What’s the point of the big reveal party? I don’t get it. So much for humbly preparing to serve the Lord. More like hey everyone, look at me. Am I missing the point? FWIW I don’t get baby gender reveal parties either. Seems like a way to get more gifts.

I never understood it. It's a way to make guys like me that didn't go feel guilty.

I find both the opening of the mission call and the gender reveal events to be tiresome. The motivation for making a production of the opening of the call would surely vary from one person or family to the next. It's both silly and annoying to me personally, but the families are celebrating what is, to them, a major rite of passage. Mormons tend to be followers - of other Mormons, anyway. If one family makes a major dramaturgy out of their child's mission call reveal, the next family has to do the same, or, even better, do something more outlandish.

That being said, it seems unlikely that the bizarre celebrations have much to do with trying to make those who didn't serve missions feel bad. It would be unfortunate to go through life in the manner of the fictional character "Eeyore," thinking that almost every action is somehow aimed in a negative way at oneself.

My daughter didn't get it either. She is a missionary and just opened it and read it to us.

Like I've always said, when there is very little in your life that is truly exciting because the Church™ dictates every aspect of your behavior, a mission opening is a biiiiig deal.

I recall one year when my brother was visiting and one of his kids got her call, it seemed like a bigger deal than the birth of a baby or getting accepted to Harvard, with the excited and hushed tones and phone calls.....

What about the build up with guessing games on facebook wanting everybody to venture a guess where the missionary might get called to. It all just seems so silly to me. I guess, like CnB mentioned, there is so little that is exciting in mormondumb that anything that gets people pepped up is cause for celebration. But, after all the hyping and hoping for an exotic destination, the mission call is to, I don't know, Jackpot, NV or something (no offence to anyone from there), isn't there a tremendous let down that has to be suppressed?

I think it's very much a competitive event.

It's like you're an amateur and the pro draft in your sport is being held and you're nervous about who drafts you and in what round, because there are definitely bragging rights.

I don't what foreign country is considered #1 these days, but going to a foreign language country is considered a 'win'.

And being called to the Idaho Boise mission... Well, your friends will assure you that it doesn't matter where you serve...but it does!

Yeah. You should've seen the forced smiles and fake cheering when my nephew revealed he was going to the SLC mission. So glad they recorded it.

The mission call is the Mormon lottery. I suppose France, Italy, and Japan are still the Power Balls?

I will say I am so glad I got the foreign language mission and the foreign people to along with it. I was a stranger in paradise.

I think those hoping to become future general authorities don't really want to get called to Europe or Japan. No baptism scalps to flaunt when you return to the Morg.

Hedning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think those hoping to become future general
> authorities don't really want to get called to
> Europe or Japan. No baptism scalps to flaunt when
> you return to the Morg.


and that's somehow different than going to ???

and they don't have very good internet yet. And they pay native African missionaries a salary.

And I've heard that for most of those native missionaries, it's the best paying, lowest stress job they'll ever have.

I think it's funny that Japan is seen as a "big winner" when it comes to mishi assignments. I mean, like all over the place. Every time I mention that I went to Japan, I always get the same reaction. Even when I was talking to some mishies in Taiwan. They wanted to go to Japan. Isn't that funny?

Back when I went, I had a cousin that had recently returned from Japan and everybody held him is such high regard. For some reason, I always thought that they sent only the smartest ones to Japan. Then I got my letter and that theory was blown out the beehole.

I had wanted to go to England. I desperately didn't want to spend those 2 years in the USA. that would have been sheer misery for me. This way, i was able to pretend I was having fun.

I would have liked to get the reaction on camera, but that was back in 1989 and back then we used to have small gatherings to open the letter, but certainly nothing major, but my batnutty mother did start with fuggin prayer.

Levi Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it's funny that Japan is seen as a "big
> winner" when it comes to mishi assignments. I
> mean, like all over the place. Every time I
> mention that I went to Japan, I always get the
> same reaction. Even when I was talking to some
> mishies in Taiwan. They wanted to go to Japan.
> Isn't that funny?

And D&D wrote:
> The mission call is the Mormon lottery. I suppose France,
> Italy, and Japan are still the Power Balls?

I opened my letter (fakely machined signed by SWK himself!) by myself.
"Brother Hie, you have been called to serve...in the France-Paris Mission."

Hmm. France. OK, I can deal with that.
But I wanted Japan.
Really, I did! :)

Italy is one of the "Power Balls"?

Here I won the lottery and did not even collect my prize...LOL!

Italy is still my Power Ball. You lucky dog. I'm sure the mission was extra tough, but the rest, the country, the people. the food. Wow.

I think the big mission reveal parties are for that exact reason. So you can have a big group of people who can pretend to be all excited when you get called to SLC or Boise or San Bernardino. You have a few seconds of silence while everyone is thinking, "oh damn," and then "Yeah! Way to go! Great Aunt Ester and Uncle Charlie live in Boise! You'll love the potatoes! Best mission ever!"

To answer the original question, they became a "thing" shortly after the church tried to eliminate lengthy mission-farewell sacrament meetings. I don't know what the official church position on those is at the moment- it seems to be hit-or-miss and depends on bishop roulette like everything else in Mormonism. But there have been occasions when the official church leadership have declared the end of such frivolities.

Think about it- it is the thing for which young men have been preparing and hoping all their lives, and which for Mormons signals officially coming of age, and suddenly the church for which you have been groomed since Day 1 announces that reaching that milestone is not to be celebrated in church meetings. So people (probably starting with the moms) began the mission reveal parties. They wanted to have something to show for their efforts, and something they could (gasp!) share with their friends with no interference from people like Boyd K. Packer and his gang. The rise of the internet certainly was an important factor, but mainly the serfs wanted to have at least a modicum of recognition.

It seems to have started with the cutbacks in recognition of the mission call and then the widespread availability of youtube and other sharing websites linked with parents now using Facebook to share/brag. The Surge also saw a very large number of younger missionaries and Female missionaries who seemed to enjoy the Mission Call videos.

I remember back in the dark ages, I walked out to my mail box and there was a big envelope and I opened it and that was it. Went inside and told my parents, called my girlfriend. Eventually got around to telling my friends and bishop. Roommates from college found out by snail mail, eventually. My actual roommate from my freshman year found out when I walked up to him in the LTM and said hey!

The church issued a change of policy (about 1995) that outlined a whole bunch of edicts (guidelines) that bishops were to follow when conducting a missionary send off. The overriding rationale for such policy was that Sacrament Meetings were losing their focus and spiritualism. It added that SM is supposed to focus on the edification of Christ and not the jovial musings that can lead to carnival like atmosphere. It also stated that such meetings were creating economic hardships for certain families. I am 100% certain that it read carnival.

I believe the new guidelines were something about limiting the speakers to the future missionary and one family member. The last speaker had to be from the bishopric or a high councilor. No more special music or the forming of receiving lines after the service.

I thought it was a slap in the face because each "program" up to that point had been unique and custom tailored for each departing missionary. I remember that one young sister had brought one of her favorite plush animals and she had wrapped this snake toy around her body. She went to Rio de Janeiro. Another guy briefly put on a ten gallon hat because he had been called to Dallas.

As ward clerk, one saving grace to plateau SM figures were missionary farewells. Many visiting (and less active) as well as non member families would attend; who otherwise wouldn't set foot inside a boring Mormon chapel. After the change, our SM attendance numbers no longer spiked up. It really hurt the church outside of Utah.

It came no surprise that both Packer and Ballard had their signatures in addition to Hinckley and the others.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2018 01:44PM by messygoop.

I remember getting my mission call in the mail. My parents were out of town, I got them mail and there it was. Opened it and it said, "Texas."

Hum. OK. No big deal.

Went on with my life until I had to leave. Didn't tell anyone (until my parents got back) and seriously I was disappointed. But oh well.

Ended up learning Spanish and so that was a good deal for me. Wasn't "called" to that but first day out I was told I would be Spanish-speaking and that was cool. Didn't have to deal with gringos, lol, and that was the best outcome.

Still, I don't understand the party atmosphere either.

I was the only one home at the time my mission call came in the mail. I opened it up (all by myself, didn't wait around for anyone), read it, threw it on the kitchen table for anyone else who came along to read, and then left for work.

No big deal. Everyone survived.

The best one I ever saw was posted here on RfM. This poor dude's dad was a total jackass and he filmed him opening his mission call. It was so obvious the guy didn't want to go on a mission, but smarmy dad was all "Winnipeg... that's where the Lord wants ya!" And mom (or stepmom) was sitting there looking like she couldn't wait to turn the boy's room into a sewing nook.

A bunch of people commented and dad made it unlisted and finally private. He couldn't stand the fact that there were people out there who could tell his son wasn't into being a missionary and many people think missions are basically about making people be pests for the church.

Your post brought back memories and made me smile wide.

At eighteen years old, almost nineteen, I was on automatic
pilot and headed straight for a mission. Walking the streets of a foreign land and attempting to convert the people of said land to Mormonism was not particularly high on my to-do list. The term “trained seal” comes to mind here, which is hard to admit. The church programming was an unequivocal success. I had been saying I was going on a mission since I was coached to at four or five, so at nineteen, off I would go, right on schedule. If they had told me to balance a ball on my nose, I suppose I would have done that too.

I remember getting the call and not being interested in opening it really. Sort of like not going to the doctor for a check-up in case he finds something wrong, ya know? As long as it wasn't opened life was okay still.

My parents got home and of course were so excited. Argentina. I was somewhat challenged with Geography and Anthropology and my first thought was natives with poison darts, boa constrictors and tarantulas. A couple weeks later I looked it up in the Atlas.

Loved, loved, loved Argentina. Buenos Aires blew my mind--the Paris of the Americas they called it rightly. The mission? Ewwww.


A couple of years ago now, five decades later, my mother confessed that my father the Bishop/Stake Patriarch was concerned whether I should go on a mission. I guess because they saw what a loner I was, how artistic, how sensitive, that they saw that as weakness. I was fine. Better than most. There's steel under here somewhere.

That appreciation for other cultures is one thing I think is good about missions. I'm so glad you were able to love where you were posted. I'd like to visit there myself... especially for the wine and beef. ;-)

I was in the Peace Corps in Armenia with a Mormon couple. At the time, I knew very little about the church. I remember them talking about their missions and now understand why they were put in charge when we all left the country together. They had already done time abroad with the LDS church. I don't remember where the husband went, but I do remember his wife went to South Korea and she said people there were fascinated by her blonde hair. After the Peace Corps, I was offered a job in South Korea, but ended up turning it down because I was worried about how I was going to pay my student loans.

I'm sure your time in Argentina inspired your creativity somehow... I know I am inspired by my time in Armenia and now my time in Germany. But I think I would have hated to go to a different place simply so I could sell religion.

That video of the kid's very honest negative reaction to going to Winnipeg still sticks in my mind. I was surprised the dad didn't see how very much his son wanted to skip the whole thing. And it was funny that he truly didn't seem to understand why people on YouTube reacted so negatively.

I love this.

I’d love to go to Winnipeg for 2 years, but being female, it’d be for 18 months, but not as a missionary,
I’d be visiting places all over Western Canada, and of course Jets hockey, especially when they play the Blackhawks .
I probably wouldn’t be able to get tickets though, since they have loyal fans who fill the stadium

They lead bland and boring lives. Having parties about something like this tends to remind them that they're still alive and kicking.

It's like having a party because a kid gets dunked at age eight. No one did this when I was a kid but now I think it's an excuse to brag about mormon worthiness.

I always felt that the parties came about kind of organically, the same as ones for baby blessings and baptisms. For many families, these are important moments (and I actually kind of think they should be, regardless of whether I agree with the religious motivations behind those moments or not) and families tend to gather together for important moments so it makes a certain amount of sense to entertain them while they’re all there. What may have started as a big family meal evolved into a party, but that’s not a far leap by any means. There are definitely people who take it too far and it’s obnoxious and comes off like they are rubbing other people’s noses in something but there’s also people who are just happy and excited for their child and want to share that with their families. There’s also the modern phenomenon of social media making what were once basically private, family celebrations public so now we’re all much more aware of these things. Twenty years ago no one was filming their family get togethers and publishing then for the world to see, now you can’t scroll through your newsfeed without seeing five or six seemingly huge parties that you would have never even known about in the past.

What was once a humbling spiritual and personal occasion as one embarked in true service of the lord to spread his gospel has become a right of passage and an endurance test to be held up to the world as proof that the parents raised their kid right and are thus, great Mormon parents. Also increases the pressure on the kid to stick it out aka endure to the end.

Are there no "My child is on a Mormon Mission" bumper stickers yet? There must be.

But.... they're not Mormons anymore.

Remarkably, this was coincidental with the common use / thought of 'HYPE';


accident you ask? NO!

The thing I noticed about those videos is that the person opening the letter is pretty naive in that they show their address on the envelope clearly.