I felt bad for them. They didn't look terribly healthy. I had mixed feelings about not buying them some vegetables and meat but we've overextended ourselves lately helping other people, and I'm changing my priorities to make sure we're getting done what we need to. I've had an especially hard time lately seeing people hurting and hungry. It's kept me up at night feeling upset sometimes. With the missionaries, though, I figured they have a church and family who need to be caring for them if they need it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2011 10:16PM by robertb.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2011 10:16PM by robertb.

I saw the mishies at the hardware store a couple of months ago buying ant pellets or some such and asked if they were going to sprinkle it outside to keep the Jehovah's Witnesses away...got a decent chuckle out of 'em.

Not an American so please confirm or rebut-

Would missionaries serving in the USA not qualify for food stamps since their income is so low???

Not sure how those things are doled out.

Probably. It's based on income and I bet they would qualify if anyone does.

There are certain rules with food stamps. If you are able to work then you must work or be actively seeking a job. One exception to this is if you are a caretaker for children five years old or younger. If missionaries tried to apply for food stamps then they would be told to get a job. If they argued that they were on a "mission" and couldn't work and wouldn't look for a job, then they would be denied food stamps. Also if a missionary was caught applying for food stamps I guarantee that as soon as the mission president, or someone else in authority caught wind of it then the missionary in question would be reamed upside and down.

In our county they would be exempt from finding work because of the high unemployment rate.

I know it is handled on a case by case basis by states, and if one is NOT working then they have to show proof of a disability from a doctor and that doctor visit is paid for by human services(social services).This is called a Med-9 form that the doctor fills out. Also, I believe that the income limit to qualify for food stamps is $1,172.00 per month. The mishies can always go to the food pantry at a Catholic church, they never turn anyone away, even Mormons. I always try to pick up a couple of extra boxes of Hamburger Helper whenever I go to the market, and donate it to the Catholic church where I live, as they helped me with food when the Mormons would not. I will always be grateful to them for that, as they knew I was struggling to find out the truth of the Mormon lies at the time. Now I can say that I am free at last, and am trying to help the next person in line that needs food.

I wouldn't feel too bad for them.. if there mission was anything like mine they probably get fed by ward members every night (steak, bbq, pasta, etc).

I was going to send a grocery card to a relative missionary about a month ago but heard through the grapevine that some kind soul had given him some cash. What he did with it told me he wasn't starving and didn't need it as he didn't spend it on food. I decided against sending him anything.

Moira

There have been times when I stopped by a store an bought nothing but cereal and milk because that was what I needed and it was all I needed at the time.

Same can be true with the missionaries.

Of course, maybe they were having a cereal party or buying for other missionaries, too. I don't know. My perception is also influenced by worrying a lot about hungry people the last couple of months.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2011 01:41AM by robertb.

There was an article in today's paper that many 16 and 17 year olds don't know how to cook anything and can't even boil water. They ask "how do you know when the water is done?"

Too many families (not just the Morg) live today on cereal for breakfast (maybe) and fast food or takeout food for everything else.

... Milk before Meat!!

Maybe they can't cook and cereal is the only thing they know how to make. In my experience, I don't know too many 19-21 year old guys who know how to cook, or even how to shop for basic ingredients so that what you cook goes further. Example: One could make chili for probably less than $10-15 (assuming you use ground beef in it; my chili is always veggie) and then eat off a pot of chili for a couple days. Let's say the missionaries get four meals out of a $12 investment in groceries. That brings the cost per meal down to $3 per meal. Pretty darn cheap.

My question to y'all is this: Does the MTC offer any training at all in this area? How to plan menus, cook, and purchase ingredients with a weekly menu in mind?

I wonder how many missionaries live off Mac n Cheese, Ramen noodles and frozen blocks o food simply because they lack the cooking skills to make more nutritious and less expensive meals. (Although it is hard to beat the cost-per-meal of Ramen noodles...)

We cooked mac and cheese and ramen because we had little $ for food. We did get dinners on a regular basis (Anaheim 90-91) but lunch and breakfast were always the cheapest foods we could buy.

Not just money, but time.

The pressure to get in and out of the apartment to get out and resume proselyting trumps fixing a good meal. It's just not important.... I can still hear the leaders, "after all, a mission is only two years, but you'll remember it for the rest of your life. Do you want to think about all that time you prepared food instead of finding lost souls?"

I recall the mission president's wife providing simple and quick recipes that were "appropriate for our callings."

jpt Wrote:

> I recall the mission president's wife providing
> simple and quick recipes that were "appropriate
> for our callings."


Not beer and pizza, I take it :-)

My stake president gave me a missionary cookbook to take with me. It's probably around still in a box in the garage. Never, ever used it for two reasons. First, there wasn't a single ingredient in it that was easily obtainable in the country where I did my time. Second, I'd lived on my own for two years by then and had a rather more refined palate than the author of that book.

Awkward: That stake president married my mom a few years ago. I don't think he gets me any better now than he did then.

...with rice milk (riso da bere) instead of cow's milk or soya milk because I like the taste better. Other than that, I eat one big salad per day, some bananas or other fruit, freshly squeezed orange juice every morning and apple juice or a fruit salad with yoghurt every evening, and no more than 200 gr (less than half a pound) of meat or fish on most days, with at least two veggie days a week. And believe me, I may not be the biggest hunk but I do look incredibly healthy.

So maybe the guys were more health-conscious than you thought?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2011 12:28PM by Zeno Lorea.

To be more sensitive to current sensibilities, they renamed 'em"

get this..


Corn Pops!

MotherYouKnowWhaters!

Blasphemy!

Ron

I like your idea of charity.

The idea of giving a bag of groceries to someone in need *at* the grocery store is my kind of charity. Another variation of this is paying the gas bill for someone at the gas station. It's not hard to notice someone who is enduring circumstances that make buying gas difficult. Another way of doing this, for us living in a big city where homeless people are scattered everywhere, is rather than hand the unfortunate fella some money, take him into a diner and buy him a meal, or into the grocery store.

I've grown cynical of big, flashy well-known charities. I've simplified my giving. A homeless guy looks like he hasn't a toque and gloves, well, I give him mine, right then and there. I can buy another set. If I give my money to a charity the poor fella may never get a toque on his head. Same with a single mom in a grocery store, or a working father at the gas station, etc.

If the recipient seems awkward or even offended, I just say I belong to a "Pay it Forward" club.

Have you checked out the cost of a box of cereal these days?

Cereals, for the most part, are no bargain. They can run $4.00+ a box. Unless these kids were buying generic store brands or getting a BOGO deal, it's not a wise use of their food dollars. Plus a lot of cereals are loaded with sugar, have no fiber or nutritive value except for the vitamins sprayed on them at the factory.