A shame for this young teenager and his family from Utah, a missionary who fell over a cliff edge taking selfies and whale watching.

Triggered a major maritime rescue operation, all too late.

Here is the link;

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-24/kurnell-cliff-fall-mormon-missionary-gavin-zimmerman/10029406

The sea cliffs around Sydney are rather dangerous and frequently catch people out. Very beautiful and stunning serious, but deadly for the unwary.

Typo....meant to say "Very beautiful and stunning scenery"

Initial ABC reports described him as a "tourist" with a large group of "friends".

In all likelihood this is the dodgy way TSCC applies for visas for their salesmen.

Very sad.
And a candidate for the Darwin Award.

Yup !

That is really terrible. I was just reading elsewhere how it is whale-watching season in the Sydney area. He was probably looking forward to a pleasant outing.

Another garment failure.

Well that's because Stan's power over water supercedes Eloheim's extra-special garmy power. That's the only time that garmy power doesn't work - when water is involved. Stan has dominion over the water. I know, I know, he wasn't actually in the water, but close.

So it wasn't the fall that did him in, it was the water at the bottom? :)

Deep condolences for his family and friends and for man others—Mormon and non-Mormon—who have suffered the death of a child. The untimely death of a son or daughter is probably the greatest fear of a parent. I was thinking of what Rose Kennedy had dealt with.

I always picture these mothers sending their sons and daughters off, believing they'll see them again in 2 years (or 18 months) and how horrible this must be. They don't get to talk to them very often or even hear from them, and then this.

At least if we have family that live far away, we can communicate with them.

Every now and then the ENSIGN runs some story about some Mormon
who had a "prompting" and avoided a dangerous situation. The
punch-line is something about the benefits of living "close to
the spirit."

These FPRs must be heartbreaking to the parents of a missionary
who is killed on his mission. The implication of the ENSIGN
story is that the missionary wasn't "living close to the spirit."
Therefore he's somewhat to blame yadda yadda yadda.

That's the "power of discernment" psychic power discussed in the other threads.
Which, of course, doesn't work at all...

Thanks to the super powerful gifts of the Holy Ghost that the missionaries have there is no way something like this could happen. Thus this story must not be true.

Heartbreaking. :(

Kind of an awkward emergency transfer for the survivor companion and the replacement companion...

I have found that people his age frequently believe that they are immune to disaster. Is it possible that he was in an area where he should not have been? In my mission field we were always cautioned not to walk in harms way. That helps to not be harmed.

The frontal lobe (the part of the brain that is in charge of judgement) is not fully developed until about age 25. When I think of all the nutty things my college age friends and I did it's a wonder that any of us survived.

Very sad, but members of the family will probably take some comfort due to their beliefs. Still, from an outside perspective it feels so pointless.

Sydney has lots of sandstone cliffs which are fun to explore, and generally unfenced. Young people are risk takers and cannot appreciate the reality of losing balance and slipping off. Its always tempting to get close to the edge and feel the thrill of looking down to the bottom of the cliff. The poor kid was one of many who have died around the edges of Sydney over many years.

Reminds me of the time a few decades ago when one of my friends was sunbathing topless at the secluded southern end of Bondi Beach in the shadow of the overhanging cliffs. A chunk of rock peeled off the cliff and smashed her ankle. First thing she had to do was cover up before the ambos were able to get her off to hospital.

He was stood at the very edge of the cliff taking a selfie.

This is so sad. Unless it was P-day, I can't help but think of those dorky dress shoes all missionaries are required to wear. No tread, no traction. Pure slippage on wet, mossy cliff rocks. Again, so sad.

Slick soles, no tread, stiff fit! You're so right, Shannon. (Hope you're feeling a bit better.)

Missionaries are required to write or email a progress letter about their spirituality. Depending on the mission president, missionaries are encouraged to confess their weaknesses as each works to become perfect. In a sense, these letters demonstrate that missionaries can and do behave foolishly.

Translation: The letters can be shown to the family that their son/daughter was not always faithful to the required blind obedience to mission's rules.

One more thing about these letters. More often than not, missionaries (the companions) would tattle on each other. From my own experience, the mission president and I would have a staring contest at the monthly worthiness interview as he patiently waited for me to elaborate on my "sins" as an elder. Since I was not forthcoming, he became irritated and asked pointed questions regarding if I was cheating the Lord.

I would deny it by saying that I was doing my best to serve him. Then the MP would blurt out, "How come you returned to your apartment at 8pm instead of working until 9:30? My notes say that you've been returning early for 3 nights in a row."

Well, the MP was not full of discernment. I had quarreled with my companion and this was his way of paying me back. That elder and others regularly betrayed my confidence. In case you're wondering, I had diarrhea from poor diet, lack of proper rest and heat exhaustion. I never had a chance to explain why I "cheated" on my time. My MP would raise his hand to shut me up. He dished out the criticisms and I foolishly thought that he was right and I was wrong.

Yeah, I got pretty sick once on my mission.
Asked the ZL if I could take a day or two to stay in the apartment and rest up/heal, and I'd be good to go.

No was the answer, of course. "Work through it."

So it took me two weeks to get over something that one day of rest would have taken care of, because I had to drag my sick self all over France to not "cheat the lord."

Ugh.