Question for LDS/Mormons

[transientlife]

We recently had two Mormon missionaries come to my dental practice this past week.
Apparently they are here for 2 years for missionary work or training?
The thing that puzzled me was that I was told that in the two years they are here, they have little to no contact with their families or friends from home.

Is this true? I'm just curious about the whole deal.

If anyone can lend some insight, that'd be gravy.

 

[Wrigley]

We recently had two Mormon missionaries come to my dental practice this past week.
Apparently they are here for 2 years for missionary work or training?
The thing that puzzled me was that I was told that in the two years they are here, they have little to no contact with their families or friends from home.

Is this true? I'm just curious about the whole deal.

If anyone can lend some insight, that'd be gravy.

Yep, they live a very structured and controlled life for two years. Phone calls home on Mother's Day and a few other holidays.

It's supposed to help them focus on the proselytizing they do. But it really comes down to control.

 

[calgal]

We recently had two Mormon missionaries come to my dental practice this past week.
Apparently they are here for 2 years for missionary work or training?
The thing that puzzled me was that I was told that in the two years they are here, they have little to no contact with their families or friends from home.

Is this true? I'm just curious about the whole deal.

If anyone can lend some insight, that'd be gravy.

2 phone calls a year: Mother's day and Christmas. They are encouraged to write home weekly and incoming mail can be *and sadly is* scrutinized. The part that gets me is the locking the passports of the mishes in the mission president's (leader) safe and the manipulating emotions to prevent these kids from going home to a terminally ill family member.

 

[Frankie]

2 phone calls a year: Mother's day and Christmas. They are encouraged to write home weekly and incoming mail can be *and sadly is* scrutinized. The part that gets me is the locking the passports of the mishes in the mission president's (leader) safe and the manipulating emotions to prevent these kids from going home to a terminally ill family member.

I have been told that the missionaries mail is often read or held from missionaries before giving it to them. I don't know for a fact if this is true but I have heard this more than once by ex-lds missionaries so it does make me wonder.

God bless,
Frankie

 

[calgal]

I have been told that the missionaries mail is often read or held from missionaries before giving it to them. I don't know for a fact if this is true but I have heard this more than once by ex-lds missionaries so it does make me wonder.

God bless,
Frankie

In some cases, that is correct. The mission president can have all mail routed through the "mission office" or through the mormon HQ in Salt Lake. All mail arrives at a central location and if there is an elder that he wants to monitor closely, you betcha that kid has very few secrets. I find the practice appalling.

 

[fatboys]

2 phone calls a year: Mother's day and Christmas. They are encouraged to write home weekly and incoming mail can be *and sadly is* scrutinized. The part that gets me is the locking the passports of the mishes in the mission president's (leader) safe and the manipulating emotions to prevent these kids from going home to a terminally ill family member.

FB: Your mail is never gone through. Get a life Cal. Most mail is delivered directly unless they have moved. As for keeping their passports, Most are nineteen. How many would have them lost by the end of two years? Older couples do not.

 

[Frankie]

FB: Your mail is never gone through. Get a life Cal. Most mail is delivered directly unless they have moved. As for keeping their passports, Most are nineteen. How many would have them lost by the end of two years? Older couples do not.

fatboys, if they are old enough to be away from home for 2 years, they are old enough to keep their own passports. Parents don't hold on to their 16 year olds drivers license, a passport is no different. It is a matter of responcibility for the person who owns it..

What does a missionary have to go through if he wants his passport back and wants to leave his mission?

Frankie

 

[Frankie]

In some cases, that is correct. The mission president can have all mail routed through the "mission office" or through the mormon HQ in Salt Lake. All mail arrives at a central location and if there is an elder that he wants to monitor closely, you betcha that kid has very few secrets. I find the practice appalling.

This is what I have been told. I have not read about it though, do you know anywhere on the web where I could read about this? These boys are old enough to control their own property and mail, it is against the law to withold their mail. How does the lds church get away with this? Is there somewhere I can read about this?

God Bless,
Frankie

 

[calgal]

This is what I have been told. I have not read about it though, do you know anywhere on the web where I could read about this? These boys are old enough to control their own property and mail, it is against the law to withold their mail. How does the lds church get away with this? Is there somewhere I can read about this?

God Bless,
Frankie

PM forthcoming.

 

[Wrigley]

FB: Your mail is never gone through. Get a life Cal. Most mail is delivered directly unless they have moved. As for keeping their passports, Most are nineteen. How many would have them lost by the end of two years? Older couples do not.

OK, let me get this straight. They are mature enough to preach the "gospel', but they aren't responsible enough to keep their passports safe?

C'mon fatboys, don't you see what that sounds like?

 

[Wrigley]

fatboys, if they are old enough to be away from home for 2 years, they are old enough to keep their own passports. Parents don't hold on to their 16 year olds drivers license, a passport is no different. It is a matter of responcibility for the person who owns it..

What does a missionary have to go through if he wants his passport back and wants to leave his mission?

Frankie

Control, frankie, control. Can you imagine the amount of pressure would be put on that kid who wants to leave and has to ask the bishop or whoever is holding the passport for it back?

It comes down to control. A sick level of control.

 

[calgal]

FB: Your mail is never gone through. Get a life Cal. Most mail is delivered directly unless they have moved. As for keeping their passports, Most are nineteen. How many would have them lost by the end of two years? Older couples do not.

Do 19 year olds lose their Drivers Licences? You would think a kid who made it through the first year of college or a year + of full time employment SHOULD have the common sense to keep important papers like a passport in a foreign country safe ALL BY THEMSELVES! And your mail is NEVER gone through? Funny, friends who were AP's and assigned to the mission offices of your cult sure have a different story. Again as I stated, SOME (a word not found in your urim and thummim FB?) missionaries are more carefully watched and their mail is opened.

I have a life and it is called life AFTER mormonism. So far, it is somewhat entertaining. And thanks FB for validating Wrigley's accurate statement about CONTROL being the motivator for the Mission Prez holding documents, money and in too many cases personal mail and gifts.

 

[MormonFriend]

We recently had two Mormon missionaries come to my dental practice this past week.
Apparently they are here for 2 years for missionary work or training?
The thing that puzzled me was that I was told that in the two years they are here, they have little to no contact with their families or friends from home.

Is this true? I'm just curious about the whole deal.

If anyone can lend some insight, that'd be gravy.

Yes it is true. I would not take much stock in many of the responses you have thus far, or their insights.

Also, they do not date, or have associations of that kind during their mission. They can write their "girl back home," but statistics show they should save the postage. (How can I say that? Mine waited for me [by the skin of her teeth] and we have been married 27 years.)

 

[calgal]

Yes it is true. I would not take much stock in many of the responses you have thus far, or their insights.

Also, they do not date, or have associations of that kind during their mission. They can write their "girl back home," but statistics show they should save the postage. (How can I say that? Mine waited for me [by the skin of her teeth] and we have been married 27 years.)

So what are your SPECIFIC problems with the comments above? Why not offer a counter point if there indeed is one.

 

[CZzyzx41]

All I can add myself is the experience I have from my step-brother serving in Ohio and his "girl" serving in North Carolina. Also a great long-time friend of mine (since before I converted) served a mission in Chile during the Pinochet riots. I can ask them their experiences since they've served (or are currently serving) recently but I can't give any answers for myself as I never served a mission.

 

[Wrigley]

Yes it is true. I would not take much stock in many of the responses you have thus far, or their insights.

Also, they do not date, or have associations of that kind during their mission. They can write their "girl back home," but statistics show they should save the postage. (How can I say that? Mine waited for me [by the skin of her teeth] and we have been married 27 years.)

Which comments do you mean? fatboys' comments about missionaries not being responsible enough to keep their own passports? I mean, honestly, how many of those missies would loose those in two years?

 

[fatboys]

fatboys, if they are old enough to be away from home for 2 years, they are old enough to keep their own passports. Parents don't hold on to their 16 year olds drivers license, a passport is no different. It is a matter of responcibility for the person who owns it..

What does a missionary have to go through if he wants his passport back and wants to leave his mission?

Frankie

FB: Ask for it

 

[fatboys]

This is what I have been told. I have not read about it though, do you know anywhere on the web where I could read about this? These boys are old enough to control their own property and mail, it is against the law to withold their mail. How does the lds church get away with this? Is there somewhere I can read about this?

God Bless,
Frankie

FB: Frankie most mail is delivered directly through through the mail service. There are places where it is sent by pouch because of theft. My Son went to Argentina, and we never sent it directly to him if there was something of value in it, or it had to get to him. If he needed socks, we would send one sock at a time, or one shoe at a time. If we sent it pouch, it took to long to get to him at times. But we sent both ways. The church does not go through a persons mail. It is false, got it?

 

[fatboys]

Do 19 year olds lose their Drivers Licences? You would think a kid who made it through the first year of college or a year + of full time employment SHOULD have the common sense to keep important papers like a passport in a foreign country safe ALL BY THEMSELVES! And your mail is NEVER gone through? Funny, friends who were AP's and assigned to the mission offices of your cult sure have a different story. Again as I stated, SOME (a word not found in your urim and thummim FB?) missionaries are more carefully watched and their mail is opened.

I have a life and it is called life AFTER mormonism. So far, it is somewhat entertaining. And thanks FB for validating Wrigley's accurate statement about CONTROL being the motivator for the Mission Prez holding documents, money and in too many cases personal mail and gifts.

FB: Getting a passport in a foreign country is much more difficult than the home country. To get a passport for Argentina did not come for three months after my son was to go their. He was sent elsewhere for three months in US until it came. And if AP's are telling a different story, then you misunderstanding them as well. I was a ZL for nearly a Year and my senior companion was a AP. We worked together with some Elders who had problems. Some mental and some physical. Some were sent home and some were worked with. We did have a couple of Elders who wanted to go home. After we worked with them to find out why, one had commited a serious sin and had felt he could not repent properly there and the other just did not want to be there. Both were sent home. Wasn't a big guilt trip from our side. We did not try to convince them to stay, but to make sure they really wanted to go home and were not just home sick. Completing a mission is a great accomplishment, and we don't like to see anyone complete it. Some may see it as a failure and do more damage to them than if they stayed. One Elder was on his way home when we caught up to him. He was just plain home sick. We talked with him to find out his reasons. Once he seen we were there to help and not strong arm him he reasoned that he would stay for another month, but if he felt the same he wanted to go home. We said that was fine. The mission president sent him to a new area with an old companion of mine that we did not get along. I thought president what are you doing? This compainship baptized 30 people in one of the most hard areas of our mission. I went home and did found out that they baptised even more.

Your implications that Elders are brainwashed and out like zombies under the constant control of the leaders is so far from the truth. There are Elders who, like any other group have to be encouraged more. But when I was in a area, I seldom had much contact with the Mission president. You put such a twist on the whole effort to spread the gospel, that you make it sound sinister. As I said, the mail is not controled. On my mission if rarely went through the mission home. It was sent directly to me. No one monitered my mail. When I send mail to Elders in my ward, especially if the are serving in the United States we send it directly to them. Stop with the stupid remarks about the mission home reading Elders mail. It is totally false.

 

[MormonFriend]

So what are your SPECIFIC problems with the comments above? Why not offer a counter point if there indeed is one.

I don't offere a counter point because Transientlife did not request one. I know what your views are.