Those Who Served Missions...

[_silentkid]

I believe the term hud originated from the stigma around HUD homes(Department of Housing and Urban Development). You know the dumpy abandoned homes that the government took over and pawned off on the lower income families. They were "huddy".

That's cool. I never thought of it that way. Doesn't HUD also stand for Heads Up Display. There's an option on many video games where you can turn the HUD on or off.

[_Inconceivable]

Golden: Investigator that committed to the 7 day baptism.

We gave the first discussion to a couple of Vietnamese immigrants (no speaks). Seemed they understood enough for us all to "feel the spirit". We challenged them to baptism and they were golden (as best as we could tell). My comp and I were pretty jacked (you know, raised up like a bumper jack). After the closing prayer, one of the guys told us to wait cause he had something to show us. He returned to the room looking very proud. In his hand was a picture of him and his roomate dressed in white in front of the chapel's baptismal font. Evidently, our AP had beat us to the punch a year earlier.

yak.

[_Jason Bourne]

Fetch

Hump Day though my MP thought that was a vulgar term and told us to call it Second Wind Day. We even got a nice card for the MPs wife saying happy second wind day with a picture of a cloud smiling and sort of a face blowing wind.

[_Jason Bourne]

AIEEEEE!!!

This thread is seriously skeeving me out. And its not just the daggy hud being spewed every which way, its the insight into the missionary experience.

The biggest "revelation" that interent discussion on Mormonism has held for me is about what it is like to go on a mission. I never knew any RMs, never had any actual friends who went on missions. By the time I was out of highschool I despised Mormonism enough that I held anyone who went on a mission in disdain. Oh sure, I knew there was a lot of family/social pressure involved, that all kind of guilt and manipulation was brought to bear on the guy (and it was rarely a girl back in my day). But I figured if they had any balls, mind or combination thereof, they wouldn't fall for it.

Later, when I lived outside of Utah and would see any of the patetic twosomes, I would feel enough sympathy to invite them in for water or lemonade and a chance to sit and rest (but not to preach). I suppose I had some idea that these were just average kids who were doing something they'd been pushed into and were holding up the best they could. I still had no idea what they were going through...

Until I started reading the mission memoirs people would post on RfM. I knew there were canned lessons, but I had no idea how narrow and manipulative they were, no idea that they followed salesmanship techniques and were aimed not at just teaching about the "gospel" but forcing a commitment to baptism---BY THE THIRD LESSON (do I have that right? I still can't believe it).

I had no idea about how s****y (no other word for it) the conditions missionaries lived in were, both outside the US and within it. Or about the complete lack of contact with the "outside world" including parents often not told about their sons heath problems or able to share important family information.

I had no idea about the mind-wrenching, gut-turning, mental contortions missionaries lived through daily. I could have guessed, but I didn't.

And the Kafkaesque (for once that adjective is completely apt) bureaucracy administering the program is the stuff of nightmares.

And then the cutesy, uber-commercialized lds culture of missionaries that the whole thing is smothered in----argh, thinking about it gives me a brain tumor.

I haven't even touched on the torture-method depersonalization techniques missionaries are subjected to---I can't bear to think about this any more this early in the morning. That any of you survived without being screwed up for life is astonishing.

Actually Blixa I found a mission an incredibly over all good experience. I was in the states so my living conditions were always pretty good. I learned to work hard, some leadership skills, how to work with people, how to care for others besides myself, motivation, gained confidence-something I did not have much of as an awkward teenager and so on. Much of my academic success in college-i was top of my class-and my success in the business world really is traced directly back to my mission experience.

[_Jason Bourne]

GQ. General questioning. (At least I'm pretty sure that's what it stood for).

GQ meant Golden Question for us. "What do you know about the Mormons?" "Would you like to know more?"

[_Blixa]

AIEEEEE!!!

This thread is seriously skeeving me out. And its not just the daggy hud being spewed every which way, its the insight into the missionary experience.

The biggest "revelation" that interent discussion on Mormonism has held for me is about what it is like to go on a mission. I never knew any RMs, never had any actual friends who went on missions. By the time I was out of highschool I despised Mormonism enough that I held anyone who went on a mission in disdain. Oh sure, I knew there was a lot of family/social pressure involved, that all kind of guilt and manipulation was brought to bear on the guy (and it was rarely a girl back in my day). But I figured if they had any balls, mind or combination thereof, they wouldn't fall for it.

Later, when I lived outside of Utah and would see any of the patetic twosomes, I would feel enough sympathy to invite them in for water or lemonade and a chance to sit and rest (but not to preach). I suppose I had some idea that these were just average kids who were doing something they'd been pushed into and were holding up the best they could. I still had no idea what they were going through...

Until I started reading the mission memoirs people would post on RfM. I knew there were canned lessons, but I had no idea how narrow and manipulative they were, no idea that they followed salesmanship techniques and were aimed not at just teaching about the "gospel" but forcing a commitment to baptism---BY THE THIRD LESSON (do I have that right? I still can't believe it).

I had no idea about how s****y (no other word for it) the conditions missionaries lived in were, both outside the US and within it. Or about the complete lack of contact with the "outside world" including parents often not told about their sons heath problems or able to share important family information.

I had no idea about the mind-wrenching, gut-turning, mental contortions missionaries lived through daily. I could have guessed, but I didn't.

And the Kafkaesque (for once that adjective is completely apt) bureaucracy administering the program is the stuff of nightmares.

And then the cutesy, uber-commercialized lds culture of missionaries that the whole thing is smothered in----argh, thinking about it gives me a brain tumor.

I haven't even touched on the torture-method depersonalization techniques missionaries are subjected to---I can't bear to think about this any more this early in the morning. That any of you survived without being screwed up for life is astonishing.

Actually Blixa I found a mission an incredibly over all good experience. I was in the states so my living conditions were always pretty good. I learned to work hard, some leadership skills, how to work with people, how to care for others besides myself, motivation, gained confidence-something I did not have much of as an awkward teenager and so on. Much of my academic success in college-I was top of my class-and my success in the business world really is traced directly back to my mission experience.

I'm glad you had the experience you did, Jason. I wouldn't deny that the experience as a whole is rent with enough contradictions and variables than a person could come through it relatively unscathed, or even, as you say about yourself, having gained something.

Most of my commentary was really aimed at myself---at least I hoped it was. I was far too judgemental about something I didn't know much about. My earlier self would have been incredulous that my later self now has some very dear and important friends who are the formerly dreaded "returned missionaries."

Like many things in Mormonism, though, in the abstract mission work sounds like it could be an overwhelmingly positive experience: spending time outside of one's comfort zone in the cause of serving the greater humanity. In practice, though, the thing is so uber-regimented as to be the very definition of my personal nightmare. The kind of american business/middle-management culture that controls it is again, personal anathema: a branch of the ideological apparatus that legitimates a ruthless and cruel economic/political regime (runtu knows what I'm on about here).

Anywho, contrary to TBM/aplogogist/whathaveyou conventional wisdom, it has been my exposure to "anti-mormon" bulletin boards that has taught me about the humanity of many individuals within Mormonism and is hopefully giving me a more nuanced understanding of the various and complex reasons the whole shebang continues to exist and how it manages to function. I've especially gained from reading about the experiences of those who both believe and doubt, who still attend but aren't antagonistically and beligerently judgemental of those who don't, of those who are trying to reconcile what they see as the "good" and the "bad" (which is oft times not how I would define those terms).

I find the truth is always useful in one way or another ; ) Of course, I have to say that learning to appreciate experiences of individual Mormons eventually does just make me hate the insitution as a whole, even more. The more I respect individuals the more I despise an organization that seems to treat them with a great lack of respect and feeling.

[_Who Knows]

Actually Blixa I found a mission an incredibly over all good experience. I was in the states so my living conditions were always pretty good. I learned to work hard, some leadership skills, how to work with people, how to care for others besides myself, motivation, gained confidence-something I did not have much of as an awkward teenager and so on. Much of my academic success in college-I was top of my class-and my success in the business world really is traced directly back to my mission experience.

I actually had a similar experience Jason. I was in the US as well, so we had all the usual 'comforts'. I also lacked self-confidence. I was pretty shy, wasn't a fan of public speaking, etc. I remember my dad had to always remind me to 'look people in the eye' when i spoke with them. I went to college (salt lake community college) before my mission, but had no idea what i wanted to do. I failed some classes, and went skiing all the time.

After my mission, I likewise became a great student, eventually getting into BYU's #2 accounting program.

As much as it pains me to say it - i attribute much of my success to my mission as well.

[_Black Moclips]

Overall, I would have to echo Mr. Bourne's experience. It was a very tough and often demoralizing experience, but I think I grew a lot and benefited from it. One of my favorite things on the mission was finding ways to do public service, and we went and did some stuff way outside my personal comfort zone. In one area, we went to a Catholic church where they housed convalescent folks, and we would go there during lunch time and help serve them lunch. It was a real eye opener for me. No one cared that we were a different religion and I loved it because I was there to help with no ulterior motive (to convert them) but to serve. One older lady couldn't really speak or communicate and was in a wheel chair would just beam when I brought her special bowl of sugar milk. One day she really got upset because someone else just plopped down some normal food in front of her and she was freaking out crying and no one knew why. The only way she finally calmed down was me going over and sitting with and bringing her the milk. I never felt more love from christian service as I did going there and helping those people. Most of the time on the mission I secretly felt like a pushy salesman, but in those moments of true service I felt great.

I also learned discipline and social skills in dealing with tons of different types of people. My GPA before the mission was like 2.3, but afterwards, it was almost a 4.0. I credit a lot of that to the maturity and growth from the mission experience. Now it wasn't a perfect experience, far from it. In fact, I almost left after a week because I couldn't' handle the disobedience and craziness I was exposed to. But I worked through it and made it a rewarding experience. Only two people were baptized by my efforts, and dispite my current doubts, I still feel good about it because I know I didn't manipulate, pressure, or "commit their face off". They became members because they truly wanted to and had spiritual experiences backing it up.

If my own children say in the church and choose to go, I will support them. I will give them a reality check about what it is really like, because I think I was way too naïve about it when I went, but overall, I think it can be a very beneficial experience. However, if they choose not to go, I will be fully supportive of that as well, and not heap on them the guilt of not doing your duty that was so prevalent when I was that age.

[_Always Thinking]

In our mission, it was all peer pressure. As I mentioned, each week you had to write down your goals and accomplishments for the week on the chalkboard in front of the entire zone so that the more committed ones could be praised and the rest excoriated. Each month we received "El Chasqui," the mission newsletter. Most of the newsletter was dedicated to printing the numbers of baptisms for each companion that month. The top baptizers occupied the "Rocky Box," with their names in large print in a double-bordered box. At the opposite end of the spectrum was the "Zero Page," which you can guess the purpose of. One of my companions would just make up numbers for the weekly report.

The pressure was so great to baptize that people would bring in investigators for a baptismal interview, and when I would ask them who Joseph Smith was, they would look at me with a blank stare. I would tell the missionaries these people weren't ready for baptism, so the missionaries would just go to the branch president, who usually obliged. Even when I was working in the mission office, people berated us because we only had one or two baptisms a month.

One big problem in our mission was lack of financial support. We had many Bolivian missionaries, who received a monthly allowance from the church, which, depending on the exchange rate, was $50-$90 US. Even in Bolivia, that was not nearly enough to live, so we would pool our money and both of us would go hungry. At one point, we were eating only one real meal a day. The other two meals consisted of a piece of bread and a cup of hot chocolate. I lost a lot of weight. I'm 5'8", and I weighed at one point 114 lbs, while my 6' tall companion weighed 130. But people who were sick were derided as wusses and "fries."

We lived in horrible conditions. The first six months of my mission we had no running water. I remember reading a letter from two missionaries who spent P-Day digging a latrine. It was cold and windy, and we had no heat. Some missionaries had kerosene heaters, but after Elders Drennan and Bons asphyxiated, everyone was afraid to use them.

I could go on, but yeah, it wasn't easy. Tal Bachman was ridiculed for his description of his mission, but he was just south of us, and it sounded just like my mission (well, minus the poisonous frogs).

While I was all fat and sassy on my stateside mission (well, I didn't gain weight, but we were extremely well fed in my mission-out west, lots of members), my poor dh was serving in conditions similar to yours.

There were times that he had to build his own living quarters (hut), water tower, latrine, etc. He was in a tropical climate, so they never got cold, at least!

He got very sick with a hyper thryroid (graves disease). He is 6'2" and when he came home off his mission, he weighed about 130 lbs. I didn't know him then, but I've seen a picture of him the day he came home, and he looked horrible.

[_Runtu]

While I was all fat and sassy on my stateside mission (well, I didn't gain weight, but we were extremely well fed in my mission-out west, lots of members), my poor dh was serving in conditions similar to yours.

There were times that he had to build his own living quarters (hut), water tower, latrine, etc. He was in a tropical climate, so they never got cold, at least!

He got very sick with a hyper thryroid (graves disease). He is 6'2" and when he came home off his mission, he weighed about 130 lbs. I didn't know him then, but I've seen a picture of him the day he came home, and he looked horrible.

The last few months of my mission I worked really hard to gain weight. When I got off the plane when I got home, my mother burst into tears and said I looked like a skeleton. I look at pictures from my mission, and my clothes are just hanging on me.