Handwritten in three journals over two years

Missionary is a novel in parts, drawn from the 733 days Dylan Gray recorded in his journals as a Mormon missionary in South Africa between 2018 and 2020. Together, they follow his two-year mission, from the uncertainty he carried into it to the person he became on the other side.

Missionary, the debut novel, opens at the Provo Missionary Training Center in Utah. Over three weeks of intensive preparation, Dylan meets his companion, teachers, and fellow missionaries who will shape the years ahead. He’s also forced to accept something about himself that he thought he could simply pray away.

Subsequent books follow Dylan through his two years in Johannesburg. At first there is comfort in the routine and safety of missionary life. But before long too much of himself begins to disappear and he hatches a plan to reclaim what the Church has taught him to disown.

Toward the end of his service a fateful reunion forces a reckoning—not only with what Dylan believes about the Church, but who he has always been, and who he is finally ready to be.

Drawn from real people and experiences, Missionary is a debut about faith, longing, and love worthy of excommunication.