How to Guess a Mission Call (and Maybe Win)

Let's be honest first

There's no secret formula for predicting a mission call. Assignments aren't based on a missionary's preferences, and plenty of families have been completely surprised. That's exactly what makes guessing fun: everyone is on equal footing, and Grandma's hunch has the same chance as the returned missionary's careful analysis.

Still, a little strategy makes the game more interesting. Here are some ways to think about your guess.

Think about language

Does the future missionary already speak a second language, or did they grow up in a home that spoke one? Did they take years of a language in school? Some people like to guess a mission where that language is spoken. Others guess the opposite, figuring a new language is just as likely.

You can browse missions by language in our mission directory, from Spanish-speaking missions across the Americas to missions in Europe, Asia and Africa.

Play the regions

Missions are spread across the globe, and some regions simply have more of them. If you want to play the odds, look at how many missions are in each area:

• North America, including many missions in the United States.
• South America.
• Europe.
• Asia, Africa and the Pacific.

Region counts don't predict anything about one particular person, but they help explain why some guesses are more common than others.

US or foreign?

Many MissionCallGuess games give each person one guess for a mission in the United States and one for a mission outside it. That's a great way to hedge: pick a stateside mission close to home (or far from it) and a foreign mission you have a feeling about.

If the game uses a single pool of guesses, think about whether you want to spread them across continents or cluster them in one region you feel strongly about.

Family history and personal connections

Some of the most fun guesses have a story behind them:

• The mission where a parent or grandparent served.
• A country the family came from generations ago.
• A place the missionary has always been curious about.
• Somewhere that would be the funniest possible surprise.

Leave a note with your guess explaining why. The missionary will love reading them, whatever the result.

See what everyone else is guessing

On a MissionCallGuess game you can see everyone's pins on the map. Some people like to guess where nobody else has; if the call lands in an empty corner of the map, you'll be the only one close. Others pile on with the crowd.

Curious what people usually guess? Our mission call guessing stats show the most-guessed missions and how close guesses typically land.

How the winner is chosen

When the call is opened, the missionary enters the actual mission. MissionCallGuess measures the distance from each guessed mission to the actual one and ranks everyone on a leaderboard. The closest guess wins, even if nobody picked the exact mission.

So even a "wrong" guess in the right neighborhood can take the crown. Ready? Ask the missionary's family for their game link, or create a game for someone you know.