Stateside vs. Foreign Missions

[wuapinmon]

So, we called the missionaries to come over tonight because we had a bunch of extra food that my mom bought when she was here, and that I brought back from my school field trip to Savannah last week. We were going to give the excess to the elders.

They came in, and proceeded to tell me that they didn't eat this or that and didn't want half the food. Mount St. wuapinmon didn't erupt, but it bugged me.

I once ate scrambled eggs that I had seen a cockroach fall into because it would've been too great an embarassment for the poor (figurative and literal) sister who was sacrificing to feed us. It's not really a sacrifice to give this food to the elders, but it kind of pissed me off.

Stateside boys have it easy. To turn down food as an elder was just unthinkable for us. We were always starving, we walked everywhere (no bikes, no cars, no money for taxis).

Grumble grumble piss and vinegar.

[Donuthole]

De acuerdo. My best friend served in Roseville, CA while I was in in Guat, C.A.. I remember he once complained in a letter about having to eat lasagna for the third straight night. I read it out loud to my companion as we salivated at the thought of eating lasagna even once.

[DrumNFeather]

Members aren't allowed to feed the misisonaries dinner in our mission. The Mission president and area authority want them out teaching during that time...so we've had to come up with creative ways to feed and support the missionaries. Much to the dismay of many of the members.

[KillerDog]

So, we called the missionaries to come over tonight because we had a bunch of extra food that my mom bought when she was here, and that I brought back from my school field trip to Savannah last week. We were going to give the excess to the elders.

They came in, and proceeded to tell me that they didn't eat this or that and didn't want half the food. Mount St. wuapinmon didn't erupt, but it bugged me.

I once ate scrambled eggs that I had seen a cockroach fall into because it would've been too great an embarassment for the poor (figurative and literal) sister who was sacrificing to feed us. It's not really a sacrifice to give this food to the elders, but it kind of pissed me off.

Stateside boys have it easy. To turn down food as an elder was just unthinkable for us. We were always starving, we walked everywhere (no bikes, no cars, no money for taxis).

Grumble grumble piss and vinegar.

Ah yes, the vaunted superiority of the foreign elder over the stateside elder. It isn't enough that you went to a place that sounds cool when you tell people about it, learned a language, stood out in the crowd as something different/American/cool instead of something different/dorky, learned a culture, and had 500K converts you also have to act like their service is somehow less than yours in effort too.

Try being an elder in a ward where a girl you dated in college, less than a year before, lives then tell me it is easy being in the states. Try being distinct, separate, and apart when your usual interests are as easy to come by as they were a few months before instead of being half a continent away.

[Mormon Red Death]

Ah yes, the vaunted superiority of the foreign elder over the stateside elder. It isn't enough that you went to a place that sounds cool when you tell people about it, learned a language, stood out in the crowd as something different/American/cool instead of something different/dorky, learned a culture, and had 500K converts you also have to act like their service is somehow less than yours in effort too.

Try being an elder in a ward where a girl you dated in college, less than a year before, lives then tell me it is easy being in the states. Try being distinct, separate, and apart when your usual interests are as easy to come by as they were a few months before instead of being half a continent away.

that sounds tough. I bet it was conforting to know that you could just go to 7-11 and buy a slurpee to drown your sorrows.

[KillerDog]

that sounds tough. I bet it was conforting to know that you could just go to 7-11 and buy a slurpee to drown your sorrows.

I was stateside, I never had to buy anything. Members just gave us everything.

[Mormon Red Death]

I'm not going to debate if foreign Missions are harder than stateside. IMO they all have their shitty components. The things you mentioned are definitely detractors. In my mission we had a lot of success. Members gave us lunch every day. I learned another language and I lived in Brazil for two years. There were shitty things as well. Water would come and go to our apartment so we had big garbage can under the shower in case water came on. We would then use that water in the can with a pot to dump it over our head when we would take a shower (or to flush our toilet). You couldn't put toilet paper in the toilet (our rule was no sunny side up). That's just to name a few.

[TripletDaddy]

The funny thing about these foreign mission stories is that they seem to imply that poor people have no pride, common sense, or standards. I served in a pretty impoverished country (one of the lowest, if not the lowest GDP in South America, biggest export is coca for cocaine), yet if a cockroach fell into the food, I don't think anyone would want to eat it. People washed their hands. They ate pasta, eggs, rice, and chicken, not worms, bugs, and snakes.

I ate some gross stuff, but towards the end of my mission, I simply stopped doing it. If I didn't want to eat it, I didn't. And there was no problem. South Americans grasp the concept that sometimes you are not hungry or that not everyone likes every single bit of food.

The food was very mediocre on my mission. A few delicious things, but overall not great.

[RobinFinderson]

The worst thing I ate on my mission was raw, pickled pig skin, pulled from a briny glass pot where it looked like something off the shelf of a high school biology classroom. I still remember its rubbery texture, and how the little bristly hairs poked into my tongue and cheeks, like licking a woman's leg who hadn't shaved in a while. I almost died trying to get it down, and I didn't ask for seconds. This happened in Napa, CA.

[cougjunkie]

The worst thing I ate on my mission was raw, pickled pig skin, pulled from a briny glass pot where it looked like something off the shelf of a high school biology classroom. I still remember its rubbery texture, and how the little bristly hairs poked into my tongue and cheeks, like licking a woman's leg who hadn't shaved in a while. I almost died trying to get it down, and I didn't ask for seconds. This happened in Napa, CA.

You know what a woman's prickly unshaved leg tastes like?

[RobinFinderson]

You know what a woman's prickly unshaved leg tastes like?

Sure, doesn't everyone?

[il Padrino Ute]

I only know what it's like to serve in a foreign mission. I can't comment on state-side missions other than my two best friends from high school made me insanely jealous because of what they were able to do while serving state-side:

1 went to San Diego. The other went to Detroit. In 1984, the Padres and Tigers played for the World Series and each of my friends somehow weaseled their way into a game. They then sent me the ticket stubs. Bastages!

From another perspective, I know a member in Italy who served a foreign mission... in Salt Lake.

As usual, my post contributes nothing pertinent to the discussion.

[wuapinmon]

Ah yes, the vaunted superiority of the foreign elder over the stateside elder. It isn't enough that you went to a place that sounds cool when you tell people about it, learned a language, stood out in the crowd as something different/American/cool instead of something different/dorky, learned a culture, and had 500K converts you also have to act like their service is somehow less than yours in effort too.

Try being an elder in a ward where a girl you dated in college, less than a year before, lives then tell me it is easy being in the states. Try being distinct, separate, and apart when your usual interests are as easy to come by as they were a few months before instead of being half a continent away.

I was talking about food. Your experience would also be hard. It's not a pissing contest. I'm talking about food.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

Ah yes, the vaunted superiority of the foreign elder over the stateside elder. It isn't enough that you went to a place that sounds cool when you tell people about it, learned a language, stood out in the crowd as something different/American/cool instead of something different/dorky, learned a culture, and had 500K converts you also have to act like their service is somehow less than yours in effort too.

Try being an elder in a ward where a girl you dated in college, less than a year before, lives then tell me it is easy being in the states. Try being distinct, separate, and apart when your usual interests are as easy to come by as they were a few months before instead of being half a continent away.

I went to Germany which has all the crappiness of some stateside missions (low baptism numbers) and then some, without a lot of the perks (members take care of you).

But girls also rode around on bikes with really short skirts on and that was pretty cool. My companion also walked in on a naked chick one time. He was a greenie and he thought the woman said from behind the door "come in." Unfortunately, I didn't see anything because the girl started screaming when my companion opened the door and poked his head in. You guys really missed out.

[KillerDog]

I went to Germany which has all the crappiness of some stateside missions (low baptism numbers) and then some, without a lot of the perks (members take care of you).

But girls also rode around on bikes with really short skirts on and that was pretty cool. My companion also walked in on a naked chick one time. He was a greenie and he thought the woman said from behind the door "come in." Unfortunately, I didn't see anything because the girl started screaming when my companion opened the door and poked his head in. You guys really missed out.

I'll be the MMDDAs were better in Germany.