I served in the ELM from 1975 to 1977. I joined the Church in 1974! I was from Essex. Anyone else serve in that mission and remember when a load of Missionary s bunked off to London?
I've been on ex-mo sites since 2009 and I have never found anyone who was in my mission in the mid-60s. That was the Mexican Mission, when there were just four missions in all of Mexico.
It seems like mishies at the age of 19 are there just to please their families who put pressure for them to go on a mission.It seems like many young mishies are not serious about being mishies,buty only do it because it is expected of them. If they are bunking off,then they do not care really about converting souls.
If missioanires were serving for the Baptist church as a foreign mishie,then they would be more professionally trained in theology and have far more choice in their freedom of movement without being restricted by Mormon missionary rules.
It seems many young Mormon mishies are unsure of why they go on missions.That is why they have such restrictive and childish rules controlling their movements and leisure activities.They can easily bunk off and become michievious.The church can not trust them to be serious about missionary work.
Missionaires for protestant church would have to be more prepared to be serious about the devotion and be the equivalent to an ordained minister.They do not need a list of 70 rules and restrictions.
I had only been a member a year when i went on my mission. So i found the rules and American sales techniques very odd. In those days English elders assigned to England went straight to the mission field, no MTC, quite a shock!
I actually know a guy who was in the England Leeds Mission from mid 1975 to mid 1977. He was from Texas. Actually he still lives in Texas. I thought of him the other day after seeing a post about the Brown's. He dated Mommy Brown in the early 70's before she married her pervert. What a small world.
So were you ever companions with an elder from Texas?
I am not/was not the elder mentioned in this thread.
I joined the church in the Leeds Mission during this time, one of the elders who taught me was from Texas, Dallas I think, he was in the mission mid 1975 to mid 1977......
I grew up in England Leeds Mission, but only reached double figures in '77, so don't remember a London bunk. I was however privileged to have the missionaries living in our home from 84 to 86 and we had some choice spirits!! One who claimed they were teaching a bartender, and the only place they could teach him was at work...in a nightclub. One guy of African descent who listened to Jimi Hendrix as it was his "culture" (he went on to AP). And one bright lad who got sent home for empathising with John Lennon's Imagine. At the time I thought he was almost the antichrist, now I have massive respect for him seeing through the lies at such a young age.
I was a teenager in Peterlee branch at this time. Did you ever have any interaction with Peterlee or our missionaries? I'd like to hear the story of the bunk off to London!
I served in Billingham so knew of Peterlee. I believe it was a new town and quite a hard time for missionary work. It was a branch them and i believe a branch now. I notice Hartlepool which was a ward when i was there is now a branch! Do you know how many active members in Peterloo now adays? When did you leave?
The big bunk off to London happened when the American Mission President left and was replaced by a guy from New Zealand. Alot of the American elders didnt like his non business approach to missionary work. Alot decided not to go tracting etc and on the day off decided they would all go to London!One showed me some pictures and coming from London i recognised it! I was very shocked but said nothing. Eventually because of members contacting the misssion president because the missionaries were just hanging out at members homes doing nothing it all blew up! Big Mission conference, each missionary interviewed by the Resident. Lots of threats, missionarys moved and calm returned but still a bad atmosphere! So much for Gods missionarys!
I was living in the area at the time, and remember the NZ MP, Roberts I think his name was. He took over from Royden G Derrick when the mission split into the Leeds and Manchester Missions in 1976. I don't remember hearing of any problems amongst the missionaries, but if I recall correctly the MP didn't serve the full 3 years. Anybody know if it was anything to do with any problems within the mission or was it health reasons?
Roberts went home early because he had health problems and he and his wife were quite old. I remember sitting next to her at a mission conference, she said if i start to drop off asleep wake me up! Poor thing was worn out by the mission work.i really like Roberts and his wife. He believed that you shoul love people into the church whereas i found Pres Derrick a cold businessman!
Thanks, I thought that was most likely the case. I remember him visiting our very small branch one Sunday, he was pretty new out. He seemed very likeable, friendly and approachable, unlike some others I've known since. I always remember myself and another young woman talking to him, and she said to him that he didn't sound very American. (We didn't know he was from NZ), and he laughed and said that was because he wasn't American! She was very red faced! Lol
You are quite right that Peterlee was a new town. My parents joined the church when Peterlee branch was first formed around 1957, along with a few other families that formed the mainstay of the branch for my membership there - other people came and went over the years but the number of active members stayed steady at about 30 of the same people over the years that I was an active member.
I was BIC in 1959 and was active until I left home in early 1978 to work in London. My experiences in the Kingston Ward, after my upbringing in such a small, family-like branch, were so bad that I eventually became inactive and have not had anything to do with the church since then. So unfortunately I have had no contact with anyone from Peterlee branch for a lot of years.
Given my knowledge of the Peterlee I am not surprised that it is still a branch but I was somewhat surprised, and even shocked, to learn that Hartlepool is now a branch rather than a ward. I would really like to know the story behind that.
I grew up in the British North Mission, which became the Leeds and Manchester Mission's in the 70's. Never heard of missionaries taking off to London. But in those days parents used to come to the missions to collect their children and travel around the country before heading back to where ever home was.
No hats with Pres. Roberts and Pres. Smart. Actually pretty much the first thing that Pres. Smart said in his first conference was: Elders, I want you to look smart!
ELM 1977 Interesting to see how many ex-mormons cherish their mission time despite the one or the other problem. To end the speculations on Pres. Roberts early return to New Zealand: He told us that he had received a phonecall one morning (I think it was around 3 am). It was Pres. Kimball who said something like "you sound very tired". And "Oh, I keep forgetting the difference in time ..." And he said that they would like to call Sr. Roberts as temple matron of the New Zealand Temple. And after a short break he said that this would of course mean that Pr. Roberts would have to go there as president of the temple. I didn't notice any health or age issues. Being tired doesn't always come from age, but sometimes from working hard.
ELM Early 80's Must have been some problems w/ Roberts though, i.e. numbers too low, complaints, etc. because they normally won't pull them out early prior. Anyway, we often bunked off to places outside our mission in those days. Had some guys even cross over to France, etc. Whoa..I know..so rebellious.
The Mission President of ELM (England London Mission) Milan Smith in 1975 went home early due to health issues. Maybe ELM really means Early Leaving Mission.
In 1975 the England London Mission had three different Mission Presidents.
I served in the ELM from January 1985 to August 1986. Was in Gateshead, Halifax, Bradford, Washington and, lastly, Newcastle. Mission President was Dixie L Leavitt.
Despite my complete and utter rejection of the church I still adore, and maintain a meaningful connection to, my mission President and his wife plus five of my companions. One of which I would consider to be my closest and dearest friend.
Have a vague recollection of hearing about the field trip to London.
Was Washington a branch when you served there? It doesn't seem to be one anymore! I served in Consett and our mission District covered Gateshead and Washington although the Zone leaders did all the work there!
I presume Washington branch became part of Gateshead ward? I know Consett branch and Durham branch became Stanley Ward. I would love to know the numbers for Stanley Ward as when I was in Consett which covered Consett ,Stanley and Durham had 35 active members on a good day. Consett was so cold we called it ,Ice station Zebra!
I grew up in this mission. It started out as the British North Mission, then became Leeds, then they split it and half went to Leeds half became Manchester. And during all these mission changes I lived in the same house .....the lines just kept moving.
I grew up in this mission as well. I was present at the organization of the Sunderland stake and worked many, many hours on building the stake centre. I left the UK in 1966 to go on my own mission. Since then I have only returned for visits. I would be interested to hear updates on conditions in the LDS church since then. Any data on South Shields? When I left there was nothing in Washington, Gateshead was a branch and Hartlepool was a relatively strong ward.
My first hand knowledge is relatively out of date but I can say that when I lived in the South Shields ward (1994-1997) after my mission, when I was first married, both the South Shields and Gateshead wards were very strong.
I don't think there was a Washington Branch anymore at that time.
I don't know about Hartlepool. Have heard it mentioned so many time that I have always presumed its a relatively strong ward but that's not much help I appreciate. :)
Missionary activity like this got a mission president sacked in 1969. The Italian Mission was cobbled together from the erstwhile Bavarian Mission and a couple of others. Missionaries were sent down to the new mission HQ in Florence in 1967 with a great sense of adventure of opening a new country and learning a language, but often wandered off the reservation. They called it "ausflugging," a corruption of the German "ausflug," meaning excursion. The mission president, a certain John Dunn, opened the mission, but had a hard time supervising the new bunch, who had no phones, had rapidly changing addresses, and were scattered over 18 cities in an area the size of California. The missionaries took great advantage of this and bunked off to some wild places, mostly Tunis, Paris, Vienna, and once allegedly even to Moscow. The church got its collective nose bent over this, and sent Dunn home after two years, installing Hartmon Rector as interim MP. Dunn, whose own son was one of the new missionaries, was understandably offended and embarrassed, and went inactive for a long period. Eventually he came back into the church.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2017 11:10AM by cludgie.