New missions and eliminating others

[Duncan]

https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2019-01-02/church-announces-creation-of-4-new-missions-dissolving-of-12-others-48704?fbclid=IwAR14SmhFb5B_acSCtPrPDrtaYHk2gAYNakzgz1S6GSUgmLHyQyO78swmUWY

I am not one bit surprised they are eliminating the Rancho Cucamonga mission, I served in the Arcadia Mission and that RC mission would be tiny!!! I'm suprised they eliminated the Canada Halifax Mission, that is a large area and I can't imagine how they are going to split it up now.

Sounds like a busy day in CHQ

[Avatar4321]

Looks like it.

we are in the Congo?

[Duncan]

2 minutes ago, Avatar4321 said:

Looks like it.

we are in the Congo?

are you in the Congo?🤨

[cinepro]

Wow.  I served in two missions, and now they're both gone

Edited January 3, 2019 by cinepro

[Hamba Tuhan]

1 hour ago, Avatar4321 said:

we are in the Congo?

Open House and Dedication Dates Announced for the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple

Edited January 3, 2019 by Hamba Tuhan

[Hamba Tuhan]

48 minutes ago, cinepro said:

Wow.  I served in two missions, and now they're both gone

Well, that explains two of the twelve closures ... 

[Duncan]

Just now, Hamba Tuhan said:

Well, that explains two of the twelve closures ... 

President Hinckley was at a Priesthood meeting and had a QA and someone said that he served in X and he asked President Hinckley how the work was going there and President Hinckley said that it's better now that you're gone😁

[Judd]

38 minutes ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

Open House and Dedication Dates Announced for the Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple

I’ll admit that looks much prettier than the original computer rendition:

[Hamba Tuhan]

3 minutes ago, Judd said:

I’ll admit that looks much prettier than the original computer rendition.

Nearly always the case.

[clarkgoble]

3 hours ago, Duncan said:

https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2019-01-02/church-announces-creation-of-4-new-missions-dissolving-of-12-others-48704?fbclid=IwAR14SmhFb5B_acSCtPrPDrtaYHk2gAYNakzgz1S6GSUgmLHyQyO78swmUWY

I am not one bit surprised they are eliminating the Rancho Cucamonga mission, I served in the Arcadia Mission and that RC mission would be tiny!!! I'm suprised they eliminated the Canada Halifax Mission, that is a large area and I can't imagine how they are going to split it up now.

Sounds like a busy day in CHQ

The Halifax merging with Quebec was announced before Christmas. Odd they're only putting it in the Church News now. I find that a bit of an odd mix, given that when I was young the maritimes were in the same mission with New England. Everyone had to drive down to Boston for meetings. Not that driving to Montreal is much better. Although now that it's a stake that's probably much less necessary. I guess having it all in Canada makes transfers easier given how much the border sucks since 9/11.

[Duncan]

44 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

The Halifax merging with Quebec was announced before Christmas. Odd they're only putting it in the Church News now. I find that a bit of an odd mix, given that when I was young the maritimes were in the same mission with New England. Everyone had to drive down to Boston for meetings. Not that driving to Montreal is much better. Although now that it's a stake that's probably much less necessary. I guess having it all in Canada makes transfers easier given how much the border sucks since 9/11.

That is going to be a gigantic mission! if the HQ is in Montreal!

Any indication why they eliminated the mission?

Edited January 3, 2019 by Duncan

[clarkgoble]

No idea. I assume baptisms are down. I’d also assume most of the areas outside of the Halifax metro area are fairly static in population or even shrinking and thus largely worked out. I’m not sure having a ton of missionaries in Truro or Yarmouth is as helpful now as in the 70s and 80s.

Edited January 3, 2019 by clarkgoble

[Duncan]

3 hours ago, Judd said:

I’ll admit that looks much prettier than the original computer rendition:

Ours was supposed to be Tyndall stone but  oh no, it's gone brick now. Someone said it looks like an abandoned shopping mall from the 1970's

[Rain]

12 hours ago, Avatar4321 said:

Looks like it.

we are in the Congo?

That surprises me. I think more than half of our refugees coming to the the Phoenix area are from the Congo so my impression was there was still a lot of unrest there.   

[Hamba Tuhan]

12 minutes ago, Rain said:

I think more than half of our refugees coming to the the Phoenix area are from the Congo so my impression was there was still a lot of unrest there.   

There are two Congos. It's possible that your refugees are from the Republic of the Congo.

[Avatar4321]

1 minute ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

There are two Congos. It's possible that your refugees are from the Republic of the Congo.

Could be why I'm surprised. Not sure why I was because I now remember the temple being announced

[Rain]

7 minutes ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

There are two Congos. It's possible that your refugees are from the Republic of the Congo.

I did not realize that, thanks. I did notice over the last couple of years that our list said, "Congo" most of the time,  but occasionally said,  "Democratic Republic of Congo" and I always thought they were just cutting it short. Now I wonder if they were just differentiated. 

[stemelbow]

From the newsroom:

Quote

The number of missionaries initially surged to over 88,000 before receding to 65,000 missionaries today, as expected.

As expected?  

I thought they expected by now 100,000 missionaries?  Oh yeah, we all know that was not true.  

But each time the number dropped the Church said something like:

Quote

"As that surge passed, we're now down to around 75,000 missionaries, which is where we think we'll stay for a period of time as that gradually increases,” he said. 

Now they just try and slip past all of that with a "we expected all along to be where we are, so there's no concern nor no worry". 

I really don't get the Church's effort to paint a picture other than reality.  They really shoot for a "all is well in Zion" message.  I wonder why they think that's appropriate.  

[Duncan]

19 minutes ago, stemelbow said:

From the newsroom:

As expected?  

I thought they expected by now 100,000 missionaries?  Oh yeah, we all know that was not true.  

But each time the number dropped the Church said something like:

Now they just try and slip past all of that with a "we expected all along to be where we are, so there's no concern nor no worry". 

I really don't get the Church's effort to paint a picture other than reality.  They really shoot for a "all is well in Zion" message.  I wonder why they think that's appropriate.  

I remember in 2005, Elder Earl Tingey of the 70 came here and he said in years to come they were anticipating lower amounts of missionaries, now I don't think he or anyone knew back then about the lowering the age component in 2012 (or maybe?) and the "ride the wave" but I dunno, maybe the newsroom was talking about pre 2012 comments? who knows, I wish I sat in on those meetings!

[stemelbow]

23 hours ago, Duncan said:

I remember in 2005, Elder Earl Tingey of the 70 came here and he said in years to come they were anticipating lower amounts of missionaries, now I don't think he or anyone knew back then about the lowering the age component in 2012 (or maybe?) and the "ride the wave" but I dunno, maybe the newsroom was talking about pre 2012 comments? who knows, I wish I sat in on those meetings!

If the as expected addition was meant to say that before the surge they would have expected the number to drop back down to around 65,000, then there is another problem here.  They hyped up the surge as adding more missionaries--when really what did it is add more at the same time.  Maybe it's just me and my area, but kids simply don't go as much as they used to these days...and if they do they come home early at a higher rate, it seems to me.  It's not as expected it seems.  It's not as appealing either.  

Edited January 4, 2019 by stemelbow

[pogi]

On 1/3/2019 at 5:52 AM, Rain said:

That surprises me. I think more than half of our refugees coming to the the Phoenix area are from the Congo so my impression was there was still a lot of unrest there.   

On 1/3/2019 at 6:08 AM, Hamba Tuhan said:

There are two Congos. It's possible that your refugees are from the Republic of the Congo.

Hamba is right that there are two Congos.  

We have missionaries in both countries.  I vaccinate them regularly and educate them about infectious disease risks and consular warnings etc.. I wouldn't be surprised to see refugees from either Congo as there is unrest and conflict in both countries right now with consular travel warnings for both countries.

This is for the Republic of Congo:

Quote

Consular Travel Warning
Due to the presence of armed groups and ongoing security concerns, U.K. (FCO) advises avoiding travel to Boko, Kindamba, Kinkala, Mayama, and Mindouli districts (Pool Department); Mouyondzi District, Bouenza Department; and within 50 km (31 mi) of the border with Central African Republic in Likouala Department and advises reconsidering travel (or avoiding nonessential travel) to Brazzaville Department (except Brazzaville) and Ngabe District (Pool Department). U.S. (DOS) and Canada (GAC) advise reconsidering travel (or avoiding nonessential travel) to more limited areas. Australia (DFAT) has no current warnings.

This is for the DRC:

Quote

Consular Travel Warning
Due to military conflict and ongoing security concerns, U.S. (DOS), Canada (GAC), and Australia (DFAT) advise avoiding travel to eastern and northeastern areas, the provinces of Kasai, Kasai-Central, and Kasai-Oriental and advise reconsidering travel (or avoiding nonessential travel) to the rest of this country. U.K. (FCO) has a more limited warning.

On top of that, the DRC is experiencing the second largest outbreak of Ebola ever, with 603 cases since July 2018.  There is also a huge monkeypox outbreak, and a vaccine derived polio outbreak too, on top of all the regular nasty buggies in that country - not a great place to be right now.   

 

[mfbukowski]

On 1/2/2019 at 10:07 PM, Duncan said:

Ours was supposed to be Tyndall stone but  oh no, it's gone brick now. Someone said it looks like an abandoned shopping mall from the 1970's

No Moroni!

Anybody know why?  Could be significant

[Calm]

7 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

No Moroni!

Anybody know why?  Could be significant

Maybe we are going back to the traditional older style that usually didn't have one.

http://www.ldsliving.com/Temples-without-Angel-Moroni/s/88305

We didn't have a second temple with Moroni until 56 and then third in 74 apparently:

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/angel-moroni-statues-on-lds-temples

Quote

Occasionally building codes, possible cultural misconceptions, or architectural designs preclude the use of an angel Moroni statue. The following eight temples do not have a statue: Cardston Alberta, Hamilton New Zealand, Laie Hawaii, Logan Utah, Manti Utah, Mesa Arizona, Oakland California, St. George Utah and Paris France.

Several temples have received angels after their dedications. The first was the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, which had an angel Moroni statue added in 1983, almost 40 years after its dedication. As a part of renovation projects in the 2000s, the Church added angel Moroni statues to several of the originally statueless temples, including the Freiberg Germany (2001), Ogden Utah (2002), Provo Utah (2003), São Paulo Brazil (2003), Tokyo Japan (2004), Bern Switzerland (2005) and London England (2008) Temples.

I think the statues are beautiful, I just don't typically like them on top of most of the temples.  It throws off the balance, imo.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Calm

[mfbukowski]

1 minute ago, Calm said:

Maybe we are going back to the traditional older style that usually didn't have one.

http://www.ldsliving.com/Temples-without-Angel-Moroni/s/88305

I hope so- I love Moroni but it gives the impression he is as important to us as the cross is to others.

[Duncan]

8 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

No Moroni!

Anybody know why?  Could be significant

Moroni will be there! unless he's taking piano lessons from Liberace in Heaven