The Latest Anti-Mormon Deception: "Futuremissionary.Com"

[Ahab]

Well, as someone who has had missionaries over for dinner and have been out with them for lunch, I do not see this at all. I can only go by my experience and ask the futuremissionary guy for proof.

I'm sure you can imagine a time when the sign-up sheet may have a blank spot showing nobody signed up to feed the missionaries.

The situation then becomes: What to do about it?... or more to the point: What a young missionary should do about it?

Option A: Panic while running around shouting profane language while asking God why nobody signed up to feed me ?!?

Option B: Talk to a District Leader to see what suggestions they might have about how to get a good meal.

Option C: Ask someone you know in the ward if they can spare a little food and water. Humbling, I know. But, oh well.

Option D: Plan to be near home for that meal and eat some of the food you bought when you bought some groceries.

Option E: Anything else I haven't thoght of yet, God?

Edited June 12, 2013 by Ahab

[stemelbow]

My only 'proof' is that I experienced it, my wife experienced it, and so have several other people I've talked to. I certainly don't think this is a church policy. I'm guessing it's a decision made by each mission president on his own. Many of the RM's I spoke to went to Brasil so maybe it's just more common there.

I intentionally blocked out days each week in which we didn't have a dinner appointment. They got in the way. But we never went hungry for more than a meal or two every once in a while. The problem with your piece is far more than about whether a particular mission required members to have investigators over in order for missionaries to get a free meal.

[futuremissionary]

For some clarification, in Brasil you eat lunch with members and we did that every day. Still, I think you misunderstand. If we weren't eating with investigators for dinner, we weren't allowed to have dinner. We couldn't go home or buy food. That was just the rule. Like I said earlier, I'm sure it's not like this in every mission, but this rule does exist in some. I'm at least glad that we can all agree that this shouldn't happen.

[Avatar4321]

The site editor has joined the thread (two posts above you).

It appears this is not boredom but a genuine desire to help and support Elders.

I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt so I will see what changes really are made.

forgive me if im still skeptical. I've seen anti-mormons play this game too many times not to be cautiously suspicious.

[stemelbow]

For some clarification, in Brasil you eat lunch with members and we did that every day. Still, I think you misunderstand. If we weren't eating with investigators for dinner, we weren't allowed to have dinner. We couldn't go home or buy food. That was just the rule. Like I said earlier, I'm sure it's not like this in every mission, but this rule does exist in some. I'm at least glad that we can all agree that this shouldn't happen.

Where did it happen? Can you offer specifics? You said it was true in several missions. Which ones? When?

[brendon.beebe]

Another great example of a half answer / lie :/

Am I allowed to listen to music?

In some missions you may listen to hymns, but you cannot use headphones.

[Avatar4321]

A lot of what was on this site made me irritated. Futuremissionary, excuse my lack of charity, but frankly, I don't buy it. Your little site is designed to destroy testimony and dissuade missionaries from serving, your protestations to the contrary notwithstanding. And this little slice of tripe is a perfect example. I served where branches were small and dinner appointments, with or without investigators, were few and far between. So what did we do when we had no dinner appointment? Well, we went back to the apartment and ate dinner! What a concept. Starvation mode, failing health, mental wellness??? Get real.

You ate food? I thought we were supposed to live off the dew of the universe when we didn't have investigators.

[Ahab]

For some clarification, in Brasil you eat lunch with members and we did that every day. Still, I think you misunderstand. If we weren't eating with investigators for dinner, we weren't allowed to have dinner. We couldn't go home or buy food. That was just the rule. Like I said earlier, I'm sure it's not like this in every mission, but this rule does exist in some. I'm at least glad that we can all agree that this shouldn't happen.

Thanks for the clarification, and supposing for a moment that what you are saying is true, I arrive at some options:

The situation is still a matter of what a young missionary should do about it:

Option A: Panic while shouting profane language while asking God why nobody signed up to feed me ?!?

Option B: Talk to a District Leader to see what suggestions they might have about how to get an investigator, and a meal.

Option C: Ask an investigator you know in the ward if they can spare a little food and water. Humbling, I know. But, oh well.

There are always options, and giving up on your faith in God and what he has told you is not the best one.

[Mark Beesley]

As I'm sure most of you know, showing up in the mission field is quite a shocker. All you ever hear is that it's the best 2 years, but most people show up not even realizing you work on Sundays.

The only thing I can really say is that if any of this is true, then the Church has failed miserabley in its attempt to "Raise the Bar."

I served in Germany from 1974-1976. Nothing shocked me about arriving in the Mission Home in Salt Lake, the Language Training Mission in Provo, or Germany. I didn't go through any special training to prepare for a mission, except I quit smoking pot and partying on weekends. I don't think I had any companions who where shocked when they arrived in the field. At least, no one exhibited any behaviors that would lead one to believe they were shocked. For the most part we were enthusiastic about the work and reading the scriptures. Of course, enthusiasm levels varied from elder to elder, and from day to day, but again, nothing shocking.

So, I guess I am curious about what is causing this shock to Elders nowadays? Was I just lucky that I had a father who had worked in the Church Historians office so I knew all about the stuff we were supposed to be hiding?

Or does "Raising the Bar" mean something I missed?

[why me]

For some clarification, in Brasil you eat lunch with members and we did that every day. Still, I think you misunderstand. If we weren't eating with investigators for dinner, we weren't allowed to have dinner. We couldn't go home or buy food. That was just the rule. Like I said earlier, I'm sure it's not like this in every mission, but this rule does exist in some. I'm at least glad that we can all agree that this shouldn't happen.

I think that this could not be true. You will need to show me a copy of the missionary manual for that mission to get me on board about what you are saying. For example, the rule about no dinner is not possible for the simple reason that missionaries with diabetes would need to eat a meal. I think that you may be getting it wrong. Maybe you misunderstood. Imagine for a moment a missionary writing home telling mom and dad that they cannot eat dinner unless they have dinner with an investigator. The parents would hit the roof. Please give proof of what you are saying. If you can't give proof, then you should remove it from your website.

[why me]

Many of the RM's I spoke to went to Brasil so maybe it's just more common there.

In Brazil, the temperatures can be very hot. I would really be surprised if missionaries could not eat dinner unless they were eating with an investigator. Let me put it this way: how many investigators would be willing to splurge for dinner? Or invite missionaries over for dinner? It sounds unbelievable. You must have a copy of the brazil missionary handbook made by the mission president. Maybe you can scan it to the thread. Also, for health reasons people should eat three meals a day. I don't think that missionaries went to bed hungry nor were they required to.

[Danzo]

In my mission, dinner appointments were discouraged (dinner takes a long time in Italy)

Cooking our own food was the norm. One of my favorite ways of meeting people was to ask for recipes in the market.

I was able to practice the recipes in the apartment and by the time I was done with my mission, I was a pretty good Italian cook.

[Mark Beesley]

My target viewers are those prepping for a mission - teenagers. Their attention spans are short and FAIR articles tend to be very long and require a lot of additional reading, often times requiring offline reading. I'd rather give a glimpse of info that I know they'll read, rather than a mountain of info they won't. Aslo, a significant portion of my traffic is mobile. Unfortuantely, FAIR is very poorly optimized for this medium.

Might I suggest that you quit doing what you are doing. Your experiences as a missionary are likely very different than the experiences of the vast majority of missionaries. You likely have neither the resources nor the skills to prepare missionaries for the broad spectrum of experiences they might encounter. I think the Lord did a fair job in preparing me. Maybe . . . just maybe He doesn't need your help in this particular area. The best thing you could do is blog about your own particular experiences and challenges, and describe how you met those challenges and grew from them.

And frankly, the "rule" about not being able to eat dinner unless certain conditions are met . . . some rules are dumb on their face and deserve to be ignored.

[Ahab]

Might I suggest that you quit doing what you are doing. Your experiences as a missionary are likely very different than the experiences of the vast majority of missionaries. You likely have neither the resources nor the skills to prepare missionaries for the broad spectrum of experiences they might encounter. I think the Lord did a fair job in preparing me. Maybe . . . just maybe He doesn't need your help in this particular area. The best thing you could do is blog about your own particular experiences and challenges, and describe how you met those challenges and grew from them.

Good point. I was reminded of the "steadying the ark" mentality. It's not his job to prepare the missionaries of our Lord, and based on how well he is doing it, or rather not doing it, it would be better for him to just stop.

Regardless of the fact that we all have free agency, there are some things that we just shouldn't do, or even try to do.

[omni]

I'm skeptical of the not being able to eat story, but it's not completely unbelievable. I know of a MP who required the missionaries to eat specific foods for breakfast on specific days because he believed the more rules, the more opportunity for obedience and therefore more blessings. Yeah, he wasn't real popular with the missionaries I knew that served under him.

[Avatar4321]

I wish i had spent less time preparing for anti mormon stuff and more studying the scriptures and getting used to the Spirit.

[Tacenda]

My son was about the only white guy amongst all Tongan missionaries in an apartment complex once. One of his companions lost his temper and hit my son a couple of times. My son had to walk to the Kmart store down the street to get away, when he told his MP, he told my son to stick it out a couple of weeks until they figured it all out. Apparently this missionary had an anger problem and they stuck him with my son because my son was sort of a peacemaker. But I had to learn of it after my son was home from his mission. Good thing because I'd have gotten pretty angry. Luckily my son got a new MP because the old one had done his time. Another tough thing was the food allowance was never enough but luckily the members would always feed them, they were more than generous. So it's not always smooth sailing on missions.

[Mike Reed]

Very interesting, Don... your use of the term "anti-Mormon" sure got my attention. Thanks for the head's up. And nice to read your feedback, futuremissionary.

Edited June 13, 2013 by Mike Reed

[Calm]

Your mission was not like mine. We had to call in our District Leaders in order to survive. Without their help we would have gone without dinner, breakfast and lunch. It took six elders to sell all our copies of the Book of Mormon, in order to have money for food. I refer you to the "Norrlands Rebellion" , Swedish mission, 1965" President Fletcher defined the parameters.

1965....is there any evidence this goes on nowadays?

[Calm]

My suggestion is if you are concerned about the policy existing among some mission presidents, then write Salt Lake about it along with a list of former missionaries that have reported to you the same thing happened to them. You are much more likely to effect change that way then by anonymously posting on the internet, hiding your identity where anyone can make any claims they want to.

Edited June 13, 2013 by calmoriah

[Calm]

By the way, when I asked for a link it wasn't because I hadn't searched for one. I was just trying to be polite, not wanting to call you out on the fact that there wasn't one.

I am sorry I gave the impression I knew of a response, I had in mind a question as why in the world would anyone sincere about helping others would put up the criticisms without answers time and time again and my belief that such a one sided letter should not be put up unanswered likely slanted my comment to appear as if I knew something I didn't.

As far as FAIR being too longwinded, why in the world would you choose to put up a link to Mormonthink instead?

And FAIR is addressing that issue by offering summaries at the beginning of its wiki articles so you should try again rather than giving up on it. If you come across an article that has not been given that treatment yet, rather than posting an anti site, write FAIR and we will alter it as quick as we can.

Edited June 13, 2013 by calmoriah

[webbles]

For some clarification, in Brasil you eat lunch with members and we did that every day. Still, I think you misunderstand. If we weren't eating with investigators for dinner, we weren't allowed to have dinner. We couldn't go home or buy food. That was just the rule. Like I said earlier, I'm sure it's not like this in every mission, but this rule does exist in some. I'm at least glad that we can all agree that this shouldn't happen.

I served in Brazil. I never ate dinner. It wasn't because of any "No investigators, No Dinner", it was because dinner didn't exist (at least in my area of Brazil). You ate a quick breakfast, a massive lunch, tried to stay awake with a full stomach and a hot day, and then went home, had a small drink/meal (I guess you could call that dinner) and went to sleep. The idea of having an hour or two set aside for dinner is foreign to me.

[Calm]

If you are what you claim to be...just trying to help, I have major issues with someone taking on such a responsibility prior to familiarizing him/herself with the problems that exist out there. I get that people are confused by the wivesofjosephsmith site if they are not aware of the issues with it, what I don't get is someone taking upon him/herself the task of educating others without educating him/herself first by doing the very basic checking of sources. It took me less than two hours to go through that site's listing on Helen Mar Kimball to demonstrate their stance. It is a sin (and I use that word intentionally) to pose as an authority in this fashion without doing one's own homework first.

If you are sincere, then pull your stuff until you have a better balance of info on it. Only post stuff that has been vetted by a variety of believing members including those experienced in apologetics (I would highly recommend Don Bradley who is not afraid of being critical of the Church if he thinks it necessary, volgadon is another I would recommend) as appropriate.

Edited June 13, 2013 by calmoriah

[Avatar4321]

I served in Brazil. I never ate dinner. It wasn't because of any "No investigators, No Dinner", it was because dinner didn't exist (at least in my area of Brazil). You ate a quick breakfast, a massive lunch, tried to stay awake with a full stomach and a hot day, and then went home, had a small drink/meal (I guess you could call that dinner) and went to sleep. The idea of having an hour or two set aside for dinner is foreign to me.

How widespread is that in Brazil?

[webbles]

By the way, this website was discussed earlier here at