(KUTV) -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will stop sending missionary candidates in Utah and Idaho their assignments in the mail.
Instead, members will receive their call online.
By the end of 2018, nearly all missionaries worldwide will have to rely on internet access to receive their call. Maps, country information and lists of items to bring will also be available along with the call. Call letters and other materials can be downloaded and printed for future reference.
“Technology is there, and it’s so easy to do,” Elder Brent H. Nielson, executive director of the Missionary Department said in a press release. “We just put it online and they can read it in a matter of minutes.”
In the past, missionary candidates would have to wait several days or weeks to receive their assignment. Now, they will receive an email or a text message informing them that a call has been extended to them.
"I think it's going to be a wonderful change for us," Nielson said in a press release.
A 17-year-old missionary candidate in Fruit Heights was at work when he received a text message saying his assignment was available.
"I had to go work for like three more hours, so that was kind of difficult," Billy Elliot said in a press release. "I was so excited."
Elliot later used an iPad to open his mission call in front of his friends and family.
“I forgot that he was holding an iPad,” Liz Elliott, Billy's mother, said in a press release. “It just felt like a regular mission call. It was awesome.”
18-year-old future missionary Jaedon Johnson had a similar experience. He received a text message informing him his assignment was ready. Instead of the traditional mission call opening surrounded by family, Johnson decided to open the email on his own.
“It was amazing because right then and there I could open up my phone, go straight into the portal and read it from there,” Johnson said.
He said the new approach is a sign of a changing church.
“Incorporating technology into the church, because that’s just the way the world is moving forward, I think that is actually a really good move,” he said.
Gavin Feller is an associate professor of media studies at Southern Utah University. He's writing a book about how the LDS church has adapted to technology over time.
“There’s this ambivalence surrounded by this idea that we want to harness the good that’s surrounded by a particular medium with blocking out as much of the negative and bad as possible,” Feller said.
With each new medium, Feller said the Church has been a bit hesitant to get involved. The new change is a sign its moving forward.
Future missionaries like Johnson and Elliot are excited about the change.
“This church is really current and moving forward and I think there a lot of great things ahead,” Johnson said.
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