You may be familiar with the missionary story of Elizabeth McCune. You can read about it here. Shortly after, sister missionaries began to be considered in the mission field starting officially with Jenny Brimhall and Inez Knight.

Matthew McBride shared his thoughts on sisters in the mission field. There weren’t many of course. In the early days, photos show a few sisters in a sea of elders. The elders would refer to them as “Female Brethren.”

One sister, a former teacher, had to sit quietly and watch a young elder fumble over his inexperienced telling of the message. Instead of being allowed to proselytize, the sisters came in handy when a member was sick and needed domestic help in their household. The sisters found that not only were they asked to convince people of the truthfulness of the gospel; they also needed to convince the elders of their necessity of sisters in the mission field.

Eliza Chipman wrote regularly to her family, closing each of her letters with, “One of the true born sons of Zion according to the Relief Society.”

It may have been a struggle at first, but over time, sisters became indispensible because of their unique way of reaching out to certain people.

Speaking of women in the mission field, the mission president’s wife has always seemed to have a vague title and role serving at the side of her husband. Susan S. Rugh spoke on the calling with no name. Over the years, the mission president’s wife has filled in wherever she can. Depending on where they served, the wife was the one who supervised the female auxiliaries. If they understood the language, they could be extremely helpful. But again, mostly her position fell into a “global domesticity” arena where she kept the mission home functioning and ready for visitors.

In 2012, with the age change occurring for both young men and women, allowing a surge of sister missionaries to enter the field, roles for mission mothers have increased. When called, the wife is specifically given the assignment to train, mentor, preach, and teach alongside her husband. She has much more leadership participation, using her spiritual authority. Of course, she continues as the temporal caretaker for all of the missionaries, because who doesn’t want a mother nearby?

One of the most important points given actually came from a comment made at the end of the lecture. A former missionary president’s wife stood up and said, at the onset of her mission, both of them were to be the best example of what a husband and wife could be, working together in unity.