To go forth on a South American mission.
All I feel is fear for their well being but they are so indoctrinated that there is no hope for hm to change his mind.
He is unprepared to go forth and face the Evangelicals he will encounter.
He thinks that he knows everything and he knows nothing.

He's going on a South American mission with Covid rampant? Merciful heavens.

As long as he doesn't drink wine or strong drink, uses tobacco only for treating bruises and sick cattle, doesn't drink anything hot, uses herbs in season, eats meat sparingly and in times of cold or famine, eats wheat but not corn, oats or rye (they're for animals), he'll be fine.

How's he gonna hook up with some fine Sister if he doesn't go forth to preach and to earn her?

Bring a few cows to trade perhaps?

Is that you, Johnny?

Are you speaking my Lingo?

I'm sure you were a six-cow husband.

Isn't that bull?

Perhaps if they are gelded.

Hermana he's ugly.

6 cows, yes. But they've long since been butchered and BBQ'd. yummy!

Well, selectively butchered.

It was during a famine in winter.

Depending on where in south America he goes the evangelicals will be the least of his worries.

Parasites, maybe.

Rampant crime, possibly.

Voodoo in various forms strong possibility.

Landing a Latin bride, maybe.

Learning the truth, hopefully

Marrying a Latin bride could be the best thing a young man ever does.

desertrat, I feel your pain. Years ago, I sent my stepson on a mission. At that time, he had ADHD very badly and had to be on a stimulant medication to control the symptoms. I don't remember the name of the stuff any more (Dexedrine, maybe?? Not sure at all.)

Anyhow, I called the mission office in Salt Lake City to find out how we would keep him supplied with the stuff in the South American country he had been assigned to. Just to show how "inspired" those calls are, that particular medication was a banned substance in that particular country. Period.

That being the case, the mission bunch was re-inspired to send stepson to a Spanish-speaking branch in the San Francisco area, where the mission doctor could coordinate with our local doctor here, and stepson could remain on his medication.

Our boy's letters home were filled with nothing but glowing testimonies. I sent a letter every week, asking very pointed questions about the mission area, the food there, the people, how was the Spanish different from what we spoke here in New Mexico, yada, yada - anything I could think of that would elicit anything but testimonies. But it never worked. And back then, it was letters, not online stuff.

Fortunately, he recovered from the RM syndrome after being home for a couple of months, and as the rest of us left the church one by one, he was the last hold-out, but eventually, he and his temple-sealed wife left, too. There IS hope.

Parasites

A guy in my ward went to Brazil. I was writing to him while I served stateside. He sent me a picture of himself after serving 6 months. He looked emaciated, real sick. Imagine a 110 lb scrawny kid dropping down to 60 lbs.

I wrote back inquiring about his health, but the mission intercepted my letter and I faced my own dragon of a mission president (it was against mission rules to have unauthorized communication with others outside your family).

A month later, the stake president had convened a special fast for this near death missionary. He had been "rescued" from Brazil but was in the ICU of his new mid-western stateside mission. Oh and they were asking for donations because the church charged the family to fly him to his "new" mission. They ended up selling property and other assets to pay for the hospitalization.

Oh the MP in Brazil claimed that he got sick because he didn't excercise enough faith to be healed. Now he has a lifetime of illnesses and organ damage. He has to follow a special diet.

Things to tell any LDS missionary (or anyone that does not want to be a missionary).

1. You are an ADULT. Think and act like it. As an adult, you make choices and you are responsible for those choices regardless of who influenced you to make the choice and regardless of what type of persuasion was used.

2. If you choose to discuss your sex life with someone who has ulterior motives, regardless of whether the discussion was supposedly in confidence, you can reasonably expect that someone to use that information to coerce you. Knowledge is power. The more someone knows about you, the more power they have over you. Confession in the LDS culture invariably comes back at you in the form of coercion.

3. You are a VOLUNTEER. As such, you are in a superior position. The LDS church is asking you for your help. If you chose to extend your kindness to the church by VOLUNTEERING to perform some kind of function, the church needs to understand its position as the recipient of charity. If any mission president, stake president, bishop or other so called leader makes demands of you, remind him that beggars can't be choosers and he is in no position to demand anything of you, AN ADULT VOLUNTEER.

4. Money + passport + clear thinking = freedom.
You are an adult, you are a volunteer, there is no binding contract. You can be a missionary on Sunday and a tourist the rest of the week if you so choose. You don't need their permission to be a missionary. You can go knock doors anywhere you want at anytime without anyone's permission, blessing, calling, or setting apart. You don't need anyone's permission to be a tourist at anytime. You can tour anywhere you choose at anytime. It's your belief system that both limits and empowers you.

5. In the United States, they cannot 'send' you home. They can only coerce you into agreeing to go home. In the USA, you have the option of telling the mission president you will go home on your schedule, not his. If he has trouble understanding that, I'm certain the local police will help him understand the you are a FREE ADULT, not an indentured servant.

6. I'm not sure about the visa requirements in a foreign countries as far as a mission president being able to send you home. Research the law before you go so you'll know what kind of legal power a mission president has in the country you are going to, but in the USA they cannot 'send' you home.

7. Take a credit card, a telephone calling card, and a photocopy of your passport with you. That's what any rational adult would do. DO NOT TELL ANYONE about them. They are your ticket out. Keep your options open.

8. Take care of yourself. Make sure you get enough sleep. Make sure you eat right. Make sure you are safe. Make sure you are healthy. Make sure you keep private matters private. That all sounds obvious. What isn't obvious to some missionaries is that obeying rules does not relieve one from natural consequences. If people around you are not allowing you to take care of yourself, they are not your friends. Simply tell them that you are not available for whatever it is they want you to do. If they as why, simply say you don't care to discuss that. Do not present your reasons for debate. You are an ADULT. You do not have to defend your reasons for your decisions. You do have to live in the environment you create with your decisions.

9. Print this out and take it with you.

One more thing. You know that story about putting fleas in a jar with the lid on and after awhile they'll only jump high enough to not hit the lid? When you take the lid off and the fleas won't jump out of the jar.

As long as you think of yourself as anything other than an INDEPENDENT ADULT, you will never jump out of the jar.

Excellent list. I wish I had realized all that when I was young and naive.

One thing about item 6, they may not be able to send you home, but they can cut off your monthly "allowance" for living expenses, and ban you from church-funded apartments.

In the US you can just get a job where you are and earn living expenses, though easier said than done unless you have a few thousand dollars laying around to tide you over. In a foreign country, your visa almost certainly does not allow you to legally work for pay in that country.

I don't know if LDS Inc can unilaterally revoke your visa, but that certainly would not surprise me.

In any case, I'd put a very big asterisk next to "they can't send you home"