In 1890, four LDS men left their homes and families in Utah to begin missionary service in France.

Their assignment was a bit different than those fellow missionaries charged with bringing the gospel to Europe. Instead of taking to the streets to teach of the restored church and the Book of Mormon, this quartet -- Lorus Pratt, John B. Fairbanks, John Hafen and Edwin Evans -- sequestered themselves for months in the studios and classrooms of the Parisian art masters.

There they sharpened what they believed to be God-given artistic talents so they could return to Utah and paint the murals inside the soon-to-be-dedicated Salt Lake Temple. They were joined a short time later by a fifth "art missionary," 19-year-old Elder Herman H. Haag.

The missionaries believed their unusual calling came from the Lord.

"Being a firm believer that the highest possible development of talent is a duty we owe to our Creator," wrote Hafen, "I made it a matter of prayer for many years that He would open a way whereby I could receive that training which would befit me to decorate His holy temples and the habitations of Zion" (Linda Jones Gibbs, Harvesting the Light: The Paris Art Mission and the Beginnings of Utah Impressionism, p.3).

LDS artist Linda Curley Christensen has long admired the devotion of those early art missionaries. She often thought of President Gordon B. Hinckley's challenge to older adults to share their expertise in missionary service. So she submitted a proposal a few years ago to follow the lead of Hafen and the others and serve as an art missionary painting murals for the temples.

Christensen's wish was realized earlier this year when she and more than a dozen fellow faithful artists were called and set apart as missionaries to produce murals for the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple under construction in South Jordan, Utah. Since June, the missionaries have been gathering together in Christensen's Wallsburg, Utah, studio to work on the colorful murals.

Like her missionary predecessors, Christensen said she can trace God's hand in their callings and effort.

"We have definitely felt angels around us, holding us up and supporting us," she said.

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This story is provided by the LDS Church News, an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is produced weekly by the Deseret News.