Fifty Eight New Missions

On Saturday February 23, 2013, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the creation of 58 new missions increasing the number of missions by 16.7% and bringing the total number of missions to 405.  Elder David F. Evans of the Seventy, executive director of the Missionary Department, said that the new missions are sustainable after the current wave of missionaries subsides.  This suggests that missionary numbers will be at least match the increase in the percentage of missions.  Using 57,000 missionaries as the base number prior to the announcement, a 16.7% increase in missionaries implies a sustainable missionary force of more than 66,500 missionaries.  A 100% increase in the number of Sisters and a 2% increase in Elders would result in a sustainable missionary force of 65,500.  Estimates of new missionaries will become more accurate as eighteen year-old graduating seniors submit their applications.

The Impact of WWII and the Korean War on Missionary Work

Missionaries Serving in War and Peace: 1960-2011

In “War and the Missionary Force,” I suggested that war in Iraq and Afghanistan affected the number of missionaries serving as well as the more frequently identified events such as raising worthiness standards for missionaries and demographic trends of falling birth rates and secularization.  I used the graph “Missionaries Serving in War and Peace: 1960-2011” as evidence.  The horizontal axis measures time beginning in 1960 and continuing until 2011, and the vertical axes, the number of missionaries serving at year end.  The blue segments of the line are years of peace and the red segments, years of war in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.  The graph is suggests that these wars may have drawn young men from missionary service into the military service, but in the case of the War in Iraq, the timing of the war coincides almost perfectly with raising the worthiness standards.  Did the war cause missionary numbers to fall or was it the increase in standards or both? 

Missionaries Serving in War and Peace: 1938-1960

Examining periods of war without concurrent changes in missionary standards helps separate the impact of the two events.  The second graph covers the period surrounding World War II and the Korean War when worthiness standards were constant.  The horizontal axis measures time beginning in 1938 and continuing through 1960 and the vertical axis, the number of missionaries set apart, a slightly different variable than the number serving used in the first graph.  Clearly, the number of missionaries set apart declined in response to World War II and the Korean War.  The student manual, “Church History in the Fulness of Times,” describes how these wars impacted missionary and members in Europe beginning with the Nazi’s political triumph in 1933, the evacuation of missionaries from Europe starting in 1938, to the drafting potential missionaries.  The impact of WWII is summarized in the following paragraph

Pioneer Heritage

For many members of the Church, these words (the faith of our fathers) bring to mind valiant pioneers who abandoned the comfort of their homes and traveled by wagon and on foot until they reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake. I love and honor the faith and courage of those early pioneers of the Church. My own ancestors were living an ocean away at the time. None were among those who lived in Nauvoo or Winter Quarters, and none made the journey across the plains. But as a member of the Church, I claim with gratitude and pride this pioneer legacy as my own.  (President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, April Conference, 2008)

My last missionary companion was man of great faith, serving a mission only a year after his conversion to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As we walked or biked along the dusty, rocky streets of Rawson, Argentina we occasionally discussed whether the pioneer history of the Church as presented in hymns and lessons was a heritage of members in our branch.

He believed that being separated by time, space and culture the pioneer experience was little understood.  I thought that learning of the faith and commitment to the gospel of the pioneers would would create a natural bond, a legacy. 

In “The LDS Church in Mongolia,” Briana Stewart gives a brief and interesting account of the Church in Mongolia.  Within the article is a picture of Mongolian youth on a Pioneer Trek.  The Pioneer Trek has greater intensity than the traditional lessons that I believed would create a legacy.  In Mongolia, Argentina, and everywhere in between, treks will transport our youth to a different time, bridging the distance between their lands and the plains and mountains of the American West, letting them glimpse at the faith and character needed to gather in Zion, strengthening their testimonies by bonding them to our common legacy.  They will understand that their personal journey as Saints is the same as that of the pioneers.   

A One-sided Alma Moment

2  …therefore Alma did rejoice exceedingly to see his brethren; and what added more to his joy, they were still his brethren in the Lord; yea, and they had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.

3 But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God.

I was thumbing through the 1999-2000 Church Almanac looking for data when I found the three stakes and their first presidents, all friends from my mission.

Stake Name	Organized	First President
Tucuman Argentina	21 Jan 1980	Ronaldo Juan Walker
Buenos Aires Argentina Moreno	20 Mar 1983	Carlos Domingo Marapodi
Jan Juan Argentina Chimbas	18 Feb 1996	Ruben Dario Romeu

I met Carlos Marapodi while serving in my first area, Santiago del Estero.  He was my third Zone Leader.  I found him inspired, dynamic, optimistic, and charismatic.  Ronaldo Walker became the Branch President of the Rawson Branch in the San Juan District shortly after I began my service in that area.  His personality was much like my former Zone Leader, although he was more serious, perhaps a function of a little more age and responsibility.  The Branch he led was divided and had shallow leadership.  He solved the problem by pressing the Aaronic Priesthood into duty.  He made sixteen year-old Ruben Dario Romeu his Executive Secretary and his fourteen year-old brother the Sunday School.  Guillermo Gonzalez, the Deacons Quorum President, ready the building for meetings every Sunday.  Ruben was intelligent, kind and had a strong testimony.  At sixteen, he was a respected leader of the Branch.  Eighteen years latter, he was made Stake President. 

War and the Missionary Force

17 And it came to pass that they did preach with great power, insomuch that they did confound many of those dissenters who had gone over from the Nephites, insomuch that they came forth and did confess their sins and were baptized unto repentance, and immediately returned to the Nephites to endeavor to repair unto them the wrongs which they had done.

18 And it came to pass that Nephi and Lehi did preach unto the Lamanites with such great power and authority, for they had power and authority given unto them that they might speak, and they also had what they should speak given unto them—

19 Therefore they did speak unto the great astonishment of the Lamanites, to the convincing them, insomuch that there were eight thousand of the Lamanites who were in the land of Zarahemla and round about baptized unto repentance, and were convinced of the wickedness of the traditions of their fathers. (Helaman 5:119)

War and Missionaries Serving

According to numbers published in various Deseret Church Almanacs, a decline in the Church missionary force began in 2002 and that initial decline will not be overcome until this year.  Opponents of the Church ranging from honest scholars to religious competitors to disaffected members pointed to the decline as further evidence of the Church crumbling.  As an aside, since I have been old enough to take notice, I have witnessed opponents of the Church take many premature victory laps over some event.  This is not new.

Friends of the Church have listed several plausible explanations for the decline including higher missionary standards and changing demographics most notably smaller family size (Smith, Jimmy.  “Number of Mormon Missionaries, ” Mormon Missionary Prep), (Martinich, Matt. “Raising the Bar and Increasing the Number of Members Serving Missions,” Cumorah).  In addition to these causes, Martinich also lists increasing secularism in the United States. 

Let me propose another possible explanation, war. 

Government: a Substitute or a Complement to the Church?

"1 We believe that governments were instituted of God for the benefit of man; and that he holds men accountable for their acts in relation to them, both in making laws and administering them, for the good and safety of society.

2 We believe that no government can exist in peace, except such laws are framed and held inviolate as will secure to each individual the free exercise of conscience, the right and control of property, and the protection of life.

3 We believe that all governments necessarily require civil officers and magistrates to enforce the laws of the same; and that such as will administer the law in equity and justice should be sought for and upheld by the voice of the people if a republic, or the will of the sovereign. (Doctrine and Covenants 134:1-3)

These three verses give a broad portrait of the role of government according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Laws should be for the good and safety of society, guarding freedom of religion, private property and protecting life.  The scriptural declaration is a good starting point for good government.  Like the church itself, these verses describe an inclusive government, one operated for the good of society and not for an elite class.  As much as these verses say, more is left unsaid than said.  There is not a hint of how the government should protect citizens from madmen with guns, controlling immigration, or determining tax structure.  Demand theory provides a framework for evaluating some programs.

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He (Christ) inviteth them all to come unto him and partake of his goodness; and he denieth none that come  unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female; and he remembereth the heathen; and all are alike unto God, both Jew and Gentile .II Nephi 26:33)

With the goal of preaching the gospel to the world, Church President Thomas Monson’s announced at the October General Conference that young men can serve missions at 18 and young women at 19.  In a new conference after the announcement, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said the change would “hasten” the Work but did not know what the impact on the number of missionaries would be although he suggested growth would occur.  He said that the impact would be better understood by the fall of 2013.