The missionaries work 60 or 70 hours a week, with no vacations. "For 24 hours a day, we are trying not to think about ourselves and trying to help other people," Tolk says. One day a week is reserved for preparations such as laundry, grocery shopping, letter writing and some relaxation, such Griffin says he thinks total dedication to the church is important, because the work is very intense. "You are always thinking about it, praying about it and mulling it over in your mind."

Missionaries do not go home during their missions and phone calls home are usually limited to Christmas. The rule varies at each mission, however, and Griffin says he did not call home at all during his two years away. He explains that the rule makes sense because a phone call make a person homesick, which can take energy away from his work.

Each mission has a mission president, who assigns missionaries to the areas where they will work. The president is usually 40 to 50 years old, has taken time off from work and receives no pay for supervising the missionaries, Tolk says.

Each missionary works with a roommate/companion for three or four months at a time before switching areas. Luke M. Lambert '90 says that his mission to Mexico taught him how to live and work with someone else 24 hours a day, because "your companion is never more than nine feet away from you."

Lambert says that he received a mixed reception from the Mexican people. He attributes their suspicion of Americans to the fact that Mexico is in debt to the United States. "Also, the Catholic Church is so strong that the people are reluctant to hear anything else," he says.

The most exciting part of Lambert's mission therefore was "seeing how people were able to change for the better and be happier about themselves and their lives," he says.

Because a mission is such an overwhelming experience, Griffin says the first few months give the missionary "a feeling of total dependency on God. You go up to complete strangers on the street and talk to them in a language you can barely speak and understand, trying to get to the heart of the matter and their values."

Sorensen says that her mission to Taiwan was both the best and worst experience of her life. "During the 95 degree days with 100 percent humidity and cockroaches all over, I thought I couldn't possibly bear another day," she says. But while she was at a Christmas party, hearing updates on people she had helped, Sorensen says she was "crying for joy. At Harvard, there is so much to do, that you don't get very involved with people."

For some missionaries, the experience gave them new insight into what they wanted to do with their lives. Griffin, a biochemistry major before his mission, is now majoring in history and science, focusing on modern German history. "My desire to do pure science definitely changed, and I also wanted to interact with people," he says.

Charles C. Rich '87-'89, who went to Taiwan, says his mission convinced him to switch his major from bio-mechanical engineering to East Asian Languages and Civilizations. But he has continued his pre-medical studies. He says his missionary as visiting historic sights.

work made him realize his desire to become skilled in an area where people would seek him out, unlike missionary work, which is a type of "selling."

Because women cannot go on missions until they are 21, most of them wait until after graduating from college. Erika Lambert, who has been working in Boston since her graduation in 1986, says she thinks she will find it easier to go on her mission because the things that undergraduates miss--such as dating, parties and hanging out with friends--do not seem as important several years later. "A year and a half will seem a lot shorter now than it would have then," she says.

While Erika Lambert, who has thought about going on a mission for the past ten years, says that her family supports her decision to go on a mission, she also says that "going on a mission is less emphasized for women and more expected for guys."

Sorenson, another female missionary, decided to go on a mission after her junior year and returned just in time to write her government thesis and take several Chinese classes. She went on her mission during college instead of after graduation, because "it would be harder to come back and go right into the real world."

It is also possible to waive the age limit of 21 years. Erika and Luke Lambert say that their parents recently left to become mission presidents in Cleveland, and their 19-year-old sister was allowed to go on her mission to Madrid so that she can be away at the same time as her parents.