I know a very shy and reserved girl in my ward who put her papers in late last year. Anyway since then she's met a guy and they are SO in love it's adorable (meaning 18 month mission is off the cards)
So I go to her fb page and I see she's been called on a mini mission?! Our ward is part of the mission in which she has been called to. I think it's so cruel, like this girl is on the verge of engagement and now they've decided to call her on what seems like a waste of time mission to me.

...basically shadows a full-time missionary companionship in their local area for as little as a weekend or as much as a few weeks. Usually mini-missions are meant for those approaching full-time missionary age to supposedly inspire them to do the real thing. I don't think anyone considers or counts a mini-mission as the *real* thing. I went on one when I was 18 for a few days about 6 months before putting in my papers for my real mission

My sister went on a mini mission. It was up in Montana and it seemed like she was like 19. I feel like it was only two weeks long maybe. She of course fell for a certain good looking 'elder' that was serving his mission. She had pictures of him posted on her cork board. haha..I thought it was cute back then but sort of weird cause he was on his mission. When I hit that age I was different. I always made it a point not to talk to missionaries. I really felt like I didn't want to distract them. I acted stuck up but just didn't want to got there. Now thinking back she easily fell for guys(she's one of the nicest people I have ever met)....the final one she did end up marrying changed after a while, showed his true colors down the road-I think. She ended meeting a missionary that was eating dinner at my grandparents in Montana. Then he got transferred and she ran into him at my other grandparents three hours north. sort of weird. maybe it was fate-but there aren't many members in Montana... desperation played a role I feel . She was writing him for the remainder of his mission as she went to hair school in Rexburg. They got engaged really quick and he whisked her off to Arizona. 5 kids later and I wonder if she made the right decision. oh..well..not my bizness...but an observation. I care about my sister and want her to be happy. I would not be happy if I was married to him. He's a fun sucker priesthood Power house type...better than thou.... he is only human under it all. haha..a little off the topic. I don't know exactly how she got called on her mini mission. enjoy reading your posts.

I did a mini mission. It was dangerous.

That reminded me of something I haven't thought of in years. I was baptized when I was 19. Very VERY shortly after that, as in maybe a matter of mere weeks after that, I actually went with a lifelong member a few years older than I was. I don't know what genius decided that it's a good thing to pair up a brand new clueless convert with a born-in-the-vat-of-koolaid TBM to go on a 'mini-mission' tracting from door to door. I do know for sure that it was 1: a man, and 2: I would love to have cracked his nuts!! I had never gone door to door, certainly never to annoy people with religion, like the JWs who occasionally stopped by in the area. Right off the bat, we knocked on a door and the guy who answered it immediately launched into a tirade about Mormonism being a cult, about Jesus and Satan being brothers......the Godmakers, all kinds of sh!t. Of course I had no idea what was going on; my 'companion' immediately grabbed me and hightailed it out of there as he went on bringing up the most bizarre stuff.

If only I'd saved myself another 22 years of koolaid and batsh!t......but then I wouldn't have gotten married and had the kids I did, and no matter what, I don't regret my family, not for one moment. I just hope my kids are able to see through it eventually and move on to something healthier and happier themselves.
Anyway, yeah. Mini-missions. Great way to introduce both the new convert and life-long TBMs to tracting crazy.

I have a friend whose son is mildly autistic - just enough to not be sure if he could serve a full 2 year mission. He really, really wanted to serve like his brother did though. So they called him on a mini-mission for 3 months in the next state over, to see how he could handle the pressure. He did fine and was called to serve a full two year mission in Florida ... or Georgia somewhere. This was a few years ago so I don't remember exactly. But I think that's another purpose of the mini mission. To take the place of a longer mission for one reason or another.

CA Girl, I am also mildly autistic, probably similar to your friend's son. You may have already seen it, but I wrote a thread a few months back about my 3 month experience in the Utah Provo Mission being called from Orem at http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,271096,271096#msg-271096.

Argggg! My son is on a "mini-mission" this week and I miss him so much! It is his spring break, and he's in Mexico with 200 other "mini-missionaries" providing medical and dental services, building houses, giving haircuts (?), and spreading the word of the Lord. The video of last year's mission showed a missionary holding up a bag of teeth that the dentists extracted!

No white shirts or ties, I can guarantee you.

is where you see how many mini-me's you can make mormon in a month or until your mother calls you home.