Yep, didn't you know that just in the past 7 days since Monson died that Russell M. Nelson has signed 1,000+ mission calls?

https://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/president-nelson-signs-calls-new-missionaries

At the end of the linked article is a link to a sample mission call letter. I think it's worth the time to click and read.

So the Autopen is busy signing mission calls. Then the call
comes in to LDS central that Monson has died.

Question? Do they figure out the time of death and re-do all the
mission calls that were signed by the Autopen with Monson's name
after he died, and them have Nelson's Autopen sign them? Or do
they just leave things as they were?

How reverently do you suppose they treat the prophet's autopen? Do they speak in hushed voices when they're near it?

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How reverently do you suppose they treat the
> prophet's autopen? Do they speak in hushed voices
> when they're near it?

FOFLMFAO! That was said in jest, but I wouldn't put it past them.

From the article:

"The Church has nearly 67,000 missionaries serving in 421 missions around the globe."

The numbers continue to drop.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2018 03:03PM by Leaving.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2018 03:03PM by Leaving.

Or around 160 per mission! Ouch!!

A computer program decides where kids go. They should at least be honest.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/10/2018 08:16AM by Atari.

When I got my mission call letter, I remember oohing over "the prophet's" signature on it. I felt special.

Somehow, "Ooh, I have a letter generated and signed by computer" doesn't carry the same cachet.

I felt the same way. I felt so special. Little did I know that I was just a warm body to fill an opening.

A computer and a small committee of low level employees.

Atari Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A computer program decides where kids go. They
> should at least be honest.

I agree.

And they should update their JS 10 vision stories and the rock in the hat translation while they're at it.

When I arrived at the MTC in 1982, the other missionaries and I compared the signature from Spencer W. Kimball on our calls. The signatures were a perfect match. We knew a machine was used and it didn't bother us, but for some reason the top 15 want to present a different picture than reality. It's just so warm and fuzzy to believe that the rockstar prophet actually handles each call.

I'm earlier than that, and when I got to the LTM in Provo, August 1968, before the days of the MTC, one day in class we all compared our letters. They all looked pretty individual. I'm not sure it was even discussed then.


I don't remember how his health was then but he lived until 1970 so there's a good chance he wasn't signing even when I got mine.

I know mine was signed individually (doesn't mean it was David O. Mckay) 'cuz it said, "From one knucklehead to another, Davey".

We had our monthly rumble in a district meeting over this. Yep, two mishies got into a tussle when one didn't agree that it was a machine or stamp (we really didn't know how it was signed, but we had enough brain tissue to know that health strickened ETB neither signed our mission papers nor our license to proselytize).

He'd have to sign about 145 a day to do a 1,000+ to do this.

Yeah, the numbers are astounding. To get 67,000 missionaries, and realizing that not all are serving a full two years, there would have to be around 35,000 to 40,000 mission calls given each year. On average that is around 750 signatures each week just for mission calls. That does not include every other official document that requires his signature. Can you imagine the toll signing a signature 750 times each week takes of 93 year old hands?

Rubber Stamp, Rubber Stamp Man, Rubber Stamp...

How are they still so naive in the age of the Internet?

I got a letter of recommendation from the president of my university. I never actually met him, but his office gave me a nice letter with his autopen. It should be expected that many things are not personally written and signed. I will only believe that something has not been autopen-ed if it explicitly says that in the letter itself. Everyone wants to feel like a snowflake.