Speculations for General Conference

[rockpond]

46 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

Again what would be ideal runs into the face of the reality of having three wards meeting in the same building. Let's say the second speaker isn't supposed to make up for the short time. So Sacrament lets out 10-15 minutes early. That means you have people in the hallways waiting for Sunday School to begin, which can't because the other ward is using the classes. People have nothing to do but talk which gets loud and disruptive to the other ward. You could try to avoid some of that by putting Sacrament last but that still doesn't solve all the problems. (Although I confess I always liked Sacrament last best - but I understand why they moved to requiring it to be first)

Valid point.  But in the 2-hour Block (speculative) scenario you'd have a new ward come in every 90 minutes.  So each ward would only overlap in the last 30 minutes of their block (when the preceding ward is in the middle of SS/Primary/RS/PH).

And, you could fit four wards in by starting a 9:00am and ending at 3:30pm.  Or add a fifth ward and you have meetings until 5:00pm.

[Calm]

 

1 hour ago, clarkgoble said:

That's surprising. In certain ways I always found Canadian mail far more reliable than American mail. The main differences is that Canada moved a few decades earlier towards those clumps of mail boxes rather than home delivery. (You see that in most new subdivisions where the mail deliver just goes to that collection of mail boxes rather than going to a mail box at each house) Also Canada never had Saturday delivery. Which I honestly think is a good thing. As an owner of a business I hate that a cheque may be delivered on Saturday and left in the mailbox to be stolen when no one is there.

 

It may have been crossing the border (his mission was in Utah of all places, lol) that messed things up, been a problem both ways. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Calm

[Calm]

3 hours ago, bluebell said:

You could keep everyone in the chapel until the regular time to let out.   People could visit quietly, like they do before sacrament meeting.

Practice songs...maybe that way we could sing with a bit more oomph....

[rongo]

2 hours ago, Calm said:

Practice songs...maybe that way we could sing with a bit more oomph....

Remember when we did this, churchwide? And then they told us to stop doing this. 

[Calm]

2 hours ago, rongo said:

Remember when we did this, churchwide? And then they told us to stop doing this. 

Yes, it didn’t last very long, but I thought it was a good idea. 

[Stargazer]

Here's my speculation.  President Nelson is going to announce one or more revelations from the Lord that change church policy somewhat abruptly.

And my followup speculation: many of those LDS who have been complaining that the Church doesn't get revelations any longer and this lack is evidence that the Church has fallen away (some of these folks post here, by the way), will then start complaining about the revelation(s) that President Nelson announces, because they don't like the new policies.  There is of course no pleasing some people.

[rockpond]

16 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Here's my speculation.  President Nelson is going to announce one or more revelations from the Lord that change church policy somewhat abruptly.

And my followup speculation: many of those LDS who have been complaining that the Church doesn't get revelations any longer and this lack is evidence that the Church has fallen away (some of these folks post here, by the way), will then start complaining about the revelation(s) that President Nelson announces, because they don't like the new policies.  There is of course no pleasing some people.

Yep, so far from President Nelson we’ve got:

Combining HP and EQ

Reworking home/visiting teaching 

Telling everyone stop calling us/ourselves Mormons 

Am I forgetting any others?

Lots of new revelations to be excited about. 

[carbon dioxide]

17 hours ago, Stargazer said:

Here's my speculation.  President Nelson is going to announce one or more revelations from the Lord that change church policy somewhat abruptly.

And my followup speculation: many of those LDS who have been complaining that the Church doesn't get revelations any longer and this lack is evidence that the Church has fallen away (some of these folks post here, by the way), will then start complaining about the revelation(s) that President Nelson announces, because they don't like the new policies.  There is of course no pleasing some people.

Yes people should be careful of asking for a revelation.  God might reveal something that causes some people stress or pain. 

[Durangout]

I’ve heard from multiple annonymous / 3 rd hand sources now to expect changes to the missionary program to be announced at conference.

[rockpond]

40 minutes ago, Durangout said:

I’ve heard from multiple annonymous / 3 rd hand sources now to expect changes to the missionary program to be announced at conference.

That wouldn't surprise me.  I imagine the declining missionary numbers are troubling for the Q12 and FP.  

[Gray]

2 hours ago, Durangout said:

I’ve heard from multiple annonymous / 3 rd hand sources now to expect changes to the missionary program to be announced at conference.

I hope they will expand service mission options

[clarkgoble]

8 hours ago, Durangout said:

I’ve heard from multiple annonymous / 3 rd hand sources now to expect changes to the missionary program to be announced at conference.

Let's hope it's a return to age 19. I think the age 18 experiment was a big failure.

[rongo]

1 minute ago, clarkgoble said:

Let's hope it's a return to age 19. I think the age 18 experiment was a big failure.

How do you do that without a huge "year with far fewer missionaries?" 

[Hamba Tuhan]

5 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

Let's hope it's a return to age 19. I think the age 18 experiment was a big failure.

Hands down, our best missionaries the past few years have predominantly been 18-year-olds (or those who started their service at 18). This could be coincidence, but I'm disinclined to believe that fully explains it.

[Judd]

23 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

Let's hope it's a return to age 19. I think the age 18 experiment was a big failure.

No way does it change that early. In any case, I’ve always insisted that immature 18 year olds make immature 19 year olds, and mature 19 year olds were generally mature 18 year olds.

[Durangout]

54 minutes ago, clarkgoble said:

Let's hope it's a return to age 19. I think the age 18 experiment was a big failure.

I couldn't agree more.  I suspect that too young of missionaries is one of the reasons for why so many return early.

[SouthernMo]

Any chance young couples could serve missions before having kids?

[Durangout]

55 minutes ago, rongo said:

How do you do that without a huge "year with far fewer missionaries?" 

That just may be what "the doctor ordered".  The quality of missionaries and especially mission presidents has gone down as a result of the surge.  I base this on admittedly annicdotal evidence plus the fact that the baptism per missionary has gone down significantly since the surge.   

[Calm]

13 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

Any chance young couples could serve missions before having kids?

Not likely in most economies, I suspect.  Not if they are finishing up education and hoping to have homes...If one or both of them already served missions, how long would that delay getting families started (meaning both kids and savings for kids and jobs to provide for them)?

[rockpond]

17 minutes ago, Calm said:

Not likely in most economies, I suspect.  Not if they are finishing up education and hoping to have homes...If one or both of them already served missions, how long would that delay getting families started (meaning both kids and savings for kids and jobs to provide for them)?

I agree... financial concerns and delaying children are showstoppers.

[mnn727]

How about this for a 2 hour block:

30 minute Sacrament meeting, ending after the partaking of the Sacrament (no more "talks")

45 minute MP/RS/YM/YM

45 minute SS

 

[Calm]

19 minutes ago, mnn727 said:

How about this for a 2 hour block:

30 minute Sacrament meeting, ending after the partaking of the Sacrament (no more "talks")

45 minute MP/RS/YM/YM

45 minute SS

 

I think there should be some time spent together listening to as a ward to ward leaders at the very least, so I think one talk perhaps on what is going on in the ward in terms of efforts to become more Christlike through various callings might be useful.  (Not a report, but a talk using examples of their calling to teach the principles)  Stake leaders letting us know how Church missions (goals) are meant to be implemented throughout the Stake would be nice as well.  Talks should include a few minutes of talking to teens and then another few for elementary age kids in my ideal world.

This would allow ward members to become more familiar with what others do and allow them greater chance of participation even if they are teachers and out of the loop because of not being in RS/PH.

Edited September 11, 2018 by Calm

[clarkgoble]

On 9/10/2018 at 8:12 PM, rongo said:

How do you do that without a huge "year with far fewer missionaries?" 

Transitionary period - emphasize people can go either age for a year. But year, there will be problems for a year or two. I think the drop in the number of missionaries is because lots of people just aren't ready at 18. I sure as heck wasn't. They wait, but once you've already waiting past when everyone else goes it's easy to keep delaying. Make the age 19 and I bet you get more.

[rongo]

1 minute ago, clarkgoble said:

Transitionary period - emphasize people can go either age for a year. But year, there will be problems for a year or two. I think the drop in the number of missionaries is because lots of people just aren't ready at 18. I sure as heck wasn't. They wait, but once you've already waiting past when everyone else goes it's easy to keep delaying. Make the age 19 and I bet you get more.

I still think if you make it optional, almost all will go at 18. Heck, almost all go at 18 now, and it is optional now. My son and nephew have raised eyebrows from lots of people by going to college for a year first --- and they are going for sure, and everyone knows they are going. Yes, President Monson emphasized that there should be no stigma, but there is. It is a culturally-imposed one, despite GA counsel that there shouldn't be one. 

And this is such a valuable experience for my son --- almost as valuable as the mission itself. Juggling work, church, callings, school, social life, roommate issues, problem solving, etc. We are really glad he has this year first. 

[rockpond]

15 minutes ago, rongo said:

I still think if you make it optional, almost all will go at 18. Heck, almost all go at 18 now, and it is optional now. My son and nephew have raised eyebrows from lots of people by going to college for a year first --- and they are going for sure, and everyone knows they are going. Yes, President Monson emphasized that there should be no stigma, but there is. It is a culturally-imposed one, despite GA counsel that there shouldn't be one. 

And this is such a valuable experience for my son --- almost as valuable as the mission itself. Juggling work, church, callings, school, social life, roommate issues, problem solving, etc. We are really glad he has this year first. 

I turned 19 just four months after graduating high school.  I could have submitted mission papers and gone (I was worthy, had a testimony, and wanted to go) but I felt like I needed the experience of living away from home first.  So, I went to a year of BYU with my bishop's blessing.  Once I hit the MTC, I knew it was the right decision.