I have a truly TBM niece who has a son on a mission now, to I guess what could be called a 2nd world country. I won’t be specific as to where he is in case someone here knows this family.

She posted this to Facebook today:

For anyone looking for a way to help provide Christmas for those in need, I have access to a Christmas Wish List for Elders and Sisters serving in XXXXXXXXX. All 21 Mission Presidents have provided a list of the things needed. Anything from toiletries to scriptures to clothes and shoes, etc. Many of the XXXXXXX missionaries come out with nothing. My son has asked us to use his money and send his companion, Elder XXXXX, some items. He came to his mission with nothing. So, if you want your family to participate in a meaningful Christmas project, let me know, but don't wait. Anything needed on these lists must be shipped by boat (by a sweet sister who is in charge of this project) no later than October 1st. Thank you!

So tell me, while I guess this is a decent plan, why doesn’t the church supply the basic needs for these elders, such as clothes and shoes. I’m not sure how this works but I guess it bothers me that some of money used to build a new temple in Haiti or let’s say, the City Creek thing in downtown Salt Lake, isn’t being used to supply the basic needs of the missionaries.

I guess I probably know the answer already.

It bothers me that the money I received from my savings and from my relatives when I was a missionary, before the payment plan dating from the 1990's, was enough to sustain me without asking for more. AND I bought a couple of suits, shirts, and other trifles on my mission, in addition to paying my rent and food. Now the church has you pay so much toward a mission, providing only a pittance to each missionary, and then have the balls to ask you to send more. And not fun stuff, either, like a good CD or something, but things like soap, shampoo, and copies of the BoM.

^ that.
I sold my fully-restored '67 Mustang to pay for my mission. My parents supplemented that.

I shoulda kept the car and stayed home :(

For the OP, yes -- it's shameful that the church doesn't provide the basic needs for "indigent" missionaries. Especially when they have so much money to spend on corporate interests.

Have you asked Jesus if he can return it to you?

If I remember correctly we were supposed to receive uncountable blessings for doing the right thing and serving a mission.

I feel that is so shameful, too. How pitiful for those young women and men giving up college and/or a decent paying job to serve the mission, and some of them do that in poverty. I would have been in that boat had I not worked a few years and sold my car to finance the mission. Grrr just thinking about the insane things we did for tscc. I feel for those stuck in the mission field for whatever reason. (And no it's not character building, it's ball busting.)

NO. They do not "come out with nothing"! Damn liars. There is a huge list of appropriate clothing and other items they are to take with them when they leave home.
We learned very quickly that the Post Office employees in some South American countries opened the packages and took what they wanted.
We sent one shoe in one pkg and the other in a second pkg. I found the best way to get supplies needed during the time my daughter was in Argentina was to put tampons on top of the other personal items in the pkg and mark it Hygiene Products. That was the only way she got what she needed. Apparently they didn't sell tampons or reasonable feminine hygiene products there. Lots of other normal items were not available either.
All of these packages went through the Mission Packets that went out probably weekly to the missions.

There were excellent thieves who could steal items right out of your backpack on a crowded bus.

I'm come from a family who served "missions" in various countries from the Christian Churches they served in. It was not uncommon to send them supplies from their church also.

In the US some mission presidents let the missionaries have a guitar, for instance, (years ago) so we sent one to our son.

The two of our kids that served missions have left the LDS Church. They have no regrets about their missions, however.

Each mission has a NO NO list.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/01/2017 02:15PM by SusieQ#1.

I was thinking when I first read this it was Tonga or Samaoa, or other Pacific Island region, or possibly African country. Yes missionaries from poor countries do come out with almost none of the required items because they simply don't have the funds or wherewithall to obtain the items.

Parents are despicable to put their young people in a situation of begging for shoes and toothpaste. There's no excuse for this for for the missionaries staying in such situations. But who do people blame? Answer: Unrelated strangers are expected to step in and pay for strong healthy young people to live in squalor and accomplish little if nothing for two wasted years.

Why doesn't LDS Inc. Just ship clothing items from Deseret Industries? I'm sure there are many good white shirts, etc. just gathering dust in one of their big warehouses. It seems kind of silly to purchase white shirts that will most likely be thrown in the garbage after the missionary has worn the shirt in sweaty hot weather for 2 years. I remember elders in my mission in Switzerland burning their clothes before going home - they didn't want to look at those clothes EVER again.

Also, why doesn't the mission president supply the missionaries with whatever they need? He can just stock pile items such as toothpaste, etc., and distribute as needed. LDS Inc. can send a check for the items. Isn't that what the missionary fund is for? And if certain items are not available in particular countries, with all the money LDS Inc. has, why not ship large quantities of items via special currier to be stock piled at the mission home.

One last thought... I'm too lazy to do the math, but my last Google search showed that there are currently 74,000 LDS missionaries irritating people throughout the world. Now that the parents of missionaries send the monthly support checks ($400) directly to SLC, isn't that an awful lot of interest that LDS rakes in? Can't they use some of that interest $$$ for missionary supplies?

The hierarchy is there to gather money not dispense it.

You're right, LOL! Silly Me!

Why can't the mission in the area get the essentials in bulk, i.e. Cheap, then have a little store , where the missionaries can come in and get what they want for really cheap too, and the little stuff for free, like a tube of toothpaste,toothbrushes, which has to last a certain amount of time, generic brands

I began my two year trek through hell in 1970. I was given a list of items to bring and admonished to not bring anything else. Eight white shirts, 8 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 suits, etc, and a few church books which never were opened. My Parents were instructed to send me $120 a month and not a penny more. They set up a checking account for deposits and gave me a check book with strict instructions to not overspend.

Us missionaries bought our own Book of Mormons from the mission home to hand out and we could ask for fifty cents when we did. We bought our flannel boards from the mission home as well as filmstrips and cassette tapes. We supplied our own recorders to play the cassettes on. The mighty morg didn't supply us with a damn thing except for words of encouragement along with it's accompanying signs, tokens, and penalties.

We paid for our own apartment rents, utilities, food, and anything else we needed for survival. The mission supplied cars but we put the gas in them and paid for the required maintenance with our allotted $120. If I asked my Parents for a little bit extra, they said that I should follow the rules and learn to live within my means.

At one Zone Conference I was so hungry that I was almost sick. Afterwards we drove home and stopped at a fast food place but I only had a dime and three pennies, not enough for anything, so I sat in the car hungry. Luckily for me one of the missionaries brought me a hamburger which I ate very slowly to savor every bite. At Christmas time I received a few cards from home and amassed a great fortune of $35, Jesus I was so excited to have some jingle in my pocket for a week or so.

I consider those two years to be the dark years of my life.

DH was on his mission in Italy where he bought trinkets and other non-trinkety items. He shipped these items back home at an alarming rate and lived quite well.

notmonotloggedin

Sunbeep, reading your post reminded me of the money I had to shell out during my mission to teach the discussions. We showed filmstrips to investigators using heavy old filmstrip projectors that we had to haul around on foot and bike. The projectors had lightbulbs that would burn out. The bulbs were really expensive - about $20 USD. We had to pay for the bulbs out of our own pocket. At the time I didn't think anything of it. Now I'm pissed off!

Notmonotlogged in: perhaps DH was on his mission back in the 80s when the dollar was strong. For a time the exchange rate was 4 USD for 1 Swiss Frank. Today the exchange rate is 0.97 Swiss Franks for 1 USD. Quite a difference. In Italy, the exchange rate was probably even better back in the 80s. Today I don't know how anyone can survive on $400 USD/month.

to burn and enjoyed all the stuff he sent back to the states. His family had no compunction about sending him all the money ye wanted and he dutifully spent it.

On our $120 we could afford to buy yougurt and milk and bread because they were subsidized by the government otherwise we only ate cornflakes, oatmill, a low quality fish, and low quality sausages. On my companion's birthday I splurged and bought him a liter of ice cream on a hot july afternoon. We still remember sitting there and just devouring that icecream like it was the best food we had ever eaten.

I ate in a restaurant once on my mission, a non-member paid for a bunch of us to eat seafood! A couple of years ago I returned to my mission for a visit, it was such a joy to just buy and eat normal food. Something you would not understand unless you have lived for many months eating rice and bad fish.

Asking for money for 'scriptures'. Whatever scriptures they need should definitely be provided by tscc.

Huntington, IN, dead of winter; my first Mish assignment:

the car, an AM Rambler, with NO WORKING HEATER :(

I HAD TO BEG LEADERS, INCL. MY COMP, TO FIX IT :):)

Turns out, it was a defective $3.00 valve that controlled water to the heater core....SHEESH PEOPLE!

NO RESPECT FOR 'THE ELDERS OF ZION'?

the MP, Frank Berg, lamented that he had pleaded with SL to replace the (Oldest in fleet)car for weeks, but no success...

LATER, that model car, without a (then current)shoulder belt, was a death trap for one of the elders...

U be the judge.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2017 05:23PM by GNPE.

I hope that guy never never enjoys one restful night of uninterrupted sleep as long as he lives.

I had several unpopular companions, but one guy was beyond pathetic. He was surviving on noodles and discounted bread and bologna. At the end of the month, I discovered what he was doing. He was sending money orders to two of his siblings. He was surviving on 35 per month. When he ran out of food, he simply stole food from his companions.

Much of South America, and almost completely in Africa, are staffed by missionaries from their own continent. The big long list that most here are familiar with, church members in poorer countries, and those in countries without a lot of member support either, can find themselves without white shirts or dress slacks or shoes and a whole host of other things.