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What must it be like to be a Missionary in this pandemic? In my mind I picture the Missionaries sitting around an apartment all day reading scriptures, praying & fighting with their companions. I’m sure that’s not realistic. The reality must be in most cases, they
looked forward all their life to serve God & teach the gospel. Our ward is encouraging the membership to provide meals & to
have virtual visits with them on the computer.
Wouldn’t it be more humane to put the program on hold, send them home & take a break until this clears up?
Has anyone heard from family or friends currently serving? What is their experience like?
This experience may create a new level of inactivity for the church.
I don’t know if your sitting around the apartment scenario is all that far from reality. While I haven’t had any direct contact with the missionaries here, it is my understanding that’s pretty much what they’re doing. Quote:Wouldn’t it be more humane to put the program on hold, send them home & take a break until this clears up?
I think this did happen for some missionaries who were in foreign countries and were essentially told to leave or the church brought them back for the safety. I think there were some choices given them about returning or not and when but at least some have returned. I know there’s one from a neighboring ward who was in South America and is now somewhere in the US. But that does beg the question – is he sitting around an apartment wherever he ended up going? We have some friends who had a son out and came home and he chose not to return.
Quote:This experience may create a new level of inactivity for the church.
Agreed, especially if you subscribe to the idea that the mission is more about converting the missionary than converts (and I do subscribe to that).
Frankly, I’m glad my sons were not in this situation, nor was eye so long ago. I only had to dodge dinosaurs, no viruses.
All of that said, there was a baptism in my ward a couple weeks ago. It was a part member family and they had been working with him long before the pandemic. Only the missionaries, bishop, and his wife and daughter were present. Supposedly the missionaries have been at least somewhat busy teaching online.
The pandemic has created a lose-lose situation for kids wanting to serve missions. A part of me says that the program should be suspended, let the kids stay home and save the $500/month. The other part of me recognizes that the program would probably need to be suspended long enough to where kids of a certain age wouldn’t get an opportunity to serve a mission at all.
It comes down to missing a mission entirely or having some significantly reduced mission experience.
It’s a part of a sacrifice all of us are making. For instance, kids just a little younger might get to serve a regular mission but they missed the last part of their senior year in high school. Kids that will be seniors in high school this year are going to miss a good portion of that experience. Kids will miss out on a whole year of sports and other extracurricular activities, etc. Missionary aged kids are no exception to missing out on cherished things that have time tables.
Kinda sad.
Missionaries in our area busy themselves with virtual meetings, but I bet only doing that isn’t very fulfilling for the missionaries.
DarkJedi wrote:
I think this did happen for some missionaries who were in foreign countries and were essentially told to leave or the church brought them back for the safety.Ironically most of them probably would have been safer in the foreign country.
It is tough, and I agree with Nibbler that it is sad. I do have a family member who, this month, was sent from Virtual MTC to the mission field. I haven’t heard anything about it yet, but I’m sure it’s a stay-in-the-apartment-close-to-the-web-cam situation. One thing to keep in mind is that this is nobody’s fault. Covid isn’t caused by anyone and while we can argue about methods of response, the fact is that a highly-communicable and deadly virus in our over-crowded and highly-mobile world is the perfect storm. It’s not the Church’s fault and they are in a no-win situation. This is something that has happened TO us, not BY us.
Couple of thoughts from times past.
During the Vietnam War, the Church was limited on how many missionaries it could send out from US wards. I believe the number was two per ward per year, but it also could have been two at a time per ward. Not sure.
During WWII it was even more restrictive and essentially impossible to find male members in the age group of 19-25 who were not off-to-war. I know of high schools in the US, including in the Mormon Corridor, who went to 6-days-a-week high school after Pearl Harbor in order to graduate the Seniors as quickly as possible. My Grandfather was called to a mission during the war, leaving my Grandmother to run the farm and family.
In my own mission, there was a small amount of political unrest. The bus station in the town I lived in was bombed and burned down. A little while later, there was word on the street that there would be a day of protests. My comp and I, ZL’s, sent out word to our zone (at our discretion) to cancel appointments for that day and stay inside. We didn’t know what to expect, but felt one lost day was worth not getting into any trouble. The day came and went quietly. I have to admit it was nice to have a day away from the grind, but also, I would have gone stir-crazy if it had been two. I really feel for the current missionaries and the lost experiences.
If the missionaries are going to be stuck in their apartments they should at least loosen up the rules and let them watch a few movies, read normal books, or listen to “worldly” music. Just to maintain sanity. I would guess missionaries are going through all of the years-old lists of potential investigator phone numbers. That’s what I did for several hours every day when it was winter and got dark early so nobody wanted us knocking on their door.
It might not be horrible for everyone. For some people sitting inside is probably more fun than tracting. Personally the best part of my mission was the last month or so after I gave up hope of finding people to teach. That’s when I spent more time cleaning the apartment, cooking really nice meals, and even decorating. I felt way more productive than when I was out knocking on doors and getting cursed at.
Maybe the church should just make them service missionaries who do volunteer Covid contact tracing for the local government or something.
Most of them are just in their apartments and conducting work via Zoom. Also I believe indexing has been encouraged to pass time. The sister missionaries in my area contacting me from their place. They are permitted to go out to work out as well as going to get food. I’ve been rereading Quote:Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
. Great book. I highly recommend it.
I got to the part where the church moved to Commerce Illinois (renamed Nauvoo). In 1839 there was a malaria
epidemic which lasted for approximately 2 yrs. It was recorded that this was devastating for the members that
were living there at the time. Wilford Woodruff wrote:
Quote:There was many Sick among the Saints on both sides of the river & Joseph went through the midst of them
taking them by the hand & in a loud voice Commanding them in the name of Jesus Christ to arise from their beds
& be made whole & they leaped from their beds made whole by the power of God. Elder Eligah Fordham was one
among the number & he with the rest of the sick rose from his bed & followed Joseph from house to house & it
was truly a time of rejoicing.
I’m not trying to be critical or make light of our situation with COVID. Why can’t or won’t the same principle apply
in our current situation? Send the Missionaries out to bless members & non-members alike. Or am I being too
naïve?
Malaria isn’t contagious whereas coronavirus is highly contagious (human to human transmission). I could see missionaries visiting and supporting families in person when dealing with non-contagious illnesses but with coronavirus missionaries could end up becoming super spreaders. Pick up the virus in one home and spread it to each subsequent home they visit.
nibbler wrote:
I could see missionaries visiting and supporting families in person when dealing with non-contagious illnesses but with coronavirus missionaries could end up becoming super spreaders. Pick up the virus in one home and spread it to each subsequent home they visit.
I recall reading about an illness that helped the medical field understand the purpose of washing hands. It was noticed that the mortality rate for women who gave birth with the assistance of a doctor was higher than those that opted for a midwife. It was later discovered that the doctors were often involved in autopsies of people who died from the disease and then went to help deliver these babies without properly washing their hands first (because they just did not understand microbes like we do now). I am sure history is full of these “head slapper” moments where something thought to help was actually causing harm.Minyan Man wrote:
Commanding them in the name of Jesus Christ to arise from their beds& be made whole & they leaped from their beds made whole by the power of God.
I do take this with a grain of salt. I remember reading in the journal of JS (maybe it was also from RSR) that Emma had been sick. JS took her out to the Mississippi to have her re baptized and she felt better afterwards. The next day she was sick again. This leads me to believe that 1) people would be highly motivated to report that the thing that the prophet did was helpful (even miraculously so) 2) The peer pressure and group think may contribute to people needing to feel that they were improved (IOW if someone doesn’t feel better at least temporarily after such an event maybe people will assume that the individual was unworthy of healing). 3) There could also be an element of the placebo effect where someone is helped by a treatment because they believe that it will help.If you just read the journal entry from the day when Emma had been re baptized you might understand that Emma had been miraculously healed. It is only upon reading the entry for the following day that it was clear that she was still sick (I do believe there is a least an even chance that getting dunked in the river actually may have worsened Emma’s condition).
To piggyback on what Roy said, I haven’t read much about it, but… Minyan Man wrote:
In 1839 there was a malaria epidemic which lasted for approximately2 yrs.
It sounds like the saints struggled with malaria for a prolonged period of time even with the blessings that were occurring.
I can see the benefits of ministering personally to people. The isolation, even while healthy, can have a cumulative impact. I don’t know whether virtual interactions sate that human need.
The only reason I brought it up was because we are taught faith promoting stories regarding our pioneer ancestors to promote increased faith in later generations. Almost to say: look at what you could accomplish if you had sufficient faith. I have seen individual examples of
blessings given to individual people but never what I would consider to be a group, family or congregation.
This was just a wild thought that crossed my mind as I read this account in the book.
Sometimes you wonder: what is true? what is told to promote increased faith? what is just a story? It could be all three.
Plus, you probably don’t want to send Missionaries out in the middle of a pandemic. It could possibly have the opposite affect from promoting
increased faith.
Minyan Man wrote:
This was just a wild thought that crossed my mind as I read this account in the book.Sometimes you wonder: what is true? what is told to promote increased faith? what is just a story? It could be all three.
I’ve read RSR and some other church history books. I always take these stories with a grain of salt. There likely is some truth in all of them, no doubt things really did happen. Embellishing to “promote faith” is just as certain a factor though. John Taylor’s watch is a perfect example. Most people were taught that his watch stopped a musket ball, saving his life. It is true Taylor was at the murder of Joseph and Hyrum and that he was wounded himself and that he thought perhaps his watch had stopped the ball. However, forensic examination indicates that the watch was most likely broken in some other way and not by a musket ball. Is it faith promoting to believe the future president was saved by his watch? Sure – but it didn’t really happen (and why would God save Taylor and not Joseph or Hyrum?). I think it pretty miraculous that he survived multiple musket wounds.
DJ, I agree with your conclusion. What do you believe in the NT regarding the miracles of Jesus Christ? Do you look at them in the same way? Time has a way of changing & amplifying the lessons of an event.
(This is probably getting off topic.)
Minyan Man wrote:
DJ, I agree with your conclusion. What do you believe in the NT regarding the miracles of Jesus Christ?Do you look at them in the same way? Time has a way of changing & amplifying the lessons of an event.
(This is probably getting off topic.)
It’s your original post, it can go wherever you want it to.
Yes, I do believe the miracles of Christ (and later Peter, Paul, etc.) are the same – subject to at least a little skepticism. I believe it is possible Jesus healed people, I’m just not sure the accounts are completely accurate. I also believe the point of the writers was to make Jesus appear in as positive and strong a light as possible – thus a little embellishment would not be out of the question. The same is true for the OT and BoM stories.
DarkJedi wrote:
Minyan Man wrote:
DJ, I agree with your conclusion. What do you believe in the NT regarding the miracles of Jesus Christ?Do you look at them in the same way? Time has a way of changing & amplifying the lessons of an event.
(This is probably getting off topic.)
It’s your original post, it can go wherever you want it to.
Yes, I do believe the miracles of Christ (and later Peter, Paul, etc.) are the same – subject to at least a little skepticism. I believe it is possible Jesus healed people, I’m just not sure the accounts are completely accurate. I also believe the point of the writers was to make Jesus appear in as positive and strong a light as possible – thus a little embellishment would not be out of the question. The same is true for the OT and BoM stories.
I am generally not a fan of any lesson that seems to have the main point of “Look at this amazing miracle/fulfilled prophecy! It proves that A) God is real,
God endorses our religion and our hierarchy structure.” I like to ask the question (to myself so as not to stir the pot of contention) what value does Jesus have if he didn’t perform miracles, predict the future, or rise from the dead?
Are his teachings enough to stand on their own, or are they just filler between the miracle sequences?
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