I think we have all just seen the trainwreck that Missionary Blogs and Facebook pages can have. They allow a missionary to have his personal opinions and feelings exposed for the world(to include the folks in the area he serves). This excercise appears to be totally uncorrelated. The Missionary in his role as a salesman can be percieved as an official representative of the faith,especially in a country without the polished church PR machine to run interference.

We have seen several examples of horrific attempts by missionaries to explain their activities and encounters with investigators to family and friends back home. In the context of TBM family and friends that same many of the same feelings,no propblem is seen, but to those outside the faith it can be viewed as horrific. We have seen examples of arrogance,racism and just plain immaturity,surely not the well crafted image the Church's PR people anticipated when the age reduction and the push for social media began.

I antcipate that the church will soon require all blogs and websites to be taken down and that any future posts will go through a special website set up by the church that allows approval and monitoring for content...What do you all think

That'll be a shame. I like reading them. They're so cringe-inducing.

take this one for example. a missionary in my old mission had fun doing service with a church. too bad it was the "wrong one"

and I'm dumb
http://elderjaredempey.blogspot.com/

At least that guy can write & seems to be able to tie his shoes. While the board was down, I got sucked into reading some blogs from my town. Check out this dude. It's flippin' awesome!

http://www.missionsite.net/eldergosch/letters

Two things came to mind. 1. This guy's entire family/social network is out enjoying life while this putz is tracting.
2. Would anyone take this guy seriously as an inspired Elder, including his family?

Wow...just everything in that newest post.

"It was fun even though we were building the wrong church" stuck out to me particularly

"While meeting with a member, who was going through a hard time, and sharing an uplifting message there was a knock on the door and the Police came to arrest him. It was really sad because there we were trying to lift up his spirits and then that happened."

LOL

LOL indeed!

Geeshh.. HOW did that happen??? the police just showed up.. out of the blue.. ...


AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!

priceless!!

As a nonmormon who has been "in and of the world" so to speak...here are my comments along with some quotes from the blog:

"My landlord and his family are really great people but we have yet to see if they are interested in the Gospel because we don't want to burn any bridges so quickly. We are hoping that we can first develop a friendship and through our examples have desires to learn what we are about. Who know maybe the Spirit is seeping through the floor boards from our apartment down onto them. I'm sure they can also hear us sing our praises to the most high haha. Their kids enjoy telling the other kids at school that they have new weird people living in their house who can't watch T.V. and do other things ha.

I love you and hope you have a great week! I miss Cedar so say hi to everyone for me!

Love, Elder Empey/ Bro"

The kids telling the other kids about the "weird people" living in their room/apt, is uh...nothing to be proud of. They are TOLERATING you because you pay them rent. As for the "Spirit" seeping thru the floor....keep on dreaming....

One big issue I have with Mormons and others who throw the word "love" out there and around like hello. This is a person pet peeve of mine. Constantly telling people you barely know or don't really know at all that you "love" them waters down the true meaning of the word. Love is a strong intense feeling of care for a person or a few people. Just because you're Mormon, you are suppose to LOVE everyone, by just telling them. Add to that the Mormons have after telling their EXmormon family and friends that they LOVE them only to SHUN them because of their ex/former belief in Mormonism...I think we can all agree that is not REAL love....

+1 re: the rampant "I love you"'s...saying something a million times doesn't make it true, it just makes it annoying and repetitive. it also sounds creepy

If you want to show love, then do something loving.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2013 05:33PM by neverevermo.

I saw the earlier link and decided to browse the blog posts of those serving in one of my old areas. Apparently one of the sisters there is suffering from repeated nervous breakdowns. I feel horrible for her, I wish there was a way to let them know they have options.

And yes, eventually the church will realize this is bad PR and do something about it.

I agree with you. I would think this is very embarrassing for the church leadership--both locally and in SLC.

I agree. I believe they'll do away with the "technology missions" as well. For every internet convert, I'm sure there are 100+ tech missionaries that have been exposed to the truth on the internet and many of them will not be tithe-paying members post-mission. Many will likely de-convert younger pre-mission siblings and possibly their entire families.

One thing the church could do is limit access to the blogs or require readers to give information like church membership number. If person is not a member, then name and address so they can send missionaries to your home. As a convert, missionaries said things I and other investigators would find offense. Problem is, TBMs don't think such statements are offensive.

Agree - this is embarrassing for the church.

Disagree - that they will realize it and do something about it.

Mormon leadership is almost pathologically stupid about how to make themselves look good to the great unwashed legions of non-LDS. First of all, they are certain that whatever they do is God's One True Way of setting a good example. That arrogance shows through even to the baby Mormons on their missions, cluelessly posting random stuff on their blogs. It's also on display in the Mormon Helping Hands t-shirts and during the I'm A Mormon campaign. They are sold the eternal "truth" that everyone admires them for their good example. The arrogance in missionary blogs is just a regular Tuesday at the COB - will they even notice anything amiss?

Next, they NEVER listen to feedback from anyone. Well, maybe us while they monitor this board. So we may be the ones that alert the Mormon Corporate Dipthongs to the reality that these blogs are a disaster. But it's equally likely that they think we are making stuff up in an attempt to get them to take down these heart-warming stories of spiritual growth. They won't get that these blogs are making them look bad. Finally, it's really the missionary brainwashing they care about and blogs are a cheap, effective way to make someone set a goal, commit to a course of action and be forced to follow through. How many Steven Covey books recommend you write down the goals you've committed to? If you write down your gushing testimony of the church for all to see, then you must follow through. Everyone (Mormon) will hold you to your words. It's as good a brainwashing technique as any and right in line with typical Mormon busywork.

Our best plan is to refer every non-LDS person we know to one of these blogs - preferably one we've "pre-approved." That will show the fruits of Mormonism (cluelessness, arrogance, disdain for others) faster than anything else we could say.

+1

Mormon arrogance and is limitless, almost as vast as the pseudo-humility.

Yes, I agree they monitor missinary blogs as well as boards like this. What did I read today- mishies wanting to talk about "our founder", JS? Right in there with Luther, Calvin, Knox, Cranmer and Wesley. Let's all sing "Follow the Founder" 'cause our founder can kick your founder's a--.

Sending kids on a mission would have been a perfect opportunity to turn them back to the hand-written word and using regular mail--old-school. Writing letters by putting pen to paper is a valuable skill that is waning fast. And know what? Posting a letter in the mail is completely PRIVATE! And people love to receive them. It also enhances concentration.

Not all missionaries serve in countries that even have a postal system, let alone a system that will deliver the letter to the addressee. But most do, and I think it's worth it. If relatives back home what to spread your word so badly, they can just run it through the copier and attach it to a family E-mail.

If they want to take these blog sites down, but do so without making leadership look like rubes, they could couch it in terms of trying to turn the missionaries back to the important skill of putting pen to paper, and state how much this would make the average missionary above average in terms of important composition skills. Members would have an easy time buying into it.

I think Sister Head Chopper was really a prime example of how young, sheltered and imature these kids really are. I know that as far as the church sucking them in and rooting them, it's exactly what they want. However, when you put them out on a site that normal people can see, it just reinforces the image of mormons as completely clueless cult members.

Forget diamonds--internet posts are forever.

I've been reading blogs of some missionaries here in my city. They're either totally brainwashed, or being spied upon by the MPs (probably the latter).

But I'm entertained by some of them. It would be cool if I encountered them on a bus here.