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Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 12:32 am
by jasondavie
Greetings All,

Since the introduction of the new LCR home teaching reporting system, we can no longer use members with a 'non-member' as home teachers.
Companionships made up of non-member records simply do not appear on the online LCR system, whilst they still appear on MLS.

We have always used a non-member record to capture all of the households being visited by the full-time missionaries, as per their instructions.
I'm not sure if it's worldwide or not, but certainly in the Australia Brisbane Mission, all full-time missionaries are required to be assigned as home teachers for 5 families within the ward.

The families which were assigned to be home taught by the full-time missionaries still appear on LCR as being taught by a 'companionship' but there are no members showing in the companionship as non-member records don't show up on LCR as they do on MLS.

Obviously the visits need to be captured in the records somehow, so we created non-member records for each of the missionary companionships. We have had up to 7 full-time missionary companionships at once in our ward. If we didn't create these non-member records and associated HT companionships then our records would've shown that up to 35 families are not assigned home teachers.

Does anyone have a suggestion that can overcome this problem?
Our missionaries must be assigned 5 families per companionship, but the visits can no longer be captured and the assignments can no longer be adjusted. It's a huge problem for us.

On another note....

I've also noticed that LCR now automatically assigns any unassigned single sister or male over 50 years old to be the responsibility of the High Priests for Home Teaching.
I preferred it when the 'Households not assigned to be home taught' list was just one list. Now you have to go into the Elders' list and then the High Priests' list to view the same information.

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:12 am
by russellhltn
jasondavie wrote:Obviously the visits need to be captured in the records somehow, so we created non-member records for each of the missionary companionships.
Missionaries are not "non-members". That suggests they are not members of the church. I'd suggest creating a "Out-of-unit" record for them instead. You will need more information to do that, but Out-of-unit is a more accurate use than non-member.

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:28 am
by jasondavie
We've thought about this many times, but the "out of unit member" requires dates of birth and also membership numbers. That means that we would need each and every missionary's details to add them as out of unit members. This would be too time consuming considering how many missionary changes there are in our ward.

I wonder what all of the other wards in the world do to capture the 5 families assigned to the full-time missionaries in their wards?

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:48 am
by Biggles
jasondavie wrote: I wonder what all of the other wards in the world do to capture the 5 families assigned to the full-time missionaries in their wards?
This sounds like a 'local' instigated policy. I'm not aware of this being a world wide requirement. In my Stake there is no such directive.

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:53 am
by russellhltn
jasondavie wrote:We've thought about this many times, but the "out of unit member" requires dates of birth and also membership numbers. That means that we would need each and every missionary's details to add them as out of unit members. This would be too time consuming considering how many missionary changes there are in our ward.
According to this post, all you need is name and MRN.

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:24 am
by jasondavie
Yes, and it's very tricky to have to get 14 missionary's MRNs and then change them all the time!

Surely this wouldn't be a long-term solution in this wonderful age of technology would it?

Thanks for the suggestion though.

I'm really looking forward to hearing how all of the other thousands of units do it!

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:39 am
by russellhltn
Handbook 2: 7.4.3 says "With approval from the mission president, leaders may consider asking full-time missionaries to go home teaching with Melchizedek Priesthood holders on a limited basis."

It would appear to me that missionaries are to go with other ward members, not necessarily be the HT companionship. Since the developers work under the direction of the Priesthood department and follow the Handbook, they probably didn't take into account the practice in that part of the world. If your mission wants to continue to do this, I think they need to take the issue up with CHQ.

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:48 am
by nikk3hi3tala
Can't you just put the missionaries home teaching assignments under some arbitrary home teacher (for example create a companionship with ward mission leader as the only hometeacher)? Does it matter who's name is there as long as all visits are counted?

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:50 am
by jasondavie
I believe the direction comes from our Area Presidency. As far as I know it's the entire Pacific area whose missionaries are assigned 5 families to home teach. Literally hundreds of wards.
Is there a way I can let the people who created LCR know about this problem? It's above my pay grade!
Perhaps they can liaise with the Area Presidency???

Re: Help needed to overcome HT problem since new LCR

Posted: Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:52 am
by jdlessley
russellhltn wrote:I'd suggest creating a "Out-of-unit" record for them instead.
This will not work either. All of our out of unit leaders in our YSA branch were removed from their companionships and are not available to be added as companions. I am still researching how to get out of unit leaders to be available, but so far I've had no luck. Doing some further research in the handbooks indicates home teaching assignments are to be made in the unit in which the member's record reside. There is no provision for making home teaching assignments outside the home unit.