Filmmaker's mission: an elder's life

Any Utahn who knows a family that is sending a young LDS missionary into the "field" probably understands at least a little bit about proselyting work for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

It's an assignment people are often curious about when they learn a young adult has volunteered to leave home, job, school and friends in order to share their faith with the hope of saving souls. The intrigue usually grows when it becomes known that missionaries and their families foot the $10,000-plus bill in preparatory and living expenses so they are able to serve.

For New Yorker Nancy du Plessis, those questions grew into a two-year odyssey that has resulted in a documentary film on life as an LDS missionary. The hourlong film, scheduled to air Tuesday, Dec. 23, at 11 p.m. on KUED-Ch. 7, is a highly condensed package of footage. Du Plessis said she shot 12,000 minutes of film during a 26-month period that follows three LDS missionaries from the day they opened their mission calls at home in Salt Lake City through their goodbyes at a German airport as they prepare to fly back home.

"GET THE FIRE: Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad" also features excerpts of interviews with former LDS missionaries who have left the church but reflect on their mission experience and share their feelings — some positive, some negative.

In the Beehive State, missionary life has become so ingrained a part of LDS culture that feature-length movies on the topic have raked in some real cash by combining a believable story line with inside humor that some missionaries and their families can relate to. Add those to the LDS Church's own video efforts to promote missionary work, and the portrayal to date has been largely positive.

Du Plessis had no such agenda when she began, she said. Rather, she was simply intrigued by a young woman from America who was serving an LDS mission in Germany, and from their conversation decided others would be interested in what missionaries do and why they do it.

Getting permission for the filming wasn't as difficult as some might anticipate, she said. She contacted the church's Public Affairs office, and they agreed to help her find three missionaries from Salt Lake City who would be serving in Germany.

"I said originally that I wanted to show the experience of one missionary, but the church wanted me to agree to throw away the material if my subject did not make it to the end" of the mission, du Plessis said.

The film's first producer agreed, with the stipulation that the crew would follow three missionaries, rather than one, to reduce their chances of having to scrap the project.