I remember the first time I was a trainer.  We were instructed by our mission president to take our new missionary tracting as soon as we got them back to the apartment.  Didn’t even give them time to unpack.  I think I handled the first dozen or so door approaches before my “greenie” got the courage to try one.  On his very first try, a man came to the door wearing nothing but boxer shorts with a handgun tucked in the front.  The man suggested we leave.   We did.  What a great way to start a mission.

I experienced two mission presidents while there.  Both of them had different approaches to proselyting, but one thing remained the same.  We were to spend as little time as possible with existing members of the church.  We were even told that if there wasn’t an investigator at church, that we were to be sure to attend one of our wards and take the sacrament, but then we should leave and be out in the community proselyting, even attending other churches.  We did this quite a bit.  While in Nevada, I attended Catholic Mass, Jehovah’s Witness meetings, and a variety of other Christian denomination meetings.  While not  always resulting in formal teaching opportunities, attending these other churches generated a lot of gospel discussions.

When we were with members, we would tract or take them street contacting.  We never visited with the less active unless it was a part-member family situation that had a potential convert.  Our dinner appointments with members were to be wrapped up in under an hour unless a non-member was present.  The total focus was on bringing souls to Christ through the ordinances of baptism and confirmation.  And you can’t do that when you spend all your time with the “already baptized”.

Fast forward to today.

The mission in the area where I live has been given a mandate that every companionship needs to teach 20 missionary discussions a week.  I guess that’s a good thing.  I remember similar goals when I was a full time missionary.  However, here, where I live, the focus seems to be on teaching these discussions to member families, not non-members.  The missionaries in our ward pass around two calendars.  One is the dinner calendar, and the other is a calendar for you to have them over to teach you a discussion.

To me, that’s just bizarre.  I just don’t understand the logic in “Preaching to the choir”.  I mean, pretty much all active, attending LDS families are probably already converted.  There is almost zero chance that anyone they are teaching is a candidate for baptism and confirmation.

I’ve heard the argument that this will help inspire members to invite non-members over to take part in these discussions.  Frankly, I don’t buy it.  In the last couple years that they’ve been trying this, we have had ZERO convert baptisms in our ward as a result.

Is this the future of missionary work in the church?  To spend all that money, time, effort, and resources to become an over-glorified home teaching program?

See the rest of the story at:

http://www.calgarysun.com/entertainment/movies/2010/05/17/13981316.html

Now all these things are available as apps on iPods / iPhones.  So they have a little “Sunday” page on their device that has all of the things we will let them do during sacrament metting if they are bored.  Our rule is, if you use to do it on paper, you can do it on your iPod.

I’m sure we’re not the only ones who do this.  Any suggestions for good sacrament meeting apps?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/winter-olympics/7269950/Winter-Olympics-2010-Torah-Bright-wins-Australias-first-gold-medal-in-halfpipe.html

Good thing the competition wasn’t on a Sunday… ;-)

Growing up in my family, we weren’t allowed in the back yard to play on the swings or jump on the trampoline if it was Sunday.  No play dates with friends either.  BYU teams do not play or practice on Sunday.  Using examples like those, it would seem to be pretty clear that honoring the sabbath day means no sports or anything like unto it.

That is, unless you get paid millions of dollars for playing a sport, or coaching a professional sport, or perhaps you are competing at the olympic level.  In that case, you may get talked about in General Conference.  The Ensign and New Era will do articles on you.  You will be asked by Stake Presidents and bishops around the world to give firesides on your experiences. 

Thing is, you don’t get to compete at that level unless you spend some serious time practicing and playing your sport.  And most of the time that means practicing or playing on Sunday.  On the official church web site, the newsroom routinely showcases LDS olympians and other professional athletes who have spent much of their life tuning their craft at many a Sunday tournament or practice. 

Sure, playing sports is one thing, but how about watching?  My experience teaches me that it’s frowned upon to actually attend a sporting event on Sunday, but watching on T.V. seems to be acceptable.  That is, unless the olympics are being held in Salt Lake City.  Then you need to go volunteer and help run the event so things go smoothly.  Regardless, would sporting events even be held on Sunday if there was no audience to watch?  I’m sure some would, but I also bet that many wouldn’t.  Even still, our sacrament meeting attendance seems to be a little thinner on Superbowl Sunday.

So, dear readers, what is it we should tell our young members of the church when they ask if it’s OK to play sports on Sunday?  Does the answer change if they have potential as a future olympian or NFL quarterback?

With about 25 minutes left to go and half way through the third speakers talk, we had a medical emergency in the congregation.?Ǭ† This particular emergency happened smack dab in the middle of the chapel.?Ǭ† Very quickly, members close to the situation tried to assist and get control.?Ǭ† One quickly left and called 9-1-1 to summon the paramedics.

Now, if that wasn’t interesting enough, the response of the rest of the congregation was.

We had a member of the stake presidency sitting on the stand for our meeting (you know, the guy who is suppose to be presiding at the meeting).?Ǭ† He did absolutely nothing and sat there as if it was any other Sunday meeting.

Our bishop sent one of his counselors down to investigate.?Ǭ† The counselor, after assessing the situation, went out into the hallway and waited for the paramedics to arrive instead of reporting back to the bishop.

The speaker received no direction from the leadership on the stand.?Ǭ† He just stayed at the pulpit and continued to give his talk until he was done.?Ǭ† No effort was made to shorten it or look to the leadership for guidance.?Ǭ† He clearly didn’t have anybodies attention.?Ǭ† Everyone in the congregation was watching the unfolding drama happening in the pews.

After his talk, the other counselor instructed organ player to play interlude music while we all sat there.

When the paramedics arrived, the entire congregation sat and watched them work on this individual to a nice rendition of “I know that my redeemer lives”.

Nobody at any time attempted to give a blessing to the person in distress.

The themes of all the talks were… wait for it… ?Ǭ†”How to be better disciples of Christ”.

I cannot recall a time where I felt more akward in sacrament meeting.

Have you ever been in a sacrament meeting where a medical emergency has occured??Ǭ† How was the situation handled?

Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.

Avoid comparing yourself to other missionaries and measuring the outward results of your efforts against theirs. Remember that people have agency to choose whether to accept your message.

There it is in black and white.

I am still surprised at how many missionaries, ward mission leaders, bishops, stake presidents, and mission presidents measure their success by baptisms alone.

But how else would you go about measuring commitment??Ǭ† Why the need to measure in the first place?

http://www.ericdsnider.com/blog/2008/03/26/childrens-letters-to-raven-symone-xv/

Check out the Jan 27, 2008 response to see what I’m talkin about. No kidding, when I read that, I stopped laughing and got a little choked up. I wish I could invite Jessica over to our house so she could play guitar hero with my daughters.

Suffer the little children…

?Ǭ†The Semi-trailer backed up to the front of our house and the moving company employees deployed the ramp.?Ǭ† Boxes started to move into the house.?Ǭ† My wife and I started directing the movers where to put what.?Ǭ† The kids were excited, running around in the back yard.?Ǭ†?Ǭ†

?Ǭ†That’s when we first met Kim, our next door neighbor.?Ǭ† She, and her two small girls came out the front door and cheerfully introduced themselves.?Ǭ† They were the only people in our cul-de-sac who did so.?Ǭ† What a wonderful family Kim has.?Ǭ† We met her husband Steve when he got home from work that evening.?Ǭ† They are two of the most friendly people we had ever met.?Ǭ† Always helpful.?Ǭ† Always a hello or goodbye.?Ǭ† You couldn’t ask for better neighbors.?Ǭ† They helped make our transition to Calgary a smoother one.

?Ǭ†Over the last few years, we have grown our frienship with Kim and Steve and their girls.?Ǭ† My daughter would often babysit for them if they needed a night together at the movies or dinner.?Ǭ† Our children would play together.?Ǭ† It was nice to have good friends nearby.

This evening, Steve knocked on our door and brought us some bad news.?Ǭ† He and Kim?Ǭ†were in a car accident this morning.?Ǭ† Kim passed away.?Ǭ†?Ǭ†?Ǭ†Its difficult to think that she is gone.?Ǭ† It’s one of those things that just hits you out of nowhere, unexpected.?Ǭ† My heart breaks when I think of those wonderful girls of hers who will have to grow up without their mother.?Ǭ† I can’t imagine what Steve must be going through.?Ǭ† I wish there was something I could do to make it better, but it’s just one of those hard lessons life teaches us.?Ǭ† She leaves behind two wonderful children, a good husband, a loving extended family and friends, and some very sad neighbors.?Ǭ† Thanks for making Calgary so friendly Kim.?Ǭ† We love you and will never forget you.

I know the gospel of Jesus Christ teaches about the afterlife, the resurrection, and that family ties extend beyond this earth life.?Ǭ† Somehow, that doesn’t offer me any comfort or relief from the cold hard reality Steve brought to our family tonight.

I have had a few experiences in my life that have shaped my understanding of the gospel and the church. These key experiences have shaped the small testimony that I have and I feel like there isnâ€t anything that could ever change my understanding of those experiences, or what they taught me afterwards.

When I was on my mission, I had what I call a “Negative Spiritual Experience”. Not that the Holy Ghost gave me a negative experience, but it was something that Iâ€m fairly convinced was adversarial in nature. This experience, for the first time in my life, caused me to actually fear the gospel and gave me an understanding of what is at stake in the spiritual war we find ourselves in. It took me a very long time to overcome this experience. When I finally did, I was able to finish my full-time mission and I found myself firmly on “The Lordâ€s Side” of a line that had been drawn for me in the spiritual sand. From this experience, I learned how real the adversary is and the extent and limits of his power.

Another experience I had involved giving a blessing. As I walked into the situation, I quickly came to realize that the person in need of this blessing was clinically dead and the only thing keeping them alive were the various medical machines designed to keep basic body functions going. I was preparing myself to give a blessing of comfort to release this person from their pain and suffering. But it wasnâ€t meant to be.

As I placed my hands on this person’s head to seal the blessing, I saw something. It was like remembering something that happened before and you are seeing the event in your mind. Itâ€s almost like I was day dreaming for a split second. The thing is, I knew the thing I had just seen hadnâ€t happened yet, but that it would. I saw this person smiling, laughing, and playing with family members in their home. Was it a vision? I donâ€t know. But it felt like I was remembering something that hadnâ€t happened yet. I then continued with the blessing. I blessed this person that they would recover from their condition nearly 100% and that they would once again laugh and play with their family members. In the blessing, I mentioned that it would be a long and slow recovery, but that it would come in time. It did, and I have personally witnessed this person, laughing and playing with family members just as I saw.
From this experience, I have learned that God is real and that the priesthood and the authority to use it has actual power. I learned that all things are possible with God. Not that it will always turn out that way, but it can if itâ€s meant to be.

The third experience involves some callings I have had. Many of them have been leadership callings in the church. My first three leadership experiences found me as a counsellor in a presidency. They were experiences of learning from the mistakes of others. Nothing earth shattering there. We all see things we donâ€t like and decide how we would do things better if we were ever in charge. I made my list and kept it to myself in case I was ever in the position to need it.

I then had what I consider to be the best calling experience of my life. I was called to be a counsellor in the Stake Mission Presidency. I could go on for paragraphs about that experience and what it taught me. I believe I can sum up that experience by saying that it was the first time I had ever witnessed “True Presidency”. I have never seen it in any form since. I count myself blessed to have been a part of it. This leadership experience wasnâ€t about learning what not to do. It was about, in my opinion, the only way to function in a leadership role in the church.

It wasnâ€t exactly about how we lead the stake mission, although the results we had were amazing (In fact, when the order came to disband the stake mission organization, our stake presidency told us that if the letter hadnâ€t had the signature of the first presidency on it, they would have thrown it out). The workings of our presidency were as close to perfect as I can ever imagine them being. And when I see any other presidency in action, I can tell if they have it or not.

There is a personal chemistry component that contributes to true presidency. There are also procedural components as well. I learned that when inspired people make inspired callings, it all works out. There were people called by inspiration to the stake mission who failed miserably in their calling. But it was the right call and had the stamp of approval of the spirit. We also knew the doctrines related to the Stake Mission inside and out. We knew every part of the Church Handbook of Instructions that affected the Stake Mission inside and out. We lead by inspiration and followed exactly the program that the brethren had prescribed. And the parts that were left up to us, we filled in those blanks using out personal experience, opinion, counsel, and inspiration to arrive at what the Lord wanted us to do. It was fluid. It changed as the needs of the Stake Mission changed.

After that experience, when I was called to a position of president, I did everything I could to re-capture the atmosphere of true presidency. I knew it worked and I knew it was the only way to work.

Thus begins the faith crises I am currently in the middle of. Being in this presidency, and feeling secure in how things were suppose to happen, I attempted to work with my Stake Presidency and Bishop in staffing and running my organization as I knew had to be run. I had nothing but an uphill battle. It was a constant fight to follow the basic guidelines in the handbook. Never had I even thought that a priesthood leader would even consider setting aside the doctrines and principles of priesthood leadership, and ignore direct council given in the handbook.

Bishops and Stake Presidencies have changed for me a number of times since then, and I see an increasingly disregard for doctrine and handbook procedures and counsel. It has almost come to the point where I lack any faith in any of my local priesthood leaders. I cannot bring myself to follow sub-standard leadership when I know they are directly going against what they should in many cases. I feel as though I would be untrue to myself and my testimony. I have tried to talk to them and voice my concerns. In response I have been told things like “Well, as long as Iâ€m in this calling, this is the way that Iâ€m going to do it?” or “This is how the Stake President wants it done”. Nothing will ever change there.

I know Godâ€s power is real, but he will let his children wander in darkness if we are unwilling to follow his counsel. I know the adversaryâ€s power is real and waiting to lead us away from the gospel at any chance he gets. I also know that he can only do this if we let him. I also know how the church organization is meant to be lead and what principles are to govern church organization. I feel as though I am torn between two choices. I can either follow my local leaders into the fringes of apostasy, or I can withdraw from them, thus alienating myself from any link to the gospel, and I just donâ€t know what to do.