Cicero wrote:I'm certainly not going to argue that a mission helps one develop critical thinking skills (it does not), but one thing it can teach is discipline. I am no longer a believer, but I can't say that I regret serving a mission because at that point in my life I really needed to learn how to set goals and work hard, and serving a mission did that for me. I did one semester of college before my mission, and my grades improved dramatically after serving a mission. I know that I am not alone in that regard.
I agree to a point. I did learn how to study better, mostly because I was learning a new language. I was a bit of a slacker in high school so the discipline I picked up along the way certainly helped in college. Most of my positive memories about my mission revlove around learning a new language, culture, etc. If I had gone to a stateside mission I might not have the same thoughts.
The Church could do a lot for the world and its image if they would focus only about 5% of the time to preaching and use 95% of the time to doing real service (not just helping members move but real service with real adult leadership)
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. - Galileo
Yeah, well, that's just, like, your opinion, man. - The Dude
Don't you know there ain't no devil, there's just god when he's drunk - Tom Waits
My oldest son served a foreign mission in South America. As a result when he returned he elected to go into the Navy as a Hebrew linguist. He gets an extra $400.00 a month for his Spanish language ability. If he stays in 20 years (he is half way there) it will mean an additional $96,000.00 he gets paid for his mission language over his career.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."
Fence Sitter wrote:My oldest son served a foreign mission in South America. As a result when he returned he elected to go into the Navy as a Hebrew linguist. ...
He learned Hebrew to go on a South American mission?
Man, they must really have believed in the Limited Geography Theory in the MTC!
(OK, I know it must have been some kind of Freudian slip, and you meant Spanish. But would any non-Mormon have made that precise slip, I wonder?)
Zadok: I did not have a faith crisis. I discovered that the Church was having a truth crisis. Maksutov: That's the problem with this supernatural stuff, it doesn't really solve anything. It's a placeholder for ignorance.
Fence Sitter wrote:My oldest son served a foreign mission in South America. As a result when he returned he elected to go into the Navy as a Hebrew linguist. ...
He learned Hebrew to go on a South American mission?
Man, they must really have believed in the Limited Geography Theory in the MTC!
(OK, I know it must have been some kind of Freudian slip, and you meant Spanish. But would any non-Mormon have made that precise slip, I wonder?)
Nope, no Freudian slip, I just did not explain clearly. When he entered the Navy they gave him a choice of which language he could learn. Spanish was offered but since he already knew it he chose to learn another language. Why he choose Hebrew I do not know, I would have gone with some form of Arabic or Farsi. After he completed his Hebrew training they allowed him to test out in Spanish also, so now he gets a bonus for both his Hebrew and Spanish.
"Any over-ritualized religion since the dawn of time can make its priests say yes, we know, it is rotten, and hard luck, but just do as we say, keep at the ritual, stick it out, give us your money and you'll end up with the angels in heaven for evermore."