10 replies to this topic

[Duncan]

The gossip goose has honked and I heard the Church is thinking of raising the bar even more? I don't know how they would or if that is even true, has anyone heard anything on the matter?

[Hamba Tuhan]

Nope.

When I was in America last year, however, a bishopric member in the ward I attended had just returned from a week away with the YM General Presidency, and he spoke about what had been discussed there missionary-wise. He had been told that the single greatest weakness with our current missionaries is that they lack personal experience. They know all about the gospel and have kept themselves clean, but, beyond that, they haven't really lived it. The new Duty to God is specifically meant to be helping us address this deficiency. Heaps of churches/religions teach their youth to avoid things which damage them. The genius of the Restored Gospel, however, goes far, far beyond avoiding sin. What we have works--reliably, consistently, and predictably.

[cinepro]

My ward just had a sincere missionary return home a year early due, in part, to some pretty terrible experiences with his companions.  I had hoped the "Raise the Bar" standards would help avoid situations like what he encountered, but apparently there are still some missionary applicants who treat the bar like it's a limbo contest.

Edited by cinepro, 20 June 2012 - 05:06 PM.

[Duncan]

cinepro, on 20 June 2012 - 05:04 PM, said:

My ward just had a sincere missionary return home a year early due, in part, to some pretty terrible experiences with his companions.  I had hoped the "Raise the Bar" standards would help avoid situations like what he encountered, but apparently there are still some missionary applicants who treat the bar like it's a limbo contest.

oi, sorry to hear that

[katherine the great]

Haven't heard that rumor in my neck of the woods.

[BlueDreams]

Hamba Tuhan, on 20 June 2012 - 04:54 PM, said:

When I was in America last year, however, a bishopric member in the ward I attended had just returned from a week away with the YM General Presidency, and he spoke about what had been discussed there missionary-wise. He had been told that the single greatest weakness with our current missionaries is that they lack personal experience. They know all about the gospel and have kept themselves clean, but, beyond that, they haven't really lived it. The new Duty to God is specifically meant to be helping us address this deficiency. Heaps of churches/religions teach their youth to avoid things which damage them. The genius of the Restored Gospel, however, goes far, far beyond avoiding sin. What we have works--reliably, consistently, and predictably.

As is the changes in the MTC which is focusing on conversion. The means of study and application focuses on the basics to 1st convert the missionary. Meet the bar does not mean mean meeting personal spiritual understanding. That's a whole lot harder to measure.


With luv,
BD

[GingerRed]

Is it true they do a psychological testing on potential missionaries nowadays?  I would hope so! Ive known one little gal who didn't last beyond about 4-5 months before she  psychologically and emotionally couldn't handle it anymore and was sent home. I heard from a former bishop of mine that had a guy they sent out to Australia I think it was....he didnt last a day! Got sent right back home because of mental issues!

The church really needs better screening methods in my opinion.

[rpn]

You can screen all you like but if a missionary isn't honest about his issues (or doesn't recognize them because his parents have been enabling/mollycoddling him his whole life, you won't identify mental health issues.

Edited by rpn, 21 June 2012 - 04:16 PM.

[Duncan]

rpn, on 20 June 2012 - 07:51 PM, said:

You can screen all you like but if a missionary isn't honest about his issues (or doesn't recognize him because his parents have been enabling/mollycoddling him his whole life, you won't identify mental health issues.

there are a couple of elders out here that I am a little concerned about, just interacting with them and reading their profiles on mormon.org, I hope that things turn out for them!

[ERayR]

Old saying:  The church will prosper, not because of the missionaries but in spite of them.  Post #2 above is exactly right.  We have done for our children until we have about done them in.

[Storm Rider]

It is interesting who becomes a great missionary and who does not.  I have felt at times that a stringent standard should be met by all prospective missionaries and if they don't meet it they are asked to serve a full-time proselyting mission.  Assign them a service mission where their talents could be best used.  Fundamentally, I have concluded that this type of thinking errs in many ways.  First, the Lord makes weak things strong; he specializes in taking those of deficient means and through them accomplishing miracles.  It is not the beautiful people that God seeks out to be his servants, but it is the widow willing to give her all to God; the pharisee that helped stone the saints; the illiterate boy that was willing to pray to know which church to join.

Second, we do need to teach our young boys and girls how to act in social situations; how to prepare to deal with a companion and their future mates.  Some of the young men I have seen need remedial work on just simple social norms.  Parents need to far more objective in evaluating their children and identifying how they can help them to turn their weaknesses into strengths and how to accept their own shortcomings.  This is not easy and it does not happen with the efforts of one week.

Third, a young man that goes out with an improper mindset will quickly be overwhelmed by how difficult a mission really is.  The reality is much worse than they could have imagined.  Conversely, with a proper mindset a mission becomes only an experience and is not difficult, but is something taken one day at a time.  Some of our young people seemed to miss learning the necessary qualities necessary to continue to act when the going is hard.  They melt under the pressure of new experiences.  Parents know when their children are having problems in this area and they should identify these types of issues and work with the child to learn to adapt and move forward even when it is tough.

Give me the young man with a testimony and yet remains a very rough stone and that boy will become a lion for the Lord.  Much better he than the pampered pretty boy that has had an easy go of it his whole life and is not sure why he is going on a mission.