Missionary

Missionary is a work of literary autofiction by Dylan Gray, drawn from journals kept during a two-year Mormon mission in South Africa. Book One covers seventeen days at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah. Elder Dylan Gray arrives at the MTC fully committed: to God, to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and to the two years of service ahead of him. What he is not prepared for is Elder Jacobsen - the companion assigned to share his room, his schedule, and the suffocating intimacy of missionary life. Or Elder Bromley, whose pull threatens Dylan's missionary service outright. Within days, the sturdy shelf of Dylan's faith begins to strain under the weight of what he suspects he cannot pray away. Written in journal form, with the Holy Spirit as an interior voice that gradually shifts into something darker, Missionary is a story about the intersection of desire and doctrine and the cost of institutional devotion. Taut, confessional, and drawn from real experiences, Missionary starts in the proverbial garden and closes on a single verse from Genesis. It is the first book in a planned series. For readers of literary autofiction, queer coming-of-age fiction, and narratives of religious deconstruction. Contains mature themes including sexuality, religious identity, and faith crisis.