Just found out that my good friend's little bro just got his first baptism. He is serving in Brazil and has been out 18 months.

WTH, I thought Brazil was a hotbed for baptisms! Is he just a bad missionary or has "the field" shriveled up??

My information is out of date, from the 1990's. But my mom's cousin was managing director of the Church missionary department.

According to him the elders aren't producing. Couples and sister missionaries stationed at temples did the heavy lifting. I think that's why they're so many itty bitty temples up, each with a visitor's center attached. Stocked with sisters who have a dress code that mentions the word "attractive" about 10 times.

crom Wrote:
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> sisters who have a dress code that mentions the word
> "attractive" about 10 times.

Does "attractive" = "frumpy"? anywhere outside of Mormondom?

Brazil certainly is not what it once was for the Morg, and supposedly it depends a lot where in Brazil you go. I had a brother who went to Ribeirão Preto recently. He got about 15-ish baptisms and they made him AP. (I don't know if this is common practice, but in my mission, only the highest baptizing missionaries could ever become AP)

don't they have internet there?

"don't they have internet there?"

Yes they do. And some recent blogs I've read coming from various South American countries (like Brazil and Chile) indicate that the general public views Mormonism as a joke, just like we do.

I was told sunday that one of a members grandsons ------ in one of the Brazile missions is averaging 1 convert per day and they are leading the world in babtisms. I wonder if they went back to soccer babtizms or free swimming days or what ------ I wouldn't put it past LDS mission presidents desiring to be GAs! Of course the member was "humble, sincere, etc. ----- NOT prideful as a person can be!

I served in the 90s in Brazil. The missionaries ignored the white handbook and baptized on average 500 a month. A good 450 of which, being picked up out of the street and baptized 20 minutes later, unable to tell you what church they just joined.

Baptisms were the measurement of righteousness, because obviously disobedient missionaries don't baptize..... They created 5 stakes, amid much fanfare and a few years later collapsed them back into 2, as 90% of the members on the rolls could not be located at any address. The core members did not like the missionaries, as the missionaries just baptized and left the members to clean up the mess.

Activity rate is 11-25% for Central and S. America and Brazil is probably on the low end of that.

Who cares if they are or are not baptizing - they cannot retain them anyway.

I was there from 1964 until 1967. It was perhaps just as impossible then as now to locate "inactive members" because many never existed except on fake baptism records for fictional members.

Brazil.
The place where the difference between the membership number claimed by the Church and the actual number who consider themselves Mormons, is 1 million.

I went to central america but I think brazil is
similar. We met with a ex-misshie there who was so proud of having baptized 184 people (or however many) and told us how they'd meet someone and baptize them the same day. The locals also have a thing for tall white blonde guys and there were a LOT of teenage girls on the lists. The local missionaries reported that turnover was so high that by the time they got home their home ward was completely different. To top it off, the real converts were all hunted down by their old churches and brought back into their old folds. This was in the 90s

Brazilians are usually very warm towards foreigners of any nationality, and many people are fascinated by them. I bet most baptisms are just to please or socialize with "the foreigners", and then people quickly lose interest.I've also seen "free english classes" ads in local convenience stores. Most people here have never heard or mormonism, or think it's just plain weird, an exotic foreign cult. I also think only very hardcore members will wear garments and "modest" clothing 24/7 in the tropical heat. I would work wearing shorts if I could, and I even live in one of the coolest regions of the country.

Evangelical churches in Brazil are usually a lot more aggressive than mormons in acquiring and keeping their members; they aggressively promise financial success and cure for diseases if people give them their money, usually collected when the service is climaxing with lots of shouts, loud music and live exorcisms. They mention satan all the time to scare people into paying.

In the last decade the internet in Brazil has become accessible to millions and millions of people who are coming out of poverty and being able to buy computers and find cheaper or free internet access. These people are probably researching, if they seriously consider committing to TSCC.

There has also been in the last 10 years or so, an increasing trend in people from several religious backgrounds, to start believing in reincarnation, usually among the more educated (and wealthy) Brazilians. When this happens, people automatically lose interest in rituals and religious oppression, and live more freely - completely incompatible with a cult like mormonism. And I bet that this is the demographic that interests TSCC the most... people who could pay more tithing. Sorry, Monson.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2013 12:59PM by Jobim.

My input was right along with Jobim's - evangelical churches in Brazil are more aggressive than mormons in acquiring and keeping their members. They have very large churches down here.

I work out of Rio de Janeiro and Vitoria, Espirito Santo and the people I know and work with are either non-religious (don't care) or they are evangelical.

I've discussed mormonism with quite a few, and they all think it is a joke. I have yet to meet anyone who takes mormonism seriously here in Brazil.

I met two missionaries in Vila Velha one time, asked them what the hell they were doing there. They said they hadn't baptized anyone and were not sure whey they were in the area. It is not the best area where they were, by the docks, and no one is looking to be saved there. They might be looking to make a $, but not be saved.

I was a missionary in Brazil in the mid 90's. (Almost 20 years ago, time flies.) Even back then, numbers were not incredibly high. And I bet it's even worse now.

I was a TBM and I worked my butt off, and in 24 months I baptized about 40 people. That's a relatively high number, but it is not even two persons per month. (For missionaries working 10 hours a day, 7 days a week, in an country considered "golden" for Mormon baptisms...)

And lots of these 40 people were women, their daughters, and young people in general. Most of them became inactive while I was still on my mission. 20 years later, if five of them are still active, I would be VERY surprised. (And sad.)