8. Increasing the Speed of the Conversion Process 

Problem or situation. Before baptizing anyone into the Church, the missionaries were required to teach that person six specific lessons. My missionaries were

accustomed to teaching these lessons in little bits and pieces over long periods of time--two and three months or longer--under the assumption that the longer they were taught, the better they would be converted. The pace was seldom more than one lesson a week, and lessons were often split into two or three segments each taught in a different week. In my surveys, I could find no relationship between the length of time taught and activity or "quality" of the convert.

There did seem to be several negative effects to the long intervals of time the missionaries were spending between lessons. I observed many cases where missionaries were meeting regularly with contacts that had long before dropped all interest in the Church but enjoyed the association with the young Americans. A more serious drawback seemed to be the purpose and intensity with which the missionaries were working. It was often laid-back, go-slow socializing. There was often a hesitancy to teach doctrine and the commandments--that could always be done later--in favor of spending time in "special lessons" and "activities with investigators." The long-time intervals brought little of the feeling of the "urgency" and "the time is now" encouraged by President Kimball. In the long, drawn-out process, continuity was often lost, the original interest the investigators may have had in the message was lost, and the spirit they may have felt was often cooled down or completely extinguished by family, friends, and business associates. 

Action taken. (7-78) INCREASE THE ACCEPTABLE SPEED OF THE CONVERSION PROCESS. ENCOURAGE MISSIONARIES TO MEET WITH THE INVESTIGATORS SEVERAL TIMES A WEEK, AND TEACH ALL THE LESSONS, THOROUGHLY, BUT OVER A SHORTER PERIOD OF TIME. (Productivity label: Break down barriers.)

This new emphasis was done through exhortations in zone conferences, personal interviews with missionaries, and writings in the mission newsletter and the proselyting handbook. The personal experience and success of missionaries teaching this way was also related to the other missionaries.

Results of the action. A few brave missionaries began scheduling appointments twice a week instead of once a week. Some even attempted to teach their investigators every other day. Those that did found greater success than before:

            One of the greatest lessons about teaching, I learned this week: teach at the church; ask our investigators to take lessons at our convenience, etc. Wow! We have quadrupled our investigator pool and have room for more! In such a situation, they expect to be taught; they are ready to learn; their hearts are open; communication is easy. I love it. I wish I had known such a secret at the beginning of my mission! (Missionary Letters, 1978-1981). 

Others seemed to fall victim to inertia, continuing to beg and coax and squeeze out a weekly appointment with uninterested contacts. Thus, this changeover occurred very slowly over a long period of time. A serious barrier was the fact that most missionaries didn't have many investigators and they knew from. experience that those they did have would drop after so many meetings--when they got to the lesson on the Word of Wisdom, or Tithing, or the Sabbath day. As a result, they wanted to spread out the lessons and keep the investigators as long as possible. My new challenge was to help them discover ways of finding more investigators.

Things Learned

Compared to my expectations of hundreds, the first three months were low in terms of numbers of convert baptisms: 9 in July, 18 in August, and 25 in September. Our convert baptism productivity was still among the lowest in the Japan-Korea area and the entire world. The averages for the other missions in the Japan/Korea area for the same months were 38, 32, and 44. Each month we were either the lowest or close to the lowest in terms of convert baptism productivity.

But these numbers don't tell the whole story. My perception was that something else was happening during those first three months that was not immediately evident from the numbers. Although the numbers of baptisms didn't show it, from my interaction with the missionaries, I felt that a change was taking place in their hearts. A new vision was catching on. At the end of the first three months, the numbers of baptisms were still low, but the missionaries were no longer satisfied with them. They were beginning to see their roles differently. They were beginning to believe that they should and could baptize many people--hundreds, even thousands--and a few missionaries were beginning to demonstrate through their successes that at least a portion of that belief could become a reality. 

Part II. The Second Three Months: Building New Skills 

Overview 

I found out, as the management specialists Peters and Austin (1985) concluded, that visions alone, without the means of achieving them, are usually short-lived. We now needed to provide the missionaries with the skills necessary to better achieve their visions. Otherwise the visions would most likely be lost. Although vision was still emphasized continuously, more attention was turned to developing, honing, and refining the skills needed to achieve the vision.

These skills included learning to develop better rapport and trust with the Japanese people; providing a service for them in the way of English lessons; developing better language and teaching skills; developing goals and specific plans to achieve the goals; and developing the means of training the missionaries in all of these skills, and measuring their progress in acquiring them. 

9. Using English Classes as a Catalyst

Problem or situation. Although the mission vision was growing, there were still many barriers keeping us from achieving it: lack of investigators, lack of rapport with the ones we had, a feeling many of the missionaries had of imposing themselves upon those they were teaching. Even though the missionaries generally believed their message was indeed a great gift and service to the people, until the people took the time to listen and understand and accept it, they did not see it as such.

At the same time, the people of this island country saw and felt another need that they valued highly: learning to speak English. English was one of the passports to better jobs, travel abroad, promotions, and status. While it was taught for six or more years in the Japanese schools, the focus was on grammar and vocabulary with little or no exposure to conversation. The missionaries had something that many Japanese-especially those in the 14- to 22-year-old bracket--wanted, and knew they wanted: spoken English. 

            Action taken. (9-78)   EMPHASIZE FREE ENGLISH CLASSES TO GET SUCCESS STARTED. (Productivity label: Break down barriers.)           

We set a time once a week for free English classes at all wards and branches within the mission. We printed flyers which offered the free English conversation classes taught by American missionaries, and the missionaries passed them out at train stations, schools and other high traffic areas.

At the same time I began training the missionaries how to teach the classes, how to develop rapport with the students, and how to invite the students to investigate the Church as well as learn English. The process was quite straightforward: at the end of each English class, the missionaries explained that although they were happy to teach these free English classes, their primary purpose for being in Japan was to teach an even more important religious message. They would then set up appointments to teach anyone who wanted to hear that more-important message. Many of them wanted to hear and listened with more interest and intent because of the rapport developed during the English classes. 

Results of the action. Great enthusiasm and soaring visions resulted: Missionaries acquired many more investigators. They spent much more time teaching. Their comments were encouraging (Missionary Letters, 1978-1981):

I'm really excited about what's happening here. We are starting to find very gold young people through English class and by just making friends with them. I can feel things getting ready to explode and we're pushing to make it go quicker. We found a couple more really good people this last week. The English program seems to be really looking good.

            Although not many of the English students progressed all the way to conversion at this time (partly because the missionaries had not yet learned how to effectively teach them), a few did. And those few added significantly to the rather low numbers of converts at the time.

An excerpt from the mission president's journal October 22, 1978, expressed my feelings about it: 

            The English Class Program is bringing in more and more investigators, but we don't know how to teach them. Very few missionaries have really had the experience of teaching people from start to finish. We must get good at teaching if we are to be successful (Groberg, 1978-1981). 

To me, the most significant result of the English program seemed to be that the missionaries were now talking with the Japanese people, especially those in the category most likely to join the Church, the l4 to 22-year-olds. They began to learn how to talk with them, how to develop rapport with them, and what things were important to them.

Although the numbers of converts were still small, once the English classes were operating well, the conversion rate did begin to increase. It went from 28 in October to 62 in November and 65 in December. This moderate success caused foggy visions to clear and clear visions to rise. The missionaries began to develop confidence that by doing things differently and better, they could make a difference. As two missionaries commented (Missionary Letters, 1978-1981):

            I am so thankful for the English class program. I realized during an interview the other night that there is no other way to introduce so many people to the gospel than through the English interviews. That makes me thankful I'm not in America. 

            Five of the people we are teaching right now should receive baptism in the first half of the month of November. They are just really good investigators. This new English program has just made all the difference in the world for me.

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