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This is for anyone who’s served a mission. I loved my mission and has some wonderful experiences. I grew tremendously on my mission. There are some experiences I’ve had of feeling Heavenly Father’s and the Savior’s love that have helped shape me who I am today. Although I loved it, there are times I don’t know if I would want to serve another after having a faith crisis and faith reconstruction, considering the things I’ve learned. I mean if things in the church changed so drastically or the prophet felt such strong inspiration to call me another mission, would I serve again knowing the things I know now? When I think about it sometimes I would say yes and other times I would say no. What do all of you think? Not a chance. So many worthy causes to devote your time to. Spending it trying to convince people to join your church is not one of them. I don’t have the same fond memories of my mission that you do. Yes, I learned things that I have used in my life that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to learn any other way. There were many things, however, that I did not like and many experiences that were not choice. I do recognize it is a bit different as older adults serving than as young men. Part of what I didn’t like was the rigid structure of the mission – seriously, I was a soldier before my mission and had much more freedom and self determination as a soldier than as a missionary. That rigidity is greatly relaxed for older adults. Nevertheless, no, I would not serve again, even if the prophet personally called me and told me he had a revelation. (OK, I might consider it then, but I’d have to get a revelation, too.) I was recently reminded of the old way missionaries were called when I watched 17 Miracles. I’m really not sure I would have served then, but of course the culture was quite different then, too and I don’t know if I would have had a faith transition, etc. And, I agree with Cadence – I don’t think it’s my job (or anyone else’s) to try to convince people to join my church.
I loved mine. I don’t know that I would serve now given the stage of life I’m in, but when I was single it was something that was on the whole positive for me, and I still believe that those who are drawn to the church are drawn to it for their own reasons. It resonates for them for their reasons; their “testimonies” each were different from my own, so I still don’t see a mission as convincing others of your way of seeing things. I sometimes think about a woman whose family we taught & baptized (they are still members and two of their sons have served missions). When we were teaching her she was telling me about an experience that pushed her over the edge to joining because she was so opposed to female ordination and she was shocked that a female priest was administering the host to someone in a service she saw; it must have been something rogue because women are not ordained in Catholicism. She just felt that other churches were just making things up. When she talked about her experience and what it meant to her, I really disagreed with her (internally) for two reasons: 1) in the temple women are called priestesses, so female priesthood isn’t really 100% verboten, and 2) I’ve always thought women would eventually administer the priesthood. This was of course a thought I had 25 years ago as a missionary teaching this woman, but I didn’t say those things because I also thought “Hey, those are just my views, my ideas. She’s got her own experiences and what speaks to her, and so it’s not really up to me. It’s up to her.”
I would have no problem serving a mission again (especially with the different options and rules for couples), and my wife would love to do so – so, ultimately, it’s not really my choice. 
I have no regrets. I really hope my kids do not want to serve a lds mission. I think there is better life education opportunity for the buck.
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Could never serve a conventional mission again. But me and my wife have talked about service missions. I would absolutely love at some point to go and dig wells/build a school etc in some 3rd world country or whatever. That I would enjoy. Right when I left the mission I knew I never wanted to serve again even though I grew a lot on my mission. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I loved my mission but knowing what I know today I would not serve another. I would be happy to dig wells, teach school or anything else but not under the name of the church. Here’s another thread that includes perspectives of people that served missions: http://www.staylds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5267&p=72306 ” class=”bbcode_url”> http://www.staylds.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=5267&p=72306 I wouldn’t change the comments I made in that thread. I recognize that the mission had a positive impact in my life. I wouldn’t want to serve a proselyting mission but would be open to a service mission, whether through the church or some other organization.
If I had to dig for a regret I’d say that it’s a shame that I served a proselyting mission when I had my youth. I’ll be severely limited in the types of service I can provide in my dotage. Just a reiteration of the wish that our youth mission program would involve more service than any other endeavor.
Bear wrote:Could never serve a conventional mission again. But me and my wife have talked about service missions. I would absolutely love at some point to go and dig wells/build a school etc in some 3rd world country or whatever. That I would enjoy. Right when I left the mission I knew I never wanted to serve again even though I grew a lot on my mission.
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There is nothing stopping you from doing that. I am sure there are many organizations that would love your service. You could do real service without any anterior motive.Not a chance. Although my mission was a positive experience, I was thankful it was over. I don’t like sales, and call it what you want. missionary work is mostly being a salesperson for the church. I like Cadence’s answer — there are a lot of other worthy causes to which one can devote their time. I don’t really care if my son serves a mission either.
Partly influencing my reaction here is the church-egocentrism I’m concerned with. My stake president and Bishop refused to fund even part of my mission when I approached them as a new convert of a year, at 20 years of age, and told me to just stay home given my financial situation. I won’t go into details, but it was the first really negative experience in my church journey. I saw just how pre-occupied with itself the church is (and by that, I mean the policies and leaders), and how quickly they threw out all spirituality in arriving at that conclusion (“every worth young man should serve a mission, righteous goals and divine help in overcoming obstaces).
At a conference in recent years, I was also perturbed when Jeffrey R. Holland talked about how the church was going to be pay some of the cost of older couple’s living expenses if they served a senior’s mission. He mentioned the amount the church would pay and then said “And I think that’s pretty nice” or something equivalent. That did not sit with me very well. Here these people are giving a ton of free labor to the church and our leaders are framing what I felt was a small, partial subsidy as a huge act of generosity. Again, church egocentrism in action.
It’s backwards. I am fortunate enough to reach retirement, there will be no way I go on a mission if my current beliefs and perceptions still exist at that time. I will be dedicating my time to something that co-missions my life. Something that helps the world at large and speaks to my own need for growth or fulfilment simultaneously — none of this “one-size fits all” for me!
My wife & I were Stake Missionaries together. Several times. Does that count? We had great experiences. We were as successful as the FT missionaries.
After our releases, we could see our contacts as friends within the ward.
We are in no position to be able to do that again.
I had interpreted the question as the traditional proselyting mission. I would consider a service mission – but generally we aren’t called to those we choose them. There is a couple from our stake who are on their fourth 6 month service mission and I admire them, actually. Cwald, while I totally get what you’re saying, mishies help in other ways. I have a problem with mess and clutter. They have made my house livable again. They’ve also helped me with my resume, gardening, and helped friends of mine with removal and decoration. I am very grateful to them for this. For a lot of us, who haven’t always experienced kindness, being helped moves us greatly and is a positive thing regardless of whether people join or stay. In my turn I try and help others.
Ilovechrist77 wrote:This is for anyone who’s served a mission. I loved my mission and has some wonderful experiences. I grew tremendously on my mission. There are some experiences I’ve had of feeling Heavenly Father’s and the Savior’s love that have helped shape me who I am today. Although I loved it, there are times I don’t know if I would want to serve another after having a faith crisis and faith reconstruction, considering the things I’ve learned.
I mean if things in the church changed so drastically or the prophet felt such strong inspiration to call me another mission, would I serve again knowing the things I know now?When I think about it sometimes I would say yes and other times I would say no. What do all of you think? I have actually had nightmares about serving a mission again where I didn’t believe in the Church but felt pressured into it so I was trying to go through the motions. Then when I woke up I was always relieved that it was just a dream. Missions are already hard enough if you actually believe in the message but I can’t imagine what it would be like if you don’t agree with much of what the Church is trying to sell people on.
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