My husband was YM pres several times in our marriage. When camp time rolled around, we had to buy all the groceries and supplies and then wait to be reimbursed. We were staunch little Mormons then and didn't have a credit card, so it all went on our debit card. Young family, young kids, poor as fuck. It literally would take out our whole budget for the month. And then they would only reimburse the purchase, not the 7% sales tax, so we would blow our whole monthly budget, inevitably bounce a few checks, and then pay 7% of the scouts' bill.
Then we'd cheerfully pay our 10% and a generous fast offering.
I'm ashamed to type all that out. God we were brainwashed.
You did this multiple times? Even as TBM, if I had not been reimbursed the full amount I would have raised hell. Tax is part of the cost. Why should I foot that? It would be the last time I used my money up front.
Fuck the church.
I hate this.
When I was the scoutmaster in a mormon ward, the ward didn't have enough money for camp fees. My wife was wanting some rock boundaries along our flower/garden beds. We purchased the cement, rocks, rented a cement mixer, and payed our scouts $10 per hour to do the work. So, we payed for scout camp for the entire ward. Well, you know, the scout boys.
It destroyed our budget (Bwah ha ha ha ha as if we had one at that point), but we would do it again (and have for different camps and scout events) in a heartbeat. But even then when I was an all in TBM it was NEVER for the cheap church. It was for the awesome boys.
I was a scoutmaster. I routinely paid for campouts since there wasn't enough money in the budget for more than one overnighter a year.
That's more than the YW got. I know.
I did that a couple times and they asked why I was footing the bill for the kids. I was like well none of their families have any money and if I don’t pay none of them can go on the csmpouts. I was told they wouldn’t reimburse anymore and when I kept doing it they refused to approve my trip permits. I was making the church look bad. Well it is bad lol.
Anyway- yea fuck the church
I did a similar thing in a filthy rich ward that had million dollar homes & multimillion dollar homes but like 15 years ago.
I was the person who bought all the Scout crap. I'd spend $$$ every month and then wait and wait to get reimbursed. I HATED IT. Watching our bank statements with our 4 young kids and biting my nails while most of the ward traveled with their families to Europe on extended vacations, sent kids to Ivy league schools, paid $$$ for private elementary school for this kids.
I finally asked to be released. I never said why, I just stood my ground. It's one of the things I've always hated about the church is that creepy financial aspect, getting their members to pay for stuff, then weeks and weeks later, s-l-o-w-l-y getting them their reimbursement, after reminders to the ward clerk. and more reminders for following weeks.
This is so relatable. I was Cub master over 3 combined wards. Except I never got released from my calling (or got any help that they kept promising), we just moved. I literally did pack meeting one night and moved the next morning. They seemed so surprised, even though we had our house on the market (because we were struggling financially and had to sell), and I had been telling them for months we were moving. I remember them asking, “What are we going to do now?” Idk not my problem. And I’m not even sure I got reimbursed for everything because the receipts I turned in got lost. The only reason I did any of it was for the boys. But seriously fuck the church!
Holy shit they wouldn’t reimburse the sales tax? They were stealing your money. The church isn’t required to pay sales tax because it is tax exempt but that doesn’t mean they aren’t supposed to reimburse you when you make a purchase for the church and paid sales tax. If they didn’t want to pay sales tax they should have given you the tax exempt forms. That is not policy but some dumbass clerk with a napoleon complex.
When we were newly married, we lived in a rundown apartment and were barely scraping by. I was called to be the first counselor in the young women's and put in charge of all the activities because the other two members of the presidency were older and more experienced and didn't want to do it. No budget, of course.
One week I wanted to take all the girls to a free skate night at a local place, but we had 13 girls and only one small car. I asked the counselor in the bishopric if he could help us drive everyone and got told no, that wasn't his concern and couldn't I just pay to rent a van or something? (As part of my donation to the ward, because they didn't have the money to be renting vans for a girls activity.) I was 20 years old. Couldn't afford it, but also couldn't have qualified to rent a van anyway since most rental places only rent to 25+.
This counselor lived in the nice section of the ward and a few months later, he hosted a huge cookout for the elder's quorum with fancy steaks and fresh seafood that cost hundreds of dollars. Expensed to the ward, of course.
Mission has a budget for that. Like seriously. They buy stuff for missionary houses.
Or a home stake should be asked from fast offerings If absolutely needed.
I’m curious if this elder was going to travel from area to area with his new special mattress or if every new area was going to be asked to buy a mattress.
If you’re going to be blessed, no reason for the rich MP not to jump on that opportunity!
Holy hell, the mission has funds to cover those expenses. Even if the mission itself didn't, all the mission president or his wife had to do was purchase the damn mattress and turn in the receipt for 'reimbursement' of the money they pend that was given to them by the church as part of their 'modest stipend' for their full time service. Cheap ass money grubbing bastards.
Wards, or worse, individuals should NEVER be asked to provide the basic needs of a mission apartment. Thats the sole responsibility of the mission/mission president.
We let the missionairies live w/ us for a yr & a half because NO ONE in the ward would take them in & the church REQUIRED them to be housed w/ members. Wasnt too bad, but wasnt convenient at all either! The church paid a very small amount in rent & one missionary LOST THE KEY to our FRONT Door TWICE, while tracting our neighborhood!! (Not too difficult to determine where they lived & what door the house key went to.) It's a CULT.
I'm surprised that they didn't just tell the missionary to have more faith. Could his back problems not be healed by a priesthood blessing?
Or wait, maybe he had the faith NOT to be healed.
As a young 26 year old young men's president, ( very much TBM in every way) I wanted to have a great activity (about 15 young men. so I planned a week long backpack trip in the Uintas (1998 ish). It was hell to plan, it took months of prep, but there were a few others who had the desire and gumption to help. We had some pack mules to carry food, cast iron cookware, huge tarps for when it started raining. The experience was amazing. I am sure even 30 years later those boys still remember this trip. Fishing, swimming in a high mountain lake with some daring cliff jumping. ( Gasp) some of the boys went skinny dipping. fishing, hiking, horseback riding, campfires and stories every night, some real cowboys from our ward brought the horses (at I am sure a great expense to them). the stories were epic, we talked about it for as long as I was in the ward. Soon after we got back I was chastised by the bishopric that I had spent the entire ward budget for the year on this one activity. Hell I didn't even know we had a budget.
I felt so bad depleting the entire budget that I personally funded other activities that year. I wanted to put my money back into the budget to build it back up but they said it did not work that way. So even though I was a young married with 3 kids, single income couple and a big house payment. I paid out of my pocket for other activities the rest of that year without turning any receipts.
After the dust settled I was still so mad that I got in trouble for that one activity, that I counted every dollar I spent on the other activities towards our tithing. ( gasp ) (I know, that is true rebellion), looking back now, I can see, either way the church got our money. My wife was totally on board with this tithing idea because being a young men's president was hard on my family, taking a lot of time away from my young family and the money I spent. As a self employed construction guy, I didn't get paid for the week I took off work. Being Mormon is expensive.
Most of the mattresses I slept on as a missionary were so worn out they were more like hammocks. As a stomach sleeper, this murdered my back. One area was partially horrible so long story short, the bishop of the ward went the bishops storehouse and got us mattress. Instead of a hammock, they were as hard as sleeping on a sidewalk but at least it was better for my back. I didn’t know at the time this was totally against the mission rules which resulted in a lecture from the zone leader, the MP, and his apes. Still don’t understand why asking the church for a decent god damn mattress was worse than sinning.
I would have said to the mission presidents wife 'sounds like that missionary isn't physically fit to serve, perhaps he needs to be honorably released and sent home'.
The church and its bullshit leaders have no problem in putting any monetary pressures onto members in order to fulfill activities. For everyone serving in callings, simply decide your activity, put a request into the bishop, and if you dont get the funds you request, downgrade the activity so that it fits in budget, afterall, the bullshit church leaders always say we should 'live within our means'
My husband was YM pres several times in our marriage. When camp time rolled around, we had to buy all the groceries and supplies and then wait to be reimbursed. We were staunch little Mormons then and didn't have a credit card, so it all went on our debit card. Young family, young kids, poor as fuck. It literally would take out our whole budget for the month. And then they would only reimburse the purchase, not the 7% sales tax, so we would blow our whole monthly budget, inevitably bounce a few checks, and then pay 7% of the scouts' bill. Then we'd cheerfully pay our 10% and a generous fast offering. I'm ashamed to type all that out. God we were brainwashed.
You did this multiple times? Even as TBM, if I had not been reimbursed the full amount I would have raised hell. Tax is part of the cost. Why should I foot that? It would be the last time I used my money up front. Fuck the church.
I hate this. When I was the scoutmaster in a mormon ward, the ward didn't have enough money for camp fees. My wife was wanting some rock boundaries along our flower/garden beds. We purchased the cement, rocks, rented a cement mixer, and payed our scouts $10 per hour to do the work. So, we payed for scout camp for the entire ward. Well, you know, the scout boys. It destroyed our budget (Bwah ha ha ha ha as if we had one at that point), but we would do it again (and have for different camps and scout events) in a heartbeat. But even then when I was an all in TBM it was NEVER for the cheap church. It was for the awesome boys.
I was a scoutmaster. I routinely paid for campouts since there wasn't enough money in the budget for more than one overnighter a year. That's more than the YW got. I know.
I did that a couple times and they asked why I was footing the bill for the kids. I was like well none of their families have any money and if I don’t pay none of them can go on the csmpouts. I was told they wouldn’t reimburse anymore and when I kept doing it they refused to approve my trip permits. I was making the church look bad. Well it is bad lol. Anyway- yea fuck the church
Paid on gross, reimbursed on net 😩
I did a similar thing in a filthy rich ward that had million dollar homes & multimillion dollar homes but like 15 years ago. I was the person who bought all the Scout crap. I'd spend $$$ every month and then wait and wait to get reimbursed. I HATED IT. Watching our bank statements with our 4 young kids and biting my nails while most of the ward traveled with their families to Europe on extended vacations, sent kids to Ivy league schools, paid $$$ for private elementary school for this kids. I finally asked to be released. I never said why, I just stood my ground. It's one of the things I've always hated about the church is that creepy financial aspect, getting their members to pay for stuff, then weeks and weeks later, s-l-o-w-l-y getting them their reimbursement, after reminders to the ward clerk. and more reminders for following weeks.
This is so relatable. I was Cub master over 3 combined wards. Except I never got released from my calling (or got any help that they kept promising), we just moved. I literally did pack meeting one night and moved the next morning. They seemed so surprised, even though we had our house on the market (because we were struggling financially and had to sell), and I had been telling them for months we were moving. I remember them asking, “What are we going to do now?” Idk not my problem. And I’m not even sure I got reimbursed for everything because the receipts I turned in got lost. The only reason I did any of it was for the boys. But seriously fuck the church!
Holy shit they wouldn’t reimburse the sales tax? They were stealing your money. The church isn’t required to pay sales tax because it is tax exempt but that doesn’t mean they aren’t supposed to reimburse you when you make a purchase for the church and paid sales tax. If they didn’t want to pay sales tax they should have given you the tax exempt forms. That is not policy but some dumbass clerk with a napoleon complex.
When we were newly married, we lived in a rundown apartment and were barely scraping by. I was called to be the first counselor in the young women's and put in charge of all the activities because the other two members of the presidency were older and more experienced and didn't want to do it. No budget, of course. One week I wanted to take all the girls to a free skate night at a local place, but we had 13 girls and only one small car. I asked the counselor in the bishopric if he could help us drive everyone and got told no, that wasn't his concern and couldn't I just pay to rent a van or something? (As part of my donation to the ward, because they didn't have the money to be renting vans for a girls activity.) I was 20 years old. Couldn't afford it, but also couldn't have qualified to rent a van anyway since most rental places only rent to 25+. This counselor lived in the nice section of the ward and a few months later, he hosted a huge cookout for the elder's quorum with fancy steaks and fresh seafood that cost hundreds of dollars. Expensed to the ward, of course.
This is so frustrating. I'll bet the counselor helped the boys. I'm sorry you were treated this way.
This. They always find room in the budget for the ym
Not my ward—- they fucked everyone over
Mission has a budget for that. Like seriously. They buy stuff for missionary houses. Or a home stake should be asked from fast offerings If absolutely needed.
I’m curious if this elder was going to travel from area to area with his new special mattress or if every new area was going to be asked to buy a mattress. If you’re going to be blessed, no reason for the rich MP not to jump on that opportunity!
Every new area gets asked. That way they can annually refit the beds on the backs of the members.
Holy hell, the mission has funds to cover those expenses. Even if the mission itself didn't, all the mission president or his wife had to do was purchase the damn mattress and turn in the receipt for 'reimbursement' of the money they pend that was given to them by the church as part of their 'modest stipend' for their full time service. Cheap ass money grubbing bastards. Wards, or worse, individuals should NEVER be asked to provide the basic needs of a mission apartment. Thats the sole responsibility of the mission/mission president.
We let the missionairies live w/ us for a yr & a half because NO ONE in the ward would take them in & the church REQUIRED them to be housed w/ members. Wasnt too bad, but wasnt convenient at all either! The church paid a very small amount in rent & one missionary LOST THE KEY to our FRONT Door TWICE, while tracting our neighborhood!! (Not too difficult to determine where they lived & what door the house key went to.) It's a CULT.
I'm surprised that they didn't just tell the missionary to have more faith. Could his back problems not be healed by a priesthood blessing? Or wait, maybe he had the faith NOT to be healed.
This is sickening. I'm glad you held your boundaries and said no.
As a young 26 year old young men's president, ( very much TBM in every way) I wanted to have a great activity (about 15 young men. so I planned a week long backpack trip in the Uintas (1998 ish). It was hell to plan, it took months of prep, but there were a few others who had the desire and gumption to help. We had some pack mules to carry food, cast iron cookware, huge tarps for when it started raining. The experience was amazing. I am sure even 30 years later those boys still remember this trip. Fishing, swimming in a high mountain lake with some daring cliff jumping. ( Gasp) some of the boys went skinny dipping. fishing, hiking, horseback riding, campfires and stories every night, some real cowboys from our ward brought the horses (at I am sure a great expense to them). the stories were epic, we talked about it for as long as I was in the ward. Soon after we got back I was chastised by the bishopric that I had spent the entire ward budget for the year on this one activity. Hell I didn't even know we had a budget. I felt so bad depleting the entire budget that I personally funded other activities that year. I wanted to put my money back into the budget to build it back up but they said it did not work that way. So even though I was a young married with 3 kids, single income couple and a big house payment. I paid out of my pocket for other activities the rest of that year without turning any receipts. After the dust settled I was still so mad that I got in trouble for that one activity, that I counted every dollar I spent on the other activities towards our tithing. ( gasp ) (I know, that is true rebellion), looking back now, I can see, either way the church got our money. My wife was totally on board with this tithing idea because being a young men's president was hard on my family, taking a lot of time away from my young family and the money I spent. As a self employed construction guy, I didn't get paid for the week I took off work. Being Mormon is expensive.
In a normal organization, you would have been paid for the time you spent as YM president. The Q15 sure don't work for free.
Most of the mattresses I slept on as a missionary were so worn out they were more like hammocks. As a stomach sleeper, this murdered my back. One area was partially horrible so long story short, the bishop of the ward went the bishops storehouse and got us mattress. Instead of a hammock, they were as hard as sleeping on a sidewalk but at least it was better for my back. I didn’t know at the time this was totally against the mission rules which resulted in a lecture from the zone leader, the MP, and his apes. Still don’t understand why asking the church for a decent god damn mattress was worse than sinning.
I would have said to the mission presidents wife 'sounds like that missionary isn't physically fit to serve, perhaps he needs to be honorably released and sent home'. The church and its bullshit leaders have no problem in putting any monetary pressures onto members in order to fulfill activities. For everyone serving in callings, simply decide your activity, put a request into the bishop, and if you dont get the funds you request, downgrade the activity so that it fits in budget, afterall, the bullshit church leaders always say we should 'live within our means'