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  • Originally posted by Bo Diddley View Post
    Is that a local rule, or universal? We worked 70+ hours per week in our mission, so we were always out after dark (back in the day...).
    Definitely not universal. Some neighbors of ours are mad that the elders are tracting at night.
    τὸν ἥλιον ἀνατέλλοντα πλείονες ἢ δυόμενον προσκυνοῦσιν

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    • Originally posted by Bo Diddley View Post
      Is that a local rule, or universal? We worked 70+ hours per week in our mission, so we were always out after dark (back in the day...).
      It's apparently a new rule in this mission, and i don't know if it's universal. And yes, we too were expected to work >70 hours a week, with at least 30 hours of tracting, usually going until 9 pm or later. I spent close to 4,000 hours tracting, resulting in two baptisms (in Austria, that was unusually good!), but lots of really interesting experiences and conversations. Despite those, I hated tracting.

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      • Originally posted by PaloAltoCougar View Post
        It's apparently a new rule in this mission, and i don't know if it's universal. And yes, we too were expected to work >70 hours a week, with at least 30 hours of tracting, usually going until 9 pm or later. I spent close to 4,000 hours tracting, resulting in two baptisms (in Austria, that was unusually good!), but lots of really interesting experiences and conversations. Despite those, I hated tracting.
        We did plenty of tracting in London South, but had no quotas per se. Tracting was the least productive form of contacting, but still produced results. I met many interesting people, some of whom were baptized. I didn't hate tracting.

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        • Tracting? In 2018? I thought that was largely phased out in 2013, with the advent of the iPad missionary tools.

          Don't get me wrong, it's the source of some of my fondest memories, (such as the time I got punched in the nuts by a silent 5 year old when I was trying to figure out from his older brother when his parents would be home to express their disinterest), but it was never that effective.

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          • Echoing the many voices before me, the evening hours were among our most productive as far as teaching. Didn't do much knocking after dark, even though I dont recall any prohibition on tracting/knocking/clapping. Of course, we also didn't really eat dinner since almuerzo was where it was at. Our "dinner" was typically a small snack just before bed - something like crackers/bread with some jam or dulce de leche. Yum.
            "I think it was King Benjamin who said 'you sorry ass shitbags who have no skills that the market values also have an obligation to have the attitude that if one day you do in fact win the PowerBall Lottery that you will then impart of your substance to those without.'"
            - Goatnapper'96

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            • Originally posted by Pelado View Post
              Echoing the many voices before me, the evening hours were among our most productive as far as teaching. Didn't do much knocking after dark, even though I dont recall any prohibition on tracting/knocking/clapping. Of course, we also didn't really eat dinner since almuerzo was where it was at. Our "dinner" was typically a small snack just before bed - something like crackers/bread with some jam or dulce de leche. Yum.
              Yeah, I think evening hours are most productive for our elders here too because when we feed them, they prefer the earliest slots possible (like 5 or 6 pm). I think given the new rules I will just start giving our elders gift cards for different places to eat until they come out with a rule disallowing that. And maybe send them home with some crockpot recipes with the ingredients since they can't use the internet to look up recipes.

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              • My dad said that they just had the new “no feeding the missionaries” rule instituted in Fresno as well. Apparently they will get a small bump in their monthly income.

                Nothing up here, but I hear it’s a 30 stake trial throughout Parts of California. I think it’s a dumb rule.

                Plus, just this week our missionaries started telling people that they weren’t allowed to accept cash or gift cards for meals any longer. What an awesome time to be a missionary in California!!!


                Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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                • I spoke to a couple of missionaries in long beach who just flash their elder tag for a free meal at a chain of El Pollo Locos. Freaked everyone out when one of them, a sandy haired freckled kid from Idaho started speaking in Cambodian to some work men.

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                  • Originally posted by bluegoose View Post
                    My dad said that they just had the new “no feeding the missionaries” rule instituted in Fresno as well. Apparently they will get a small bump in their monthly income.

                    Nothing up here, but I hear it’s a 30 stake trial throughout Parts of California. I think it’s a dumb rule.

                    Plus, just this week our missionaries started telling people that they weren’t allowed to accept cash or gift cards for meals any longer. What an awesome time to be a missionary in California!!!


                    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
                    Oh the memories. Europe under Lasater. 80+ expected work hours, only meeting with members when there are investigators present (for me that included Sunday, we had to leave church after sacrament meeting if no investigators were present), P-day eliminated, doorway baptismal challenges, zone conference guilt trips, etc. Watching half the mission just simply give up and decide that lying about work efforts was an acceptable alternative.

                    If someday I decide the church going benefits are no longer sufficient to maintain equilibrium, it's these continued policies that will make up the bulk of the counterweight.

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                    • Originally posted by swampfrog View Post
                      only meeting with members when there are investigators present (for me that included Sunday, we had to leave church after sacrament meeting if no investigators were present),
                      Idiocy. Like any other referral source, relationships with members have to be cultivated, nurtured, and developed so that the members feel comfortable that the missionaries won't be assholes to their friends. Sometimes this takes many sets of missionaries after the last asshole.

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                      • Our mission has had the no-feeding the missionaries rule for a while now. Not exactly sure how long, but probably at least one year.

                        To be honest, its not that we can't feed the missionaries. Its that if we do feed them, the rules so incredibly strict that basically no one can really comply. As I understand it, if you want to feed the missionaries, you've got to do so under these circumstances only:

                        1. Missionaries can only eat with a member family one time per week. The elders in my ward cover two wards, and that one dinner appointment covers both wards - one dinner per week, not one dinner per week per ward.
                        2. The dinner can under no circumstances last longer than 1 hour.
                        3. The dinner must be concluded by 6:00 p.m. So if you are going to use the full hour with the missionaries, you have to start at 5:00 p.m.
                        4. There is some leeway to these rules if the elders are teaching an investigator in your home, but I believe that in that case, the eating portion of the night can't be longer than 30 minutes.

                        I happen to be the WML in my ward, so in theory I should have the most contact with the elders (which I'm sure I do), which would probably lead to us having them to dinner the most. I've never had the missionaries over for dinner. However, to be fair, the elders all seem to have bought into this new rule and think it is very effective. Weekday nights between 6:00 and 8:00 are some of the most fertile times for teaching and finding. The missionaries are doing quite well in our area as of late, with 3 convert baptisms in the last 6 months (pretty good for a small geographic area that is already highly populated with MOTCOJCOLDS).
                        Last edited by falafel; 11-12-2018, 10:06 AM.
                        Ain't it like most people, I'm no different. We love to talk on things we don't know about.

                        "The only one of us who is so significant that Jeff owes us something simply because he decided to grace us with his presence is falafel." -- All-American

                        GIVE 'EM HELL, BRIGHAM!

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                        • Originally posted by falafel View Post
                          Out mission has had the no-feeding the missionaries rule for a while now. Not exactly sure how long, but probably at least one year.

                          To be honest, its not that we can't feed the missionaries. Its that if we do feed them, the rules so incredibly strict that basically no one can really comply. As I understand it, if you want to feed the missionaries, you've got to do so under these circumstances only:

                          1. Missionaries can only eat with a member family one time per week. The elders in my ward cover two wards, and that one dinner appointment covers both wards - one dinner per week, not one dinner per week per ward.
                          2. The dinner can under no circumstances last longer than 1 hour.
                          3. The dinner must be concluded by 6:00 p.m. So if you are going to use the full hour with the missionaries, you have to start at 5:00 p.m.
                          4. There is some leeway to these rules if the elders are teaching an investigator in your home, but I believe that in that case, the eating portion of the night can't be longer than 30 minutes.

                          I happen to be the WML in my ward, so in theory I should have the most contact with the elders (which I'm sure I do), which would probably lead to us having them to dinner the most. I've never had the missionaries over for dinner. However, to be fair, the elders all seem to have bought into this new rule and think it is very effective. Weekday nights between 6:00 and 8:00 are some of the most fertile times for teaching and finding. The missionaries are doing quite well in our area as of late, with 3 convert baptisms in the last 6 months (pretty good for a small geographic area that is already highly populated with MOTCOJCOLDS).
                          i'd call it a humblebrag, but there is nothing humble about it!
                          I'm like LeBron James.
                          -mpfunk

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                          • Apparently our stake was asked to host all of the Temple Square sister missionaries for Thanksgiving Dinner. My wife says an email went out - which she replied to stating that we'd be willing.

                            Only "rule" she told me, was that they have to be home by 4pm.

                            Incidentally - the Stake President told me a couple of days ago that we were also going to be asked to provide Christmas gifts for the Temple Square sisters next month. Apparently, typically the sisters from out of country don't receive a package from home for Christmas. So they want to have members pick something nice up for all of those sisters - making sure everyone has something to open on the big day. I guess we'll see what that looks like when the next email goes out - but he said it wouldn't be anything expensive. Just something so they know someone is thinking of them.

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                            • Most of my mission time would have been in violation of the dinner rules. Members in Puerto Rico loved missionaries, and they wanted to feed them. Some areas we had dinners lined up each night of the week. The vast majority of members did not provide us with referrals. But they gave us lots of yummy arroz y habichuelas, which I will always be grateful for!
                              "...you pointy-headed autopsy nerd. Do you think it's possible for you to post without using words like "hilarious," "absurd," "canard," and "truther"? Your bare assertions do not make it so. Maybe your reasoning is too stunted and your vocabulary is too limited to go without these epithets."
                              "You are an intemperate, unscientific poster who makes light of very serious matters.”
                              - SeattleUte

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                              • I'm wondering if the no dinner rule is going to be church wide. Just found out our mission is going to be implementing that here as well.
                                "Nobody listens to Turtle."
                                -Turtle
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