the mission, so ask your missionary once they know.

The Church's sample P-day schedule has everything finished by 6:00 p.m., their time. If they serve in another time zone, their P-day can reach you at a different hour, or even on a different day.

You can write any day of the week. Your missionary may read what you send whenever they have time, and they reply on P-day, or sooner for a special occasion or an emergency.

How they write each week is up to your missionary and you. The Church asks them to use the approved way that works best for your family and keeps within their monthly budget, and that can change with where they serve. A call or video chat isn't expected every week, so a week with only an email is a normal week.

Your missionary starts every text, online message, phone call and video chat. Families are asked to wait for the missionary to reach out on P-day, so the mission's schedule isn't interrupted.

If their parents live in different places, your missionary may contact each parent separately.

Missionaries are asked to be wise about how long a call lasts, and to be considerate of their companion. So some calls are short.

Your missionary is also encouraged to contact family on special occasions. The Church says these may include Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day, a parent's or sibling's birthday, and other holidays that matter in your country or culture.

Your missionary's own birthday isn't on that list, and the list isn't complete. For any day other than P-day or a special occasion, your missionary checks with their mission president first.

With people besides family, missionaries keep to emails and letters. Phone calls and video chats with friends need the mission president's approval.

So for most friends and ward members, the weekly email is how they hear from your missionary.

If your family needs to reach your missionary, contact their mission president first. On an early P-day, ask your missionary for the mission office's phone number and email, and keep them where you can find them.

If news from home needs their attention, your missionary is asked to tell the mission president. And if your missionary has an emergency, mission leaders will contact you.

If a letter sounds homesick or discouraged and it isn't an emergency, read when the first letters are hard.

Grandparents, aunts and uncles, friends, the ward: many people will want the weekly email. If it comes to you and you pass it on, put the addresses in Bcc, so no one's address is shown to the whole group, and keep the list in one place as people ask to be added.

An email list can do the passing on for you. With the Pro Email List, people join with a link or QR code, and your missionary emails one broadcast address, or keeps emailing everyone directly with the list pasted into Bcc. Everyone on the list gets the letter.

The weekly emails you receive stay in your own inbox. A label or folder just for them makes them easy to find later.

Your missionary's own copies are in their @missionary.org account, which closes about 60 days after they're released. When that time comes, save your missionary's email account before it closes.

This guide follows the Church's own pages, checked in November 2026. If a rule here has changed, follow the Church's page.

• Missionary Standards, 3.9: Communication with Family, Mission Leaders, and Friends  (opens the Church's page in a new tab)
• Missionary Standards, 2.5: Preparation Day  (opens the Church's page in a new tab)
• Church Newsroom, February 15, 2019: missionaries communicating with their families  (opens the Church's page in a new tab)