SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!!! (Using my monster truck voice) Everyone ready for the big announcement this Sunday? Have you started guessing what the meeting will be about? Is it going to be service missions? Is it going to be about lowering the sister missionary age? Will it be announced that the sister missionaries can serve for 2 years? Is it going to be about new missions opening up? Will missionaries now be using RationalFaiths.com for the discussions? Or, will it be that the missionary program is going digital?… Well turns out, according to our sources the big announcement on Sunday is this: The mission program is going digital. Which involves a whole mess of iPads. I don’t know if this will be just for North America or if it will be worldwide. Either way, it seems that missionaries will soon be carrying iPads instead of flip charts, etc.
Hooper “iDistrict” in Ogden, Utah
So let’s go over the pros and cons:
PROS:
- Digital media is much easier to update than printed manuals.
- Searching for scriptures will be much easier.
- More resources will be available to the missionaries and investigators.
- Videos and images can be better used for teaching.
- Angry Birds breaks to keep the kids involved with the lessons.
CONS:
- iPads are expensive.
- iPads can break.
- iPads don’t do so great in extreme temperatures. (Central America, Brazil or Rexburg, Idaho)
- I believe missionaries will be targeted for theft, if the general population absolutely knows they are carrying an iPad. Safety might be an issue.
- The Church might come across as out of touch if they bring an iPad into a poor home with a dirt floor.
- Missionaries might become too dependent on videos to bring home the message and therefore their teaching skills won’t develop. IE: Picture the worst Sunday School teacher coming into class and popping in a video.
- Droid users will be jealous.
I’m still hoping that they will talk about service missions and the Just Serve program, but alas my hopes might have to wait a few more years. I’m hoping our sources are wrong and they still announce service missions. So what do you think are some of the Pros and Cons? Will the cost of updating printed manuals offset the cost of the iPads?
Pablo
Born and raised in Northern California, Pablo received his education at Ricks College and BYU with a BA in Spanish, minor in PE Coaching. Pablo served his LDS mission during the years 94-96 in Rosario, Argentina. He now runs a skate shop and batting cages in Orem, UT. He's married and has 4 boys.
All posts by Pablo
I was really hoping for service missions. Oh well, now I don’t need to go to the stake center to learn about it. Thanks for the tip!
Same!! Blah… I’m sure I’ll go to it just to report something for the blog.
I have to admit that this actually makes me quite angry. Weren’t members just recently asked to up their donations to the missionary funds? How can more money be needed in one breath, and in the next it is iPads all around!!???
You’re right about The Church looking out of touch with a missionary bringing an expensive digital device into a poor home. Rather than it merely being a faux pas, it is flat-out grinding the faces of the poor.
Bad move.
I’m sure they will get them at a discounted price saving thousands of dollars 😉
Murmering with EOR. The juxtaposition is kind of stinky.
I just learned a new word today! Thanks 😉
Bleh.
Welcome to LDSinc…where we take your money that you are paying to be a marketing representative…i mean a missionary for the corporation…i mean the church…and turn it into awesome electronic device that will be stolen, broken, lost, etc and then cost us even more money. if this is going to happen, i hope they at least purchase them at City Creek Mall so that the mall can continue to be a solid anchor in downtown salt lake
I’m so disappointed. Due to the hype and tremendous buildup, including changing meeting schedules I was hoping for something that was actually important, like increased service by missionaries or, God forbid, an actual revelation from a living prophet.
As for the concept, I think it will be nice for the missionaries who are already addicted to electronics and dont want to have to actually “teach” but ultimately it will be a huge failure. Teaching is about love and understanding, not multi-media presentations put together by a Utah-based and Caucasian-oriented church.
The Church provided bikes to all of the missionaries in my mission because most of the missionaries were local (due to visa problems) and did not have the resources to purchase a bicycle. Within months the bikes were TRASHED and totally unusable. 19 year olds have never been good at taking care of delicate things. Millions of tithing dollars down the drain.
Might not be a bad idea to wait and find out all the details before deciding how to react…
We’ll see how accurate both my sources are. One is tied to the district shown in the picture, known as the “iDistrict”. Hopefully this isn’t the only thing they announce. We shall see on SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!
I went back and bolded according to our sources…
I missed the “droid users will be jealous” con as well….That’s funny!
I tried to jazz it up with some humor.
“Look, this lesson on this iPad says we need more of your money”
It’s gonna work!
I might have the missionaries over for dinner more if I know that I can play Candy Crush on their Ipad. I can’t seem to get past level 65. Maybe the Spirit will help.
That’s a win win!!!! ;))
If they buy the iPads at the Apple store at City Creek, then everybody wins.