My son's mission is part of a 24 month test...

[Non Sequitur]

In Ecuador nobody tracted. All you had to do was talk to people you naturally came in contact with and you would have more than enough to keep you busy. We would always ask them if they wanted us to show them a movie in their house. They always said yes and then we would tell them to go ahead and invite all their friends. I knew every line of Johnny Lingo by heart.

[Solon]

The old white bible stated specifically that tracting was the least effective method of finding people. I was always confused that missions allowed missionaries to spend so much time engaged in what was already acknowledged to be highly ineffective.

Sounds like a really cool idea to shift much of that time spent into direct service hours. When you consider the aggregate man hours of all missionaries in the field, that is a lot of good that can be done in the world.

In the version of the white bible I had, tracting (going door-to-door) was considered more effective than street contacting and talking to everyone.

I really like the ideas of missionaries performing more service, less door-to-door pestering.

[Tim]

Europe wasn't much different in the early 80's.

in my mission, Germany, Munich (before Munich annexed Austria and German speaking Switzerland - and soon the rest of the German-speaking world! But I digress...), we had about 150 missionaries and about 75 baptisms a year - one baptism per missionary per two-year mission. Problem was, about 60% of those baptisms were American servicemen. We were really only baptizing about 4/10th of a german per missionary's two-year mission.

And we knocked on A LOT of doors - usually 35-40 hours per week. Which works out to right about 4000 hours for 0.4 converts, or 10,000 hours of knocking on doors for 1 convert baptism (on average).

I'm pretty sure Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, not Switzerland.

[Viking]

I tracted exactly three times during the european tenure of my mission. Missionaries went through and candy-bar'd Portugal in the late 1970s and 1980s (baptized kids, urban legend was they'd offer candy bars)...mobility in the country is very low so most people had the same address they had as kids (men in particular as they live at home into their 30s) so we just took out the inactive and part-member family list and canvassed every area...and ended up teaching family members and in the process reactivated a few people.

[Solon]

I'm pretty sure Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia, not Switzerland.

I thought the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

At least, that's what Bluto told me.

[wuapinmon]

I thought the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

At least, that's what Bluto told me.

Leave him alone, dude. He's on a roll.

[happyone]

Europe wasn't much different in the early 80's.

in my mission, Germany, Munich (before Munich annexed Austria and German speaking Switzerland - and soon the rest of the German-speaking world! But I digress...), we had about 150 missionaries and about 75 baptisms a year - one baptism per missionary per two-year mission. Problem was, about 60% of those baptisms were American servicemen. We were really only baptizing about 4/10th of a german per missionary's two-year mission.

And we knocked on A LOT of doors - usually 35-40 hours per week. Which works out to right about 4000 hours for 0.4 converts, or 10,000 hours of knocking on doors for 1 convert baptism (on average).

The Germany South Mission (Munich) - had about 150 babtisms per year in the early 70's, but more than 50% were servicemen or their dependants.

[Pheidippides]

I love this idea. I hope it takes hold. Whoever said that it would dwarf the Peace Corp is right.

I have significant concerns about sending my own son on a mission, most of which have been shared here by others. If this kind of program takes hold I would still have some concerns, but not as many.

[Tim]

I love this idea. I hope it takes hold. Whoever said that it would dwarf the Peace Corp is right.

I have significant concerns about sending my own son on a mission, most of which have been shared here by others. If this kind of program takes hold I would still have some concerns, but not as many.

Same here. I really like this idea and hope it grabs hold.

[Northwestcoug]

I've heard Colfax Ave is great for street walking.

[Omaha 680]

If this gets applied generally to all missions, maybe those recurring nightmares I have of getting a second mission call will finally stop.

[Indy Coug]

If this gets applied generally to all missions, maybe those recurring nightmares I have of getting a second mission call will finally stop.

I've only had about 50 of those dreams.

[clackamascoug]

Tracting wasn't a complete waste of time for me. The ability to go up to a stranger, and share/impose my beliefs has served me well in my life. I recently got a raise at work, and attribute my skill of engaging people to be a pivotal part of that raise. I'm now getting 10.25/hour as a Wal-Mart Greeter, and that is 1.25 an hour more than most greeters. I also get a discount on the golf equipment.

[SoCalCoug]

In his mission, they are NOT ALLOWED to tract. In fact, they're not allowed to really proselytize at all. Their primary responsibility is still to teach, but the stakes/wards/branches are being pushed to do the 'finding.' With all the time that no-tracting frees-up, they are to conduct meaningful service - in the more traditional Christian sense of the word - things like volunteering at food banks or soup kitchens, working on habitat for humanity projects, volunteering at hospitals/retirement homes, teaching/helping to teach ESL courses, etc.

The thought is that most time spent proselyting is essentially wasted. At the very least, trading tracting time for Habitat for Humanity time will do some good with otherwise wasted time, and will buy the Church a little good PR. The hope is that the PR turns into performance at least as good as that which tracting got. And it is hoped that the new responsibility for congregations to do ALL the finding will light a fire under those individuals and congregations that aren't doing much in that regard.

And they're doing this right - there are two 'comparable' missions where it's business as usual. Over the time frame of the test, the performance of those missions will be measured, and then compared to the performance of the test mission(s) (there may be more than one?).

Man I wish I could have done this on my mission. So many hours tracting. So many hours wasted...

I absolutely love this. I've long thought this was the way to go. I posted something on the subject about a year or so ago. I think the service done will do far more to garner interest in the church than tracting.

[SoCalCoug]

I will be asking for my release as WML if this rolls down to my area.

As much as I enjoy working with the Elders currently, I am not about to have to get involved in day to day missionary work again.

Unlike most of you...my mission was not enjoyable. I enjoyed the people, and the members of the ward.

The service portion of what you describe is what I enjoyed the most about my mission.

I hated everything else about full time missionary work. Tracting, numbers...discussions...all of that stuff. Hated it.

I would still have teaching missionaries, but just not as many - they'd cover much larger areas. I'd train the service missionaries in how to incorporate doctrinal discussions into their service opportunities, and instruct them to refer people to the teaching missionaries.

Of course, I'm not in a position to make these sorts of recommendations to the church, so God obviously doesn't like my ideas.