I have hesitated to post anything at all about my grandson's mission. He is stateside, Spanish speaking. Out less than a year.

But today's email....wow..they went to see one of their golden contacts...he wasn't home...they were told he got shot and had to lay low with his gang till things cooled down. Yikes! Also, other golden contacts...one just got out of prison, one won't stop smoking weed and one is sorta homeless.

Is this the new reality of missionary work? If any of them actually get baptised, as soon as these elders are transferred that is the last anyone will see of these new converts.

Unfortunately, it seems to be the new reality. I hear lots of stories back from the field about converts and prospects who are quite among the homeless, mentally afflicted and poor too. Maybe the church can help them... lol. Not much of a tithing profit center, though!

If the Mormon church would help these people I would respect the Church a lot more.

Yes this is the new reality in the United States.

TONS of missionaries traveling to Mexico City to learn Spanish and return to the US to teach struggling immigrant Latinos and show them the support the church can be in their lives (and TSCC does have an excellent support system for employment, family stability etc.)

Golden? Not so much.

A "golden" contact is anyone who not only agrees to a second visit/conversation but actually ends up having ones. Although sometimes they just need to agree to one to be considered "golden"

I met tons of "golden" and "prepared" people who were actually just too nice to us for their own good, but really didn't give a damn.

Back in the day I watched the missionaries close the deal on at least two Doctors and their families. Highly paid, learned men who where hypnotized into believing they were doing the right thing by joining the cult.

Those were the golden converts of another era.

Exactly... Or a young person who is sharp.

My experience is that those two doctors and their families don't join TSCC any longer.

The Internet. It's a real bitch for fraudulent religions.

Yep, sounds like the spanish speaking missions around here. Poor guys. Here missionaries are happy when they find someone who has a drivers license and a car, I mean that is golden, golden, and golden.

This has been the reality for a long time. Whenever anybody starts jabbering about all the "growth", flooding the earth, etc I ask them to answer a simple question. When was the last time they knew of that an employed, self-sustaining married couple (with or without children) who could get to church on their own joined the church? 99% of the time they can't recall, it was 20+ years ago or they go off on a tangent about how they are sure this or that nice couple or young family that they are just will join when X (fill in the blank) happens. The TBMs do not like this question as they know that the answer does not even remotely support the carefully crafted PR narrative put out by ChurchCo.

A new tangent some go off on is to say that we are now so close to the second coming that the "work has hastened" just to go find the few remaining righteous souls out there.

Searcher said:

"...or they go off on a tangent about how they are sure this or that nice couple or young family that they are just will join when X (fill in the blank) happens."

And they are exactly right, but note, X = "hell freezes over."

I was a golden convert, was a meth user at the time, church changed my life, joined 2 weeks later, stop smoking that week, did a mission a few years later. Now have a good job, church really helped me get my life on track, Still don't make it true.

Excellent comment. The church absolutely does help some people. I think it's just they need to more clearly realize that is the role they fill. I know someone who works with meth users, gets them on another (legal, less destructive) drug, and then they can transition off of that one. They have pretty good results. I think this is a lot like religion. It is like an intermediary drug that can be used for healing, but should not become an end in itself. I'm pondering this analogy a lot lately. Any thoughts?

Thinking about my former ward. The only really good growth was the few spouses like my husband that joined the church. Most of the leadership was converts from part member families. We actually had a period where four families went through the temple to be sealed after the spouses finally joined, my family was one of those once my husband joined. Over the years the only converts who stayed were those spouses. The only exception I can think of was the stake YW president. Her husband and her as a young unmarried couple were visited by missionaries and they ended up getting married and joining the church. They are the only family I know that joined and is successful but even that event was twenty years ago. Heck my own husband joined 18 years ago. I have only been to one baptism in the past 10 years where the member stayed active.

Most people who convert to the church where I live are immigrants, very poor, or have some mental issues. They're not bad people of course, but they're not the kind of people the church wants, the church wants rich, white, conservative businessmen with big families and good social skills, but nowadays 99% of people like that won't even investigate the church.

My TBM BIL converted 30 Bolivians all at once. This is his "proof" that the church is true. He did not mention that not one of those people could read. (and therefore, able to do some research about the claims of the LDS church.)

But they WERE golden! I think when a missionary for the church
finds a golden convert it reinforces that

1. The church is true and the work is progressing
BUT more importantly:

2. The missionary is extraordinary because he is being led by the LORD.

It is a head trip for the misled.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2014 11:23AM by antilehinephi.

I remember being called by that term. I had a testimony before I let the Elders teach me a lesson. I got filled with the spirit on Sunday, had the lessons in two sessions during the week and baptized on Saturday. Thirty years later I officially resigned. Sometimes it takes awhile for the shine to rub off.

Probably the easiest one they ever signed on.

OMG! This thread makes me terrified again for the safety for the young, naive mishies who are putting themselves in these types of situations. Not good, not good at all.

In the back of my mind I know these situations are a reality for the mishies, but to hear it first hand is terrifying and utterly DEPLORABLE that the church can get away with this.

I so hate the missionary program of any church that sends out the trusting, naive, sweet young people to do older, grown-up jobs.

THE LEADERS OF THESE ORGANIZATIONS ARE THE ONES WHO SHOULD BE OUT THERE, NOT THE YOUNG!!!

Ya think?!?!?!?

Yeah. When I look back at my mission, I shudder to think of all the dangerous situations I was in without realizing it. I was so naive, and I really believed that if I showed courage and faith, I would be protected...

Crazy meth guy downstairs...
Abusers upstairs...
Tracting in the dark, dangerous neighborhoods...
And me, no life experience. All trust.
Dang was I lucky.
Thanks, God, or however I didn't get killed.

Wow.

I have two nephews on missions in South Dakota and Alabama. One has a golden contact who just got out of jail. The other's golden contact just arrived in the United States from Africa. Pure gold.

A nephew of mine had similar golden contacts.....one guy was mentally ill, another was a drunk parolee and would routinely be passed out in his back yard when they would show up for a scheduled visit....a few others but these two were my fav's.

You can read all about "golden contacts" on missionary blogs. Just pick a mission and start reading various blogs.

http://preparetoserve.com/missionary-blog-index

I worry about my GS and his safety all the time for all the reasons mentioned.

My husband truly was a golden contact. He had a member wife, a young child, a job, a home, a car, and all his teeth. The missionaries would spend hours and hours at our home teaching him. He actually took a long time to join the church but this was before the internet really had much information on it. Had we known all the stuff we know now he never would have joined and I would have left the church.

During my first few months on my mission in Poland my senior companion and I went to teach our "golden" contact. He was in his 30's, still lived with his mom, and couldn't get off of heroin. We'd be teaching him the discussions and he'd start to prepare his batch for the day. We tried to help him, but I lost contact after I left.