{
  "lessonDate": "2026-10-01",
  "lessonNumber": 198,
  "lessonTitle": "Choosing to Serve a Mission",
  "semester": "fall-2026-ot",
  "source": "Seminary manual, Lesson 198 — Missionary Preparation (Life Preparation)",
  "scriptureBlock": "Deuteronomy 28:1–6, 9; Isaiah 12:3–4; Doctrine and Covenants 4:2–3; 18:15–16",
  "bookName": "MISSIONARY PREPARATION",
  "deckType": "lifeprep",

  "lessonObjective": "Let students say the real reasons a mission is hard to choose out loud, without anybody correcting them — and then put a first, small, dated step in writing.",

  "doctrinePrinciple": "The Lord will bless us and many others when we choose to serve a mission.",

  "personalScriptureStudy": {
    "chapters": "Deuteronomy 28:1–6, 9, and Doctrine and Covenants 4:2–3",
    "questions": "Count the different kinds of blessing promised in Deuteronomy 28 — they are not all the same sort of thing. Then in D&C 4:3, what is the one qualification listed?"
  },

  "teacherNote": "THIS IS PANEL THREE AT FULL SIZE and the close of the Missionary Preparation block: 196 was covenant identity, 197 was the conversational skill, 198 is the decision. A mission is the hiker walking back down the trail for two years. Say that link out loud — they have had the theme named for a fortnight now. SUPPLIES: the handout 'Blessings God Gives His Missionaries' printed one per student, board space, and optionally ask two or three students beforehand to bring a photo of someone they know serving. OPEN WITH 'Called to Serve' (Hymns no. 249) and who they know out right now, and where. PRESIDENT NELSON is the definition and must be said accurately: 'The Lord has asked every worthy, able young man to prepare for and serve a mission. For you young and able sisters, a mission is also a powerful, but optional, opportunity.' PROSELYTING AND SERVICE MISSIONS BOTH COUNT — say it explicitly, because there is nearly always a student in the room for whom a service mission is the realistic and honourable answer, and the word optional for the sisters is Nelson's own. THE TWO-COLUMN BOARD IS THE HEART OF IT: reasons someone may WANT to serve, and reasons it could be HARD to choose. Take the hard column first and do not rebut a single entry — write them all up. THEN THE THREE APOSTLES, which is why the hard column is safe: President Ballard's parents were not active in the Church when he decided; President Holland had no missionary tradition in his family at all; Elder Cook's father was not active and pushed him toward medical school instead. Every one of them is on the hard side of that board, and every one of them went. That is the most useful thing in this lesson for a kid whose family will not be driving this decision for them. COMPANIONSHIP STUDY: pair them up, let them pick Elder/Sister and their last name, and tell them companions study together every morning — then actually give them the eight minutes to do it. DO NOT TURN THIS INTO A COMMITMENT DEVICE. Nobody stands up and announces anything. The journal is private and the plan is deliberately small.",

  "cards": [
    {
      "card": 0,
      "layout": "lifeprep-activity",
      "sectionName": "THE ACTIVITY",
      "tagline": "Both columns. Out loud.",
      "title": "MISSIONARY PREPARATION — COMPANIONSHIP STUDY",
      "subtitle": "Say The Hard Part First.",
      "challengeHead": "THE CHALLENGE",
      "challengeText": "Most people decide this quietly, alone, with the hard reasons never said out loud. This morning we say them out loud first — and nobody argues with them.",
      "activityHead": "THE ACTIVITY",
      "steps": [
        { "title": "TWO COLUMNS", "text": "On the board: why someone would want to go, and why it is hard to choose." },
        { "title": "PICK A COMPANION", "text": "Pair up. Decide your names — Elder or Sister, with your last name." },
        { "title": "STUDY TOGETHER", "text": "Eight minutes on the handout. Circle the blessings that actually land for you." },
        { "title": "REPORT BACK", "text": "One blessing each, and one thing from the hard column you still carry." }
      ],
      "bandHeading": "TALK ABOUT IT",
      "bandQuestions": [
        "Who do we know serving?",
        "What makes it hard?",
        "What did they get back?",
        "What is a service mission?",
        "Who decides this?"
      ],
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "If ye have desires to serve God ye are called to the work.",
        "attribution": "Doctrine and Covenants 4:3"
      },
      "artPrompt": "A natural photograph of two teenagers sitting side by side at a classroom table in bright morning light, sharing an open handout and a set of scriptures between them."
    },

    {
      "card": 1,
      "layout": "lifeprep-apply",
      "sectionName": "MAKE IT REAL",
      "tagline": "Walk back down.",
      "title": "MISSIONARY PREPARATION — THE ONE STEP YOU CAN TAKE NOW",
      "subtitle": "They Were All In The Hard Column Too.",
      "scripturesHead": "WHAT THE SCRIPTURES SHOW",
      "scriptureList": [
        "Deuteronomy 28:1–6, 9  —  blessings of every kind",
        "Doctrine and Covenants 4:2–3  —  desire is the qualification",
        "Doctrine and Covenants 18:15–16  —  how great shall be your joy",
        "Isaiah 12:3–4  —  draw the water, then declare it",
        "1 Nephi 8:12  —  Lehi wanted his family to taste it"
      ],
      "planHead": "MAKE YOUR PLAN",
      "planQuestion": "What is one thing you could do this month, not in four years?",
      "plan": [
        "What is honestly in your hard column?",
        "Which blessing on the handout did you circle?",
        "What one step will you take, and when?"
      ],
      "ideasHead": "IDEAS: HOW COULD I PREPARE NOW?",
      "ideas": [
        "Open a mission savings account.",
        "Read Preach My Gospel, chapter one.",
        "Ask a returned missionary.",
        "Write to someone serving.",
        "Pray about it specifically.",
        "Go out with the missionaries."
      ],
      "challengeHead": "CHALLENGE THIS WEEK",
      "challengeText": "Ask one person who served what the Lord gave them because they went — in person, on the phone, or by text — and write down their actual answer, not your summary of it.",
      "rememberHead": "REMEMBER",
      "rememberText": "President Ballard's parents were not active when he decided. President Holland had no missionary tradition in his family. Elder Cook's father pushed him toward medical school. All three were in the hard column. All three went.",
      "scrollQuote": {
        "text": "Declare his doings among the people.",
        "attribution": "Isaiah 12:4"
      },
      "artPrompt": "A warm painterly golden-hour scene of a young hiker walking back down a trail toward three others coming up, turning to point back at a hilltop water station behind him."
    }
  ],

  "journalPrompt": "Write honestly how you feel about serving a full-time mission right now, and why — including whatever is in your hard column. Then write one blessing from the handout that you actually want. Finish with one step you will take this month and the date you will take it."
}