For lds people in low density mormonville

[Sunday21]

Are you experiencing a lot of pressure to grow? We seem to be in a a ‘Please Grow Fast’ cycle. There is a big push to reactivation. We have activities weekly. Are you under the same pressure?

[Jane_Doe]

There's always some push to keep people active, though not overwhelming or super preachy.  We don't do weekly activities-- well, the youth do, you can even call it daily with seminary.  And there's Institute.  But no weekly activities for the married adults.  The most frequent activity the adults have is RS has a activity 9/12 months (we take off the super busy ones).  

The biggest emphasis on going-and-doing in my neck of the woods are: 1) ministering / figuring that out, 2) community service, 3) temple.

[NeuroTypical]

I became active over 20 years ago.  Not a year has gone by since then, without a big push to grow, reactivate folks, find people to baptize, etc.

It's almost like we're in the church of Jesus Christ, full of people who figure we're in the last days or something.  Something about being commanded to go forth and baptize and bring the good news to all humankind, and strengthen the Kingdom of God, or something.  

[Sunday21]

1 minute ago, NeuroTypical said:

I became active over 20 years ago.  Not a year has gone by since then, without a big push to grow, reactivate folks, find people to baptize, etc.

It's almost like we're in the church of Jesus Christ, full of people who figure we're in the last days or something.  Something about being commanded to go forth and baptize and bring the good news to all humankind, and strengthen the Kingdom of God, or something.  

I was wondering if there was a reason for the sudden increase. I have been back in the church for about a decade and I have not felt pressure like this before. I have two callings: temple & teaching in Relief Society. Previously two callings has been considered enough. I have a friend who has 4 callings. It just seems like the push has gotten stronger in the last 6 months.

[Guest MormonGator]

29 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

Are you experiencing a lot of pressure to grow?

Yes, but in rural Florida it's extremely difficult. Not an insult to LDS or rural Florida (I love my state dearly) it's just virtually impossible to convert people here. 

29 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

 There is a big push to reactivation

That's probably everywhere. 

29 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

 We have activities weekly. 

:: Clears throat :: this will offend some people, and I hope it's different in your ward, but that's an issue. Sometimes the activities are less than fun for investigators or converts. I know of many investigators or semi-active/inactive members who either have no interest in ward game night  (people would rather Netflix and chill at home, go to a sporting event, play video games, go out to dinner, etc)  or are simply too busy with kids/jobs/life to go to ward activities. 

Edited April 26, 2018 by MormonGator

[Fether]

.

Edited April 26, 2018 by Fether

[Fether]

1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

people would rather Netflix and chill

Edited April 26, 2018 by Fether

[person0]

46 minutes ago, MormonGator said:

Sometimes the activities are less than fun for investigators or converts. I know of many investigators or semi-active/inactive members who either have no interest in ward game night  (people would rather Netflix and chill at home, go to a sporting event, play video games, go out to dinner, etc)  or are simply too busy with kids/jobs/life to go to ward activities. 

On my mission, my companion and I convinced the local Bishop to have a monthly ward cookout on a Saturday during the day.  It became one of the most popular ward activities ever.  We had tons of investigators coming, and lots of ward membership participation as well.  We chose a different park every month.  This made it much easier for families with kids to join in without worries of babysitter, etc.  We had board games and sports at the outing, as well as non sport outdoor activities.  It was awesome.  For some reason, I have not been able to convince any leadership to do this after my mission, even when I was Ward Mission Leader.  I think this would be very effective in many places.

[NeuroTypical]

42 minutes ago, Fether said:

1 hour ago, MormonGator said:

people would rather Netflix and chill

[zil]

48 minutes ago, person0 said:

On my mission, my companion and I convinced the local Bishop to have a monthly ward cookout on a Saturday during the day.  It became one of the most popular ward activities ever.  We had tons of investigators coming, and lots of ward membership participation as well.  We chose a different park every month.  This made it much easier for families with kids to join in without worries of babysitter, etc.  We had board games and sports at the outing, as well as non sport outdoor activities.  It was awesome.  For some reason, I have not been able to convince any leadership to do this after my mission, even when I was Ward Mission Leader.  I think this would be very effective in many places.

For some reason, people aren't willing to come to a party unless someone else has made lots of (likeable) plans (and is providing food).  The Church did away with the Activities Committee, so things like that have to be done by special, temporary assignment.  Put those things together with everyone filling their lives with (IMO) obscene numbers of [whatever it ises], and you end up with your idea not working.

I'm not sure why people have such a hard time just showing up without a plan and finding a way to enjoy each other's company, but they do.  In all my travels to those 19 countries (or whatever the number was), I only made a plan once - when going to Kenya, and that was because we had to make arrangements with the safari company.  Otherwise, the only plans were the flights and sometimes the hotel (yes, sometimes I'd just show up without a hotel reservation and find one on arrival).  And yet, I never lacked for fun and interesting things to do in these places.  Apparently this is abnormal.

[lostinwater]

1 hour ago, zil said:

For some reason, people aren't willing to come to a party unless someone else has made lots of (likeable) plans (and is providing food).  The Church did away with the Activities Committee, so things like that have to be done by special, temporary assignment.  Put those things together with everyone filling their lives with (IMO) obscene numbers of [whatever it ises], and you end up with your idea not working.

I'm not sure why people have such a hard time just showing up without a plan and finding a way to enjoy each other's company, but they do.  In all my travels to those 19 countries (or whatever the number was), I only made a plan once - when going to Kenya, and that was because we had to make arrangements with the safari company.  Otherwise, the only plans were the flights and sometimes the hotel (yes, sometimes I'd just show up without a hotel reservation and find one on arrival).  And yet, I never lacked for fun and interesting things to do in these places.  Apparently this is abnormal.

Wow - 19 countries!  That's an impressively large amount of travelling.  

You are rare - in a very good way.  Most are not so in the moment.  i think most people get as much pleasure in the planning as in the doing.  i might have to print this bit of wisdom  of yours off to read the next time my plane gets delayed.....

[Sunday21]

@zil Did you find that hotels charged more when you just showed up? I have always been afraid of getting stuck with a huge bill. I would like to try Airbnb but I worry about hosts cancelling on me 24 hours in advance. 

[zil]

52 minutes ago, lostinwater said:

Wow - 19 countries!  That's an impressively large amount of travelling.  

You are rare - in a very good way.  Most are not so in the moment.  i think most people get as much pleasure in the planning as in the doing.  i might have to print this bit of wisdom  of yours off to read the next time my plane gets delayed.....

Back then, on that side of the Atlantic, everything was cheap.  And working for the government in a foreign country meant whopping tons of paid time off.  Add youth and stupidity to that, and you get lots of travel and exploring without worrying about negative consequences (fortunately, there were none).

36 minutes ago, Sunday21 said:

@zil Did you find that hotels charged more when you just showed up? I have always been afraid of getting stuck with a huge bill. I would like to try Airbnb but I worry about hosts cancelling on me 24 hours in advance. 

I think the world was different back then.  We didn't stay in any major or chain hotels - we stayed in little places that were clean and in safe areas, but not expensive.  And we didn't just go at holidays.  So, if they did charge more, it still wasn't expensive.

[zil]

One nice thing about Europe, back then, was that you could fly into a cheap-airfare city, arrive in the afternoon, walk or take the subway to a train station, get on an overnight train to another city, sleep on the train, and arrive in the morning.  Stay there for a couple days, then repeat to the third city.  A few days later, return to the original city and spend the end of your trip there, then fly back.  (You can include as many cities as you want in such a plan.)  I did this twice (Prague > Vienna > Budapest > Prague; and Prague > Vienna > Berlin > Prague (might have Berlin and Vienna out of order on that one)).  Never any problem getting the train tickets, never any problem finding hotels on arrival.  Sleeping on the train saves you a night at a hotel, as well as the travel time, and it was cheap.

In Turkey, we rented a car for a couple days and drove up and down the coast seeing ruins, signed up for a bus tour another day, a boat tour another day, all very impromptu.  You have to have the right traveling companion for this kind of thing - not everyone likes just exploring - they seem to think that if they don't plan it all out ahead they might be missing something better.  I think as long as you're enjoying yourself, who cares?  (And if you don't have plans, you won't get frustrated with delays or other things that mess up your plans. )

You can do these things when you're in your early 20s and it's the early 1990s and the world is still a safe place.  I did two trips to Yellowstone the same way in the mid 1990s - still worked.

[Guest MormonGator]

5 hours ago, Fether said:

I know it's a Princess Bride reference but I'm too stupid to understand the real meaning of "Netflix and chill". 

However the reality is the phrase has broken though the mainstream so that whatever else it might mean, people think it means "Watch Netflix and relax." 

Edited April 27, 2018 by MormonGator

[NeuroTypical]

Yer googler broken, buddy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_and_chill

[Guest MormonGator]

2 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

Yer googler broken, buddy?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netflix_and_chill

I actually didn't care enough to find the "real meaning", to be honest. 

[NeuroTypical]

No teens, no need.

Know teens, know need.

[bytebear]

As one who has non-member family, I wish the church would do more social activities. They have gone to a few activities, like we had a big stake wide picnic with a live band, games and activities, for Pioneer Day, and it was great.  But those are few and far between.  Shy non-members need members to reach out more socially, and not just as a "project" but as good neighbors.

[classylady]

5 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

@zil Did you find that hotels charged more when you just showed up? I have always been afraid of getting stuck with a huge bill. I would like to try Airbnb but I worry about hosts cancelling on me 24 hours in advance. 

Sunday21, I fly stand-by, so never really sure if I’ll get on my flights. Because of that I rarely make hotel reservations more than a couple days in advance. Some of the least expensive places may already be booked by then, but I have had no problem finding places to stay and I usually find decent rates. Last September and early October three of us traveled to Greece and Italy. I made reservations as we traveled. Stayed at a great Airbnb in Naples, and a bed and breakfast in Rome, and small hotels in Athens and Florence. None of these were large luxury hotels. All I need is a decent bed to sleep in since we are gone all day. Athens was under $60 a night. The others probably ranged around $70 to $80 a night. 

Then, later in October we flew to Germany and returned out of Amsterdam. The only place I had trouble finding decent rates last minute was in Amsterdam. Couldn’t find anything under $150 a night.

We book through reputable web sites and have never had a problem.

[Sunday21]

@classylady. Good for You!

[Sunday21]

5 hours ago, bytebear said:

As one who has non-member family, I wish the church would do more social activities. They have gone to a few activities, like we had a big stake wide picnic with a live band, games and activities, for Pioneer Day, and it was great.  But those are few and far between.  Shy non-members need members to reach out more socially, and not just as a "project" but as good neighbors.

Move to my ward! We have something for everyone. If you live in a multiward city, can’t you email the local bishops and get on their email lists for activities? This week as we finished the weekly Star Wars movies, we are out of movies and now having a Star Wars potluck. 

[anatess2]

14 hours ago, zil said:

I'm not sure why people have such a hard time just showing up without a plan and finding a way to enjoy each other's company, but they do.  In all my travels to those 19 countries (or whatever the number was), I only made a plan once - when going to Kenya, and that was because we had to make arrangements with the safari company.  Otherwise, the only plans were the flights and sometimes the hotel (yes, sometimes I'd just show up without a hotel reservation and find one on arrival).  And yet, I never lacked for fun and interesting things to do in these places.  Apparently this is abnormal.

Not in my ward in the Philippines.  Actually, it's not a ward, it's a branch.  Just this past Sunday, RS was talking about activities (they have at least one a week!) and the RS Pres said - we still haven't done that book-keeping thing... let's do that this Thursday.  And one piped up - I can't do Thursday.  RS Pres said - Friday then?  Another one piped up - can't do Friday.  How about Saturday?  Yes, Saturday is good but the youth has the ward building at 4pm.  Okay, so let's meet at noon and figure out that book-keeping thing.  Done.  There's about 20-30 people in RS.

The Sunday before that - what do we want to do this week?  Family History!  Ok, when and where?  Sister so-and-so can't do this day, another one can't do that day... So only available is Monday.  So RS Pres says, we can't do Monday.  It's FHE day.  Let's bring our families then... it's Family History after all.  Done.  They had RS FHE the next day.

But then, every day of the week somebody decides to meet at the Church for something and everybody else shows up.  And there's always one that just happens to have food or they send out some kid to the store at the corner to get some refreshments.  People here WANT to be hanging out at Church for whatever.  @askandanswer probably knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Edited April 27, 2018 by anatess2

[Lost Boy]

12 hours ago, lostinwater said:

Wow - 19 countries!  That's an impressively large amount of travelling.  

You are rare - in a very good way.  Most are not so in the moment.  i think most people get as much pleasure in the planning as in the doing.  i might have to print this bit of wisdom  of yours off to read the next time my plane gets delayed.....

I've only been to 17.  If I am by myself, I am much the same.  pretty carefree. If I am wife my wife, she likes things planned.  Air B and B is great for fairly spontaneous trips.  I think in the coming years we are going to do a lot more travel.  There are many more places I want to see and due to my wife's job we can fly nearly anywhere for almost free.

[zil]

35 minutes ago, anatess2 said:

Not in my ward in the Philippines.  Actually, it's not a ward, it's a branch.  Just this past Sunday, RS was talking about activities (they have at least one a week!) and the RS Pres said - we still haven't done that book-keeping thing... let's do that this Thursday.  And one piped up - I can't do Thursday.  RS Pres said - Friday then?  Another one piped up - can't do Friday.  How about Saturday?  Yes, Saturday is good but the youth has the ward building at 4pm.  Okay, so let's meet at noon and figure out that book-keeping thing.  Done.  There's about 20-30 people in RS.

The Sunday before that - what do we want to do this week?  Family History!  Ok, when and where?  Sister so-and-so can't do this day, another one can't do that day... So only available is Monday.  So RS Pres says, we can't do Monday.  It's FHE day.  Let's bring our families then... it's Family History after all.  Done.  They had RS FHE the next day.

But then, every day of the week somebody decides to meet at the Church for something and everybody else shows up.  And there's always one that just happens to have food or they send out some kid to the store at the corner to get some refreshments.  People here WANT to be hanging out at Church for whatever.  @askandanswer probably knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Sometimes you make me think I was born in the wrong country.  (The rest of the time, I'm pretty sure I was born on the wrong planet.)