In an obvious bid to recruit senior missionaries, Elder Ronald Rasband stated,

"If some of you are looking to fill what some call a bucket list, this is it: Fill your bucket with oil in the form of the living water of Jesus Christ....In contrast, checking off a far-off place or a spectacular event will never leave your soul feeling whole or satisfied; living the doctrine taught by Jesus Christ will."

Meanwhile, Elder Rasband spent the last weekend on a "ministry" trip to Paris, France. His wife strolled on Omaha Beach, appreciating the spot where her father landed safely during WWII.

I think I will visit Normandy, roll in the sand, and have my wife take a picture of me with Book of Mormon in hand, a poster of Christ next to me, while preaching to the birds. Then autograph the 8X12 Glossy print, and send it to him.

If that does not get me into a Court of Love, I don't know what will.

Love it.

They are hypocrites in as much they do check off their personal bucket list of visiting foreign places when on the company's dime. And Senior missionaries who pay for their own missions do the same local tourism bit.

I would hear my mission president say to senior couples "When you get a chance, be sure to go to _____. They have a wonderful garden that can be enjoyed in the afternoon, and there are several restaurants with fine cuisine, my wife and I recommend every one of them."

Contrast this with my mission president's message for regular missionaries at my zone conference. "How many of you elders and sisters have visited the big St. _____ church (Catholic church where it was alleged to have visions)? A bunch of hands went up when all of us had gone for P-day fun in their vast gardens, outdoor fields and basketball courts. We went there often as we didn't need keys to get into a locked up Mormon church building.

"Well that's a big no-no! Shame on you. That's outside your assigned areas and I better not hear about any more missionaries doing local touristy things."

advice to MORmON ASSpostHOLES looking for members to serve missions to sell the book of MORmON scam to the public -do not let the ddoor hit you in the ass on your way to do it yourself

The term “bucket list” turns my stomach.

So life is about checking off a list?

The complete lack of spiritual depth of Mormon leaders is something I recognized long before I finally had the guts to leave.

I think a bucket list is more about fulfilling personal goals. For me, it's about paying off my mortgage and retiring. I'd also like to travel, and I have some specific places in mind, along with some destinations that will be open to serendipity. I also want to pursue drawing and painting again, read lots of novels, and other things as well.

Rasband wants lots and lots of senior missionaries to pay for the opportunity to do church jobs. He wants them to work for the church instead of fulfilling their personal goals in their golden years. How many stories have we heard about TBM couples selling their homes and spending down their savings to do mission after mission? How much time do they have for their grandchildren?

Elder Rasband, on the other hand, takes a wonderful trip to Paris and Normandy with his wife, and calls that a working trip because he spoke in church on Sunday, and can therefore charge all expenses to the church. How nice for him, right?

I think the spotlight should be on what we can do for others before our time is up.

That doesn’t preclude personal goals.

It’s just that personal goals ought to be connected with what we can do for others.

The whole self-care craze misses this crucial point.

I associate the term “bucket list” with the self-care craze.

Life should be deeper than that. The spotlight must be on helping others, not pampering ourselves.

Well, having spent the last 27 years caring for others as an urban teacher, in often dangerous, violent, and sub-optimal circumstances, I figure I've done my bit. I'm looking forward to some "me" time in retirement. But YMMV.

Rasband's audience are seniors who have already provided a lifetime's worth of money and time to the Mormon church. Personally, I think that everyone has the right to say when they've done enough.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 09:37AM by summer.

I’ve never seen anything more convincing and inspiring than a life focused on serving others from start to finish.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 12:56PM by unconventional.

Well, I just saw a news piece a few days ago about a 95 year old teacher who is still at it in Virginia.

That will not be me.

Of course, service takes many forms.

My point is, and I’m saying it more to me than anyone else, and that is, bucket lists, and self-care are dead-ends if not driven primarily by a desire to serve others.

Self-care and bucket lists are not the answers. Our Western materialism makes them look like such, but they’re nothing more than cleverly disguised forms of self-indulgence.

Again, I’m talking mostly to myself because I don’t know you summer or anyone else here.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 12:57PM by unconventional.

You are entitled to your opinion. I just find it hypocritical of Rasband to encourage continued sacrifice on the part of members who have already given so much -- especially when he, himself, is enjoying a trip to Paris with his wife on the church's dime. I think that seniors have earned the right to rest, relax, and enjoy their families if they so desire.

My opportunities to travel thus far have been limited. My dream has always been to travel, and I need the time and resources to do that, which I will have in my retirement. I feel that I've more than earned that.

Teachers, as a group, tend to be very self-sacrificing in terms of time and money, and one of the hardest lessons for us to learn is to start looking after our own needs more. It's the lop-sidedness that is the issue. Hence my desire for more "me" time in retirement.

I do realize that those who work in the business sector for much of their lives, as Rasband did, may have more of a desire to give back later on in life. But Rasband is among the privileged in the church who can pretend that a trip to Paris counts as church service.

My bucket list was completed when I threw out the notion that I needed or wanted a bucket list.

Golf counts! That's one thing I would like to try out in retirement. I learn from the best, EOD!

summer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well, I just saw a news piece a few days ago about
> a 95 year old teacher who is still at it in
> Virginia.
>
> That will not be me.

Ha - good line, summer - That will not be me.

For sure you have more than earned a very long and blissful retirement. You have planned your life well and I agree that you certainly deserve as much relaxation and happiness as you can stand when you say good-bye to the kids for the last time.

> For sure you have more than earned
> a very long and blissful retirement.


So you're suggesting that she not take up golf?  I think that's a little harsh!  Even when one does not play to the level one seeks, there is still some joy to be attained.

Retirement is hopefully for doing whatever your little heart desires.

Will you hate me if I admit to seriously disliking golf? I don't get the fascination. Nor why people get paid the big bucks for sinking a little ball into a little hole.

Absolutely. Totally. Boring. Sorry.

Soccer - now there's a fine way to spend time in this life - kicking around a soccer ball to the delight - and heartbreak - of millions of onlookers. Endlessly fascinating and fun.

There is a very basic plan in place for golf called the Handicapping System.  This allows competition between ANY two golfers!

Taking the scores from the last twenty outings, the best eight are selected, added together, and divided by eight to get the average score. That becomes one's handicap when counted over par.  So if your best eight out of the last 20 averages out to 90, that means your handicap is -18, meaning that you deduct -18 from today's new score, while your opponent does the same.

In the case of professionals, they may have a plus-handicap, meaning that they have to add strokes to their score because they keep shooting less than par.

So if you play Jon Rahm, whose handicap is around +13, and you're a -18, you actually have a chance of winning a couple of bucks from him, given that if he shoots a lousy (for him) two-under par (70), you just have to shoot 102 or better!

Yes, I agree with you, there is room on your viewing schedule to watch an elite golfer try to endure a $5 front, back, and total against your average duffer, something that would make no sense in footie.

You're welcome!

My personal goals can be whatever I please. That's what makes them personal. No one has the right to tell me, or anyone else, what they ought to be.

I've had enough of other people dictating what life should be, or what it ought to be focused on doing. So to anyone trying to dictate my life I tell them to piss up and rope and supply their own rope.

The meaning you give to life is yours alone. Your view on life or a so called self indulgence craze doesn't give any less meaning to people living theirs.

Edited to add some sentences.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 06:40PM by scaredhusband.

>>unconventional wrote: The term “bucket list” turns my stomach.
So life is about checking off a list?

I'm feeling older. My bucket list has basically turned into my fuckit list.

Plus another 1000!

First summer, then NG, and now dagny??? Soon the whole board will sound like me.

See what you started, summer?

:)

I learn from the best.

Lot's Wife Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First summer, then NG, and now dagny??? Soon the
> whole board will sound like me.
>
> See what you started, summer?

Sometimes there is no more fitting word than the one that springs to mind first in certain circumstances.

And some circumstances positively demand that it be uttered.

Although it takes some of us a bit longer to get there. :P

That's a perfect name for "it." I've never considered a bucket list.

I guess if I were to have one, it would have been to go to Alaska. I have always been obsessed with places like Alaska and I don't know why. And since my daughter went to work there years ago and is still working there during the summers (just left), then I have been 4 times. No need to do anything else except do what I can for my kids and dogs.

Great example of the arrogant emptiness of the Mormon leaders, summer.

Rasband truly showed his colors there.

Done & Done Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great example of the arrogant emptiness of the
> Mormon leaders, summer.

Arrogant emptiness.

Poetic, D.

I'm going to write it down in my little book of inspiring utterances.

I don’t want to climb anything, jump off of or out of anything, swim with sharks or feed crocodiles.

I would like to meet people, preferably in countries with warm climates, but I’d happily freeze to see the northern lights.

I am a okay with having these dreams that will unlikely come to fruition. It’s a nice distraction from what can be the drudgery of life.

Service is not a contest. We do things that we find important whether you do or not.

Retired military? Congrats! Why do you need to write that twice? Not impressed by lifers who cling to that as some badge of honor. So tired of dick measuring.

Beth, HM3 USN (no dick)

Edited out my previous employment in order to shine the spotlight on the main point.

So, my main point is that maybe as a culture we are off track when it comes to retirement priorities. As other people have commented, the bucket list mentality is also for them a bit of a joke.

Living outside of the USA right now, that point is driven home to me each and everyday.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 02:12PM by unconventional.

"I wanted to do silly things like visit my grandchildren, or take a trip on a cruise ship to Alaska, but I feel so much more fulfilled because my wife and I are following the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ by serving the Lord as maintenance workers at a private hunting reserve owned by The Church™. We can truly feel His presence when I'm fixing a leaky water pipe, or my wife is washing sheets. We haven't seen our family in a year, but we feel so blessed, because just last week, a private jet landed with a hunting a party from Salt Lake City and--can you believe it...even though we were told not to say who it was, we touched the same luggage as an apostle of the Lord!"

One caveat:

While being on a senior mission for the LDS Church may indeed be a waste of time, going away for six months or so, living adventurously, and sharing with grandchildren, even having them join you can be a fantastic legacy to leave behind.

To be sure, being grandparents doesn’t just mean going to baseball games, and recitals.

I know most people understand that.

Just adding perhaps a less appreciated perspective.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 03:21PM by unconventional.

It looks like TB[Long] has some competition!

What really gets me is that the church should be paying the way of senior missionaries with in-demand skills such as the trades, accounting, etc. But the greedy church not only wants the seniors to donate valuable, skilled labor, but also to pay for their own housing and other expenses. How come the Mission Presidents get everything paid for, but the skilled senior missionaries, not? How does that work?

Ha ha



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2023 02:11PM by unconventional.

I love to go to places where events of history have taken place which is why I visited Normandy some years ago. Bucket list or not I would highly recommend a visit. I woukld recommend, too, Ferme de la Ranconniere in nearby Crepon as a hotel.

I think travel is on most people's bucket list. This is what Mark Twain said about travel:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

I can see why a general authority from the Mormon church would discourage Mormons from having a bucket list full of places they want to visit.

Is Rasband aware that in General conference just a couple of years prior, Bednar talked about going on safari in Africa with his wife? Is it just okay for the general authorities to travel the globe having interesting experiences but the minions need to stay put and fill their buckets with oil? Hypocrites.

Seniors are cheap labor to the church. Local leaders treat them like indentured servants.

Whenever I think of Elder Rasband the tears of joy just start overwhelmingly flowing down my cheeks. He is one of the 15 most beloved men in my life. When he speaks I'm on fire to focus on obeying, obeying, and obeying without ever having any doubts be allowed to enter my mind. This is how the Correlation program has worked to wire my brain and think is this peculiar way.