Elder Menasco: LDS Online Missionary



Elder Menasco



About a two months ago I was driving from Eureka to Santa Rosa for a meeting. Elder Hinton and I were talking about how great it is to be a missionary! We have the amazing blessing and opportunity to teach and invite people to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by the restored priesthood authority of God.

But something crossed our mind: What about everyone else who has never received an opportunity to hear the gospel or learn how the Gospel of Jesus Christ is on the earth to bless their families for eternity. And what can we do about it?

Elder Spendlove: LDS Online Missionary

I'm Elder Spendlove, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons).  Right now, I'm working in Ukiah, California, teaching people about the happiness that comes from following Jesus Christ and His prophets.  I also have the opportunity to spend a little time online every day reaching out to people online through facebook and blogs.  It's a cool program because there are so many people online each day who are looking for happiness;  I have been able to talk with many people in the places where I've served (Vallejo, Fairfield, Santa Rosa, and Ukiah) about the Church, as well as friends back home, people in Mexico and other countries, and all over the Good Ol' U S of A.  I love talking to people about the Church, especially about how the teachings of Jesus Christ are relevant to us today and how following His commandments will always lead to safety.  I certainly would love to answer any questions you or your friends may have about the Mormon Church and help you come to find the beautiful light I know for myself.

GMail Comes into Missionaries Lives

My daughter Flora is always losing her emails and has done so several times on her mission this last year.  In addition she is always having to delete pictures and other things.  The Church finally got smart and decided that missionaries can use GMail which should simplify the process since many missionaries used it before they went out.

Christmas Parties

On Christmas Day I received the obligatory call from my daughter serving in the Taiwan Taipei Mission.  She said that her mission wasn't doing anything mission-wide for Christmas but that her district might get together and have a small meal together.  I was a bit surprised that not much was happening since my other two daughters who had served in the Italy Rome Mission and the Korea Daejon Mission had some kind of mission party or activity.  In the Korea Daejon Mission the mission president's wife even coordinated our sending our presents to the home so that she could make sure every missionary got some small gift at a zone conference.  Perusing my missionary peeps on my sidebar I found out what missionaries do on Christmas varies greatly from mission to mission.

Another Perspective on Rethinking Depression: Early Release Missionaries

Domestic Goddess has left a new comment on a post "Rethinking Depression: Early Release Missionaries" that I put up a year ago. 

Swine Flu Still Problem Months Later at MTC

Sister Daria Clifton reports that Swine Flu in a humorous incident at the MTC:

Now, down to the news. On Thursday, six of my elders started complaining that they were not feeling well. They all looked and sounded like they'd been hit by semis.

Advice on Lessening Trunkiness for Missionary's Families

 I read an unusual bit of advice by Sister Marilyn Gee wife of Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission president James Gee on lessening trunkiness for missionary's families:

For First Time in Years Baptisms Up 18% in U.S.

Reed Finlayson, a senior missionary serving with his wife in the Dominican Republic shared this from Elder Richard Hinckley of the Seventy about baptisms being up for first time in years:

Missionaries Thoughts on Conference

It takes a few days for missionaries to share with their families what they learned or thought about the past conference.  Different missionaries come away with different perspective depending on what resonates with the missionary.  My daughter serving in Taiwan Taipei came away from conference by admonishing my wife me and our whole family to conform closer to the gospel as she is doing. She wanted to know what we were doing to change our lives.

Sister B. wrote us:

How do we take what President Monson said about taking these things and changing, and actually change?  Seriously.  I personally cannot remember a big step I took to change after conference in my life...I remember after conference this time, feeling a big desire to change and become better.  As a missionary this is what my life is about...but then I wondered, how will my family and friends do this.  I, myself, have to take great effort to change, and that is what my life is focused on. And it's hard! Seriously.  My whole life is becoming more converted so that my investigators can be more converted, since their level of conversion can only be as far is mine is...and yet it's a daily struggle.  I focus on it constantly.  So for you guys, how is conference going to change you?  I heard maybe 3 of you guys write me about conference and tell me about what you liked, but I'd much rather know, how are you going to take conference and CONFORM?  Change and become more like Christ?  Being on a mission had made me realize our family is not very good at conforming, but conforming is a gospel principle. I hope you don't take offense at this statement, but I honestly believe it to be true. My growing up experience was unique, and I cherish that in a lot of ways...but as I testify about how the gospel blesses families, I wish to see a change in my own family that really shows how this mission is helping you guys.  Heavenly Father is an unchanging God.  His laws and his principles will never change.  And so, in order to obtain His salvation, we need to put ourselves in line with His laws.  We need to develop His love (charity) and not worry about being unique or different.  Believe me, you are unique.  You don't even have to try to be.  So what I'm wondering, is what are you guys going to change because of conference?  How are you going to be more obedient to God's will?  A big reason I ask is because I personally am struggling with obedience.  I want to be a conformed and obedient missionary, but sometimes some of the stuff I do or say shock people.  I'm working on this through goal setting...and I hope you guys can too.

 I am glad to see that the words of the general authority has power to her and that she wants to live the gospel and share it with those she meets.  Her mission is having an affect on her life.

S. Graff serving with her husband in Guatemala discussed her pioneer heritage:

At ten we went to Tomkinson’s apartment across the hall with Tilleys and Blackburns and watched the morning session of General Conference. They hooked up a projector to the computer and we had a huge picture on the wall. Seeing the Conference Center packed with thousands always brings tears. Today I felt like I had kids there because Reynaldo and Claudia are in Salt Lake. We had notebooks to take notes in that were passed out at the office. There was a picture of each member of the presidency and the twelve apostles and half a page to write our thoughts about each of their talks. President Monson announced five new temples: Brigham City, UT; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Chile, Brazil, and Japan. That makes a total of 151 temples operating, under construction and announced. I always love the gospel truths as taught by Elder Bednar. Elder Uchtdorf brought laughs from all of us as he wondered what people think about our Church where the children sing of talking streams, popcorn growing on trees, and children who want to be sunbeams. When I was a child “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam” was my favorite song and I think that holds true for many of our grandchildren. The Tabernacle Choir singing “Come, Come Ye Saints” at the closing moved me to tears. I always think of the great sacrifices of my ancestors as they traveled to Utah because of their love for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I also think of the other pioneers, those here in Guatemala and elsewhere who join the Church and mark the path forward for their descendants.

Sister Chelsea Williamson bore her testimony about the Prophets and Apostles:

"Think of it, brothers and sisters. The heavens are opened. There is revelation in our day. Think of the miracle."

What a miracle it is. General conference has always been a special weekend for me; family gatherings, quilts being made, food being eaten, and hearing a Prophet’s voice. This weekend may not have been how the other weekends have been, however, it was perhaps my most meaningful general conference yet. I have never been an eloquent writer, I don't know how to express myself in a way that would be adequate, but I do want you all to know how deeply, deeply grateful I was for this past weekend. The heavens are opened. We do communicate with God today. We do have a living Prophet who leads us and guides us. Those men and women who addressed us are so in touch, so aware, and so good. What a privilege to be a member of this church, the only true church on the earth. I love what President Eyring said, "Any believing Latter-Day Saint is an optimist." He is right, when we truly come to understand this gospel, this marvelous plan our Father has provided for us, we have no reason to be afraid or to be discouraged, we have every reason to be hopeful and every reason to be optimistic.

As you know, Elder Holland has always been one of my all-time favorites. I am sure you all felt the same spiritual witness as I did that the Book of Mormon is true as he so powerfully testified. It is so true. That book changes lives every day. It inspires men to be better. It quiets fears and awakens faith. It motivates and strengthens. It is the word of God. Read it. Ponder it. Cherish it. It is true - what a privilege to have the opportunity to read from it every day.

I love this work. Our investigators are progressing and we have good things coming for this area. The Lord's hand is always involved in it. I see that in all we do. Share the gospel, please. I love what was said in conference about the Saviors last counsel to His apostles. Of all the things He could have shared, of all the things He could have taught, His last request was to proclaim this gospel. As I go on in this cause, I pray you all will too. Share the gospel - it will bless you and others.

I find it fascinating how missionaries develop a more mature insight in to the gospel and their obedience to the leaders.  I remember my own daughters could barely sit through conference but now they have profound insights.  I hope they keep the zeal of the gospel burning in their lives for many years to come.

Missionary Work Changes Lives

Today Landon Rich, a missionary serving in the Peru Lima Mission shares with us the story of Carlos, a drug addict who lived on the streets and slept in the back of a truck who has since cleaned up his act and is taking the missionary lessons.  To find out the details go to the Elder Landon Rich's post The Lost Black Sheep.  Missionaries change lives with their faith and belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This is one of the better missionary posts I have read in some time.

The Things that Missionaries Do

Sister Aubrey Bjarnson serving in the Italy Rome Mission on the blog Quiet Rain shares this interesting parable The Game of Life:

And I want to tell a story.

The Game of Life: A Parable of Member Missionary Work

Okay, so I’m going to first tell you what happened, and then I’ll explain the parable. Monday morning, our District Leader calls us to ask if we’re okay with having lunch in the church after DDM. Okay, that sounds fine. Then he says, “Elder Torres is going to try and call you, but do not answer the phone.” “Why not?” “I’ll explain later.” Sure enough, shortly thereafter, Anziano Torres calls, and we did not answer. In fact I think Sorella Swenson hung up on him. Then they called again. We did not answer. We continued to get ready to go. Besides, we thought, we’re going to see the elders in a few minutes because DDM was in a half hour. The phone rang again. This time it was a private number. My insides squirmed. It was most likely the elders, but why was it so important for them to reach us and why did our district leader want so badly that we not listen? Again we did not answer.

Okay, in actuality, at this point my companion figured it out. However, for purposes of the parable we are going to say that we were still in the dark.

Again the phone rang as a private number, and we did not answer. And then, Marco Antonio called. We couldn’t not talk to Marco Antonio even if we knew that he was probably trying to relay a message from the other elders. Marco Antonio informed us that were to bring UNO so we could play in the church.

Our District Leader represents a priest of another religion. Me and my companion represent normal people who do not know the church. The other elders represent (dun dun dun) missionaries. Marco Antonio represents a member of the church and our friend. UNO represents a game that I love and would be sad if I realized that I had unknowingly passed up the chance to play it.

Anziano Nielson (our district leader) hates Uno. Other leaders of other religions do not understand the joy that comes from the true gospel. They tell their congregation not to listen to other religions. People can be confused. They will hold tightly to what they know (their district leader told them not to answer the phone) and are hesitant to open the doors to unknown (whatever it was that the other elders wanted). However, when you bring in member missionaries, the work moves forward. People trust their friends. Through their member friends they can be brought to the knowledge of the gospel. They can be told what they have to do to receive Eternal Life (or to have a great game of UNO).

 I find it interesting the simple things that amuse missionaries.

1-800-Dial-a-Baptism: Blog of the Month

Elder Lee Jepsen serving in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission's mother has one of the most interesting missionary blogs as she shares video clips and very interesting accounts of his mission which started in Denmark Copenhagen and now finishes up in this mission which also includes part of Canada.

Being a more mature member of the church he has some interesting insights and thoughts about his mission which he shares weekly with his family.  An exceptionally interesting post is 1-800-Dial-a-Baptism in which he reports:

This week I once again had the blessing of seeing my testimony grow. The Lord truly loves the people in this area the way that He prepares both them and us. We do our missionary work every week, but it was as if I this week in particular saw a clear relation in how the Lord blesses us when he finds our effort acceptable and the time is right. It could seem that perhaps we are doing something right. Now I just have to remember what that was and we can do it every week. But wait, if that doesn't happen I guess it wasn't us at all, but instead the Lord's hand at work. We just work here. ;-)

A woman phoned us up one day and said she wanted to be baptized... just like that... out of the blue. She had met with the elders four years ago and it had come to a halt for some reason.

Then she recently had a dream where she was reading in the Book of Mormon, and definitely read the word "Apocalypse" very clearly. Still in her dream, she reacted by saying out loud "I should have gotten baptized while I had the chance." This was at first particularly unsettling to her because she was reading "Apocalypse" as a synonym to "Armageddon," much more like an all encompassing version of our more recent and already horrifying September 11th.

I then proceeded to explain to her that the word itself actually simply meant "revealed," "uncovered," or even "morning of Divine light" and actually applies to all books of scripture, as the "Revelation of John" is also known as the "Apocalypse" and the word just got a bad rep because of the contents of that particular book. However, the word applied to her in the way that this was an uncovering of truth for her, a revelation to her from God mapping out a course of action for her to follow.

With that settled she was all for baptism. Well that is... she was all for baptism already when she called us, we just work here. Obviously there's a lot more to the story, but to shorten a long story we have planned for her baptism a month from now, on her birthday.

 Check out this blog if you want to see the maturity and insights of this fine man.

Transfers: How Missionaries Reckon Time

In missionary culture the lives of missionaries revolve around transfers.  A transfer occurs every six weeks on a regular cycle and missionaries count their time in the mission field from their first transfer.  Mission presidents on average go on the six-week cycle but some mission presidents might deviate slightly. For the most part the six-week cycle is the accepted time frame for the majority of missions.

How the cycle is measured is done transfer by transfer with weeks 1-6 for the six-week cycle. For example, Transfer 1 Week 1-6, Transfer 2 Week 1-6 etc.  The mission president in consultation with his two mission assistants assigns each companionship to a specific proselyting area for each transfer. For sister missionaries there are on average twelve transfers on the six-week cycle.  For elders there are on average sixteen transfers on the six-week cycle.

The only exception to the regular transfer occurs when there is a problem with a missionary such as an elder or sister becomes too close to a member of the opposite sex or a missionary is fighting with a companion then there can be an emergency transfer. Such transfers occur outside the regular cycle but don't affect the ongoing cycle of transfer counting.  For the most part missionaries reckon time by transfers in their mission and their lives revolve around  their transfers.  They mark their time by their transfers.

The reckoning of time based on transfers pervades missionaries lives.  Whenever I talk to a missionary at church they will inevitably bring up the fact the might be transferred.  There is no telling how long a missionary will last in an area. It could be anywhere from two months to six months or even longer. I stayed personally in a few areas about a month.

 There are a variety of ways that missionaries are informed of transfers.  The majority of them are called out by the mission assistants to the zone leaders to the district leaders down to the companionship.  In some fields all missionary companionships are called but in other fields only the missionaries affected are called.  The latter makes more sense.  I guess it doesn't hurt to call everyone since missionaries wonder who will remain in their district or zone.

A few missions which are geographically small hold a gathering of all missionaries and make an event of transfers.  There are some advantages like bonding or camaraderie.  It can fire up the missionaries and they can meet old friends or new missionaries.  Missionary presidents can use the event to communicate expectations.


Some missions actually have all the missionaries get together for a special transfer meeting.  It depends on the size of the mission and the disruption to the missionaries.  In the Texas Dallas Mission, Elder Kevin Forsell reported on 21 September 2009:

I just got in my new area last week. It's been great!! Ok, I'll tell you how it went: Transfer meeting: Elder McGregor and I went to transfer meeting and I was super nervous because I wanted a really great companion. After a few announcements they announced the new companionships. They called Elder McGregor to stay in McKinney and his new companion is Elder Urchhart. He was my companion while we flew from the MTC to TX. He's really cool. I hope he's my companion someday. Then they called my new area. My new companion is Elder Marshall and my new area is Oak Cliff. :D The area: oak cliff is JUST south of downtown dallas and SUPER ghetto. i love it. It's a bike area!! I dont have a car, but biking everywhere is really fun. The weather is getting better so its not as bad biking in the 105 degree weather. Now its in the 80's. lately its been rainy. We set two dates already, one to an investigator named Domingo and another to Arturo. Domingo is a little unsure... lives alone... wants to learn more. Arturo is part of a part member family. Wife and son are members, he's not... but SUPER excited to get baptized. The Comp: Elder Marshall is from Colorado Springs, CO. He's the only member of his family who's a member of the church and has only been a member for 2.5 years!! But he knows the gospel a lot, and is a really experienced missionary. He goes home in April. He's been in Oak Cliff for 2 transfers already (this is his third) and lately he's only kept companions for 1 transfer. maybe the trend will follow and I'll get ANOTHER new companion next transfer. I hope not though. Elder Marshall is a great example. He's really good at teaching me things and showing me how to be a good missionary. He has a goal to make me a leader by the end of the transfer ( for example, District Leader or Trainer or something).

My own daughter who is serving in the Taiwan Taipei Mission sends home many of her weekly emails with captions such as Week 23 in Zhongli, Transfer 4 Week 6: 4 Baptisms Slated.  My daughter lasted in Zhongli thirty weeks or a little over six months which was a long time in how long a missionary reckons time.

 Elder Bradley McMullin described on 2 September 2009 the details he learned through a call about transfers in the Illinois Chicago South Mission:

Everything is going well. We got transfer calls last night. Pretty crazy stuff. Elder Denter and I are staying the same. Elder Sorensen is leaving Prestbury for Woodridge 2, which is in the Joliet Zone. Elder Gates, who is a really good soccer player, is taking his spot. Elder Price, from Woodridge 1, is becoming a new Zone Leader in Chicago. Elder Tzunun is taking his spot to be with Elder Barker, who's been in his first area for 6 months already. Elder Baum is coming to take Elder Wiser's spot in Naper 6. The Spanish are all staying the same. We've also got a new AP, Elder Wilson, who was a Zone Leader in Chicago. There's the news for the Zone! The other Sisters and the Geneva Elders are staying the same.

Elder Michael Bentz serving in Germany describes the process of killing off or sending home former companions in a future transfer:

Yeah, this new place Bad Homburg is pretty sweet, my comp, Elder Braithwaite, from Highland, UT is way cool, he dies in 2 transfers, so I might end up killing him as well as my trainer, oh well, it doesn't bother me very much.

Elder William Boy serving in the Virginia Richmond Mission expresses his feelings about not having to pack his things when not being transferred:

Elder Shock is leaving for home at the end of this transfer and so I will probably be staying here for the next 12 weeks and I am so happy to be here, and feel secure in that I don't have to pack everything up in 6 weeks. ( that is a pain).

Even church leaders sometimes have an impact on whether a missionary is transferred.  Elder Brent Parson shared a bishop's request to his mission president:

So this week was the week of transfers. We were talking to our Bishop about how this transfer is going to be complicated because tons of new missionaries are going to show up and how Elder Bie was probably going to be transferred.

So then on Sunday after having lunch with him he asked me to give him my cell phone and put me on the line with President. I was a bit confused but I dialed President's number and gave it to him. He said a bunch of stuff to President but pretty much said that if there was anyway possible to keep both of us here in the area then he would be really happy because we are doing really good work here in the area. I relaxed as I heard this haha and thought it was way cool that he did that.

So then Monday night came and we received the call to see who was going to be transferred. I still thought, despite my Bishop's call, that Elder Bie was going to leave...but it wasn't so. My Bishop got his wish and we both are going to stay here another month and half at least.

Well we didn't have much else to do and my comp had to talk to President about some stuff so we went to the Mission Office for transfers today.

Both us and my entire zone were sure that my comp was going to be transferred and that I was going to train seeing as I am "in that season" of the mission and there are 21 new missionaries showing up, but alas that didn't happen.

I was actually kind of disappointed. I thought that maybe I had lost some of President's respect or something like that but one of my friends who is one of the Assistants called me over during transfers and told me that they literally had put me up on "the board" that President has with all the missionaries in the mission as a trainer with my new noobie companion and everything...but then right before they finalized the transfer my Bishop called saying that he really wanted us to stay.

And so President decided to change everything and now I will wait a bit longer to train I guess. I mean, it's cool what happened and everything but on the other hand I really wanted to train. But whatevs, I am still happy with everything that is going on here in the area so I don't have much to complain about.

Speaking of that we had 2 baptisms last week and 2 more this week.

 Elder Kyle Parker feels that transfers are based on spiritual impressions:

 Hello Hello. This week wasn’t a very eventful one so sorry about that. We are trying to find new investigators and it is kind of hard. This coming week is the last week of the transfer. We really don’t know what is going to happen to either of us. President Drewes kind of hinted  I might be staying but you never know with that man. I have been in Jackson, Tennessee for 4 and ½ months now. I haven’t stayed in an area longer than that so statistics show that the logical choice would be that I get transferred but transfers aren’t supposed to be logical, they are spiritual and it is up to the Lord whether I get transferred or not.

 The concept of transfers is a real part of missionaries lives.  We as members and general members or parents of missionaries don't fully understand the telling of time in the same way as missionaries serving.  We see things in minutes, hours, weeks, months, and years.  We try to shape events in missionaries lives on that basis. We don't really relate to a six-week period as defining and impacting the lives of missionaries.  We would be able to talk to missionaries better if  we could to fit their activities to the way they see time rather than the way we see time.  It would be more meaningful to understanding missionary work if we could understand the transfer cycle better. My daughter always laughs when she calls twice a year and see talks about transfers and it goes right over our heads.  It is unique to LDS missionary culture.

Lesson Series: A Program with Promise

 From time to time the general authorities have missionaries try different approaches for finding investigators to teach.  One such program called Lesson Series was inaugurated back in March 2009.

Elder Gregory Malone shares with us  how the program was being done in the Virginia Richmond Mission:

We are starting a new program called lesson series. The First Presidency has asked that all missionaries teach at least 20 lessons a week to all kinds of members and nonmembers. So we go into members homes and share a POWERFUL 10 min lesson and then pray and walk out! It really only is supposed to last about 10-15 mins so not a hard job for the member. we do it once a week for 4 weeks straight. then supposedly by week 2 or 3, they have someone to invite into their home where we share another 15 min lesson. powerful once more. and this time its
all conversion from here on out!

I wonder how this program has been working out the past six months throughout the world.

Missionary Service: Finding Interesting Service Opportunities

When a person thinks of LDS missionaries giving service they usually think of them as helping people move or assisting in giving out food during a natural disaster which are all good service activities. I have heard of elders and sisters helping out as candy strippers in hospitals or working at the Red Cross in blood drives. Some missionaries even assist in schools cleaning up or reading to the kids.

When I lived in Vernal, Utah it wasn't uncommon during a large snow storm to find the missionaries digging out a driveway or going around pushing cars out of ditches. Missionaries help people to spruce up their homes. Missionaries are asked to do four hours a week service throughout the mission of the church. What they do can be quite varied or can be pretty consistent depending on the mission president direction or whether the missionaries choose themselves what they can do.


In one mission field in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission they have occasional car washes. President Mike Murray reported:

Our missionaries serving in the Logan, Independence and Philadelphia 5th Wards (ie congregations) held a free carwash for the public. They washed almost 90 cars, including a police car and an electrician's large truck. One man thought it was such a good deal that he went come and brought his wife's car back. He got a two-fer.

In the Washington D.C. South Mission the mission president actually organized the elders in to a moving service with accompanying vans and trailers. I actually think that has some merit as a potential for gathering thousands of referrals. You could place billboards around towns where LDS missionaries live with a sign that reads Free LDS Missionary Moving Services and a phone number. When the person calls the missionaries could identify themselves as missionaries and offer to help the person free of charge. Tacitly the person would know that the missionary would try in some way to get a referral. They could schedule as many or as few moves as they had time and work their schedules around their teaching appointments. Then they would spend more time serving others in what would have been otherwise unproductive time.

I have had a lot of experience with missionaries and service being a library director. When I worked at Prairie View A&M University I had four elders who shelved books. They actually made the request of my circulation supervisor. To cover my behind since it was an African American University I did not want to get in to trouble over the appearance I used religion so I instructed the missionaries that they could not discuss religion in the library.

Missionaries started to work the town of Prairie View and Waller, Texas where many of the students lived. One day an elder told me that working in the library got the missionaries in to a lot of doors. The student would recognize them from the library with their white shirts and name tags and let them in. They got a lot of gospel conversations from giving four hours a week. My circulation supervisor who read her Bible every day said that the Mormon missionaries were the best and most dependable volunteers that the library ever had.

In foreign countries most missionaries tend to teach English classes as a way to gain converts. Missionaries after several months on their missions begin to become bored of doing this for several hours month after month. It really is an effective way to find investigators and thousands of people have been baptized as a result of such efforts.

One missionary Elder Caleb Anderson serving in the Korea Busan Mission shares with us a refreshing alternative to teaching English that he and his companion encountered serendipitously:

Lately we have been getting sick of English class being our only service we are doing so we dropped a class and decided to try something new. I saw a building a few weeks ago with "social welfare" in English written on it and so we decided to take a shot in the dark and check it out. It ended up being pretty fun. They were more than willing to accept our service. We basically went around and visited room to room these old grandmas. It was a blast. They were all really cool. It was basically just a regular old folks home in America but they spoke Korean! It was really good Korean language practice as well.

When I was on a mission we did things like help people take their groceries to their cars at local grocery stores. We also would go in to schools and give presentations. We put up a lot of seats for various church activities. One bishop asked the missionaries to weed the chapel whenever they came by.

Going to Church by Telephone

I ran across a very intriguing post called Church in the Bush on the Cold Hands, Warm Heart blog. Sister Colleen Marie Shishmaref explains that it is so isolated in parts of the bush in Alaska that they have church by teleconference. I have lived in some remote parts of the world but not this remote.

Sister S. describes her experience as:

When the Russians took over Alaska, they brought the Russian Orthodox church with them. As time passed and most of the Russians left the state, there was room for other schools of theological thought. Small missions sprung up in in the larger areas. When the time came to spread the word to the rest of the state, it was decided that it would be best just to divvy up the smaller town, as places like Shishmaref aren't big enough to support two churches.

I'm not sure how it happened, but Shishmaref ended up Lutheran. I don't think the LDS were invited to the meeting, as I have not seen a single town that is all Mormon. Along with the English Language, stove oil, and frozen waffles, the Lutheran church has a big white church, and graves with white crosses on them, and a pastor who has to write "For Church Use" all over the box of wine (more on that in another post).

When I first moved here, I had a roommate, Darcy. She was religious, and went to church every Sunday. I asked her if she minded going to a different church than the one she was raised in, and she said they were all about the same. Some of us, however, are highly attached to our religions, and don't want to leave them behind just because we move to the middle of nowhere. Enter the joy that is teleconferencing.

My little congregation out here consists of people from little villages across the state. There are usually 15-20 families that call in on Sunday morning for Sacrament meeting. By the time we get to Relief Society, there's maybe nine women.

Our branch presidency is based in Anchorage, and the rest of us just call in on teleconference.

We can mute ourselves individually, so no one hears us anything going on on our ends. The presidency can also mute all of us, just in case. Prayers and talks are done over the phone, the passing of the sacrament is done in every little town that has a priesthood member. Songs are a little tricky, as there is a bit of a delay over the phones. If we all tried to sing in tune with everyone else, we'd really be behind, and they would hear us even after that. So songs are played at one place, and we all just listen, or sing along with-out sound on our end.

It's awkward sometimes. I don't ever know if I'm being heard. Maybe I'm just talking to myself here, and everyone else is wondering where I am. I know it doesn't sound like "Mute off" and "Mute on" could be confusing, but it's true, it's sometimes hard to tell them apart.

Can you imagine how often they must talk over each other if church is conducted by phone. I guess we have it lucky in places like South Carolina and anywhere else where we can gather together on weekly basis. Check out her blog it is fascinating to see what happens in the sticks. Missionaries must have a hard time converting people who only go to church by phone.

Pieces of Me: Faith-Promoting Missionary Experience

Kiirsi who has an exceptionally nice Mommy blog Pieces of Me shares a rather interesting experience of a German Elder who spoke in her ward a couple of weeks ago:

The German elder talked first and he gave a great talk. He was so confident and spiritual and shared such a nice testimony. Then he ended his talk by telling us about how, as a youth, he was hurt and confused and in a lot of pain (spiritually, I’m guessing). One day he went into an Orthodox church and said "God, if you’re real, please take this pain from me" and within a few minutes the pain was gone. That was the beginning of his faith in God.

He didn’t tell us how he found the LDS church, but he did say that before his mission call, he was his parents’ only support. He worked hard at his job and was able to provide for himself and for them…keep them stocked with firewood against the cold winter, buy food for them, and pay their bills. When he got his mission call it was hard for him to go, because he knew his parents couldn’t get along without him. He didn’t know what to do and was so worried about them starving or freezing to death.

But he quit his job and went on his mission, on total faith that if he did his best to take care of the Lord’s people, the Lord would take care of his.

Well, a few months into his mission, he got an e-mail from a friend of his in Germany telling him that his parents had been without electricity, etc. for three months. He was so worried and almost overcome by this news, knowing that if things were so bad that they had no electricity, they were probably starving, also, and that winter was coming and they’d freeze. He prayed and prayed, asking the Lord to help them, and it was really hard for him to continue his missionary work when he wanted to rush home and save them. But he kept working hard and trusting in his faith.

I don't want to steal her punch line so go on over to Pieces of Me and find out what happened to the elder and his family. It really will give you a good feeling in the end.

Special Commemorative Mission Coin Fires Up Danish Missionaries

It is becoming more common for mission presidents to come up with unique slogans and placing them on commemorative coins. I came across another very cool mission coin that fires up missionaries in the Denmark Copenhagen Mission.

Earlier I posted about Slogans and Symbols where the Korea Daejeon mission president also used a commemorative coin. I think the ones designed by the Danish Mission President Douglas J. Olauson Sr. though are a little slicker.

Elder Ricky Pullan's father reports on his son's mission blog how the coin was developed:

(I had heard Ricky’s mission president gives out special coins to the missionaries and I asked him about it. President Olauson used to be a Chaplin in the navy. Apparently there is a tradition of handing out “putting on the armor of God coins to the servicemen. President Olauson now also gives them to his missionaries. The RWH stands for Return With Honor) The coins are AWESOME! I attached pictures of both sides. Apparently the different branches, divisions, etc. have different coins that they give out to each other. This coin is one of the rarest amongst them... President told us a story one time of him giving the coin away to an admiral or something and he began to cry. Apparently it's a really big honor. Anyway, they are way cool and I carry mine around with me everywhere. It's a great reminder... it's pretty big too... maybe an inch and a half in diameter???

These coins will be interesting mementos in the years ahead for missionaries who served in the Danish Mission. I am not sure every mission president has the means or the creative talent to design a coin for every mission. But it sure is a good marketing tools and conversation piece.

Unusual MTC Practice: Ingles Funeral

Sister Meagan Jackson reported a very unusual practice that I haven't heard about despite having three daughters serve foreign language missions in the last three years. In a post entitled Ingles Died and Life is Good she shared this rather interesting language learning process:

This week has been great. Full of spiritual experiences and fun times as well. Probably the most exciting thing from this last week was our "Ingles funeral". Yes, we can no longer speak English in the classroom...ever...so we held a funeral to pay our final respects. My comp gave the eulogy, the elders gave talks, we sang "each life that touches ours for good" and "God be with you till we meet again" as the hymns, and I did the special musical number...an English tribute I wrote on the piano in about 5 minutes containing all of our favorite spanglish phrases. Then we took a walk out to the edge of the mtc campus where we buried English (a piece of paper with our favorite phrases on it :) It was pretty dang awesome, and I will record the song and send it home...though you have to understand spanglish so maybe Jessica can translate it for you :)

I guess they are working on realizing a symbolic rite of passage that will psychologically cause missionaries to shift from English to a new language immediately. It is quite a fascinating practice.

First Impressions: Nu-Skin, Sister Missionaries at the MTC

I have been reading in several of the sister missionaries posts lately about how Nu-Skin which is headquarters in Provo, Utah is being given to by two sisters called to teach them how to do make-up. I can't ascertain whether they are very wealthy or associated with some way with Nu-Skin. I doubt that the church is putting out thousands of dollars on make-up.

Sister Meagan Jackson going the New Jersey Morristown Mission gives a good description in a posted on 5 August 2009 entitled Ingles Died and Life Is Good about the generosity of the company:

Did you know that 2 ladies in Provo have a calling to come to the MTC once a week and teach sisters how to do make-up? Well, they do! And they give us each $200 of NuSkin make-up in the process! Haha, it was awesome. And Naomi Andersen (from HOBY) was at the same make-up class as me so it was wild and fun. I felt like back in Jr. High when we always had the Mary Kay parties and I was the guinea pig for the make-up. Haha, good times.

I am not critical of the process since it can only benefit the image of the church if sister missionaries maximize their appearances. They do after all represent the church and we want to present a good first impression.