Remember, he's currently out with his scythe, in the field white (White?) and ready to harvest:


"I was in a meeting with a member family and the stake president. One of the family members started giving the stake president a hard time about a problem he had with the church. The stake president responded with 'Look, I'm trying my best, I'm just a volunteer'!

"The member and the SP both had valid points, but I thought that the SP's response was interesting.

"Fast forward a few weeks, when I got caught face-timing a girl, and the MP gives me a call to let me know it's against the rules and I need to stop.

"I said 'Pres, okay, my bad, I'm just a volunteer and I'm trying my best'. I don't think pres had heard that response before.

"It felt nice to remind myself of what a mission really is. I'm not getting paid to be out here. I really am trying my best and sometimes I cope with the stress by reaching and talking to friends. I am just a volunteer."


Nice, huh?

But the status changed from volunteer to two-year indentured slave back in the mid-1970s, when D-Day was changed to P-Day.

>> But the status changed from volunteer to two-year indentured slave back in the mid-1970s, when D-Day was changed to P-Day.

Maybe it's changing back again, and that would be a good thing. Didn't there used to be less nannying of missionaries in the old days?

As far as I know, the nanny function of mission presidents and their minions has been fairly active since the early 1970s at the very latest.

Do you think the entire missionary program will collapse when the majority of the missionaries fully understand they are volunteers?

elderolddog Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 'Look, I'm trying my
> best, I'm just a volunteer'!
===============================
This got a chuckle. It's just one step short of:
'look, I'm trying my best, I'm just following orders!'

Translation:
"Hey, I'm just trying to maintain order here, stop throwing rocks!"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Iv4PFgOmAsI

I think there have been many "I couldn't handle the pressure/stress of serving a mission" early returners. Whether the church liked it or not, the number has skyrocketed. The fear of being an early return missionary "outcast" no longer scares them to stay in the missionary field and tough it out.

The church tried to counter the nansy-pansy types who are unprepared to be off social media, told what to do and live in filth and squalor by shifting more responsibilities to bishops and stake presidents to weed out the problems.

I think most youth who are still active in the church know many of the peers who have returned early or skipped serving a mission altogether.

About a decade ago, I was a volunteer with a hospice organization. Unlike my mission experience (many years prior), I clearly understood that I was a volunteer. When it got to the point that I was sick of the crap I had to put up with, I quit. By the way, the crap came 100% from the organization, and 0% from the people I was trying to help.

As a missionary, not only was I a volunteer, but my family was paying for the privilege of me volunteering.