BREAKING: New Policy Allows Missionaries to Call/Video Chat With Family EVERY WEEK


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Yes, this is real. According to a February 15 news release published on the Church's Newsroom, Latter-day Saint missionaries are now allowed to communicate every single week with their families via "text messages, online messaging, phone calls and video chat in addition to letters and emails." WHAT?! As someone with a brother currently on a mission halfway across the world, this is HUMONGOUS NEWS. The news release references an official letter from the First Presidency to Church leaders around the world. Here's a copy of the letter: Click to enlarge. Overall, the new policy grants a huge amount of leeway to Elders and Sisters worldwide. Not only are they encouraged to communicate with their families every week on preparation day, but also on other special occasions such as family birthdays. According to the news release, "Elder Uchtdorf said the new guidelines offer several additional benefits, including accommodating varied family circumstances as well as better supporting those missionaries who would benefit from increased personal contact with family at home." What do you think about the...

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I'm personally not a big fan of the change. I think there are some missionaries that it will help, and it may keep them on their mission rather than coming home early. However, I also think there will be missionaries that will come home early that would have otherwise stayed on their mission. This will make it harder for them to leave home at home and focus on the Lord. During the first 100 years of the church, missionaries were lucky to get 1 letter a month due to slower transportation...and they did just fine. We are too worried about catering to the rising generation...and they are becoming soft because of it.

That being said, the brethren never update or implement a policy unless they are all united on the matter. All 15 men have agreed to this change in policy, and knowing that any one of them has more insight and experience than I do is what enables me to accept the change. I know my comment may sound harsh towards the young people of the church...but I'm just old school I guess. :)

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7 minutes ago, scottyg said:

I'm personally not a big fan of the change. I think there are some missionaries that it will help, and it may keep them on their mission rather than coming home early. However, I also think there will be missionaries that will come home early that would have otherwise stayed on their mission. This will make it harder for them to leave home at home and focus on the Lord. During the first 100 years of the church, missionaries were lucky to get 1 letter a month due to slower transportation...and they did just fine. We are too worried about catering to the rising generation...and they are becoming soft because of it.

That being said, the brethren never update or implement a policy unless they are all united on the matter. All 15 men have agreed to this change in policy, and knowing that any one of them has more insight and experience than I do is what enables me to accept the change. I know my comment may sound harsh towards the young people of the church...but I'm just old school I guess. :)

There was a short period of about four years in the early 1980s when elders were called for only 18 months, not 24 months as had been the case since the 1950s or '60s (and is now). This is when I served a mission. The stated goal of the change was to allow missionaries to serve who would not otherwise have had the financial means or ability to be away for two years. Obviously, the Brethren rethought this change, and it was reneged in about 1985 (maybe when President Kimball died? I don't remember). I felt somewhat cheated for many years that I served "only" an 18-month mission. But my missionary service did me great benefit, and I don't think missing the last six months did me any harm, except that I would have been a much more effective missionary at the end of my mission. That's a selfish way of viewing things, but the point is that I don't think I suffered for the policy change that many considered a "mistake".

If calling home every week turns out to be counterproductive, the Brethren can make a simple course correction and change it to a monthly call or even a quarterly call. In the meantime, I'm happy to sustain the Brethren in making this policy change. Privately, it caught me off-guard and sort of rubbed me wrong, but that's my problem to deal with.

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2 minutes ago, Vort said:

There was a short period of about four years in the early 1980s when elders were called for only 18 months, not 24 months as had been the case since the 1950s or '60s (and is now). This is when I served a mission. The stated goal of the change was to allow missionaries to serve who would not otherwise have had the financial means or ability to be away for two years. Obviously, the Brethren rethought this change, and it was reneged in about 1985 (maybe when President Kimball died? I don't remember). I felt somewhat cheated for many years that I served "only" an 18-month mission. But my missionary service did me great benefit, and I don't think missing the last six months did me any harm, except that I would have been a much more effective missionary at the end of my mission. That's a selfish way of viewing things, but the point is that I don't think I suffered for the policy change that many considered a "mistake".

If calling home every week turns out to be counterproductive, the Brethren can make a simple course correction and change it to a monthly call or even a quarterly call. In the meantime, I'm happy to sustain the Brethren in making this policy change. Privately, it caught me off-guard and sort of rubbed me wrong, but that's my problem to deal with.

I agree, rubbed me wrong too. My father served in Argentina during that 18 month time-frame. I can actually see more mothers than missionaries wanting a call each week. :)

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