Judd Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 I was interested in reading up a bit more about the period of time in which it was standard for (male) missionaries to serve for 18 months. I'm curious if much is written on it with regard to reasons for instituting it and then going back to the two year model. If anyone has any links it'd be great!
bcuzbcuz Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 I was interested in reading up a bit more about the period of time in which it was standard for (male) missionaries to serve for 18 months. I'm curious if much is written on it with regard to reasons for instituting it and then going back to the two year model. If anyone has any links it'd be great!I served 30 months and one day.
Judd Posted June 14, 2012 Author Posted June 14, 2012 I served 30 months and one day.Would also like to hear more about that.
cinepro Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 I have always heard that the idea was that the number of missionaries would increase. It also had the benefit of reducing the cost of going on a mission by 25% for the families.The big downside was that the missionaries were being sent home after they had gained all their knowledge and experience. If they could have figured out a way to take the 6 months off the start of the mission and not the end, it might have worked better.
The Nehor Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 I have always heard that the idea was that the number of missionaries would increase. It also had the benefit of reducing the cost of going on a mission by 25% for the families.This, it was a failed experiment and I'm surprised they tried it. I mean......if six months makes the difference between you going or not going I wouldn't want to be your companion. Same reason "raising the bar" was a good idea. No one wants to serve with someone who went out for motives other then serving God.One of my worst companions went on his mission because his dad promised to buy him a truck when he finished. When I pointed out that even working a minimum wage job he could have gotten a truck in 6-9 months working a 40 hour week instead of a 50-70 hour week he felt kind of dumb. Then again, he was kind of dumb so I probably did him a favor. The big downside was that the missionaries were being sent home after they had gained all their knowledge and experience. If they could have figured out a way to take the 6 months off the start of the mission and not the end, it might have worked better.Yeah, I had missionary work figured out at the 21 month mark. Seemed kind of a shame to go home so soon at that point. 1
Duncan Posted June 14, 2012 Posted June 14, 2012 my bro in Law served in Hong Kong during the whole 18 month thing, he extended because he figured why not, learning chinese wasn't easy seemed a waste not to use it really
bu11fr0g Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 The missions were much longer before and were gradually shortened from 3 years to 18 months. The main problem was the foreign speaking elders especially in difficult languages had a lot of trouble. The church did not want to go back to separating the time for domestic and foreign missionaries.
Flyonthewall Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I served from July 81 - Jan 83. I was out 9 months and got word that I did not have a choice, I would only serve 18 months. If I had left just a few months earlier, I could have chosen either 18 or 24 months. When I left, it was for 24.I served in Japan, and have heard that the last 6 months of the mission, you learn the language at an accelerated rate. I can't say it is true from experience but that is what I heard.
bluebell Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 (edited) The big downside was that the missionaries were being sent home after they had gained all their knowledge and experience. If they could have figured out a way to take the 6 months off the start of the mission and not the end, it might have worked better.Us sisters are just special enough to pull it off i guess. Edited June 15, 2012 by bluebell 1
mbh26 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I heard that you could still leave the mission after 18 months and it would still be considered an honorable discharge. I'm not really sure what that means because I haven't really heard the distinguishing terms honorable and dishonorable discharge since I left the mission. Is dishonorable discharge is kept on some record somewhere. Who looks at this and why? Does it follow the missionary the rest of his life in the church? From what I saw, the sisters were free to leave whenever they decided without threat of the dishonorable discharge put on their record. Does anyone know if the sisters have to pay for their own plane ticket home if they decide to leave early? Most of my difficult companions weren't allowed to leave because they simply couldn't acquire the funds to do so.
Buzzard Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I heard that you could still leave the mission after 18 months and it would still be considered an honorable discharge. I'm not really sure what that means because I haven't really heard the distinguishing terms honorable and dishonorable discharge since I left the mission. Is dishonorable discharge is kept on some record somewhere. Who looks at this and why? Does it follow the missionary the rest of his life in the church?From what I saw, the sisters were free to leave whenever they decided without threat of the dishonorable discharge put on their record. Does anyone know if the sisters have to pay for their own plane ticket home if they decide to leave early? Most of my difficult companions weren't allowed to leave because they simply couldn't acquire the funds to do so.I don't think the church has and honorable/dishonorable discharge system like say, the military. Elders and Sisters can't go AWOL, they have agency, and can leave when they want-if they want. Don't know about the plane ticket thing, I would imagine if an Elder was determined to leave, he would be flown home, but the bill for the ticket would be sent to his home.Of course, when a missionary is compelled to go home for disciplinary reasons, they are billed for their plane home, that I know. The one Elder who wasn't wearing garments when he left our mission flew out of Luxembourg and caught a connecting flight in Iceland because that saved him a few hundred dollars. This was pre-airline deregulation.
Duncan Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I heard that you could still leave the mission after 18 months and it would still be considered an honorable discharge. I'm not really sure what that means because I haven't really heard the distinguishing terms honorable and dishonorable discharge since I left the mission. Is dishonorable discharge is kept on some record somewhere. Who looks at this and why? Does it follow the missionary the rest of his life in the church?From what I saw, the sisters were free to leave whenever they decided without threat of the dishonorable discharge put on their record. Does anyone know if the sisters have to pay for their own plane ticket home if they decide to leave early? Most of my difficult companions weren't allowed to leave because they simply couldn't acquire the funds to do so.I will ask my bro in law when he gets home
Kenngo1969 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I served 30 months and one day.Boy, that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, wasn't it? (Seriously ... even though you might feel differently about your service as a missionary now than you did then ... thanks for your service. )
mbh26 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I know the monthly cost was $425/month for me to be in the mission a couple decades ago now. What happens if the missionaries parents lose their job and they can't pay? Do they ever just send the missionary home due to inability to pay? I had one companion that was begging to go home from his first month,but couldn't afford the ticket. He even tried having his parents sell his truck. That lasted 20 months before they fnally relented and let him go home one month early.
bryan11 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I know the monthly cost was $425/month for me to be in the mission a couple decades ago now. What happens if the missionaries parents lose their job and they can't pay? Do they ever just send the missionary home due to inability to pay?I had one companion that was begging to go home from his first month,but couldn't afford the ticket. He even tried having his parents sell his truck. That lasted 20 months before they fnally relented and let him go home one month early.I think the church would pick up the slack in that situation. I'm pretty sure they can even help if that's the situation before a missionary leaves as well.
mbh26 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 If the Church decides to extend a missionary and not let him go home until after 25 or 26 months, does the missionary have to pay his own way home if he decides that he does not want to serve any more than 24 months? I know they put on the call, "It's anticipated that you will serve for 24 months." They were careful not to say that the mission was a 2 year commitment. I did know an elder who was ready to go home with those he came with at 24 months (even had the final interview) only to learn the night before that his plane ticket had not been purchased and be asked to stay and work another month and a half when the next plane ticket set was purchased. From what he told me, his choice was to either stay, or pay for his own way home.
mbh26 Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I think the church would pick up the slack in that situation. I'm pretty sure they can even help if that's the situation before a missionary leaves as well.I do know people who didn't have sufficient funds saved to go on the mission and they were denied serving until they had accumulated a certain amount of savings to go toward the mission cost. I heard that after the family, the next source of funds was the ward missionary fund, but from what I've seen that's usually a pretty dry account. When you say the Church, where would the funds be drawn from at that point? Would it be fair to say that tithing does in fact go to supporting the missionaries?
Buzzard Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 I do know people who didn't have sufficient funds saved to go on the mission and they were denied serving until they had accumulated a certain amount of savings to go toward the mission cost. I heard that after the family, the next source of funds was the ward missionary fund, but from what I've seen that's usually a pretty dry account. When you say the Church, where would the funds be drawn from at that point? Would it be fair to say that tithing does in fact go to supporting the missionaries?Have them move to our ward. We have so much contributed to the Ward fund that the stake raids it on a regular basis. I know there is also a church wide missonary fund. I think the churches goal is to make sure no worthy young man or woman cannot serve due to a lack of funds. I don't know if that goal is reached.
bcuzbcuz Posted June 15, 2012 Posted June 15, 2012 (edited) Boy, that was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, wasn't it? (Seriously ... even though you might feel differently about your service as a missionary now than you did then ... thanks for your service. )We used dinosaurs instead of bikes to get around our mission. And I appreciate your thanks for my service. Although I am no longer active, I met my future wife and the future mother to my six children three weeks before I left my mission so I have no regrets. Wouldn't have happened if I hadn't been a missionary.(And NO, we didn't have our six kids in the last three weeks of my mission) Edited June 15, 2012 by bcuzbcuz
katherine the great Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 I had one companion that was begging to go home from his first month,but couldn't afford the ticket. He even tried having his parents sell his truck. That lasted 20 months before they fnally relented and let him go home one month early.That's kind of funny.
cdowis Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 This, it was a failed experiment and I'm surprised they tried it.It is comforting that the church can experiment. Gives me hope to know that I can recover from a mistake as well. The church experiments on a limited basis with several programs to see what works, and what does not work.
katherine the great Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Was there ever actually a formal reason stated for ending the 18 month mission? I was a sister missionary (in Korea), and felt like my mission was very fruitful and successful as well as the elders I served with. (This was during the "18 months for all missions" time frame)
Duncan Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 (edited) Here is some relevant information given at the April 1982 General Conference of the Churchhttp://www.lds.org/e...church?lang=engYou have to scroll down a bit!my bro in law was out during this time and extended and he isn't home for me to ask...buckets!http://timesandseasons.org/index.php/2009/09/remembering-18-months/some other interesting tidbits if info! Edited June 16, 2012 by Duncan
Duncan Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 Was there ever actually a formal reason stated for ending the 18 month mission? I was a sister missionary (in Korea), and felt like my mission was very fruitful and successful as well as the elders I served with. (This was during the "18 months for all missions" time frame)My Bro in Law said that when he was in Hong Kong for the 18th month missions he was given a choice if he wanted to serve the extra six months, he did and didn't have the money! so he said his ward put the money up for him. He had heard the reason they cancelled this and reverted back to 2 year missions was because the Church wasn't getting more missionaries out and plus learning a second language was hard enough to only use for a couple of months and then you're home. I am gathering the idea was to get more missionaries out but it didn't make a lick of difference
Calm Posted June 16, 2012 Posted June 16, 2012 (edited) I can understand the idea that maybe more would choose to go if it wasn't as hard to collect the money (savings 25%) and with scheduling wisely one only missed a year of school (take a spring/summer term if necessary) especially since the first year at college is often a throwaway year as people don't know their ultimate major, the adjustment from high school to university results in low grades, etc. By the time one has got back from one's mission not only is it likely they know more of what they want to do for their life, they have learned habits that will help them keep the grades up.However, I suspect that if those are the things that weigh enough on your mind to prevent you from going on a two year mission, then there is no real deep desire to go on a mission and any significant sacrifice would be seen as too much. Edited June 16, 2012 by calmoriah
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