"The whole premise [of serving a mission] is to go out and do some good," says Risenmay, who presides over 171 missionaries in one of top-baptizing missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Beyond knocking on doors, teaching investigators and working with local church members, each missionary devotes a few hours each week to service aimed at blessing others' lives.
"It helps to push the missionary spirit along, so people can see the Savior's love," says Elder Scott Sitton, a missionary who hails from Oklahoma and now labors in Holladay. "The service is nice [for us, too]. We get to enjoy the company of other elders, and[we] get to get dirty."
While missionary service has been a trademark of the LDS Church since its 19th-century beginnings, it is relatively new to the Beehive State. In 1975, the Utah Salt Lake City Mission was created from parts of the Idaho, Colorado and Arizona missions and became the 132nd mission of the church. Besides the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission, which opened in 1998 and is headquartered in Sandy, there are now four other missions in Utah: Utah Ogden, Utah Provo, Utah Salt Lake City and Temple Square.
On a recent fall morning, after the first snowfall of the season, Sitton and about a dozen other missionaries arrived at the home of a woman in need.
"It was such a sight when I opened the door to see so many missionaries," says the woman, whose identity is being withheld for safety reasons. "I wish I'd had my camera."
Although she is not LDS, the woman has been receiving the missionary discussions and is becoming acquainted with the faith. She recently had back surgery, and so she needed help and gratefully accepted the missionaries' offer of assistance.
In an hour and a half, the missionaries organized her garage and hung pictures in her small apartment. Even though she was in pain from her surgery, the woman still managed to muster a sense of humor when a missionary assured her the picture he had just hung was level.
"Level is like the rest of the universe; it's all relative," she answered.
For this investigator, the missionaries were "an answer to an awful lot of prayers."
"I don't have any family and have been through an awful lot the last couple of years," she says. "I've been pretty much alone. Not only are they helping, but whenever they come, I feel the Lord is with them. They bring a good feeling to me and to my home."
* 171 total missionaries, including 26 single sisters, eight senior couples and 41 Spanish-speaking missionaries.
* Missionaries hail from 35 states and 16 foreign countries and speak a total of 20 languages.
* Recently distributed 1,200 copies of the Book of Mormon and 10,000 pamphlets over a monthlong period.
* The mission's boundaries take in all the southern half of Salt Lake Valley - from about Murray south to near the Point of the Mountain - and extend east into Summit County.
* The LDS Church has 107 stakes and 900 wards and branches that are housed in 300 church buildings located within the mission's area.
* For more information about the Utah Salt Lake City South Mission, call 801-568-9003.
