For Those Interested in an Unsubstantiated Rumor

[Johnnie Cake]

According to an unsubstantiated rumor going around the Mormon themed web...the LDS church is going to make a major announcement within the next month.  According to the source of this rumor, a currently serving missionary, an LDS apostle visiting his/her mission field told the assembled missionaries that something BIG is in the pipeline and is going to be announced in about a month. For the record, I have no idea what the contents of this big announcement are...but just for fun I thought that believers might enjoy having a little foreknowledge  that something is coming...

Any ideas?  I'm hoping for the 30 min Block meeting schedule

Edited April 26, 2017 by Johnnie Cake

[Duncan]

We finally get free Starbursts at Church, yesssssssssssssssssssssssss! they read my letter!

[JLHPROF]

I know there are those here who get all worked up about rumors.
Personally, I think they are great entertainment.  I'm especially fond of Mormon urban legends (www.holyfetch.com)

The way this one is written makes it even more hilarious.  It's right up there with "I was in an elevator with XYZ apostle and he told me that ABC disaster was imminent."
I don't think this can even qualify to be called a rumor.

"He told us many other things that he asked us not to share!"
"Only the righteous will hear it is from the Lord".

Classic urban legend lines! 

Edited April 25, 2017 by JLHPROF

[rpn]

That is the funniest thing I ever heard.  He's called to repentance, told someone is a problem for the mission, and then he publicizes material he was asked not to.  How ofen do we assume the correction is for others?  Mortals are pretty hilarious some times.  Hope They also can laugh at it.

[Johnnie Cake]

2 minutes ago, rpn said:

That is the funniest thing I ever heard.  He's called to repentance, told someone is a problem for the mission, and then he publicizes material he was asked not to.  How ofen do we assume the correction is for others?  Mortals are pretty hilarious some times.  Hope They also can laugh at it.

yeah good catch...told not to share so immediately he/she shares...

[Guest]

Rumors are so much more exciting than facts to those with what Christ called,"itching ears". I heard a rumor that the sun was going to rise tomorrow...I'm thrilled, hope it's true. 

[Robert F. Smith]

OK, Johnnie.  Try a little detective work:  The Elder's name has 10 letters in it.  How many apostles have a last name with ten letters?

[Jude2]

They are going to bring plural marriage back,  

[Ahab]

In about a month? Mother's day.

It's a big thing, and young men sometimes need to be told or reminded.

 

 

[Johnnie Cake]

1 hour ago, Robert F. Smith said:

OK, Johnnie.  Try a little detective work:  The Elder's name has 10 letters in it.  How many apostles have a last name with ten letters?

I think your spacing is off abit   I think it's either Stevenson, Anderson or Uchtdorf but you are onto something 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Johnnie Cake

[Robert F. Smith]

12 minutes ago, Johnnie Cake said:

I think your spacing is off it's either Stevenson, Anderson or Uchtdorf

Anderson and Uchtdorf are clearly too short, but that leaves only Apostle Gary Stevenson at nine letters, which is conceivable.

[Freedom]

ya. right. 

[Tsuzuki]

2 hours ago, Jude2 said:

They are going to bring plural marriage back,  

Well, time for me to come back to church.

[Duncan]

I wonder if ti isn't that welfare program that's being rolled out in select stakes, they have different areas of focus that people can choose and they have facilitators.

[The Nehor]

2 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

Anderson and Uchtdorf are clearly too short, but that leaves only Apostle Gary Stevenson at nine letters, which is conceivable.

Uchtdorf would also have been called President Uchtdorf instead of Elder by almost everyone. Possible the elder got it wrong but he would have heard "President Uchtdorf" a lot leading up to the meeting.

In any case probably nothing.

[JLHPROF]

3 hours ago, Jude2 said:

They are going to bring plural marriage back,  

We can only hope.

[Johnnie Cake]

3 minutes ago, The Nehor said:

Uchtdorf would also have been called President Uchtdorf instead of Elder by almost everyone. Possible the elder got it wrong but he would have heard "President Uchtdorf" a lot leading up to the meeting.

In any case probably nothing.

Good point...

[carbon dioxide]

I have heard such things before and nothing notable occurred.  General Conference just passed.  That was a perfect opportunity to give something to the whole church if something new Church wide was going to happen.  But hey, perhaps they will evacuate all the missionaries from Asia if a war with North Korea is coming.

[Robert F. Smith]

3 hours ago, The Nehor said:

Uchtdorf would also have been called President Uchtdorf instead of Elder by almost everyone. Possible the elder got it wrong but he would have heard "President Uchtdorf" a lot leading up to the meeting.

In any case probably nothing.

The letter is probably fake, in any case.

[The Nehor]

44 minutes ago, Robert F. Smith said:

The letter is probably fake, in any case.

Good chance that is true too.

[Bobbieaware]

12 hours ago, rpn said:

That is the funniest thing I ever heard.  He's called to repentance, told someone is a problem for the mission, and then he publicizes material he was asked not to.  How ofen do we assume the correction is for others?  Mortals are pretty hilarious some times.  Hope They also can laugh at it.

Your appraisal is not necessarily accurate. The way this perported letter is worded leaves a skilled rhetorician with plenty of wiggle room to effectively put your interpretation in serious doubt. You see, the "author" of the letter says the high-ranking visiting general authority "told us MANY OTHER THINGS that he told us not to share." Therefore, it could be it was only those specific "MANY OTHER THINGS" disclosed by the general authority that they were told not to share -- not the vague reference to the coming "big changes."

As stated, whoever wrote this supposed letter says nothing specific about what any of the coming "big changes" might be. For this reason it's even conceivable that he and the other missionaries were told what the big changes are going to be, but by keeping silent about what he knows he's largely honoring the general authorities's request to not share any of the disclosed information. In fact, there is almost zero specific information revealed in this letter and for this reason all we can do here is guess and speculate what the "big changes" and what the "many other things" might be.

If the letter is an authentic representation of a true event, the author leaves us in near total darkness about any specific information. In reality, we are left with nothing more substantive than the vaguest of generalities. Therefore, it can rightly be assumed that, for the most part, the author of the letter  honored the general authority's request to not share. 

Edited April 26, 2017 by Bobbieaware

[Johnnie Cake]

7 hours ago, Robert F. Smith said:

The letter is probably fake, in any case.

I'm a skeptic at heart and take very little at face value...but what about this information would lead you to assume that the "Letter" (its actually a copy of a missionary's communication home) is fake?  What would be the motivation to manufacture this?  For entertainment?  I do have some additional information that I haven't shared here that leads me to conclude that the source is real and the statement reflects what occurred at least in the eyes of the missionary who provided it.  But I guess time will tell...

Edited April 26, 2017 by Johnnie Cake

[Rain]

Whether it's real or not, I hate to hear, "I've got a secret, but I'm not going to tell you. "

[clarkgoble]

15 hours ago, rpn said:

That is the funniest thing I ever heard.  He's called to repentance, told someone is a problem for the mission, and then he publicizes material he was asked not to.  How ofen do we assume the correction is for others?  Mortals are pretty hilarious some times.  Hope They also can laugh at it.

Did he publicize material he was told not to? What he says is pretty vague with no details. The "someone in the mission is bad" trope is pretty common in these sorts of talks - especially for a problem mission. I remember our mission just prior to my getting there went through three mission presidents in short order as they kept getting called as GAs. One of them came back to give a talk and basically said if he'd known then what he knew now he'd have sent home several people. No idea what that meant although we're talking about a mission that 6 years earlier had nearly two zones sent home.

But giving vague references is common. Pres. Hinkley spoke in our mission for over an hour on making ones calling and election made sure. I've mentioned that but nothing about what he said. (Primarily because I was sick in bed at the time and missed the talk) 

All that said I think I'd want to know the providence of the screen shot before I'd give it much credence.

[Nevo]

2 hours ago, Johnnie Cake said:

I'm a skeptic at heart and take very little at face value...but what about this information would lead you to assume that the "Letter" (its actually a copy of a missionary's communication home) is fake?

• The fact that almost every sentence ends with one or more exclamation marks!!
• Breathlessly declaring that Elder So-and-So is an "eyewitness" of Jesus Christ!
• Referring to a Seventy as "a Seventy" rather than "Elder —"
• Referring to their mission president as "our Mission President" rather than "President —"
• The black marker redactions
• The lack of personal details, context, provenance
• The fact that you haven't mentioned this on the other board you frequent and that really nobody on the Mormon-themed web seems to be talking about it.

Edited April 26, 2017 by Nevo