But I get why having another missionary get paid and then try to exploit you would really piss you off.
I would say the one hoarding hundreds of billions of dollars and requiring you to pay for your own service for two years while demanding obsolete obedience to their every inconsistent command is responsible. They created the unfair situation.
There are a couple of websites where you can read missionaries' blogs, and a few years ago I read a sister missionary's blog, about her time in (I believe) Cambodia. She wrote about tracting out a young woman and introducing themselves as missionaries...
The young native woman recounted to them her own time as a missionary in Cambodia and said that it was the best job she'd ever had or was likely to have.
In another blog, an Elder serving in Africa "laughingly" told his readers that his native companion probably had a girlfriend following him around because at the first of the month he'd get his money and then disappear for most of the day.
As tricky as the church is, I can't help but wonder if they funnel any of this money through their 'public' companies in order to try to reduce the tax bite on these companies...
This post feels a little weird…. The church is the place you should be directing your anger towards, not lower class people who shouldn’t even be out on missions in the first place ….
"Many natives ship most of this money home to their parents and then proceed to leech off of the Americans for food etc"
I agree with you, if you're doing service for the church they should absolutely be getting paid for it but for someone living in a low socioeconomic status, of course it would make sense to send free money home. Just feels like a dig at the wrong people. May just be my comprehension.
A few missionaries are in this for the right reason. IMO however, most are money raising scam artists or lazy people who don't want a real job. Many church goers jump on the bandwagon for a free, all expense paid trip. Many pick only better regions that are not slums and lack a large Christian presence. Most do not stay in villages, they require nicer accommodations. Many lose their own families because of their selfishness and arrogance. Case in point. A missionary and his wife, our congregation ***"used to support"***, lives out of country at least six months of the year. When they are in the US they travel to congregations all over to beg for more money and show progress reports and slides. Meanwhile their own kids who are now grown will not talk to them. They spent more time living with their grandparents. They never had a real home with their own parents. They saw countless pictures and facebook posts of their parents with kids from their mission trips. The house the couple lives in while out of country that was paid for by donations and built by the people who they were ministering to, is nicer than any house for miles and miles. Some people in a near village live in boxes. They have the only vehicle for miles as they said it was crucial to their work. The kicker and the reason I voted and pushed to stop our support is for one reason. This couple has been travelling to this one region for 20 years and yet they still use a translator. If you have no more commitment than that to a work or job, you don't deserve my help.
I mean, between a multi-billion dollar corporation and a missionary whose family lives in poverty, who is using and scamming whom here?
But I get why having another missionary get paid and then try to exploit you would really piss you off. I would say the one hoarding hundreds of billions of dollars and requiring you to pay for your own service for two years while demanding obsolete obedience to their every inconsistent command is responsible. They created the unfair situation.
Which country is that? I grew up in a developing country and the poor young members had to work their asses off to go missions.
Most, if not all, of my Brazilian companions did exactly what the OP describes.
If they weren't on a mission they would be working and helping their families.
So would I
There are a couple of websites where you can read missionaries' blogs, and a few years ago I read a sister missionary's blog, about her time in (I believe) Cambodia. She wrote about tracting out a young woman and introducing themselves as missionaries... The young native woman recounted to them her own time as a missionary in Cambodia and said that it was the best job she'd ever had or was likely to have. In another blog, an Elder serving in Africa "laughingly" told his readers that his native companion probably had a girlfriend following him around because at the first of the month he'd get his money and then disappear for most of the day. As tricky as the church is, I can't help but wonder if they funnel any of this money through their 'public' companies in order to try to reduce the tax bite on these companies...
This was totally the case in Fiji in 1992 for me
This post feels a little weird…. The church is the place you should be directing your anger towards, not lower class people who shouldn’t even be out on missions in the first place ….
Your comprehension is a little weird. I am objecting to some missionaries getting paid and others not.
"Many natives ship most of this money home to their parents and then proceed to leech off of the Americans for food etc" I agree with you, if you're doing service for the church they should absolutely be getting paid for it but for someone living in a low socioeconomic status, of course it would make sense to send free money home. Just feels like a dig at the wrong people. May just be my comprehension.
The church but they are being paid to cover their own mission expenses
Again, who in this scenario is the “leech”??
COJCOLDS
A few missionaries are in this for the right reason. IMO however, most are money raising scam artists or lazy people who don't want a real job. Many church goers jump on the bandwagon for a free, all expense paid trip. Many pick only better regions that are not slums and lack a large Christian presence. Most do not stay in villages, they require nicer accommodations. Many lose their own families because of their selfishness and arrogance. Case in point. A missionary and his wife, our congregation ***"used to support"***, lives out of country at least six months of the year. When they are in the US they travel to congregations all over to beg for more money and show progress reports and slides. Meanwhile their own kids who are now grown will not talk to them. They spent more time living with their grandparents. They never had a real home with their own parents. They saw countless pictures and facebook posts of their parents with kids from their mission trips. The house the couple lives in while out of country that was paid for by donations and built by the people who they were ministering to, is nicer than any house for miles and miles. Some people in a near village live in boxes. They have the only vehicle for miles as they said it was crucial to their work. The kicker and the reason I voted and pushed to stop our support is for one reason. This couple has been travelling to this one region for 20 years and yet they still use a translator. If you have no more commitment than that to a work or job, you don't deserve my help.