How do you, a RM, feel about your Mission?

[_harmony]

I have come to realize that the leadership are simply flogging their missionaries as hard as they can so that THEY can advance in the giant Mormon multi-level marketing machine. They are all bucking for GA positions. I

I don't see how this is possible, since there are hundreds of missions, thus hundreds of mission presidents, and a very limited number of general authorities.

And how does one prepare for advancement?

[_Daniel Peterson]

My mission was difficult in several major ways. I would sometimes repeat to myself, under my breath, "These are the best two years of my life. These are the best two years of my life. These are the best two years of my life."

But I wouldn't exchange it for the world. I made a number of my closest friends on my mission, learned German rather well, and came to love Switzerland passionately. (I go back whenever I can.) I gained a great deal of insight into people and into life from my mission, and I still benefit from that. I had some influence in bringing a few people into the Church. I believed in my message then, and I believe in it now. I simply wish that more of the Swiss had recognized what I see in Mormonism.

Incidentally, I never picked up the slightest whiff of a hint that my mission president, one of the kindest and most loving men I've ever known, was bucking for appointment as a General Authority. Quite the contrary. His dream was to go home, wind down his business, and spend a lot of time at his cabin in Wyoming. But he never got to do it: His business partner and brother was called to preside over a mission just as he returned, his wife was called into the general Relief Society presidency, and he was called to serve in the presidency of the International Mission (as it was then called). Then they were called to open up Ghana and Nigeria, and then they were called to preside over the Mission Home in Salt Lake City, and then they were called to direct the Nauvoo Visitors Center, and then they were called to preside over the Frankfurt Temple, and then they were called to finish out the term of a German mission president who had been transferred to Russia, and then . . . Well, I've probably left something out. Anyhow, both he and his wife have now passed away, beloved and even revered by hundreds if not thousands of people on three continents (very much including me). Lives well spent.




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[_ajax18]

I've never regretted my mission for a second. But I'd never go again. I still have nightmares that they tried to make me do it again and this time I just said enough is enough. Life after my mission was pretty bad too due to the sicknesses I acquired and the fact that missionaries, at least not me, don't get medical insurance.

A group of doctors were going down on a service project. At first I thought it'd be nice but after considering the political situation in Colombia again and the fact that most people I liked down there are probably dead or gone, there's no way I'd ever go back there under any circumstances, at least willingly.

For all my hangups with the problems in the church, both philsophical and practical, I know for sure that God lives, and it's still possible that the LDS church is His church, and the right place for me to be.

But there's a reason missionaries go inactive after the mission. After my mission I wanted to get as far away from Church and the Brethren as I possibly could. I also learned to say, "No."

[_Dr. Shades]

They know that the "church" isn't true. They should be kinder to the VOLUNTEERS who come to their areas.

I very much disagree with the first sentence, but just as passionately agree with the second sentence.

His dream was to go home, wind down his business, and spend a lot of time at his cabin in Wyoming.

So far, so good. But then:

But he never got to do it: His business partner and brother was called to preside over a mission just as he returned, his wife was called into the general Relief Society presidency, and he was called to serve in the presidency of the International Mission (as it was then called). Then they were called to open up Ghana and Nigeria, and then they were called to preside over the Mission Home in Salt Lake City, and then they were called to direct the Nauvoo Visitors Center, and then they were called to preside over the Frankfurt Temple, and then they were called to finish out the term of a German mission president who had been transferred to Russia, and then . . . Well, I've probably left something out. Anyhow, both he and his wife have now passed away, beloved and even revered by hundreds if not thousands of people on three continents (very much including me). Lives well spent.

To be honest, I find that story very, very tragic.

[_Daniel Peterson]

To be honest, I find that story very, very tragic.

I can see where you would, given your current theological position and your dislike of the Church.

I don't, though. And I'm quite confident that they didn't, either. (I spoke with them from time to time, and with their daughter, up until they died, and with their daughter at their funerals.) Their lives were rich and meaningful, and they had hundreds and hundreds of friends in Utah, Illinois, Switzerland, Germany, Nigeria, Ghana, and around the world. They were held in deep respect and affection.

[_Mister Scratch]

My mission was difficult in several major ways. I would sometimes repeat to myself, under my breath, "These are the best two years of my life. These are the best two years of my life. These are the best two years of my life."

No offense, but this sounds like self-induced brainwashing.

But I wouldn't exchange it for the world. I made a number of my closest friends on my mission, learned German rather well, and came to love Switzerland passionately. (I go back whenever I can.) I gained a great deal of insight into people and into life from my mission, and I still benefit from that. I had some influence in bringing a few people into the Church. I believed in my message then, and I believe in it now. I simply wish that more of the Swiss had recognized what I see in Mormonism.

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I have surmised before that a critical component of modern Mopologetics seems to have developed during the time spent on the mission. Notice the self-centered anger and arrogance here: "I simply wish more of the Swiss had recognized what I see in Mormonism." This, after all, is a part of what apologetics (and, indeed, a good chunk of the Church) is all about: imposing its rules and ideas on everybody else.

I wonder if the bizarre phenomenon of apologists being unable to apologize also relates to the mission experience?

[_Daniel Peterson]

Notice the self-centered anger and arrogance here: "I simply wish more of the Swiss had recognized what I see in Mormonism."

Wow. It takes a weird sort of cleverness (as well as the obvious obsessive hostility) to discover "self-centered anger and arrogance" just about everywhere.

[_Dr. Shades]

I can see where you would, given your current theological position and your dislike of the Church.

My current theological position has nothing to do with it, believe it or not.

I find it tragic that even after a lifetime of service, this poor man never got to do what he wanted to do in his golden years.

"I simply wish more of the Swiss had recognized what I see in Mormonism." This, after all, is a part of what apologetics (and, indeed, a good chunk of the Church) is all about: imposing its rules and ideas on everybody else.

To be honest, if my own experience is indicative, I'm quite sure that this is more of a missionary thing than an apologist thing.

[_Daniel Peterson]

I find it tragic that even after a lifetime of service, this poor man never got to do what he wanted to do in his golden years.

Oh, I think he loved what he did. And I suspect, knowing him, that he would have tired of simply puttering around his cabin. He spent some time there, though. It's not as if he never had the opportunity to enjoy it at all.

I think he would have found your characterization of him as a "poor man" entirely bizarre.

[_Dr. Shades]

I think he would have found your characterization of him as a "poor man" entirely bizarre.

My comment goes back to what Eyepatch stated:

I was just a tool to be worn out in the larger goal of their ass-kissing, upward leadership arc.

Of course, the last half of his sentence doesn't apply, but it seems to me that this guy was taken for all he was worth. His own willingness to serve--or his unwillingness to say "no," take your pick--was taken advantage of to the fullest extent. The ol' "give an inch, take a yard" scenario. Like the protagonists of Atlas Shrugged, his own ability became his undoing.

If you were called as an Apostle, wouldn't you yourself be tempted to say, "poor me?"