Lets see. Our ward has a family with a mentally/physically challenged infant. We have a man who is dying from rapid onset leukemia, a couple weeks to live. Some shaky marital relationships. A few families out of work.

This is what we will be fasting about this weekend. Edited for boredom.

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the XXX Ward,

Just two months ago, our Prophet President Thomas S. Monson taught us at an historic world wide broadcast from the New Mission Presidents Seminar:

“The holy scriptures contain no proclamation more relevant, no responsibility more binding, no instruction more direct than the injunction given by the resurrected Lord as He appeared in Galilee to the eleven disciples. Said He: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19).

This coming Sunday September 1st, we have one opportunity to show our Heavenly Father that the Ward will receive President Monson’s words, as if they came from our Heavenly Father’s own mouth, in all patience and faith. (D&C 21:4-5). As a Bishopric, we invite you to “join in fasting and mighty prayer in behalf of the welfare of the souls of those who know not God.” (Alma 6:6). We invite you to fast specifically that we members might have the desire and the faith to find individuals and families that the full-time missionaries can teach in our homes. Finally, we invite you to dedicate a portion of your fast to our upcoming Stake Conference, that it might be a revelatory experience for us all.
The opportunity before us truly is great. We look forward to laboring together with you in the Lord’s vineyard to bring souls unto Him. We thank you for your great service, support and devotion.
Sincerely,
WARD BISHOPRIC

Sad.

Good to see that the LDS church still has their priorities straight. /s

Exactly!

Teaching people how to treat each other and support each other through their lives should be the one goal of religion. Dogma, preaching, conversion are all a waste of time and money.

How much good could the church do if they stopped worrying about all the stuff that doesn't matter?

Mormons don't care about people - they care about recruiting people so they get the blessings from sharing the gospel. There is a HUGE difference. Really caring about people, knowing their needs, working to help them all comes from inside and is a reflection of the character of the person reaching out to those in need. Assigned service, given to meet goals or boost an individuals ego or because there is no choice (i.e. obedience) is surface level, focused on the needs of the giver rather than the recipient and fake. This is why people don't respect Mormons - because they may give service but most do it for the wrong reasons and the shallow nature of the so-called service is obvious to everyone but the Mormons themselves.

There are exceptions. One of my friend's sons returned from a mission in an African country and, having seen the poverty of the people, started his own charity to raise money for medical equipment like crutches, wheelchairs, glasses etc. The family went to Africa recently, after having fundraisers and raising donations, and passed out 150 pairs of glasses to little kids, among other things. This family is as Mormon as it gets, giving real service. I'm talking about service taught by Mormonism rather than what individual Mormons do.

Ugh. The way they talk makes me queasy.

There are people in our ward who are going above and beyond to assist and care for the people I mentioned.

But there is no effort made on a ward level to muster any sort of group energy to aid these poor people.