So my 19 year old son received his mission call. I talked to him quite a bit about all the uglier scenarios he could encounter as a missionary, including potential abuses within the LDS missionary program itself, but after talking it through at length, he decided to go ahead, and will soon be headed to Manchester, NH.

So I'm wondering if any RfMers have served there, or know much about the area, and what my son can expect. He's pretty chill and open-minded, not at all a hardcore TBM.

And just as important, his mission president and wife. The couple are Thomas J. and Heather Blair. They only recently got called to this assignment and arrived out there in June or July. The Blairs are from St. Louis. I've heard from more than one source that Mrs. Blair is a HUGE fan of Hamilton, the musical. As a singer/performer myself, that was a plus in my book. I've also heard that the couple are fun, caring, and enthusiastic: not common words I've heard in conjunction with missions and mission presidencies. If anyone knows anything about them, I'd love to hear from you.

I've accepted my son's decision, and though I don't encourage or support the church's missionary program I do love and support my son, and hope he will experience some genuine and positive character building, as well as encounter people and information that will help him think as he goes along this path for the next two years.

This will be a great mission for him. You won't have to worry about your son because New Hampshire is very safe.

The people are friendly, down to earth and take no BS, so he will have little in the way of missionary success. And there are exmos not far away in case he ever needs support in fleeing home. :-)

It sounds like the perfect place for an exmo's child.

65% of New Hampshire is not religious. Less than 1% LDS. Tell him to prepare for a lot of closed doors.

35.15% of the people in New Hampshire, New Hampshire are religious, meaning they affiliate with a religion. 24.00% are Catholic; 0.63% are LDS; 2.30% are another Christian faith; 0.32% in New Hampshire, New Hampshire are Jewish; 0.04% are an eastern faith; 0.12% affilitates with Islam.

I served there some years ago... nice people but not

interested in Mormonism... Heavy Catholic.

He will be fine and not come home with a tape worm.

I really didn't serve .. I was a salesman selling an out of

date product like World Book Encyclopedia.

A Waste of two fooking years

Yes, I knew there was a large Catholic population; a lot of French Canadians came to Manchester to work at the mills, and quite a few people in the area are their descendents. I'm not thrilled at the prospect of my son being a salesman for an obsolete product for the next two years, but as others have already pointed out, it's a beautiful area and there are some great (non-religious) people, so he might as well take as much positive from it as he can get.

Here are some blogs from current and past missionaries...

http://preparetoserve.com/new-hampshire-manchester-mission/#blogs

Thanks for the link, elderolddog, I'll take a look and pass it along!

Try passing this link along:

http://www.postmormon.org/exp_e/index.php/discussions/viewthread/18763/


It's a collection of exmo missionary stories, the most populated sited I've ever found with such tales!

-- Live Free Or Die --



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2016 04:24PM by anybody.

It looks like the Manchester, New Hampshire mission also covers Maine and Vermont: the three least religious states in the U.S. They are all safe and friendly states, though moose can be an issue on the roads and nudity can be an issue in Vermont.

Maybe your son will be assigned to the Joseph Smith birthplace memorial in Sharon, Vermont, where he can desperately try to catch the attention of lost tourists and try to ignore jokes about polished shafts.

Re: "polished shafts"
LOL knowing my son, he'd probably be the one making those jokes, or at least laughing at them. After all, he's only 19, they're still kids in most ways. At least he waited a year before going; we talked about that and he agreed it wasn't a good idea to just jump into a mission right out of high school.

Blairs as in the witch? That whole area is a hell mouth. Happy October or is it?

Last I knew, that mission also serves the whole state of Maine. I can't speak much for the mission, but I can tell you a bit about the area.

First, they have the one of the lowest percentages of Mormons in the country. Mostly lapsed Catholics, atheists, and agnostics. Also, last I knew, one of the lowest conversion rates. Don't expect him to boast much about baptizing. If anything, they'll keep him busy trying to re-activate and stalk what few inactives they may find.

Have a nice, warm jacket and boots. If he needs to make some sort of bigger-ticket purchase, like a new pair of sneakers or a new suitcase for the trip home...tell him to buy it in NH rather than Maine...no sales tax!

Thanks for the tips, Godtoldme. Yeah, I don't think he's expecting to baptize much, if at all, but I'll tell him. I actually spent a few days visiting a friend in Peterborough, NH some years ago and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery (it was May, lilacs were everywhere) and the down-to-earth New Englanders I met. Good to know about shopping in NH, I'll pass that along as well.

I'm a native New Englander with deep roots there.

He is going to a beautiful, safe part of the country. Make sure that he has some *very* warm clothes for winter because it will be a level of cold that he has likely never experienced (i.e. a down coat, wool sweaters and suits, warm lined boots, wool, thermal or electric socks, flannel-lined jeans for P-Day, Clark slippers etc.) due to the humidity of the northeast. Unlike the west, in the northeast the cold cuts right through you. Get the L.L. Bean catalogue and you will have an idea of what to expect. Flashiness doesn't go over well there. New Englanders like things low-key.

Yankees are friendly but cautious. We can take quite a while to fully warm up to people. As others have stated, the majority will have zero interest in Mormonism. If Catholicism or the Episcopal church worked for great, great Grandpa, then it works for them, too. Yankees *hate* change.

Mitt Romney has a summer home in New Hampshire. For many New Englanders, their idea of heaven is a summer home in Maine.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mitt-romneys-new-hampshire-getaway/



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2016 08:33PM by summer.

thanks summer, your post was very insightful and helpful. We're northern Californians, but my son is going to school at Utah State in Logan, so he's lived with snow and cold, but as you said, it's a different kind of cold in New England, and we'll have to prepare for that.
I like that New Englanders aren't flashy, and I definitely got the deep-rootedness of the people and the place when I was briefly there.
I know someone who has a vacation home in Maine; always wanted to see it, and now that my son is going to that area, I'll probably go out there when his time is done and do some sightseeing with him.

...regarding your son's mission. I don't have a lot to add to what people have said. Once settled into Manchester, he might be trucked to any number of branches or wards in northern New England. Encourage him to get across the Connecticut to Vermont. The most secular state in the Northeast, and more picturesque than New Hampshire.

My one very specific suggestion is to get him LL Bean Hunting Boots and all-wool socks. He'll be dealing with lots of snow, slush, and mud, and they really are the best for all that. There is an LL Bean outlet in Manchester and Concord. Give him a credit card and tell him to "HietoLLBean,"* for his seasonal clothing. It will last him, literally, for decades.

http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/33549?feat=592-GN1&page=men-s-l-l-bean-boots-8-thinsulate

Lastly, I'm in Boston, and retired. If perchance there is an urgent need for a friend, a ride to an airport--you get my drift--contact Erik for my contact info, and I'm hour away.

Sorel (lined) boots are good as well.

http://www.sorel.com/mens-boots-outdoor-shoes/

Ditto the mandatory run to the L.L. Bean outlet. :) I like the idea of a credit card or gift card. He will need it.

I did a mission a long time ago in the far north of Europe, our mission president had very strict rules on what color coats and hats we could wear and what kind of boots were permitted. He should get a letter from the MP telling him what to buy. Don't buy anything until you get the info. Also if you live in Norcal, it might make sense to buy the winter stuff in NH, but probably can do it online now. He wants to look as native as possible. So buying what the locals wear helps.

Thank you so much caffiend, for the helpful info, and the offer of support (as in, a safe place of refuge) along with east coast exmo! Sad that one even has to consider such a scenario, but some missions are all-too toxic. Nobody knows for sure how things will go until they actually get there, but at this point, I think my son will be okay.

It's taken me a while along my ex-mo journey to reach this level of positivity and flexibility; I'm glad that my son and I can talk openly about Mormonism and its issues, and I've done my best to ensure that he didn't make this decision completely blind and uninformed. I'm sure his eyes will be opened by certain things; the mission could be a mixture: some beliefs may be strengthened, others may end up being discarded by the wayside. It will be quite a journey for him, that's for sure. And the jeans and plaid flannel jacket w/name tag would be adorable....maybe I can convince him to take a pic for me ;)
Thanks again, to everyone, for the advice, links, etc. Very much appreciated!

He will be in beautiful country. My mom grew up in Concord NH until she moved to California when she was 16 to live with her mom. I would do anything to for a vacation home up there. Just make sure that he has lots of warm clothes for the winter time if you are not from an area that gets extremely cold during the winter.

If he's been in Logan, he has a good idea of how to prepare for cold winters. The trick is layering. Silk or microfiber long johns (in addition to his garment, seriously) can be very effective. New England cold is more humid than he's used to on the Wasatch Front, and penetrates more deeply. The snow stays, and just gets piled higher and higher until the first thaws (mid-late March), then becomes slush in the day, ice at night.

I'm sure he has a good bit of the OP's sensibility, and will do fine. Some kids come back from missions more deeply committed to LDS; for others it's an eye-opening experience. Let's hope it's the latter for the OP's son.

This board is populated by the LDS disaffected, so naturally people tend to report and reinforce the negative aspects of an LDS mission. There are positives, though.

No more than a year ago, I came across a long piece in the WSJ on how employers prized applicants who had served LDS missions--and not just law enforcement and intelligence. They found that, as a population group, these (mostly) young men were mature, could focus on goals, comfortable with diverse people, and capable of handling problem tasks and setbacks. The two-year hitch had toughened and matured them.

True, those are generalizations, but I think it's fair to assume that the OP's son will handle his chosen course successfully and hopefully, will find reasons to question a religion he has not yet found toxic.

intellectualfeminist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> including potential abuses within the LDS
> missionary program itself,

Potential abuses? Like having the mission rules enforced?

Tell him to call home at least once a week. Tell him that if
he's not allowed to do that then it's ABUSE.

Tell him he's allowed to choose his own time to get to bed. If
someone forces him to fit their schedule it's ABUSE.

Tell him he can choose whatever reading material he wants for
his spare time. If they don't permit that it's ABUSE.

Tell him anyone chewing him out for not being "righteous"
enough or working hard enough is ABUSING him.

Tell him that not allowing him to be alone strolling the city
or countryside with just his thoughts is ABUSE.

etc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2016 10:03PM by baura.

I grew up just outside Manchester, in Bedford. Our ward was in Manchester. I've been gone for a long time, but I always felt the ward members were more like family. If they haven't moved the mission home, it was in Bedford, which is a nice small town. Manchester is a large city, and does have some rough areas. I have heard they are having a bad problem with Heroin, which is sad. Would suggest watching out for bears in the more wooded areas....if you have any specific questions about the ward, I'm sure I could ask some friends that still live there.