Begging for missionaries

[_Runtu]

Yesterday I attended sacrament meeting because two of my daughters were speaking, and who am I not to lend a supportive hand to my girls? (And they both performed admirably, of course.)

Anyway, after they spoke, the high councilor, a retired BYU professor got up to speak. Our ward has a ton of older couples, most of them well past missionary age, though there are several couples who are ripe for a mission.

This guy got up and literally begged the older couples to go on missions. He said that in years past, there were about 65000+ young men and women missionaries, but now "we're down in the forties." So, with a desperation I have never seen before, he pleaded with the older couples to pick up the slack.

He said that missionaries would never be sent to a place they couldn't afford because they set the terms of their expenses. Then he said that couples need not worry about their safety because "the Brethren would never send you to a dangerous place" (I think I snorted out loud at that statement).

Besides, he said, it's not like a regular mission. You don't have to follow the same rules the younger missionaries do. You can watch television (this was the first in his list of benefits). You can go to cultural events, movies, the theater, the opera, and sporting events. You can write emails home anytime and use the Internet as you please. You can take pictures and send them home. And you can call home whenever you like. And you don't even have to do anything church-related. Honest.

I swear I thought the guy was going to get down on his knees and beg. I thought if anyone imagined they might be going to my mission, Bolivia, I don't think you'd have many volunteers.

But this weird spectacle made me wonder if the church is really that hard up for missionaries. Is this begging going on churchwide, or is it just my stake here in Provo?

[_The Nehor]

There have been calls to this service fairly often. One of my old Mission Presidents gave a talk in General Conference a few years back asking for more to serve.

Sounds like this guy is kinda nuts. I never got why we should send the young into danger instead of the old. Don't the old have less to lose? You don't go for the comfort.....and cultural events, I went to those all the time on my Mission. I think all this talk would do is help the dysfunctional old people convince themselves to go. Most elder couples in my Mission were great but one went out due to pressure and they were.....awful. They didn't really like each other and I think the Mission President spent more time in marriage counseling then he did talking to them about work.

I plan to serve. It's a slightly lighter load but they are a great stabilizer in the field.

[_cinepro]

Yesterday we had Stake Conference. Among the excellent and interesting talks, there was the repeated, specific instruction to always pay tithing first (before the rent and electric bill), and for older couples to go on missions (with the example of one young couple who didn't wait until they were retired, but served and then returned home and now had to find a job). Also lots of talk about "going to the Temple" (i.e. "having problems with the kids? Go to the Temple!").

[_Runtu]

Yesterday we had Stake Conference. Among the excellent and interesting talks, there was the repeated, specific instruction to always pay tithing first (before the rent and electric bill), and for older couples to go on missions (with the example of one young couple who didn't wait until they were retired, but served and then returned home and now had to find a job). Also lots of talk about "going to the Temple" (i.e. "having problems with the kids? Go to the Temple!").

When I went to my bishop about my issues with the church, he told me to go to the temple more often (I was going weekly at the time). Pray, read the Book of Mormon, and go to the temple, and all my troubles would go away.

[_truth dancer]

Last week in sac Marjorie Taylor-Greene, the HC rep discussed "the Lord's financial plan."

He talked about the need to follow it, how it is inspired and given to the prophet; He talked about how it is the way to deal with the current crisis. I whispered to my DH, "what is he talking about" thinking I may have missed something since I do not go to church all that often.

Then the HC rep explained, "What is the Lord's financial plan? Tithing."

If you pay your tithing you won't have a problem during this economic crisis we currently face.

People being laid off, families losing their homes, parents unable to find jobs, and the advice from above... pay your tithing.



~td~

[_TAK]

TD

People being laid off, families their homes, parents unable to find jobs, and the advice from above... pay your tithing.

You have to assume that with the stock market in the crappers 50% from two years ago - real estate tanking especially where the church owns lots of property Florida, Arizona etc.. and a multi billion dollar elephant being built across the street from the House O 'Lard that Ol Breedum built the bretheren are are in need of money.

[_cinepro]

The thing that frustrates me is that at the Saturday evening session, it's all adults. We're grown ups. We read the newspapers. Some of us run businesses, and know what it is like to balance a budget.

Would it kill the local Church leaders to speak plainly and honestly about what is going on with the Church finances? I'm a huge fan of vague allusions and cliches, but it gets wearing and starts to feel like they're just beating around the bush after a while.

[_harmony]

The thing that frustrates me is that at the Saturday evening session, it's all adults. We're grown ups. We read the newspapers. Some of us run businesses, and know what it is like to balance a budget.

Would it kill the local Church leaders to speak plainly and honestly about what is going on with the Church finances? I'm a huge fan of vague allusions and cliches, but it gets wearing and starts to feel like they're just beating around the bush after a while.

When did the Brethren ever speak frankly about anything? They beat around the bush, even on such things as pornography.

Y'all will remember that I said it here a long time ago: during this economic crisis, the Brethren will speak often and loudly about the necessity of paying tithing... without tithing, people will not be blessed. Although we all, including the Brethren, know that this advice is not only inaccurate, but in times like these, for some people, is downright stupid... they will continue to berate people to pay. And people will pay. Because that is what they do. However, one good thing: if one is jobless and homeless, one owes no tithing.

[_DarkHelmet]

It seems to me that most senior mission callings are just jobs without the paycheck. Here's an example of a mission call on the church's website of available "missions."

9B Natural Resources.
Duties:
1. Energy. Evaluate energy lease offers, identify and map properties proposed for
leasing, edit energy leases and surface agreements, administer interaction
between Church land stewards and oil and gas companies operating on Church
properties.
2. Water. Resolve at-risk water rights, process newly acquired water rights, and
secure, prove, inventory, and process water rights. Resolve conflicts with other
11
Church water right entities, and complete drinking water source protection
applications.
3. Engineering. Survey and map Church properties and locate key landmarks.
Provide hydrogeology expertise in the development of water wells.
4. Minerals. Survey Church properties for mineral potential and write reports about
such potential for Church property files. Prepare plans for the development of
minerals, and evaluate economic value of Church mineral rights.
5. Forestry. Inventory timber assets, administer logging contracts, evaluate forestry
health at recreation camps, and develop forestry management plans.

That looks like job postings for experienced professionals. Shouldn't the church hire people for that work? How is any of that considered a "mission?" In this economic climate, there are probably plenty of professionals in that line of work that need a job. Can the church not afford to hire people to do that kind of work?

[_The Nehor]

They are work for professionals. Retired professionals do them.