How to Turn Missionary Emails Into a Beautiful Keepsake Book
Here's how to preserve your missionary's weekly emails as a hardbound keepsake book, from manual DIY methods to done-for-you services.
You can turn LDS missionary emails into a keepsake book either manually by copying emails into a word processor and printing through a service like Shutterfly or Blurb, or automatically using a service like MyMissionaryBook.
Why Missionary Emails Deserve More Than an Inbox
Every Monday or preparation day, a new email arrives. Sometimes it’s a few quick lines. Other weeks, it runs three pages, packed with spiritual experiences, cultural discoveries, funny companion stories, and small miracles that would otherwise be forgotten by the time your missionary steps off the plane.
Those emails are a firsthand account of one of the most spiritually intense periods in a young person’s life. They are raw, honest, and irreplaceable. Yet the vast majority of families never do anything with them beyond reading and replying. The emails pile up in an inbox, and the inbox eventually becomes inaccessible.
Missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints receive a church-issued Google email account with 30 GB of storage. When their service ends, that account is deleted, along with every email, photo, and attachment stored there. Families typically have a 90-day window to save anything before the data is permanently gone.
Turning those emails into a printed book solves the problem completely. It transforms a collection of casual weekly messages into a chronological memoir, a record your missionary, their children, and their grandchildren will return to for generations.
What Missionary Emails Actually Contain
Before diving into methods, it helps to understand the full scope of what a mission email archive represents. Over an 18- to 24-month mission, a missionary typically sends 75 to 100 weekly emails. Those emails collectively contain:
Hundreds of personal stories, spiritual impressions, and faith-building experiences
Descriptions of companions, investigators, and local members
Cultural observations about cities, food, language, and daily life
Photographs, often dozens per week, documenting everything from baptisms to street scenes
Evidence of personal growth that is almost impossible to articulate any other way
When compiled into a single volume, the emails tell a complete story arc: arrival, adjustment, struggle, breakthrough, and homecoming. That story is worth preserving in a form that doesn’t depend on an app, a password, or a company’s server staying online.
Manual Methods for Preserving Missionary Emails
Families who want to turn missionary emails into a book without using a dedicated service have several paths available. Each involves meaningful time investment and varying degrees of design skill.
Option 1: Copy-and-Paste into a Word Processor
The most basic approach is to copy each email into a Word or Google Doc, format it manually, add photos, and then export to PDF for printing through a service like Shutterfly, Blurb, or Artifact Uprising. For a two-year mission with 100 emails, this typically takes 20–40 hours depending on the level of formatting and photo placement you want.
Option 2: Photo Book Platforms (Shutterfly, Snapfish, Mixbook)
Consumer photo book platforms allow you to design pages manually using drag-and-drop editors. You can paste in email text, upload photos, and arrange everything by date. The resulting books are attractively printed. The tradeoff is labor: you are essentially doing page layout for every chapter. Many families start this project and never finish.
Option 3: Forward Emails to a Dedicated Archive
Some families set up a separate email address from the start of the mission and have the missionary add it to every weekly email. This creates a clean archive. The family still needs to convert the archive into a book, but the collection step is handled automatically. This works especially well when paired with a book-printing service.
Option 4: Self-Publishing Platforms (Blurb, Lulu)
Blurb and Lulu offer professional-grade printing and allow you to import formatted manuscripts. If you’re comfortable with design tools and want maximum control over the final product, these platforms produce beautiful books. The learning curve is steep, and total project time can exceed 40 hours.
The Automated Approach: How MyMissionaryBook Works
MyMissionaryBook is a service built specifically for LDS missionary families that automates the entire email-to-book process. The result is a 300-page, 6” x 9” hardbound keepsake book, professionally printed on acid-free archival paper with a custom cover and full-color photos throughout, for a one-time flat price of $149.
The process works in three steps:
Get a unique email address. After purchase, you receive a personalized address like [missionaryname]@mymissionarybook.com. Share it with your missionary or quietly add it to the CC field of existing emails. Setup takes about 30 seconds.
Every email becomes a chapter automatically. When your missionary sends their weekly email, the system captures the text and photos, cleans up grammar and formatting while preserving the missionary’s authentic voice, and organizes everything chronologically. No apps, no extra effort required from the missionary.
Preview, edit, and order. When the mission ends, you review the book online, powered by Storied, reorder chapters if needed, adjust photo layouts, and order the finished hardbound book. Additional copies are available for grandparents, siblings, and the missionary themselves.
If you start mid-mission, you can upload earlier emails through the dashboard. The service also includes a free digital PDF download of the finished book.
What the Finished Book Looks Like
The finished MyMissionaryBook is a hardbound, 6” x 9” volume printed on acid-free archival paper, the same standard used for books designed to last generations. The interior is full color throughout, with photos placed naturally alongside the corresponding week’s text. The cover is custom-designed with the missionary’s name, mission, and dates of service.
Each weekly email becomes its own titled chapter. The grammar-cleanup feature polishes casual writing, correcting typos, fixing punctuation, and expanding abbreviations, without removing the missionary’s personality or changing their meaning. The result reads like a real memoir, not a string of text messages.
One returned missionary, Brooklyn C. of the Texas Dallas East Mission, described the book as “one of my most valued possessions, a keepsake of the most meaningful 18 months of my life.”
Comparing Your Options at a Glance
Method | Time Required | Design Skill Needed | Est. Cost | Final Quality |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Manual Word Doc + Print | 20–40 hrs | Low–Medium | $60–$180+ | Variable |
Photo Book Platform (Shutterfly, Mixbook) | 15–30 hrs | Low | $200–$600+ | Good |
Self-Publishing (Blurb, Lulu) | 30–50 hrs | High | $120–$500+ | Very Good - Excellent |
MyMissionaryBook (automated) | 30 min setup + review | None | $149 all-in | Excellent |
When to Start
The best time to start is before the mission begins, or as early as possible during the mission. MyMissionaryBook captures emails from the point of setup forward. Earlier emails can be uploaded through the dashboard, but capturing them in real time is simpler. Families who set up the service before the missionary enters the MTC will have a complete archive from day one.
If your missionary is already mid-mission or recently returned, it’s still worth acting quickly. The church-issued missionary email account is deleted 90 to 120 days after the mission ends. After that, those emails and photos are gone permanently with no recovery option.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does my missionary need to do anything different?
No. The missionary simply adds the MyMissionaryBook email address to the recipient list of their weekly email, the same way they’d add any family member. No app to download, no account to create.
What if my missionary already came home?
You can still create a book if you have access to the email archive. Emails can be uploaded directly through the MyMissionaryBook dashboard. Act within 90 days of their return to ensure the church-issued account is still accessible.
Can I edit the content before ordering?
Yes. The online preview tool, powered by Storied, allows you to edit text, reorder chapters, crop or rearrange photos, and adjust layouts before you place the print order.
How many pages does the book include?
The standard book includes 300 pages. The $149 price covers everything: email processing, storage, grammar cleanup, photo capture, and the first hardbound printed copy. Additional copies are available at a reduced per-copy rate.
Is there a digital version?
Yes. Every order includes a free PDF download of the complete book, so you have a digital backup in addition to the printed hardbound copy.
What happens if my missionary sends emails with lots of photos?
Photos are captured automatically alongside the email text. They are placed in the book in full color, adjacent to the chapter in which they were sent. High-resolution images print well at the book’s 6” x 9” format.