I finished the novel "Heaven Up Here". It's a great read.

http://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Up-Here-John-Williams/dp/1105296946/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336186835&sr=1-1

My question: Is the lds church legally responsible for the welfare and safety of its missionaries? If a missionary comes home early because of health problems (mental and/or physical), who pays for that? What if a missionary is kill while on a mission? Is the family compensated for the person's death?

I'm also guessing that unlike Walmart, brides from the lds church are okay?

I was on vacation and finally looked through my mail and at my latest issue of Discover magazine (June, 2012). I can't find the article on line. The vital signs article is called Paralyzed by Faith.

It tells the story of a Mormon missionary who arrives at the University Medical Center in Salt Lake City. He had been on a mission in Johannesburg, South Africa and woke up one day unable to move his legs. He was hospitalized in South Africa and after finding no evidence of injury or infection, he was flown back to the states.

After multiple tests come back normal, a psychiatrist suggests he may have conversion disorder. Conversion disorder is a psychological malady with symptoms that resemble a neurological disorder or other medical condition. The onset is usually abrupt and typically begins with a mental conflict or emotional crisis, then "converts" to a physical problem that prevents the patient from engaging in the activity that was causing him stress.

After talking to the missionary and asking if anything was bothering him, he states, "I couldn't do it anymore. The mission, I hated being there and didn't like approaching people about religion." He does recovered from his paralysis.

The article has a side box that says 3% of Mormon missionaries return home early because of physical or mental health problems.

I served in Houston, TX. There were areas of town we were told not to enter. I believe they were called 'wards'. The problem was, I was never really sure where they were. We went to MANY places on my mission that I wouldn't dare to set foot on now. But I must say, even though we crossed paths with some very scary looking people, they were all very pleasant and most asked us to pray for them. I fell lucky though that we were never hurt.

That is the bad thing about missions and the church-the suspension of your own judgement. My old friend recently found out I've left the church. Of course she was full of testimony about her son serving a mission now. My advice was to tell him to always trust his own judgement and use common sense. Unfortunately, bad things happen to young people with no world experience who think the garments and the priesthood protect them from all evil.

Mishies can live in squalor, be half starved, contract serious illness, be injured, or die. No one sues the church or complains much as they would with a non-church employer, so there's never a worry about morg accountability.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/05/2012 12:38PM by Cheryl.

I wonder if parents think they are putting their children in harms way? TBM parents would probably blame the missionary, but not all missionaries come from TBM families. I wonder if the church deals with any problems quietly so no one knows?

The Church feeds the families the line that “missionaries who die while honorably serving the Church get an automatic passage to the Celestial Kingdom”.

I am a physician and had been inactive at the time about 10 years or so when the phone rings one evening. It is the mission president's wife. She tells me about a missionary who is depressed and wants to know if I would see him. I told her I wasn't a psychiatrist but I knew several. She expressed her gratitude and asked me if I could refer him under two conditions. First, the psychiatrist could not tell the missionary that his depression was due to his mission and second, could not recommend that the remedy was to go home. I told her that I knew multiple psychiatrists who practiced according to very high ethical standards however I would not even ask them to limit their care under those conditions. That was the end of our conversation.

*Pathetic*

It is not a novel. It is autobiographical, by one of our members. It really happened.

I wasn't being disrespectful.