The Field is White-ish
Companions comics
Missionaries serve in pairs, 24/7, with someone they did not choose. Comics about the joys and quirks of companionship.
18 comics
Senior couples often serve alongside young missionaries and join their district meetings. Even on an English-speaking mission, there can be a generation gap in the language.
“Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel” is a much-loved Latter-day Saint hymn about pitching in and working hard. It was never meant as instructions for changing a tire.
Missionaries keep their P-day games and entertainment within mission standards, so a game called “Magic” might raise an eyebrow. Latter-day Saints talk a lot about the gathering of Israel: inviting people everywhere to come unto Christ. The elders feel they have a strong case.
In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul compares the Church to a body, where every member matters, from the eye to the foot. Missionaries love that scripture. Sometimes they love it a little too creatively.
Missionary companions pray together several times a day, and they also share a very small apartment. Sometimes a prayer turns into a gentle hint.
Companionship inventory is a regular check-in where missionary companions talk honestly about how they’re working together. When your companion is your spouse of fifty years, there may be a backlog.
Missionaries regularly check in with their companion about how they’re working together. For a senior couple, that companion is a spouse of forty-plus years, which brings its own kind of expertise.
Companions often take turns knocking on doors, and each one keeps careful track of whose turn it is. In hilly areas, some doors are a lot harder to reach than others. This one is a workout.
Senior couples often serve far from home for a year or more, which means leaving children and grandchildren behind. Packing light is the plan. Packing every grandchild is the reality.
Missionaries always travel in pairs and dress alike: white shirts, dark ties, backpacks. Add sunglasses and they look less like messengers and more like an FBI unit reporting for duty.
Retired couples serve missions too, and they’re called senior missionaries. He becomes Elder and she becomes Sister, just like the nineteen-year-olds, and they serve as each other’s companion.
“Investigator” is missionary shorthand for someone learning about the Church. Most are drawn by the message. Every so often, one seems more interested in the messenger.
“Fellowshipping” is how Latter-day Saints describe befriending new and returning members. Some elders read the flyer a little differently.
Missionaries serve in companionships of two, and sometimes three. The driving monitor in many mission cars can feel like a very talkative third companion.
Preach My Gospel, the guide every missionary studies, has 13 chapters. Missionaries like to joke about an unofficial Chapter 14, nicknamed “Flirt to Convert.” This elder seems ready to put it into practice.
Missionaries look for “the elect,” people prepared to hear the gospel (Doctrine and Covenants 29:7). Remembering their names is a separate spiritual gift.
Early mornings, long days, and a comfy couch make the second half of a lesson a real test of endurance. Eyes closed could mean deep pondering… or not.
Transfers usually come about every six weeks. That's just enough time for a shiny new mission bike to pick up rust, duct tape, and a personality.