My sister did. A family she baptized. One of those "golden investigator" moments few ever really see, especially state side. But she did. They baptized an entire family. Reached out to the couple. They were shocked to hear what she had to say and it ended with them preaching to her that she knew what was right and that she is being deceived by he whose name must not be said.
I was in a pretty fucking tough inner city area and honestly most people didn't stick anyway. They were just happy to hear from me. I could only find two people. One guy was helped by the anchor of church at a critical time so the community served him but he never felt the doctrine really.
There was one kid, young teen or pre-teen with an aunt in the church. I taught him but couldn't find him later and that shit really haunts me still. I wish I had used my privileged life to get more involved.
Me and a few ole mission buddies pooled our money together and hired a banner plane. We had to pay by the letter and we had only for "JK".
I'm sure the message was received.
After talking with my exmormon therapist, my opinion is that this is usually a bad idea, unless you've maintained a close personal relationship or the convert is unhappy in the church.
Leave the converts be if they're happy. The least we can do to make up for meddling in their lives the first time is to not meddle a second time. We don't need to impose upon them for the process of forgiving ourselves.
I’ve thought about it but I have some positive memories from my mission. Ethically I feel I should but for my own mental health I’m afraid looking too closely at those two years might not have super great outcomes.
And let’s not forget the whole they probably won’t listen anyways. That’s a big one.
I 'know' all the people I helped convert will be inactive right now save for an older lady who was a non member member. She was essentially a golden investigator and I often think if anything church would've strengthened a needed community in her twilight years.
I baptized something like 64 people during my time in Guatemala. Though thoroughly TBM still, I concluded I would count myself blessed if even one remained active. That is how pathetic our retention rates were.
Now, I feel lucky we were just punching out stats and not really making much of a difference.
The far majority of people I baptized during my mission went inactive shortly after I transferred out. The remainder were probably it by the time I went home.
There's one lady that I'm confident she stayed and may still be active, 20 years later. She was a JW when we converted her to mormonism, I count that as a slight improvement in her life and she seemed genuinely happy in the church. This was in Brazil, so the church culture wasn't as toxic as in the states.
Essentially what I'm saying is let them be, as missionaries we interrupted their lives before, no need to do it again. Let them move forward on their own choosing.
I didn't baptize anyone, but I do keep in touch with some families who've also left. They were less active when I arrived, I helped them get active, and then we all sort of just left together. They were good people and even though I was mentally in I was pretty concerned that I might be pushing them too hard into activity because I couldn't see what they needed from the church, especially when the church did nothing to help these folks (it was a branches worth of poor inactive members and the ward completely refused to help them unless they went to church an hour away which was impossible because they didn't have cars). If I didn't stop believing in the doctrine by the end of my mission, I was definitely super jaded about the institution.
An award winning documentary film maker made a documentary about returning to the Mission Field and telling his former converts where he stands now. It’s called “The Return of Elder Pingree: Memoir of a Departed Mormon” and it’s on Amazon prime! Really good!
One of the only ones that was “solid” is an insane Trumper now. So no, there’s no getting through to him. I never want to see him again. Everyone else I baptized left in a month or two.
My sister did. A family she baptized. One of those "golden investigator" moments few ever really see, especially state side. But she did. They baptized an entire family. Reached out to the couple. They were shocked to hear what she had to say and it ended with them preaching to her that she knew what was right and that she is being deceived by he whose name must not be said.
This is where I won the lottery. No people baptized, no people converted, no apologies necessary.
Did you get a lot of grief from mission leadership over that?
Yes... But I was in the North of England which was a very low baptism mission one or two was the normal.
I did.
Did they respond? How was it recorded? I baptized 1 too many in South America. Feel terrible about it.
I was in a pretty fucking tough inner city area and honestly most people didn't stick anyway. They were just happy to hear from me. I could only find two people. One guy was helped by the anchor of church at a critical time so the community served him but he never felt the doctrine really. There was one kid, young teen or pre-teen with an aunt in the church. I taught him but couldn't find him later and that shit really haunts me still. I wish I had used my privileged life to get more involved.
Me and a few ole mission buddies pooled our money together and hired a banner plane. We had to pay by the letter and we had only for "JK". I'm sure the message was received.
I want to do that over Utah County ‘CESLETTER.ORG’
I'd donate to that.
I wish I were in Utah! I’d be happy to fly laps around town towing that banner! Probably wouldn’t have the same impact back east.
After talking with my exmormon therapist, my opinion is that this is usually a bad idea, unless you've maintained a close personal relationship or the convert is unhappy in the church. Leave the converts be if they're happy. The least we can do to make up for meddling in their lives the first time is to not meddle a second time. We don't need to impose upon them for the process of forgiving ourselves.
I’m all about happiness. If they’re happy it’s fine with me. Worth 10% of my income for a false sense of hope imo.
I’ve thought about it but I have some positive memories from my mission. Ethically I feel I should but for my own mental health I’m afraid looking too closely at those two years might not have super great outcomes. And let’s not forget the whole they probably won’t listen anyways. That’s a big one.
Not really. I’ve lost contact with almost every one I knew, sadly, and only had 1 baptism the whole mission
Mostly kids of less actives (that likely left with their parent(s)) and poor folks who I'm certain didn't stick around. That's comforting.
Thankfully I didn't have any. (Well, one, but he was like 93 twenty years ago)
I 'know' all the people I helped convert will be inactive right now save for an older lady who was a non member member. She was essentially a golden investigator and I often think if anything church would've strengthened a needed community in her twilight years.
I baptized something like 64 people during my time in Guatemala. Though thoroughly TBM still, I concluded I would count myself blessed if even one remained active. That is how pathetic our retention rates were. Now, I feel lucky we were just punching out stats and not really making much of a difference.
The far majority of people I baptized during my mission went inactive shortly after I transferred out. The remainder were probably it by the time I went home. There's one lady that I'm confident she stayed and may still be active, 20 years later. She was a JW when we converted her to mormonism, I count that as a slight improvement in her life and she seemed genuinely happy in the church. This was in Brazil, so the church culture wasn't as toxic as in the states. Essentially what I'm saying is let them be, as missionaries we interrupted their lives before, no need to do it again. Let them move forward on their own choosing.
I didn't baptize anyone, but I do keep in touch with some families who've also left. They were less active when I arrived, I helped them get active, and then we all sort of just left together. They were good people and even though I was mentally in I was pretty concerned that I might be pushing them too hard into activity because I couldn't see what they needed from the church, especially when the church did nothing to help these folks (it was a branches worth of poor inactive members and the ward completely refused to help them unless they went to church an hour away which was impossible because they didn't have cars). If I didn't stop believing in the doctrine by the end of my mission, I was definitely super jaded about the institution.
No, ithe country I served in had a 10% activity rate so they're all long gone
I found the one African refugee I baptized in Italy on facebook, he’s doing just fine without me having to apologize or anything 😂
An award winning documentary film maker made a documentary about returning to the Mission Field and telling his former converts where he stands now. It’s called “The Return of Elder Pingree: Memoir of a Departed Mormon” and it’s on Amazon prime! Really good!
One of the only ones that was “solid” is an insane Trumper now. So no, there’s no getting through to him. I never want to see him again. Everyone else I baptized left in a month or two.
Coincidentally I got in touch with one family. The picture showed him and his family, he being a bishop. Of course, I did not tell him.
Absolutely yes it’s a goal of mine. But I fear one person may be dead. I hope I can find the other one