Fence Sitter wrote: They are going to stay higher, though I doubt the levels predicted. Look at the increased numbers of girls going. The increase in female missionary numbers are not going to go down significantly and there will be less loss of the males deciding not to go due to the year of maturing outside of high school and away, in some instances, from mom and dad.
OK, I neglected the 'girl effect' of pulling more in at a younger, pre-marriage age, as opposed to exposing them to an extra two years to get hitched and be removed from the list of possible candidates. I can see how that would change things up a bit.
I'm not so sure that the effect on numbers of dudes would be as significant or long lasting, though. Time will tell...
zeezrom wrote:Remind me what these kids need iPads for?
To present a hip, modern image.
"We have taken up arms in defense of our liberty, our property, our wives, and our children; we are determined to preserve them, or die." - Captain Moroni - 'Address to the Inhabitants of Canada' 1775
Bazooka wrote: If the iPad is the property of the missionary, the Church cannot control the content on the iPad.
I'm surprised you would think that. Since when has the church respected personal boundaries?
"We have taken up arms in defense of our liberty, our property, our wives, and our children; we are determined to preserve them, or die." - Captain Moroni - 'Address to the Inhabitants of Canada' 1775
zeezrom wrote:Remind me what these kids need iPads for?
The Church thinks it is a good idea for missionaries to spend time on the internet trying to convert people in social networks.
I think it is a recipe for disaster. Time will tell.
The Church is also just figuring out, according to the OP article, that young people work well with electronic devices when it comes to reading and communication. Truly a prophet was involved in that revelation!
Last edited by Guest on Thu Jul 03, 2014 3:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Bazooka wrote: If the iPad is the property of the missionary, the Church cannot control the content on the iPad.
I'm surprised you would think that. Since when has the church respected personal boundaries?
They don't have to control the equipment, just the user.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Fence Sitter wrote:It will never be released, but I would be very interested in the % of missionaries coming home early before the age change and after.
I've heard from a very credible source (at least to me) that this figure is roughly 10%, which would equate to approximately 8,000 full-time missionaries returning home early each year.
"Moving beyond apologist persuasion, LDS polemicists furiously (and often fraudulently) attack any non-traditional view of Mormonism. They don't mince words -- they mince the truth."
-- Mike Quinn, writing of the FARMSboys, in "Early Mormonism and the Magic World View," p. x (Rev. ed. 1998)
zeezrom wrote:Remind me what these kids need iPads for?
The Church thinks it is a good idea for missionaries to spend time on the internet trying to convert people in social networks.
I think it is a recipe for disaster. Time will tell.
The Church is also just figuring out, according to the OP article that young people work will with electronic devices when it comes to reading and communication. Truly a prophet was involved in that revelation!
I don't know anything about the iPad program, but if they have all their lesson material in electronic format on the iPad, it will save the church a ton of money in the long run, especially since they are passing the cost of the iPads onto the elders.
"We have taken up arms in defense of our liberty, our property, our wives, and our children; we are determined to preserve them, or die." - Captain Moroni - 'Address to the Inhabitants of Canada' 1775
Fence Sitter wrote:It will never be released, but I would be very interested in the % of missionaries coming home early before the age change and after.
The Newsroom claims it is relatively the same.
Mission leaders report that the early return rate for elders and sisters has gone up, but it is very close to the proportional rise in the entire number of the missionary force. “As we have more missionaries, we're going to have more of everything,” said Elder Evans.
The quote from Elder Evans is misleading. One would not expect an increase in the early return rate as a result of increasing the number of missionaries. The number of early returning missionaries would increase, but not the rate.
“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.”
― Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
Brad Hudson wrote: The quote from Elder Evans is misleading. One would not expect an increase in the early return rate as a result of increasing the number of missionaries. The number of early returning missionaries would increase, but not the rate.
I would expect the percentage of early returns to go up because the average age of the missionaries has been lowered, so I would expect to see an increase in the rate.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Fence Sitter wrote:It will never be released, but I would be very interested in the % of missionaries coming home early before the age change and after.
I've heard from a very credible source (at least to me) that this figure is roughly 10%, which would equate to approximately 8,000 full-time missionaries returning home early each year.
It was been a long time since my mission but I am pretty sure there were only 2 or 3 missionaries a year going home from a mission of 150-175. 10% would be an enormous increase over what I saw in my mission. I do know that I am hearing a lot more stories of returned missionaries than I had in the past.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."