the church is always harping they need more seniors to go on missions. i hear they need 16000 but only currently have 4000. why are they not going? could be mission presidents have no clue what to do with them. the vast majority go on missions and when they are arrive are just left to decide what they will do. it gives you the feeling of not really being needed. then the local leadership treats them like indentured servants. i would say that most of them only go on one mission and that is all it takes to decide they have better things to do with their lives than to waste their time and money doing very little if anything.

Don't forget, many of the "mission" opportunities are actually solicitations for unpaid professional services, and in some cases even assignments to work for for-profit TSCC enterprises.

Here is a current list of what they are recruiting now:

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/callings/missionary/senior-missionary/senior-missionary-opportunities.pdf

Think of all that free labor...

Only in the Mormon Church is a single woman who is 40 years old considered a "Senior Sister" (on page 6). Gimme a fetching break.

Wow - I copied and pasted one here that seems to be repeated for many of the listed missions:

"Mission: Missouri Independence
Two couples are needed to serve 12 or 18 months, one
couple to begin November 2017 and another to begin in
April 2018. Couples will work with the facilities management
group to maintain facilities and landscaping at the
visitors’ centers and historic sites in the Independence
Missouri area. Brethren should be able to perform
handyman tasks including repairs to facilities and
equipment. Sisters will help with cleaning tasks and work
with their husbands with grounds care including lawns
and flower beds. "

I cannot imagine any retirement doing that. No wonder there are so few volunteers. These should be paid positions to local people.

That work sounds much too rigorous for older people. Perhaps before they die of exhaustion while on the job, they will be in the proper spirit to bequest part or all of their estate to the LDS church.

In Independence, it's not a "dry" heat like it is in Utah. It's very miserable moist humid heat, and one can dehydrate very easily. Older folks should never be in that type of environment for prolonged periods. Temp's routinely soar into the 100's during the summer months.

My parents, both loyal and righteous members of the cult never went. I never asked why they didn't consider it when they were in their 60's or early 70's.

They aren't missions. They are PAY-TO-[slave]WORK (missionary) positions.

I've been closely associated with several, less closely associated with many. Only in rare cases, I'll wager, to the seniors have a clue about their jobs, largely due to the fact that their jobs and their job qualifications are squishy and elusive. Still, many seniors are just plain unqualified to be there, and are simply looking for what they identify as "adventure" (Mormon-style). Often, the adventure is only just the part about living in a particular foreign country, or in my wife's step-father's case (working in the Idaho Falls temple), stopping people both non-Mormon and Mormon, and hectoring them non-stop about Mormonism, temple work, Joseph Smith, their salvation, etc., following and alienating everyone, even being told to leave them the hell alone. That, to ol' Less (kids called him "Granpa Less and Less"), was "high adventure."

I only know of one senior couple that has gone on a mission in my parent's 'ward', which is also where I live. I believe this couple is still 'out in the field'. They sold their home for super cheap, plus they are missing out on the lives of their young grandchildren. How do these retirees even afford to do this? They have to pay for their living expenses, right? I'm wondering what this couple I know of is going to do after they are done. They no longer have a home.
Luckily I don't think my own parents will consider a 'senior mission' because father has medical issues.

Worst case that I've seen is a woman who demanded that she and her husband serve NOW, in spite of the fact they were only in their mid-50's and not retired. They financed their mission by selling their home and using the equity. Problem is, they got sent to one of the church's more expensive missions, Kinshasa DRC, where their rent alone was over $3,000 per month (to live like an American). They blew through their equity really fast, then became a burden on their kids and the ward for several months. When they got back, he became a long-haul driver, and they lived in the sleeper of his tractor, and drove all over the U.S. That was fine until she was diagnosed with cancer, and they had nothing. We've lost touch, and I don't know what's happened to them since.

It never ceases to amaze me, that people will fall for this scam. "Give us your money, then work for us doing whatever we demand, for free. Then do it all over again."

Proof positive that the Mormon church is a still just as big a con as Joseph was. And maybe even better at brainwashing the faithful.

Plus, they have the audacity to claim they are the FAMILY church, and then expect grandma and grandpa to disappear out of their grandchildren's lives to go to some cheesy missionary labor camp.

I saw that there are a large number of Medical, Dental, and Mental Health professionals needed. Wow! Free labor is right!


If someone had the time or inclination to go through the 'openings' and add up what the average payroll total would be if these were paid positions. I'm not that bored plus I do not care!

There was a SR. missionary couple in Kirtland that I talked to about how they liked their mission.

He did the tours, and just loved chatting with people all day. She on the other hand hated it. She said she didn't know she was going to be nothing more than a live in housekeeper day after day. She said she was so tired at the end of every day that she no longer cooked dinner. They were eating fast food crap. They lived in tiny dumpy little apartment.

She missed her home, her grandkids, and decent food. I couldn't help but wonder why she didn't pack her bags and take the next plane out of there. Hubby probably would have had a fit.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2017 02:15PM by janis.

People need to work much longer these days. The number of members financially able,or even willing to volunteer for a senior mission is likely to keep dwindling. It's just basic economics.