Dear Brother and Sister Beard, 

Thank you for sharing your wonderful missionary with all of us here in the Florida Tampa Mission. All too quickly (for us) the time is here to make plans for Elder Beard return travel home. The departure date is set for May 27, 2020. In order to schedule flights at the best rates available, in the next seven days, could you please let us know the closest large airport to your home? Please email this information to Sister Briggs at 2011220@churchofjesuschrist.org. I will meet with Elder Beard before the day of departure for a final interview. Then, on the evening prior to departure, Sister Hollingsworth and I will have the opportunity to have dinner and a testimony meeting in the mission home with all departing missionaries. Missionaries are released from service by their Stake President upon returning home. This is usually in the stake from which they were called unless the family has moved and their records are transferred to another stake. The missionary should maintain the missionary standards outlined in the Missionary Handbook (including dressing as a missionary) until released. As missionaries near the end of their service, they should be at peak effectiveness and able to bless lives and significantly advance the work of salvation in their mission assignments. Please help your missionary to keep focused and not become absorbed with returning home. Distractions of home adversely affect both the missionary and the companion, their effectiveness in their work, and their desire to diligently fulfill their calling. This problem can be exaggerated by well-meaning parents, family members or friends who emphasize the excitement they feel as they prepare for their missionary’s return home or who ask the missionary to make family travel arrangements. Please minimize such distracting communications to your missionary, and refrain from posting such messages on Facebook or other social media sites. Please be sensitive to this and help your missionary continue to be focused right up to the date of release by minimizing distractions and excitement about matters unrelated to missionary work. “And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that day, for they shall have the gift and the power of the Holy Ghost; and if they endure unto the end they shall be lifted up at the last day. . . (1 Nephi 13:37)”. Your wonderful support and understanding are so appreciated – thank you. Your faith, prayers, and continued encouragement contribute to the growth and development that come especially from dedicated full-time missionary service. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

 President David Hollingsworth

Florida Tampa Mission President