So are missionaries going to China or what?

[SteelBlue]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

I was under the impression that one of those new missions was going to be one in which only BYU athletes would be called to serve, in an undisclosed location, where it's more like a service mission and an athletic academy than an actual proselytizing mission.

The Gold's Gym mission. Where you lift half the day and offer your services as a trainer to the poor the other half of the day.

[myboynoah]

Originally Posted by il Padrino Ute

I was under the impression that one of those new missions was going to be one in which only BYU athletes would be called to serve, in an undisclosed location, where it's more like a service mission and an athletic academy than an actual proselytizing mission.

Well, this would be much better than the current strategy of having them return after three months.

Also, all non-BYU missionary athletes would automatically be sent to amoebic dysentary missions.

[Archaea]

BYU athletes would need a performance enhancing mission a la Swizterland with some East German physicians providing proselyting advice.

[hyrum]

Originally Posted by DrumNFeather

Well, President Hinckley did say that we had 344 missions but would soon have 347...now I don't know if that means new missions in new areas or just split missions, but I thought it was an interesting remark.

Due to tremendous growth there will be north, south, east and west Paraguay missions.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by BlueK

Not very likely right now, IMO. China has a pretty serious sticking point with the Catholics right now about the government's role in overseeing/controlling the church. This has led to an "official" catholic church under the watchful eye of the Chinese government and an underground Catholic church that is loyal only to the Vatican. I can't see how we wouldn't have the same issues, so I'm sure we'll stay out until it's no longer an issue.

That has been changing of late. The "underground" Catholic church has started to emerge in China, and the government there even gave the LDS church two floors in a skyscraper in Beijing to use for church meetings (formerly unheard of).

I think the Olympics are a great thing for China. They don't want to be scrutinized on a global scale, and nothing brings scrutiny like the Olympics. They will try and put on a good face, which means I expect them to make religion as much of a non-issue as possible prior to the Olympics so the press can focus on their positive treatment of religion.

My guess would be that we have missionaries in China in the very near future. I think it will start off with only Chinese people being called to serve there and then spreading out until foreigners are called as well.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by hyrum

Due to tremendous growth there will be north, south, east and west Paraguay missions.

I assume you are joking, but thought I would check.

[BigFatMeanie]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

That has been changing of late. The "underground" Catholic church has started to emerge in China, and the government there even gave the LDS church two floors in a skyscraper in Beijing to use for church meetings (formerly unheard of).

I think the Olympics are a great thing for China. They don't want to be scrutinized on a global scale, and nothing brings scrutiny like the Olympics. They will try and put on a good face, which means I expect them to make religion as much of a non-issue as possible prior to the Olympics so the press can focus on their positive treatment of religion.

My guess would be that we have missionaries in China in the very near future. I think it will start off with only Chinese people being called to serve there and then spreading out until foreigners are called as well.

I may be mistaken, but my conversations with various people indicate that the PRC government allowed expats to rent two floors. Chinese nationals (e.g. citizens of the PRC) are NOT allowed to attend LDS church meetings and haven't ever been allowed. Only those with foreign passports can attend LDS meetings. The expats have been meeting in hotels and other rented spaces for many years now so allowing them to rent some space in an office building is not that big of a deal. (I could be wrong about this because it's been several years since I last went to church in PRC).

The church currently has service (non-proselytizing) missionaries in China (PRC) doing stuff like education, health care, etc but they aren't identified as service missionaries and are termed "volunteers" or "non-compensated employees" affiliated with LDS Philanthropies, Kennedy Center, etc. as opposed to being affiliated with the LDS church. One of the reasons for this is that the Church still faces considerable opposition from various government and religious factions in China.

For example, this article details a donation of medical equipment made by LDS Philanthropies that caused a big stir in China "when their donations to China were found to contain large quantities of expired medical supplies and second-hand medical equipment". One of the things not widely known is that the donation was always intended to be used medical supplies/equipment but things weren't communicated properly and the Chinese were expecting new medical supplies/equipment. This caused a lot of bad PR - there were lots of factions that made negative hay out of it. The problem would have been worse had it not been for the fact that many Chinese didn't connect the name "LDS Philanthropies" with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" or "the Mormons".

Thus the Church is currently very careful about the way the structure their donations and they way the organize and identify their volunteers in China. Some good sister from the Bountiful 736th Waaarrrd may wax emotional about how the Laard is working in mysterious ways as she gets called on her "mission" (read volunteer with the Kennedy Center) to China; however, my personal opinion is that true proselytizing missionaries that identify themselves with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are yet a long way off (e.g. 10+ years) in China.

That being said, the Laard does work in mysterious ways so I would love for my speculation to be proven wrong.

[Detroitdad]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

I may be mistaken, but my conversations with various people indicate that the PRC government allowed expats to rent two floors. Chinese nationals (e.g. citizens of the PRC) are NOT allowed to attend LDS church meetings and haven't ever been allowed. Only those with foreign passports can attend LDS meetings. The expats have been meeting in hotels and other rented spaces for many years now so allowing them to rent some space in an office building is not that big of a deal. (I could be wrong about this because it's been several years since I last went to church in PRC).

The church currently has service (non-proselytizing) missionaries in China (PRC) doing stuff like education, health care, etc but they aren't identified as service missionaries and are termed "volunteers" or "non-compensated employees" affiliated with LDS Philanthropies, Kennedy Center, etc. as opposed to being affiliated with the LDS church. One of the reasons for this is that the Church still faces considerable opposition from various government and religious factions in China.

For example, this article details a donation of medical equipment made by LDS Philanthropies that caused a big stir in China "when their donations to China were found to contain large quantities of expired medical supplies and second-hand medical equipment". One of the things not widely known is that the donation was always intended to be used medical supplies/equipment but things weren't communicated properly and the Chinese were expecting new medical supplies/equipment. This caused a lot of bad PR - there were lots of factions that made negative hay out of it. The problem would have been worse had it not been for the fact that many Chinese didn't connect the name "LDS Philanthropies" with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" or "the Mormons".

Thus the Church is currently very careful about the way the structure their donations and they way the organize and identify their volunteers in China. Some good sister from the Bountiful 736th Waaarrrd may wax emotional about how the Laard is working in mysterious ways as she gets called on her "mission" (read volunteer with the Kennedy Center) to China; however, my personal opinion is that true proselytizing missionaries that identify themselves with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are yet a long way off (e.g. 10+ years) in China.

That being said, the Laard does work in mysterious ways so I would love for my speculation to be proven wrong.

My mom spent the last year in China teaching English at a University through the Kennedy center. They were under extremely strict orders to do nothing remotely resembling proselyting. They were also told not to readily identify themselves as Mormons in their teaching.

[Archaea]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

I may be mistaken, but my conversations with various people indicate that the PRC government allowed expats to rent two floors. Chinese nationals (e.g. citizens of the PRC) are NOT allowed to attend LDS church meetings and haven't ever been allowed. Only those with foreign passports can attend LDS meetings. The expats have been meeting in hotels and other rented spaces for many years now so allowing them to rent some space in an office building is not that big of a deal. (I could be wrong about this because it's been several years since I last went to church in PRC).

The church currently has service (non-proselytizing) missionaries in China (PRC) doing stuff like education, health care, etc but they aren't identified as service missionaries and are termed "volunteers" or "non-compensated employees" affiliated with LDS Philanthropies, Kennedy Center, etc. as opposed to being affiliated with the LDS church. One of the reasons for this is that the Church still faces considerable opposition from various government and religious factions in China.

For example, this article details a donation of medical equipment made by LDS Philanthropies that caused a big stir in China "when their donations to China were found to contain large quantities of expired medical supplies and second-hand medical equipment". One of the things not widely known is that the donation was always intended to be used medical supplies/equipment but things weren't communicated properly and the Chinese were expecting new medical supplies/equipment. This caused a lot of bad PR - there were lots of factions that made negative hay out of it. The problem would have been worse had it not been for the fact that many Chinese didn't connect the name "LDS Philanthropies" with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" or "the Mormons".

Thus the Church is currently very careful about the way the structure their donations and they way the organize and identify their volunteers in China. Some good sister from the Bountiful 736th Waaarrrd may wax emotional about how the Laard is working in mysterious ways as she gets called on her "mission" (read volunteer with the Kennedy Center) to China; however, my personal opinion is that true proselytizing missionaries that identify themselves with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are yet a long way off (e.g. 10+ years) in China.

That being said, the Laard does work in mysterious ways so I would love for my speculation to be proven wrong.

The Church is very careful to comply with the laws in China to avoid unnecessary complications.

Expats meet with expats and Chinese meet with Chinese, although I'm uncertain how much freedom Chinese members have. It is very difficult for them outside Hong Kong. Shanghai has a large expat contingency and Beijing does as well. Most other cities do not.

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by BigFatMeanie

I may be mistaken, but my conversations with various people indicate that the PRC government allowed expats to rent two floors. Chinese nationals (e.g. citizens of the PRC) are NOT allowed to attend LDS church meetings and haven't ever been allowed. Only those with foreign passports can attend LDS meetings. The expats have been meeting in hotels and other rented spaces for many years now so allowing them to rent some space in an office building is not that big of a deal. (I could be wrong about this because it's been several years since I last went to church in PRC).

The church currently has service (non-proselytizing) missionaries in China (PRC) doing stuff like education, health care, etc but they aren't identified as service missionaries and are termed "volunteers" or "non-compensated employees" affiliated with LDS Philanthropies, Kennedy Center, etc. as opposed to being affiliated with the LDS church. One of the reasons for this is that the Church still faces considerable opposition from various government and religious factions in China.

For example, this article details a donation of medical equipment made by LDS Philanthropies that caused a big stir in China "when their donations to China were found to contain large quantities of expired medical supplies and second-hand medical equipment". One of the things not widely known is that the donation was always intended to be used medical supplies/equipment but things weren't communicated properly and the Chinese were expecting new medical supplies/equipment. This caused a lot of bad PR - there were lots of factions that made negative hay out of it. The problem would have been worse had it not been for the fact that many Chinese didn't connect the name "LDS Philanthropies" with "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints" or "the Mormons".

Thus the Church is currently very careful about the way the structure their donations and they way the organize and identify their volunteers in China. Some good sister from the Bountiful 736th Waaarrrd may wax emotional about how the Laard is working in mysterious ways as she gets called on her "mission" (read volunteer with the Kennedy Center) to China; however, my personal opinion is that true proselytizing missionaries that identify themselves with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are yet a long way off (e.g. 10+ years) in China.

That being said, the Laard does work in mysterious ways so I would love for my speculation to be proven wrong.

Not entirely true. The church now has approximately 40,000 Chinese members attending church in China. They have been allowed to assemble just recently. In addition, they used to be required to meet separately from the expats (I have no idea why). Now they can meet with the expats in some places (Beijing being one of them in the building you were referencing).

There is a lot of progress happening there right now.