One of my friends just had a son called to South Korea and my daughter's bff is about to put in her mission papers in the next couple of weeks. It made me wonder, in the current political and economic climate, where everyone thinks would be the most difficult or dangerous missions.

Personally, I think Russia - the rules are so strict and the chance of getting in trouble so real. But South Korea seems dicey too.

I've known kids who got sent to Zimbabwe, Albania, and India. I think Albania is now closed. This kid nearly died of a parasite that destroyed a lot of muscle mass. He has long-term health issues.

The boys sent to Zimbabwe were shot at and beat up. They had to constantly have protection and spent their time in plain clothes doing humanitarian work only.

India...hmmmmm...any guesses as to how hard it would be to convert a Hindu to Christianity? The Missionary force there is very limited. The kids see a lot that they're unprepared for.

The folks I knew who went to Russia were harassed and had to leave the country every couple of months. They often landed in jail for things like having their shoes untied or a shirttail untucked. And, no converts.

The Mission President's Boner



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/30/2017 09:33PM by BYU Boner.

My daughter knows someone who was called to Russia and even though he isn't in the MTC yet, he is already receiving strict instructions about what he can and can't do from the church. She said it sounds mind-numbingly boring.

the old Soviet Union - I forget exactly where.

He was very withdrawn and quiet when he came back. He could hardly get through his homecoming talk. He kept wincing and turning his face away, as if something invisible were slapping his face.

We gradually got some of his story. It was nothing like a real mission. They could not wear their suits, let alone name tags. They had to make do with P-day clothes. They were basically a combination of social workers and visiting nurses.

He described learning how to measure one poor old guy's blood sugar, and then calculate how much insulin the guy needed, and having to give him the injection. He was terrified of making a mistake, but he learned a lot about diabetes.

I don't think this kid was married in the temple, and I don't believe he is active in church any more. And his father was a bishop.

The mission cured him.

Besides Russia, Ukraine is another awful place for a Mormon to go on a mission. The missionary I know who ended up there had periods of time when they couldn't leave the apartment for their own safety, and other times when they couldn't wear their uniforms or name tags even if they wore their P-day clothes.

I was sitting at a table in the food court and they sat next to me, I asked them how it felt to be coming home and they were ecstatic. A TBM walked up and asked them to tell them about their spiritual experiences serving in the Ukraine Mission ... dead silence and and uncomfortable looks ... they went back to talking to me about their education plans and homecoming parties with girlfriends.

I have an extended family member in Tiajuana. He is very trusting and naive. I really worry about his safety.

We would drive down there fairly often, sometimes to show it to guests, sometimes just to have fun. I always enjoyed it, even more so when I learned Spanish.

I remember once I took my son down there, when he was only 7 or 8. We were looking at various things in a little shop. There was a loud, boisterous, classical "Ugly American" man in the store too, and he demanded of the rather regal-looking lady behind the counter, "Hey, ya'll got a bathroom in here?" She said that their restroom was not for public use.

My little son whispered to me that he needed to use the restroom, too. So I asked the lady, very respectfully (and in Spanish,) "Please, ma'am, my little son needs to use the restroom too. Could we, please?" Without hesitation, the lady reached under the counter for the key, handed it to me, and said, "It's right over there," with a very understanding smile.

After we had made use of the facilities, I handed the key back to the lady, with profuse thanks.

I made it into an object lesson for my boy. "Don't ever forget that polite manners will open all sorts of doors for you." He has never forgotten.

I hear that Tijuana has become a lot rougher than the days I remember, and I'm sorry to hear it. The city I remember was a fun place to visit. Some of the people I worked with even lived in Mexico, and crossed the border every day to work. My totally gringa supervisor (Spanish-speaking too) was one of them. She said she got a nice, beach apartment there, for a lot less than she would pay in San Diego. She like it there, very much.

What has become of the two sister missionaries who were bludgeoned, thrown down stairs and probably raped in Kosovo November of 2014.

They were taken to a hospital where it was questionable whether anyone would treat them.

Where are they now?

Provo. Orem. Ogden. Evansville, Indiana.

I think South Korea would be fine. I have acquaintances who have lived there for varying lengths of time, or who go on travel or business regularly, and they love it. I would just give the border with North Korea a wide berth.

I would not want to be assigned to Russia or Ukraine as a missionary.

A kid I know is headed straight from graduation from high school to a mission in, ta dah, Salt Lake City. It may be only dangerous mentally, but he should feel "robbed."

That has to be the most boring mission of all except for maybe Provo. At least I got the new culture, new country, new language and a big eyeopener to the world. But for him it is going to be like being water boarded with Mormonism.

They also made a big point on the announcement about it being two years and the way it was worded it kind of read between the lines like, "Don't even think about coming home."

Third world countries that lack proper food, medical care etc..for it's people. Also lack of internet access as well.

Didn't Nelson himself get mugged in South Africa a few years ago?

Wherever they send the poor members.

At least three missionaries from our stake were sent to Ghana and Sierra Leone.

Two are back home with tropical diseases and parasites. Rather than say something negative about the situation, they say nothing. Unsmiling, introspective, quiet.

Their parents talk about the brutal conditions. Heat, food, sanitary conditions.

The RM's say the people were great. They're just not talking about any of the rest.

rutabaga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>
> Rather than say something negative
> about the situation, they say nothing. Unsmiling,
> introspective, quiet.


Our son left as a smiley kid and came home as you are describing. That was in 2004. To date, he hasn't changed. He went to Nebraska in all the innocuous-sounding places. Something happened there--we'll never know.

The only thing he said was that if we saw the places he'd been, we'd have come and gotten him!

Times that Dad and I have tried to break through that wall around him have turned into fights which end in me saying, "This is why I'll hate that goddam church forever!"

And it was me who pushed him to get his papers in.

When my apartment got shot up by a gang, I was told not to tell my mother. I can't remember if I told my dad or not before getting home. they send unsuspecting 19 year olds, now 18 year olds, into places where the police don't go. Not to mention the times a bishop sent us directly into some very messed up situations to deliver excommunication notices. We didn't know that was what it was until this lady broke down in tears. I will say there were some amazing eye opening experiences that have put me on the path I am on today. Lol, without it I would still be a TBM.

It took a LONG time for his real personality to come back. It is extra-great to see him chugging back a cold beer at family get-togethers. He and his family are OUT.

He and his temple-sealed wife remained TBMs until the business came down about the children of gay parents not being able to receive ordinances until they are 18. They were NOT OK with that. And since then, Son has read almost as much "anti" (historical) material as I have. It is SO great to have him back, at last!

I went to California, and had the blessing of serving in Compton for a good while. Fortunately I was still a TBM and blind to the real danger that was all around me. I saw lots of guns, and had crying drunk people confess to murders. My apartment complex was shot up twice by angry gang members (the manager owed them money). On the bright side, I found the most amazing fried chicken and biskets at this place called Honey's Kettle.

Yes, a missionary I'm related to, just returned from Mosambique, Africa, and we can't get a word out of him! He's usually a talkative young man, but he clams up about his mission. His parents won't say anything, either. They never talked about him, while he was on his mission, either. I think the cult puts a gag order on their returning missionaries.

Missionaries are given a subject for their missionary homecoming talks. This missionary returning from Africa gave his talk on a previous General Conference talk, and didn't say anything about his mission, except to say it was an experience, and that someday many more Africans will be converted, in the future, as the church grows in Africa.

Taking away someone's freedom of speech is abusive, IMO. Missionaries aren't allowed to have opinions or feelings.

My nephew, several years ago, returned from his mission in Chicago. He was so sick, he could barely stand, and he read a General Conference talk, also. I mean, he just stood and read it. He was chubby when he left, and when he returned, he so thin, he looked like a prison camp survivor. For me, this spoke volumes!!!!! He had a bad toothache for 4 months, and the mission wouldn't let him go to the dentist, and made him wait until he got home. For four months, he couldn't sleep or eat. Such unnecessary abuse!

It's sad. On my mission an elder (incredible person) had a problem with a bone in his ankle. He was very gifted athletically. The church paid for surgery to fix it (not a simple thing like a tooth ache) and he is now a professional athlete. Once again, this is nothing against the guy, and he would have been doomed to a life of menial labor in a third world country without true surgery. However, it does cause me to reflect on the fairness of the church in these things.

My stepson was given strict instructions to NEVER say anything negative about his mission. He was fortunate that he was in a pretty good place, and spent most of his time in the office manning the phones because his language skills were good.

To this day he's never said anything negative.

I have a cousin who went to Columbia that was shot at several times. He also had a bad case of parasites. He had a nervous breakdown and was sent home when he could no longer get out of bed.

Any place where a mission is being ruled by an overbearing MP instilling the false promise that the windows of heaven will be opened if the entire mission blindly obeys every rule. From being told that you're not working hard enough to being blamed for failing to find the lost sheep brings tremendous amounts of misery and poor self-esteem.

I was really lucky. I had a mission president that basically said, "you are adults, you know what you are supposed to be doing. I'm not going to give you a book of rules.". He also never took the excuse "it's not written down in the rules". It would have killed me to have a book of rules governing my every waking thought.

Summed up in just a few sentences.

Singapore

^^ winner ^^

If a mashie breaks the wrong rule he could be lashed 50 strokes a day for as long as the govt pleases.

I think low/no baptizing countries in Europe are difficult. Although I loved living in Switzerland: Zurich, Basel, Interlaken (with a view of the Jungfrau), I spent about 10 hours a day knocking on doors. It was beyond brutal. Every morning I woke up with a sick feeling inside that stayed with me my entire mission - a feeling of being stuck in a nightmare of endless knocking on doors and walking up to strangers who wanted nothing to do with Mormons. The constant rejection was demoralizing, coupled with the guilt trip for not baptizing - it truly was a living nightmare. I don't know how I made it to the end. I absolutely loved Switzerland though and wish I'd been there as a normal person - student, worker, etc...

For actually doing missionary work, large parts of mainland Europe must be terrible places to serve. France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland etc. I have friends that served there and didn't baptise a soul in the entire two years.

That said, my 10 years or so reading RfM has been an eye opener, regarding stories of people serving in third world countries, picking up tropical diseases & being attacked/shot.

So I suppose their are at least two categories of "worst place to serve'.

Worst place for baptisms & worst place for daily quality of life.

Anywhere that you can have an adventure--good or bad, probably--and can have bragging rights is preferable to anyplace that is inherently boring and awful, like Provo, Orem, SLC, Ogden, Pocatello, etc. Baptisms or no baptisms, I'd go for anywhere in Europe, hands-down. I might want to go to Central America or Central Africa and fight the parasites, just to see how the other side lives. Anyplace in Asia would likely be fine. And I would welcome learning a language. But I would slit my wrists rather than go to Provo.

In area I live, it's a decent place to serve as not really any crime or gang areas, missionaries are generally safe. However they must feel shit about who they teach, because before I left a large number of converts were people on dole, drug addicts, drunks, disabled people etc. No golden families with kids or anything.

In my ward itself, all the teaching pool that stuck around were full of penniless scroungers (one guy in his 50's insisted his thai fiance was real despite never having met her or seen her in real life, and was saving up to pay her 'employer' in thai land the equaivalant of around £10,000) to release her so she could to scotland (woops sorry spoiled where I am haha). These people would fill their bags after each ward activity with food. No education or life expeirence, just here for the money. I dread to think how missionaries cope teaching them when all they ask is 'can the church help me finacially?".

The few 'golden' investigators we had were chased off by the muppets in my ward who I've spoken about before.

My son's friend just got back from a mission in the mid western United States. One of those missions where a stake can take up 6 hours of driving time to get from one area to another. His whole homecoming talk (which I dragged myself to for my friend's sake) was about how lazy and ungodly the people were there and that he was constantly dealing with investigators who didn't want to work that hard or didn't care enough about God or were just so worldly that they didn't want to listen to him. He was incredibly condescending about the people he taught and how lazy they were.

He also didn't talk about having a single baptism.

That combination of non-spectacular location and non-baptizing area would be harsh, although not unsafe. I went to Spain and it was discouraging but I got in a lot of sight seeing and managed to finally become fluent in Spanish and made a lot of friends with Spaniards, none of whom are active members now. So all in all, no real regrets. Once you get that you are barely going to have any baptisms and refuse to feel guilty about it, Europe is great.

and I thought the "Heartland" of the U.S. ...
Trump territory ... was sustained by hard-working factory workers & miners, & farmers.

Go Figure!

By any chance CA girl, did you serve in Spain Bilbao, perhaps doing time in Vitoria?

No, Sevilla - now Malaga

"Where would you say is the worse place to get called on a mission nowadays?"

A website called 'Recovery from Mormonism'.

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

All those places located within the western/eastern hemispheres.

by any chance CA girl, were you in the Spain Bilbao mission, perhaps doing time in Vitoria?

And I think we should just leave states, provinces, & countries with drug cartels to convert themselves too.

Any place with a death hero,or "saint of death" should be left to covert themselves. (If they don't want to be baptized let them shoot each other and die, then do their baptisms posthomunously it's most convenient that way, for everyone involved.) uh I don't think Mormon teenagers should be involved they'll just annoy them speaking English Spanglish or broken record statements from memory about the Book of Mormon not knowing what anyone around them is saying in Spanish. I don't want another drug cartel murder of yet another teenager I am sick of it. Sending North American teens on a crusade to convert drug lords workers and families to Mormon Jesus is beyond ghastly ignorance, it's almost as appalling when my. My. Beloved naive my child my naive nerd let like a little chickie that got out of the pen , my rebellious naive teenager got baptized evangelical temporarily without saying anything then got others to fund raise them and sent themselves abroad ten days after turning 18. My child did puppet shows for Jesus in catholic land when they joined an international ministry and went to the cocsine fields for a summer .... returned Emmaciated alive and burned out possibly forever on leadership by men.

Places with death penalties should be avoid because gawd knows Mormon missionaries are annoying & they're teenagers now. Countries with feuding armed warlords where heels with riders with mounted machine guns behind drivers carry people on errands are places Mormon teenagers should avoid.

Ok I know this sounds sort of negative, like I have very little faith my nephews will survive, but I'm just sayin. I vote we write a proposal to the prophets business team or liability committee with suggestions.

...Because those business church operation folks seem out of touch. And the Mormon teenagers are oblivious.

Anywhere they speak Russian. And third world Africa.

I would think Serbia is a tough slog. Nobody has ever heard of Mormons there and most are RC or Eastern Orthodox and Serbs can be petulant if provoked.

"From what I've heard the Serbs are fanatic about their showers."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6g4HfgSl6E

I don't know about their showers but they didn't seem like a very a happy lot when we were there....unless they were drunk.