Internet Missionaries!


Melissa569
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Are there other areas doing this too?

Some of the missionaries around our county are now allowed to have Facebook accounts, and add all the other members of the church as friends, to chat in the evenings and such.

Of course I know that many missionaries have family memebrs back home who created facebook pages for them for family and close friends to follow and get regular updates. Some send their journal entries home, along with digital cam memory chips and the families update the pages regularly with what is sent home...

But in this case, our local missionaries get to sign into facebook themselves in the evenings, and talk to people, etc. And the young ones too, not just the married couples.

I just finished chatting in the instant message feature with our local missionary. He was just sharing the news that the ward had 2 more baptisms today :) . I've added several others as friends too, because I've seen them all hanging around the stake center. Although I'm not sure I agree with most of them putting their first names in their account screen names... I mean I personally don't care, but I do worry about security for them. Its kind of new and weird and to know the first names of your local missionaries, hahaha. I still respectfully call them Elder though.

They share different church fan pages with everyone, links to church websites, and send out ward event invitations. Also share scripture quotes and ward news as status updates. Hmmmmm, this could very well be a new way of reaching out to people! Like even if members don't make it to chuch that day, or they are just generally less active, they can still catch up with them when most of them are hanging out online in the evenings. And its pretty easy for them to find local members on Facebook too, because of course everyone's first and last names are registered in the church. :)

Edited by Melissa569
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Hmmmm, that's an interesting question! All I know is, I see them singned on anywhere between 6pm and 8pm in the evening. I do know some of them don't have their own apartment, some are taken in by other church members, like older couples who's kids have moved out, or single members of their own gender.

Maybe the members they live with have internet access. If that's the case, I'm sure they are well monitored.

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i think the being allowed to email to stay in contact with family is good but i think facebook would be to distracting from what they are there to do. the missionaries here (when we had them) had computer privileges reduced not increased.

Missionaries ARE allowed to email family. That is standard. But they do it on preparation days, and they do it from a public place, such as a library. And they are only allowed to email family, not friends.

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i could see allowing missionaries to chat on fb with ppl in the area they are serving in would very easily lead to inappropriate conversations/behavior/relationships being developed.

Possibly if they were alone, but I'm pretty sure they're being watched. Because something makes me doubt they would be allowed free access to the internet, with nobody around. I mean it just doesn't sound like something the church would ever allow.

Hopefully it is just elders/sisters who live in other member's homes, and its the household computer, with members/companions sitting close by like within view of the screen, or something.

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Hopefully it is just elders/sisters who live in other member's homes, and its the household computer, with members/companions sitting close by like within view of the screen, or something.

Are you sure it's actually something allowed by the mission president? I can definitely see a scenario where the member in whose home they're living says something like, "Oh, you'll be fine if you log on. I'll be here, so it's not like you can go to any bad sites. Plus, I can always check the history and verify. Besides, your mission president isn't on Facebook anyway, is he? So how would he ever know? And you're not surfing, just keeping in touch with people. It's so much easier than letters. They already let you email anyway, right?"

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I am for the internett for misionaries... dibending a bit what they are doing there. There is a LOT of good knowledge on the internett, which they should get their hands on, but then there is a lot bad info too, which they should not go to. My son writes me 3-6 rows e-mails. That is very little IMHO. I am a little bit better, but knowing he has a lot to do I also write short. He put some pictures on Facebook finally after some 8 months and soon has gone an other 8 months.... I think misionsries should have a netsite where they can post pictures and tella bout their mision, what they are doing. They get to go to the internett in a library. Misionaries here go to the Church for internett.

I been talking with my son on facebook a couple of times as there was something he needed to know right there and I think that was great and I dont think it disturbed his work. It is an other thing with those mothers that do not want to "let go" of their kids. I was able to help him to find good netsites for an investigator and to discuss some theolocigal problems he was not sure how to explain. It is a great feeling to have him there right then and I am sure he too had a great feeling knowing we are here for him. And I believe his steps were lighter that day. After all I could take a boat over night and meet him accidentaly on the streats anyday ...:P

I think it is unnatural to have a child somewhere and not beeing able to contact, but with an e-mail. I send short e-mails all week then I get 3 rows back on monday... HEY that is today I need to write him more :D

I think it would also be great if the missionaries were thaught to blogg about the church so that they would continue it after they had gone home. After all everyone is soon on the internett and we NEED our Church a lot more in picture on the internett! Also discusition forums are great for missionaries.

Sure there is a lot of dangers on the internett, but so it is everywhere.

FaceBook... UH.... NOT the best place but ok. There are a lot of good fb sites about the LDS church too sending these links to nonmembers is also misionarywork.

BTW my son wrote a letter to my 93 year old mother and she become soooo happy about it! Great misionary work that too. That was worth a tousand letters for me...:)

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maya, i understand what you are saying about the mother's perspective and wanting to stay in touch. but i still think it's a bad idea.

i think part of the idea of a mission is for the mother to learn to let go, so when he comes home and gets married and all that good stuff she isn't still trying to be a parent but can have an adult relationship. i also think it's good when the missionaries can't get answers from mom and dad quickly. teaches them to search the scriptures, pray, counsel with another person (their companion), seek answers from the lord to solve their problems. in other words be an independent adult and not a child that turns to mom and dad for all the answers. their job isn't to blog and do online missionary work, if they enjoy that they can do it when they get home, their job is to do in person work right where they are. to do a work with a focus on that and only that. you can't stay that focused when you are online chatting with ppl, even if it is "about missionary work".

i do think the weekly emails/letters should be longer. he can take the time to write, they give him a day for that. i also have no issues if someone was a blogger before the mission if they send pics and stories, etc to mom or dad and they post it on their blog to update friends. mom and dad are doing the busywork not them.

but that's just me and i can't promise i won't feel differently when it's my baby out there on a mission instead of yours. :)

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Wingnut-- Yikes, I certainly hope that’s not the case… If I were a missionary, I certainly would not want to risk it, if the church didn‘t ok it. With all the other church members on Facebook, I would be too afraid that it would find its way back to my bishop, the SP, or the MP, eventually just through talk.

I was really shocked to see him and some of the others on there. I first saw them because I got a notification that my Visitor Teacher had just added them to her friends list. So I was like… Wait, what?? I followed the links to their pages, and yup, there they were! First names, pictures, and all, but still currently serving! So I went ahead and added them too. Then I saw our missionary online, and shot him an IM, saying,

“Hey! What on earth are you doing on here?? Lol. I mean its good to see you and all, but still, I didn‘t think it was allowed…”

And here’s his reply, copied directly:

“Haha thanks. I'm on here because our mission has been assigned to pilot an online proselyting program using social networks, blogs, etc. Just a few of us were selected to do it. We are sort of a pioneering group, it's pretty crazy, but it's way sweet! They’re just seeing how it goes for now.”

Maya-- True, if its church-approved and well monitored (like from the bishop‘s office, or the church library, as both have internet access), I think its helpful. On our elders page, I see tons of mission work photos like community service, baptism photos, links to his blog, and blogs of church leaders, videos from the mormon missionary channel on YouTube, lots of neat things. And encouragement for everyone to “Suggest him as a friend to our non-member friends”.

Gwen-- I agree about the benefits in maturity concerning the “detachment from mom and dad”. My cousin Johnny just came home from his mission. Before he went, he was extremely shy and quiet, kept to himself a lot and had no clue what he wanted to do with his life. When you finally did get a word or reaction out of him, it was really goofy and “little-boy-ish”. But now he’s confident, outspoken, focused, and he has solid goals he’s actively chasing after. Personality wise, I hardly recognize him, lol (in a good sense).

But I’m sure these guys online are still doing plenty of in-person work. Whenever I see them online, its only for like a half hour in the evening. The rest of the day, they’re out and about doing the usual stuff. Now if they just converted to 100% online missionary work, and stopped doing door-to-door visits, home teachings, and community activities, etc.-- THAT I would have a huge problem with. Because they would miss out on everything that really changes a person for the better while on a mission (hard work, early hours, responsibility, social interaction, etc.).

Pam-- Hmm, its possible. I saw the phone our guys have, and it was actually pretty fancy! Lol. I asked to see it for a second, and it had just about every feature you could name. Although I really feel that a strict policy to accessing Facebook only from a bishop’s office or a church library would be safer and more focused for them, because they couldn’t just log on any old time and place.

Edited by Melissa569
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Hey I am an online missionary for the church, my calling is that of all missionaries "Invite others to come unto christ" to accomplish this we use facebook, and blogs. I encourage all who are not members of the church to check out my blog, and those who are members to become followers to my blog as well. I need as many as i can to help the word of the lord spread, invite all your friends as well, and i will do my best to help bring them in.

my blog To bring the world its truth

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Hey I am an online missionary for the church, my calling is that of all missionaries "Invite others to come unto christ" to accomplish this we use facebook, and blogs. I encourage all who are not members of the church to check out my blog, and those who are members to become followers to my blog as well. I need as many as i can to help the word of the lord spread, invite all your friends as well, and i will do my best to help bring them in.

my blog To bring the world its truth

if this is legit then would you like to explain what the idea behind it is, what you are supposed to be doing with your time, how it effects your in person work, etc? maybe you could tell the skeptics like me why this is a good idea instead of an accident waiting to happen. and please tell me your assignment isn't to spam forums with the same post over and over in multiple threads and what not to garner attention for a blog.

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Hey I am an online missionary for the church, my calling is that of all missionaries "Invite others to come unto christ" to accomplish this we use facebook, and blogs. I encourage all who are not members of the church to check out my blog, and those who are members to become followers to my blog as well. I need as many as i can to help the word of the lord spread, invite all your friends as well, and i will do my best to help bring them in.

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This is truly a great thing,

1.what we do with our time, is the same as all other missionaries. we still go out, tract, street contact and teach in peoples home, that is what a majority of our time is spent doing. we only spend one to two hours a day on the internet, if needed.

2. we do it in public libraries where, or family history centers, and it is only by missionaries the mission president selects. in our mission there is only 18 missionaries, not all missionaries will have it, only trusted ones.

3. sorry if I sound repetitive when i copy and pasted the same thing in forums. I just want to make known of the blog, we are encouraged to go to forums and link things to our blogs and mormon.org. the more followers i have to my blog the more, it will be seen on search engines and the more people will have to hear about the restored gospel.

I know it sounds weird, Missionaries on facebook, it took me along time to get adjusted too. Everyone now days is on the internet, this is our way to get to those people and spread the word of the lord to a greater majority of people.

P.s. this was Jeffrey R. Hollands Idea.

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This is truly a great thing,

1.what we do with our time, is the same as all other missionaries. we still go out, tract, street contact and teach in peoples home, that is what a majority of our time is spent doing. we only spend one to two hours a day on the internet, if needed.

i was always told that the most successful long term baptisms/converts come when the person is introduced to the gospel through a friend or someone they already know at church. that's why member missionary work was supposed to be so important. that's why, when we had missionaries, they wanted to come to our home every week and teach someone we knew or follow up on why we didn't have anyone over that week and re-commit us to asking someone to our home. i would think getting on the internet would be less personal than tracting.... so this is going to help how?

2. we do it in public libraries where, or family history centers, and it is only by missionaries the mission president selects. in our mission there is only 18 missionaries, not all missionaries will have it, only trusted ones.

ok, good to know

3. sorry if I sound repetitive when i copy and pasted the same thing in forums. I just want to make known of the blog, we are encouraged to go to forums and link things to our blogs and mormon.org. the more followers i have to my blog the more, it will be seen on search engines and the more people will have to hear about the restored gospel.

if what you are doing here is an example of that, as moderators we call that spam. it gets ppl banned. not sure that's good pr.

I know it sounds weird, Missionaries on facebook, it took me along time to get adjusted too. Everyone now days is on the internet, this is our way to get to those people and spread the word of the lord to a greater majority of people.

we have ward missionaries. i have no issue with calling ppl to be "online" missionaries. i've felt that was the message being sent for a very long time with the member missionary talks. part of that was online. i have no issue when guys get home if they are called to blog about their mission or whatever to help spread the word. i have no issue if they want to call ym who are mission age but made mistakes that prevent a mission but are repentant. but i don't understand why this is being put on full time missionaries. a lot of my concerns are already stated in other posts in this thread.

P.s. this was Jeffrey R. Hollands Idea.

k
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Online missionary work such as bigfoot describes is now part of the missionary program. There are many that are now being called to serve online missions. Many are those that for health reasons can't do a full time mission. Others are senior couples and now in the mission field there are missionaries that are given permission to use the internet to spread the gospel. But the missionaries in the field are selected by the mission President. Not all are given permission.

I asked a friend of mine who is in a stake presidency when this subject first came up on lds.net and he explained the program to me. I was told that they are given 2 hours a week to blog, use facebook and to interract with people. But it must be done at a library/members home/family history library etc where there is some control over what can be accessed.

So while we may feel that missionaries shouldn't be online, it is the wave of the future and it is following Elder Holland's suggestion to use the internet for good. That of course doesn't take away from the tracting and in person teaching that the full time missionaries are still required to do.

So while bigfoot might have been a little overzealous in posting numerous times and not understanding the rules of the site he is doing what he has been tasked to do. Let's also remember the spirit of the message and not be so critical of little words like His and its.

Edited by pam
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ppl that can not go out and serve in the traditional way, health, disability, etc i have no issue with. by all means keep up with the times and call online missionaries to specifically do things like that. i understand and agree with the need. i just have an issue with those that qualify for full time missions doing it. i see way to many pitfalls that could become the downfall of the missionary and interference with the work. there is a time and a season.

i worry that the overzealous actions, that come off as spam, will do more to maintain a stereotype that has always been in the way of missionary work than help it.

and yes that's my opinion.

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I don't know. Those that are in the mission field have a great perspective to provide that many others don't. Plus the time is limited to 2 hours per week.

There will always be those that are more zealous than others. What's the difference between someone called to be just an online missionary and a full time missionary? Either one can be overzealous and spam sites. Unless they announce that they are full time missionaries or online missionaries we would never know.

Edited by pam
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i was always told that the most successful long term baptisms/converts come when the person is introduced to the gospel through a friend or someone they already know at church. that's why member missionary work was supposed to be so important. that's why, when we had missionaries, they wanted to come to our home every week and teach someone we knew or follow up on why we didn't have anyone over that week and re-commit us to asking someone to our home. i would think getting on the internet would be less personal than tracting.... so this is going to help how?

My personal opinion is that this is a good thing.

The world is changing at a very fast pace. Technology is involved in almost everything we do.

I've said before in other threads (debating about other related stuff) that, when an investigator initially hears about the church (regardless of whether it's through the missionaries knocking on their door, or via a friend), the very first thing they are likely to do is google the name of the church, or simply "mormons".

Telling people (as missionaries often used to) not to search for information about the church online due to all the misinformation about the church is silly. People like to do their own research on things, especially something they are being asked to effectively give their life to. With access to the internet available everywhere, it allows them to do this easily.

I think the church have realised this, and instead, rather than trying to bury investigators heads in the sand and preventing them seeing the misinformation, they are trying to give them the other side of the coin too. The more information the church puts online though missionary blogs, the higher the chances of investigators seeing it.

People don't often come across information about the church online randomly. If they do come across information, it means they have searched for it. This usually means the missionaries have already been at their door, or someone they know has told them about the church, and they are now in the second phase: research.

Edited by Mahone
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