ElderDarionBevan Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 I know some people have asked me to do a post on online missionary work, I actually did one a month or so ago. So for all of you who want to know what we do online as full-time missionaries please click on the following link Online missionary work
volgadon Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 How is that any different to offlien missionary work? I think that is what people are interested in hearing, the unique aspects of it.
ElderDarionBevan Posted February 5, 2011 Author Posted February 5, 2011 that is really the whole point, there isn't a whole lot of difference between online and offline work. Nor should there be, it is the same church and same gospel. I guess there are some things that are new and different. We manage a blog, that is definitely unique to online work.
Doug the Hutt Posted February 5, 2011 Posted February 5, 2011 that is really the whole point, there isn't a whole lot of difference between online and offline work. Nor should there be, it is the same church and same gospel. I guess there are some things that are new and different. We manage a blog, that is definitely unique to online work. There's a huge difference between online and offline missionary work. I rarely encounter anything but polite, sincere kids in the real world. Once the missionary is behind a keyboard and hiding behind their 360 gamertag or l337 WoW screenname first-name-only-missionary-sock-puppet-LDS-chatroom-name though they take on a totally different personality -- that period of building relationships of trust isn't really leveraged, there's no eye contact to be made, no leaning toward the other person to show via body language that you're interested in resolving their doubts. There's just the keyboard, mouse and monitor. And just like anywhere else, there's suddenly no risk of invoking the ire of someone who could do them physical harm (anyone else experienced the result of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person?), so their communications become less-constrained and more likely to end in contention (or what-they-really-think). * In-person missionary work involves knocking doors and stopping people on the street where the missionaries are the instigators of belief-soliciting and generally get doors slammed in their faces or shut down pretty quick with the proverbial "no thank you", "I'm not interested", "I have to go stand over *there* now....", etc.* Online missionary work involves people on their own choosing going to www.mormon.org, clicking on <chat>. The contact is now 180 degrees off. Once a few hard questions are enacted the missionary bares testimony and ends the chat -- effectively slamming the door in the investigator's face in that role-reversal sort of way. Example, if anyone goes into the mishie chatroom bearing problems such as they've discovered Joseph's 11-already-married-wives, no-Hebrew-DNA-among-Native-Americans, why-doesn't-the-archaeological-evidence-speak-of-the-Nephites-and-Lamanites-itself, where-might-I-see-real-reformed-Egyptian/gold-plates/liahona/Nephite-monetary-system etc. the missionary will simply bare their testimony, get in the last word and hang up -- "I know the Church is true and you're not going to ruin my testimony." <chat session ended>. That makes the missionary feel better and they won't have to waste any time answering the questions of curious people with too much time on their hands looking up the problems of LDS history. And they'll have yet another good-missionary-vanquishes-anti-mormon story to tell, but the investigator has now found no resolution from the ones he expected to have a reasonable way to straighten it out other than to go back to the people he heard if from only to have them resolve the problem with "I told you so and it proves their church is false. Now come eat, drink and be merry with us knowing that we're saved by grace....." Basically, whoever invokes the conversation loses. It's much like negotiating costs with a salesperson -- the first person to lay out a price on a transaction loses.
Libs Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 Elder Bevan, do you do all of your missionary work online or do you sometimes go out knocking on doors?
Bikeemikey Posted February 6, 2011 Posted February 6, 2011 I know some people have asked me to do a post on online missionary work, I actually did one a month or so ago. So for all of you who want to know what we do online as full-time missionaries please click on the following link Online missionary workAre you actually a full time missionary?Do you work in a computer lab or something? Or do you do normal missionary work and then have a laptop that you use for a couple of hours in the evening?Did you learn blogging stuff at the MTC? Do you run a facebook group or a twitter account?
MorningStar Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Yeah, that didn't really answer the questions I had either. Missionaries typically have very strict rules - no calling family except on Mother's Day and Christmas, no TV, curfews, etc. How much time are you allowed to spend online? Where does it happen? I can't imagine that you have a computer in your apartment. Does your family read your blog? Are they your friends on Facebook? How much time can you spend online each day? Which sites are you limited to? It was a very new thing for our missionaries even to have e-mail and I know my brother-in-law checked his account just once a week.
cinepro Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 Yeah, that didn't really answer the questions I had either. Missionaries typically have very strict rules - no calling family except on Mother's Day and Christmas, no TV, curfews, etc. How much time are you allowed to spend online? Where does it happen? I can't imagine that you have a computer in your apartment. Does your family read your blog? Are they your friends on Facebook? How much time can you spend online each day? Which sites are you limited to? It was a very new thing for our missionaries even to have e-mail and I know my brother-in-law checked his account just once a week.I'm curious about those questions as well. It seems like a huge shift to allow missionaries so much time online.
keithb Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 There's a huge difference between online and offline missionary work. I rarely encounter anything but polite, sincere kids in the real world. Once the missionary is behind a keyboard and hiding behind their 360 gamertag or l337 WoW screenname first-name-only-missionary-sock-puppet-LDS-chatroom-name though they take on a totally different personality -- that period of building relationships of trust isn't really leveraged, there's no eye contact to be made, no leaning toward the other person to show via body language that you're interested in resolving their doubts. There's just the keyboard, mouse and monitor. And just like anywhere else, there's suddenly no risk of invoking the ire of someone who could do them physical harm (anyone else experienced the result of saying the wrong thing to the wrong person?), so their communications become less-constrained and more likely to end in contention (or what-they-really-think). * In-person missionary work involves knocking doors and stopping people on the street where the missionaries are the instigators of belief-soliciting and generally get doors slammed in their faces or shut down pretty quick with the proverbial "no thank you", "I'm not interested", "I have to go stand over *there* now....", etc.* Online missionary work involves people on their own choosing going to www.mormon.org, clicking on <chat>. The contact is now 180 degrees off. Once a few hard questions are enacted the missionary bares testimony and ends the chat -- effectively slamming the door in the investigator's face in that role-reversal sort of way. Example, if anyone goes into the mishie chatroom bearing problems such as they've discovered Joseph's 11-already-married-wives, no-Hebrew-DNA-among-Native-Americans, why-doesn't-the-archaeological-evidence-speak-of-the-Nephites-and-Lamanites-itself, where-might-I-see-real-reformed-Egyptian/gold-plates/liahona/Nephite-monetary-system etc. the missionary will simply bare their testimony, get in the last word and hang up -- "I know the Church is true and you're not going to ruin my testimony." <chat session ended>. That makes the missionary feel better and they won't have to waste any time answering the questions of curious people with too much time on their hands looking up the problems of LDS history. And they'll have yet another good-missionary-vanquishes-anti-mormon story to tell, but the investigator has now found no resolution from the ones he expected to have a reasonable way to straighten it out other than to go back to the people he heard if from only to have them resolve the problem with "I told you so and it proves their church is false. Now come eat, drink and be merry with us knowing that we're saved by grace....." Basically, whoever invokes the conversation loses. It's much like negotiating costs with a salesperson -- the first person to lay out a price on a transaction loses.I remember that the last time I was in Mormon.org chat, I told the missionary there (a sister no less) that I would believe in God/the church if the angel Moroni came and visited me at my house. She called me "stubborn" and ended the chat. I'm still waiting for the angel Moroni.
keithb Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 I'm curious about those questions as well. It seems like a huge shift to allow missionaries so much time online.When I was on a mission, the mission president was opposed to allowing the missionaries ANY time online except to briefly email their families on P-Day. I guess they were having problems with lots of missionaries (including the sisters, lol) looking at porn websites. I guess the policies of the church must have changed since then.
todd520 Posted February 7, 2011 Posted February 7, 2011 I think online work would be extremely hard, and the discussion would quickly veer towards apologeticsDoes it go much beyond manning the chat at mormon.org?
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