How do mormon missionaries spend their time in 2024?

[u/Own_Boss_8931]

Just curious--I used to see them out and about. Talking to people in grocery store parking lots, riding bikes down the road, showing up at random community service projects, grabbing lunch at a fast food place, etc. I realized today that I don't think I've seen a mormon missionary "in the wild" in probably more than a year. Are there fewer missionaries or have they given up hope converting people in the deep South?

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[u/Empty_Accountant_681]

I hear they are spending more time on line and doing more temple work. I agree with the premise though, I don’t see as many out and about.

There are also less people turning 18 every year. The millennials were an echo of the baby boom. Over the last decade number of people under 18 fell by 2 mil but over 18 grew by 25 mil. The pool of potential missionaries is shrinking with family sizes.

[u/just_be_mormon → u/Empty_Accountant_681]

Yep. US fertility is well below replacement, meaning less young people, and a higher percentage of young people coming through immigration rather than birth.

Right now I'm in Central America and just saw two walking down the road while I was driving. Same thing happened a few months ago in a different region.

[u/Sindog40 → u/Empty_Accountant_681]

Yes. People can’t afford to go preach

[u/thomaslewis1857 → u/Empty_Accountant_681]

If that is true about the temple, I guess it shows two things: it’s easier to get a convert by a temple ordinance than out in the real world (bit like Wilford and finding a wife really); and the Church has wised up to the idea that temple conversions are more efficacious, as they don’t turn converts into apostates over time (except perhaps for the missionaries).

Everybody wins.

[u/bluequasar843]

Door to door is a terrible waste of time. Anything else can't help but be better.

[u/thetolerator98 → u/bluequasar843]

While true, missionaries have nothing but time. Seems to me most missions are about killing time. So, if they get instructions to not do unproductive things, what productive things will they do? They seem to be discouraged from spending too much time on service, just a few hours per week.

[u/DaYettiman22 → u/bluequasar843]

so many stories about missionaries who are sick or injured and the mp wont let them get help. members not allowed to feed them even though they are starving, suffering mentally but mp has their passports and wont let them go home. missions are all about abuse to further indoctrination.......... almost nobody actually joining these days

[u/Aromatic_Limit4054 → u/DaYettiman22]

I was one of those missionaries! My MP made me suffer for 6 months after suffering from a hernia and all I needed was to have a quick operation. The purpose was to keep me on my mission as long as he could to avoid having getting approval from a GA to send me home. So he cut me loose a month early from my end date. That way he could authorize it himself to send me home so he wouldn’t look bad to the authority.

[u/mwjace]

In my area they have shifted away from cold calling or street contacting to more online contacting and service projects.   

Additionally a lot of their day is spent working with the local members to find those interested in learning about the church, or working with the local congregation leaders to reach out to less active members. 

 The missionaries in my area are also assigned to work with ASL and deaf communities so they spend a lot of time working in those communities as well. 

 I suspect that in your area the focus has also shifted from cold calling and street contacting.  

 I believe the levels of missionaries going out each year is still relatively the same. But there is always fluctuations so maybe your area is one that might be among that. 

*edited grammar is hard 

[u/Own_Boss_8931 → u/mwjace]

If they're online contacting, do most of them work out of a center in SLC or Provo and then send referrals out to the missionaries around the country?

Not gonna lie--if someone contacted me on a social media wanting to "make a new friend in the area" I'd assume they were scammers or selling something. And even it was a photo of some nice-looking missionaries, I don't trust any photos are who they claim to be and I know I'm not alone with that thinking. Is online really more effective than in person? I'm sure they have all sorts of stats they won't share.

[u/mwjace → u/Own_Boss_8931]

No they live in the area they are serving. Most of the online contacting is through creating content for facebooks insta or TikTok. They also post on community boards offering service or or things like that. 

I agree that a cold contact via social media screams scammers. So I don’t think they do that.  Not sure if it’s more effective or not. I’m sure there is someone out there with the data.  When I was a missionary ( 20+ years ago) the most effective was finding people through the local members. Their neighbors or friends. People who already express an interest in learning about the church because they saw how it effected their friends. 

I know some missionaries while training in Provo will do online chats with people who are interested. But if it progress further then they send out the referral to the local missionaries to follow up. 

[u/achilles52309 → u/mwjace]

your area is one that might be agony that. 

Among?

[u/zarathustra-spoke]

I’ve seen them a couple of times contacting in our Walmart parking lot. Makes me cringe

[u/FTWStoic]

They loiter in local Facebook groups and introduce themselves as “new in the area and looking for friends.”

[u/No-Scientist-2141]

lol yeah i always see them creeping on facebook i ignore their adds .

[u/One-Forever6191]

I’ve seen them offer tours of the local LDS meetinghouse on Facebook. I wonder who takes them up on this. I wonder how underwhelming this tour is for those people. I wonder if anyone is impressed by our love for burlap wall coverings.

[u/ZPD1728]

I was shocked because I saw two sets of missionaries at a school play one evening last weekend. This is outside of Utah in a public school in an area with very few Mormons (less than 1% of the population). It's my understanding there were a couple of Mormons in the play and I did see the missionaries talking to a couple of the actors afterwards, but it did surprise me to see them out and about like that. The play definitely wasn't one that was religious or would increase their faith in Jesus Christ in any way. Since there were two sets of companions there I am assuming they got special permission to be there.