The Missionary Leader Seeks to Grow the Faith

     Every organization and organized faith, group, or club has their ways of expanding or growing, or at least maintaining their trajectory as a group. This applies to businesses, governments, or any group that seeks to expand, finding success in its growth. If some groups or organizations do not grow, they wither and die. Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religious faith of some almost 200 years as constituted, there are specific people appointed to help the faith grow as many of the local congregations called wards or branches march forward with their various tasks and missions to worship, teach, guide and cultivate their youth, serve, and congregate in healthy ways.

    Part of the intent of the Church is to grow and "fill the earth", which follows Biblical and other holy scripture and divine prophesy in order to reach the languages and tribes of all peoples of the earth, which is a tall order. This is also known as the Gathering of Israel. Begun in 1830, the Church has made many advancements in progression towards arriving at ever more nations, cities, regions, and cultures, but there is quite a bit more to do. Part of the ability to have the sheer numbers to accomplish the objective of reaching all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, is to evangelize and baptize more converts and new members. Christianity and many other religions have always had such goals and actions.

    I am not sure when it started at the ward level in our faith, the LDS Church, which my parents joined in 1967 before my birth, but in the 1970s there was a stake quorum known as the Seventy, made up of priesthood adult males that were supposed to be the evangelizers, to act as the local missionaries alongside the full time ones who come temporarily from farther away. The combination of far off and close by finding efforts was supposed to add up to synchronous conversion, which worked in some cases.  It worked on my family. My parents were endeared to the missionaries that met and taught them, from far off California and Alberta, Canada, but they became very close friends and long time associates of the members in the Bloomington, Indiana ward. The Church grew in my home town and the ward split around 1977. Until I left on my own full time mission to Concepcion, Chile, in 1989, I was not very aware of who the mission leader in my ward was. It was not until serving in my various areas in South America that I learned more about the calling and what function it can play in the Church and its growth.

My time serving as Ward/Branch mission leader

I learned more about the calling and missionary work in my two year mission; then I started getting the calling in my adult years. Those years and places were:

 

1996-97 Provo, Utah

 

1998-1999 Bloomington, Indiana

 

2003-2004 San Bernardino, California

 

2013-2017 Sterling, Virginia 

I would like to review initiatives, successes, impressions, and likely some failures or lessons learned, insights or realizations from the years of having tried to be the person to help grow the faith. Combined it adds up to about 8 years of experience in four locations, but I also was a ward missionary from about 2011 to midway to 2012.

So, about a decade of experience and experiences from the late 1980s till 2017, more or less. I also was a Gospel Essentials teacher the last months of fall before my mission in 1989, in the Bloomington First Ward, so that counts somewhat as a ward missionary as well.

 

Some observations of the mission leaders that I knew in my mission:

 

Mulchen, 8th Region, Chile (4 months) --  I met the rather young mission leader in his home; I don't recall his name. He was not very confident or organized, or motivated. He may have attended regularly, which is important, and maybe he did his share of fellowshipping. But, more or less, us missionaries, my trainer and his two successors were calling the shots. The bishop was great and did his best, and so many people were getting baptized in this town, but we struggled to re-activate a recent brother who was called as a new first counselor in the bishopric.

Concepcion, 8th Region, Chile (6 months) -- Brother Gatica was very kind and somewhat motivated, a young father struggling to pay the bills. He lived in humble circumstances; visiting his house was very humbling. A lot of cardboard and plywood. Compared to my first area, this city area had seemingly more abject poverty, and in retrospect I would act differently, maybe? I wish I could take a lot of money to the people down there, especially families like this brother. 30 years later I hope he is a happy father and grandfather, and his family is blessed. 

Santa Juana, 8th Region, Chile (5 months) -- We were such a new branch that we did not have a mission leader. It was tough to find men worthy or capable of "more authoritative" callings; multiple ladies would have done a fine job as mission leader, in this branch of some 70 souls. But this position was meant for men of the priesthood. Perhaps a weakness in the structure of the faith? We have female ward and branch missionaries, and full time sisters, but...

Angol, 9th Region, Chile (4 months) -- I served in two branches in this town, the "Goldilocks just right" city that I would move back to with my wife and girls 14 years later; I honestly have to search my memory banks to recall any mission leaders. Did we have them? Hmmm.... I would be remorseful to say definitively no. Perhaps one of the Erices twins? After moving back there in 2005 I could not remember all the seven people that I know we baptized. I searched in the streets, my memories... Still time to consult some journals and papers, right? Please, don't throw away that box of random items in the garage... 

 

Either my memory is really poor or there was not a prominent missionary leader. Could it have been Eduardo Lopez, the "Bad Lopez"? (There was a good one, that's why he comically and humbly went by Lopez Malo).

Coihueco, 8th Region, Chile (3 months) --

Provo -- Mighty fine to be the mission leader when there are only three non-members in your ward of 125 or so, located not too far from the campus of BYU. One was baptized during that time, as he already was enamored of the Doctrine and Covenants, and of his wife to be, who was an active member. The other two non-members were fellowshipped and shown special attention at a birthday party at the bishop's house; we had invited the two others to speak on their native countries, Latvia and China. The ward missionaries were very responsive and supportive, too. The convert from Latvia  (Alexy?) credited me for finishing part of his joining up, but he was nice and mostly kidding, I think. 

 

This was fun, a mission leader in a group of mostly willing participants. Being in the majority helps, I believe. Positive peer pressure and relationships. Not a very heavy lift, and sort of ideal. Hopefully the young man from Missouri and young woman from China had a good experience back then, and may have fond memories of it. I was called to help them grow closer to Jesus Christ through His covenants and ordinances. We pray that that happened, to any degree big or small.

Bloomington -- Being back in my hometown was both different and the same, after five years away in Utah, Chile again, more Utah, and the Holy Land. And more Utah.

Bloomington has its share of people and things that Utah, or at least Provo, did not:

Smokers, gay bars, many more bars and party places of drinking, tobacco shops, and lots of people who do not care for the practices, ideas, beliefs, or services and sharing things of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is my home, always will be. It is similar to Provo in many aspects, too. Situated an hour from the airport, people come together during the large sports events, the crime is not bad, good shows and entertainment available for a small market. In sum, they are both major college towns. I love them both, just differently. I was last in Provo in 2017; it may have a lot more of those things now, but it definitely has less than Bloomington. Less drinking alcohol, for sure.

Anyway, we had a good number of really cool Latter-day Saints in and around Bloomington in the late 1990s, so being mission leader for the singles branch was pretty fun overall, despite making up only on percent or so of the local population. We had good successes finding and helping to baptize and convert some very nice people to our beliefs. The numbers of those joining during my time were decent. There was Tricia from South Dakota, Chad from Maine, Matt from New Jersey, a young lady from Indianapolis, a nice young man from northern Indiana, some locals from in and around southern Indiana, and a few more students who did not join the Church but co-mingled with us, sang in our choirs, hung out with our groups. Some less active members became activated, too, which was always part of our missionary work. With all that cool growth in membership and numbers were the sometimes awkward invitations or rejections, or just failed attempts at whatever. However, when you celebrate enough baptisms and re-activations month after month, and some of those people end up getting missionary calls or marrying other Church members, fully integrating socially and ordinance-wise into the faith which is the goal, you feel like you are doing a good job. 

 

Also, under the Stake Mission Leader who was the Church Education Specialist at the local Institute of Religion right by IU campus, John, (the stake covered about 10 congregations over an area of and hour drive by an hour drive), I was a second counselor who was called to assist in missionary work for other areas. I am not sure how effective we were as a greater stake group to effect conversions or proselytizing, but that added to the feeling of evangelizing. I left for California after going back to Indiana as a fulfilled part time missionary, or mission leader. Lots of good friends and loved ones that felt I was a part of helping know what I know, as a missionary for Jesus: it is good news. And it keeps spreading.

San Bernardino -- Flash forward a few years: I was older, supposedly wiser (I did manage to get a Masters), and I was married with a small child and another on the way. We attended the San Bernardino 6th Branch, Spanish speaking, which was in the same Waterman Building of the people my wife had grown up with, but mostly Latinos. The only gringos were a few people married to Latinos, and the High Counselor Greg Fields. They called me as el lider misional pretty quickly, and I tried to do my part for a year, and there were not many baptisms, maybe less than 4. Or three. Maybe. I was a little frustrated that we could not find and teach more people, but I think our work with the less actives, and some of the active members, was fruitful. About a year, or less, into that calling I was called into the Branch Presidency, which lead to me being the Branch President because the eager Tony Miranda was moved by his job and me, the First Counselor, got promoted.

With Alejandro Popoca as lider misional, he being called and replacing me, things took fire. People were getting baptized in Rama Seis a lot. As the new Branch President it was extra work for me, but it was great. It reminded me of how some of the baptizing would happen down in Chile, back in the good ole days of lots of lots of people entering the waters of baptism. As a congregational leader, now like those Chilean bishops and branch presidents that I served under as full time missionary as a youth, or when I was the Branch President in Santa Juana for five months, it was my responsibility to mentor and interview and guide and minister to these new members as effectively as possible. My wife bought some tickets to Chile and I left that role after a year or so.

Sterling --- For my fourth go around as ward mission leader, things seemed all right. I had been out of the country for a year, which was nice from my religious point of view, things were changing in the faith with the younger ages of 18 for elders (young men), and 19 for sisters (young women) as full time missionaries; I was back in the ward where I had been active as a priesthood holder with the high priests (men who are usually older), and the former mission leader named Doug, who was still in the ward. Under his leadership our baptismal rate was pretty good for northern Virginia.

I envisioned things and successes of the past, thinking of my mission in South America, the time in Provo, my hometown, and California. We had two sets of elders, and the field was ready to harvest, or so I thought. I tried a lot of things, perhaps I was too self-centered in it, or sometimes we seemed to have mixed understandings with some of the elders. There were sign up lists to go out with the missionaries on exchanges, which sometimes were called off, which would bother our local priesthood men, or a few of them, but annoyed or not the work would not function some nights or weeks ... We had some promising investigators, now called "friends", who I was confident would join the faith. But most did not. We had a couple of baptisms over the three plus years, but not as I had hoped.

The second Wednesday of each month all the mission leaders of the Ashburn Stake would gather and discuss initiatives or problems at the stake center; ways to do things better or however. There were statistical reports about our stake and the other stakes in the mission, DC South. Algonkian Ward was consistently at the bottom.

---Note about stats and numbers: I know we do not truly try to emphasized statistics of baptisms and we value the soul, the individual, the family unit more than a number like 2, or 8, or 25, but we do use the numbers as a way of measuring our progress. Again, this goes back to how any organization or group progresses, grows, develops ...

I tried to be dedicated, helping the missionaries and their friends as much as I could. I became good friends with some of them, which was a side benefit. Some say that evangelizing should be more about fellowship and friendship, that joining the church or being baptized should not be a focused criteria, but that is how we report and practice, in measurements of quantity that implies the quality.

We were able to have a few nine year-olds taught and baptized, who counted as converts, but we did not see a lot of success in new membership in those years, fully 2014, 2015, 2016. I would do my exchanges with the elders personally, would coordinate others to do so, including conducting missionary correlation meetings and and activities. Most of the plans discussed never turned out as we hoped, or perhaps more accurately followed through. 

On cold, dark, winter nights I would take the elders by the home of some faithful members, or my own home, or even the Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church or the Kingdom Hall of the Jehovah's Witnesses, because I believe in the ecumenical hopes of Christianity and also that we should be willing to share beliefs with other faiths as they might consider the messages from ours...

I felt like rather than retiring to their apartments at 7 pm or 8 pm, a few more evangelical moments were in the offing for these dedicated servants of the Lord.

Maybe I was misdirected, but I felt good about it. When coming across new people in the community at their door steps, offering service, the elders could honestly say, "Yes, I have been to your house of worship!" And the communities of faith would augment and grow...

I just remembered in writing this that not far from the elders' apartment was a family from Africa that were baptized and integrated... I had forgotten! We spent many hours transporting them and developing them... They were from ... Ghana? Or even Sierra Leone, the country where my parents and nephew and former commander served. Or Liberia? Ach, at least this memory has been retrieved in this account. [I talked it over with my family. We think the oldest boy was on the local football team, with a couple other members of the ward].

 

All the while, even in the disappointment in not bringing many souls unto Christ through baptism and membership in His kingdom, I felt that I myself was being blessed, and my family as well. Sometimes I question that later as time has passed, as my family members have at times struggled with their faith and practice, myself included.

Did the effort pay off? I believe so, but it is hard to quantify and qualify. Allow me to make a check list of accomplishments of things that did work well:

1. I made friendships with people outside my faith.

2. I helped coordinate with the full time missionaries and the assigned ward missionaries in regular bi-weekly meetings, including outreach to the other quorums and auxiliaries, now known as groups

3. I was able to inform the bishopric, ward counsel, and full time elders about key people and needs of people in the ward

4. I was an active part of the weekly ward council

5. I conducted or coordinated the baptisms of the youth of record, 8 year-olds that were getting baptized, joining the Church officially and further integrating with their famlies. There were usually 6-8 per year

6. I got to know and share time with many full time missionaries

7. I got to know many of the mission leaders, to include the Presidents (Hunstman was one), stake leaders, bishops, mission leaders, full time elders of zone leadership and Spanish speakers in Ashburn at the monthly meetings

8. I became better acquainted with the members of my ward

9. I was able to interact with other religious leaders and establishments of our community, to include Father Ferrell, the Bahai community, the evangelical church close to the town cinema, the local Kingdom Hall. I helped our elders interact with them, too. We all learned from them and edified each other, and perhaps they from us.

10. We coordinated a few convert baptisms, and helped see some members come back to the faith more regularly

11. I brought the elders to my home to be exposed to my wife, children, and sometimes neighbors.

12. I stayed out of trouble doing these church things.

13. I spent some religious and conscientious time calling and emailing, texting over all the above

14. Sometimes I would go on special visits and perform special services for others, both members and non-members

15. At the end of the day, it is all about voluntary service to God and our neighbor. I feel like I did that.

I have been blessed for having such a role, certainly.

Everything that I put into it, with many kind and generous acts of others, I have been compensated for spiritually and materially.

My faith, and perhaps the faith of others, has grown.

Look for our church to open up more and more areas of the world, sooner or later. It all starts with one, trying to become one with God, and share.