Monson: Missionaries are a "commodity"

[_beanboots]

Meanwhile, at the Missionary Training Center...

“You will be in the Lord’s service twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the next three years and will be recipients of His direction and His blessings,” President Monson said.

He referred to the young men and young women entrusted to their care as a “precious commodity,” and shared with the leaders some ways to motivate the missionaries so they might be effective in their responsibilities and have the kinds of experiences that will affect them in a positive way throughout their lives.

[_Bazooka]

Compare this from the article linked in the OP....

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve said that the call to serve as a mission president and the wife of a mission president will so altar and influence “your life and the lives of your missionaries, that your soul needs and deserves … assurance from heaven" regarding the calling. He said the purpose of his remarks at the seminar were "to assure you, settle you, and testify to you that your call is from the Lord. He knows you. He knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He knows your abilities and your uncertainties. He knows the needs of the mission and the missionaries where you are going. He has prepared you, and He has called you to His holy work."

....with this.

"Given the evolving situation in Ukraine, 22 missionaries serving in that country will end their missions early and return home over the next few days," said a statement released on LDS.org late Thursday.
The missionaries involved were due to end their missions in March or April.
On Saturday, the church announced it had removed 23 missionaries in the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Mission from the Crimean Peninsula. Those missionaries are being spread among the four missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the country.
Also, "missionaries who have been in missionary training centers preparing to enter Ukraine are being temporarily reassigned to other missions or will remain at the MTCs on a short-term basis," the new statement says.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... tml?pg=all

[_beanboots]

Compare this from the article linked in the OP....

Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve said that the call to serve as a mission president and the wife of a mission president will so altar and influence “your life and the lives of your missionaries, that your soul needs and deserves … assurance from heaven" regarding the calling. He said the purpose of his remarks at the seminar were "to assure you, settle you, and testify to you that your call is from the Lord. He knows you. He knows your strengths and your weaknesses. He knows your abilities and your uncertainties. He knows the needs of the mission and the missionaries where you are going. He has prepared you, and He has called you to His holy work."

....with this.

"Given the evolving situation in Ukraine, 22 missionaries serving in that country will end their missions early and return home over the next few days," said a statement released on LDS.org late Thursday.
The missionaries involved were due to end their missions in March or April.
On Saturday, the church announced it had removed 23 missionaries in the Ukraine Dnepropetrovsk Mission from the Crimean Peninsula. Those missionaries are being spread among the four missions of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the country.
Also, "missionaries who have been in missionary training centers preparing to enter Ukraine are being temporarily reassigned to other missions or will remain at the MTCs on a short-term basis," the new statement says.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... tml?pg=all

"Hey, I'm not perfect... oh, wait."

[_Shiloh]

Meanwhile, at the Missionary Training Center...

“You will be in the Lord’s service twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, for the next three years and will be recipients of His direction and His blessings,” President Monson said.

He referred to the young men and young women entrusted to their care as a “precious commodity,” and shared with the leaders some ways to motivate the missionaries so they might be effective in their responsibilities and have the kinds of experiences that will affect them in a positive way throughout their lives.

Are you making Monson an offender for a word? And even when that word has two very clear uses that are fairly common?

A raw material or primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold, such as copper or coffee:

commodities such as copper and coffee

[AS MODIFIER]: a commodities broker

commodity markets

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

SYNONYMS

1.1A useful or valuable thing:

water is a precious commodity

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

His time is a valuable commodity, and when reporters are denied it, they can become annoyed.
We need more flexibility in the system, as time with patients is a valuable commodity.
Skilled consultants and business advisers can be very valuable commodities in the right hands.

Clearly Monson used the word to indicate "a useful or valuable thing" and not in the colloquial sense of being cheap, common, and without differentiation. Don't you think?

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... /commodity