A week in your missionary's life: P-day, companions, transfers.

The Church's sample schedule for your LDS missionary starts at 6:30 a.m. with study and planning, then finding, teaching and serving people until 9:00 p.m. One day a week is preparation day (P-day), for writing home, laundry and errands, finished by 6:00 p.m. Your missionary is always with a companion, and companions change at transfers. That's from the Church's Missionary Standards, chapter 2  (opens the Church's page in a new tab).

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A day in the field.

The Church's sample day: up at 6:30 a.m., then prayer, exercise, breakfast, an hour of personal study and half an hour of planning. From 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., they find, teach and serve people. They're home by 9:00 p.m., or 9:30 after a teaching appointment, and in bed by 10:30.

Fit into the day: study with their companion, language study if they're learning one, and lunch and dinner, no more than two hours together. A new missionary also studies with their trainer for an extra 30 to 60 minutes a day for their first 12 weeks in the field.

The Church asks missionaries to focus their day on people, and to avoid long stretches in their apartment. The mission president may adjust the schedule for holidays and special events.

P-day.

The mission president sets one day a week as P-day. It's for writing to family, the mission president and friends, laundry, haircuts, cleaning, shopping, rest, and approved activities with other missionaries in their district.

In the Church's sample P-day, those activities run from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and are finished by 6:00. Then your missionary goes back to finding and teaching until 9:00 p.m.

Each P-day your missionary also writes a letter to the mission president, which only he reads. For how they write home that day, read how your missionary writes home.

Companions.

Missionaries serve two by two, and your missionary will have different companions during their mission. Companions support each other's spiritual, emotional and physical well-being, and try to keep each other safe.

They stay together. The Church asks missionaries to be able to see and hear their companion at all times, with a few exceptions such as the bathroom, and to sleep in the same room.

Missionaries are asked not to speak negatively about a companion to family and friends at home, so a letter may say little about a hard companionship.

If a companion is ever abusive, the Church asks your missionary to go to the mission president for help. For what to do if you're worried, read when something is wrong.

Exchanges and leaders.

Now and then, a missionary who leads others works a day with your missionary, in what's called a companion exchange. It generally lasts about 24 hours, and in most missions comes once each transfer. So a letter may mention a day with a different companion.

Your missionary may be asked to train a new missionary, or to serve as a district leader, zone leader or sister training leader. The Church tells missionaries these assignments don't mean special recognition or advancement, and don't reflect a missionary's worth.

Transfers.

The mission president decides where each missionary serves. At a transfer, your missionary may move to a new area, get a new companion, or both. So a new face in their photos may be a new companion.

The mission office arranges their travel so they aren't alone, and they go straight to their new area.

How often transfers come isn't on the Church's pages this guide follows. Your missionary will know when the next one is.

Some missions have families send mail and packages to the mission office, partly so mail isn't lost at a transfer. Read care packages, wherever they serve.

Their photos.

The Church asks missionaries to get permission before taking or sharing photos of other people. In some missions, they can't publicly share photos of the people they teach, because of local privacy laws.

So if you share your missionary's photos beyond the family, ask them first which ones they're comfortable with.