Has Eric Hawkins told a lie?

[_I have a question]

LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins issued this response to the incident: "We are grateful these two missionaries did not sustain any serious injury during this incident. Missionary safety is a top priority, and thankfully, such incidents are very rare."

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=33589768

Top priority? Really? Let me ask some questions:

What saftey considerations are taken when determining where to house Missionaries?
What safety considerations are taken when determining where Missionaries are told to serve (country and district)?
What safety considerations are taken in terms of self defence training?
What safety considerations are taken in terms of health and hygiene?
What is the cost difference between how much is spent on Missionary safety precautions versus how much is spent on General Authority travel and security arrangements?
How many safety incidents have occured per 1,000 missionaries in the last year in comparison to how many safety incidents per 1,000 General Authorities?

And the one Church PR should be willing to answer:
What improvements to Missionary safety, specifically, have been made over the course of the last 12 months?

Come on Eric, back up your PR rhetoric.

[_RockSlider]

These missionaries have be taught over and over, they must put in the required study time, they must pray continually, they must not masturbate.

It seems obvious that the fault lies with the missionaries if they are getting sick and/or hurt while in the mission field.

[_sock puppet]

Yeah, they must be a couple of wankers for E/J/HG to have allowed this to have happened to them.

[_Quasimodo]

I think everyone is avoiding the most important question in this situation.

Did Erwin Smith (the kidnapper) eventually agree to be baptised into the LDS church? Not much else is of any interest.

[_Jonah]

Detectives said the missionaries tried to console Smith and started showing him an LDS Church video. That's when Smith allegedly began punching, kicking and elbowing them.

I can relate.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

LDS Church spokesman Eric Hawkins issued this response to the incident: "We are grateful these two missionaries did not sustain any serious injury during this incident. Missionary safety is a top priority, and thankfully, such incidents are very rare."

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=33589768

Top priority? Really? Let me ask some questions:

What saftey considerations are taken when determining where to house Missionaries?

Well, in my case there were none. My first zone I lived in a flea infested shithole. Within a month I was covered head to toe in flea bites. This kind of thing should be remedied when the MP, APs, or ZLs come by to visit and ensure living conditions are appropriate.

What safety considerations are taken when determining where Missionaries are told to serve (country and district)?

Well, in my case there were none. Because I studied Spanish in high school I was assigned to a Spanish speaking mission. The country was in a civil war, we were threatened by the Shining Path, and robbed three times. There were no heads up, nor was there anything other than 'vary your route home' instructions.

What safety considerations are taken in terms of self defence training?

Well, in my case there was none. We were allowed to carry anything that could be used as self-defense, nor were we told how to avoid and/or de-escalate a bad situation.

What safety considerations are taken in terms of health and hygiene?

Well, in my case there were none. Zero. I had to learn on the fly how to boil water, de-flea mattresses, identify insect hazards, identify wildlife hazards, identify human hazards, and tell the landlord in one location that his kitchen walls being covered in hundreds of cockroaches was unacceptable.

I believe there was a general notion of "They'll learn as they go attitude, and the Spirit will protect them... And if not, they died in the Lord's service so they'll go to Heaven."

Frankly, I'm surprised there aren't more missionary deaths. For as much hostility and mental illness you encounter on a mission the injury rate is remarkably low, in my opinion.

- Doc

[_sock puppet]

Detectives said the missionaries tried to console Smith and started showing him an LDS Church video. That's when Smith allegedly began punching, kicking and elbowing them.

I can relate.