An online-proselyting mission

As of July 31, 2013, the Arizona Phoenix Mission became an online-proselyting mission, authorized to use mormon.org; Facebook (including chat); email; Skype; blogs; and text messaging to help the missionaries accomplish their purpose. Initially approved for online proselyting are the assistants to the presidents, zone leaders and sister training leaders - to learn, to do and then to be ready to train as other APM missionaries receive their authorization to work online later (We were all online by the end of August 2013).


For more than six months, the 10 members of the mission's Glendale Central district have been using iPads and iPhones as the APM is one of 6 missions in the Church piloting their use. Each companionship has an iPhone, each missionary an iPad Mini, and the companionship's devices are synced together. Apps include digital area books, digital planners, maps, GPS and other approved online resources.
(Since the end of October 2013, ALL our missionaries are using the iPad minis)


Before family, friends and returned missionaries hop on Facebook and start friending current missionaries and trying to do normal Facebook activities with them, please be mindful of their sacred purpose and the directives they've received from the Missionary Department, which include:

• "Your Facebook page should only be used as a missionary tool to communicate with investigators, contacts, converts and local members. It should not be used to carry on non-missionary conversations with family, friends, other missionaries or returned missionaries . . . "

• "Your Facebook page is not a place to post preparation-day pictures or to carry on conversations that do not fulfill your purpose as a missionary . . . "

• "Remember that working online is a sacred trust and privilege."

• "Should missionaries use Facebook to communicate with family and friends? Online work should be focused on missionary activities, not communicating with family and friends. With mission president permission, missionaries may use Facebook for missionary purposes to communicate with family or friends. Otherwise, missionaries should only communicate with family and friends on preparation day via email or letters. Missionaries should continue to use their myldsmail.net account for these communications."

Please understand if the missionaries hide or shy away from your statuses, your newsfeeds, your photos, your likes - they can be distracting to them. Help them stick to appropriate online activities.

We recently received authorization to use Skype for Christmas or Mothers Day calls home to parents. Missionaries may choose this option for their calls.

Please avoid posting inappropriate comments, links, likes, photos and tags for your missionary. Help them keep to appropriate online activities.

Feel free to follow the Mission President and Wife on Facebook or to use that as a tool to contact them.  Each Mission President has also another group page that the Missionary Department asks that they keep just to their returned missionaries.

We hope this is informative and inspiring. The work is hastening. This is evidence of that.