Finally Someone Asked the Question..."Are Missionaries Safe"

[_Runtu]

That all sounds very similar to my mission experience. We would joke that "all we want is to get home alive." Medical treatment (which was needed frequently for most gringo missionaries) was hit or miss. We were kids trying to take care of ourselves with no "adult" supervision when it came to medical issues. We would never write home about our medical problems, because the MP hated to hear from parents worried about their kids' health. We really were on our own, unless someone was close to death's door which was the only thing that spurred the MP into action (which was usually just sending them home to the States for treatment).

I remember at Thanksgiving, we had a big dinner/party at our house (the office elders' house) in Cochabamba, and the mission president and his wife came. After dinner an Elder Brown got out a guitar and sang "Hotel Cochabamba," which was funny lyrics he had written about our mission set to "Hotel California." But most of the lyrics were about how bad the living conditions were, how sick most of us were, and how, as you put it, we just wanted to get home alive. Needless to say, the mission president was not pleased. If I recall correctly, that Elder Brown was an editorial cartoonist for the DesNews for a while.

[_Jonah]

Do Mission Presidents receive any kind of remuneration, benefits, expenses etc from the Church during the period of their service? If yes, how much?

http://www.dovesandserpents.org/wp/2013 ... stle-make/

The Church will offer full reimbursement for the following personal and familial living expenses of the Mission President and his family, while he serves this volunteer, unsalaried 3 year-stint:

1 Medical expenses, including dental and eye care, though not orthodontics (except in specific cases) and cosmetic surgery (unless covered by the insurance provider);

2 Rent (usually quite upscale);

3 Living expenses proper, including utilities, food, household supplies, dry cleaning, phones, internet, dry cleaning, etc.;

4 One official car, with maintenance and gas;

5 One second official car for the wife, with maintenance and gas;

6 Clothing for the mission president and his family;

7 “Family activities” (unspecified, possibly purposefully vague);

8 Long-distance personal phone calls;

9 One round trip for each unmarried child under 26 to visit the parents out in the mission field;

10 “Modest gifts (for example, Christmas, birthdays, or anniversary)”;

11 Support for children serving full-time missions;

12 Elementary and secondary school expenses (including tuition, usually in upscale private schools, including fees, books, and materials);

13 Extra-curricular activities for the children, such as music lessons, dance lessons, sports, etc.;

14 Undergraduate tuition at an accredited college or university (tuition cap at BYU’s rate, tuition waived at Church-owned schools);

15 Part-time housekeeper/cook (20 hours/week);

16 Gardener, if necessary;

17 Income Tax and Tithing exemptions.

[_maklelan]

Mak,
Provide something to make your assertions more supported than mine.

Like what? The documents to which I refer are all confidential. I work for the Church and see this all from the inside. Are you really going to just say your memories from years ago and your antagonistic assumptions actually carry the same weight as my current firsthand experience? It's either that or you've got to insist I'm just lying.

[_SteelHead]

Appeal to secret documents..... Great.

Though I find it totally credit to believe the church has a risk management group and has the numbers.

As I stated earlier I would bet the big factor is vehicle operation or the lack thereof. And would be willing to bet no statistical variance from a similar, non missionary control group. Have studies been done studying the long term health impacts of the way things are done? 30-40 year histories?

[_Runtu]

My quibble with maklelan is that the documents specify what is supposed to happen with missionaries. What really happens depends entirely on the situation, the mission president, and the missionaries. As I said, my son's friend did not have check-ins, health care instruction, and so on from his mission president. From what he's told me, they were basically on their own, as we were. And he just got home last year.

[_maklelan]

Do Mission Presidents receive any kind of remuneration, benefits, expenses etc from the Church during the period of their service? If yes, how much?

http://www.dovesandserpents.org/wp/2013 ... stle-make/

The Church will offer full reimbursement for the following personal and familial living expenses of the Mission President and his family, while he serves this volunteer, unsalaried 3 year-stint:

1 Medical expenses, including dental and eye care, though not orthodontics (except in specific cases) and cosmetic surgery (unless covered by the insurance provider);

2 Rent (usually quite upscale);

3 Living expenses proper, including utilities, food, household supplies, dry cleaning, phones, internet, dry cleaning, etc.;

4 One official car, with maintenance and gas;

5 One second official car for the wife, with maintenance and gas;

6 Clothing for the mission president and his family;

7 “Family activities” (unspecified, possibly purposefully vague);

8 Long-distance personal phone calls;

9 One round trip for each unmarried child under 26 to visit the parents out in the mission field;

10 “Modest gifts (for example, Christmas, birthdays, or anniversary)”;

11 Support for children serving full-time missions;

12 Elementary and secondary school expenses (including tuition, usually in upscale private schools, including fees, books, and materials);

13 Extra-curricular activities for the children, such as music lessons, dance lessons, sports, etc.;

14 Undergraduate tuition at an accredited college or university (tuition cap at BYU’s rate, tuition waived at Church-owned schools);

15 Part-time housekeeper/cook (20 hours/week);

16 Gardener, if necessary;

17 Income Tax and Tithing exemptions.

The framing of these benefits is quite manipulative, when the claims are not just downright false. For instance, mission presidents do not receive "income tax exemptions." They pay taxes on any income they receive from employment or investments unrelated to the mission, and if they don't follow local rules carefully, they can be responsible for taxes related to mission expenses and reimbursements. Also, "tuition, usually in upscale private schools" refers to English language schools in foreign countries where no other options are available. My mission president had a daughter who went to the local English high school, which was an "upscale private school" because it was the only one around. Other things on that list are downright false. For instance, number 5 is simply wrong. There is one official car assigned "exclusively to the mission president." The mission president's wife may use it, or she may use another available car assigned to some other official mission business, but she does not get her own car. There is no "second official car" for the wife or for anyone else. You can look all that up on p. 81.

[_bcspace]

Finally Someone Asked the Question..."Are Missionaries Safe"

Sensationalism (yellow journalism). What's the typical accident/death rate of a small city of say, 60,000 people, compared to the accident/death rate of the Church's missionary force?

[_maklelan]

My quibble with maklelan is that the documents specify what is supposed to happen with missionaries. What really happens depends entirely on the situation, the mission president, and the missionaries.

At the same time, a lot of the increased concern has come within the last 15 years or so. All the returned missionaries who were perpetually in fear of being murdered or eaten by a bug while their mission president told them to suck it up appear to have served long ago. That's not to say there are no longer negligent mission presidents or missionaries, but it certainly can't be held up as the norm.

As I said, my son's friend did not have check-ins, health care instruction, and so on from his mission president. From what he's told me, they were basically on their own, as we were. And he just got home last year.

And that would be the kind of thing the missionary department would like to hear about. They're actively trying to stop that negligence, and it's hardly the norm.

[_SteelHead]

I agree with Runtu. Policies and procedures are pitched out the window when rubber meets road. A hungry 19 year old will eat risky cheap food when his budget is insufficient to provide otherwise.

[Guest]

Maklelan, the missionaries have just been here for dinner.
I asked them the question I posed on this thread "what did the Church do, specifically, to ensure your safety and well being whilst here on your mission?".

I'm not saying that you are lying, but your account and their account were somewhat different.

I don't think the following article about how missionaries spend their time in the MTC tallies up with the picture you are trying to paint....
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8655 ... tml?pg=all

The infographic breaks down facts and statistics of the scheduled life, including a chart with percentages of what missionaries do with their time in the MTC. According to the chart, MTC missionaries spend 50 percent of their time studying, 33 percent sleeping, 11 percent eating and 6 percent doing other activities such as exercise, service and preparation.

Perhaps the Deseret News team just don't have access to those secret documents of yours.

Given that 11 missionaries have died so far this year, do you feel that the Church (according to its secret documents) is doing enough?