bsjkki Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 What is the status of missionary work in your wards and branches? My ward's missionaries just sent out a sign up for members to agree to a 15 minute lesson from the missionaries each week. So far, no one has signed up but it is new. During this time, it seems most people really don't want to engage over the streams and zoom interactions. What are your missionaries doing to forward the work at this time? How are your missionaries holding up serving during this crazy time? It must be hard. 1 Link to comment
Popular Post Hamba Tuhan Posted August 7, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted August 7, 2020 A few weeks ago, I invited one of my non-member mates over for dinner and had the Sister missionaries provide a spiritual thought over Facebook Messenger. I told them to prepare for no more than 5 minutes, but it turned into a 20-minute discussion and was really good. I hope a few more people are doing things like that! Last Sunday was my first time back to sacrament meeting, and the Sisters also had an investigator present whom they had met online somehow. My mate also came, and he'll be coming to my place for home church and dinner this Sunday. But yeah, it's been hard. I'm the high council member over missionary work, and we've all been struggling to know what to do and how to do it. 6 Link to comment
Popular Post Kenngo1969 Posted August 7, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted August 7, 2020 I've had a couple of fairly lengthy phone calls from the missionaries serving in my area. They're good-hearted young men, I have appreciated their reaching out, and I've felt the Holy Spirit as they have done so. I've told them that while there's no doubt that trying to do missionary work in current circumstances is especially challenging, the Lord is mindful of them, of their circumstances, and of their sacrifices. There's so much about current circumstances (indeed, sometimes, about circumstances even in the best of times) that is outside of our control: As I've said so many times, the only thing we can control is our reaction to our circumstances. 5 Link to comment
Kenngo1969 Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 1 hour ago, Hamba Tuhan said: ... But yeah, it's been hard. I'm the high council member over missionary work, and we've all been struggling to know what to do and how to do it. Bless you and those in your flock, Brother. 1 Link to comment
bluebell Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 12 hours ago, bsjkki said: What is the status of missionary work in your wards and branches? My ward's missionaries just sent out a sign up for members to agree to a 15 minute lesson from the missionaries each week. So far, no one has signed up but it is new. During this time, it seems most people really don't want to engage over the streams and zoom interactions. What are your missionaries doing to forward the work at this time? How are your missionaries holding up serving during this crazy time? It must be hard. Our missionaries have been trying to do this since April. Our family did it once but I will do everything I can not to have to sign up again. I feel for the missionaries but the one zoom we did with them was just a time filler and it was painful. We got nothing out of it as a family and working with the technology while trying to keep four kids engaged and being able to hear what was being said and the questions asked was pure annoyance. I don't know what the answer is for keeping the missionaries busy but I don't think forcing them to pretend to teach the members is it. 3 Link to comment
Duncan Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 I feel for the missionaries, it's tough. Plus their folks spending how ever amount just to keep their kid confined mostly to their apartment and doing zoom stuff. Now, though the restrictions are easing up but only 50 people are allowed in the chapel. I know this mission they lost all their senior couples and about 1/3 of the missionaries. I would imagine though some would come back out. So, right now this mission is like over half Canadian missionaries who were sent home from other places. There is an elder in the other ward, who grew up in Alberta for a time, then they moved to Taiwan where he was a teen or something, they his parents got called to be Mission Presidents in another Asian country, so he lived there, then he got called to England and was there for awhile and now he's here. That is a world trip courtesy of the Church!! 1 Link to comment
Calm Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, bluebell said: Our missionaries have been trying to do this since April. Our family did it once but I will do everything I can not to have to sign up again. I feel for the missionaries but the one zoom we did with them was just a time filler and it was painful. We got nothing out of it as a family and working with the technology while trying to keep four kids engaged and being able to hear what was being said and the questions asked was pure annoyance. I don't know what the answer is for keeping the missionaries busy but I don't think forcing them to pretend to teach the members is it. Have them practice with individuals rather than families makes more sense to me. There are people stuck at home who might enjoy the interaction and if approached as having fun (playacting****) as well as a learning activity, it could be beneficial. ****former missionaries could be told to model themselves after difficult or interesting investigators they remember Have missionaries participate in individuals’ personal studies time so both can benefit and learn outside of missionary lessons. Edited August 7, 2020 by Calm 1 Link to comment
InCognitus Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Missionary work during COVID? We had a convert baptism scheduled for tomorrow but it is being postponed now because the person is being tested for COVID. So even the rare contact opportunities have setbacks in these crazy times. 3 Link to comment
readstoomuch Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 Our missionaries are doing service. They actually put up a message on our small cities Facebook page and they got quite a few requests. Prior to that they had been doing service for those in the ward and we are just getting them back into the food bank that they had worked in. Later this month we are doing a food and diaper drive at the church. We used to go door to door, but this year we are going to have people drive up to the Church. I would say overall that members have been more responsive to messages over Zoom or Facebook Messenger than appointments at their house. They need to teach a certain number of lessons to stay in practice, so it really helps them to be able to practice with the members. That way their skills are better with their investigators. Its all not perfect, but we recently had a baptism and about as many investigators as before the Covid outbreak. 3 Link to comment
carbon dioxide Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 It will be very interesting to see convert baptism stats at conference. My son is 18 now and going to school for a year. I don't know if he is going go on a mission but I really see not reason for him to go if things don't clear up by next year. I have to say the Lord has me stumped over this. On one hand increase the work of temples and missionary work and on the other hand, slow it down so a useless single strand RNA can spread around the world. I guess I may see the reasoning down the road but right now, it does not make a lot sense to me. Link to comment
The Nehor Posted August 9, 2020 Share Posted August 9, 2020 Had a convert baptism last week. 2 Link to comment
Bernard Gui Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 (edited) On 8/7/2020 at 7:48 PM, carbon dioxide said: It will be very interesting to see convert baptism stats at conference. My son is 18 now and going to school for a year. I don't know if he is going go on a mission but I really see not reason for him to go if things don't clear up by next year. I have to say the Lord has me stumped over this. On one hand increase the work of temples and missionary work and on the other hand, slow it down so a useless single strand RNA can spread around the world. I guess I may see the reasoning down the road but right now, it does not make a lot sense to me. Our granddaughter Princesca was planning on going this Fall, but she has decided to wait until things open up more. Sitting in an apartment making Zoom calls is not appealing to her. I understand. She could stay home and do that. Edited August 10, 2020 by Bernard Gui 3 Link to comment
bluebell Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 3 hours ago, Bernard Gui said: Our granddaughter Princesca was planning on going this Fall, but she has decided to wait until things open up more. Sitting in an apartment making Zoom calls is not appealing to her. I understand. She could stay home and do that. My son also has decided to postpone. He would have left around August but now he doesn’t know when he’ll put his papers in. He wants the possibility to go foreign so badly. 3 Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 (edited) On 8/6/2020 at 9:34 PM, bsjkki said: What is the status of missionary work in your wards and branches? My ward's missionaries just sent out a sign up for members to agree to a 15 minute lesson from the missionaries each week. So far, no one has signed up but it is new. During this time, it seems most people really don't want to engage over the streams and zoom interactions. What are your missionaries doing to forward the work at this time? How are your missionaries holding up serving during this crazy time? It must be hard. We had such a lesson over Zoom from the sister missionaries serving in our ward a couple of weeks ago. It went very well. It was set up by our ward mission leader, who called us on the telephone and offered us either of two time slots. That personal contact might be more workable than asking for sign-ups. Edited August 10, 2020 by Scott Lloyd 3 Link to comment
Ginger Snaps Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 Ours have been doing service and having a fair amount of zoom meeting discussions. They are bored out of their minds and only allowed to leave their apartment for a few select reasons. They aren’t allowed in member homes right now. Their mission President is on them to populate a Facebook group with local members and their friends but almost nobody is interested. 1 Link to comment
bluebell Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 3 minutes ago, Ginger Snaps said: Ours have been doing service and having a fair amount of zoom meeting discussions. They are bored out of their minds and only allowed to leave their apartment for a few select reasons. They aren’t allowed in member homes right now. Their mission President is on them to populate a Facebook group with local members and their friends but almost nobody is interested. I've been getting missionary friend requests on Facebook from missionaries that I have a very tenuous relationship with (as in, friends with a friend kind of thing) and I've wondered why. This makes sense. I don't see the point of it, but I'm sure they are starting to grasp at straws by now. Link to comment
Kenngo1969 Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 As Joseph Smith wrote to John Wentworth, “No unhallowed hand can stop this work from progressing.” Is COVID-19 an “unhallowed hand”? Ultimately, I don’t know what effect COVID-19 is going to have on the work or for how long, but I’m confident that it is an “unhallowed hand.” It may delay the work; in the short term, it may frustrate it; but, in the end, it will not stop it from progressing. “I am able to do mine own work,” the Lord assures us. 3 Nephi 27:20. And the Lord has a strange way of turning even things such as this to his advantage: Perhaps it will cause people to turn to Him. “Return”—or turn—“unto me and I will return unto you,” says the lesser-quoted passage in Malachi 3:7. Would that we all were angels and could speak with a trump, particularly in light of how this dreaded pandemic has affected our ability to interact! See Alma 29. But the voice of the Lord is not in earthquakes, in fires, in tempests, or even—aside from John’s prophecy of the Second Coming; See Revelation 8—in trumpets. See 1 Kings 19:11-12. Jeremiah writes of the “children” being brought “one of a city, and two of a family . . . to Zion.” Jeremiah 3:14. And the Doctrine and Covenants speaks of our joy being great when we bring even one soul unto God. See Doctrine and Covenants 18:8-10. And if our “numbers [are] few” and our “dominions [are] small” (see 1 Nephi 14:12), we need not worry: “A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump” (Galatians 5:9). And eventually—though we’re probably talking about something that, most likely, will see its full fulfillment during the Millennium—the Gospel will roll forth as “the stone cut out of the mountain without hands.” See Daniel 2:31-45. While I don’t necessarily blame anyone for not wanting to serve as a full-time missionary under current conditions, perhaps it falls to us as members to consider, no matter our personal feelings on the matter, whether we might do our part via Zoom, Facebook, over the phone, to support missionaries who are doing their absolute level best to make a silk purse out of a very ugly sow’s ear. I don’t pretend to know exactly what lies ahead, or how the Church of Jesus Christ will navigate these undeniably-troubled waters. But God is at the helm. 1 Link to comment
Urloony Posted August 10, 2020 Share Posted August 10, 2020 On 8/6/2020 at 11:34 PM, bsjkki said: What is the status of missionary work in your wards and branches? I just had my first 15 minute discussion with our ward Sister Missionaries over the phone. I think it worked as well as could be expected. Keeping it short and to the point has its advantages. The benefit of having Sister Missionaries of course is that the adhere so strongly to their mantra. 2 Link to comment
Ginger Snaps Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 11 hours ago, bluebell said: I've been getting missionary friend requests on Facebook from missionaries that I have a very tenuous relationship with (as in, friends with a friend kind of thing) and I've wondered why. This makes sense. I don't see the point of it, but I'm sure they are starting to grasp at straws by now. Yeah. I think it’s a common thing. I’ve seen missionaries who left from my ward setting up similar things in the areas where they’re serving. I had to explain to the two serving here that none of the teenage kids use Facebook anymore. They’re all on Instagram and Snapchat. 2 Link to comment
Scott Lloyd Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 12 hours ago, Ginger Snaps said: Yeah. I think it’s a common thing. I’ve seen missionaries who left from my ward setting up similar things in the areas where they’re serving. I had to explain to the two serving here that none of the teenage kids use Facebook anymore. They’re all on Instagram and Snapchat. And yet ... https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1355827/do-teens-use-facebook-it-depends-on-their-familys-income/amp/ 1 Link to comment
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