On the night of May 2, 1987, I attended the Senior Ball; the next morning I was up early for the first class of a missionary preparation program in the stake I grew up in. High school was ending, my mission was beginning. A few months earlier I had been lying in bed on a Saturday morning when the realization suddenly hit me that one year from that moment I would be in the mission field.
The missionary prep program in my stake held classes early on Sunday mornings, with another meeting on Tuesdays nights. The teachers were returned missionaries who taught us everything they knew. But perhaps the most important aspect of that prep program was the fireside. As often as once a week we had the opportunity of teaching a mock discussion to members, and these discussions were called firesides. Sometimes we would teach a return missionary who would put us through the ringer with arguments based on those they had often heard on their missions.
I attended this program for eight months and it provided real and practical preparation. When I entered the Missionary Training Center I felt that I was so prepared that I would take the mission field by storm -- it didn't work out that way, but that is another story, suffice it to say that I believe that the Lord felt I needed a little humility.
The program wasn't an easy one, and at times during the first few months I felt that I could do nothing right as I taught mock discussions or as I role played handling objections during the Sunday classes and the Tuesday night meetings. I believe that the adversary was working hard to discourage me from going. But I persevered and my confidence began to grow.
I attended the prep program for as long as I did because I could not leave on my mission until seven months after I graduated from high school. Now, of course, the rules have been changed, allowing young men to leave immediately after graduation if they are 18. A prep program of several months may no longer be practical, still I believe every prospective missionary could benefit from some instruction by return missionaries, but most of all from teaching mock discussions to members.
It was an advantage to me that when I arrived in the MTC, I already knew the first and second discussions and that I had experience teaching them. It was an advantage to me that when I first taught a discussion to an investigator that I didn't have to worry about overcoming stage fright. It was also an advantage to me when dealing with objections from real investigators that I learned and role played some answers in the prep program.
The U.S. military services gained advantages during World War II by rotating combat veterans back to the continental U.S. and assigning them to new units or to training units. This allowed the veterans to pass on what they had learned in combat to those who had yet to experience it. In the same way there is value in return missionaries passing on lessons that they learned to prospective missionaries.
If there is no organized missionary prep program in place where you live, I would recommend a little do-it-yourself project. Get a copy of Preach My Gospel (it can also be found online at: http://www.lds.org/manual/preach-my-gospel-a-guide-to-missionary-service?lang=eng) and familiarize yourself with the discussions, then find members to teach mock discussions to.
In addition to learning and teaching the discussions, you should be learning how to teach with the spirit. In addition to mock discussions, perhaps you can ask return missionaries in your area what they learned on their mission, or about common objections they got from investigators and how they handled them. A little preparation in these areas before you enter the MTC will go a long way when you reach the mission field.
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