If Your Child Comes Home From A Mission Early...............

[_Bob Loblaw]

There isn't even any indication bcspace ever claimed to be a mission prez.

Thank God for small mercies.

[_bcspace]

If an apostate were to suggest to a local missionary who was struggling, that they go home from their mission and indeed, even offered to take them to the airport and only advise the MP of the departure once the plane was in the air - that would be classed as "anti-mormon", right?

Yep. He is not in a position to judge.

I suspect the incident where bcspace did this is perhaps the catalyst for Mission Presidents now confiscating missionaries passports on arrival in the mission field.

Not possible as I never had to do it and I never told the MP I would if he wouldn't.

[_Yoda]

Since you're worried, overmuch, by semantics, perhaps it is better to say that he sent himself home. I merely opposed trying to keep him out when he so obviously didn't want to be there and wasn't going to try to do the work. I sent him home in the sense that I prevailed upon the prez to end the standoff and would have ended it myself if he didn't.

How, exactly, would you have done that?

[_sock puppet]

Since you're worried, overmuch, by semantics, perhaps it is better to say that he sent himself home. I merely opposed trying to keep him out when he so obviously didn't want to be there and wasn't going to try to do the work. I sent him home in the sense that I prevailed upon the prez to end the standoff and would have ended it myself if he didn't.

How, exactly, would you have done that?

That would be Mormon vigilantism--bucking the MP's line of priesthood authority.

[_KevinSim]

What I needed (and craved) was a father who would have sat down with me and said something like "O.K., if you are not going to do the mission you need to start planning your life out. Let's get you some direction, set some goals of getting you back into school, getting a job, some form of transportation, and what your mother and I can do to help you achieve those goals."

My wife is practical enough that I could see her (and I) saying this to my son, should he decide to go on a mission, and should he decide to come home early. I came home from my mission early myself, eight months early, so it'd be pretty hypocritical for me to blow up on him.

[_KevinSim]

My father met me at the airport. No hug, just a handshake. He told me "You look good. I can't say I am glad to see you."

At least you got your father. When I flew home to SeaTac Airport there was noone to meet me at all.

[_why me]

This is just so awful, the church just doesn't want to care for these young men even when their ill and the biggest problem of their illness is time lost.

This is not true at all. On my daughter's mission, a couple of missionaries were sent home because of illness and came back when they were well. The church or mission president actually does care. Also, I have known missionaries who have been sent home after contacting serious illnesses. I saw no church neglect but I did see concern. You need to open your eyes and leave the antimormon crap behind.

[_why me]

If an apostate were to suggest to a local missionary who was struggling, that they go home from their mission and indeed, even offered to take them to the airport and only advise the MP of the departure once the plane was in the air - that would be classed as "anti-mormon", right?

I suspect the incident where bcspace did this is perhaps the catalyst for Mission Presidents now confiscating missionaries passports on arrival in the mission field.

If a missionary wishes to go home, they inform the president and go home. No problem. No one is kept against their will. It would be against the law.

[_Bazooka]

If an apostate were to suggest to a local missionary who was struggling, that they go home from their mission and indeed, even offered to take them to the airport and only advise the MP of the departure once the plane was in the air - that would be classed as "anti-mormon", right?

I suspect the incident where bcspace did this is perhaps the catalyst for Mission Presidents now confiscating missionaries passports on arrival in the mission field.

If a missionary wishes to go home, they inform the president and go home. No problem. No one is kept against their will. It would be against the law.

You clearly have no understanding of Mormonism.

[_KevinSim]

While a ZL, we surprised a low performing companionship by coming over to visit for lunch. We found them still in bed playing Nintendo. After frank discussion, we found out that both were slated to go home in just a few months. Neither had had any success their whole mission. We testified that if they worked hard and faithfully for the remaining time, the Lord would bless them and they would be able to address their respective wards when they got home with a semblance of honor. We checked back from time to time and they did seem to be doing the work. Just a week or two before they went home, they had an adult convert baptism and we rejoiced with them. Can you imagine the difference in their testimonies? It was huge and I wish I could have heard their homecoming talks.

Bcspace, I wish you and your companion could have dropped in on my companion or me, May, June, or July of 1980. I could have used some of your positive feedback. It was a critical point in my mission and I wasn't getting any feedback from anyone.

The beginning of April my MP told me about my new senior companion, and told me that in two months it would be my turn to be senior companion. That would have had me as senior companion the month of June. Instead my MP made me a senior proselyter that June, which meant Elder Bailey and I had equal authority; we were both senior companions, so to speak. During the month of June our ZL told us that when Elder Bailey and I were split up the one that left would go off and become a senior companion in his new sector, and the one that stayed behind would become senior companion in the old sector.

My first night with Elder Bailey we went to the Lavin family's house to teach them a discussion. When we got there they were just sitting down to watch a TV movie. I said, no problem, we'd go off and knock on doors for a couple of hours and then come back in time to teach them the discussion. Elder Bailey said, no, we were going to stay there at the Lavin house and watch the TV movie with them. That left me speechless. Watching the television was blatantly against mission rules. So what should I do? Should I start a fight there with Elder Bailey in front of the Lavins?

I spent a few seconds weighing my options. What it came down to was that (1) Elder Bailey had been in the sector before I got there, (2) Elder Bailey thought quicker on his feet than I did, (3) Bailey wanted to lead, and (4) I didn't want to fight him. So we stayed there and watched the movie.

That colored the rest of my month. In name we were senior proselyters, but in fact Bailey saw himself as the leader, and I did myself to follow his lead. To an extent. In the middle of the month when he arranged for a date with a girl, I was pretty sure I couldn't go along with him on that one. Shortly after he set it up he got sick. I found a local companion; went out; found the girl; told her that Bailey hadn't been serious, that he hadn't really meant to ask her on an actual date; then I came back and told Bailey what I'd done. He wasn't very happy with me, but what could he do? Watching television movies was against mission rules; dating a girl was extremely against mission rules.

July finally came. Bailey and I went to a baptism. Elder Carter, one of the assistants to the MP, was there. He told us we were getting split up. Elder Bailey was going to Laja with brand-new missionary Elder Cifuentes. I was staying in Hualpen with Elder Angulo. I thought, this is it. This is what the ZL told me about. Bailey's going off to be a senior companion; I'm staying here to be senior companion to Elder Angulo. But as the baptism progressed I got to thinking, Elder Carter hadn't explicitly told me I was going to be senior companion. So, to be absolutely sure, I found Elder Carter in a restroom after the baptism and asked him right out, was I going to be senior companion, which would make Elder Angulo my junior companion? Elder Carter didn't answer me; instead he just asked me if I understood the Methods of Instruction. I'd heard about the Methods of Instruction but didn't know precisely what they amounted to, and I told Elder Carter so. And that was the end of our conversation. As I recall, Elder Carter simply walked out of the restroom.

So I thought, hmm, I must not be senior companion, since if I had been clearly Elder Carter would have told me so. But then I got thinking, maybe it didn't matter, since this time I was the one who had been in the sector the month before, this time I was the one that wanted to lead. As it turned out, I even thought quicker on my feet than Elder Angulo did. So Elder Angulo and I went out into our sector, and I took over. I was saying where we'd go, and Elder Angulo was more than happy to follow me. I said what we were going to do when we got there, and Elder Angulo was more than happy to go along with my plans. That's how it went for four hours. And it was great. I was really, really enjoying being in charge, taking initiatives, coming up with plans for what we could do.

Then four hours after we'd left the baptism Elder Angulo and I were visiting a member family and one of the kids in the family asked which of us was the senior companion. Before I had the chance to tell them that Angulo and I were both senior proselyters, Elder Angulo told him that he was the senior companion and I was the junior companion, but that he didn't put much stock in distinctions like that, so it was perfectly fine if I took the lead.

I was completely blown away. I thought, what? What? Not anywhere in my wildest dreams did I think there was even a possibility that I might be changed from being a senior proselyter back to being a junior companion again. But the worst part was not being demoted. The worst part was not being told I was being demoted, like I didn't deserve to know what my status was going to be. In that chat in the restroom I obviously thought there was a chance I might be senior companion, or I never would have asked Elder Carter if I was; wouldn't that have been a good time to tell me that not only was I not a senior companion but I wasn't a senior proselyter either?

But I tried to make the best of it anyhow. I thought, okay, wait a month, wait until the next transfers, which would be the beginning of August. The beginning of August came, the time for transfers came, and neither of us, neither Elder Angulo nor me, were transferred.

That was depressing. When it was clear neither one of us was going to get moved, then I thought that maybe I needed to push myself to be a better missionary; maybe that's what I needed to do to become a real senior companion and get back the feeling I had for those four glorious hours in early July when I thought I was in charge. That was a mistake. I try to push myself, and I start erupting in Tourette Syndrome-style vocal and motor tics. That was the beginning of the end for my mission. I spent the next three months in and out of the mission home while my MP tried to figure out what was wrong with me. Finally in the middle of November he sent me back to Seattle to get medical help. I was eventually diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome and released from my mission.