Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Same Purpose, New Approach: A Case Study Of The North Dakota Bismarck Mission Using Social Media During Covid-19, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

This is the story of how one mission in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church) adapted its approach, but not its purpose, to invite all to come unto Jesus Christ during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). The North Dakota Bismarck Mission (NDBM hereafter) covers all or parts of the states of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska, and, like the other 404 missions¹ throughout the world, traditional approaches to missionary work were significantly disrupted by the effects of COVID-19. No longer were missionaries able to find and …

Early Latter-Day Saint Missionary Training At The Church Academies, 1883-1925, Rebecca A. Wiederhold

Faculty Publications

View presentation recording here: https://youtu.be/tohMNqlwKhA?t=1366

As the American and European educational landscape progressed toward the end of the 19th century, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints began to recognize that proselyting missionaries who “were taken from the plow, the anvil, the shoemaker’s shop and carpenter’s bench” would need general education in order to “keep pace ... with the rest of the world.” To address this emerging need, a training program was developed at Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Utah, to prepare Church members for missionary service through general education and courses on church doctrine. Many of the other …

Early Missionary Training At Brigham Young Academy And Byu, Rebecca A. Wiederhold

Faculty Publications

Early missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were expected to prepare themselves for missionary work by gaining their own scriptural understanding and knowledge of gospel doctrine. As the Church grew, schools were founded in the latter half of the 19^th century. Some of the pre-cursors to the Missionary Training Center (MTC) as we know it today were administered by Brigham Young Academy and later Brigham Young University. This exhibit details missionary training efforts here from the 1880s through the 1920s, when the Salt Lake Mission Home was established.

The Fifth Principle Of The Gospel, Noel B. Reynolds

Faculty Publications

With the 2004 publication of Preach My Gospel as the new handbook for LDS missionaries, the official explanation of Christ’s gospel incorporated a previously unrecognized fifth principle—enduring to the end. This article will review ways in which this principle surfaced occasionally in early Mormon missionary work and writings. It will also demonstrate that the principle is explicitly and consistently emphasized in Book of Mormon presentations of the gospel in passages that are now generally recognized as authoritative foundations for LDS gospel teaching.

Ben E. Rich: Sharing The Gospel Creatively, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

The life and missionary work of Ben E. Rich. President of the Southern States Mission and the States Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons).

Making Friends Down Under: The Beginnings Of Lds Missionary Work On Thursday Island, Queensland, Australia, 1961, Fred E. Woods

Faculty Publications

The year 2011 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the beginnings of LDS missionary work on Thursday Island. On this jubilee occasion, it is fitting to ask how the message of Mormonism came to this tiny Australian isle and how American Mormon missionaries adapted to a region far removed from their culture and homeland. Using journal entries, letters, and interviews from the first three full-time elders to preach on the island, it is possible to sketch a portrait of what these young men experienced.

Mission Propaganda: A Study Of Form, Colonial Attitudes, And Feminism In Maria Theresia Ledóchowska's Newspaper Publication, Jakob N. Jarvis

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines Mission Propaganda, a newspaper-style publication distributed by the St. Peter Claver Sodalität, an association of nuns, lay-members, and subscribers founded by Maria Theresia Ledóchowska in 1894. The “sodality” was dedicated to supporting Catholic missionary work in Africa, and advocated for the liberation of African slaves. Ledóchowska used Mission Propaganda to encourage Europeans to support the African missions. She also used it to inform Europeans about African culture. She attempted to create a connection between the need for Catholic missionary work in Africa and the need for reform in Europe. She believed Europeans needed moral, religious, and social …

Chw Productions: A Study To Determine Market Potential For Missionary Videos, Shalayne Packer, Francisco Pascual, Jed Lloyd

Student Works

At the request of the CHW Productions, Shalayne Packer, Jed Lloyd, and Francisco Pascual, students of the Marriott School of Management located at Brigham Young University, were commissioned to determine the market potential for LDS missionary videos. PPL Consulting is comprised of Shalayne Packer, Francisco Pascual and Jed Lloyd.

The Etoile Du Deseret: Portrait Of The French Mission, 1851-1852, Douglas James Geilman

Theses and Dissertations

One of John Taylor's most significant achievements during his mission to France, 1849-1851, was the publication of a French-language Latter-day Saint periodical, the Etoile du Déséret. Appearing in twelve issues from May 1851 to December 1852, the Etoile served a variety of functions for the earliest missionaries and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France. A study of its historical context and of its contents allows readers a glimpse into the circumstances under which the missionaries labored and into the needs of the growing Church. Furthermore, the Etoile provides a vivid example of John …

Measuring Prejudiced Attitudes Toward Mexicans In Latter-Day Saint Missionaries During Missionary Service In The American Southwest, Jared A. Montoya

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the foundations of prejudiced attitudes toward Mexicans held by White Americans and to investigate a means of reducing it, paying specific attention to prejudice found within a subpopulation of White Americans. The origins of American prejudice toward Mexicans are outlined using both historical and psychological explanations. An understanding of these origins leads to the notion that increased favorable contact is the best method for reducing prejudice. A field study focusing on prejudice toward Mexicans among ecclesiastical volunteers demonstrated that missionary service can be considered a means of favorable contact. Eighty-one White American …

The Effects Of Computer-Based Metacognitive Strategy Training For Adult Second Language Learners, Heidi D. Hyte

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a metacognitive language learning strategy training program that was implemented into computer-assisted language learning (CALL) software on second language learners' independent use of metacognition and language learning strategies (LLS). Questions under investigation included what effect this metacognitive training had on learners' independent use of metacognition, the differences in use of metacognitive strategies between fast and slow language learners, and the effect of learners' perceptions of metacognition on their use of LLS and specific metacognitive strategies.

The subjects included 239 missionaries learning Spanish as a second language at the Missionary …

The Japanese Missionary Journals Of Elder Alma O. Taylor, 1901-10, Reid Larkin Neilson

Theses and Dissertations

On 14 February 1901, the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the opening of the Japan Mission and the selection of Elder Heber J. Grant as its first president. The idea of sending Mormon missionaries to Japan had earlier been entertained by President Brigham Young and several other church leaders and lay members.

Until 1854, Japan was closed to western nations and their religious influences. Finally, Commodore Perry forced the Japanese to open their borders and minds to the economic and political entreaties of the United States. In time, other western nations and their …

Storytellers: Scandinavian's Art Told Of Restoration, J. Michael Hunter

Faculty Publications

Missionary work in Scandinavia began 150 years ago with the arrival of the first LDS missionaries in Denmark on June 14, 1850. In keeping with the observance of the sesquicentennial of the Scandinavian Mission, the Church News presents this article by J. Michael Hunter about two prominent Latter-day Saint artists from earlier days in that part of the world. The art and work of Carl Christian Anton Christensen (1831-1921) from Denmark and Danquart Anton Weggeland (1827-1918) from Norway are discussed, focusing on their use of art to tell stories. Images of their art accompany the article.

Cultural Adjustment Factors Of Senior Missionaries On Assignment In The South Pacific For The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Jonathan W. Shute

Theses and Dissertations

The number of senior missionaries serving missions for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has increased in recent years. Many of these volunteers travel overseas and are therefore immersed in a different culture. Some of them adjust successfully and others do not. The purpose of this research was to assess senior missionaries' perceptions of the type of preparation they made and training they received before departure, the expectations they had of their assignment, the people and way of life in the islands, and the accuracy of those expectations, the challenges they faced, the factors that they felt helped …

Learner Concerns At The Missionary Training Center In The Technology Assisted Language Learning Program, Elaine T. Lindsay

Theses and Dissertations

Chapelle (1997) states the following as a vital question to be asked with respect to computer assisted language learning, “How good is the language experience in CALL for L2 learning?” (n.p.) In order to truly answer this question, investigators need to look to the learner and his concerns. In planning curriculum or designing a program, teachers and administrators normally look toward learner needs. However, these educators are also known to fully implement a new program, at times, without consideration of learner concerns. This appears to be especially true with the use of technology in the second language classroom. Research is …

Sun, Moon, And Star, Christopher Kimball Bigelow

Theses and Dissertations

This fictional novella takes place during the narrator Smoot's two-year mission to Melbourne, Australia. It chronicles the intertwining of the lives and destinies of three main characters: Smoot, a Utah native who struggles with carnality and lack of conversion and spirituality; Babakian, an Australian convert who used to be a punk rocker and has become frustrated with Mormonism's blandness and conformity; and Samantha, a nonmember part-Tongan Utahn with whom Smoot was involved before his mission. Speaking generally, the novella is about how Babakian misuses his creative powers of art and sexuality, how Samantha explores the gospel and changes her life, …

Learning To Learn: The Training Of Missionaries In Language Learning Strategies At The Missionary Training Center, D. Brian Kohler

Theses and Dissertations

Language learning strategies (LLS) are specific actions, behaviors, steps, or techniques that learners use to improve their rate and level of L2 development. This thesis details the development and validation of a LLS training program designed to measure if training in LLS increases LDS missionaries' awareness of LLS as potential language learning tools. Specifically, it explores the question as to whether missionaries trained in LLS use and intend to use LLS more frequently, more appropriately, and with a greater range than those not trained in LLS.

The development of the LLS training program involved selecting a set of 48 specific …

Cross-Cultural Conversion Narratives: An American Missionary In Taichung, Taiwan, Amy Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

I was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when I was eight years old. You could say I was sort of born into it, as my father, mother, seven other siblings, and both sets of grandparents are all members as well. I grew up in a small, rural town in Southern Idaho where vegetation is almost as sparse as non-LDS families. As children we were never quite sure which denomination these families belonged to: that they were not Mormon was the only distinction we made. As I was growing up my parents saw to …

On The Cross-Cultural Attitudes And Experiences Of Recently Returned Lds Missionaries, Timothy B. Smith, Richard N. Roberts, Burton Kerr

Faculty Publications

To examine the effect of the mission experience upon attitudes towards members of different cultures, 273 recently returned LDS missionaries and 493 LDS college students who had not yet served missions were administered measures of racial attitudes. Subsequently, the highest and lowest fifth of missionaries who had served in non-English speaking nations were interviewed. Results indicated that the missionaries did differ from the non-missionary sample in their racial attitudes and that several key qualitative pre-mission and mission experiences distinguished between the two groups interviewed. Prejudice, with its attendant train of evil, is giving way before the force of truth, whose …

History Of The Lds Southern States Mission, 1875-1898, Heather M. Seferovich

Theses and Dissertations

This in-depth study of late nineteenth-century missionary work in the Southern States Mission examines the encounter of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the American South. It highlights some of the region's varying conditions affecting missionary work and reports the elders' responses to new and different situations, peoples, and subcultures. Examining missionary work from the elders' viewpoint creates a better understanding of what the missionaries experienced and how they reacted to new situations outside the Mormon "corridor" of settlement in the American West. The statistical analysis of the 1,689 elders in the Mission reveals new details about …

The Development And Validation Of The Missionary Language Performance Test, Blair E. Bateman

Theses and Dissertations

Performance tests are an effective way of assessing examinees' ability to perform specific job-related tasks. This thesis details the development and validation of a performance test designed to measure LDS missionaries' ability to perform missionary tasks in a foreign language, the Missionary Language Performance Test (MLPT).

The development of the test involved identifying a set of relevant missionary tasks, specifying the criteria to be evaluated, designing test items, devising a procedure for sampling tasks and for administering and rating the test, and training raters to administer the test. Three separate studies were conducted to validate the test: (a) both the …

The Mormons In Wilhelmie Germany, 1870-1914: Making A Place For An Unwanted American Religion In A Changing German Society, Michael Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1853 and 1914 the kingdom of Prussia and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons, disagreed over the issue of Mormon missionaries proselyting in Prussia. In 1853 royal magistrates banished all Mormon missionaries from the kingdom for advocating emigration. A new church policy of preaching without seeking for official permission, in addition to an improved relationship between the Mormons in Utah and the United States government after the Manifesto of 1890, led to an increase in missionaries sent to Germany, including Prussia. By 1900 mormon success alarmed the Prussian Protestant clergy and a few Prussian governors …

The International Diffusion Of The Mormon Church, Samuel Otterstrom

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis outlines the international diffusion and growth of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. A model of Mormon spatial diffusion in foreign countries is developed incorporating both a functional and spatial perspective. The functional perspective includes supply and demand variables which influence the rate of growth of the Mormon Church in a country. The functional perspective is not fully explored in the thesis. The spatial perspective which the study concentrates on seeks to show a general spatial pattern related to the spread of the Church within countries.

The original diffusion of the Church to …

Anti-Mormon Pamphleteering In Great Britain, 1837-1860, Craig L. Foster

Theses and Dissertations

The introduction of Mormonism into Great Britain was met with both success and resistence. The major form of British resistence to the Latter-day Saints was through the press. From the introduction of the Church into Great Britain in 1837 to 1860, numerous anti-Mormon pamphlets were published to discourage people from associating with what was considered to be a strange American sect.

The major themes of a number of these tracts have been analyzed in order to gain a better understanding of how the Mormons were perceived by the British. Some of the major themes included the evil character of Joseph …

The History Of The Early Members Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Preston, Lancashire, England, Paul Floyd Smart

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis outlines the setting for and establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the British Isles. The intent is to identify and analyze who the early converts were that first embraced Mormonism in England, in and around Preston, Lancashire. The study describes the extant records, the social and economic family lifestyle, and religiosity of the Mormon converts from 1837, upon the Church's arrival in Britain, to approximately 1851.

The Convert As A Social Type: A Critical Assessment Of The Snow-Machalek Conversion Typology As Applied To British Mormon Converts, Joy A. O'Banion

Theses and Dissertations

The study was designed to be a critical assessment of the Snow-Machalek Conversion Typology. Data were collected from Mormon converts in the British Isles, and an attempt was made to apply the typology to these converts. It was assumed that if the typology could be effectively applied to Mormon converts, strong correlations would be found between its dimensions and quantitative measures of conversion. It was also assumed that social integration of converts would play an important part in the conversion process.

The application of the typology proved to be very difficult; however, some dimensions seemed to be more useful than …

A History Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Japan From 1948 To 1980, Terry G. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

The history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan from 1948 to 1980 is a study in cross-cultural interaction. Compared to the earlier attempts of the Church in proselytizing the Japanese in the period 1901 to 1924, there are some significant contrasts. The earlier mission is seen as an attempt by a small, relatively unknown, provincial religion, in financial straits, just emerging into the twentieth century, trying to establish itself in a non-christian, fiercely nationalistic, culturally closed nation.

From very humble beginnings, starting with second and third generation Japanese in Hawaii, and with LDS members of …

The Communicational Function Of Wearing Apparel For Lady Missionaries Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, Alice W. Buehner

Theses and Dissertations

Because the need exists for a professional image among lady missionaries, this thesis will define what knowledge concerning communication of clothing is necessary in order to create a desirable image of professionalism. The term "professional" is derived from available research describing the most appropriate attire for women business executives. In lieu of an experimental study by this author, the interpretation of the professional look is supported by Molloy's extensive research on women's wearing apparel. His research shows that beyond a doubt, the skirted suit and blouse give women "a look of authority and a sense of presence in business." In …

The Worldwide Evacuation Of Latter-Day Saint Missionaries At The Beginning Of World War Ii, David F. Boone Sr.

Theses and Dissertations

In 1939, when Germany mobilized its military against neighboring Poland, LDS missionaries were notified to evacuate their missions. In August 1940, the full-time missionaries in the South African and Pacific missions were also evacuated because of the spread of hostilities in Europe. Later the missionaries were released from the missions in South America. By 1943 the only missionaries serving outside of North America were in Hawaii.

All of the more than eight hundred missionaries were transported at Church expense to America, where they were either reassigned to missions within the United States or released to return to their homes. All …

Health Problems Of Selected Lds Missionaries Throughout The World, Susan Jensen

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study on Mormon missionaries was to determine the effect of health on missionary activity time, age, sex, months in field, laboring city population, monthly mission cost, living conditions, diet, pre-existing conditions, adequacy of medical care, nativity, effectiveness, emotional health, interpersonal relationships, and motivation and enthusiasm. In addition the research attempted to ascertain the effect of the selected independent factors on ill missionary lost time.

As an outcome of the statistical analysis performed on this study's sample the following results were obtained. Respiratory disorders, gastrointestinal difficulties and orthopedic injuries were the most common health problems. Well missionaries …