A lot has happened to the Church in the last few weeks: Weekly church meetings have been cancelled indefinitely; public attendance at the upcoming General Conference has been suspended; activities at LDS temples have been scaled back or suspended; and now the worldwide missionary program of the LDS Church — a massive program that can’t be quickly suspended like weekly services can — is being scaled back as well. The latest move, as reported in the Deseret News, is that LDS missionaries are returning to the US from overseas and will be reassigned to serve in US missions until 18 months of service, then be released. Reassigned sisters will serve until 15 months. Reassignments, of course, happen only after each returning missionary does 14 days of self-isolation to insure they have not contracted a case of COVID-19.
Also reported recently, as in this Deseret News story, is that Missionary Training Centers around the world will cease accepting new missionaries. What about those presently training at an MTC? They will possibly complete their training and report to their assigned mission, although that appears less and less likely as missions repatriate their currently serving missionaries and as countries around the world close their borders. Alternatively, those presently in an MTC will be returned to their home country and, after self-isolation, be reassigned to a mission in their home country.
These are truly significant changes that amount to a huge disruption to the sprawling LDS missionary program. But let’s be realistic: In the current situation, which gets more severe by the day, more changes to the program are likely. With tens of millions of American presently under some version of a stay-at-home order, who wants to answer their door and invite strangers in for a chat about Jesus or Joseph? With travel of almost any sort being a risky proposition at the moment, how can the Church require thousands of missionaries to travel all over the place for reassignment, even within their home country? Is any responsible parent likely to encourage their son or daughter to submit missionary papers at the present time, as opposed to waiting a year? How many missionaries — after returning home, self-isolating for 14 days, getting news about what’s going on in the world, and talking to parents and relatives — are going to release themselves?
Some Changes Are Very Hard to Reverse
As these and other changes, both within the Church and without, hit us one after another, it’s hard to grasp the full scale of what is changing. These seem like interim measures, but they are much harder to reverse than one might think. Once schools are closed because of a few students who test positive or a few dozen in the community, what is the reverse threshold that signals officials to reopen the schools? Once a stay-at-home order is issued by a governor, what measure of progress in slowing or stopping the coronavirus is going to trigger a termination of those orders? Officials and bureaucrats are conservative creatures. They are not going to reverse these measures until they are very confident the reversal won’t be used against them by critics or political opponents. It will certainly take months before most of these orders are reversed. Schools will likely not reopen until September.
The same reasoning applies to LDS missionary program changes. MTCs won’t admit new missionaries until LDS leadership is quite confident there won’t be a cluster outbreak in one of them. Missionaries will not be sent to foreign missions again until LDS leadership is quite confident the political and civil as well as medical situation is back to normal, more or less. That is a prudent course of action. But we’re talking months, possibly years, before things are “back to normal.”
Normal? What’s the New Normal?
Will things ever be “back to normal”? No. There’s going to be a new normal, and it’s going to be a lot different than the old normal. If you think you have any clear idea what that new normal will be, just wait a month or two. Thanks to the coronavirus and Amazon, I have started watching reruns of Monk. You remember, the quirky OCD detective who could solve almost any case. Guess what? He’s not so OCD anymore. Touching things with a tissue and washing hands a lot isn’t so quirky anymore. Monk looks like a fairly reasonable guy at the moment. Remember that the next time you decline to shake hands, or you clean a doorknob with a stinky wipe, or you put on a mask before going into a grocery store. The world is changing, and a lot of things won’t change back. The future is Monk.
What will the LDS missionary program look like in two or three years? What will come back and what won’t? Just off the top of my head, some things I expect to happen: (1) A lot more attention will be given to missionary health and missionary medical care. The insouciance with which the Church has treated missionary health and safety has always been something of a scandal, but now things will have to change. (2) More training of newly called missionaries will be done online rather than in large groups at one or another MTC. (3) More missionaries will serve in their home country rather than overseas. “Foreign-language missions” may become a thing of the past. (4) Maybe, just maybe, the number of volunteers will go down. If you train at your home computer rather than at an MTC, and you are guranteed to go to a neighboring state rather than possibly some interesting foreign country, a mission looks a lot less exciting and adventurous. In a word, somewhat less appealing.
Questions for the reader: What are you hearing from returning missionaries? What advice are you giving young prospective missionaries? What are your guesses for what’s going to happen to the LDS missionary program going forward? Is the senior missionary program gone forever?
Wheat & Tares 
I feel for the kids who were excited to serve and whose plans might be derailed. But I hope that long term this will provide an opportunity for the church to revamp missions to be shorter (1 year) and much, much more service-oriented. This is an opportunity to rebuild a program that I think has been suffering (with so many kids not going or coming home early).
Great thoughts, Dave. I particularly think your #4 is spot on. I know the Church spent a lot of energy half a century ago making it the new norm for all active young men to serve a mission. I suspect it’s been a little easier to maintain that norm as so many thousands have. But now, with the norm already on the ropes given how many missionaries have been coming home early, this break might totally end it. I wonder if it does, whether Church leaders will quietly let it slide into being an option for young men like it is for young women, or if they’ll kick and scream and push to make it the norm again. I’m guessing if they do the latter, it won’t end well.
Two of my nephews are coming home, one from Argentina and one from Mexico. I got a group letter from the one Argentina expressing a whole lot of unconcern about the COVID-19 situation. That was 10 days ago. The crisis is still so fresh many just don’t know what exactly to make of it.
I think the missionary program will come back but it is going to be very different from the one that we used to know. I think you’re right that international missions will go away, at least for a while. That’s the way it has been in Africa for a while. Missions there have mostly consisted of African missionaries and leadership instead of white American missionaries. It will take quite some time for the church to rebuild the program.
I actually think the senior missionary program will be a lot more viable long term than our current youth, as older people have so many more skills that can lead out as they face the challenge of creating a more service oriented system, which might offer a kind of middle management structure mediating and managing service based missions in our own or neighbouring communities.
Sadly, the church will be very badly burnt by our current experience and there will be a lot of angry parents feeling that this should have been dealt with differently and with greater foresight. I know I wouldn’t have been sending my son out in the face of an imminent pandemic. By the time these kids are home, there will be no option of re-assignment. Great changes ahead, but it may be that our idealistic youth will actually more readily serve in calls for which the relevance is more immediately obvious.
I hope…
The missionary program will continue, but with less emphasis on door-to-door, and more emphasis on service and humanitarian aid…
Strong families will receive callings to different corners of the earth to strengthen young branches and small wards. The families will be called on service missions to assist mission presidents…families, not just retired seniors.
Agricultural production will become a primary emphasis in the institution’s portfolio and members will be encouraged to spread out from the cities, to regionalize food production by becoming small farmers and independent business owners…
The institution will invest its billions in the work of Zion—the people—instead of Mammon’s stock market and Utah’s stupid shopping malls…
Maybe the context which should be remember is a “Mission” or fulfilling a “Mission” is not a saving ordinance.
I think it’s way too early to see any of these as long-term changes to the missionary program. The best comparison is to the 1918 Spanish influenza. Just as now, church meetings were canceled and quarantines were put into effect. It’s modern technology that’s made it possible to rapidly return all missionaries to their home countries rather than having them deal with the sickness in their respective mission fields like missionaries had to do in 1918/1919. Just as with a century ago, while there may be minor long-term changes (separate sacrament cups, for example), I honestly believe the missionary program will be back to normal within a few years.
I agree that the health of missionaries has slowly become a higher priority, but a sudden pandemic hasn’t been the driving force behind that. I also agree that we may be getting more missionaries serving in their home countries, but I think that is an inevitable result of the increasing flexibility of proselytizing vs service missions. Similarly, the church has made a high priority of placing temples even in smaller areas so that people won’t have to cross international borders to access them. With the younger missionary force declining, the Church will depend more on senior missionaries, not less. I’ve seen the push in my elderly ward over the last few years.
Like most FT missionary in the mid-1990s (I was in Mexico), we spent our days going door-to-door and street contacting. Both of which were not effective then, and even less effective now. My hope is that Elder Uchtdorf and the others leading the Missionary department will take this opportunity to completely re-vamp the entire program from the ground up. More service is a great idea. More senior couples is a great idea. More online teaching and finding is a great idea.
Missionary health and safety was massively improved last year with a new handbook, training, and policies. During my service, “shelter in place” would have been a near impossibility, as we were expected to eat with members daily and most missionary living quarters lacked a fridge, stove, cooking utensils and rat-/roach-proof food storage. Further improvements would be welcome.
I suspect missionary service is suspended at least six months. Maybe a full year. In that case, will there be another “surge” of mission applications? And who will train this large group of newbies? Everyone with experience will have been released long ago.
As far as the word on the street, One YM in our ward received a mission call earlier this month to India. He’s in “Home MTC.” I’m not sure online training is as effective as the full MTC experience, especially with “Speak Your Language” training.
Another friend reports from Japan that even baptismal services for new converts (set to occur last Sunday) have been suspended. If that’s the case worldwide, expect new convert baptism number announced April 2021 to be historically low.
Mary Ann, my only counterargument to that is that the pandemic won’t singlehandedly change the missionary program, but there are a host of other factors that are (or should be) pushing missionary work in a different direction: increasing irreligiosity throughout developed nations, decreased effectiveness of tracting and traditional proselyting methods, etc. Were it not for these factors, I believe the program would return to normal soon enough, but the pandemic will accelerate changes that would come down the pipeline eventually. At any rate, this is a great opportunity to reevaluate our methods, even if the leadership doesn’t see it that way.
Regarding senior missionaries, I have to think that as more people in the US are retiring without guaranteed pensions or paid-up health care, fewer US seniors will be able to serve missions. And really, almost all senior missionaries are US, as foreign seniors simply cannot afford missions.
I think the world will get back to pretty much what is normal now as soon as there is a vaccine for this bug, but I think we need to become more permanently aware of passing along germs and viruses with our church meetings. I would like to see hand shakes being near mandatory become a thing of the past and we just smile and say hello? I would like to see something more sanitary for the sacrament. Other churches have already started to have communion as individually prepackaged wafer and wine. This sounds so much more practical for a long term change than permanent changes to the missionary system. After all, within a year or two there will be a vaccine and a large percentage of people will have had it and be immune and this will become one more disease endemic in the population, just like a more dangerous than average version of the flu. People will get vaccinated just like my generation did for the smallpox and polio and we will anxiously await the next new disease to cause the next pandemic. But boys whose hands you don’t know where have been, breaking up bread, then passing out a tray along a row of people where gets handled by everyone along the row, with bread and water exposed where it can be sneezed or coughed on, plus the kid with the runny nose who has to handle six pieces of bread before selecting one, well the whole system has been pretty gross for years now. That is a change I would like this pandemic to force into being. The church could make and market small packets of bread and water. The blessing happens, then the trays of individually packaged bread and water are passed around. It would even be quicker because only one tray would have to be passed, as the water and bread are in the same small packet. Give one blessing for both bread and water, pass around one tray. Leave more time for the sixth repeat of a general conference talk.
Some interesting statistics from Elder Craig C. Christensen (a 70) at the Silicon Slopes Town Hall.
All missionaries are being sent home EXCEPT some missionaries in Australia, New Zealand and some places in Europe. Also, some countries have already closed their borders, which means missionaries cannot come home at this time.
This massive return home has already begun and will continue for the next 2-3 weeks. He expects about 300-400 missionaries per day returning to Utah.
I was surprised that nearly 2/3 of all American missionaries are Utahns. “We have 19,800 missionaries around the globe who are United States citizens and will be returning to the United States,” Elder Christensen said. “And Utah is home to about 12,000 of those missionaries.”
Color me doubtful that Church leadership is planning to make significant changes to missionary program once the pandemic has crested (though I agree with others here that they should). They know full well the activity rates of returned missionaries v. those who don’t serve, and I expect a lot of skepticism from General Authorities, a large number of whom served a two-year mission right in the middle of the Great Mormon Baptismal Boom of the 70s to the 90s, on the prospect of refocusing missionary efforts on service rather than proselytizing. I have no idea whether similar or better retention rates would ensue with the shift (I tend to think so since it would hopefully result in a lot more positive experiences for the missionary), but I’m certain those leaders are reticent to gamble with those rates.
Dylan, “At any rate, this is a great opportunity to reevaluate our methods, even if the leadership doesn’t see it that way.” I agree with you. This IS a great opportunity to reevaluate methods. I personally don’t think leadership will make drastic long-term changes, though, even with the major short-term disruptions.
My daughter returns home tomorrow after only 3 months abroad. She is devastated to come home early but I don’t think she realizes to what extent things have changed. I’m glad the church is taking health and potential political instability abroad seriously and bringing them home. As the OP said in the past the church hasn’t taken health of missionaries seriously. I initially expected the church to simply tell the missionaries to ride out the storm.
The missionary program should change substantially in my opinion. It’s ineffective and demoralizing to most missionaries who experience few baptisms. There’s a huge need for service though. The church could still send missionaries all over the world but to do 80% service and 20% preaching instead of the other way around.
If you consider the social pressure that young men (and some young women) and their parents feel to serve missions, you wonder whether the Corona Virus has presented to them a kind of pressure valve. That is, there is now a built in excuse for at least the next few months to make plans other than serving a mission. And these alternate plans will now be considered to be honorable because, after all, it was because of Corona that Johnny made other plans.
I think you’ll see many young men who would have served or who were on the fence ultimately decide not to go. They will say things like “I would have gone the summer after high school but since the program was suspended I enrolled in school and now I’m on another path”. It would be the opposite of the trend we saw when many 18-year olds suddenly signed up after the age changes were made.
So I predict a big drop in FT missionaries for the time being due to Corona. And I predict a medium-term drop due to what I have described. The question is, will the program recover long-term or will these short to medium term changes permanently alter the program and the number and percentage of participants?
I’ve always had some trouble with acronyms. There’s an FT Missionary Baptist Church in Jackson, Louisiana. Is that what you guys are on about? —- Well really, I did find FT as “face time” “Financial Times” “foot” “full time” and “f@$#*& that”. But they seemed even less likely. 🙂
But seriously, I think josh h. has accurately noted the “pressure valve” effect on some, especially from Utah and certain neighboring states. Even in the 60s in Europe I found a good many missionaries there because of social pressure and not because they wanted to be. Some would have been much better off then and in the long term with a pressure valve.
What are the stateside missionaries doing? Too much money for families to have their son or daughter shelter in place to watch videos. And how do you approach others? Social distancing will be the new norm until a good vaccine or the next virus mutation.
12.000 missionaries returning to Utah in the next couple of weeks?! Better get the foodstore up to scratch cuz some serious self isolating will need to be happening…
As the father of a recently returned missionary as well as being a returned missionary myself, I have a few thoughts. This whole business of releasing some missionaries early, keeping others in the mission field, while sending others home temporarily to wait and possibly be reassigned, is dangerous. At this time there’s nowhere in the world that, collectively speaking, missionaries can be effective enough to justify the time, risk, and expense of serving under an obsolete and ineffective proselytizing machine. The Church should honorably release all missionaries currently serving, dismantle the current system, and then rebuild a more effective one when the pandemic has passed. But even that may not be enough if they continue to protect the other remaining elephants in the room.
I’m a return missionary, my 2 sons were missionaries, my granddaughter is a return missionary, and I have a grandson that was just evacuated to his home. Dave F. is right.
We can still be missionaries and spread the message of the Book of Mormon. It might look a little different than our past missionary efforts. We have the intenet, and we can get creative about sharing the message of the gospel with others. One thing our family has been working on for the last two years is making an illustrated Book of Mormon for children. It is something we can share with others. I am so grateful for the Book of Mormon and it’s message during these troubling times. Every morning, my six year old reads Book of Mormon stories with me, so we can post YouTube videos for other children to use. Here a the link to Lehi’s Dream. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XVSanwP5TI
Having just returned home a few weeks early due to this situation, I second many of the comments here. This is a great opportunity to re-vamp a system that is too expensive, ineffective and demoralizing in many parts of the western world. The second/third-world country we served in would have been much better served by service missionaries “teaching without words.” If nothing else, it’s way past time to completely reevaluate the value and efficacy of career area bureaucrats.
Dave F. I am very curious about your remaining elephants. What are they for you?
Dave F. I am very curious what you consider the remaining elephants in the room?
In our ward is a senior couple who have been called on a mission to SLC. They were supposed to go in January, and retired so they could. Havent gone. We also have a young man who has been in Kenya for 2 weeks, and is trying to get home.
We have just been told the American Lady missionaries in Australia are going home. Don’t know about males.
People can only leave Australia if there is a direct flight to the country they are going to. There are still direct flights to USA, but not to places like the Philippines where we have a few from. None of the Australian airlines are flying overseas anymore.
I too hope this is an opportunity to improve the health care for the missionaries in third world countries. A grand daughter in law served in Indonesia and came back with a parasite that took a year to fix.
Yes I agree a focus on service would be more effective and rewarding.
The church leaders obviously do not believe the donald who says it will be over by easter.
Sorry for the duplicate
I have two nephews serving missions, one waiting to get back to Australia from Africa – he was called to Zimbabwe. And the other from the UK locked down in the Madrid mission. I’d like them both back home before I can think about how things might change.
Arganoil, looking at the time stamps on your posts I think we can overlook the duplication.
Here are four big elephants for me but there are more, (1) polygamy (they should remove Section 132 and admit it was a narrative built to justify Joseph and Brigham’s need to have sex with lots of women. I rarely go into a big box store in St George Utah without seeing the terrible affect this “doctrine” is still having on women; (2) patriarchy (my wife and our five daughters each have talents and leadership skills that are under-utilized by the Church simply because of gender. It’s a top to bottom missed opportunity to exclude women from key leadership positions. (3) speaking of gender, it’s become evident that it’s complex and non-binary. Still the Church won’t capitulate. In fact, they keep doubling down in cruel ways, like their mishandling of the CES honor code changes. No apology or empathy offered, only stubborn silence); (4) transparency and accountability (their obsession with secrecy, particularly as it relates to finances, usually causes suspicion when it leaks out. Tithe payers should know if any of their donations are being used for non-ecclesiastical ventures such as developing or purchasing income-producing commercial real estate. There may be a valid reason why the Church has already invested many billions of dollars in such projects but, since this activity deviates from what some would say is the primary mission of the Church, perhaps leaders should explain their strategy. Also, the recent discovery of $100 billion in excess funds was appalling to me when juxtaposed against the world suffering those funds could have addressed. Is a world-wide pandemic sufficient cause to release some of those funds for scientific research and to relieve related suffering? Their attempt to use an interview with the Wall Street Journal to manage the perception of this matter turned into another debacle.
The senior missionary program has been on the ropes for years. Guaranteed pensions are fast becoming extinct, and people at retirement age now often can’t afford to retire. And when they do retire, they usually can’t afford to live overseas for year or more, while maintaining their properties and cars back at home.
Senior missions are also less attractive culturally. Years ago, my baby boomer parents used to talk about serving a mission together. Now that they are retired, they would sooner die than voluntarily isolate themselves from their grandkids. Their peers feel likewise; many of them play pivotal roles in their grandchildren’s lives (such as for childcare or school pickup), more so than grandparents did in previous generations.
My wife’s uncle and aunt recently returned from an overseas mission. They enjoyed some parts of the experience, but they have definitely ruled out serving another one. They didn’t like the way they were treated by mission leadership (like old people that needed to be babysat and given busywork), and they feel like they missed too many important milestones with their posterity, including the births of two new grandkids.
Like others are suggesting, this pandemic may provide a good opportunity to press the reset button on the whole concept of missionary work in the Church.
Thank you Dave for that clarification. The time stamp was right, but I am from another continent. I agree full heartedly with your elephants. They are some of mine as well. Coming from a very liberal country, Utah church and church history increasingly becomes a far distant stranger with strange concepts. Especcially for young people. It is not our heritage, not our history.
I am very curious how the institute will handle all the women that are claiming their place in the world and will claim the same thing in church as well. The time that men have the final voice in everything is over and church better move with that fact or people will simply lose interest.
One elephant I’ll add to Dave F’s growing herd is the huge “hit” to the concept of inspiration and revelation often associated with the missionary program. I have heard several accounts of the role of inspiration in making missionary assignments and the spiritual experiences involved when the assigned member of the twelve makes just the right call. Then we see the fiasco of the church having to charter four Boeing 777s to get 1600 stranded missionaries out of the Philippines. If it is granted that leadership isn’t immune to world events and we shouldn’t expect inspiration to help them avoid such situations, then fine, but that also should mean the “inspiration” in making assignments in the first place is suspect and problematic when such claims are made. The inspiration situation isn’t helped by bringing missionaries back and then putting them in “limbo” status when it is also apparent that no one is going to be reassigned for a while.
On the subject of the Philippines, I wonder about the status of the missionaries who were Philippine citizens. Thank-you for your service, we’ll call you? I believe one of the issues affecting the missionaries there was their inability to get adequate food supplies (the government has now instituted rationing). I’m hoping the church is mindful of the situation of returning local missionaries, who are most likely jobless and money less, and has a plan to help them.
Great article, Dave. I’ve truly enjoyed all of the comments and insights. As I’ve watched (and lived) the “Corona experience” these past few weeks – along with everyone else around the globe – I’ve had one word come to my mind over and over again as relating to “the Church”; and that word is INCONSEQUENTIAL. While I’m truly thankful that the Missionaries are coming back home, that Church Meetings have been narrowed and closed down, that Church Parking Lots have been offered as “testing spaces” – the “value” being offered (by the Church – and its’ Leaders) at this time of great societal stress is really quite small; if not almost imperceptable.
“The Church” has no more answers or insight into this challenge than any other organization; and in comparison to some has added very little value or relief. The Priesthood isn’t keeping the virus at bay or helping the virus to “pass over us”. LDS Leadership seems to have “gone to ground” – with little to no public sighting; outside of pre-recording Conference Messages. No remarkable outpouring of “the Spirit” over the Saints at large; with most of the day to day “good works being accomplished by regular human beings helping and being kind to one another. (With or without “the Church)
In many ways, I think the organization was “on the ropes” a bit before the outbreak of the virus. Now, I think we’ll see a vastly different organizaton (perhaps under force of environment & culture) when this is all over. More and more people are asking the question “What has the Church, which I have supported all of my life, done for me and my family in time of great need?” And unfortunately, are answering that question with the reality that “it’s not very damn much”.
Inconsequential, indeed.
I suspect that the “two-week quarantine” is just to kill time until General Conference, when Pres. nelson will issue a blanket release to all missionaries worldwide during General Conference.
My son is currently serving in the United States. His return date has been moved up two and a half months, He will arrive home mid-May. His mission received at least four re-assigned missionaries this week that had come from a mission in Korea. So they are sending kids out still, which surprised me. I feel really conflicted about my son staying for another almost two months. He has been surprisingly unaware of the COVID-19 news up until the past few weeks, he’s been really focused and loving his mission, so my mentions of it have gone unheard. He was so sad to be given an early return date, and I want him to be able to process that fully and prepare. Knowing missionaries have been being returned home from other places has helped. I also have the urge to just gather him home. I don’t imagine teaching and sharing remotely will be super effective, though he says they spend about three hours a day doing that kind of teaching. His early return date did come with a notice of a plane ticket from the church travel department, probably not super difficult to change, but I doubt we will see him before May.
He can’t release those still out there surely. There’s a duty of care to look after them and get them back home…
1. Will the families of missionaries that are home but not yet released still have to pay the monthly missionary fee/cost?
2. The missionary program has been broken for the past decade or more. The church obviously doesn’t know how to change and improve it. When leaders are incapable of leading problems can’t be solved.
TC: Thanks for your question and comments. I certainly agree. Another word has been “dancing around my head” these past 48 hours – regarding “the Church” and its’ Leaders….and that is IMPOTENT. They’re frozen in space and time….and are of little to no help to those whom they profess to love and care about.
Going back to early February of this year… when coronavirus was a relatively minor news story… One of the main headlines was that the LDS Church had an investment portfolio of 100 billion dollars or so. This was reported in the WSJ and other news sources. Some church officials referred to this as a “rainy day” fund. Question… We are now holding home church worldwide. The cost of maintaining ward buildings, which are currently unused, has dropped by some margin. (Yes, I know that utility companies charge some basic monthly fee even if no power, gas or water is used). In the meantime, some members are being laid-off from their jobs or are on unpaid work furlough. Some members with small businesses may never recover from the resulting economic downturn. Will the church use its 100 billion investment portfolio to aid members in economic distress due to coronavirus, etc? I think this will be a real litmus test for church officials as to how they will use these “rainy day” funds.
Have we reached the prophetic day when the missionaries would be called home? Possibly! Maybe! Hopefully?
Brigham Young in Teachings of the Presidents: Brigham Young Chapter 45, page 332:
The last days will be a period of great turmoil.
All we have yet heard and we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, “Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,” all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives (DBY, 111–12).
So, according to that quote from Brigham Young, we may be looking down the barrel of some wholly different type of missionary work.
Are recently returned missionaries engaging in effective self-isolation practices?
It seems that missionaries and their families have missed the point of self isolation, and if the missionaries do have COVID-19, they stand a high chance of passing it to their families, who will then pass it on in their communities.
How specific were the instructions they were given (The church is very specific on other issues, such as missionary attire)? Were provisions made for those families who don’t have separate bedrooms/bathrooms the returned missionaries can use as they self isolate in order to avoid passing the virus on to family members (some of them who may be medically vulnerable, no less)?
It seems that the church, as an institution, has a responsibility to prevent as much community transmission as possible that might result from its missionary program.
Will there be spikes of COVID-19 in areas that have seen large numbers of missionaries returning home? Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Washington State?
In sure some returnees and their families will be too casual about the guidelines. If they were returning military, they would locked into isolated quarters and checked by medical prior to release from isolation. If an outbreak is traced to return missionaries, a major PR issue for church, imo.
My son was in the MTC until today, slated for Hawaii but reassigned to Las Vegas. We have a young elder in our extended family still stuck in Peru.
Math Nerd, my guess is more than few will not self quarantine. The rule should have been, if you want your missionary to come home to your house, all will quarantine for 15 days, even the bread winners.
Some thoughts elicited by others’ posted here:
-How does the church support missionaries who don’t have a home to go to because their families opposed their conversion?
-I hope when they make the sacrament more sanitary, it doesn’t involve more plastic, which never disappears and is seldom recycled. They could create small paper packets and the bread could be crackers.
-Which leads to a need for the church to adopt a focus toward environmentalism.
-Despite a widely shared meme that “Aren’t you glad our prophet is a doctor….”, the church was slower to take appropriate steps in the face of novel coronavirus outbreak than schools and government were.
-Which leads to a hope that church leadership/teachings recognize authoritative, educated experienced professionals in areas such as science. I hope we adopt a viewpoint something like, “science tells us how, religion tells us why”.
-I hope we emphasize well that the career a person chooses should benefit society. One thing novel coronavirus quickly showed was the essential nature of grocery store employees, restaurant employees, nurses, respiratory therapists, and housekeepers who continually clean hospital areas. Sooner, rather than later, society should reward such professions with higher pay than the current ratio.
-Which leads to less glorification of our wealthy members. How much of their much lauded monies were earned? To what extent did they exploit others, pay low wages, decimate strong companies to reap profits, etc. Did they oppress the hireling?
-Which leads to calling leaders from all walks of life who can relate to a broader swath of members.
Thanks for the comments, everyone. I’ve been travelling and haven’t been able to respond until this morning.
Elisa said: “I feel for the kids who were excited to serve and whose plans might be derailed.” Yes, young LDS missionaries are the losers here. Let’s hope most of them at least stay healthy.
John W said: “I got a group letter from the one in Argentina expressing a whole lot of unconcern about the COVID-19 situation.” That’s because mission rules and most MPs have kept missionaries largely in the dark about the details of the worldwide pandemic. The two missionaries that came to our home for dinner a couple of weeks ago were basically clueless about what COVID is and the status of the pandemic in our community. This is simply manipulation on the Church’s part. Let’s hope this is one of the things that changes going forward. Missionaries and families need to understand that the Church won’t tell you (as a missionary) what you need to know to keep yourself safe.
Dave F. said: “The Church should honorably release all missionaries currently serving, dismantle the current system, and then rebuild a more effective one when the pandemic has passed.” Well, some things will certainly change. I suspect most changes will come because the Church’s hand will be forced.
Math Nerd said: “Are recently returned missionaries engaging in effective self-isolation practices?” I suspect a lot of people are granting themselves exceptions, including young and underinformed missionaries. I wonder if larger family sizes in Utah will work against the effectiveness of isolation protocols?
Everyone else: Thanks for the comments. I know there will be at least two additional posts at W&T that explore other changes likely to come to the Church in the near future as a result of COVID. I look forward to your additional comments.
I think if as a parent I had a kid out now and others to follow I would never hand this power over my kids to the church again, and if I had a kid out now I’d be buying them a ticket home and telling them to get back now, and then appropriately socially isolating, challenging as that is. That’s a radical mind shift for me, but life needs to teach us stuff.
Church News today : “…Missionary Department is seeing a reshaping of mission work as elders and sisters are reaching out, teaching and being trained in new ways.”
Wayfarer, except you know there are now no direct flights out, borders closing etc. Staying put is now safer than risking be stranded in a airport with no flights in or out, no support and facilities. Which is where a bit of foresight and getting kids home sooner would have been a very good idea. Getting them out has been left too late. And it’s the non – American missionaries who are left behind.
So much for revelation and foresight of the prophet of this world.
I don’t have a kid out now, and would be hesitant to take steps to send one. I was honestly surprised last week when a coworker told me their child opened the mission call. Scheduled to leave in June. If I did, I’d let the church assume financial responsibility for her/him, as per the church’s agreement with the I.R.S. Anyone know what year that was?
BYU should offer free online classes to all missionaries sitting in apartments. On any subject the missionary chooses. Let them use this time to move forward with their life, building a meaningful foundation.
“End of the Missionary Program As We Know It?” No. Betteridge’s law of headlines is an adage that states: “Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no”
It’s been a long time since I look at W&T. I’m not dead yet but maybe pretty soon…