Waiting for the call.

The Church's pages give no usual wait between the stake president submitting your LDS missionary's papers and their call. When the call is ready, the Church sends your missionary an email and a text message with their login for the Missionary Portal  (opens the Church's page in a new tab).

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How a call is made.

Each young missionary is called by the President of the Church, and a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles assigns them to a mission, through inspiration.

The handbook says the information in the papers contributes to that process, and asks leaders to make sure it's complete.

How long it takes.

The wait starts when the stake president submits the papers. For the steps before that, read the mission papers, from a parent's side.

None of the Church's pages this guide follows gives a usual time from then to the call, or says what day or time calls are sent. A wait you hear about from another family was theirs, not a rule.

What the Church does say is about the start date: the sooner the stake president submits the papers, the more likely your missionary will leave close to their availability date.

Its Submission Planning Tool shows the likely window for when a mission will start, from the week the papers are submitted.

If it seems long.

Ask your missionary's bishop or stake president. The handbook asks a stake president in the United States with questions to contact the Missionary Department, and one elsewhere to contact the area office.

The area office and the Missionary Department review the health assessments. In some cases, the papers may be returned with instructions on how your missionary can improve their health readiness.

How the call arrives.

When the call is issued, your missionary gets an email and a text message with their login for the Missionary Portal. They come to your missionary, not to you.

They can open the call when they're ready, so plan the opening with them: read opening the mission call.

While you wait.

The handbook asks family members and leaders to help a future missionary prepare. Its ideas include sharing the gospel with friends before the call, going with the full-time missionaries to teach, hearing from missionaries who have served, and more time for prayer and study of the Book of Mormon.

It also encourages them to study Preach My Gospel, Adjusting to Missionary Life and the missionary standards.

For emotional preparation, the Church's Missionary FAQ suggests the course Finding Strength in the Lord: Emotional Resilience, through your ward or worked through with a friend or family member.

The full list of what to bring comes in the Missionary Portal after the call, so most shopping can wait for it.

Meanwhile, you can plan the money side: read what a mission costs, and who pays.