I moved recently and found a box of stuff from my mission, not that it was missing. I have lots of paper collected, some newspapers, some photos. At this point in my life, do I throw the stuff away? No one in the world has any interest in it, except me. (My wife made it clear she wasn't interested in seeing or hearing about my mission.)

And most of you won't have any interest either, so ignore if desired.

This card fell out of a bunch of stuff. I have NO memory of having these cards; if we did, I'm sure we bought them ourselves. This was in the city of Ribeirão Preto, which is about 170 miles from Sao Paulo, which was where my mission headquartered.

I spent about 9 months in 1969-1970 there, and honestly I think the president mostly forgot about us. There were always 6-8 elders in this town and we occasionally got a visit from the AP's but never the president. It was my favorite place that I worked and I had some friends from there at one point, that I communicated with but not for years now.

I love the instructions on the back of the card. I know average Brazilians in that era didn't have automatic washer/dryer so I'm not sure how she would have washed them.

http://imgur.com/a/USsXT

Maybe she had one of those old wringer washing machines. I hope she didn't have to do it by hand.

I hate anything that reminds me of the LDS church now,so if it were me, I would throw them away after looking everything over one more time.

It's a tough call, whether you keep it or not. There are things I've discarded over the years and wished that I had kept. However, I discarded A LOT of mission things--including letters from my MP to parents, etc.--this past year and don't regret it at all.

Letters from parents and to parents, I've kept. There is historical value.

Some other things that have this kind of value, maybe yes.

I just went through some things the other day....found some memorabilia from a trip to Guadalajara ten years ago. Personal and fun, but really I haven't looked at this stuff for ten years. I don't need it. I've been there several times since and will go back many more times. Why do I need this? I chucked it.

If you are certain, then get rid of it. If you aren't certain, I'd say keep it a bit longer.

If it's church-related and you are OUT, then chuck it.

Hi Mike, I actually do care about your mission stuff. It was two years of your life, and part of who you are was formed during those years. And, from your posts, you're a pretty decent man! So, I'd recommend you do the follow--

Scan the stuff that really brings back memories (photos or letters) and have them printed into a book. You can either do this yourself with software, or pay a modest fee for a scrape booking place to do it for you. Then, keep the book close by. It won't take up a lot of space and the important items will be available hard copy or digital files. Be sure to label as much as possible in case someone does wonder.

I did this with a box of old family photos.

The items that aren't meaningful, or you can't remember, you can simply scan into a digital file.

Unless something is valuable, you can discard the originals.

Another idea would be to check with a professional archivist for additional ideas.

I enjoy seeking friends' missionary stuff. Some have left, others have remained, but most still treasure the memories.

Best wishes, The Boner.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2017 12:32AM by BYU Boner.

You thought you were ignored. I was in Såo Paulo about a year earlier, then got a 1,500 mile transfer to Recife. Then the mission split, and I ended up in the North.

We had convite cards too. They should have said "everyone welcome, especially if you have no African ancestry."

Chuck the cards. They've already brought back all the memories for you that they are going to. They are meaningless to anyone else. They are just clutter now.

This was obviously pre block.

I love how there was a morning and an evening meeting

Imagine going to church for 2 hours say 9 to 11 and then going back for more from 7:30 PM to 9 PM.

Maybe reduce the paper to a few examples. I have a memory box with selected objects going back to childhood, with everything thrown together in a sort of mash. I do like to look at it every now and then.