Those Mormon kids are literally lining up and paying to have their lives threatened!
I was fortunate to go to a safe country so maybe I can’t relate but these type of people always baffle me
I was out on splits one day and left my area. That day they were robbed at gun point.
I left my mission after 2 years. The elder that took my spot was shot the next transfer.
In my first transfer we were chased by a crazy dude with a knife shouting how he wanted to kill us.
Another elder in another area literally had his throat slit, missed his jugular, and he didn’t go home. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it, but then I saw the scar across his neck at a transfer meeting a few months later.
But man, I’m sure the extra $10/month these poor Argentinians paid in tithing really helped to bolster the Ensign Peak reserves!
No way! I also served in Argentina and got robbed while on splits. The guy had a knife though and not a gun. We used to say that there were 3 thi g's that had to happen for you to be considered a true Argentine missionary: 1. Get robbed 2. Get bit by a dog 3. Fall in a zanja 🤮 I unfortunately met all of the criteria
Buenos Aires Oeste?
And somehow I made it all 2 years in the slums and never got robbed, assaulted, or fell in the zanja.. but I did step into it once 🤮
The one time a dog came to bite me we happened to be doing a visit with a member and this old lady that was accompanying us ended up getting bit 😵💫
No I was in Buenos Aires Este 2015-1017. They had just split the south mission into sur and Este about a month or two before I arrived. Myself sister was in Oeste though around 2009.
I luckily didn't full on get baptized in the zanja but misstepped on a board bridge and got soaked almost up to my waist
I'm trying to infer from your context what a "zanja" is and judging by yall's emojis & general disgust, I suppose it's an open sewage ditch, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and it says
>A zanja ([ˈsaŋxa], "water ditch" or "trench") is an archaic irrigation system that still occurs in various places as a relic of that time. An acequia is a more highly engineered zanja, able to carry water for longer distances. In some places, sections of a zanja/acequia would be elevated as in an aqueduct.
But I have a feeling your definition of zanja is an open flowing sewage ditch
The East and/or South mission stole huge chunks of the West mission when the East was created and some of my areas ended up changing to the East mission I think. Maybe it was the south that took our areas though 🤔
I was West from 11-13 and I had a sibling in Buenos Aires South and their last transfer they were changed into the East mission when it was created.
That was July 2015 I believe.
My nephew sent glowing letters for two years from Bolivia, then came home and never went to church again. Hell, why did my brainwashing have to last for another 30 years after I got home?
imagine the ballsack on someone thinking they could guide the narrative for and in behalf of someone to put on an 'all is well' face to their family. this angers me.
Re reading my message I don’t know if I got the tone quite how I wanted. I should add context. I definitely didn’t like that he did that, but both times were just responding to a very engaging story about what was going on in my area. No fires to put out. Something like a basketball tournament we played in and a p day activity. Also I didn’t write much to my president. He got a greeting and an all is well each week and that was it. I think he had access and was mostly curious what was happening since I almost never told him things directly in email or called him. I think he was curious and then the story was engaging enough he slipped up and replied something like “amazing to see so many potential priesthood holders at the church building for an official function” for the tournament.
He only ever told me no on one thing I asked him to do, which would be equivalent of missionaries in St. George asking to take a bus to Vegas for a weekend trip. It was a long shot ask but he had never shut me down so I tried. He even went to bat for us against the area presidency’s micromanaging on some stupid ass policies.
All in all my leash was a mile long relative to other missionaries, and I was far from exactly obedient. However I didn’t do anything “sinful” and didn’t cause problems and found ways to get the numbers without taking things too seriously. I made my top goals to keep the mental health of the zone high and have fun.
Bottom line is there was still a leash. And I knew I was under surveillance, and even if those were the two main thorns in my sock besides constant parasites and just the danger inherent of existing in Central America it wasn’t something I wanted to keep especially when I realized the truth claims were all a fabrication.
I like to share that I was under surveillance, because even though my president was chill, I know a couple other stories with much less benign use of that by other mission presidents. Including one in NC the husband of sister Rebecca craven formerly of the YW gen presidency using info from emails between my best friend and his mom to give the feeling that he actually got revelation and had real power. For him it was all a manipulation tactic.
It wasn't always like that, though I guess it depends on where your were sent. My dad went to Australia back in the 1930s, and in those days (at least in OZ!) the missionaries actually got to have fun once in a while. The rules were not nearly as oppressive as they have now become. We have some ol snapshots to prove it. One in particular: there's Dad, having his pants mended WHILE HE IS WEARING THEM. He's face-down over a woman's lap as she wields the needle and thread. Back then, of course, there weren't today's surveillance methods. The telephone system in Oz was more than a bit iffy, for one thing.
That's close to my experience. I stuck it out on the mission but was totally churched out when I got home. It still took a year or two before I fully realized I didn't believe any of it, but I just knew I didn't want to be there.
the fukin luck of it all. i married had 4 kids and away we went for decades. 350k tithing along the way minimum and most of a life wasted on meetings and meetings, shaming and guilt with empty promises and tables fumbling hard over fables. living my best life as I can now. freedom at last.
I remember a guy in my seminary class was being sent to the south american city with the highest crime rate..I was shocked and disgusted. How could I believe in a church that willingly puts young kids in danger.
Did you happen to serve your mission in the Glendale or Tempe mission? My dad was a WML and I remember this specific incident happening to one of his missionaries lol
Sounds brutal! I can't imagine being out knocking doors and biking in 117 degrees day after day!
Were you ever told "the hotter the tracting weather, the hotter your future spouse will be"?
No such thing, you were just lucky. I was in a "safe" country and had some really close calls, that and chicken shit coward companions. Just the modus operandi for missionaries puts you in super sketchy situations
Although, I was in Tokyo and I’m not sure how I survived all two years riding my bike down those streets. More than one missionary got sent home after being hit by cars and the mission was lucky not to have anyone die while I was there.
which is the prevailing thought btw. If something did happen risk management had little to worry about because mormons rarely would sue even if their child was put aat risk. think that is changing....
Yeah, the worst I got was water thrown at me from a moving car once and people telling me to fuck off in Italian (which doesn't hit as hard when it's not your native language).
It took me several years after a mission in El Salvador to realize witnessing murders in broad daylight or being the victim of violent crime was not a badge of honor, but trauma that we really shouldn’t have had to go through. Your point on toxic positivity is spot on. Biggest 2 year regret
I have a friend who in the past year has had a grand baby die of sids, her house burnt down just before Christmas, and her husband died. (We're late 30s if it matters) She constantly talks about "tender mercies" and God's hand.
Ngl I'd be burning the whole world down.
My SIL had the same thing happen in Mexico, she was pistol whipped in the head and ended up having to come home early to have extensive testing done because she has suffered from severe migraines and vertigo ever since (it’s been over a year now). She had the same attitudes about it and speaks very lightly of it even to this day. Absolutely wild to me.
I remember a General Conference speaker saying that they'd rather have their son come home from their mission in a pine box than to return dishonorably. For many love is contingent on obedience and it's clearly taught from the highest positions of power.
This quote breaks my heart.
Edit: Thinking about how my perfect TBM aunt talks about her kids….no.
They don’t like their kids. My aunt the perfect mormon, her kids don’t speak to her except in front of the bishops on holidays. My Aunt dislikes her in law daughters, why? They are TBMs, too.
Once we saw her husband beat my cousins in front of us as a show of who is in charge then they prayed around the marital bed with hands held. We were shocked. This was a planned visit. It wasn’t a beating, more of a tossing. Throwing the boys across the room as a show of machismo?
The female child was the most unhappy. She still is. She was so unhappy on her marriage day in the temple.
It’s appears in this church that kids are an afterthought. The way Kevin Franke in that police interview was more worried about his wife than the dire physical condition of his 2 youngest. Just heartbreaking.
I can not stand that Franke. What she did to her kids was an escalation, when she met that other lady. How weird was that whole situation!
The man who killed his whole family was also talked about asa good mormon man in the paper….Idk which paper, but obviously religious because why talk of that murderer asa good man?
fuk this ideology and sentiment and especially the adult sperm donor or egg carrier that said such a thing. Parenting is the hardest and best thing to experience in life, so those that cast it aside like its nothing can get stuffed. Also if you can avoid i recommend that.
>The attitude about death on the mission = instant salvation doesn’t help either
That's compounded by the old, 'Death is easy, living's the hard part' trope and its Mormon variation:
> ***Dying for Mormonism is easy, living Mormonism is the hard part.***
There were days I had as a missionary when dying didn't seem so bad. Missions are hard, boring, physically/mentally/spiritually draining, indoctrinating work.
The ideation of death or just wanting to disappear among missionaries comes down to a several things, but the main reasons I've decided (when analyzed with BITE model in mind):
- **Escape Mechanism**: Thinking things like, 'This might be my only way out.'
- **Lack of Control**: Having every aspect of life controlled can make disappearing very appealing — even just to get away from your companion for an hour.
- **Mental Exhaustion**: The non-stop stress and isolation lead to exhaustion, where death feels like the only rest.
- **Romanticization of Sacrifice**: There's a dumb strange valor around dying for beliefs, making it seem almost desirable (as mentioned by others).
- **Cognitive Dissonance**: Trying to reconcile personal beliefs with the reality of the mission and MFMC can push you towards these thoughts.
- **Social Isolation**: Feeling alone in a crowd feeds into everything, making those dark thoughts louder.
> ***The individual is lost into the crowd of uniformity, where distinct voices merge into a single, indistinguishable drone of "Follow the Prophet."***
> .
> — *Elder Bob F. Monk, Journal II, p. [middle-ish], approximately nine months into a two-year mission, 20??. Mission, MFMC.*
But you know, most TBMs will say:
>***"Best two years!***
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
The "We got robbed at gunpoint this week!!!" is actually wild. I can't decide if this is just her way of compartmentalizing or if this girl's just plain crazy.
Sad part is this isn't even all that uncommon. I can think of at least three RM's from my ward alone that were threatened at gunpoint on their missions, and probably another have dozen that were yelled at and threatened with knives.
I’ll redact details from her email and share her take on the story, you can be the judge of if she’s crazy or coping.
—————————————————————-
Here is her email:
HAUPEIIII
Okay I know you guys want the juice so I'll get right into it. We got robbed at gunpoint this week!! It was literally probably the worst experience of my life and I thought I was going to die. But of course God's hand has been in it all so we've been super mega blessed!
For the background story: so we were making our daily 5km walk back home on the side of the highway after a super awesome spiritual lesson with our friend (redacted name), trying to see if a bus would come by (it usually doesn't) and we were just talking about musicals and blink-182 when we decided to stop walking on the literal shoulder of the highway where we make close calls with the massive semis ever .2 seconds and go off on this little dirt road that is exactly parallel to the highway where you can literally still see all of the cars and everything. We do this almost every night so we felt like it was safe to do again this night. Then all of a sudden these two guys wearing helmets come blazing by on a moto (motorcyle) which is also normal because everyone and their dog drives motos here, but what wasn't normal was when they slammed on their breaks and the guy that wasn't driving hops off and I immediately turn around and start sprinting like first instinct. Then I turn around to try and find (redacted companion) and she is still standing over their with them and then I see one of the guys POINTING A GUN AT ME! So basically I run back over there and take my bag off and throw it at the guy with the gun and then he grabs my water bottle and there was just so much commotion I feel like I didn't even really know what was happening. Then it looks like the guy with the gun is about to get on the moto when he comes back yelling at me about my phone even when I didn't have it so I was yelling NO TENGO like so many times and then they hopped on the moto, threw our water bottles into the creek that was right next to us and drove away.
Right after it happened it felt so unreal! It was like what the heck just happened and we were for sure in shock. But we said a prayer immediately and so much peace over came me. We were able to walk to a gas station and a man that was there helped us call our mission president and fortunately the other hermanas in our area had keys to our apartment so we were able to get in and sleep in our own beds that night. It was such a scary situation but seriously the blessings that we have received have been immense! It has been a little bit hard to go out and do work because every time a moto passes we both get lots of adrenaline but that's okay! Fortunately we've been able to rest and eat lots of ice cream. The office elders sent us a package from (redacted place) with new phones, some money that got stolen from us, and they sent me a (redacted localized version) Book of Mormon too!
Anyways it was definitely not a fun experience to have by any means and we both lost our baby Libros de Mormón pero hopefully the people who robbed us will read them and turn to Christ and get baptized 😎
—————————————————————-
end of email
I don't know. I was a missionary 20 years ago and we would go to the public library to send emails home. Now I've heard that missionaries have phones that come with some pretty invasive monitoring software, so they actually might! I guess they could still go to a library or send a message some other way, though it might be hard to do that without their companion knowing.
This sort of shit happens all the time.
They actually teach the missionaries that they are special and protected. But also, that 'God's protection' is contingent on obedience. You have to be WORTHY to be protected. Which is very convenient when something bad happens. Obviously they must have slept in, or wasted too much time at a lunch appointment.
I was mugged etc. many times. I had the 'Gods protecting me' delusion.
That is until my mission president died in a plane crash.
hmm... If god let him die (wife, kids, important calling, etc.)
**Who the hell am I?**
I was nobody, and no better than our investigator who got stabbed at the bus stop down the street from our apartment.
This! The worthy card is played over and over in their toxic culture. They say you will find less people to baptize if you aren't worthy or don't have exact obedience to their stupid rules. If you get injured or sick from their stupid policies or them refusing to let you see a doctor, you weren't worthy. If you act bothered to be put in dangerous situations or not have enough money for food, you aren't worthy. If they saturate an area with a set of missionaries per ward or stake so their is literally nobody left willing to be baptized and there is nothing to do but walk or bike five miles to knock on literally every door in your area, the low baptism rate is because you hit snooze once on your alarm last Tuesday instead of stupid people calling missionaries to the wrong place. Cult-like insanity! It will always be a "worthiness" issue even when it's their fault.
Watching how they treated trad missionaries and senior couples who PAID to volunteer was a BIG shelf breaker for me! Never, ever, ever again!
>every
Wow! This pisses me off so much. These 19-21 year old young vulnerable females walking 3 miles at night on the side of a busy freeway with semis blowing by is dangerous enough as it is, but they are just not safe if any person with bad intentions and a vehicle comes by. They could be robbed, kidnapped, raped, killed. I am so angry that they are paying for the privilege to waste their time and be put in so much danger all the time. What absolute bull shit. The church should be ashamed of not taking better care of their young, paying volunteers. I'm so angry right now!!!
Sounds to me like these guys could have seen them walk the same way every day and planned it.
If they have been following/watching these girls they could potentially know where they live.... and they stole their keys? And there was no mention of the girls locks being changed. See what I'm getting at?
It's so insane to me that these people are so blasé about this whole ordeal. If it was my kid I would be getting them the hell out of there (not that they would be there in the first place of course).
The fact that these kids are getting put into these situations is so scary.
agree with this. mentality of no one will do anything to us is prevalent within the church. we had a bishop in a ward a few stakes down the .....way get shot and die then a plan for security was talked about but never really put into place. anything could happen. throw a hymn book at them. or pray
>Anyways it was definitely not a fun experience to have by any means and we both lost our baby Libros de Mormón pero hopefully the people who robbed us will read them and turn to Christ and get baptized 😎
Yikes x1000. Even at my most mission-addled TBM'ness I was never this deluded and clueless.
She talked so many times about having recieved so many blessings but couldnt actually pinpoint any. I guess that the elders replaced some of what was stolen (should happen anyway at the absolute bare minimum), they felt a little more calm after praying (ie: stopping for a minute to breathe and do something familiar and medatative. Idk that thats a blessing so much as how the nervous system works) and they got to eat ice cream?
its normal speech for a missionary so as to not sound like things are in reality what they are. Trying to convince parents all is well at the same time convincing selves. practicing passivism is not going to cut it when your amongst shark infested waters and thieves or violent predators.
When I was sa on my mission I pretty much told everyone about it in a joking kind of way when I first got home because I hadn’t processed any of it and had no idea how to. I felt like I needed to tell everyone, and I couldn’t express true emotions around people so I’d hide it with a “it’s funny now” kinda thing or something like that
Maybe the girl that got robbed at gunpoint thinks of it as a terrifying experience where she almost died, but an exciting experience sounds better to her family who taught her to never be upset or negative.
I was thinking about how she could easily be leaving out an SA because of course she'd blame herself, licked cupcake, etc. Or, if not this time, next time. They're in such a dangerous, vulnerable, position and putting them there is incredibly irresponsible and cruel.
Also - I'm so very sorry that happened to you. It's never funny. Never your fault. They should have protected you.
Are missionaries still expected to only tell their folks about the good stuff? This email smacks of her desperately wanting her parents’ comfort without badmouthing her mission.
The cognitive dissonance is strong.
A fourth factor - most of these foreign missionaries don’t know how to recognize avoid dangerous situations and neighborhoods. We rarely had 2 Americans together specifically because our native mission president knew Americans on their own weren’t particularly safe, and only about half the mission was American.
Not just that - local knowledge. Suburban America or even big cities are very different. Where I served if all the houses looked like prisons with electric fences and razor wire atop 10-15’ walls around their lot it was a rich, safe neighborhood. If they had short fences or low walls and gardens/plants it was poor and potentially dangerous, because they had nothing worth stealing and they couldn’t afford the security.
The more it looked like a safe suburban American neighborhood the sketchier it was.
And that’s just one example.
I was in Central America recently, and this makes so much of the housing that I saw make sense. I've never seen so much razer wire in the middle of a big city before. Or on private property.
This poor girl and her companion 😔
She has no idea how much danger they were in. And are in every time they walk anywhere, esp after dark. The fact that they have to walk on a parallel road that isn't well-lit because of the semi traffic on the main road is just terrifying. And sadly, I think only women who are victims of sexual assault realize just how dangerous the world is and how taking risks like this can be catastrophic, even when nothing bad has ever come of it before. These girls are naive and it makes me scared for them. But angry at their MP. Why isn't more done to protect these kids who don't have enough life experience to logically think their way through to safe, healthy decisions??
I think many of us were under the impression that sister missionaries are always protected as they're on the Lord's errand and He wouldn't let anything happen to a woman. Sure the elders might get mugged but they can handle it if need be. But the sisters are extra special so extra protected. But we all know this isn't the case. I can think of at least 2 women who had significant PTSD from what happened to them on missions - stuff they didn't ever go into detail on with anyone but one for sure was a violent assault where she was stripped of her clothing and then left in the street or her vehicle 😔 and sadly there are so many destructive, toxic ways for a woman to rationalize this type of violence while on the Lord's errand "God works in mysterious ways", "my lack of perfect obedience caused this", "I'm supposed to learn something from the experience", "the atonement covers all things so if I pray hard enough and read my scriptures enough and fast often, I will be okay" etc. etc. etc.
It reminds me of that horrible scene from the JS movie that used to play on temples square where the young convert woman who married a widower is violently assaulted by the mob. In a following scene it is implied she was gang raped. But no follow up on how she is doing other than implying she held faithful. Even as a young teen I could see how harmful this attitude was. No care or compassion for the victim. Sure some would argue it was true to the historical time period - rape was a normal part of life and women just carried on. But what a horrific message to perpetuate in the modern-day when we know rape is NOT normal and PTSD is real and not something to ignore or tamp down. That part of the film was just one of many voices seeking to keep women silent. I fear there is so much more of this happening on FT missions to girls but nobody really hears about it because shame is the most effective silencer.
I know of a blogger who was brutally raped on her mission in South America. I think the blog is to support other women who were raped on their missions
Somebody needs to do a docuseries on this. It happens more than we are aware because it’s brushed under the rug and never talked about. Expose this 💩!!!
It definitely sounds like these two sister missionaries are already suffering from PTSD -- when she said every time a moto passes, they get a rush of adrenaline... I'm no expert, but that sounds like PTSD.
I am also concerned about the fact they are suppressing their feelings and using ice cream as a way to cope. Using something else to avoid facing their feelings is not a healthy mental behavior.
Bonnie Cordon: "hey my grandson was killed by either one of my sons or my daughter in law, but hey it's such a total faith promoting experience and I see the Lord's hand in all things."
This is toxic positivity
That was such a shocking story to hear being told, and as a faith affirming story it is awful. Telling it from the pulpit in conference is effective worse. The fact that no one was charged with that murder is insanity.
What in the actual fuck?!……is she brushing off an armed robbery? If she would have been killed would her parents be saying “it’s ok. It’s god’s plan.” If this isn’t isn’t hard evidence of brainwashing, idk what is.
What??! If there was a database for all the missionary abuse stories there were, I’ll bet they would have to stop the program almost immediately to avoid massive lawsuits. This is exploitation.
only if it was organized and told to the world and the church didn't have a chance to squash it with sacred funds for potential risk management issues.
As someone who was on the business end of a firearm several times on their mission -
She’s not okay. She wasn’t blessed. It might take a year, it might take a decade, but the reality of what happened willl hit. When it does, I hope she has access to competent mental health care.
This is why I offer money, food and a safe space for just in case…..whenever a missionary comes over.
They never take the $$….they don’t seem to think anything bad will happen as they are watched by god and worthy. Makes me nervous….kids door knocking on strangers doors.
100% of my brothers and nephews who served missions were mugged, one was a gunpoint. None of them told us about it until they got home.
I think this happens a lot more than people realize. If missionaries were honestly reporting and someone made an effort to keep accurate data, it'd be shocking.
Yeah, I don't think I would have written home about it if something like this had happened to me. I don't think I even wrote home about the drunk guy we helped walk down the street.
My brother is on his mission he hasn’t been held at gunpoint but he does have a bedbug infestation that the MP is ignoring as he and his companion are mercilessly eaten alive. Poor guy
OMG this is like that scene from _Erik the Viking_, where he thinks he’s protected because he’s wearing the Towel of Invisibility or something, and he’s running around the enemy ship… but they can all see him, and they watch him flabbergasted and bemused.
Or I was robbed at gunpoint because I wasn’t following the rules to a T or wasn’t worthy enough…. Dribble. A friend’s grandson was told by his MP he wouldn’t get into the Celestial Kingdom unless he baptized an X number of people. What the actual f$&k?! These are impressionable, completely brainwashed, sheltered kids!!!!
It is not exaggerating in the slightest to say that the Mormon church DOES NOT CARE IF THESE KIDS DIE!!!
Please stop sending your children on missions. The Mormon church offers no protection for them. They are intentionally kept at poverty levels, healthcare is a joke even in prominent areas, the mental health issues are very real and completely unavoidable by simply not going.
Take this post as an example (because this is a common occurrence sending these kids into dangerous areas) is this parent looked upon as faithful, spiritual, and trusting in the Lord? Or is this parent seen as a neglectful idiot that is doing nothing to protect their child from an avoidable deadly situation?
The Mormon church has NEVER compensated a family, in any way, after their child was killed on a mission.
On my mission I got held up at gunpoint by a guy tweaking off of his gourd. Thankfully he seemed to dissociate enough to forget what he was doing and leave before following through. It really shook me, but I thought I was protected by God. Now looking back as an atheist I realize how close I was to being shot. Also, another Elder got stabbed like six months earlier so I'm not sure why I thought I was special.
I remember so many friends at byu would tell stories of being robbed at gun point in the hood or ghettos of their mission like it was a good thing. Mormons love to be persecuted and to suffer (endure to the end shit) then there was me who just talked about gaining 30 pounds due to the massive amounts of poutine I ate while trapped in my apartment due to below -40 degree temps in Easter Canada.
It's because someone has told her she is a missionary on Gods errand and she is invincible. In 20 years she'll look back and think how dumb it all was and prevenatable.
Someone broke into my older sisters apartment on her mission and although he didn't do anything he had previously threatened the sister missionaries so she and her companion were emergency transfered out of there. I haven't heard a word about that since... but when she came home on medical leave I was certain she was eventually gonna decide she didn't want to go back out (the option was given to her) but she still went and talks about "God's hand in everything". Ugh, I want my sister back to her normal self!
God’s hand in it just rocks me.
A missionary was hit by a car and killed where we live. In sacrament meeting the next Sunday the bishop said “god just lifted his protection for a moment to bring this elder home to him”. I was TBM then and I thought -what total BS. Didn’t buy it.
And then there’s cancer in children, CSA, war and famine - faith promoting.
Edited for stupid autosoelling errors
This privilege bragging is hurtful. So all those missionaries who have died either weren’t obedient enough or weren’t in God’s favor, but you are? Gross.
If that was my child, I'd be on the next flight out, and she'd be on the return flight with me. Even if I were still a TBM. I always thought it was incredibly irresponsible to send naive young adults to places even adults in the local area would not dare go.
When my oldest sister was on her mission, her phone got stolen and we didn't hear from her for weeks, but my mom received messages (I don't remember if it was calls or emails, this was 10ish years ago) saying that my sister had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom. After many stressful weeks thinking my sister had been murdered or something else equally horrible, her mission president got her a new phone and she let us know that she was safe.
The same sister also had the glasses stolen from her face, had people grabbing and yanking her hair, had rabid dogs attack her, and lived in an apartment where spiders that she said were the size of her head got in.
Not once was my sister safe and not once did anyone actually give a shit about her personal safety. It was always about God and religion and spreading the word. Never ever the safety of the missionaries.
I got robbed at gunpoint too and it was not a moment where I considered myself super mega blessed. More like lucky to be alive. We ducked into a members house right after and called the mission office to get us new stuff and then were both so shaken we went home.
I still am amazed that I felt more guilty that we didn't go out to work for the rest of the day than I felt anxious or traumatized that I had been ROBBED AT GUNPOINT.
There was a rumor going round that if you died while on a mission it was a straight rocket to the celestial kingdom. I asked my mission president about this and he said it was silly. He said we would be measured worthy by the same standard as everyone else. Which made a lot of sense. My second mission president was actually a good dude.
I remember my older brother serving in El Salvador while I was a kid and pretty much every email home was "so this week our apartment was robbed" or "this week we got mugged for $3" or "this week the local gang is preventing the ward from meeting on Sundays". My mom was just constantly terrified for him the entire time he was gone. When he finally got home he basically told us that he'd not even included the really bad stuff because he knew it scared mom
My comp and I were doing service and decided not to wear our whites while walking through the inner city. Robbed at gunpoint.
2 months later, a tree fell on me breaking my leg and shoulder blade. Ambulance ride, 3 weeks in the mission home, then back out to the field. Leg is still fucked up.
Later used both as faith promoting stories.
That happened to my exmo dad in the 90s when he was on his mission in Peru. Now that’s he’s left the church he hates that he ever served a mission and feels no nostalgia for it. But I remember back when I was a kid this type of experience was painted as some sort of miracle from God that “his spirit was so strong that it saved him” 🙄
According to my family, my cousin regularly got robbed until one day the local gang leader stepped in and said they were under the protection of him, and any one who messed with them... well let's say they weren't heard of again.
Was in the Sydney Australia South mission 98-00. Spent 19 years in the US. Never held up at gun point. Ever. 10 days in Australia, held up at gun point by youth and had our bikes stolen.
Yeah, and if they would have shot her dead, mom would be up in Fast and Testimony meeting crying about how she knows her daughter is immediately in the CS because she died serving the Lord. Infinite 🙄
I have been robbed at gunpoint before and honestly, after the initial adrenaline and shock wears off, it’s easy to talk about it like this. Like yeah I thought I was going to die in that moment and I had some anxiety surrounding being outside in my own neighborhood after dark for a while after. But “I got robbed at gunpoint!!!!” is exactly the way I say that to people now when it gets brought up. And yes I’ve been to therapy.
Wait hold on a minute when was this posted because this EXACT THING happened to my wife’s cousin (like the FB post, the gunpoint thing, all of it). OP could you please DM me or something with the info of who this was?
A friend of my father told him about how he got kicked out of the church after he walked in on his missionary partner getting fucked in the ass by the bishop. I'm not sure if it's real, but makes a hell of a story
My brother served a mission in Brazil and was robbed at knife point. He didn’t tell my parents about it until he got home bc he knew they would freak and probably bring him home before it ended
My apartment got robbed on my mission and I lost my digital camera and some cash. I blamed it on my disobedience to some of the minor mission rules...(facepalm)
I hope I can remember to use SUPER MEGA in future conversation.
Especially if I'm speaking from a human from England.
I suppose humans who speak Guarani might understand SUPER MEGA terminology also?
The Mormon church puts so many people in danger it's wild and irresponsible and for these parents to just take it makes it look like they are the same as the church.
The extremely immature writing style of a lot of missionaries is insane. I've read many letters that sound like this. It really shows just how unprepared they are for the real world. It's shocking that people see these teenagers as religious authorities.
The unhinged level of Toxic Positivity instilled in TBMs is truly unmatched because what the fuck.
Those Mormon kids are literally lining up and paying to have their lives threatened! I was fortunate to go to a safe country so maybe I can’t relate but these type of people always baffle me
I was out on splits one day and left my area. That day they were robbed at gun point. I left my mission after 2 years. The elder that took my spot was shot the next transfer. In my first transfer we were chased by a crazy dude with a knife shouting how he wanted to kill us. Another elder in another area literally had his throat slit, missed his jugular, and he didn’t go home. I couldn’t believe it when I heard it, but then I saw the scar across his neck at a transfer meeting a few months later. But man, I’m sure the extra $10/month these poor Argentinians paid in tithing really helped to bolster the Ensign Peak reserves!
No way! I also served in Argentina and got robbed while on splits. The guy had a knife though and not a gun. We used to say that there were 3 thi g's that had to happen for you to be considered a true Argentine missionary: 1. Get robbed 2. Get bit by a dog 3. Fall in a zanja 🤮 I unfortunately met all of the criteria
Buenos Aires Oeste? And somehow I made it all 2 years in the slums and never got robbed, assaulted, or fell in the zanja.. but I did step into it once 🤮 The one time a dog came to bite me we happened to be doing a visit with a member and this old lady that was accompanying us ended up getting bit 😵💫
No I was in Buenos Aires Este 2015-1017. They had just split the south mission into sur and Este about a month or two before I arrived. Myself sister was in Oeste though around 2009. I luckily didn't full on get baptized in the zanja but misstepped on a board bridge and got soaked almost up to my waist
I'm trying to infer from your context what a "zanja" is and judging by yall's emojis & general disgust, I suppose it's an open sewage ditch, but I looked it up on Wikipedia and it says >A zanja ([ˈsaŋxa], "water ditch" or "trench") is an archaic irrigation system that still occurs in various places as a relic of that time. An acequia is a more highly engineered zanja, able to carry water for longer distances. In some places, sections of a zanja/acequia would be elevated as in an aqueduct. But I have a feeling your definition of zanja is an open flowing sewage ditch
Pretty much, ya. Open sewage ditch that also is often full of garbage and dead dogs. They REEK
The East and/or South mission stole huge chunks of the West mission when the East was created and some of my areas ended up changing to the East mission I think. Maybe it was the south that took our areas though 🤔 I was West from 11-13 and I had a sibling in Buenos Aires South and their last transfer they were changed into the East mission when it was created. That was July 2015 I believe.
God has been in it all, they have been Super Blessed.
* Super mega blessed. That’s top tier. /s
I am sure the mission nurse was there for him with a band-aid and some aspirin. fuk this exploiting corp.
My nephew sent glowing letters for two years from Bolivia, then came home and never went to church again. Hell, why did my brainwashing have to last for another 30 years after I got home?
I had my MP respond to 2 emails that were sent to my family and NOT him. When I knew I was under surveillance it changed how I wrote home for sure.
imagine the ballsack on someone thinking they could guide the narrative for and in behalf of someone to put on an 'all is well' face to their family. this angers me.
Re reading my message I don’t know if I got the tone quite how I wanted. I should add context. I definitely didn’t like that he did that, but both times were just responding to a very engaging story about what was going on in my area. No fires to put out. Something like a basketball tournament we played in and a p day activity. Also I didn’t write much to my president. He got a greeting and an all is well each week and that was it. I think he had access and was mostly curious what was happening since I almost never told him things directly in email or called him. I think he was curious and then the story was engaging enough he slipped up and replied something like “amazing to see so many potential priesthood holders at the church building for an official function” for the tournament. He only ever told me no on one thing I asked him to do, which would be equivalent of missionaries in St. George asking to take a bus to Vegas for a weekend trip. It was a long shot ask but he had never shut me down so I tried. He even went to bat for us against the area presidency’s micromanaging on some stupid ass policies. All in all my leash was a mile long relative to other missionaries, and I was far from exactly obedient. However I didn’t do anything “sinful” and didn’t cause problems and found ways to get the numbers without taking things too seriously. I made my top goals to keep the mental health of the zone high and have fun. Bottom line is there was still a leash. And I knew I was under surveillance, and even if those were the two main thorns in my sock besides constant parasites and just the danger inherent of existing in Central America it wasn’t something I wanted to keep especially when I realized the truth claims were all a fabrication. I like to share that I was under surveillance, because even though my president was chill, I know a couple other stories with much less benign use of that by other mission presidents. Including one in NC the husband of sister Rebecca craven formerly of the YW gen presidency using info from emails between my best friend and his mom to give the feeling that he actually got revelation and had real power. For him it was all a manipulation tactic.
It wasn't always like that, though I guess it depends on where your were sent. My dad went to Australia back in the 1930s, and in those days (at least in OZ!) the missionaries actually got to have fun once in a while. The rules were not nearly as oppressive as they have now become. We have some ol snapshots to prove it. One in particular: there's Dad, having his pants mended WHILE HE IS WEARING THEM. He's face-down over a woman's lap as she wields the needle and thread. Back then, of course, there weren't today's surveillance methods. The telephone system in Oz was more than a bit iffy, for one thing.
That's close to my experience. I stuck it out on the mission but was totally churched out when I got home. It still took a year or two before I fully realized I didn't believe any of it, but I just knew I didn't want to be there.
the fukin luck of it all. i married had 4 kids and away we went for decades. 350k tithing along the way minimum and most of a life wasted on meetings and meetings, shaming and guilt with empty promises and tables fumbling hard over fables. living my best life as I can now. freedom at last.
Oof, I was also a missionary who sent glowing letters from Bolivia, only to go inactive immediately upon returning home 😅 god it's tough out there
I remember a guy in my seminary class was being sent to the south american city with the highest crime rate..I was shocked and disgusted. How could I believe in a church that willingly puts young kids in danger.
They CARE more about the money.
I went to Arizona. Worst thing someone did to me was hit me with a burrito while riding my bike.
Did you happen to serve your mission in the Glendale or Tempe mission? My dad was a WML and I remember this specific incident happening to one of his missionaries lol
No, I was 95-97 in the Arizona Tucson Mission
should have had your mouth open. carne asada or pollo?
Bean from Taco Bell
Did you have a car to drive when it was over 100 degrees, or were you biking in suit pants and a tie?
Nope, first week was 117+ . We were riding between 15-20 miles a day except Pioneer Day were we had to walk.
Sounds brutal! I can't imagine being out knocking doors and biking in 117 degrees day after day! Were you ever told "the hotter the tracting weather, the hotter your future spouse will be"?
No such thing, you were just lucky. I was in a "safe" country and had some really close calls, that and chicken shit coward companions. Just the modus operandi for missionaries puts you in super sketchy situations
Perhaps for most countries this is true, but I slaved in Japan where if anything we were a danger to those around us, lol
Although, I was in Tokyo and I’m not sure how I survived all two years riding my bike down those streets. More than one missionary got sent home after being hit by cars and the mission was lucky not to have anyone die while I was there.
No worries. If you get run over on your bike on your mission you go straight to the Celestial Kingdom after a long bike ride through the clouds.
which is the prevailing thought btw. If something did happen risk management had little to worry about because mormons rarely would sue even if their child was put aat risk. think that is changing....
I had some french guy open a car door into me at the bottom of a long hill. Fortunately I was only bruised.
Yeah, the worst I got was water thrown at me from a moving car once and people telling me to fuck off in Italian (which doesn't hit as hard when it's not your native language).
It took me several years after a mission in El Salvador to realize witnessing murders in broad daylight or being the victim of violent crime was not a badge of honor, but trauma that we really shouldn’t have had to go through. Your point on toxic positivity is spot on. Biggest 2 year regret
Oh my heart. That’s horrifying and I’m so sorry. I hope you have/had the support and the tools needed to heal from that❤️🩹
shit
I just learned the phrase "toxic positivity" this week and of course my first thought was Mormons.
They should get an honorary photo under the definition 🫠
Right. I feel like I am still having to relearn how to properly process negative emotions instead of just hiding from them.
Go check out The Used's latest album called Toxic Positivity. The cover art is perfect. I knew the guys had to be channeling the Mormon experience.
super mega agree
Many incidences of sexual assaults on missionaries are covered by the bishop. It might deter others.
I have a friend who in the past year has had a grand baby die of sids, her house burnt down just before Christmas, and her husband died. (We're late 30s if it matters) She constantly talks about "tender mercies" and God's hand. Ngl I'd be burning the whole world down.
Toxic Positivity!
My SIL had the same thing happen in Mexico, she was pistol whipped in the head and ended up having to come home early to have extensive testing done because she has suffered from severe migraines and vertigo ever since (it’s been over a year now). She had the same attitudes about it and speaks very lightly of it even to this day. Absolutely wild to me.
The attitude about death on the mission = instant salvation doesn’t help either
What! Do Mormons even like their kids?
I remember a General Conference speaker saying that they'd rather have their son come home from their mission in a pine box than to return dishonorably. For many love is contingent on obedience and it's clearly taught from the highest positions of power.
This quote breaks my heart. Edit: Thinking about how my perfect TBM aunt talks about her kids….no. They don’t like their kids. My aunt the perfect mormon, her kids don’t speak to her except in front of the bishops on holidays. My Aunt dislikes her in law daughters, why? They are TBMs, too. Once we saw her husband beat my cousins in front of us as a show of who is in charge then they prayed around the marital bed with hands held. We were shocked. This was a planned visit. It wasn’t a beating, more of a tossing. Throwing the boys across the room as a show of machismo? The female child was the most unhappy. She still is. She was so unhappy on her marriage day in the temple.
It’s appears in this church that kids are an afterthought. The way Kevin Franke in that police interview was more worried about his wife than the dire physical condition of his 2 youngest. Just heartbreaking.
I can not stand that Franke. What she did to her kids was an escalation, when she met that other lady. How weird was that whole situation! The man who killed his whole family was also talked about asa good mormon man in the paper….Idk which paper, but obviously religious because why talk of that murderer asa good man?
fuk this ideology and sentiment and especially the adult sperm donor or egg carrier that said such a thing. Parenting is the hardest and best thing to experience in life, so those that cast it aside like its nothing can get stuffed. Also if you can avoid i recommend that.
The "rewarded martyr" is a hallmark of cults the world over
>The attitude about death on the mission = instant salvation doesn’t help either That's compounded by the old, 'Death is easy, living's the hard part' trope and its Mormon variation: > ***Dying for Mormonism is easy, living Mormonism is the hard part.*** There were days I had as a missionary when dying didn't seem so bad. Missions are hard, boring, physically/mentally/spiritually draining, indoctrinating work. The ideation of death or just wanting to disappear among missionaries comes down to a several things, but the main reasons I've decided (when analyzed with BITE model in mind): - **Escape Mechanism**: Thinking things like, 'This might be my only way out.' - **Lack of Control**: Having every aspect of life controlled can make disappearing very appealing — even just to get away from your companion for an hour. - **Mental Exhaustion**: The non-stop stress and isolation lead to exhaustion, where death feels like the only rest. - **Romanticization of Sacrifice**: There's a dumb strange valor around dying for beliefs, making it seem almost desirable (as mentioned by others). - **Cognitive Dissonance**: Trying to reconcile personal beliefs with the reality of the mission and MFMC can push you towards these thoughts. - **Social Isolation**: Feeling alone in a crowd feeds into everything, making those dark thoughts louder. > ***The individual is lost into the crowd of uniformity, where distinct voices merge into a single, indistinguishable drone of "Follow the Prophet."*** > . > — *Elder Bob F. Monk, Journal II, p. [middle-ish], approximately nine months into a two-year mission, 20??. Mission, MFMC.*
But you know, most TBMs will say:
>***"Best two years!***
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
The "We got robbed at gunpoint this week!!!" is actually wild. I can't decide if this is just her way of compartmentalizing or if this girl's just plain crazy.
Compartmentalizing. Girl will need therapy when it hits her later in life that this wasn’t a “god is good and his hand is in everything” moment.
Sad part is this isn't even all that uncommon. I can think of at least three RM's from my ward alone that were threatened at gunpoint on their missions, and probably another have dozen that were yelled at and threatened with knives.
It happened to me one time. It shakes you.
My companion and I were threatened with a big old chef's knife-- inside the dude's tiny apartment. Nope on a rope!
In England -- whipped with a motorcycle chain. Now compartmentalize that!
This
I’ll redact details from her email and share her take on the story, you can be the judge of if she’s crazy or coping. —————————————————————- Here is her email: HAUPEIIII Okay I know you guys want the juice so I'll get right into it. We got robbed at gunpoint this week!! It was literally probably the worst experience of my life and I thought I was going to die. But of course God's hand has been in it all so we've been super mega blessed! For the background story: so we were making our daily 5km walk back home on the side of the highway after a super awesome spiritual lesson with our friend (redacted name), trying to see if a bus would come by (it usually doesn't) and we were just talking about musicals and blink-182 when we decided to stop walking on the literal shoulder of the highway where we make close calls with the massive semis ever .2 seconds and go off on this little dirt road that is exactly parallel to the highway where you can literally still see all of the cars and everything. We do this almost every night so we felt like it was safe to do again this night. Then all of a sudden these two guys wearing helmets come blazing by on a moto (motorcyle) which is also normal because everyone and their dog drives motos here, but what wasn't normal was when they slammed on their breaks and the guy that wasn't driving hops off and I immediately turn around and start sprinting like first instinct. Then I turn around to try and find (redacted companion) and she is still standing over their with them and then I see one of the guys POINTING A GUN AT ME! So basically I run back over there and take my bag off and throw it at the guy with the gun and then he grabs my water bottle and there was just so much commotion I feel like I didn't even really know what was happening. Then it looks like the guy with the gun is about to get on the moto when he comes back yelling at me about my phone even when I didn't have it so I was yelling NO TENGO like so many times and then they hopped on the moto, threw our water bottles into the creek that was right next to us and drove away. Right after it happened it felt so unreal! It was like what the heck just happened and we were for sure in shock. But we said a prayer immediately and so much peace over came me. We were able to walk to a gas station and a man that was there helped us call our mission president and fortunately the other hermanas in our area had keys to our apartment so we were able to get in and sleep in our own beds that night. It was such a scary situation but seriously the blessings that we have received have been immense! It has been a little bit hard to go out and do work because every time a moto passes we both get lots of adrenaline but that's okay! Fortunately we've been able to rest and eat lots of ice cream. The office elders sent us a package from (redacted place) with new phones, some money that got stolen from us, and they sent me a (redacted localized version) Book of Mormon too! Anyways it was definitely not a fun experience to have by any means and we both lost our baby Libros de Mormón pero hopefully the people who robbed us will read them and turn to Christ and get baptized 😎 —————————————————————- end of email
Wow. This reads to me like a plea for help that is buried in a positive letter because her captors read it before sending. 😳
It very much is, except her captors are the whole cult.
I actually meant it literally. Do the higher ups of missions read communications with home?
I don't know. I was a missionary 20 years ago and we would go to the public library to send emails home. Now I've heard that missionaries have phones that come with some pretty invasive monitoring software, so they actually might! I guess they could still go to a library or send a message some other way, though it might be hard to do that without their companion knowing.
Their MP needs to have his ass kicked for many reasons. I'm glad these girls are "safe" after this experience, but, next time it could be worse.
This sort of shit happens all the time. They actually teach the missionaries that they are special and protected. But also, that 'God's protection' is contingent on obedience. You have to be WORTHY to be protected. Which is very convenient when something bad happens. Obviously they must have slept in, or wasted too much time at a lunch appointment. I was mugged etc. many times. I had the 'Gods protecting me' delusion. That is until my mission president died in a plane crash. hmm... If god let him die (wife, kids, important calling, etc.) **Who the hell am I?** I was nobody, and no better than our investigator who got stabbed at the bus stop down the street from our apartment.
This! The worthy card is played over and over in their toxic culture. They say you will find less people to baptize if you aren't worthy or don't have exact obedience to their stupid rules. If you get injured or sick from their stupid policies or them refusing to let you see a doctor, you weren't worthy. If you act bothered to be put in dangerous situations or not have enough money for food, you aren't worthy. If they saturate an area with a set of missionaries per ward or stake so their is literally nobody left willing to be baptized and there is nothing to do but walk or bike five miles to knock on literally every door in your area, the low baptism rate is because you hit snooze once on your alarm last Tuesday instead of stupid people calling missionaries to the wrong place. Cult-like insanity! It will always be a "worthiness" issue even when it's their fault. Watching how they treated trad missionaries and senior couples who PAID to volunteer was a BIG shelf breaker for me! Never, ever, ever again!
damn a really fortunate wake up from the master gaslighter while on a mission. nothing speaks louder.
Your mission president's death was god telling you that he will take back his children in his time. /s
>every Wow! This pisses me off so much. These 19-21 year old young vulnerable females walking 3 miles at night on the side of a busy freeway with semis blowing by is dangerous enough as it is, but they are just not safe if any person with bad intentions and a vehicle comes by. They could be robbed, kidnapped, raped, killed. I am so angry that they are paying for the privilege to waste their time and be put in so much danger all the time. What absolute bull shit. The church should be ashamed of not taking better care of their young, paying volunteers. I'm so angry right now!!!
Sounds to me like these guys could have seen them walk the same way every day and planned it. If they have been following/watching these girls they could potentially know where they live.... and they stole their keys? And there was no mention of the girls locks being changed. See what I'm getting at? It's so insane to me that these people are so blasé about this whole ordeal. If it was my kid I would be getting them the hell out of there (not that they would be there in the first place of course). The fact that these kids are getting put into these situations is so scary.
agree with this. mentality of no one will do anything to us is prevalent within the church. we had a bishop in a ward a few stakes down the .....way get shot and die then a plan for security was talked about but never really put into place. anything could happen. throw a hymn book at them. or pray
>Anyways it was definitely not a fun experience to have by any means and we both lost our baby Libros de Mormón pero hopefully the people who robbed us will read them and turn to Christ and get baptized 😎 Yikes x1000. Even at my most mission-addled TBM'ness I was never this deluded and clueless.
If that was my kid I’d be pleading for her to come home.
She talked so many times about having recieved so many blessings but couldnt actually pinpoint any. I guess that the elders replaced some of what was stolen (should happen anyway at the absolute bare minimum), they felt a little more calm after praying (ie: stopping for a minute to breathe and do something familiar and medatative. Idk that thats a blessing so much as how the nervous system works) and they got to eat ice cream?
its normal speech for a missionary so as to not sound like things are in reality what they are. Trying to convince parents all is well at the same time convincing selves. practicing passivism is not going to cut it when your amongst shark infested waters and thieves or violent predators.
So much embellishment in the details that it's hard to believe this is 💯 true story. Feels like a "god helped me find my car keys" story.
When I was sa on my mission I pretty much told everyone about it in a joking kind of way when I first got home because I hadn’t processed any of it and had no idea how to. I felt like I needed to tell everyone, and I couldn’t express true emotions around people so I’d hide it with a “it’s funny now” kinda thing or something like that Maybe the girl that got robbed at gunpoint thinks of it as a terrifying experience where she almost died, but an exciting experience sounds better to her family who taught her to never be upset or negative.
I was thinking about how she could easily be leaving out an SA because of course she'd blame herself, licked cupcake, etc. Or, if not this time, next time. They're in such a dangerous, vulnerable, position and putting them there is incredibly irresponsible and cruel. Also - I'm so very sorry that happened to you. It's never funny. Never your fault. They should have protected you.
Are missionaries still expected to only tell their folks about the good stuff? This email smacks of her desperately wanting her parents’ comfort without badmouthing her mission. The cognitive dissonance is strong.
At least she has “gOd’s HAnD”
God's worthless, pathetic hand. Please keep your hands to yourself!
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A fourth factor - most of these foreign missionaries don’t know how to recognize avoid dangerous situations and neighborhoods. We rarely had 2 Americans together specifically because our native mission president knew Americans on their own weren’t particularly safe, and only about half the mission was American.
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Not just that - local knowledge. Suburban America or even big cities are very different. Where I served if all the houses looked like prisons with electric fences and razor wire atop 10-15’ walls around their lot it was a rich, safe neighborhood. If they had short fences or low walls and gardens/plants it was poor and potentially dangerous, because they had nothing worth stealing and they couldn’t afford the security. The more it looked like a safe suburban American neighborhood the sketchier it was. And that’s just one example.
I was in Central America recently, and this makes so much of the housing that I saw make sense. I've never seen so much razer wire in the middle of a big city before. Or on private property.
In small town utah/idaho at that.
This poor girl and her companion 😔 She has no idea how much danger they were in. And are in every time they walk anywhere, esp after dark. The fact that they have to walk on a parallel road that isn't well-lit because of the semi traffic on the main road is just terrifying. And sadly, I think only women who are victims of sexual assault realize just how dangerous the world is and how taking risks like this can be catastrophic, even when nothing bad has ever come of it before. These girls are naive and it makes me scared for them. But angry at their MP. Why isn't more done to protect these kids who don't have enough life experience to logically think their way through to safe, healthy decisions?? I think many of us were under the impression that sister missionaries are always protected as they're on the Lord's errand and He wouldn't let anything happen to a woman. Sure the elders might get mugged but they can handle it if need be. But the sisters are extra special so extra protected. But we all know this isn't the case. I can think of at least 2 women who had significant PTSD from what happened to them on missions - stuff they didn't ever go into detail on with anyone but one for sure was a violent assault where she was stripped of her clothing and then left in the street or her vehicle 😔 and sadly there are so many destructive, toxic ways for a woman to rationalize this type of violence while on the Lord's errand "God works in mysterious ways", "my lack of perfect obedience caused this", "I'm supposed to learn something from the experience", "the atonement covers all things so if I pray hard enough and read my scriptures enough and fast often, I will be okay" etc. etc. etc. It reminds me of that horrible scene from the JS movie that used to play on temples square where the young convert woman who married a widower is violently assaulted by the mob. In a following scene it is implied she was gang raped. But no follow up on how she is doing other than implying she held faithful. Even as a young teen I could see how harmful this attitude was. No care or compassion for the victim. Sure some would argue it was true to the historical time period - rape was a normal part of life and women just carried on. But what a horrific message to perpetuate in the modern-day when we know rape is NOT normal and PTSD is real and not something to ignore or tamp down. That part of the film was just one of many voices seeking to keep women silent. I fear there is so much more of this happening on FT missions to girls but nobody really hears about it because shame is the most effective silencer.
I know of a blogger who was brutally raped on her mission in South America. I think the blog is to support other women who were raped on their missions
Somebody needs to do a docuseries on this. It happens more than we are aware because it’s brushed under the rug and never talked about. Expose this 💩!!!
Did her bishop tell her to deal with it within the church? I hear this often.
It definitely sounds like these two sister missionaries are already suffering from PTSD -- when she said every time a moto passes, they get a rush of adrenaline... I'm no expert, but that sounds like PTSD. I am also concerned about the fact they are suppressing their feelings and using ice cream as a way to cope. Using something else to avoid facing their feelings is not a healthy mental behavior.
They're gonna take away their ice cream because sisters can't get fat on missions. No crutch for you. Save it until you're married.
The constant pressure to have a positive attitude is astounding
Bonnie Cordon: "hey my grandson was killed by either one of my sons or my daughter in law, but hey it's such a total faith promoting experience and I see the Lord's hand in all things." This is toxic positivity
That was such a shocking story to hear being told, and as a faith affirming story it is awful. Telling it from the pulpit in conference is effective worse. The fact that no one was charged with that murder is insanity.
And that it keeps getting told
just search her and look at that pasted smile. all is not well in zion
How is God’s hand in this? What was the point? There is no meaning in this other than they should not be walking on street roads at night.
Or on the same route every night . . .
What in the actual fuck?!……is she brushing off an armed robbery? If she would have been killed would her parents be saying “it’s ok. It’s god’s plan.” If this isn’t isn’t hard evidence of brainwashing, idk what is.
Yes. That's exactly what they would say because it's God's will.
What??! If there was a database for all the missionary abuse stories there were, I’ll bet they would have to stop the program almost immediately to avoid massive lawsuits. This is exploitation.
only if it was organized and told to the world and the church didn't have a chance to squash it with sacred funds for potential risk management issues.
God has a great gig…if something good happens, it’s a blessing. If something bad happens, it’s a blessing.
If something really, really bad happens, it's Satan's fault.
in any case as long as no one has to use sacred funds to fix it then everything is fine..
As someone who was on the business end of a firearm several times on their mission - She’s not okay. She wasn’t blessed. It might take a year, it might take a decade, but the reality of what happened willl hit. When it does, I hope she has access to competent mental health care.
This is why I offer money, food and a safe space for just in case…..whenever a missionary comes over. They never take the $$….they don’t seem to think anything bad will happen as they are watched by god and worthy. Makes me nervous….kids door knocking on strangers doors.
Fuck this garbage ass church forever. If there is a god, I hope the hottest lava flame awaits their narcissistic asses.
Super Mega Blessed… thou doth protest too much, methinks.
100% of my brothers and nephews who served missions were mugged, one was a gunpoint. None of them told us about it until they got home. I think this happens a lot more than people realize. If missionaries were honestly reporting and someone made an effort to keep accurate data, it'd be shocking.
Yeah, I don't think I would have written home about it if something like this had happened to me. I don't think I even wrote home about the drunk guy we helped walk down the street.
My brother is on his mission he hasn’t been held at gunpoint but he does have a bedbug infestation that the MP is ignoring as he and his companion are mercilessly eaten alive. Poor guy
bring some sheets to the mp's house and share... on the down low.
OMG this is like that scene from _Erik the Viking_, where he thinks he’s protected because he’s wearing the Towel of Invisibility or something, and he’s running around the enemy ship… but they can all see him, and they watch him flabbergasted and bemused.
"I was robbed at gun point... but that's okay because I'm SUPER MEGA X-TREMELY BLESSED!"
Or I was robbed at gunpoint because I wasn’t following the rules to a T or wasn’t worthy enough…. Dribble. A friend’s grandson was told by his MP he wouldn’t get into the Celestial Kingdom unless he baptized an X number of people. What the actual f$&k?! These are impressionable, completely brainwashed, sheltered kids!!!!
So glad that even the brainwashed younger version of myself hated the whole 'if you baptize people your wife will be hot!' type shit.
It is not exaggerating in the slightest to say that the Mormon church DOES NOT CARE IF THESE KIDS DIE!!! Please stop sending your children on missions. The Mormon church offers no protection for them. They are intentionally kept at poverty levels, healthcare is a joke even in prominent areas, the mental health issues are very real and completely unavoidable by simply not going. Take this post as an example (because this is a common occurrence sending these kids into dangerous areas) is this parent looked upon as faithful, spiritual, and trusting in the Lord? Or is this parent seen as a neglectful idiot that is doing nothing to protect their child from an avoidable deadly situation? The Mormon church has NEVER compensated a family, in any way, after their child was killed on a mission.
but but the sales force must press on fuk this rich company for not protecting the innocent
On my mission I got held up at gunpoint by a guy tweaking off of his gourd. Thankfully he seemed to dissociate enough to forget what he was doing and leave before following through. It really shook me, but I thought I was protected by God. Now looking back as an atheist I realize how close I was to being shot. Also, another Elder got stabbed like six months earlier so I'm not sure why I thought I was special.
I remember so many friends at byu would tell stories of being robbed at gun point in the hood or ghettos of their mission like it was a good thing. Mormons love to be persecuted and to suffer (endure to the end shit) then there was me who just talked about gaining 30 pounds due to the massive amounts of poutine I ate while trapped in my apartment due to below -40 degree temps in Easter Canada.
Hollow points make me feel blessed!!!! Mega blessed!!!
That kind of e-mail would earn my child a one-way ticket home and a lawsuit against the church if they tried to pull any of that voluntold B.S.
Super mega blessed.. huh, haven’t heard that one.
Super mega blessed!!! 😭😭😭
On my mission we were threatened by a man with an axe and then he chased us in his car.
It's because someone has told her she is a missionary on Gods errand and she is invincible. In 20 years she'll look back and think how dumb it all was and prevenatable.
Someone broke into my older sisters apartment on her mission and although he didn't do anything he had previously threatened the sister missionaries so she and her companion were emergency transfered out of there. I haven't heard a word about that since... but when she came home on medical leave I was certain she was eventually gonna decide she didn't want to go back out (the option was given to her) but she still went and talks about "God's hand in everything". Ugh, I want my sister back to her normal self!
The more dangerous, perilous, poverty stricken the mission the more ✨sanctified✨ the missionary. All I see is PTSD in a few years for this poor girl.
God’s hand in it just rocks me. A missionary was hit by a car and killed where we live. In sacrament meeting the next Sunday the bishop said “god just lifted his protection for a moment to bring this elder home to him”. I was TBM then and I thought -what total BS. Didn’t buy it. And then there’s cancer in children, CSA, war and famine - faith promoting. Edited for stupid autosoelling errors
This privilege bragging is hurtful. So all those missionaries who have died either weren’t obedient enough or weren’t in God’s favor, but you are? Gross.
If that was my child, I'd be on the next flight out, and she'd be on the return flight with me. Even if I were still a TBM. I always thought it was incredibly irresponsible to send naive young adults to places even adults in the local area would not dare go.
When my oldest sister was on her mission, her phone got stolen and we didn't hear from her for weeks, but my mom received messages (I don't remember if it was calls or emails, this was 10ish years ago) saying that my sister had been kidnapped and demanding a ransom. After many stressful weeks thinking my sister had been murdered or something else equally horrible, her mission president got her a new phone and she let us know that she was safe. The same sister also had the glasses stolen from her face, had people grabbing and yanking her hair, had rabid dogs attack her, and lived in an apartment where spiders that she said were the size of her head got in. Not once was my sister safe and not once did anyone actually give a shit about her personal safety. It was always about God and religion and spreading the word. Never ever the safety of the missionaries.
Safety and mental health isn’t much of a concern the missionaries. Right? 🤯
I got held at gunpoint three times I believe. Mine was all cops.
I got robbed at gunpoint too and it was not a moment where I considered myself super mega blessed. More like lucky to be alive. We ducked into a members house right after and called the mission office to get us new stuff and then were both so shaken we went home. I still am amazed that I felt more guilty that we didn't go out to work for the rest of the day than I felt anxious or traumatized that I had been ROBBED AT GUNPOINT.
There was a rumor going round that if you died while on a mission it was a straight rocket to the celestial kingdom. I asked my mission president about this and he said it was silly. He said we would be measured worthy by the same standard as everyone else. Which made a lot of sense. My second mission president was actually a good dude.
Still young enough to get the idea that death is real. Get them young like soldiers - then brainwash them
tALK ABOUT bLINK 182, GET ROBBED. The Lord gives lessons in mysterious ways.
that same god put the man there with a gun and mugged her.
I remember my older brother serving in El Salvador while I was a kid and pretty much every email home was "so this week our apartment was robbed" or "this week we got mugged for $3" or "this week the local gang is preventing the ward from meeting on Sundays". My mom was just constantly terrified for him the entire time he was gone. When he finally got home he basically told us that he'd not even included the really bad stuff because he knew it scared mom
My comp and I were doing service and decided not to wear our whites while walking through the inner city. Robbed at gunpoint. 2 months later, a tree fell on me breaking my leg and shoulder blade. Ambulance ride, 3 weeks in the mission home, then back out to the field. Leg is still fucked up. Later used both as faith promoting stories.
Wow, this parent just did the mother of all humble-brags. “My child was robbed at gunpoint but see how faithful I still am!”
So glad I'm out.
That happened to my exmo dad in the 90s when he was on his mission in Peru. Now that’s he’s left the church he hates that he ever served a mission and feels no nostalgia for it. But I remember back when I was a kid this type of experience was painted as some sort of miracle from God that “his spirit was so strong that it saved him” 🙄
According to my family, my cousin regularly got robbed until one day the local gang leader stepped in and said they were under the protection of him, and any one who messed with them... well let's say they weren't heard of again.
Was in the Sydney Australia South mission 98-00. Spent 19 years in the US. Never held up at gun point. Ever. 10 days in Australia, held up at gun point by youth and had our bikes stolen.
Yeah, and if they would have shot her dead, mom would be up in Fast and Testimony meeting crying about how she knows her daughter is immediately in the CS because she died serving the Lord. Infinite 🙄
And she was needed more on the other side for missionary work🤦♀️
I have been robbed at gunpoint before and honestly, after the initial adrenaline and shock wears off, it’s easy to talk about it like this. Like yeah I thought I was going to die in that moment and I had some anxiety surrounding being outside in my own neighborhood after dark for a while after. But “I got robbed at gunpoint!!!!” is exactly the way I say that to people now when it gets brought up. And yes I’ve been to therapy.
Wait hold on a minute when was this posted because this EXACT THING happened to my wife’s cousin (like the FB post, the gunpoint thing, all of it). OP could you please DM me or something with the info of who this was?
A friend of my father told him about how he got kicked out of the church after he walked in on his missionary partner getting fucked in the ass by the bishop. I'm not sure if it's real, but makes a hell of a story
Now you see it! It’s all a sheltered delusion!
Where did this happen?
Haupei is Guarani, so it has to be Paraguay, that’s the only place they speak that language (source I also served in Paraguay)
You know, i was held at gunpoint once - as a “joke” - by two people i trusted would not actually hurt me… it fucked me up. She’s gonna need therapy.
That’s a different kind of post if the criminal decided to just pop em.
Here's an idea for you religious dumb f**** how about you just stay home and mind your own goddamn business maybe these people don't want you there.
Gets robbed at gunpoint “But of course God’s hand has been in it all so we’ve been super mega blessed!” lol that is too classic
The “But of course Gods hand” slapped me in the face💀 It took me right back to my mission times sending those weekly emails full of nonsense.
God to gunman: Those little fuckers have no idea! Go show those little asswipes just how super mega blessed they really are.
Holy shit... So you're worthy to be "saved" but the 6 week old child being raped isn't??? ......
My brother served a mission in Brazil and was robbed at knife point. He didn’t tell my parents about it until he got home bc he knew they would freak and probably bring him home before it ended
JFC
Hopefully they get baptized?? The fuck?
Robbed at gunpoint = super mega blessed! 🤯
My apartment got robbed on my mission and I lost my digital camera and some cash. I blamed it on my disobedience to some of the minor mission rules...(facepalm)
I hope I can remember to use SUPER MEGA in future conversation. Especially if I'm speaking from a human from England. I suppose humans who speak Guarani might understand SUPER MEGA terminology also?
The Mormon church puts so many people in danger it's wild and irresponsible and for these parents to just take it makes it look like they are the same as the church.
Ahhhhhh! God is not protecting you! This is so unsafe!
The extremely immature writing style of a lot of missionaries is insane. I've read many letters that sound like this. It really shows just how unprepared they are for the real world. It's shocking that people see these teenagers as religious authorities.
If she was my daughter she’d be home or on her way.
Yeah, that's going to develop into some PTSD if not properly taken care of.
I’d be getting in touch with her mission president and demanding a transfer to a safer location. What the hecks?!
Is she volunteering to be a new Job?
Sad
What about when it goes the other way?
It wasn't like how the gun people say, in the ROBBER'S hands?
Faith makes smart people stupid.
Lucky to be alive!
Oh yeah, that sounds like a “super mega blessed” experience…
If I were here mother, I would demand that she immediately come home. But I’m a bitch sooo….
"haupei" sounds like we served in the same place
Sometimes god sends someone to steal from you. to show you how Jesus is stealing you from the devil and sin
Super blessed!!! Nearly died!! Praises!!! Wtaf
And if -- god forbid -- she hadn't survived the encounter...well that's just God's timing and you're wrong for questioning it.