Rules for missionaries calling on Christmas

[Pelado]

A friend of mine went to Cali, Colombia from 1994-1996, and they were not allowed to call home ever, and he didn't. And the day after he got home, his dad abandoned the family and divorced his mom.

Because of no calls from his son during the mission? How odd.

[wuapinmon]

Because of no calls from his son during the mission? How odd.

Correlation is not causation.

[mtnbiker]

What would be wrong with letting missionaries call once or even twice a month? I don't get it -- the rule that missionaries only call twice per year is creepy and unnecessary.

Us older guys were never allowed to call at any time. That's just the way it was in any mission, so we never thought it was odd or restrictive. We didn't even have a phone in one of my apartments. We had to go to a pay phone to call the mission home for transfers.

[grapevine]

If there were any restrictions on the length of calls home, I was not aware of them. I do remember being pissed off at my companion since he spoke to his girlfriend for so long on Christmas Eve.

My companion that talked to his for 3 or 4 hours while several of my extended family were at my parents house said the previous year on Mothers day his companion talked for 14 hours. Was gooing to get off and someone else had to talk to him. Oh another person and on and on.

Wealthy Landlord of ours said her son talked for four hours and talked several times before. Just had to because of conditions in the San Diego Vietnamese mission. I was thinking what mission does not have problems. Cultural shock there.

Rules for calling I think come from Salt Lake and MP ususally can't authorize other calls except for emergencies. Can't call when you want just to chat.

[Portland Ute]

I'd like to show some sympathy, but if I were in Fuengirola, one of the loveliest places in Europe, I'm sure I could've found something awesome to do. That place is amazing. Also, do you know the origen of the name?

You really think Fuen is one of the most amazing places in Europe?

Mijas is a lovely little hamlet, but Fuen is unremarkable. It's a tourist destination. I enjoy visiting there, but it's filled with northern European vacationers and is just a jungle of condos and hotels.

It's got a wonderful setting, though. Having lived in Fuen, it seemed to me to be the trashy Marbella. Although, much preferable to the discotheque and sex shop filled town of Torremolinos.

It's not that one couldn't find something to do there on Christmas day. It's that we were missionaries. And, truth be told, even the coastal towns pretty much shut down on Christmas day. So, I'm guessing there was very little a couple of missionaries could have done. In Spain, as you probably know, Christmas day is traditionally quiet day spent with family and worship. Although few Spaniards "worship" anymore, the holiday tends to be a lot like Thanksgiving in the U.S.

The origin of the name? I don't remember 100%. Something about a spring, therefore "fuen" coming from "fuente"?

[Green Monstah]

My first two calls there was no limit. My first mother's day I called my family and my girlfriend for a few hours. On Christmas I called my family, found out my girlfriend was engaged (from my sister), and then called my girlfriend's sister to find out was exactly was going on. I never did get a letter from her; I guess she thought that her sister telling me was good enough. I ended up marrying her best friend (who is way cuter and is a far better person!)

However, BKP spoke at some MP regional conference and told the MPs that phone calls were to be "brief". When asked what "brief" meant, BKP said, "Five minutes." My MP upped it to 30 mins. My parents are divorced, so I was allowed a full hour. This is one rule I absolutely refused to obey. It sort of gives me the creeps how uptight we are about phone calls home. I can see a reason for limits on phone calls, but in retrospect, I don't think we need to be such hardasses about extremely young men talking to their families while in a far away state/country.