Mission calls to come by email

[JAHS]

Major mission call culture change: Mailboxes and envelopes out, email in

The days of young women and men walking out to the mailbox each day looking for an envelope with their mission call are winding down.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Wednesday that its Missionary Department will begin to use emails and texts to alert new missionaries that they can access their mission calls online.

The program has been piloted in a few areas around the world and now will be implemented in Utah and Idaho.

A news release said the Missionary Department plans to use the system for nearly all new missionaries around the world by the end of the year. The church has 407 missions in more than 150 countries.

"Technology is there, and it's so easy to do," said Elder Brent H. Nielson, executive director of the Missionary Department. "We just put it online and they can read it in a matter of minutes."

Missionaries will be able to print out their call letters and related materials, but the change marks a major cultural shift. For decades, prospective missionaries have submitted their mission applications and then waited weeks for a letter to arrive in the mail telling them where they will serve, what language they will speak and when they will leave.

A young woman in Brazil opened her call online hours after receiving it instead of waiting weeks, Elder Nielson said.

Young men receive assignments to serve two years as Latter-day Saint missionaries beginning at age 18. Young women 19 and older serve for 18 months.

Senior missionaries generally serve from six months up to two years after their retirement from the workforce.

[Jeanne]

Can you just imagine an accidental delete...

Print out..put in frame on wall...

How special!

[JAHS]

1 minute ago, Jeanne said:

Can you just imagine an accidental delete...

Print out..put in frame on wall...

How special!

Or if it is sent to the wrong email address?
Will we start getting spam mission call emails? 

[The Nehor]

Maybe this will get rid of those ridiculous mission call opening events?

[JAHS]

46 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Maybe this will get rid of those ridiculous mission call opening events?

They will probably still do that but will be reading them off an I pad.

Edited September 5, 2018 by JAHS

[The Nehor]

Just now, JAHS said:

They will probably still do that but will be reading them of an I pad.

Oh well, I will just keep not going.

[ksfisher]

1 hour ago, JAHS said:

Or if it is sent to the wrong email address?

How many are sent to the wrong physical address now?  I don't see the difference.

[JAHS]

30 minutes ago, ksfisher said:

How many are sent to the wrong physical address now?  I don't see the difference.

People change their email address more often than their home address, so if they don't have the current one the missionary might not see it. Not very likely to happen though.

[Calm]

How often do people change their email address when in the process of getting a call?

We have a very bad habit of leaving the mail for a few weeks thinking someone else will get it.  We figure anything urgent, emails or calls will happen.  My husband pays bills once a month, so why open them before paying?

Doubt that delayed pickup would happen if a missionary was waiting for a call though.

It would be nice to have an official letter sent in the mail, but it probably would look the same as printing up a PDF with the signatures included.

Edited September 5, 2018 by Calm

[Avatar4321]

4 hours ago, JAHS said:

People change their email address more often than their home address, so if they don't have the current one the missionary might not see it. Not very likely to happen though.

I highly doubt the prospective missionary is going to give the Church a bad email address to send it to.

[Thinking]

Bye bye autopen. RIP.

[Thinking]

10 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Maybe this will get rid of those ridiculous mission call opening events?

Nope. Somehow they will get more ridiculous.

[Storm Rider]

I think this is one of the areas where Utah culture does not equate to Latter-day Saint culture throughout the world. I received my call when my parents were living in Florida. My mom was home as well as two of my siblings. Upon receiving the mail that day and seeing the envelope from the Church, my mother gave me the envelope. I immediately opened it and read it aloud and that ended the "event". 

At that time, there were five of us in the stake expecting to receive our mission calls that month  - three of them coming from our branch.  I don't know how they opened their letters, but I suspect it was in a similar manner. To this day, it appears that the now stake operates in the same manner.  The individual receives their call and they open the envelope and read it. Now I am sure that given how the saints in Utah spread out throughout their USA that those families carry some of their cultural peculiarities with them. However, those that did not grow up in Utah don't have that culture.

What is more to the point of this thread - we remember the joy of receiving a letter from the prophet calling us to the mission field. In fact, receiving mail was the most common method of long-distance communication other than the telephone. Those things that we held dear really have no impact on future individuals. They will receive their mission calls and they will have the opportunity to read where the Lord has called them to serve. They will be just as profoundly touched as we were and for the same reasons.  I agree completely with the sentiment that technology is changing our cultural norms far faster than many of us older people are comfortable or find enjoyable. But, our resistance to change is not going to slow it down so we might as well find new ways of appreciating the changes. 

[sunstoned]

This is a good idea.  I think it is a good idea to go green as much as possible by using  electronic and digital means.  The only real pause that I have is that if they roll this out worldwide.  There are still many areas with limited internet services.

[The Nehor]

11 hours ago, Thinking said:

Nope. Somehow they will get more ridiculous.

They will open it and read it using only interpretive dance to communicate what it says?

Edit: On reflection I might go to that kind of call opening.

Edited September 6, 2018 by The Nehor

[JAHS]

37 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

They will open it and read it using only interpretive dance to communicate what it says?

Pictionary!   Are there missionaries in Turkey?

[Calm]

There appear to be two Turkish branches (as well as an English and military branch) there, but it is not listed in the Mormon Newsroom facts and stats, so I wouldn't be surprised if they currently don't have them there.

Edited September 6, 2018 by Calm

[JAHS]

2 hours ago, Calm said:

There appear to be two Turkish branches (as well as an English and military branch) there, but it is not listed in the Mormon Newsroom facts and stats, so I wouldn't be surprised if they currently don't have them there.

I did a little research. Apparently there were about 30 missionaries (volunteers) there but they were all pulled out back in April due to "heightened political tensions". 
Turkey is a part of the  Bulgaria/Central Eurasian Mission headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria.  There are 547 Latter-day Saints among eight congregations in Turkey.

[Rain]

 

On 9/5/2018 at 9:13 PM, Storm Rider said:

I think this is one of the areas where Utah culture does not equate to Latter-day Saint culture throughout the world. I received my call when my parents were living in Florida. My mom was home as well as two of my siblings. Upon receiving the mail that day and seeing the envelope from the Church, my mother gave me the envelope. I immediately opened it and read it aloud and that ended the "event". 

At that time, there were five of us in the stake expecting to receive our mission calls that month  - three of them coming from our branch.  I don't know how they opened their letters, but I suspect it was in a similar manner. To this day, it appears that the now stake operates in the same manner.  The individual receives their call and they open the envelope and read it. Now I am sure that given how the saints in Utah spread out throughout their USA that those families carry some of their cultural peculiarities with them. However, those that did not grow up in Utah don't have that culture.

What is more to the point of this thread - we remember the joy of receiving a letter from the prophet calling us to the mission field. In fact, receiving mail was the most common method of long-distance communication other than the telephone. Those things that we held dear really have no impact on future individuals. They will receive their mission calls and they will have the opportunity to read where the Lord has called them to serve. They will be just as profoundly touched as we were and for the same reasons.  I agree completely with the sentiment that technology is changing our cultural norms far faster than many of us older people are comfortable or find enjoyable. But, our resistance to change is not going to slow it down so we might as well find new ways of appreciating the changes. 

That's how everyone I know in Utah opened them when I opened mine. It's not a Utah thing. It is a thing of this day in the modern world with technology.

[JAHS]

36 minutes ago, Rain said:

 

That's how everyone I know in Utah opened them when I opened mine. It's not a Utah thing. It is a thing of this day in the modern world with technology.

Sounds just like mine back in the early 70's. I got the envelope out of the box opened it read it, found that I was going to Austria, gave it to my mom who also read it.
She yelled out Australia?  No mom! Austria.  Oh, she said. Where's that?   And that was it.