Jeanne Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 33 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: It does depend very much on the area. On my mission in Sweden back in the '70s a missionary could realistically expect to have two or three convert baptisms his entire mission. My son, who is there now, works hard (much harder than I did) but indications are it's not much better today. And his success is largely among immigrants and refugees. Just an offside curious question...but I have ancestors from Sweden and wondered if you or your son had run into any Ahlstroms???
Jeanne Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 16 hours ago, Duncan said: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA!!! that's awesome!!! with that Della Reese!!!!! oh geez haven't thought about show in quite awhile That show is true...I loved it...and wish I had it somewhere on some re-runs.
stemelbow Posted August 5, 2016 Author Posted August 5, 2016 5 minutes ago, strappinglad said: The reason I pointed to the United Church was to show that there are churches which follow the paths that you outline. A brief look at the wiki page for the United Church of Canada will show that despite such paths their membership has fallen from a high of 1.1 million in 1968 to about 450,000 currently and also shows an 8% drop from 1991 to 2001. They were originally an amalgam of several Protestant sects. They have morphed into basically a Social Justice organization. Be careful what you wish for. That wouldn't happen with the LDS Church.
stemelbow Posted August 5, 2016 Author Posted August 5, 2016 3 minutes ago, Hamba Tuhan said: I also served my mission in America in the 90s ... and once went six entire months without teaching a single lesson to anyone. We used to set a goal to give away a copy of Book of Mormon every month, and sometimes we actually reached that goal! When I first moved to my current city 13 years ago, our ward was 'bleaker' than your current ward sounds. We went years without a convert baptism. But that's all changed now, for which I'm grateful. We would have been sent home if we didnt' teach at least a couple lessons each week. Well maybe not sent home, but I might have gone home voluntarily. That does sound rough, though.
Scott Lloyd Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 5 minutes ago, Jeanne said: Just an offside curious question...but I have ancestors from Sweden and wondered if you or your son had run into any Ahlstroms??? I might have, but have no specific recall of it. The name strikes me as very typically Swedish. I'm guessing there has been English adaptation applied to it and that the original form in the Swedish would have been Ålström. That would literally mean eel (or awl) and stream. Swedish surnames are very often compound words taken from common words, geography and such. My mother's maiden name, for example, Okerlund, was originally Åkerlund, which literally means field (Åker) and grove (Lund). Typical Swedish names taken from geography include Berg (mountain), Sjö (sea) and Holm (harbor).
flameburns623 Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 21 minutes ago, stemelbow said: That wouldn't happen with the LDS Church. It happened with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (now the Community of Christ). Why not the LDS Church? 1
stemelbow Posted August 5, 2016 Author Posted August 5, 2016 Just now, flameburns623 said: It happened with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (now the Community of Christ). Why not the LDS Church? Christ is supporting it, presumably.
Jeanne Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 6 minutes ago, Scott Lloyd said: I might have, but have no specific recall of it. The name strikes me as very typically Swedish. I'm guessing there has been English adaptation applied to it and that the original form in the Swedish would have been Ålström. That would literally mean eel (or awl) and stream. Swedish surnames are very often compound words taken from common words, geography and such. My mother's maiden name, for example, Okerlund, was originally Åkerlund, which literally means field (Åker) and grove (Lund). Typical Swedish names taken from geography include Berg (mountain), Sjö (sea) and Holm (harbor). I heard that "Ahl" has something to do with fishermen. In geneology, I believe they may have started out as Nielsons or something like that. Thanks...I have always wanted to go there...darn..I wish I had their skin!!
waveslider Posted August 5, 2016 Posted August 5, 2016 6 hours ago, stemelbow said: Let us know where he goes. That's always an exciting time. Sure thing!
Atheist Mormon Posted August 6, 2016 Posted August 6, 2016 On 8/3/2016 at 5:07 PM, jkwilliams said: I had a coworker in Utah who had been home from his mission about 25 years. He said the experience was so traumatic that he had refused to give a homecoming talk. I asked him what had happened, and he simply said, "I told you, I don't talk about it." The futility of the Collective displayed in a fantasy series years ago....It was a "Free to all" lesson to any hierarchy/oligarchy not to follow the same path......
rodheadlee Posted August 6, 2016 Posted August 6, 2016 On 8/4/2016 at 4:09 PM, salgare said: It's crazy that the underlying tide of all modern day religion is about the end of the world. If only we could all take a 10000 foot view of just how crazy, including your above thoughts, this whole cleansing, new Jerusalem, Armageddon deal is, all the way around, all religions. It seems to be the enemy of humanity. How can there be any good in these concepts? It's not the end of the world, it's the beginning of Christ's 1000 year reign on Earth. It's the end of evil on Earth. That it is virtually the only thing that the religions of the world agree on should give you pause to think it may be true. It's one of the Articles of Faith. 10 We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.
thatjimguy Posted August 9, 2016 Posted August 9, 2016 On 8/5/2016 at 8:47 AM, Robert F. Smith said: When you say "The tradition of assuming that every child in the church really wants to go on a mission would be a good start," you are applying that to everyone. And of course that simply is not true. A great many parents want their children to go on a mission, but that doesn't seem problematic, because parents always have high expectations for their children. Yet President Monson did not serve a mission, and not everyone does, and many members make no such demand on their children because they are not so stupid as to think that everyone is from the same cookie-cutter. That is why I reject your total demand as going too far. Why would it be good to change that positive Mormon attitude? Should we all lower our expectations in general? Would that result in something better? The Methodists were once a strong missionary church, and are now losing members and no longer have such expectations. Is that a good thing? Are you saying that dropping such notions will ultimately help Mormonism in some way? What would be the result? Ok. Certainly see how I worded that in a way that it seems like I mean everyone, (and I didn't mean to say that...see how easy it is for the wrong words to assume something?) That being said, kids are baptized at 8 on the dot a lot. That's pretty much a tradition in some circles right? I never said that we should not promote missionary work, but there is a far difference between promoting and pushing and idea. Just like I said about my mistake in the line above, we may not mean we are going to assume you will go, but the words used can exactly say that to the audience. I don't believe we should stop promoting missionary work, but having more missionaries with solid testimonies would be better all around. The idea "less is more" applies I think.
Robert F. Smith Posted August 9, 2016 Posted August 9, 2016 2 hours ago, thatjimguy said: Ok. Certainly see how I worded that in a way that it seems like I mean everyone, (and I didn't mean to say that...see how easy it is for the wrong words to assume something?) That being said, kids are baptized at 8 on the dot a lot. That's pretty much a tradition in some circles right? I never said that we should not promote missionary work, but there is a far difference between promoting and pushing and idea. Just like I said about my mistake in the line above, we may not mean we are going to assume you will go, but the words used can exactly say that to the audience. I don't believe we should stop promoting missionary work, but having more missionaries with solid testimonies would be better all around. The idea "less is more" applies I think. Indubitably.
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