Posted by Carlos on June 10, 1998 at 19:53:45:
In Reply to: mission rules, etc. posted by rpcman on June 09, 1998 at 16:26:59:
rpcman said"
On my mission we were only allowed to call home twice a year. Being the 'more righteous' missionary that I was, I personally opted for the even 'higher law' and never called home during my two years. (I know this now sounds stupid, but I was a real zealot TBM.)
On my mission, it was once a year - at Christmas. I actually returned home on Christmas day, so I only called once in two years.
Anyway, I think it has to do with these kinds of restrictions. The church doesn't want its missionaries reading the newspaper, listening to the radio, or talking on the phone so why should they want them to use email? If it wasn't for the fact that family are usually the ones paying for the mission, they'd probably ban snail mail too.
I succumbed to the occasional temptation to read a copy of Time on my mission - sometimes I just had to know what was going on in the real world. We actually had a rule in my mission for a while that mail could only be read on P-day, as well we written. It was universally ignored. This came from the same mission prez who also banned cameras for a few months (also ignored by most).
The ironic thing is that most missionaries spend entire p-days writing letters and mailing them. My friend only writes one letter a week (online) and mails it to everyone instantly so essentially he is more productive (in the missionary sense) and efficient with his p-day time. He comes home next month and doesn't think the ban will go into effect until after he is home so he is happy about that.
The really ironic thing is that this poor RM has you for a friend - how long do you think he'll remain faithful? :)