Unofficial Interview Questions

Here are a few questions that I might use while interviewing members of the church in Irapuato, Mexcio. Mark Grover has his own interview rubric that I will be using, but these questions will help give me a general idea while I am waiting to talk with him.

1. Who were the members of the church when you were first baptized?

¿Quienes son los miembros de la iglesia cuando se bautizó usted?

2. Do you remember who had joined the church around the same time as you did?

¿Usted puede recordar a quienes la unieron a la iglesia acerca de usted?

3. Do you remember the names of the missionaries that taught you?

¿Usted puede recordar los nombres de los misionaros que le enseñaba?

4. What challenges did you experience while you were preparing for baptism?

¿Cuales retos tenía usted cuando estaba preparando para el bautismo?

5. What challenges did you experience after you were baptized?

¿Cuales retos tenía usted después de bautizarse?

6. Who strengthened you the most as a new member of the church?

¿Quien le ayudaba la más cuando era usted un miembro nuevo?

7. How big was the church in Irapuato when you were baptized?

¿Cuantos miembros tenía la iglesia aquí en Irapuato cuando se bautizó usted?

8. What first brought you the church?

¿Que cosa le gustaba más a usted cuando conoció a la iglesia?

9. How much time was there between when you met the missionaries and when you were baptized?

¿Cuanto tiempo hace el momento de conocer a los misionaros, y se bautizó usted?

10. Would you mind telling me the story of how you came to know the church was true?

¿Usted puede contarme la historia del momento en que supo que la iglesia es verdad?

11. Have you had any experiences in helping others come into the church?

¿Usted ha tenido algunas experiencias de ayudarse a otras personas para que se unieran a la iglesia?

12. What did the missionaries do that most helped to strengthen your testimony?

¿Que cosa, que hicieron los misionaros, le ayudaba más a usted para fortalecer su testimonio?

13. In general, was your life like before you came to know of the church?

¿En general, como era su vida antes de conocer la iglesia?

14. What changes in your life have you experienced since joining the church?

¿Cuales cambios ha visto usted en la vida desde se unió a la iglesia?

15. Do you have any further experiences that you would like to share with me?

¿Tiene usted algunas experiencias más que le gustaría compartirme?

Thesis Question [o, la necesidad de preguntar]

There is this song by Jack Johnson called Questions which has been on my mind and my speakers lately. The further I get into my project the more questions I have about it, and the more I realize I don't know what to do yet. Like Jack says in his song: "Please tell me that there's time to make this work for all intents and purposes--and what are your intentions. Will you try...?" And though I don't know all of the answers and outcomes yet--I will try.

So here goes. What are my intentions? First, before I give my "working" thesis, I'm going to put a few questions before you, my wonderful readers, that have been on my thoughts concerning this work and my intentions, as Jack puts it.

Q. What, with my given parameters, can my history of the LDS Church in Irapuato be? and what possibilities lie before me for what I can do with my project?

This answer must be prefaced with a little background. As I was looking into a field study I had no idea what type of project I wanted to do. I heard of the ORCA grant, which motivated me to find a mentor to help me on my project. I was lucky to find Librarian Mark Grover, who has done a lot of work collecting and compiling histories of units of the Church within South America. I was (and am) excited about doing a project connected with the Church, and especially one that focuses on communication like the interview based research of this project. I gladly signed up!

The problem here arises that I don't know exactly what the finished product will look like. I will be using the interview rubric that Mark Gover has used in his research, so I feel as if I need to be working towards a specific end, one that I am not familiar with. Entonces...

A. As my first order of business I need to get a better idea of what I can do with what I have chosen. I have had a few ideas like compiling a history of the Church with an analysis in patterns in growth and compiling a collection of short inspiration stories from early Mexican members of the church to name a few. But I will need to get a better look at what options are really available to me with the path that I have set out upon.

Q. What do I want my project to do? or What influence do I want it to make?

Answering this question will provide valuable insight that will shape everything I do with my project including the way in which I approach it.

A. I want my project to be meaningful to the members currently living in Mexico. I want it to be valuable to them in some way, whether it be a collection of inspirational stories from their fore bearers, or if it will provide an insight into what they can do to develop a rich environment for growth in localized membership.

All these things taken into consideration I have learned that I still need to think a lot more about what I want my project to be, in collaboration with my mentor of course. Because of this I feel as if I can at this time only present a working thesis question.

Thesis Q.

What is the cultural, spiritual, and historical significance of the historical experiences of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within the area of Irapuato, Guanajuato Mexico? And (optionally) what affect does this history have upon the current members of the church in that area?

A. ... ?

Yo vaya a mostrarles cuando la descubro.