I know we have a couple people here who served in France/French-speaking Europe...

[Tim]

I saw this on a Mormon blog today:

[tooblue]

I served my mission in southern France and spent 4 months in Toulouse. Also, for those who served in the Toronto area, the Toronto East and Toronto West missions are being combined this summer FYI.

[cougjunkie]

I think this is where Filsdepac served. If my hunch is correct it does not surprise me that after he left his mark they felt the need to close the mission.

[LiveCoug]

My sister served in that mission with Elder Aaron Ekhart.

[pellegrino]

I don't know what to make of the closing of all these European missions.

[TripletDaddy]

I don't know what to make of the closing of all these European missions.

Apparently it is a positive move?

[myboynoah]

I don't know what to make of the closing of all these European missions.

Finite resources and demand pull from other regions.

[pellegrino]

Finite resources and demand pull from other regions.

spoken like a true businessman.

[thesaint258]

I don't know what to make of the closing of all these European missions.

When they closed my mission and rolled it together with Munich, one of the Apostles (I forget which), told one of the mission's former presidents with whom I was still in contact that they were shifting missionaries to the US and Canada because they were seeing so much success here. I don't know if that's still the reason (they closed my mission almost ten years ago), but I have noticed that of the mission calls I hear about, a much larger percentage of those missionaries are staying stateside rather than going to a foreign mission than when I got my call.

[Indy Coug]

Finite resources and demand pull from other regions.

This.

[Uncle Ted]

Finite resources and demand pull from other regions.

I am guessing they could increase the resources if they lowered the bar a bit. Maybe it has to do more with return on investment. Other areas of the world have better ROI. I read somewhere the conversion rate in Western Europe has fallen to something like one convert per missionary and that was even an high estimate.

[Moliere]

Finite resources and demand pull from other regions.

This is true. The number of missionaries is steadily declining mostly because of demographics but also because of the bar being raised. I served from 97-99 and we had almost 60,000 missionaries out then. I think that number is down around 50,000 and as the number of missionaries declines you have to pull them out of somewhere and Europe is probably the best place.

When I was out we had 5 french speaking missions in Europe (Paris, Brussels, Bordeaux, Marseille, Geneva). Shortly after I got home the Bordeaux mission was split up and part of it went to the Paris mission adn the other part combined with Marseille to make the Toulouse mission. Now it seems Geneva is being split with part of it going to Paris and the other part combining with Toulouse to become the Lyons mission.

I'm not sure if it is a positive thing to consolidate missions, but I will say that looking back on it there were probably too many missionaries in the Paris mission to really accomplish the work being done. As for members doing more of the missionary work, maybe things have changed but when I was there the members had already talked to all of their friends about the Gospel and had invited them over at least 7 times to hear the missionaries, which invitations for the most part were likely turned down.

I will say that the French members of the church are some of the best people I've ever known. France is a tough place to be Mormon.

[BigPiney]

I can't see the image, what does it say?

long live the Marseille Mission.

[filsdepac]

This is sad news, I'd like to know what they'll do with the mission home in Chambesy. That thing will fetch a pretty penny. I was just talking to my good friend who I served with in the mission home and he said we should buy it and turn it into a B&B. We'd give tours of the office and recount stories of scaring each other, making up songs on the piano, and playing "Qu'est-ce que je gratte?" in the dark.

Moving to Lyon makes sense, I'd be curious to see where the home is put.

I think this is where Filsdepac served. If my hunch is correct it does not surprise me that after he left his mark they felt the need to close the mission.

That was the thought of my friend too, singing "Follow the prophet" with an evil voice and finishing it off with a devilish laugh at the end probably didn't help. "He knows the wayyyyyyy!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA"

I am guessing they could increase the resources if they lowered the bar a bit. Maybe it has to do more with return on investment. Other areas of the world have better ROI. I read somewhere the conversion rate in Western Europe has fallen to something like one convert per missionary and that was even an high estimate.

The conversion rate in the French/Swiss mission was actually pretty good. I saw about a dozen in my two years (still way below what they do outside of Europe, I know), but I'd say almost all of them were either Chinese students, African refugees, or South American immigrants.

[Moliere]

The conversion rate in the French/Swiss mission was actually pretty good. I saw about a dozen in my two years (still way below what they do outside of Europe, I know), but I'd say almost all of them were either Chinese students, African refugees, or South American immigrants.

I was going to ask if they were all immigrants or refugees. Those made up a lot of the baptisms in Paris. They were great people and it was even better when they kept coming back to church after their baptism. The best thing about the French is that they don't take things lightly. If they get baptized, chances are they have vetted it out pretty good and are likely to stick around and be active. We had one person that investigated the church off and on for over 20 years and finally got baptized.