I just phoned the Elders....

[TripletDaddy]

and told them to knock it off.

My wife called me a little bit ago.....it seems that between Karate Kid debates and taking the kids to swimming class, this morning has been very hectic for her. She is also juggling a bunch of RS stuff.

She gets a call from the missionaries about 15 minutes ago:

Them: "Sister Triplet, would it be possible for us to come eat dinner at your house tonight?"

Her: "I guess. I was supposed to going to a meeting at 6:15 and we were planning on eating early. What is going on?"

Them: "Our meals calendar has vacancies for most of this week. As you know, the RS generally coordinates our meals. Our MP said that we should call you and ask you to help us work this out."

Her: "We have alreadypassed around the list. We didn't get 100% for every night this month because lots of families are on vacation. I am sorry about that. I can remind the RS on Sunday."

Them: "But what about dinners for this week? It is only Monday!"

****
So my wife calls me, worried about finding time to go to the store to buy more food for tonight's dinner, which was going to be fairly low-key. She is feeling stressed. I ask her for the missionaries' phone number.

New conversation ensues:

Them: Hello Brother Triplet. We are going to be eating dinner at your house tonight!

Me: actually, elder, that is why I am calling. My wife is actually pretty busy today and won't have time to host you. Sorry about that.

Them: OK. Well, we talked to her and she seemed ok with it.

Me: That is because she is the RS Pres, she is really nice, and she doesn't want to say no to the missionaries.

Them: We didn't think of that. Sorry. I wonder what we are going to do for dinner?

Me: I would suggest going to the store and buying some food. Cook it and eat. Better yet....go buy a hamburger or some fast food. I think you can manage.

Them: OK, Brother Triplet. We will give that a try.
*****

lol. did you guys ever have to lower yourselves and actually make your own meals now and then? I don't get it. These missionaries are ridiculously spoiled. They call their MP when they don't have dinner? What happened to ramen noodles, a sandwich, or buying something off the street?

[RC Vikings]

They need to send these kids to a place where you never get a DA. Out on the Indian reserves we would go months without but that was alright because they didn't have much to give anyway.

[Indy Coug]

There isn't a tougher mission in the world than the brutal living and eating conditions of Orange County, CA. I can't blame them for trying. Hopefully they don't get a parasite from eating a Wendy's $0.99 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger.

[wuapinmon]

and told them to knock it off.

My wife called me a little bit ago.....it seems that between Karate Kid debates and taking the kids to swimming class, this morning has been very hectic for her. She is also juggling a bunch of RS stuff.

She gets a call from the missionaries about 15 minutes ago:

Them: "Sister Triplet, would it be possible for us to come eat dinner at your house tonight?"

Her: "I guess. I was supposed to going to a meeting at 6:15 and we were planning on eating early. What is going on?"

Them: "Our meals calendar has vacancies for most of this week. As you know, the RS generally coordinates our meals. Our MP said that we should call you and ask you to help us work this out."

Her: "We have alreadypassed around the list. We didn't get 100% for every night this month because lots of families are on vacation. I am sorry about that. I can remind the RS on Sunday."

Them: "But what about dinners for this week? It is only Monday!"

****
So my wife calls me, worried about finding time to go to the store to buy more food for tonight's dinner, which was going to be fairly low-key. She is feeling stressed. I ask her for the missionaries' phone number.

New conversation ensues:

Them: Hello Brother Triplet. We are going to be eating dinner at your house tonight!

Me: actually, elder, that is why I am calling. My wife is actually pretty busy today and won't have time to host you. Sorry about that.

Them: OK. Well, we talked to her and she seemed ok with it.

Me: That is because she is the RS Pres, she is really nice, and she doesn't want to say no to the missionaries.

Them: We didn't think of that. Sorry. I wonder what we are going to do for dinner?

Me: I would suggest going to the store and buying some food. Cook it and eat. Better yet....go buy a hamburger or some fast food. I think you can manage.

Them: OK, Brother Triplet. We will give that a try.
*****

lol. did you guys ever have to lower yourselves and actually make your own meals now and then? I don't get it. These missionaries are ridiculously spoiled. They call their MP when they don't have dinner? What happened to ramen noodles, a sandwich, or buying something off the street?

I'm on-board with you here. I made a post during the Spring about them not taking food that we offered them.....something unthinkable in Costa Rica. Spoiled is too nice a word. The missionaries here only get $135 a month, so eating out a lot isn't an option, but I promise you that you can live quite well by buying a 50 lb. bag of rice, 25 lbs of black beans, a big bottle of vegetable oil, some salt, garlic powder, and 30 cans of store-brand Rotel to season the beans. That would probably only run about $75. That would leave them a combined $195 for other things.

[TripletDaddy]

There isn't a tougher mission in the world than the brutal living and eating conditions of Orange County, CA. I can't blame them for trying. Hopefully they don't get a parasite from eating a Wendy's $0.99 Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger.

Keep in mind, these missionaries think they are really sacrificing...once a year, they do this thing where they all go without cars for a few days. lol. knuckleheads.

I don't begrudge them their free food. After all, no need to walk when you can drive and no need to cook if someone is offering you a meal.

But every now and then you might not get a meal. Sheesh.....go make a sandwich, for pete's sake. Or lower yourself to eating a Fatburger. There is a Fatburger about 5 blocks from the chapel. Have at it.

[Pheidippides]

and told them to knock it off.

My wife called me a little bit ago.....it seems that between Karate Kid debates and taking the kids to swimming class, this morning has been very hectic for her. She is also juggling a bunch of RS stuff.

She gets a call from the missionaries about 15 minutes ago:

Them: "Sister Triplet, would it be possible for us to come eat dinner at your house tonight?"

Her: "I guess. I was supposed to going to a meeting at 6:15 and we were planning on eating early. What is going on?"

Them: "Our meals calendar has vacancies for most of this week. As you know, the RS generally coordinates our meals. Our MP said that we should call you and ask you to help us work this out."

Her: "We have alreadypassed around the list. We didn't get 100% for every night this month because lots of families are on vacation. I am sorry about that. I can remind the RS on Sunday."

Them: "But what about dinners for this week? It is only Monday!"

****
So my wife calls me, worried about finding time to go to the store to buy more food for tonight's dinner, which was going to be fairly low-key. She is feeling stressed. I ask her for the missionaries' phone number.

New conversation ensues:

Them: Hello Brother Triplet. We are going to be eating dinner at your house tonight!

Me: actually, elder, that is why I am calling. My wife is actually pretty busy today and won't have time to host you. Sorry about that.

Them: OK. Well, we talked to her and she seemed ok with it.

Me: That is because she is the RS Pres, she is really nice, and she doesn't want to say no to the missionaries.

Them: We didn't think of that. Sorry. I wonder what we are going to do for dinner?

Me: I would suggest going to the store and buying some food. Cook it and eat. Better yet....go buy a hamburger or some fast food. I think you can manage.

Them: OK, Brother Triplet. We will give that a try.
*****

lol. did you guys ever have to lower yourselves and actually make your own meals now and then? I don't get it. These missionaries are ridiculously spoiled. They call their MP when they don't have dinner? What happened to ramen noodles, a sandwich, or buying something off the street?

Your set sounds similar to mine. Saturday afternoon a couple of weeks ago they stopped by at random. I hate Elders stopping by at random, expecting to get invited in. Sister Nikuman answers the door. Actual conversation:

Them: Sis. N, hi, we were in the neighborhood and thought we'd stop by. Do you mind if we come in and share a message about blah blah blah.

Sis. N <not wanting to lower the boom>: Hmm, I think Bro. N. will have to say yes or no. Let me get him.

<goes to get me from the media room, where I am diligently playing NCAA 2010 after a day of yard work>

Me: Hi Elders.

Elders: Bro. N., would you mind if we shared a message with you about blah blah blah?

Me: Sorry Elders. We've just got done with our work for the day and are pretty busy with some family activities <true, btw - we were about to grill steaks and make ice cream>.

Elders: Oh, okay, well, how about a day next week.

Me: Well, next week looks to be busy at work and I don't know if I will be able to make it home early enough <also true at the time>

Elders: The week after?

Me: Vacation. Sorry. And I don't know my schedule three weeks out.

Sis. N.: It's pretty bad when you can't even get in the member's homes, huh! See you later!

Why do the Elders just think they can stop by at random times? I did it too a time or two - why didn't it occur to me that people are busy?

[falafel]

This reminds me of the summer associates we had last year at our firm. The firm had a goal for the lawyers to take the summers out to lunch as much as possible. As a consequence, the summers, who were already making the monthly equivalent of a first year attorney for doing practiaclly NOTHING, became very greedy. On two occasions when they had meetings scheduled over lunch (one was their mid-term review), they asked me if I could go to Chipotle and pick up some burritos for them b/c they didn't have time to go out for a free firm-sponsored lunch that day. So they wanted me to bring it to them. As far as I can tell, the thought of buying their own lunch never once crossed their minds.

[SteelBlue]

lol. did you guys ever have to lower yourselves and actually make your own meals now and then? I don't get it. These missionaries are ridiculously spoiled. They call their MP when they don't have dinner? What happened to ramen noodles, a sandwich, or buying something off the street?

I have felt this way for a long time. We were lucky in my mission to have a couple of DA's in a month. We obviously made all of our meals but we did have plenty of money to do so. In fairness, I think these guys get a lot less money than we did (when I started my mission I just got money from my parents each month then we went to equalization toward the end of my service) in our day. I think the assumption (by the MP) is that they will be fed dinner every night and so their monthly allowance reflects that assumption. Still, Ramen is very cheap and if they don't have money to slap a sandwich together or boil some Ramen then they need to have their money adjusted.

[JohnnyLingo]

Weak sauce California elders.

We actively avoided dinner appointments in Madagascar. I think I ate at a Malagasy's home about 20 times total my entire time there.

[wuapinmon]

Still, Ramen is very cheap and if they don't have money to slap a sandwich together or boil some Ramen then they need to have their money adjusted.

I'm not defending them, but keep in mind that this is the Stephencoveyized results-oriented do-more-with-less Church that these boys are serving. They can't get the "allotment" raised even with the terrible inflation of the last 18 months. Now, with that said, they could eat very well using the plan I outlined above.

[Fiyero]

Elders serving in the states receive different instruction concerning what to do with their time, than foreign elders do. Stateside elders in solid wards with dozens of active families are told to focus on member involvement, since member referrals tend to stick around the church while tracting baptisms are so often one and done. Stateside elders are told to prioritize the part-member families, less active families, over 9 unbaptized members, and to present various programs during dinner such as the 21 days of prayer, to get members more involved in finding.

As someone who served stateside, personally I hated calling people and asking for dinner, but in zone conferences we were usually guilt-committed into spending evenings with families.

On the plus side though, in one particular area I tracted a grand total of 10 hours during my 6 months there.

[All-American]

Elders serving in the states receive different instruction concerning what to do with their time, than foreign elders do. Stateside elders in solid wards with dozens of active families are told to focus on member involvement, since member referrals tend to stick around the church while tracting baptisms are so often one and done. Stateside elders are told to prioritize the part-member families, less active families, over 9 unbaptized members, and to present various programs during dinner such as the 21 days of prayer, to get members more involved in finding.

As someone who served stateside, personally I hated calling people and asking for dinner, but in zone conferences we were usually guilt-committed into spending evenings with families.

On the plus side though, in one particular area I tracted a grand total of 10 hours during my 6 months there.

10 hours. That was an average morning for me.

Missionaries often make good salesmen after their mission. My mission cured me of any desire to go door to door ever again.

[Pheidippides]

Elders serving in the states receive different instruction concerning what to do with their time, than foreign elders do. Stateside elders in solid wards with dozens of active families are told to focus on member involvement, since member referrals tend to stick around the church while tracting baptisms are so often one and done. Stateside elders are told to prioritize the part-member families, less active families, over 9 unbaptized members, and to present various programs during dinner such as the 21 days of prayer, to get members more involved in finding.

As someone who served stateside, personally I hated calling people and asking for dinner, but in zone conferences we were usually guilt-committed into spending evenings with families.

On the plus side though, in one particular area I tracted a grand total of 10 hours during my 6 months there.

On a related note, every sibling in my family concurred that it looked like my brother - the one you served with - looked like he came home wearing a fat suit.

[Indy Coug]

10 hours. That was an average morning for me.

Missionaries often make good salesmen after their mission. My mission cured me of any desire to go door to door ever again.

I'd rather be boiled in oil than tract 10 hours a day for 2 years again.

[thesaint258]

Man, I wouldn't have ever asked if we could come over for dinner. I served in areas where the members didn't do tons of DAs, especially for my first six months. We were always excited and grateful to get an invite. Your ward should have a "Treat the Elders Like They're in Europe" week. No DAs, no splits, no referrals, etc. Just knocking doors and street contacting all day long. Seriously, who calls the MP about not having a DA?