Pouch Mail

Do you think that emails, and typed out DearElder.com letters are impersonal? Do you enjoy hand-writing letters? Don't want to spend 90 cents on a foreign stamp? Then the pouch mail system is for you! You can send a handwritten letter to Salt Lake, and they will get it to your missionary at no extra charge (this is also the reason that the DearElder.com letters are free to send). There is a catch though, there are some pretty stringent rules on how to send the letters. Here are some instructions from deseretnews.com:

"Instructions issued in September call on families and friends of missionaries to simplify their correspondence by mailing a single 8 1/2-inch x 11-inch sheet of 20-pound paper, or equivalent to paper used in copiers. Envelopes may not be used. The sheet is to be folded into three parts, as is commonly done to insert into a business envelope. The top edge of the sheet should be fastened with tape on the top edge only, no closer than one inch to either side. The name of the missionary is addressed on the outside of the sheet, with the name of the mission and the pouch address of the Church: P.O. Box 30150, Salt Lake City, Ut., 84130-0150. Apply a stamp to the sheet and mail to Church headquarters."

So, for a letter to Lawrence, you'd write:

Elder Lawrence Williams
Argentina Mendoza Mission
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

For the entire article on the Pouch mail system, click here.