The people that missionaries teach now are no longer called investigators. They are now called "friends." We were told the work is moving forward at a great speed due to the missionaries and members using social media. Yet I must admit I have not seen any new members join the Church in the last year and I have been traveling all around visiting wards all over North America. I have been told of lots of wards closing. But then maybe I am not a friendly person and I am just not seeing any new friends join the Church.

We were told that its easy to talk to people about your life and how easy it is to bring the gospel into to conversation. I find that concept to be manipulative.

They had a missionary report on his mission. What I did not hear was any deep spiritual experiences or any deep conversion stories like I heard when I was a kid and missionaries returned and reported. He never said how many people he baptized. He did say the Church was true and Dusty was a true prophet. He also talked down to us as if we did not know anything and he was a bundle of knowledge and experience.

Most of the speakers including the GA that was attending told stories from the BoM as if they were events that really happened. The GA talked about a couple of great battles in the BoM and how the soldiers were dressed in helmets and armor and had weapons of war. I wanted so much to ask him were are the artifacts but that would take away from the spirit of his talk and message.

Back to the friends concept. I watched people leave the building. They were the most least friendly, unhappy group of people I had ever seen. And why was I there. I had to give the closing prayer and no one said a word to me on the way out. The GA did say to me as I was leaving the pulpit "that was a sweet prayer." So I guess I could call him "a friend." The rest of the congregation were not even friendly to each other. Maybe they were there because of duty.

Bottom line, we were told get our act together, repent, stay on the convent path and be prepared for more temptations and evil around us. Get to the temple and you will get inspiration and spiritual strength. Same old, same old.

So, now TSCC wants people to think of the church as Quakers? Wow

That was my first thought. Next stop...the MOON!

Thanks. Now I have to get THAT Fanny Alger out of my head.

At least the Quakers have a better public image. And popular oat products. ;)

They were the most least friendly, unhappy group of people I had ever seen.

Perhaps this?

They were the least friendly, the most unhappy group of people that I have ever seen.

I like the awkward irony of the original syntax.

"The people that missionaries teach now are no longer called investigators. They are now called 'friends.'"

Well, if people you'll never meet can be "friends" on Facebook, then anyone can be a friend.

----

"We were told that its easy to talk to people about your life and how easy it is to bring the gospel into to conversation."

Hooray, member-missionary work! That's a new one! Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?

If it's so easy, how many friends has the stake prez brought into the church this year?

----

"The GA talked about a couple of great battles in the BoM and how the soldiers were dressed in helmets and armor and had weapons of war."

And that is why Zelph was fully armed and armored when they dug up his skeleton. Oh wait – no he wasn't…

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"stay on the convent path"

It seems that the people in attendance were having nun of that.

So investigators are now friends? That's not even high quality lipstick for the pig. Not impressed.

Sounds like they didn't get the memo that the BoM is not a history book. Also sounds like they are attending out of a sensed of obligation. My dream is that Millennials will rebel and simply stop attending.

"The GA talked about a couple of great battles in the BoM and how the soldiers were dressed in helmets and armor and had weapons of war."

And that is why Zelph was fully armed and armored when they dug up his skeleton. Oh wait – no he wasn't…

--------------------

This is because rude and covetous Lamanites took his armor and helmet and got a few coins for it at a local Pawn Shop.

This is why you don't see the armor, swords and such - Pawn shops have it all.

Coins? If the Freiberg paintings are to be believed, I think they would have traded their weapons of war for used gym equipment.

Sometimes language can drive thinking. It is not unusual for teachers to refer to students as "friends," i.e. "I see that some of our friends have not finished the assignment yet." The hope is to create an atmosphere in which students feel accepted, and well, friendly.

If this is the direction that the Mormon church really wants to go in, then Nelson will have to encourage a return to the types of social activities that can help people to form and keep friendships -- dinners, dances, shows, sporting events, etc. This would take money. So instead of going on a mad temple-building spree, he would have to give back to the membership some of their hard-earned money.

«Un(e) ami(e) de l'Église» = "a friend of the Church". I always thought it sounded a bit like "fellow traveler".


Naturally, the social media stuff is garbage - and besides the old message was to avoid social media and the Internet, so you can see that the Mormon God has no idea what's right in this regard - but no, clearly, social media aren't leading to more conversions. That's just bullshit to feed the sheep with.


The "every member a missionary" bullshit about how easy it is for members to talk to their friends about the church and help bring them to Mormonism hasn't ever been true, otherwise the church wouldn't even bother sending out missionaries.


Recently returned missionaries who are too big for their britches is the default state, so «il n’y a rien de nouveau sous le soleil».


Tyson

I wonder if they will say "golden friend" for one someone almost ready to swallow the pill.

A friend in need is a friend indeed - at least until we get you baptized.

Let's call them "frenzies."

You're welcome.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/23/2021 08:15PM by lurking in.

Eventually their true name, "suckers", will be revealed.

...Just waiting, as in everything else, for the fullness of times, AKA, when the toilet overflows.

When in Quebec many moons ago, that was the term for non-members that were taking the discussions - friends of the church. Good to see some of the outside influence creep into the core of the church. Investigators sounds so clinical.

And here I thought the new missionary program would call people meeting with the missionaries as morons. And the ward bishop would then present the newly minted members with a giant M. That way the converts would no longer be known as morons but morMons.

My ward always volunteered to do the grunt work of setting up chairs and directing/parking cars. I hated it as a youth. It always rained for Spring/Fall.

And it was a challenge to get my Mom to drive me there at 8:30 (for a 10 am). Then they wouldn't let her sit in a pew in the chapel as those were reserved for church VIP. Always ended up sitting in the first row of folding chairs and suffered a sore bum on those hard folding chairs.

Not a good memory.

I moved into a new ward recently
The reception would make a walkin freezer feel warm

They don't want INVESTIGATORS
They want "FRIENDS"

But, they can't make friends-
They can only lose them
As they themselves are lost

ALL Mormons are FOLLOWERS
Not LEADERS (even the "leaders" are followers)

So... blindly follow the "leader":
Believe what we tell you to believe;
DO NOT follow the Particles oFaith
Where you can believe what you like

Just believe me, a 24/ 7 voice in your head, in your homes, and in your hearts, when I say Stay and Pray! Obey!! Come, Follow Me!

Where are you going?
I don't know...

HELL, possibly Heaven, via A Few Roadside Distractions, like devotion to this cult!

Can we believe what we want?
NO!

Can we drink "hot drinks"? No, unless it's soup, herbal tea, Mormon Tea, Raja's Cup, PostuM[ormon], HOT Chocolate, etc...

Is this a house of worship?
No, it's just a ° war ship°

Mormonism gets duller as members get sharper
MORMONISM misses the point, the mark and the love

I think the word they are looking for is "marks".

Bingo. That's the most accurate word by far.

What spews forth from Cult HQ sounds soo much like the propaganda that comes out of N Korea...as in, everything is glorious and wonderful when of course it is most decidedly not!

"We were told that its easy to talk to people about your life and how easy it is to bring the gospel into to conversation."

This is true if you are devoted, deeply invested, and deem others in desperate need of what you have.

TOO MANY CALLINGS
Too much to do...

Keep track of all the members✓
Trap the members into dogma✓
Count the money✓ Again✓ $%^✓
Talk the walk and LIE lie Lie✓
Talk TALK Talk about others✓
Temple Talk Templeton walk✓
Busywork✓ Missings✓ Boredom✓

No Food✓ No Friends, just 'friends'✓
No Fellowship✓ Only Mormon worship✓
No Care✓ No How✓ No Way✓ No Pets✓
No Fun✓ Nowhere✓ No Waterfalls✓
NOTHING!✓ No Spirit✓ All Made Up✓

Everybody go home now
It was just a joke

•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°|°
Mormonism's a joke, bloke! No joke-

If one could GO TO A MORMON "church" AND worship God, Jesus Christ, or Holy Spirit/ Ghostbusters FREELY and according to consciousness

That would be fine and dandy, BUT YOU CAN'T.

In order to have a decent experience, most find they must leave Mormonism - and it's dogma... doublespeak... BS... Crap... flip flopping... backbiting.. backbiting... back scratching... backsliding... sacreligiousness and sacred secrets on the back pew of any LDS fleecinghouse.

TMC (the Mormon 'church') is going nowhere.
Members are marching in place, to save face.
Nothing important, nothing new, NOTHING true!

Friendship is earned. Real friends are pretty rare. I find calling someone you don’t know a friend stupid.

The church is failing and as usual the leadership make the members think the failure is their fault.

Friends don't let friends morm'.

Ha! Ha! Yeah. Anyone trying to bring you into Mormonism isn’t a friend.

As others have stated, church activities create a sense of community that some people are looking for. The church has long cut out those activities.

Some 40 years ago, a newly called bishop (after the initial one stripped all the activities- road shows, speech and dance festivals and every social save the Xmas dinner) wanted the ward to promote a primary open house at the stake center. This bishop reached out to my inactive father and asked if he could bring some of his electric toy trains. Other members with special hobbies were brought in~ woodworking, painting, drawing, dance corner. Lots of food such as cake walks, homemade root beer and ice cream. Balloons and face painting, darts and fishing booths. This event was called the Primary Fair.

It was a big hit as many non members came with their primary aged kids. And some of the "investigators" came to church. One family eventually joined the church, but that's because one family had been grooming/fellowshipping them for years.

So what did the ward plan for the next year?

Nothing.

Why?

The church received new "guidance" from SLC. The church decided that the best thing they could do for primary aged children was to provide a "Spirituality Camp". This was strictly for members only. The kids went all day on Saturday going from classroom to classroom with exciting topics like how to pray, study the scriptures, what is tithing and how to fill out tithing slips (not an exaggeration). They had areas how to practice sitting reverently. They even had a room about building a testimony.

Awful, awful, awful!!!


So what activities do church members offer?

Clean the toilets

Experience a worthy interview

Go to tithing settlement


Not a church that anybody would seek.

Thanks messygoop- for the fun(ny) story, and LDS response, and for the nutshell of what TSCC has to offer. NOTHING! All offerings [of Money and Time/ efforts/ devotion/ callings/ missions/ sacrifices] are done by the members, NOT by "the 'church'".

LDSc (c = "church"/ 'cult') Is Not in the caring industry. It could care less - and is careless - but still it REQUIRES members to care (through attt-attendance, tithing, temples & tolls [on your body, mind & spirit]).

As it STRIPS members of anything Good, true or fun, including "activities" , members will strip TSCC of it's God($)/ Token$/ FUNd$/ "Active$".

Thank you for your periodic updates. I find them interesting and insightful.

Heartless Wrote:
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> Thank you for your periodic updates. I find them interesting and insightful.>
And informative too. Keeps us abreast and ready for the next test!


Me too... Thank you OPie
Torturing yourself for us, I mean for your family.
~ {We're all kinda like family}~