Bishops,
As part of the training in CCM yesterday (for stake presidents with Elder Stapleton), we spent an unusual amount of time discussing some of new challenges regarding full-time missionary recommendations.
The biggest concern:
An astounding 25% of full-time missionaries are coming home early for a variety of reasons: health, emotional and mental challenges, delayed confessions, more difficult than they expected, etc.
Equally disappointing, those who come home early only a small fraction make it back into the field.
As I review in my mind, I believe we’ve had 5 missionaries come home early in the last 4 years for delayed confessions, medical issues and, in one case, breaking a rule on the mission. Thankfully, at least two of the missionaries returned to the field and have served or are serving faithfully. We’ve had a couple of others where I’ve had to call the missionary and explain that he would be sent home if he didn’t change his conduct in the field. Thankfully again, both finished out their missions.
WE ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM
The Brethren have identified that you and I are part of the problem.
Here’s what bishops and stake presidents are doing:
1. We’re not explaining more emphatically the rigors of mission life. We’re so eager for them to serve (I’m as anyone), that we sometimes downplay what it’s like to (1) get rejected more than accepted, (2) get discouraged more often than feel joy, and (3) have to adapt to the many personalities of multiple companions.
2. In our eagerness that they serve in a foreign country, we’re not communicating explicitly (or downplaying) to the Brethren ALL the background and issues of the candidate. Sometimes a candidate on medication for depression or anxiety will go off the meds so as to not jeopardize getting called or called to a foreign country. The Brethren need to know everything we know.
WHAT CAN BE DONE
They are asking us to be more explicit and give more details on the missionaries…not just write a sentence or two about how good this young person is or what a great missionary he or she will be.
We are to be more forthcoming about past and current transgressions. The attached CONFIDENTIAL guidelines are those shared with all of you before in our training. I recently updated this document, so please discard the previous version received last year.
They recommend when we need to delay submitting a call, due to a moral transgression (see the attached), that we also communicate with the youth and parents why there will need to be a waiting period. Of course, we are not to communicate to parents the transgression, but encourage youth to be forthright with their parents as part of their repentance process, especially if transgressions occurred while in their teenage years and living at home.
The information we write (not the confidential) is passed on to the assigned mission president and is extremely important to them to know more about the background and emotional-health concerns.
We are likely to see soon new questions in the online recommendation form asking us, as priesthood leaders, if we certify that we have given complete information, not just truthful.
YOUNG PEOPLE WHO GO OFF TO COLLEGE
You may find interesting that one concern raised by other stake presidents was that young people are going off to college, especially Church schools, where they know the mission and even temple interviews can be like “cattle calls,” with so many young people applying. So when they come home to actually leave, we get involved very late in the process and, because they’ve addressed past issues, feel they have nothing to confess or address with you. If you, too, have those concerns, please feel free to share with me so we can address it, if needed.
As some of you will remember, our previous stake president would not allow young people to apply for a mission while at a church school, but required they do all processing with their home bishops and stake president. I have not felt that strongly about it, inasmuch as most of the issues (and they were minimal) were with young people not at church schools. But I’m open to changing that, if you feel it would help.
ADDITIONAL DOCUMENT
I will send you in a subsequent email a 4-page document in pdf format that we received yesterday from the Missionary Executive Council, which is chaired by Elder Oaks, on some of these issues and how they are to be addressed. I hope it is helpful.
Preparing young people is becoming more difficult today than ever before due to the pervasive availability and acceptance of immorality and pornography. Another very significant factor is the life of ease most young people experience. Parents have a difficult time finding work for their children or are too busy to expect it. So our youth have lives filled with fun (electronic devices and toys) and busy (school) activities, but they don’t know how to work or do hard things. So they think a mission is “EFY on steroids,” as Elder Stapleton said. When they discover that missionary work is hard, difficult, exhausting, discouraging, long-suffering work, they don’t know how to handle it and some have a melt down.
So the Brethren are turning to us to step up our preparation of youth and their parents…and our clearing procedures to make sure they leave worthy with both eyes open as to the joy and challenges ahead.
I hope this is helpful to all of us. Thank you for the MANY hours you put in to help these young people come to discover the blessing of serving a mission and living the gospel. You may want to consider also meeting with parents to help them understand their even more important role in preparing sons and daughters to serve.
Gratefully,
President Lewis
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