at one zone conference during my mission, we were role playing having discussions with investigators. my mission pres, who was observing me, said "no no no that's all wrong, let me show you how to do it."

He role played the scenario. When I informed him that I had done it just the same way the he did it, he replied...

"The difference is that I used the Spirit."

I laugh now, but boy was I hurt by it at the time. He made me feel like he was spiritually superior and could call on the spirit at will.

What a bozo. As if the spirit is something to turn on and off. LOL What arrogance.

some grievous sin. Come on Elder, fess up....

Blah

I'm glad I'm not on my mission any more. My MP wasn't this bad. And the dreams/nightmares about being called to serve another one have mostly ended, so that's progress in my book.

Oh my gosh, I didn't know that other people have the nightmare of being back on a mission. I don't have it anymore either, but used to a lot. This is amazing to me to hear that other people dream the same thing. Apparently the mission was a horrible experience for many of us lol

I guess it's fairly common. I have had those dreams from time to time. My MP wasn't really a jerk, but he sure didn't care about us. About half way through I was having serious doubts and not wanting to go to church at all. When I talked to my MP he told me that when I figured it out to let him know so he could help others, then he pulled out a set of finger nail clippers and started filing one of his nails. That was also about the time I quit trying and started recycling old investigator records.

I did the same thing! Every day my comp and I would make the same rounds of the city going to old investigator records on file. We knew it was pointless, just filling time.

I think this poster was saying that they took the paper the old investigator records were contained on and recycled the paper.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. I would look through the area book at old investigator information and when the district leader called I would just tell them what the previous missionaries wrote on the discussion evaluation form.

That's funny about not wanting to go to church. When I was a DL and ZL (for 18 months) I was inactive; hardly ever went to church, and always had an excuse not to go ("I have to be in the other ward we cover). Ha ha. None of my junior comps ever complained.

Am I a bozo if I call on the spirit a Will????

The spirit of Southern Comfort?

Off topic, but I think there was a thread about recurring dreams where you have to go on another mission...or maybe I dreamed it!lol!

I expressed doubts about the BofM to my MP, based on some anachronisms I noticed. The lying bastard told me that JS used notes and had to learn the reformed egyptian language just like any other man would. And I bought it.

I'm in my mid-forties, and I still have dreams (err, nightmares) of being called on a second mission about once a year.

reminds me of my mission president rebuking an elder during a zone conference. "I will not stand for that attitude Elder! I REBUKE YOU!!!!!!!!" You could have heard a pin drop. Imagine trying to pull that off with us cynical adults. I think that guy would get an atomic F-bomb if he tried pulling that off nowadays. Kind of what I think when my current stake prez thinks I should wear white shirts. F-U man. You're lucky I'm even showing up!!!!!!!

I had no idea other RM's out there were having the same nightmare. I am in my fifties and I still have dreams about going on another mission. I will get my call, and I am willing to go, but am very anxious that they will find out I do not believe in the church. I get very stressed out by the fact i have to do this for two years. AAAAAHHH!

at the end of my mission my brother was visiting my mission on a tour or europe and i asked permission to travel to the city to meet him and was denied. then a week later i find out another missionary in my zone was allowed to visit his parents who came to visit him. boy was i disappointed and confused and thought "what a hypocritical bastard!"
a seed of doubt was planted in my mind on that day. though not the first i dont think.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2010 09:03AM by Nick Humphrey.

Come now holy spirit I demand that you now bear witness to my sales technique!

I still have those dreams, but not all of them are bad. They all share the same " I have alot of work to do" theme, and later on in the dreams, it comes to a " No one can tell me what to do/ I am not supervised here" theme.

Those were the two themes of my mission. Liberating indeed.

I'm 70 and I till have occasional dreams about being called on a second mission. As a retiree, I could be asked. The answer would be a big fat NO.

...on how to be abusive, manipulative jerks? Or do they need to show they already have that skill in order to be called?

that he spoke in hushed earnest tones and gazed deeply in his interlocutors' eyes.

In other words he was acting. For me, that was one of the reasons I could no longer take the church seriously. I could not speak of anything related to the church in a serious tone. I knew that try as I might, I could not take it seriously and I knew that I couldn't fake it, so why bother trying.

I think that is the number one skill to advance in the church, the ability to speak earnestly about "religious" themes with a grave or serious tone. When I hear that all I think is that the person is either deluded or they're acting.

Kudos to you for at least calling him out on the fact that it was noticeably the same. God, what a horrible way to make a point. Don't you think it would have been more effective--mas eficaz for you spanish elders ;) --to praise what you did right and maybe suggest some minor modifications? Makes you wonder where these guys are taking their leadership and social cues from. I mean, if you hadn't brought it to his attention, you would have been left wondering what he was trying to communicate to you.

Also, the idea that the spirit--supposing there was such a thing--would be party to a *demonstration* is ludicrous. I always got a kick out of that at the MTC. Oh yeah, I really felt the spirit while we were teaching "investigators" in broken Spanish while our instructors watch on a closed circuit TV. I wonder if they could feel the spirit through the CCTV feed.