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mackay11 wrote:
I’m very glad I went. No regrets.
I’d find a proselyting mission impossible in my current faith perspective. It’s difficult just being the branch mission leader. I notice how black and white the world is for them and how “gung-ho” they are. I don’t have that any more.
I think that’s you just growing up.
Well, thanks, everyone, for your comments. I just wanted to see your perspectives for serving missions after faith crises. I’ve grateful for the missionaries serving now and for the church starting to address controversial historical issues, but people like Bill Reel that studied many of these topics before they served missions are still few and far between. Ilovechrist77 wrote:Well, thanks, everyone, for your comments. I just wanted to see your perspectives for serving missions after faith crises. I’ve grateful for the missionaries serving now and for the church starting to address controversial historical issues, but people like Bill Reel that studied many of these topics before they served missions are still few and far between.
I “talked” with my missionary son about the essays – he is totally unaware of them. He has been serving since October, which is when they started to come out. He is not in one of the missions that uses social media as a tool, but the infrastructure is there to do so and I think by the end of his mission he will be. When you print them off they are several pages so they’ll have to wait until we send him a package (not often because of the expense). I would really like it if the missionaries made reference to them or at least pointed members and investigators toward them.
I also have nightmares about the mission. Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
DarkJedi wrote:Ilovechrist77 wrote:Well, thanks, everyone, for your comments. I just wanted to see your perspectives for serving missions after faith crises. I’ve grateful for the missionaries serving now and for the church starting to address controversial historical issues, but people like Bill Reel that studied many of these topics before they served missions are still few and far between.
I “talked” with my missionary son about the essays – he is totally unaware of them. He has been serving since October, which is when they started to come out. He is not in one of the missions that uses social media as a tool, but the infrastructure is there to do so and I think by the end of his mission he will be. When you print them off they are several pages so they’ll have to wait until we send him a package (not often because of the expense). I would really like it if the missionaries made reference to them or at least pointed members and investigators toward them.
SamBee wrote: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.
I don’t know what you mean.
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cwald, I think Sam is saying that he is grateful for the help he has received from missionaries. We forget, sometimes, the things they do outside of classic preaching activities.
Old-Timer wrote:cwald, I think Sam is saying that he is grateful for the help he has received from missionaries.
We forget, sometimes, the things they do outside of classic preaching activities.
Okay.
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I think those other-than-direct-proselyting activities are of the utmost importance. I have on several occasions encouraged my own son to seek out and participate in as many of those activities as possible. cwald wrote:Old-Timer wrote:cwald, I think Sam is saying that he is grateful for the help he has received from missionaries.
We forget, sometimes, the things they do outside of classic preaching activities.
Okay.
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Yes, Ray got it. I’m trying to say that missionaries have a positive effect outside of the usual “can we set a baptism date?” and “did you pray about the Book of Mormon?” type things. I have met good and bad missionaries. The good ones really raised me up, the bad ones were just snobby and arrogant. But I have appreciated very much how they have helped me in various ways. Some of them are genuinely good people, over and beyond being forced into this, or trying to make the grade.
I have always appreciated their kindness. On occasion I have turned it down, because I think that others are more deserving. I try not to take advantage, but when they have helped me, it has been a great service to me. It makes me realize that collectively we are not just a church that is continually begging for tithing money (although there is that aspect too
😆 )I didn’t go on a mission, and I don’t regret that. I was being bullied into it almost as soon as I was baptized. I’m just not suitable. I have social issues, am the wrong personality type and am not massively fond of authoritarian structures. I also don’t like suits and white shirts. I considered joining the military at one point, but backed out for similar reasons. About the one thing I would have going for me as a missionary is that I’m a polyglot of sorts.
I think the only real problem with a mission is the tremendous pressure we place on children to go. A male child spends the first 18 or 19 years of their life being told that their level of goodness and being right with God is dependent on whether or not they serve a mission. I know, those aren’t the words we say, but we attach such a incredible importance to it, that’s what the child hears. And how difficult is it to stay in the church if you don’t go on a mission? Well, I think it’s very difficult. I guess it’s a fork in the road. Either you attach utmost importance on the church or you don’t. I came home after a few days on my mission due to what people perceived as just quitting on my part, and didn’t find out until years later that I had a disease which has since destroyed my liver and will most likely take my life in a few years. I take ownership of my own life – but the impact not serving a mission had on me is almost impossible to express. I don’t know that I’ll ever quite get over it in this life. Again, not necessarily the church’s problem, but I need to at least say it. I am grateful that a mission works for many people, but I think we should be OK with people don’t serve, and not view them as having done anything wrong. I guess the only way to do that is to place less importance on a mission than we do. I guess in saying that I am flying in the face of the authority of the prophet, and maybe I am. God knows it’s not meanness in me that is saying that. If I am wrong and the church is right, I think one day I will come to know it – and I can’t help but to think that God will give me all the time I need to get my thoughts sorted out and come to the right conclusion. I can only speak to what happened to me – one trumpet’s sound in the band you might say.
I agree with you for the most part Intothelight, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m nitpicking. The guilt and pressure associated with not going on a mission is not the only problem – there is a great deal of stress on the missionaries themselves. This stress is overwhelming for some and truly messes them up their whole lives, and I think it’s even worse for those that have to return early because they can’t deal with mission life. Our equivalent of a bar mitzvah. Only harder. Nobody ever asked me about going on a mission. Never. I can’t recall anyone at church or even my parents asking what my plans were or telling me that I “should.” I’m glad it was my decision. That’s one thing I don’t like about the Church is the pressures, but in this case I never felt it. DarkJedi wrote:I agree with you for the most part Intothelight, and I don’t want you to feel like I’m nitpicking. The guilt and pressure associated with not going on a mission is not the only problem – there is a great deal of stress on the missionaries themselves. This stress is overwhelming for some and truly messes them up their whole lives, and I think it’s even worse for those that have to return early because they can’t deal with mission life.
That is very kind of you. And no issue on the nitpicking. As much as there is something inside of me that would like to believe I am always right, it simply isn’t true – so my responses NEED to be corrected by other’s opinions. I agree with you completely – my brother served a mission, and completed it, but hated every moment. He still hates the church for it to this day. To be surrounded with constant feelings that you are insufficient or not good enough is like poison to the soul. And for good or ill, the church emphasizes certain ways of doing things so strongly that I guess it creates those feelings in a lot of people. It’s a good thing we have eternity to work through this stuff
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