The death of loved ones and other difficult transitions really shake us up, and it is very natural for us to want and need to grieve our losses. Unfortunately, we sometimes don’t take the time to fully acknowledge our pain and the complicated emotions associated with that person (or situation) or choose to allow our feelings the chance to play out. Many times, we will distract ourselves from these vital processes, or, at times, we will feel cultural pressure to "move on" quickly, to seamlessly return to our normal lives and become our normal, cheery selves before we are really able to do so. As a result of having shortchanged the important processes associated with grieving, we eventually find ourselves in crisis--depressed, volatile, "acting out," questioning our faith or worldviews, or finding ourselves unable to function well in any of many other ways. In previous historical eras, as well as in many cultures worldwide, the importance of grief/grieving was often honored in much more formal and accepted ways. Through special attention to changes in status and via rituals that designated periods of separation and reintegration and that called for regular memorialization of the deceased, many cultures confront death and its consequences (both for the community and the individuals most closely associated with the deceased person) in a much more straightforward way than what we most often find today. If we don’t live in one of those cultures, what are we losing? What are the personal and social costs of distancing ourselves from death and painful loss, and of not recognizing the importance of grieving processes as vital in our moving forward in life as our best, healthiest, most whole selves? How do contemporary Mormon views and practices stack up in terms of honoring these great needs?

In this episode, Jana Riess, Lisa Tensmeyer Hansen, Cindy Jones, and Connie Ericksen join Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon for a broad as well as personal discussion of grief and grieving in general and within Mormon culture, especially focusing on death but with wider applications, as well.

On Sunday, June 23, 2013, LDS leaders announced changes to the LDS missionary program, with most of the new focus directed to decreasing door-to-door contacting, and instead shifting attention to conversations on and teaching through Facebook and missionary blogs. The shift is to unfold gradually worldwide, having been piloted the past couple of years in several missions, and eventually Mormon missionary companionships will also employ iPads, with the use of other technologies possibly also on the horizon. How will these changes translate into actual practice? What are the most compelling reasons for opening the use of social media and other technologies to LDS mission work? With the gains, are there also losses? Will proselytizing in this new way lessen opportunities for some of the "quintessential mission experiences" (doors slammed in faces, being threatened, finding the golden contact on the very last street after being exhausted from days or weeks of frustration)? Will it fundamentally change the way missionaries shape the stories they tell? With the move to more social media use, the Church is obviously putting powerful tools in the hands of its young people, trusting them more than in the past. Missions now also employ a new leadership structure, mission councils, that include sister missionaries as formal mission leaders. Likewise, the Church is also emphasizing stake and ward councils that feature greater involvement of women leaders. Do all of these things signal a new era for Mormonism--a less hands-on, top-down form of leadership? In this episode, panelists Emilee Cluff, Derrick Clements, Stephen Carter, and Mormon Matters host Dan Wotherspoon explore these and other questions. We learn a lot about Facebook and blogging (how it works, what are its main focuses, rules and restrictions, successes and cautions?) as missionary tools from Emilee, who served in the California Santa Rosa Mission, one of those in which the programs were piloted. All in all, this is a great conversation that features great common sense as well as fun speculations.