If you live within commuting distance of the Missionary Training Center, you can live at home and travel to and from the MTC each day. You will still need to pay for any meals you eat while at the training center, though.
If you want to serve your mission in a foreign country, apply for a passport as soon as you can. Passports last many years, so applying early won’t cause you any trouble and will save you the stress of waiting for a delayed passport.
If you have a family emergency while you are on your mission, you can request a short leave of absence to return home. You will, however, need to pay for the transportation costs you incur. Family emergiencies do not include family reunions or vacations to Disneyland, though.
Being together all day, every day can put stress on your marriage. Before you leave on your mission, practice doing projects together, such as gardening, cooking, or studying, and discuss what you learn from your experiences.
It is often very difficult and expensive to get books written in English in a foreign country. Before you leave for your mission, set up an online library account with your local library. Test the account before you leave to make sure you can check out online books, and then make sure to bring your library card with you on your mission.
Clothing requirements vary from mission to mission. The general clothing guidelines that you receive with your original mission information packet are just that—general. Your mission will send you more specific clothing instructions that will meet the needs of your mission climate and culture.
To avoid spousal contention, bring two laptop computers with you. Otherwise, you will constantly be competing for computer time. You will each want use the computer as a phone, as a library, as a movie theater, as a research tool, as a translation machine, as a blog resource, and much more.
Even though young missionaries receive their calls two to three weeks after their stake president submits their application, senior missionary calls take five to six weeks to process. That’s because senior mission applications have much more detailed health and experience information.
In November 2011 General Conference, Elder Holland exclaimed, “We need thousands of more couples serving in the missions of the Church. Every mission president pleads for them. Everywhere they serve, our couples bring a maturity to the work that no number of 19-year-olds, however good they are, can provide.”
US cell phones are too expensive to use in foreign countries, so your mission office will often provide you with a local cell phone. The mission will not, however, provide you with a computer or with Internet access. 
