Mormon Missions Are Changing

[Okrahomer]

This article in the Tribune and this one in the Atlantic indicate two important changes are underway: 1) much more community service; and 2) much more modern technology. Both changes are exciting. I sure wish we'd had more opportunities to provide community service back when I was a full-time missionary. I envy these "present-day" missionaries for their expanded options.

[BlueDreams]

It's funny reading the atlantic considering I knew just about every Elder they mentioned from my mission. I was never a facebook missionary. But it was becoming a highly effective tool and was carefully being brought into the field in Philadelphia as mentioned. My MP was a big believer in tech and media use for spreading the word. Electronics were becoming a major part of the missionary work, with or without facebook. While I was in one area 2 people came to our ward on their own volition because of what they found online. One had the BoM already downloaded to her nook, had looked and read the profiles from mormon.org, and had a working knowledge of the PoS because of the website when she showed up.

 

 

Add- on: I didn't realize service was considered a newer push. I served at an alzheimers/demensia clinic while out and highly enjoyed it. 

 

With luv,

Bd

[bluebell]

I served in 1998-99 and we had to do four hours of regularly scheduled service every week, with other service activities like helping out members or non members added onto that whenever possible.

Is it a lot different now? Are more hours required? I always loved being able to do service.

[Okrahomer]

I served in 1998-99 and we had to do four hours of regularly scheduled service every week, with other service activities like helping out members or non members added onto that whenever possible.

Is it a lot different now? Are more hours required? I always loved being able to do service.

The pilot mission (San Jose California) has apparently eliminated trackting and replaced at least a portion of it with a daily 2-hour (5 days a week) service requirement--a total of 10 hours per week.

[Kenngo1969]

My first Mission President thought that prototypical, obedient, successful missionaries were Tract-Monsters .  I think I would thrive under the Hastening The Work initiative.

 

P.S.: And Brother Reel, if you should happen to see this, please accept my sincere apologies.  I know you always find my use of emoticons deeply offensive.

[BCSpace]

I sure wish we'd had more opportunities to provide community service back when I was a full-time missionary. I envy these "present-day" missionaries for their expanded options.

 

It's a positive.  Except that I consider my experience a positive too.  Because of the tracting hours requirement we had, I got to bash and became quite good at it and now I can handle any criticism of the Church and help others do the same.

[Okrahomer]

It's a positive.  Except that I consider my experience a positive too.  Because of the tracting hours requirement we had, I got to bash and became quite good at it and now I can handle any criticism of the Church and help others do the same.

I agree: I also value my trackting-intense mission experience. It has become a source of strength.

[Kenngo1969]

Not bad-mouthing tracting.  Don't get the wrong idea.  I did plenty of it (probably not enough to please my first mission president; never coulda done that, so ...) with the Lord's help, I found people that I doubt could've been found in any other way.

[rockpond]

I think that increasing service hours for our missionaries and expanding the use of justserve.org will be great tools for spreading the gospel as we move forward.

 

Honestly, I don't know how we can keep the new larger missionary force busy without involving them in the community through service work.  And I think it will lead to more positive visibility and more investigators as non-members see our missionaries more as humanitarians and less as proselytizers/recruiters.

 

I hope that the CA mission and other missions piloting the increased service hours have great success!

[KevinG]

Draining swamps and printing copies of the Book of Mormon on movable type.   What will those crazy Mormon Elders think of next!

[cdowis]

"Back in the day"

 

Six discussions -- memorized

         Mr. Brown was truly a golden investigator.

Flannel board

No name tag

Service hours?  Never heard of it

[Tacenda]

Resurrecting this old thread to ask a question, hope it's ok...

 

My husband and I have been asked to participate in a special missionary class with several other couples in my ward during the Sunday School.  They had the missionaries in our area there this past Sunday.  My husband attended, but I couldn't because I have a calling that probably won't allow me to go in unless the Special Needs young man I help isn't there. 

 

 I did see an outline of the goals.  It sounds like they are having several couples come in and get trained to be missionaries for 4 weeks at a time, and then a new group from within the ward will be trained, until all the couples in the ward that want to, will be there.  They are even having people cover for people in their callings in order for everyone to have the opportunity to be in this class. 

 

Is this new?  I've never heard of this before, have any of you?  Is this part of the hastening the work going on in the church?  I gather it's a way to help the missionaries in the field get contacts since maybe they are in the process of eliminating door to door proselyting. 

[Kenngo1969]

Always love the trip down memory lane!  (And no, haven't heard of anything like that being done in my area ... yet.)

[Tacenda]

Always love the trip down memory lane!  (And no, haven't heard of anything like that being done in my area ... yet.)

I'm always good to provide that for people, since I can't start a topic! 

 

Thanks for the response Ken!

[Avatar4321]

Resurrecting this old thread to ask a question, hope it's ok...

 

My husband and I have been asked to participate in a special missionary class with several other couples in my ward during the Sunday School.  They had the missionaries in our area there this past Sunday.  My husband attended, but I couldn't because I have a calling that probably won't allow me to go in unless the Special Needs young man I help isn't there. 

 

 I did see an outline of the goals.  It sounds like they are having several couples come in and get trained to be missionaries for 4 weeks at a time, and then a new group from within the ward will be trained, until all the couples in the ward that want to, will be there.  They are even having people cover for people in their callings in order for everyone to have the opportunity to be in this class. 

 

Is this new?  I've never heard of this before, have any of you?  Is this part of the hastening the work going on in the church?  I gather it's a way to help the missionaries in the field get contacts since maybe they are in the process of eliminating door to door proselyting. 

 

We did something similar while I was in a singles branch. I don't remember where we got the plan from. I am not sure much came about it, but that was mostly because of the transient nature of our branch. And since we were a single branch unless the people we shared the Gospel with were likewise singles, we didn't really see the fruits.