"I'm back in Zion after the best two years of my life.

"What I did on my mission was get up early, go to the ward house
and clean the place in preparation for any visitors that might
show up wanting a tour. Then I sat at the computer and typed
all day. I have a warm spot in my heart for those computers.

Isaythisinthenameofcheezeandriceamen."

Sad...
For a high energy 18 year old to sit in a church all day waiting for touring people who never come would have to be sheer torture. If they have to do this for more than a month straight, a lot of them will start developing serious mental issues - depression, claustrophobia, severe cabin fever, social problems from isolation and not mingling in normal society enough, etc.

I refused to bare my testimony at my homecoming, I tried to sort of shuffle throught it by saying what great people I met, how much I learned blah blah. Well, I didn't get away with it, apparently it caused quite the stir amongst my mo relatives, and was the first clue to my impending apostacy. I just could not get up in front of everyone and blatantly lie my ass off saying I KNOW Joseph Smith was a prophet, but evidently my unwillingness to lie was seen as a major character flaw.

I'm so glad I didn't go on a mission.

But honestly, I'd choose a chapel tour/computer mission over tracting on the streets for definite.

But really, I think in most cases missionaries will be doing a mixture.

I got this impression as well. I can't see the church abandoning the door-to-door tracting, but I think there will be less of an emphasis on it compared to the past.

Personally, I absolutely HATE feeling like I am bothering anyone - whether it be knocking on a stranger's door, or making recruiting cold-calls (which I unfortunately have to do a lot for my job). I would much rather sit at a computer and get rejected by anonymous strangers than have people get pissed off when I show up at their houses.

I am chuckling thinking of the videos we will be seeing on youtube of young men being told they are being called to Provo MTC to sit at a computer and use their French language skills as appointment setters for the handful of French missionaries who actually went to France.

Inspiration being what it is, what other product line uses door to door salesmen today? Not even Kirby vacuums. It is way too expensive to put boots at the doorstep of people who aren't even home, let alone uninterested.


Anagrammy

Truth be told, this is a better way to recruit. It is a passive-aggressive way to contact people, but most people prefer this sort of contact. We actually started using a texting service to contact perspective students at the school I work at - while the majority of students don't answer, we get more responses than we do with traditional methods (snail mail and cold-calls). I don't think that this is going to really get the Morg any more long-term numbers, but they will have more people responding and telling them "no" than they have in the past. The problems with the system (exposing fragile young testimonies to hostile "anti" information/the truth, etc) have been pointed out here several times already, but the online method really isn't an terrible, I just think they are going to Morg it up and make it a crappy method.

As was mentioned in another post, LDS Inc is missing a huge opportunity. If they would have these kids serve actual service missions rather than proselytizing for market share, it would be far more beneficial for all involved.

I sincerely think LDS Inc is afraid of doing this, mostly because the kids will all come home as Democrats.

If ChurchCo unleashed an army of 70k motivated young men and women on the world with the charge to change communities for the better, I know I wouldn't be the only one who would have a new-found respect for them. I will use Detroit, because it is close, but I have volunteered boarding up abandoned houses in inner-city Detroit before - I have also volunteered clearing out over-growth and mowing at abandoned park areas. Each time, the volunteer crews I've been a part of have been NO LARGER than 100, and the amount of work we've been able to accomplish in a short time is impressive. If the church unleashed even a small portion of its new missionary army in a place like Detroit, the city could be beautified in no time. They could do a Habitat for Humanity-like projet to help restore abandoned houses for low-income families and make a huge dent in the city's homeless problem. They could work along side local Christian charities helping the homeless and change some opinions of the Morg in the process. Again, this is just ONE example of what the church could have been able to do. If the church had service missions instead of proselyting missions when I was a member, I have no doubt that I would have gone and might very well still be a member today.

Part of the purpose of a mission is for the missionary to
suffer. The missionary is expected to endure countless doors
slammed in his face, insults, and deprivations.

The whole point is that what you have suffered for you consider
valuable. This fits in perfectly with cognitive dissonance
theory. Cognitive dissonance theory says that when your
thoughts and beliefs do not match your actions, you tend to
change your thoughts and beliefs rather than your actions. Who
in their right mind would endure this kind of deprivation and
abuse (both from inside and outside the Church) if they didn't
believe it, weren't committed to it totally? You'd have to be
an idiot to do that.

When the choices are between seeing yourself as an idiot and
seeing yourself as a god in embryo it's a simple choice for most.

JS actually sent out hundreds of missionaries to pass the word that TSCC didn't practice polygamy. Just before his death, JS sent men on missions for his campaign for president of the United States. That right, he was running for President of the USA. Brigham Young was in New Hampshire when he learned of the decease of JS - campaigning for JS for president! Gee, if Mitt had the 70k working for him he might have won.