And they aren't able to eat at ward members homes unless they have an investigator with them. Totally ridiculous!

When I was in France on my mission (more than 30 years ago, admittedly), we usually got by on the equivalent of about $90 a month each.
We bought bulk where we could. We took advantage of sales, and cheap stuff that was in season. We made our own crepes and yogurt (2 gallons at a time!). We ate way too much French bread ('cause its price was government-controlled, so it was tres cheap).
And when we did get a meal from members or investigators, we pigged out and took whatever leftovers they'd let us.

I still lost weight on my mission, between the less-than-optimal food and the bike riding. But I didn't starve...

Alright, hie, now you have to share your crepe recipe.

Probably have to get most of their calories and protein from things like beans, potatoes, rice and bread. Then a few servings of the cheaper varieties of fruits and vegetables per day. Not a lot of meat. Very little eating out.

Maybe not a lot of fun, but probably doable in most areas of the U.S., I'd wager.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2016 08:12PM by lurking in.

Back when I was still active, I used to pack up a box or two of food every month and bring it to them on Sundays. It would consist of things like peanut butter, jelly, cereal, canned green beans, peas, corn, or whatever canned vegetables were on sale that month, canned chili (2 cans - one per missionary), canned tuna, and maybe some cookies or candy that was on sale at the store. I always made sure to include a gallon of milk, as a missionary once told me that it was the only milk they got all month.

I'd also pack a package of toilet paper, a box of light bulbs (this was back when you could still buy cheap light bulbs), and a roll or two of paper towels. Every now and then, I'd pack a box of generic brand tylenol or advil, and/or a box of generic brand imodium. Or a box of band-aids for blisters.



But I don't go to TSCC on Sundays anymore, so I don't know how the local missionaries are eating.

That was very kind of you to do that, without anyone asking you to. Most charitable in fact.

So little emphasis was placed on charitable works at church I don't miss that aspect one iota.

When I was twelve and spent a weekend with missionaries ("Saturday's Child"), all they had to eat was a pot of beans. That was it, and the beans were a couple days old.

I know of a strapping (6'6") young missionary whose parents and other relatives supplement his food with bi-weekly care packages and $. It's a sweet deal for the church.

In our area members feed them dinner every night.

Here in the Morridor, missionaries do eat with members. The time limit is very short, however. It can be a longer dinner if there is an investigator present.

Back in the day, 1970-2, we lived on $125 a month which included apartment rent, gas, utilities, book of mormons, and everything else. It wasn't ever enough and we never ate out. It was a treat when the members fed us, well, most of the time.

We counted pennies and ate a lot of Ramen. Around Christmas time we would get Christmas cards from people back home and occasionally there would be a dollar in some of them. I remember my first Christmas I got $8 and thought it was awesome blossom.

The missionaries usually find ways to eat on little cash. The local Dollar/99.cent stores are excellent places to get fresh produce and dozens of other food items at a good price.Day old bread store, etc. are good also. These help if they are in the area where they live.
I think some members give them food and invite them to dinner and some take them out to eat. It all helps.

I would be surprised if a few mishs Haven't signed up for SNAP/ food stamps... On the QT, of course.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2016 09:17PM by GNPE.

The guy in charge of finding people to feed the mishies calls us once in a while. We are a highly unlikely choice, since I resigned nearly 11 years ago and DH has been inactive (though believing) during that time. We have a tacit agreement that I won't try to deconvert the mishies unless they start to get irritating by trying to reconvert me. It has worked so far.

I am physically unable to be on my feet long enough to cook a meal due to a degenerative back problem, so whenever we are asked (maybe once in two months) to feed the mishies, we take them out to eat. Not someplace cheap, either. Someplace where they can order a substantial meal and have enough leftovers for a liberal second meal. They like us!

Our religious stance may be shaky, but we are good food providers!

I used to give the missionaries shopping bags and let them take what ever they wanted out of my storage room. I did that about once a month.In the summer they took anything they wanted out of my huge garden. They really loaded up on fresh produce.

On top of that i'd give them razors, shave cream, soap, laundry soap, paper products, and a book of McDonalds coupons.

When the rules changed to no dinners, I had them over for breakfast on Saturday mornings. I was always encouraging them to cheat on the rules. Their rules are insane.

Back in the day, we'd invite them to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at my nevermo family. There would be thirty or so non-mos there to join for the food orgy. My dad had a no proselyting rule and the missionaries always seemed to enjoy being in that den of unbelievers.

I thought it was reduced to $130 a few years ago too. You actually can eat on that - my college aged son (who did not serve a mission - yea!) found a $3 a day food challenge on YouTube and has been trying to stick to that. He's actually come up with some yummy soups and stews, eats a lot more eggs, and makes his own potato chips. He also sometimes goes over that amount by either eating out occasionally with friends or coming home for dinner but he could live on $130 easily. In America.

The problem is that amount for missionaries includes toilet paper, shampoo, razors, laundry soap, suntan lotion for those outside a lot, and a hundred other tiny expenses. My mom used to take boxes of supplies to the missionaries because my nevermo dad didn't like having them over for dinner. She'd take stuff like laundry soap, aluminum foil, TP etc. so their food budget would go farther.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/04/2016 11:12PM by CA girl.

Is that food budget figure supplemented with a 'clothing & sundries' budget figure?

This is why the Prophet's new revelation about practicing cannibalism on apostates is so timely--the missionaries get much needed protein and the church loses its critics, one by one...

Plus if they promise to keep track, they can eat non-members, just as long as they remember to submit their names for dead dunking after a year. Win-win!

You need to understand that a major tenet of brainwashing is poor nutrition. Along with sleep deprivation, no contact with family, repetitive chants/prayers, dressing alike & no voicing of opinion. The purpose of a mission is to indoctrinate the missionary into a long term tithe payer. Having good food & decent accommodations is not conducive to the morg's plan for missionaries.

Remember this.

Where I live there is a calendar passed around in relief
Society that serves as a sign up sheet to host the mishies for dinner. My parents have them over several times a month. I've never heard of the 'an investigator must present' rule.

Seems more like a sickening hazing ritual...the only eay it could be more damaging to maturing psyches...is having to kill someone to get a vadge...i mean badge...dam you freud

What about places like Japan where orange juice is $8 a glass?
Does the church compensate for bad exchange rates?

In Japan we used to have connections with bread shops and other places that would throw out food at the end of the day. Meet up at closing time and get a lot of cheap/free stuff. Yes, we were beggars. Often times this had been going on from years previous and from long gone misshies connections.

This was before every missionary paid the same amount and you got by with what you or your family had available every month. If you came from a more advantaged family you ate ok. If you weren't then you didn't eat as well. There was always a wide range of what was spent by different misshies.

I know some Mormon owned restaurants in the US that always have extended an "always eat free" offer to the misshies whenever they come in. And I've heard they take advantage often.

I'm at a loss as to how they do it. I live in a HCOLA and spend probably $500 a month on food and supplies. I'm not buying super expensive things -- chicken, hamburger, etc.

We have to remember that the missionaries are still in a growth stage of their lives. Young men at that age in particular can really wolf down large quantities of food. I think that the lean food budgets for missionaries are in many cases inhumane, unhealthy, and abusive. These are young people who are being physically active for most of the day. They need to EAT.

Maybe that's why so many upon returning home from missions are both malnourished and have fallen into a depression, sometimes severe depression.

They not only didn't get proper nutrition, they also don't receive proper medical care, get enough rest, or just time to be young adults in pursuit of their dreams and goals.

For them it was a wasted two years.

One of the horror mishie stories of my youth was an incredibly handsome young man who could've been a model or actor if he'd been given the training and had the incentive. He went on his mission like he was trained up for since he was born.

On his return he didn't seem any different, but something had changed. He'd become quieter and kept to himself. Then he drove to his father's grave (he and his dad had been super close in life,) where he blew his brains out.

His mother would say afterwards that he thought he was Jesus Christ. And that's what led to his suicide. I called BS to that. He was severely depressed and his too busy mother with home and church duties was too damn ignorant to notice or care.

>>Maybe that's why so many upon returning home from missions are both malnourished and have fallen into a depression, sometimes severe depression.

It's appalling that a wealthy church would deprive its missionaries of a reasonable diet. In some parts of the world they might eat well, but in industrialized nations, the food budget would not go far.

What is happening is that the church is sending a covert message to their young people that they are not valued, wanted, nor needed by depriving them of adequate nutrition. No missionary should have to come home 30 or 40+ pounds lighter due to not getting enough food, and yet we have heard many accounts of just that over the years.

It probably depends on where they are. In Utah $160 a month is more than adequate, which it probably what they base the cost on. Doesn't the world revolve around Utah? In looking at what I have spent for this year, my groceries for 10 months are $1058. Eating out is $366 (on about 2800-3000 calorie a day). If I didn't eat out once a week or so the total cost (1424 or $142/month) would be lower. The main thing is not to buy prepared meals, or anything (or very little) in a box, can, or jar. Only buy fresh fruits and vegetables, along with your meat for protein.

Even if you throw in all the toilet paper, soap, shampoo, razors, etc. most of those things last for months, and would be less than $10/month total. The biggest cut into that amount would be laundry, which would make the $160 tough. Give them a laundry allowance on top of the $160, as well as a new clothing allowance.

I think that deprivation is part of the equation: "We can't have things go too easily for the missionaries." The church would rather have the mishies have a bit of a rough time; remember when you were in college and had a milk crate for a table and ate lots of Top Ramen with your roommates? Good times. You'll always remember that, it built character... The church still wants the propoganda of simple young people sharing simple truths.

I agree with StillAnon: part of the indoctrination of a cult is making the member suffer to break them; back in the church's early missionary days they were supposed to live off the land and the kindness of strangers, "neither purse nor scrip". And similar to combat troops, the worse the situation, the more keen the survival instinct kicks in, and the closer the survivors stick together.

OTOH, some are broken completely by bad situations, while some are allowed a cushy existence because they are well-connected and have everything they need, included trips to the movies, etc.

It seems that the best thing anyone can do for these people (mishies) is to take them on as needy people in need of feeding. What obviously pathetic and putrid behavior for a "church."

<$40/week for food in my area is a joke. Throw in laundry and sundries, and a missionary is in need of charity, end of story. No wonder they look hungry. Answer the door, hand them a box of food, with love from an atheist, don't bother with fairy tales, but come get your food.

1958 Argentina we were allowed $45.00 per mo for everything.

It would be awesome if missos could find a way to supplement or mix with their regular diet, generous helpings of the bullsh** they so willingly dish out to others...just to see if the bs brings salvation to their health.

I would never give mishies food OR money.
Why would I rob the LDS church (OR their parents) of THEIR responsibilities (and blessings) for taking care of these kids?
I'm sure church Inc. take the freebies into account in determining how much allowance they get.

$160/mo. is plenty in most areas. I spend less than that on food each month. We got less than 1/5 of that on my mission which wasn't too long ago. I came home rail thin and would have come home extremely malnourished if my parents hadn't regularly sent extra cash.

I have multiple friends that stayed in the states that gained ~100 lbs. and came home with a bunch of cash they saved throughout their missions.

I believe I've read accounts of missionaries receiving extra money and upon learning of this, their MPs told them to spend that money and refund the 'church' money, one to one.

In other words, if a missionary got a $20 bill in a birthday card, the missionary had to refund, or give back $20 from the monthly dole.

Anyone else heard about this?

We sent my stepson $150 grocery card every month. That's against the rules, but who was going to tell? His companion also benefited by getting to eat better.

Good for you, Madalice!

I think that every parent with a child on a mission has to closely monitor whether or not their child is getting enough to eat, along with adequate medical and dental care.

I didn't know they weren't allowed to eat at ward members' houses if there wasn't an investigator there. Can anyone tell me why that is? I would think they just bought something that could last several days on $160 budget.

This isn't a church-wide rule. They tried this in my area years ago, but they did away with the rule within a couple months since they weren't getting any meals at all.

In my neighborhood, my neighbors sign up to have the missionaries over for dinner, but the window for dinner is very short before the missionaries need to leave. The dinner can be longer if there are investigators present.

I made do on what I had left each month after expenses (rent, car, gas, etc.) 25 years ago. Being frugal has stayed with me today even though I make plenty of money I eat cheaply most of the month. After my divorce a couple years ago and living in a spacious home, I now live in a one bedroom apartment and have no problems with it, despite the fact I could buy a large new home...I guess one of the benefits of being on a mission, lol.

BUT...I _hated_ when members in one area from another ward asked us to dinner. Yes, we covered a couple wards and these dummies in Texas when giving directions would say, "Do you know where the mall is?"

That meant we had to ride our bikes about ten miles outside of where we lived just to get to "where the mall is" and their home. It was a huge waste of time and made worse when dinner wasn't ready at the appointed time. I absolutely hated dinner appointments for this reason, free food or not.

Anon000 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And they aren't able to eat at ward members homes
> unless they have an investigator with them.
> Totally ridiculous!


You must (must not) understand something: [churchwide] members are encouraged, in fact even made (feel guilty) to [think weekly pre-stood sign-up sheets] FEED THEM. They eat at member's homes and are taken out to eat, as well as eating at fare-whales, clicks houses, grocery store samples, baptisms, funerals, birthdays, holidays, dumpsters, etc., and in many experiences, local members bring them 'food boxes' and some have even been wise - or hungry - enough to find (other church's) food pantries.

I fed a family of twelve for $720 per month and could do so today. That is $2 per day per person. And we used whole milk, etc. Don't buy soda, prepared meats, eat out, or anything expensive or not on sale.