I've come across a blog written by a young LDS man away on a mission. Many of the comments are condeming him - to various intensities - for breaking the rules.
Is there a policy against blogging, and why?
He keeps himself anonymous, so I don't see the harm in linking. Mission on Mars. Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
Yes, it is against the rules. They souldn't even be using a telephone, much less a computer.
Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
Why? Because they should be focusing primarily on their assigned mission parameters -- at all times. Otherwise, they are considered disregarding their work.
Posted by Foust (Member # 3043) on :
quote:Why? Because they should be focusing primarily on their assigned mission parameters -- at all times. Otherwise, they are considered disregarding their work.
In the sense of time management, or spiritual focus?
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Both.
Posted by Rappin' Ronnie Reagan (Member # 5626) on :
Are missionaries allowed to keep paper journals?
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Yes, I think they are encouraged, even.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I think a blog is different, though. People can't respond to a personal paper journal near so easily.
Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
RapRonReagan, they are encouraged to keep paper journals and to write letters to friends and family. However, the Internet is considered part of "The World" that they are to stay away from to help them remain focused on time management and spiritual activities.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
So it's the potential communication with the outside world that's the problem, and not the time spent focusing on other things?
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
It's the potential for playing on the internet instead of focusing on just communicating with friends and family via e-mail (allowed, but only from public-access computers) and journalling. It's the potential for losing track of time and spending too much on the computer as opposed to focused on mission work, goals, and understanding the scriptures, culture, language (if in a foreign country), etc.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Yes, it is against the rules. They souldn't even be using a telephone, much less a computer.
This is not true anymore. My brother-in-law is on his mission, and he is allowed to use a computer to write and receive letters. Only one day a week, of course.
Posted by Occasional (Member # 5860) on :
TomD. as has been said, its BOTH what you say.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Oh, he knows he's breaking the rules. Gladly, though, he doesn't post nearly as often as, say, me. His whole mission would likely lose the priveledge of using computers if he gets caught. Wonder if he's realized that yet.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
Ok, I don't know that he's doing anything wrong here. It appears he only posts once a week, or longer (meaning he only posts on P-Day) and really, he's not discussing anything all that bad. I would almost guess that he has his mission president's sanction.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
Ok... he thinks he's doing something wrong, so his mission pres probably doesn't know. However, I have a hard time believing that he can keep this from all of his companions...
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
I'm kind of tempted to think he's not a real missionary, at least not currently in the field. But then, I think maybe he is. But then I think he isn't. Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
He's too consistent with his posting to be a fake. All but one post was on a Wednesday afternoon. The one that wasn't was a Saturday evening. I'm sure he's a missionary, and this is just his little rebellion against the rules. He was probably an internet junkie and just couldn't leave it alone. Every missionary has their weak spot. I don't see this as an infraction worse than, say, having long hair.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Didn't even notice that! Yeah, that sounds like a p-day weakness to me.
And hey, if he can be an effective missionary and not stray into anything really wrong, I guess that's his business.
I wouldn't do it, but then, I probably wouldn't do a lot of things others do. Like bungee-jumping.
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
I had companions that did much (much) worse, and still managed to somehow complete an honorable (officially speaking) mission.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
quote: I had companions that did much (much) worse, and still managed to somehow complete an honorable (officially speaking) mission.
Ditto to that. Our mission president would work with any missionary that showed a repentent attitude. For example, there was a missionary in our mission who had never kissed a girl when he left, but by about halfway through his mission he had kissed many, many girls, and knew all of the local discos like the back of his proverbial hand. After a while he came to his senses and tried to work it out with the mission president. Although he was never the best missionary, he did manage to finish out his mission.
Then there was the missionary that kissed a sister missionary. She was repentent; he was not. She stayed; he got shipped home.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:And hey, if he can be an effective missionary and not stray into anything really wrong, I guess that's his business.
It's his mission president's business. This is something his mission president should handle. We don't know if the Prez knows about it or not.
Posted by elviiis (Member # 7382) on :
The comments on his entries remind me of a David O. McKay quote- "every member, a mission president"
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Okay - I gotta ask. What is P-Day?
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
A mission isn't monastic seclusion, either. But missionaries are asked to keep contact with the world outside the mission boundaries to a minimum so they don't get distracted. Because it's easy to get distracted. The time spent keeping up the blog could be better spent on mission-related duties. But if he's doing it mostly on p-day (the missionary equivalent of Saturday) then I don't think it's that big a deal.
One of the guys I served with got one or two letters a day from his girlfriend back home. That was very distracting, to the point that he kind of gave up on his missionary duties and just sat in the apartment blaring American patriotic music on his boombox.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
He seems rather pious though. Perhaps it helps him to collect his thoughts and thus making him an even stronger church member... I do not know...
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
quote:What is P-Day?
Preparation Day. Missionaries do missionary work from 9:30 to 9:00 every day, except for one day a week in which to write letters, go shopping, do laundry, nap - that kind of thing. On those days, they study until 9:30 like normal, then can do whatever is within the rules until 6:00, when they do missionary work from 6:00 - 9:00.
Posted by gnixing (Member # 768) on :
Being a former missionary that hated basketball, I think blogging is just as effective of a stress reliever for P-Day as the things other "normal" missionaries do. I don't think it matters much if his mission pres knows as long as it doesn't become an obsession. It's very much like writing a public diary.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
If he's just posting the blog and not looking at other websites, I'd consider it the equivalent of keeping a journal. If he's also surfing the web, that would seem to be a violation of the rules as I understand them (which is only from Hatrack, of course.)
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
quote:Well, today marks the one-year anniversary of the last time I got some.
This first line made me doubt his missionary status, but then he says he's never been kissed. So I guess he has a different defnition of "getting some" then the rest of us. Odd. Perhaps he means a date?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:that would seem to be a violation of the rules as I understand them (which is only from Hatrack, of course.)
Bear in mind that specific rules for things like this can vary a lot from mission to mission, depending on that attitude of the mission president.
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
Quite. So if I were the guy's mission president ( ) I'd be fine with him posting a blog, as long as he wasn't also surfing the web.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:So I guess he has a different defnition of "getting some" then the rest of us. Odd. Perhaps he means a date?
He's a Mormon. They probably held hands and talked about marriage. Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
When I see the title, I keep wanting to sing the Mormon Primary song "I Hope they Call me on a Mission" as "I Hope I'm Blogging on a Mission" or something like that.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Posted by Wendybird (Member # 84) on :
There is a difference between a paper journal and a blog. Audience. The rules for internet use are email only and the emails have to be personal letters. My bro-in-law had to remind me while on his mission not to forward jokes and such because he could get in trouble. That communication had to be letters to and from family. This blogging elder is not doing himself any good by spending so much time on this. He said he often spends his personal study time writing his blog post. What a waste.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
There is no I in NCMO.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
This kid cracks me up. In his profile there is an application to date him for when he returns from his mission.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
He seems to think alot of himself--
quote: It's really a shame how people try to misuse the system sometimes. People join the Church just to get church welfare or they get the missionaries to do service for them with aulterior (sp?) motives. Such was the case this last week. We go to help a family rebuild a chicken coop only to find that all we're really doing is giving they're oldest (home schooled) daughter the opportunity to hit on some missionaries in the hope that one might come back and marry her.
Does he seriously think that?
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Probably, and from experience, I'd tend to give him the benefit of the doubt. Though I don't know if it's necessarily misuse of the system. :)
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Sounds more like his overblown perceptions replacing reality, but hey, I'm an unrepentant judgemental judgie person.
Posted by Annie (Member # 295) on :
Muppers, you make me smile.
And thanks for clearning me up on the NICMO thing. It's good to have experts in our midst. Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
Speaking of missions, Annie, did you know that the BYU post office has Same-day delivery to the MTC? My sister once sent an entire pizza to my brother in a foil-lined shoebox, and when he got it it was still hot.
Just sayin'. *whistle*
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
quote:My sister once sent an entire pizza to my brother in a foil-lined shoebox, and when he got it it was still hot.
Now THAT is what I'd call cool.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
First of all, I have not read any of this guy's stuff.
But from the part you quoted, SM, this doesn't surprise me at all.
I personally saw both of those things (getting baptized in order to take advantage of church welfare and mothers trying to hook their daughters up with the missionaries) happen on my mission.
The first one I only saw once. The second one I saw many, many times.
I remember one family that would have us over every couple of weeks for lunch. They had a teenage daughter. There was always something a little "off" there, but I didn't think too much on it. One day the mother asked me if I thought I could marry a Brazilian. I answered a simple "no" (even though it was not technically true, I was answering what I understood the *real* question to be -- "Could you fall in love with a Brazilian girl on your mission and come back for her?")
Even though they had invited us over at least once every other week up to that point, once I said "no", we were never invited back while I was there. It was pretty obvious why.
[ June 25, 2005, 12:00 PM: Message edited by: mr_porteiro_head ]
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I've heard of it happening as well, but that statement, combined with a comment of his about female speakers at Conference, combined with the application to date him when he gets home, make me think he's at best in posession of an overinflated ego, and at worst a future wife-beating masochist.
He just bugs me, for some reason. I can't explain why.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Out of curiousity, how do missionaries usually feed themselves? It sounds like they have little time to cook most days. Do members of the church have them over for dinner?
Also, what does "missionary work" consist of? I would imagine that eventually they'd run out of doors to knock on...
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I think it's a little different depending on your area. If there are more active members willing to feed missionaries, there are less missionaries having to feed themselves.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
quote:Out of curiousity, how do missionaries usually feed themselves? It sounds like they have little time to cook most days. Do members of the church have them over for dinner?
It really depends on where you are. Most of the places where I was, the local members invited us over for lunch each day. We took care of our breakfasts and dinners.
Many places here in the states, the members feed dinner to the missionaries. We've had the missionaries over for dinner several times.
In a couple of areas I was in, the members didn't feed us at all, so we took care of it all ourselves.
quote:Also, what does "missionary work" consist of?
It mostly constists of looking for people to teach and teaching. Once again, this varys a lot from place to place.
There were areas in my mission where we spent almost zero time knocking on people's doors -- we were spending all of our time actually teaching people. In other areas, we knocked on a lot of doors.
Sometimes missionaries go to a very public place like a town square and try to just talk to people passing by, or set up a booth to talk to people. I never did that myself, though.
quote:I would imagine that eventually they'd run out of doors to knock on...
Yes and no. Most missionaries are in a single area for no longer than six months. So it is rare for a missionary to run out of doors to knock that are new for him. Again, this vary's wildly from area to area.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Also, in our mission they've made this stupid rule that missionaries MUST be fed at 5:30 ONLY (unless you're having them over for a discussion.) In an area like this where many people don't get home until 6:30 or later, and a large percentage of women work outside the home out of financial necessity, they don't get too many weekday meals any more. Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
KQ -- I learned on my mission that whenever a stupid rule was set it was almost *always* because some missionary acted stupid first.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Hmm, I wonder if my friends and I can have a few missionaries in our area over for dinner during the school year. Since we're all non-Mormons, and therefore potential converts to them, they can always consider it to be missionary work Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
It's possible, but don't count on it. On my mission, depending on how busy I was, I might have turned you down if you seemed like you were more interested in socializing than genuinely interested in hearing what I had to teach. And if you were a group of single young women, I would become triply suspicious.
Posted by Synesthesia (Member # 4774) on :
quote:Originally posted by sarcasticmuppet: I've heard of it happening as well, but that statement, combined with a comment of his about female speakers at Conference, combined with the application to date him when he gets home, make me think he's at best in posession of an overinflated ego, and at worst a future wife-beating masochist.
He just bugs me, for some reason. I can't explain why.
Me too, a few of my reasons may be different from yours though, but that was an obnoxious statement about female speakers.
Posted by Shigosei (Member # 3831) on :
Nope. Mixed. And actually, the group would probably be interested in hearing what the missionaries had to say. The chances of any of us converting, however, would be pretty small.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
Porter, I think it was because people were feeding the missionaries late, keeping them long, and they were not making it to meetings, appointments, etc. in a timely manner, and barely coming in on time at night. Not really all their fault, but not desirable.
I dealt with it by feeding them on Sat. or Sun. when I managed to catch them on an open day, and sending them home with a large amount of leftovers (for instance, cooking up six times as many lentils as we were going to eat and sending it home with them with pre-cooked rice and any other leftovers we ended up with).
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Well, like I said, I haven't bothered to read anything by this guy.
Syn -- from the little you have described it, I almost definitely would have accepted an invitation over to eat dinner and then teach a discussion to the mixed group.
KQ -- my point, which I didn't make very well, was that even though the rule might seem stupid, there is probably a good reason for it. But I see that you already knew that there was a good reason for the rule.
Evenings are prime missionary time, since that is when most people are home.
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) I'd be fine with him posting a blog, as long as he wasn't also surfing the web.
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