Mormon Helping Hands

[Thinking]

In the Deseret News article about President Nelson's visit to victims of that devastating fire in Paradise, CA, there is a picture of a volunteer wearing a Mormon Helping Hands vest. It just sounds right. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Helping Hands just doesn't have the same ring to it. Just sayin.

 

[HappyJackWagon]

Yep. It is reasonable and probably even a necessity to have abbreviated ways for referring to organizations and membership of those organizations.

If the church doesn't come up with a suitable replacement for "Mormon" others will...or just keep saying "Mormon"

 

Edited January 14, 2019 by HappyJackWagon

[Guest]

45 minutes ago, Thinking said:

In the Deseret News article about President Nelson's visit to victims of that devastating fire in Paradise, CA, there is a picture of a volunteer wearing a Mormon Helping Hands vest. It just sounds right. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Helping Hands just doesn't have the same ring to it. Just sayin.

 

In my many efforts to help with flooding, hurricanes, and tornado clean up and repair, I have never worn one. Each time I was asked too, the scripture, "let not thy left hand know what thy right is doing" (too paraphrase) as I did not want to call attention to myself, or the Church. I just wanted to help, and then go home back home, and there "count my blessings", and "lay up treasure in heaven". But, I did love the work, and saddened I can no longer go help.  

[SouthernMo]

22 minutes ago, Bill "Papa" Lee said:

In my many efforts to help with flooding, hurricanes, and tornado clean up and repair, I have never worn one. Each time I was asked too, the scripture, "let not thy left hand know what thy right is doing" (too paraphrase) as I did not want to call attention to myself, or the Church. I just wanted to help, and then go home back home, and there "count my blessings", and "lay up treasure in heaven". But, I did love the work, and saddened I can no longer go help.  

I agree with you, but the leaders of our church today disagree with us:

[Duncan]

10 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

I agree with you, but the leaders of our church today disagree with us:

Christ also said in Matthew 5:14-16

"14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

[SouthernMo]

1 minute ago, Duncan said:

Christ also said in Matthew 5:14-16

"14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Let the scripture battle begin!

[Storm Rider]

I think the t-shirt serves many purposes. The first, for me, is to identify those wearing them that they are there to serve - not to pilfer and raid homes. Second, to identify the group performing the work. This is a two-edged sword. My cousins received assistance from those members willing to serve the needy but continued to be real mouthy about the evils of Mormonism. I am not sure the purpose is to gain blessings; not sure if I have ever met a member that went to serve that did it out of a desire to gain blessings or renown. 

[CV75]

1 hour ago, Thinking said:

In the Deseret News article about President Nelson's visit to victims of that devastating fire in Paradise, CA, there is a picture of a volunteer wearing a Mormon Helping Hands vest. It just sounds right. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Helping Hands just doesn't have the same ring to it. Just sayin.

From https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/name-of-the-church :

"Additional information about this important matter will be made available in the coming months."

"In the coming months, Church websites and materials will be updated to reflect this direction from President Nelson."

From https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/style-guide :

""Mormon" is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon or when used as an adjective in such historical expressions as "Mormon Trail."" Perhaps "Mormon Helping Hands" is a quasi-historical expression that will take awhile to correct.

From https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2018/10/the-correct-name-of-the-church?lang=eng :

"We will want to be courteous and patient in our efforts to correct these errors." I would say especially so in the midst of serving others following a devastating fire.

"My dear brothers and sisters, I promise you that if we will do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord’s Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen."

[sjdawg]

27 minutes ago, Storm Rider said:

I think the t-shirt serves many purposes. The first, for me, is to identify those wearing them that they are there to serve - not to pilfer and raid homes. Second, to identify the group performing the work. 

I think this is a great point.

[pogi]

23 minutes ago, CV75 said:

""Mormon" is correctly used in proper names such as the Book of Mormon or when used as an adjective in such historical expressions as "Mormon Trail."" Perhaps "Mormon Helping Hands" is a quasi-historical expression that will take awhile to correct.

I would say that the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" is a much more historical expression, and seeing as how quickly that name changed I would be surprised if "Mormon Helping Hands" will be preserved for historical reasons.  My guess is that it just takes time to make all of these corrections. 

[Prof]

5 minutes ago, pogi said:

I would say that the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" is a much more historical expression, and seeing as how quickly that name changed I would be surprised if "Mormon Helping Hands" will be preserved for historical reasons.  My guess is that it just takes time to make all of these corrections. 

I would agree. I bet they still have a lot of shirts and vests  already made up. After they go through those, perhaps we will see a change of some sort.

[Rain]

Do not your alms before men to be seen of them.

--------

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

Those phrases make all the difference. 

 

 

[Calm]

39 minutes ago, Prof said:

I would agree. I bet they still have a lot of shirts and vests  already made up. After they go through those, perhaps we will see a change of some sort.

It is also possible in this case it may seem a necessity to have instant recognition given they work at times in emergency/disaster/people under high stress areas. Other areas where names are important are not so immediate, time can be taken to tell people who they are.

Perhaps the yellow vests with the helping hands logo will be recognizable themselves, but if they change the name I hope they come up with something very catchy and short...easy to spread info about so that people won't just keep using the old name and add to confusion that way.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Calm

[Hamba Tuhan]

27 minutes ago, Calm said:

If they change the name I hope they come up with something very catchy and short ...

How about 'Helping Hands'?

I've never actually seen these vests/shirts except in photos. Apparently our stake was given some vests once. No one knows where they went. So we just keep serving without them. Last year, we adopted a village of a few hundred people, and our plan is to have an annual event where we show up en masse with work implements and do whatever needs doing.  Our first service day was  in October, and the Elders and I spent our time on the roof of an old lady's house cleaning out her rain gutters.

[Avatar4321]

 Perhaps we should call them the helping hands of Christ. After all the whole point of the name change is to emphasize the saviors name. And to make it clear to people that we are his church. That we belong to no one else. 

[Calm]

3 hours ago, Hamba Tuhan said:

How about 'Helping Hands'?

There are multiple groups using "helping hands".  For example:

http://helpinghands.org/

https://helpinghandsgroup.org/

https://hhcharitable.org/tablet/index.html

https://www.monkeyhelpers.org/

It may be more important in the US given our litigious nature.

Edited January 15, 2019 by Calm

[Hamba Tuhan]

4 minutes ago, Calm said:

There are multiple groups using "helping hands".

Well, there you go. 

[Hamba Tuhan]

3 hours ago, Avatar4321 said:

 Perhaps we should call them the helping hands of Christ.

Or Jesus's Helping Hands?

[Guest]

6 hours ago, SouthernMo said:

I agree with you, but the leaders of our church today disagree with us:

Even that is a mixed message, they quote the scriptures, (to make my point) and wear the shirts, and have camera crews repotting on every word. BTW, I have no issue with people wearing the shirts, I do what I do on a personal level, based on my understanding. 

[LoudmouthMormon]

One simple explanation: We're using up our existing stock of yellow shirts with the word "Mormon" on them, rather than just throw them away.  Come back in a year (or 3 months if the disasters are big), and see what the shirts say.

In my ward, we're still using tithing envelopes with the previous bishop's name on them.  Current bishop is in his 4th year.  We just don't wanna throw them out.  Wasteful.

[Hamba Tuhan]

2 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

In my ward, we're still using tithing envelopes with the previous bishop's name on them.  Current bishop is in his 4th year.  We just don't wanna throw them out.  Wasteful.

Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.

Which is what makes op-shopping in Utah so dreary ...

[Rain]

6 minutes ago, Bill "Papa" Lee said:

Even that is a mixed message, they quote the scriptures, (to make my point) and wear the shirts, and have camera crews repotting on every word. BTW, I have no issue with people wearing the shirts, I do what I do on a personal level, based on my understanding. 

I used to feel this way as well till I became in charge of something.  Suddenly I needed lots of help and the only way to get it was to share what I was doing.  As I started doing this someone asked to interview me for the newspaper and that made me so very uncomfortable. So I called my dad to ask his opinion and he asked me what my motivation was for being in the article.  I told him to get more people to come help out.  Then he told me the great sense of feeling the Spirit as he was at the place where I would be on a day when so many people were volunteering.  How the Spirit touched him so.  

Now I really just try to watch my motivation.  What I have found is when I share what is being done rather than putting me at the focus or how people come together,  as a community or how a volunteer is doing or the miracles I have seen then my focus is not on me and I am at peace with it.  I've met amazing people through service and feel God has blessed me to have them in my life.  When I start to put the focus on me then I feel my motivation shifting as well.  And it has nothing to do with what I am wearing and if I am in a place where I can be seen.  

I understand that you might not have that comfort level, but I do have to say it bothers me a little - it bothers me because there are so many when they hear what you and others  are saying start to think that they should be feeling that way as well and they start to pull back and don't let their whole light shine. And then those that need the help that some would have provided may not get it. And I say that knowing full well that I still struggle with the idea from time to time, but when I know the good it can do to share that light how can I not do it?    

 

[CV75]

16 hours ago, pogi said:

I would say that the "Mormon Tabernacle Choir" is a much more historical expression, and seeing as how quickly that name changed I would be surprised if "Mormon Helping Hands" will be preserved for historical reasons.  My guess is that it just takes time to make all of these corrections. 

My points were that "Mormon Helping Hands" is only a quasi-historical expression, and that every particular renaming will take awhile to correct, which I think plays out according to priorities and resources. These points are addressed in the links I provided.

[Guest]

13 hours ago, Rain said:

I used to feel this way as well till I became in charge of something.  Suddenly I needed lots of help and the only way to get it was to share what I was doing.  As I started doing this someone asked to interview me for the newspaper and that made me so very uncomfortable. So I called my dad to ask his opinion and he asked me what my motivation was for being in the article.  I told him to get more people to come help out.  Then he told me the great sense of feeling the Spirit as he was at the place where I would be on a day when so many people were volunteering.  How the Spirit touched him so.  

Now I really just try to watch my motivation.  What I have found is when I share what is being done rather than putting me at the focus or how people come together,  as a community or how a volunteer is doing or the miracles I have seen then my focus is not on me and I am at peace with it.  I've met amazing people through service and feel God has blessed me to have them in my life.  When I start to put the focus on me then I feel my motivation shifting as well.  And it has nothing to do with what I am wearing and if I am in a place where I can be seen.  

I understand that you might not have that comfort level, but I do have to say it bothers me a little - it bothers me because there are so many when they hear what you and others  are saying start to think that they should be feeling that way as well and they start to pull back and don't let their whole light shine. And then those that need the help that some would have provided may not get it. And I say that knowing full well that I still struggle with the idea from time to time, but when I know the good it can do to share that light how can I not do it?    

 

That is a great story, and really wonderful. I spent most of my professional life, speaking before large groups, and in law-enforcement trying to dodge the press so I could do my job. So, when I was able to go help others, I just wanted to get in, do all I could, and pass unnoticed to all but God. As I said, I have no issue with others wearing the shirts, it is just not my style. I think it is wonderful thing we do for others, for many years I was the point man for the "Day of Service" each year. But when the day came, I would pull a hat down on my head, and get to work, and loved every min of it! 

[ksfisher]

20 hours ago, SouthernMo said:

I agree with you, but the leaders of our church today disagree with us:

If you weren't able to read or see about what the leaders of the church were doing to help others would you complain that they were doing nothing?

Seriously, this is meant to inspire others.