Why do missionaries tract?

[Jeff Lebowski]

It's a new rule here. When asked, I was told by the elders, who probably are speaking more from supposition than fact, that some elder had had sexual contact with a sister while his companion was pooping.....therefore, they can't go to the bathroom in anyone's house but their own. I asked them if they could go if their companion stood in the shower with the curtain drawn for privacy, but they didn't think that was funny.

You gotta love the overreaction mentality. In my mission we couldn't listen to ANY music - not even MoTab. All because a couple of missionaries were listening to hard rock. But our MP was pretty cool overall. The MP in your area sounds like a nazi.

As per the cellphones, both MPs in Baton Rouge and Columbia told me the same thing.

Again, I know for a fact that this is not universally applied. Unless it is a very recent change.

Since the mission home pays the phone bills they could easily check on calls to home via the phone bill. And what is to stop a homesick missionary from using a pay phone?

[SoonerCoug]

I called home at least once a month while I was on my mission...usually while my companion was in the shower. One companion caught me talking to my parents on the phone. He confronted me about it and got very upset with me, but that's the norm for Mormon missionaries. How screwed up is that? What does it say about our Church leadership that they perpetuate this kind of BS? Why should a missionary feel guilty for calling his parents? It's all about separating the missionary from devotion to anything other than the Church. It's practically a form of abuse.

[TripletDaddy]

I called home at least once a month while I was on my mission...usually while my companion was in the shower. One companion caught me talking to my parents on the phone. He confronted me about it and got very upset with me, but that's the norm for Mormon missionaries. How screwed up is that? What does it say about our Church leadership that they perpetuate this kind of BS? Why should a missionary feel guilty for calling his parents? It's all about separating the missionary from devotion to anything other than the Church. It's practically a form of abuse.

The "don't call home" rule was a bit bizarre. It always struck me as one of those holdover things from back when missionaries hopped on ships to the UK and simply were unable to call home.

With all the focus on family and such, I don't see the logic in not being allowed to call home at least once a month. A one hour call once a month on P-Day or something. No problem.

I also thought it was strange that Mother's Day was greenlighted for phone calls, but not Father's Day. Since there is no doctrinal reason for picking these days, it must be another example of someone somewhere making an administrative decision and it has since morphed into sacred doctrine.

If I ever get to be in charge of missionary work around the globe, one of my first acts will be to change the call-home days. I will change them each year and make them coincide with some major television event just to annoy people.

This year's call home days:

1. The night they announce the American Idol winner
2. Game 7 of the NBA Finals

[Soccermom]

I called home at least once a month while I was on my mission...usually while my companion was in the shower. One companion caught me talking to my parents on the phone. He confronted me about it and got very upset with me, but that's the norm for Mormon missionaries. How screwed up is that? What does it say about our Church leadership that they perpetuate this kind of BS? Why should a missionary feel guilty for calling his parents? It's all about separating the missionary from devotion to anything other than the Church. It's practically a form of abuse.

I always thought that rule was ridiculous too. For missionaries like me who had parents who never wrote, it really sucked. I never knew what was going on at home, and that was probably more distracting than if I could have just called home once a month.

[RC Vikings]

Why should a missionary feel guilty for calling his parents? It's all about separating the missionary from devotion to anything other than the Church. It's practically a form of abuse.

As a missionary I had no problem with this rule, as a parent of a missionary I wish they would change it.

[SeattleUte]

Are you saying that you received absolutely zero benefit from the 2 years you spent as a missionary?

I don't really think much of my life was truly wasted. But I think there were more fulfilling ways for me to spend those two years. If I was destined to take two years off from my education and live in a third world country amid manifold deprivations, there are things I could have done that would have been a bigger benefit to humankind. I hope that at least I'd be spared a Lord of the Flies subculture and the tawdry experience of being guilt tripped into soliciting door to door.

This thread just highlights for me how much I'd not want one of my kids to go on a mission. I really think there's no chance of that. But you know the old saying. You can leave the church but it won't leave your kids alone.

[wuapinmon]

You gotta love the overreaction mentality. In my mission we couldn't listen to ANY music - not even MoTab. All because a couple of missionaries were listening to hard rock. But our MP was pretty cool overall. The MP in your area sounds like a nazi.

The ole classic, you are all punished because of the actions of a few....thank goodness you know, like, God, doesn't use this same tactic.

Since the mission home pays the phone bills they could easily check on calls to home via the phone bill. And what is to stop a homesick missionary from using a pay phone?

My mom was baptized while I was on my mission. I asked the MP for permission to call home to talk to her because I wanted to know more about it, since I had had a priesthood blessing promise that she would get baptized in my mortal life if I went on a mission rather than go to college first. He said "no." I called anyway. Best phone call of the mission. I called home all the time....whenever I wanted to. One companion told the ZL on me.....my ZL told me not to call home unless I was on splits with a different elder...problem solved.

The missionaries get to email every week these days....to me that seems awful close to a "distraction that takes your mind from the work."

When I asked the MP in Baton Rouge about letting them be able to call long distance since EVERYONE in the branch had gotten a new cell phone after Katrina where they wound up and we all had long distance numbers, the missionaries couldn't call us. He actually said, "Look Bro. Williams, you don't understand how tenuous this plan is.....the Brethren could take these phones away at any time if the missionaries abuse them."

I looked at him like he was an idiot. The cellphone makes the missionaries super-efficient and is a wise use of sacred funds. The missionaries once got a referral text message while they were driving down the street the person lived on. From the time the person saw the commercial, called the 1-800 number and the missionaries arrived was less than 15 mins. That's service and striking while the iron is hot. No way they take the phones away. You could totally tell if someone was calling home or not. And they can always use a calling card, or a pay phone, or a member's phone. If a missionary came to my house and asked if he could call home, I'd dial the number for him.

[BlueHair]

Ya know that photo of Salma Hayek you had? Bigger, dude...way bigger. Does it make me immature to comment on them? Probably. Would she punch me in the shoulder if she heard me telling strangers about her boobs, definitely. But, I love her, even if they were to disappear overnight, and after 11 years, she's kind of resigned herself to the fact that I am romantic and childish a la vez. I try to resist questions like yours; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is mighty weak.

Wow! She sounds great (not because of the boobs). I love women that can joke around.

[myboynoah]

We tracted all the time, and met and taught a lot of great people, baptizing many of them. Probably not the most effective use of our time, but effective enough given the time, place, and alternatives.

I wonder what my children will do.

[KillerDog]

I wouldn't go swimming,

Why wouldn't you go swimming?

[Commando]

I called home at least once a month while I was on my mission...usually while my companion was in the shower. One companion caught me talking to my parents on the phone. He confronted me about it and got very upset with me, but that's the norm for Mormon missionaries. How screwed up is that? What does it say about our Church leadership that they perpetuate this kind of BS? Why should a missionary feel guilty for calling his parents? It's all about separating the missionary from devotion to anything other than the Church. It's practically a form of abuse.

FYI- You're a pussy.

[Indy Coug]

I called home at least once a month while I was on my mission...usually while my companion was in the shower. One companion caught me talking to my parents on the phone. He confronted me about it and got very upset with me, but that's the norm for Mormon missionaries. How screwed up is that? What does it say about our Church leadership that they perpetuate this kind of BS? Why should a missionary feel guilty for calling his parents? It's all about separating the missionary from devotion to anything other than the Church. It's practically a form of abuse.

Why not be a man, suck it up and cut the umbilical cord?

[Surfah]

I had to call home because I had part of a tooth crack and needed to get some info from my family. My mother freaked out because she thought something was seriously wrong.

I had a companion whose family would call. Not too often. But often enough that it was a distraction. I told him that he needed to tell his parents that they needed to stop and that they were affecting his effort in the field.

It wasn't that big a sacrifice to me.

[KillerDog]

I think the "no call home" rule is a long time hold over. I put it in the same category as most mission rules. They are generally intended for something but what they are intended for and what they are really for are two different things.

[il Padrino Ute]

I don't really think much of my life was truly wasted. But I think there were more fulfilling ways for me to spend those two years. If I was destined to take two years off from my education and live in a third world country amid manifold deprivations, there are things I could have done that would have been a bigger benefit to humankind. I hope that at least I'd be spared a Lord of the Flies subculture and the tawdry experience of being guilt tripped into soliciting door to door.

This thread just highlights for me how much I'd not want one of my kids to go on a mission. I really think there's no chance of that. But you know the old saying. You can leave the church but it won't leave your kids alone.

I can see that you're saying this as a result of hindsight and it being 20/20 (with varying point of views depending on what individual hindsight is), but I'd be willing to wager that there were things you learned while on your mission that prepared you for your life (and career) more than you're willing to admit:

- salesmanship of yourself and your skills
- the skill of public speaking
- money management/budgeting
- interpersonal skills

I realize that not all who served a mission had a positive overall experience about serving a mission, but even those I know who hated being a missionary acknowledge that they gained invaluable experience in life skills from which they've benefited.

As for your kids, just admit it - you'd rather use the money it takes to fund a missionary to put towards a really cool car. That is something even I can understand.