When I came home from my mission, I knew that I wanted to save all my weekly emails and photos in a physical missionary email book so I could remember my experiences, share with friends and family, and have a continual reminder of one of the most important seasons of my life. The statistics about missionaries who return home and leave the church are startling. I wanted to ensure that I would never forget the spiritual growth I developed.
My Experience Making My Own Email Book
Creating my own LDS missionary email book was not as easy as I expected. I started by using an app recommended to me called “Project Life“. It made page layouts and collages relatively easy. I spent hours working on it, only to finish and discover that the app wouldn’t let me download my work! I would need to spend over $200 just to get the pages sent to me. All my own work, exorbitant costs, and no book!
So, I went back to the drawing board. I taught myself how to use Canva to, once again, format my pages. Then, I had a local printing shop print them out. I hole-punched them and stuck them in a binder. My mission emails were saved, but not cute or convenient.
I shared my woes with my best friend Emma. Her parents had bought her an LDS missionary email book, but it ended up costing over $600, and the photos weren’t even formatted! We couldn’t believe that there wasn’t a better way.
So, we created a better way.
In this article, I’ll share what I learned from making my own DIY mission email book, and I’ll also share how you can have us do it for you!
DIY LDS Missionary Email Book
Here’s how I created my *first* missionary email book, from scratch (after my initial disaster).
- I saved my emails in a Google Doc with the titles bolded. It wasn’t the prettiest, but it worked.
- Next, I made a free Canva account and created an 8.5 x 11 page.
- Then, I formatted my photos into collages. I didn’t remember which photos went with which emails, so I just put photo collages intermittently throughout my book.
- I went to a local print shop and got the pages printed on cardstock.
- I ordered some plastic sleeves from Amazon and put the pages in the sleeves.
- I put everything together in a binder and voila!
Overall, doing it myself cost about $70 and 20 hours of work. The result was pretty lackluster.
My Mission Moments LDS Missionary Email Book
If you want something more professional and 100% done for you, skip the DIY and order with My Mission Moments instead. Our books are hard cover, formatted, and shipped for free.
On our website, MyMissionMoments.com, simply go to the “Order Your Book” tab and click “Missionary Email Book” (OR – just click here). Our standard price covers books made directly from the original emails, up to 15 photos per email, 300 pages, standard color, and no extra formatting needs. If you have your emails saved a different way, extra photos, more pages, want premium color, or have extra formatting needs, you will pay a little extra for the extra labor.
When you order your book, you’ll also give us some information about whether you/the person you’re buying for is a future, current, or returned missionary, the name of the mission, language spoken, etc. Once the order is complete, you’ll fill out a form where you upload the photo you want on the cover. You’ll get an email with instructions for sending over the emails (or other files). Once you send everything over, let us know, and we’ll start working on your book!
That’s it – it’s that easy!
3-5 business days later, you’ll get a PDF sent to your email to look over. You can send back any edits you want to make until you’re ready to approve. You can also let us know if you’d like to order any extra copies. Then, you’ll simply wait to get your book in the mail within 3 weeks.
Sharing With Friends And Family
My Mission Moments makes it easier than ever to share your mission experiences with friends and family. Your free PDF is completely shareable to anyone and everyone. Your physical book is the perfect memento to bring out in family gatherings, mission reunions, and in front of friends.
You can even make back some of the money you spent on your book by simply telling your friends and family about your experience with My Mission Moments. If someone orders a book and emails us your full name, we’ll Venmo you $10, and give them $10 off their purchase.