Dear Family,
Mission NewsI gave a presentation or talk to the missionaries about creating and sustaining a mission culture of wise and righteous use of technology. One goal was to help the missionaries feel good about and committed to monitor each other’s “screens” and to do a rigorous weekly audit of their companion’s devices. It was a 15-20 minute presentation a zone conferences on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I used power point to assist on the presentation. The power point presentation is attached.
Mission NewsI gave a presentation or talk to the missionaries about creating and sustaining a mission culture of wise and righteous use of technology. One goal was to help the missionaries feel good about and committed to monitor each other’s “screens” and to do a rigorous weekly audit of their companion’s devices. It was a 15-20 minute presentation a zone conferences on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. I used power point to assist on the presentation. The power point presentation is attached.
In my thinking there are three potential problems with smart phones and tables.
Pornography. Even though the Church puts good filtering software on the phones, a motivated person can find ways around the filters. My remarks were directed mostly about pornography. I suspect there are a half dozen missionaries that have a pornography problems boarding on addiction. There are others that are challenged.
Waste of time. Even though many time wasting internet sites are blocked by the software (i.e. Youtube), there are many things that are not blocked. If a missionary has a hobby, he can spend a lot of time online. This is can be a major distraction cause the missionary to loose focus on his purpose: inviting people to come unto Christ.
This last one does not affect missionaries too much. The availability of technology warps the function of the brain especially children. We can allow our smart phones to interrupt us hundreds of time a day. Over time this affects our ability to focus and concentrate. High school youth lose the ability to study on a topic for a half hour or hours. Because they are interrupted by technology so frequently their brains change and they cannot concentrate for any extended period of time. (I think I can feel myself losing that ability. Perhaps I am just old.)
I concluded my presentation with the story of Keri’s friend from college. She met a married a return missionary who had a pornography addiction. The pornography problem was so bad that marriage ended quickly. A few years later she married a return missionary who had a pornography addiction, but at the time of their marriage the problem had been overcome to some degree. Keri’s friend and the second husband had two daughters. Then the pornography addiction came back. This second husband’s father and father-in-law had pornography problems and had abused their children. He was afraid that he might abuse his children. He concluded that the only way he could guarantee he would not abuse his daughters was to take his life – which he did.
Well on that happy note I will move on to something else.
The phones are still messed up.
Everybody has a phone that works but their area books are messed up. The area book is a very valuable tool for missionaries. They use it to plan their day. They keep a record of the discussions they have with their friends and contacts they make. When an appointment falls through or ends early, they can go to a Google maps of their area and find contacts that are in the area. Not having this tool is a major impediment especially for missionaries that are new to an area.
There have been lots of phone problems. I am trying to bring in the mission-owned phones and have the missionaries use only the phones they brought with them. There are lots of problems with getting data off the old phones and putting on the new. Some areas have combined and the missionaries have two phones because they need area book and other area specific data on the old phones.
Yesterday we attended a baptism of a college student from Ghana West Africa. He was fellowshipped by a recent convert and friend from Ghana.
Not-so-Fun StuffOur Come Follow Me study routine was interrupted by Zone Conferences that started at 8:30 at locations a half hour or more away. We tried to do it in the car as we drove, but we were not so successful.
Like most places the weather is hot. Most days the temperature high for the day has been between 95 and 100. When I look at my “misery meter” on my phone this past week, it will say the temperature is 95 and then it will say it feels like 102. Two weeks ago our air conditioner in our car failed and we had it worked on. However this week it was not working as well as we would like. Sometimes it works normally, but sometimes it works poorly. So we took it in again. However, it worked well for the mechanic and they did nothing. We are going to wait for it to do poorly or die and then take it in again. Fortunately we have access to some mission cars, so we won’t be stranded.
Last night I went for a 20 minute walk at 9:00PM. It was 86 and humid. During the walk I was surprised by how loud cicadas are. I felt sorry for the crickets. Their chirping was completely over powered by the cicadas.
We are enjoying the air conditioning in our apartment and at work.
WES NewsWe are bidding on a $1.7M project. There is about a 50% chance we will win the bid. We will know in a couple of months if we win the bid or not.
Family NewsMom and I are hearing the reports of your week on the ranch. All have reported a wonderful time was had by all. We look forward to seeing Chelsea’s “slide” show.
Lance is off to Wisconsin for a week of training on how to financially analyze companies.
School is just a few weeks away for the children and Chelsea.
Pornography. Even though the Church puts good filtering software on the phones, a motivated person can find ways around the filters. My remarks were directed mostly about pornography. I suspect there are a half dozen missionaries that have a pornography problems boarding on addiction. There are others that are challenged.
Waste of time. Even though many time wasting internet sites are blocked by the software (i.e. Youtube), there are many things that are not blocked. If a missionary has a hobby, he can spend a lot of time online. This is can be a major distraction cause the missionary to loose focus on his purpose: inviting people to come unto Christ.
This last one does not affect missionaries too much. The availability of technology warps the function of the brain especially children. We can allow our smart phones to interrupt us hundreds of time a day. Over time this affects our ability to focus and concentrate. High school youth lose the ability to study on a topic for a half hour or hours. Because they are interrupted by technology so frequently their brains change and they cannot concentrate for any extended period of time. (I think I can feel myself losing that ability. Perhaps I am just old.)
I concluded my presentation with the story of Keri’s friend from college. She met a married a return missionary who had a pornography addiction. The pornography problem was so bad that marriage ended quickly. A few years later she married a return missionary who had a pornography addiction, but at the time of their marriage the problem had been overcome to some degree. Keri’s friend and the second husband had two daughters. Then the pornography addiction came back. This second husband’s father and father-in-law had pornography problems and had abused their children. He was afraid that he might abuse his children. He concluded that the only way he could guarantee he would not abuse his daughters was to take his life – which he did.
Well on that happy note I will move on to something else.
The phones are still messed up.
Everybody has a phone that works but their area books are messed up. The area book is a very valuable tool for missionaries. They use it to plan their day. They keep a record of the discussions they have with their friends and contacts they make. When an appointment falls through or ends early, they can go to a Google maps of their area and find contacts that are in the area. Not having this tool is a major impediment especially for missionaries that are new to an area.
There have been lots of phone problems. I am trying to bring in the mission-owned phones and have the missionaries use only the phones they brought with them. There are lots of problems with getting data off the old phones and putting on the new. Some areas have combined and the missionaries have two phones because they need area book and other area specific data on the old phones.
Yesterday we attended a baptism of a college student from Ghana West Africa. He was fellowshipped by a recent convert and friend from Ghana.
Not-so-Fun StuffOur Come Follow Me study routine was interrupted by Zone Conferences that started at 8:30 at locations a half hour or more away. We tried to do it in the car as we drove, but we were not so successful.
Like most places the weather is hot. Most days the temperature high for the day has been between 95 and 100. When I look at my “misery meter” on my phone this past week, it will say the temperature is 95 and then it will say it feels like 102. Two weeks ago our air conditioner in our car failed and we had it worked on. However this week it was not working as well as we would like. Sometimes it works normally, but sometimes it works poorly. So we took it in again. However, it worked well for the mechanic and they did nothing. We are going to wait for it to do poorly or die and then take it in again. Fortunately we have access to some mission cars, so we won’t be stranded.
Last night I went for a 20 minute walk at 9:00PM. It was 86 and humid. During the walk I was surprised by how loud cicadas are. I felt sorry for the crickets. Their chirping was completely over powered by the cicadas.
We are enjoying the air conditioning in our apartment and at work.
WES NewsWe are bidding on a $1.7M project. There is about a 50% chance we will win the bid. We will know in a couple of months if we win the bid or not.
Family NewsMom and I are hearing the reports of your week on the ranch. All have reported a wonderful time was had by all. We look forward to seeing Chelsea’s “slide” show.
Lance is off to Wisconsin for a week of training on how to financially analyze companies.
School is just a few weeks away for the children and Chelsea.
Love,
Dad
Dad
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