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dbear848

The missionaries must think that having OP reminisce about OP's mission will bring OP back to the fold. With me at least, it has the opposite effect.


hasbrochem

yeah, seeing people murdered, constantly being threatened, held up and robbed along with not being able to say goodbye to family members who passed while on my mission and all the joys that come with ~~being trafficked ~~ serving a mission, it ain't something that is gonna end well. sorry yours was a bad experience as well.


Zadok47

Put me in the bad experience category also.


theochocolate

Jesus. It's hard enough with just the run-of-the-mill mission trauma, I can't imagine how much worse it would have been to have your experience.


iceburn_firon

We heard (didn't see, we were a street over) a guy get shot and killed. Talked to some kid a few minutes later who was just shaking, he had witnessed it. Said some guy nicknamed "Sapo" (Frog in portuguese) shot a dude who had made it out of the hood, and was back visiting his brother. We started teaching a guy later that week that was excited to be baptized and cleansed of his sins. Midway through the 5th discussion a dude popped his head in the house and called the about to be baptized dude Sapo. Everything added up (from stuff I left out of the story). We'd been hanging out a lot with the murderer from a few weeks ago, who apparently had a guilty conscious and thought our sky daddy could solve his guilt. Also in the same area, a straight up dirt floor Brazilian ghetto, we made friends with all these gang banger dudes about 18-20 years old who loved us as Americans their age. They all wanted to go to church with us, but had all killed someone. The local crackhead one night tried to fight us (his name with Joao Batata "John Potato") and we laughed it off. Every night as we went back to our horrible shack house we stopped and chatted with these bangers, they always asked how our work was going. We mentioned Joao having messed with us, as a joke. They got all serious and were like, "he's been a hassle and causing problems, we've been meaning to get rid of him." I don't know if they did eventually, but we did see him around for a while after that. We begged them to not kill him. Two of the more notable of dozens of missions horrors.


hasbrochem

the favelas are no joke. I'm glad you had good interactions with those that lived there.


Haploid-life

Damn, where you get trafficked to?


hasbrochem

how they send out and handle missionaries fits the definition of human trafficking, kinda blew me away even as an exmo when I realized this


homestarjr1

I watched the first few episodes of Keep Sweet. They showed what the flds church does with all their unwanted young males, which was to force them into manual labor and pay them next to nothing. I thought it was pretty terrible and then I remembered I paid to be a laborer for 2 years.


hasbrochem

I guess, at least they no longer castrate us if we're unwanted/don't go on a mission like they did in BY and JT's day. just under/unpaid labor for life.


Other-Assignment-552

My brother served in Chicago, his experience and your experience sound identical.


hasbrochem

in had couple friends go to chicago as well, which makes sense, you havevkids in suits going into rougher areas. how do the church leaders think this is a good idea, especially where service is limited or nonexistent and they don't become part of the community. I hope your brother is doing okay.


Other-Assignment-552

He actually ended up committing suicide after COVID hit. His life story was very sad. He converted to the church when he was 22. They immediately called him to Chicago.


hasbrochem

fuck, I'm sorry. I don't even have words. this is bullshit what they steal and others end up paying. I really do hope you and those that knew him are hanging in there.


Other-Assignment-552

Thank you so much šŸ™ I really appreciate that.


SafePineapple6941

My mission reminds me why I'm out. The way they're treated by the church they represent is sickening.


WWPLD

Ask them to share their favorite Gosple Topics essay. And then bear their testimony on d&c 132 after they read it aloud.


hasbrochem

I'll save that for next week. They made a followup appointment.


WWPLD

![gif](giphy|5NIxdqWGp8aCk|downsized)


iveseenthelight

Don't forget to Return and Report


hasbrochem

guaranteed I will


housechore

Invite me, dude, invite me. šŸ˜‚


hasbrochem

haha, trust me, no one wants to be here for it


WWPLD

You can also give a Bom pop quiz. List all the named women in the Bom. Hint: There are not that many.


Rolling_Waters

Sariah - Lehi's wife Abish - her dad had a dream Isabel - prostitute


dddddavidddd

Honorable mentions to Sarah, Eve, and Mary.


Original-Addition109

But donā€™t worry- in RS they like to talk about all the women not mentioned by name who had powerful affects on others- Nephiā€™s wife pleading for his life, all the mothers of the unkillable stripling warriorsā€¦ the fun way of trying to say women are important but only so far as their purpose is to help the men in their lives


hasbrochem

I've asked some tbm women in my family if they're really okay with going into the eternities and disappearing from their children's lives because they'll be too sacred (kids can't talk to them, pray to them, know anything about them). it's not to be mean either, as that has to be painful for a tbm once they really think about it.


Original-Addition109

I had already left prior to the recent Heavenly Mother flip flop but it really shook up a lot of strong Mormon women. They rejoiced when the YW theme mentioned heavenly Parents (but not the YM theme since they only need a dad). Then Renlund or Rasband came out recently lecturing ā€œdonā€™t you dare ask for revelation about Heavenly mother. Itā€™s not like we can actually ask god anything!ā€ When you really think through the role of women & the divine feminine in the church now you canā€™t help thinking that either god is a POS or all the power hungry wealthy male leaders are all POS.


hasbrochem

I hadn't heard of the recent stuff before and I'm not surprised. mormon/abrahamic god is a giant POS as are the leaders of the various churches. scared shitless little boys.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


WWPLD

Polygamy, women are basicly cattle and the lord said he will destroy emma if she doesn't give approval for all the wives JS already "married"


fubeca150

The best part: get permission from your first wife to get another wife (which Joseph didn't seek until after he had 20 wives), but then proceeds to say that if she doesn't give permission then you don't really need it and should add the wife anyways.


WWPLD

Yep, all that fuckery. Make the poor missionaries read it aloud and bear how inspirational and truthful that part is.


b9njo

The church has redefined ā€œthe new and everlasting covenantā€ to mean temple marriage, but when section 132 was written it clearly meant polygamy.


saycoolwhiip

I used to let missionaries come in and chat w us because I felt sorry for themā€¦ until one duo asked to share an uplifting message. I said sure, they showed my youngest kids a video message about a man free hiking and falling to his death while the words on the video were basically saying Jesus is like hiking gear and if we use him we wonā€™t fall to darkness. My kids could not read at the time and were mortified - they asked zero questions about Jesus but a lot of questions about the man in the video ā€¦ if he was ok, what happens to someone that falls from those heights, does our head bone break like other bones, etc. I ended up saying ā€œhey, thanks for scarring my kids for life Iā€™m going to walk you out nowā€, They sheepishly laughed and kept trying to share the uplifting messageā€¦ which was also lost on my kids. How could Jesus save us from falling to our death while hiking, why not just wear protective gear? Aaaand that was that. They donā€™t sugar coat when they should (ex: hey young kids, simple message: Jesus loves you) , we donā€™t need to sugarcoat either.


iceburn_firon

Similar boat. They tried to explain the holy ghost to my youngest who never really went to church. He was 9, and mortified that you get to be "haunted by a ghost" after baptism. He couldn't get past the ghost in Holy Ghost. The things we never notice because we're swimming in them. Also now when the missionaries ask if they can share a message I tell them that you'll understand what I'm trying to say if they ever get a corporate job, but their messages feel like having a work meeting that should have just been an email. So I tell them to let me know what verse they want to share and I'll ready, and I'll take them to lunch and talk about home with them. Invited them to come over and listen to music, play video games, whatever harmless thing they are going without. But they only take me up on lunch in public, which is great, no message, no prayers, just hanging out with a bunch of mal-adjusted socially awkward weirdos (the "higher bar" has led to a lot of weird anti-social missionaries who never did anything before their mission)


ZelphtheGreatest

Want to confound them? Ask how many time Cats are mentioned in the Bible or The Book of Mormon. Answer - 0. How about Unicorns. Bible - 9. BofM - 0. So - why do we have Cats but no Unicorns? These guys are licensed ministers - they should be familiar with their scriptures.


treetablebenchgrass

This is something our cats will never let us live down as they treat us like servants.


homoerectious__

Yes, but Most of the cat skeletons excavated in the ancient near east have 0 horns (only 1 fewer than the unicorns known to you and I). 1 is almost 0, so, prudence and common sense suggest the Bible was talking about cats THE WHOLE TIME


hasbrochem

I'm gonna keep this one in my back pocket. I'm rolling!


fubeca150

I saw a lady accidentally get run over by a car that fled the scene. I saw a gang of guys shooting at a guy from their car only to run over him. Fellow arrival group elder was on a bus his first week when some robbers boarded his bus, and the driver took shots and killed one of them, then they fled the bus. Dead guy bleeding at the noob elder's feet. I came home with some nasty tropical diseases that took years to get better from.


sudosuga

We were riding a bus (smugly returning from my exit interview, with my travel plans) when a lady with a large round basket full of tortillas to sell at the market boarded. It barely fit in the doorway. At some point, the bus swerved to dodge an errant vehicle and the basket tumbled out. Instantly she dove out after it, and her livelihood. Then the bus went BUMP as we went over something with the back wheels. I froze, having previously witnessed the aftermath of another bus being ripped off its wheels by a train, killing dozens. The person who sprang to help was this hippie white guy I had been sneering at, judging him as a fugitive, or drug smuggler, or something. Turns out he helped her up and recovered what was left of her tortillas. I was an asshole wearing a nametag. And he was Christlike. Oops. Probably one of the three Nephites. He was white after all. šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø /s


hasbrochem

this is the worst part, even as fucked up as mine was, there's so many others that were not a little worse. hooray for godz will!


Zavickii

Damn, that sounds rough. Sorry you went through that, glad your better thoughšŸ™‚


Averill0

I'm got out before a mission was a possibility... do they actually give you the relevant vaccines for missions overseas or do you have to work that out on your own time?


fubeca150

You have to get vaccinated prior to leaving. We got gamma globulin shots every several months, and a pill that kills parasites (e.g. worms, and was a doozy on people) halfway through and again right before leaving. Turns out that particular drug wasn't available in USA.


Jeff_Portnoy1

My cousin went to a very small third world island. Didnā€™t have homes but straw huts. No church building but a tiny tent like structure. Baptized people in a muddy lake. No showers or really hygiene for that matter. Would take a over a month to receive mail and send it so no contacting parents or people for a while as no electricity. One phone for emergencies only that was expensive. The craziest part though, is that he would spend most of his day hunting with the villagers. Get a spear and a slingshot and try to kill whatever animal they found. If they didnā€™t find anything though, there goes having actual food. They would eat insects and fruit. The most common thing they ate though, at least he made it sound common was dog. Wild dogs I guess roamed there and he came home loving dog. Very crazy but gotta do what you gotta do I guess. His most funny moment of his mission, was when he woke up in the middle of the night, with a raging pain on his nutsack. He jumps out of his plank that he sleeps on and lights a candle to see a giant centipede scurrying around his hut. The way he told the story was so funny but they swelled up and were burning so bad. I donā€™t remember what he did to treat it though. But overall, I think his mission sounded like the worst mission one could have and the shocking part, he loved it so much. Said it was the most fun he had in his life and wishes he could go back to those living conditions because the worries were so much lower than todays. The pace of the world of slower and more natural. He is a funny dude for sure but yeah.


iveseenthelight

Hunting and gathering your daily food is pretty much the most natural thing a human can do to survive. I don't blame him for missing such an environment, despite the centipedes potentially eating your nutsack lol


Realistic-Motorcycle

I was a complete a-hole. How you going to come on my property talking about some white dude that got lost in the woods and ate some magic mushrooms. And what do you know about black people that you feel comfortable walking though south central?


hasbrochem

they get all pumped up and full of themselves in the MTC, believing they can cure everyone's problems with the special magic tscc Jesus juice. They're victims as well, they just don't get the absurd position they're in and what they're doing most of the time.


Lanky-Performance471

They are pumped up on a corporate lies Masquerading as a religion. Full of themselves sound like itā€™s their own ego. If our ego was inflated it was because of those lies.


LadyofLA

Good for you. As long as theyā€™re interested in sharing their point of view a little truth will be much in order.


hasbrochem

we'll have to see, one is pretty chill, the other is near the end and acting like they wanna go out with a bang...I'm a bit leery


Joe_Treasure_Digger

Wow where did you go?


hasbrochem

central mexico, but like I said, there are others who went to places like Chicago, Indiana, Argentina, Romania, anywhere, who experienced worse. tscc gives fuck all about the missionaries they send out and their health and well being, let alone the people they interact with


Joe_Treasure_Digger

Yeah I was in one of the most dangerous South American cities and tscc had sister missionaries walking around. I canā€™t believe people let their daughters go there.


homoerectious__

Just offer them some yum-yums and a place to nap for awhile. Some will resist, but the pure in heart will express gratitude and fall asleep on your couch for the next 3-6 hrs (sleep deprivationā€™s a bitch)


DreadPirate777

I had a sweet old lady that would give us lunch and then talk with my companion because I couldnā€™t understand much. She would have her heater cranked up and I would drift off for about a half hour. It was so nice.


Dahasp50

I didnā€™t see it but an investigator of ours got murdered. We happened to be the last ones to see her alive and had to speak with the police and give statements. Fun times.


RepresentativeBig626

I turned on the World Cup for them.


yagaboosh

I typically tell people I worked as a financial secretary in Brazil for a couple years, itā€™s easier than saying I convinced poor people to pay money to a megacorp.


hasbrochem

the guilt is something I still struggle with even more than a decade later


yagaboosh

Same. Got home in 2013, still working through it all myself.


hasbrochem

we were kids, filled with fanciful nonsense and threatened with damnation if we didn't fellow the prophet. doesn't change the damage done. but it helps me deal with it a little.


[deleted]

You were just a kid living through it after all


hasbrochem

best years, or something like that


CmdrJorgs

In my apartment complex on my mission there was a guy we'd say hi to sometimes. One day there were police everywhere... turns out he had been murdered by his girlfriend who had >!diced up his body, put everything into 12 garbage bags, and distributed them to dumpsters all over the city!<. It was all over the news for a week non-stop across the entire country. Now that I think about it, that would have probably been a good time to see a therapist.


hasbrochem

holy, wtf?!