How cool are those mormon.org ads on Tv? I’m almost giddy whenever they come on..why wouldn’t you want to join our church after watching that?! However, after watching one tonight, I feel it my duty to contact the Church’s advertising department and remind them that if they really want to attract people to Mormonism they need to let the world in on our best-kept secret. The one that will have people racing to baptismal fonts in hoards!
Membership in our Church includes FREE packing & moving services!
U-Haul? Penske? Random guys standing outside Home Depot? You need never pay for them again! We truly are a Church unlike any other. I believe that moving norms for the rest of the world are a bit different. Outside of our Church, it’s standard for friends to help you pack & move only until you either a) reach your mid-20’s or b) land a job that earns enough for you to pay to have your crap hauled cross-country.
When my husband was an Elders Quorum President, I thought surely there must be some passage of ancient scripture I had overlooked that spelled out the doctrine of The Move. Why else was he gone every Saturday, all day, to help some new family move in/out of our ward? Why else would he and the 2-3 men he harassed invited show up to a 5 bedroom home where nothing had been done in preparation for moving day? Not a single box packed. The true beauty of it all would happen after the last floor lamp was chucked onto a borrowed trailer…a clipboard being passed around Relief Society asking for volunteers to clean the now-vacant home. Lovely.
Do you think the Church needs to create a moving policy? How about making it an official calling? Instead of another activities committee member or (no lie, this next one does exist) assistant ward greeter, why not call Bro. Muscles with the flatbed to be the new “Moving Coordinator”??
This is very utah mormonism like, most other places in the world they dont ask people for help. And here in canada people are way too busy to waste a whole sat helping some people who have not packed there crap up.
As a current EQP this is my understanding of the doctrine of “The Move.” First and foremost, the EQ is NOT a moving service. (Elder Bednar said as much in a recent worldwide training meeting.) Second, the collective physical and spiritual strength of the priesthood is a resource of the bishop’s storehouse to be distributed at his discretion.
I lived in a ward where we had many professional students (law, business, medicine, PhD programs) moving in and out every May and August. Our bishop’s policy was that the ward would gladly help people move in, since they usually did not know anybody, but it was up to them to make their own arrangements when it was time to move out. Most people ended up asking their friends in the ward for help, but the ward was not in charge of coordinating the move. In fact, he did away with callings like moving coordinator. The reason for this change was that many of these professional students were leaving for a job with a nice moving bonus. Not everybody, but enough people took advantage of the church, had the EQ move them out, and then pocketed the moving bonus.
In my current ward this isn’t as much of an issue because we don’t have a high turn-over every summer. We have had several well planned moves and one or two emergency last-minute moves in which the ward had to rally the troops and help pack, move, and clean. I find that when those true crisis situations arise people grow closer as they serve their neighbors and friends.
Ultimately, I don’t always know the limitations, challenges, or needs of a family or individual so I just try to help as I can.
P.S. Josh, I’m not sure your assessment is accurate. Every place I’ve lived inside the US and even in Brazil and Chile I’ve helped with some kind of move. In fact, we literally moved an entire house once on my mission–the roof, walls, and foundation. Now, that was a move!
Last year I moved my elderly in-laws from AZ to UT essentially by myself. I will Be forever grateful to the amazing ladies who stepped up to the plate after I called the RS president. Over 40 hours of service was given in packing, cleaning and meals. I truly love these women (and a few men) who came to my rescue. My SIL is a hoarder and this was not a pleasant job. Even a year later I am still humbled by the entire experience.
Not so, Josh, I live in Las Vegas and this phenomenon is alive and well here! And we have lived in AZ, VA, CA and WA. However, your sentiments are also in all those places! Fortunately, we were military so we had our moves paid for! But all those wards were not just military wards, and I was also dismayed to see the lack of preparation, given that us military-types were expected to be ready for the movers, and we were! We had to learn to say no to save our backs and sanity!
yes, there should be a policy instated, but i think it should be on a stake level. i was the compassionate service counselor and i could not believe how some people abuse this “service”. dont get me started.