?????The Safety Zone?????

[_I have a question]

From safety on the street to fighting germs and avoiding the criminal intent of others, a new video series released today by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is designed to increase the safety of the 65,000 currently serving full-time missionaries as well as those yet to serve.

“The safety of the missionaries is our prime interest and desire," said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who chairs the Church’s Missionary Executive Council.

“The videos are focused on helping the missionaries with a lot of common sense and practical tips — to be safe in their missions and to protect each other, to help each other and to watch over each other,” he said.

The 12-part video series features “The SafetyZone” — a fictitious TV show mirroring the highlight videos and back-and-forth banter of an in-studio sports show. To emphasize safety principles and practice, the videos combine entertainment, humor and repetition along with the more serious retelling of real-life missionary experiences.

https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2 ... fety-49107

The first video in “The SafetyZone” series has been made public by the Church with today’s announcement. Episode 1 begins with the fundamental safety principles — situational awareness, obedience to laws and mission rules and respect for risks and for the people in the areas where they live.

Additional topics include bicycle, pedestrian and driving safety and preparation-day safety as well as residential and environmental topics dealing with carbon-monoxide, electrical wires, clean water and food handling. Also addressed are crimes against missionaries (including physical and sexual assault), proper behavior with children and diet, hygiene and exercise.

Besides the hosts’ commentary and humorous “highlight” clips, the safety videos feature “Let’s Get Real” segments, real-life experiences told through retelling and re-enactments.

“We had some incredible families and missionaries willing to tell their experiences for the benefit of others,” Wade said, adding that some “Let’s Get Real” segments are somber and serious in tone. “Some are very graphic. They were designed to be real, so we show real outcomes.”

[Guest]

It's a lot better than empty statements like "the lord protects his missionaries." That was what we were told back in the 80's as well as to not write home about the crime or slums in Sao Paulo. Looking back, I had this irrational belief that nothing bad would happen, ever, while I was there. I was held up once, a former companion was shot at and in one area there was a gun fight between rival gangs just down the hill from our house. But, the lord protected his missionaries? No, missionaries have always been normal and subject to everything everyone else is, and maybe even more so in some cases, given the conspicuous uniforms they wear. So, it's a good thing the church is finally doing something ..... years and years after it should have done .... behind the times like always.

[_fetchface]

Sounds like the sort of thing they should have been doing all along. We were just told that if we ever got mugged to hand over our stuff. That was the extent of our safety training. Oh and we were told to never drink the tap water that the locals all drank. Totally unrealistic in a humid subtropical climate. We'd have had to leave the house with a couple of gallons of our special water every day to keep up with the amount we sweated. So 50% of our safety training was plain nonsense, given the tools we had at our disposal.

[_Meadowchik]

It's good to see such effort at improving conditions for missionaries. However, there needs to be a total prohobition on taking passports from them. If they cannot keep their own personal documents safe, they shouldn't be there. Second, they should in my opinion be treated like any other adult volunteers. Stop the infantalizing!

[_Dr Exiled]

Stop the infantalizing!

Sadly, that will never happen. The whole point of having a "one true church" guided by a "prophet" is to have an institutional father figure governing certain aspects of the members' lives. Letting the members graduate to full adulthood would mean a bigger exodus and less obedience for those who remain. Bill Reel says, a few times in his recent podcasts with Mr. Bennett, that the he outgrew the church. Dan Vogel says the same thing in his interviews with Dehlin as to why he left.

[_kairos]

Only in jest do o ask-is there a video in the series on how to prevent from being stoned not getting stoned- there is a difference?

My suggestion is that each GA will be required to accompany pairs of missionaries tracking in poor hostile environments like D.C. North mission or central Chicago or Haiti - Dieter can go First but no guns allowed!

[_moksha]

I think it is great that the Church is considering safety issues for the young missionaries and doing it through a medium that will not put the young missionaries to sleep.

Let's hope that any helpful advice in subsequent episodes has not been rendered meaningless by some gospel oriented bloviation back in the studio.

[_Res Ipsa]

Better late than never.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I had the feeling, back in the 80's and 90's if you died a martyr, and your ticket was punched for Super VIP Heaven, that was something members kind of felt was cool. Also, if missionaries were suffering, then they were suffering for the Lord, and that was, you know, the cat's pajamas. What else could explain the complete and utter lack of concern with sticking so many of us in really dicey situations with such little oversight? Good to see the culture is changing for the better.

- Doc

[_I have a question]

But Cicotte also challenged some of the first episode’s assumptions, including the idea that if these proselytizers are obedient and aware, they will be fine.
“Sometimes both of those things together are not enough to keep you safe,” she said. “You need a pathway to change your situation or your location, to be able to say, ‘I don’t feel safe in this area.’”
The failure of “some of our missionaries to be situationally aware led to some really painful consequences,” she quotes from the video.
Cicotte was situationally aware and obedient, she said, but there were “still really painful consequences.”
It’s victim blaming, she said.

https://www.sltrib.com/news/2019/03/01/ ... ces-video/