Comments on: LDS Church Stops Russian Mission Calls

By: Lee

Lee — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:13:54 +0000

Jared is right on track. I was a little saddened to hear the news and hope that the church will have the support it needs there. I am not worried about Moscow and the larger branches so much as the smaller cities that only had branches of 30 or so members. In those branches the leadership usually consisted of the missionaries. Most of the Elders when I served in 2002 and 2003 were from America and Canada. When I first started my mission, we were only required to leave the country once a year - we would usually leave to Finland or the Baltic States to renew our visas at our year mark. Towards the end of 2003 missionaries had to start renewing every 6 months. I can’t imagine having to leave the country every 3 months, especially for missionaries in the center of the largest country in the world. While I was there they had already cut down the number of missionaries serving in Russia. My mission went down to about 75 missionaries (from over 100).

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:45:12 +0000

That is…Mormons

By: Ryan

Ryan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:43:50 +0000

Everybody just needs to have faith! Russia is an amazing place! The Lord’s elect are there and the work will move forward! Brigham Young said, “When ya kick the Mormans…Ya always kick em up the stairs.” Everything will work out.

By: David H. Sundwall

David H. Sundwall — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 02:40:12 +0000

The Des News confirms that U.S. missionaries are no longer being sent due to visa problems.

By: David H. Sundwall

David H. Sundwall — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 21:30:32 +0000

Michael,

I have no other evidence to go on than what was in the BYU NewsNet article.

It was pulled but as I noted above in the update, Google cache has it preserved here.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 20:39:46 +0000

Where else is there information on this statement? The BYU News has pulled the article and there is no mention of it on the official Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints website, nor in the Church News carried by the local newspapers. The article posted above by Hans only refers to the Moscow and Moscow Regions, while the majority of LDS missions in Russia are found in other regions. Makes you ponder the validity of the statement….as a former missionary to Russia I am just curious and concerned. Any info to cross reference this statement would be greatly appreciated.

By: Justin Turman

Justin Turman — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:41:04 +0000

I was a missionary in Moscow in 2003 when the Area President Douglas Callister said in January before a zone conference of missionaries he said roughly the following:

“I want to share with you how I see the work progressing in Russia. The day will come when there will be very few American and Canadians serving missions in this land if any at all. The few who do will see it as a great privilege. I cannot tell whether the need will come from political pressures like another Cold War or just that the Russian saints will be able to stand on their own. I just know that we need to do our missionary work in such a way to prepare for the absence of North Americans.”

That was in January 2003.

By: Natalie

Natalie — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 05:36:28 +0000

Jared hit the nail on the head.

I served in Russia and I know there are very unique challenges that face the members who are accepting the restored gospel. Communism, dictatorships, oppression, poverty…these have had serious and lasting effects on the wonderful Russian people.

One day, the gospel will flourish in Russia - there are great promises made about the area as it is richly blessed to house many of the scattered tribes of Israel.

The Lord doesn’t ask us to stop laboring just because the harvest is meager, he simply asks us to labor in whatever field we are called to. Americans aren’t the only ones who can proselyte and the Lord will provide a way for the gospel work to move forward.

By: kr

kr — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 04:16:59 +0000

The membership in Russia is very small and it has been called a pioneering mission so I would be surprised to learn that they have enough native missionaries to carry on the work without the help of missionaries from other parts of the world. At this point they don’t have any wards, only branches. We have a relative serving in Russia and not only is it difficult to get a visa and a letter of invitation from Russia, every 3 months the church has to send every missionary who received a visa prior to late October 2007 out of the country in order to renew them. Those who received them after that date; as I understand it (unless the rules have changed) don’t have to renew as often. As you can imagine this can become not only very expensive but disruptive to the work. It also causes a burden to the countries who have been willing (so far) to do the work of renewing all of these visas. My opinion for what it is worth is that it’s a visa problem.

By: Hans

Hans — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:42:40 +0000

I agree with Jared but still think it has to do with the recent end of work permit quota for the whole year. Though emergency numbers were just opened up, all work permits to the Moscow region are nearly spent.