Subject: Horrific Mormon Mission Experiences
Date: Apr 21 04:31 2005 (updated July 2005)
Author: SLR

I served in a foreign country and saw first-hand how the racist Utah/Idaho Mormons acted. Being raised in Washington and not the "Homeland", I was more than shocked to see how "Real" Mormons think. The natives were regularly referred to as "Brown Units" among other disgusting things. There was constant segregation employed by the white missionaries, led by Utah/Idaho "leaders" A/Ps [assistants to the mission president] on down. I found it all appalling and nearly lost it. Because I actually believe people are equal I was often the recipient of segregation and withholding of "privileges" like a heater in winter. Equally as appalling was seeing horrible people be put in positions of authority by a Mission President who apparently had the inspiration equal to the hunk of granite in my yard. Of course he is now a General Authority. I was very sick for most of my mission and nothing was done to help me. I mean constant diarrhea, vomiting, the works. And no bathroom or shower in the godforsaken areas they put me in. I had a plastic bucket to crap in and puke in the same sitting. I nearly died. After months of hell, and being the victim of lies from my companion, which got him promoted and me an even worse area, again thanks to the inspiration of the Mission President, I ended up with typhoid and a 106 temp. I stopped eating for a week until a doctor came and saved my life. I couldn't get out of bed. I almost died again. Did ANYONE from the mission, the Doc, the Pres, anyone help me or do anything for me? No. Nothing. When I arrived in the mission I was a ripped 190. When I left I weighed 120. I can't remember a lot of my younger years since the weeks with that fever. My memories are gone, blanks. Stolen by the Mormon Church. When I arrived home, the final note to my mission was the interview with the Stake President to release me where he told me to lie about everything bad. And the sad thing is that wasn't my turning point. I did lie. But no more. No, my future kids will never serve missions. I place the blame for my injuries, mental and physical, squarely where they belong with the total fraud of the church, that stake president, and that mission president. And that isn't half of what I've suffered at the hands of the church before and after my mission. They picked the wrong genius to fuck with. Karma.

Subject: Re: Horrific Mission
Date: Apr 21 07:37
Author: vegasbright

I had appendicitis on my mission but it was a relatively American-oriented medical experience. Sorry to hear about your experience.

Subject: I had my appendix removed too. Got back to apartment only to find all my belongings searched by the SS ZL's. nt
Date: Apr 21 10:34
Author: LOL

Subject: Re: Horrific Mission
Date: Apr 21 09:08
Author: Hellmut

Hi SLR,

Sorry to hear about your experience. Missions are often abusive experiences. Unfortunately, one is not allowed to talk about it. There is a Mormon Omerta. RMs [returned missionaries] sharing the truth would be ostracized.

The Mormon Alliance mormonalliance.org collects reports about ecclesiastical abuse. I think your experience would be very instructive to a lot of people.

Cheers, Hellmut

Subject: Re: Horrific Mission
Date: Apr 21 10:26
Author: anon for this one

My son had a medical condition, but appeared to look healthy on the exterior. His Dr. made note that he would have a "marked limitation-D" on his mission paperwork. This is a limitation of activity, special climate requirements, use of a wheelchair, special medical needs or visits, etc. That was fine with us since we were somewhat prepared for this type of decision- thought we would attempt it anyways.

Upon receipt of the papers, the Bishop made his life a living hell. Every Sunday he pushed and pushed for him to serve a mission, regardless of what was stated on the paperwork! He even took it upon himself to contact the MTC board of physicians for their opinion. Even after the conditions of the illness were confirmed, he was still relentless. He told our son that if he had more faith in God, he would be able to go and serve an HONORABLE mission.(despite any medical conditions) Finally, my son put his foot down and said he REFUSED to go.

This just goes to show you how far these control freaks will go-----------to the ends of the earth to have it their way. JERKS!- GLAD WE'RE OUT

Subject: Your Mission President didn't do anything to help you because, according to him, your anguish was caused by some 'sin' of yours. nt
Date: Apr 21 10:33
Author: LOL

Subject: Re: Horrific Mission
Date: Apr 21 13:27
Author: Pete Chance

Your story needs to be told. Keep up the good work. Your story is incredible. The sad part is that we missionaries were "conditioned" to treat our fellow missionaries who may have had some physical problems with disdain. Always wondering if the illness were real. The leadership starts with the proposition that "you must be faking it or it just can't be that bad" because after all, "Christ wouldn't allow his missionaries to suffer a calamity-- what with the secret protective underwear and all!" I think most of these people truly believe that shit. I did when I was a 21 year old missionary. Thank goodness I started pulling my head out shortly after I returned to the real world. My son also stood up to the Nazi bishop and just refused to go on a mission. I couldn't be prouder of him. He's an awesome young man besides that. I'm sorry for what you went through. God (whoever or whatever that is) bless you.

Subject: My 2 cents...
Date: Apr 21 13:57
Author: Craig Paxton

First of all...thank you so much for sharing your story.... It needs to be told...you should contact a SL Trib reporter...

Second: There is something fucking wrong with an organization that would allow a strong fit young man to whither away in a ill equipped flat somewhere in Siberia (don't know where you served. but I'm guessing Eastern Europe). The fault of your suffering rest solely with the LDS church. You entrusted your life in their hands and they fucked you over. Here's the glaring problem. They put 19-21 year old men in positions of authority of other 19-21 year old men...and then don't give them the training or the tools of management to properly care for these individuals. They are 100% responsible...as is your MP. The church needs to train everyone who has organizationally control over others They need to know in specific terms that in a life and death situation...action needs to be taken to properly care for those they have charge over. Good Hell! What the fuck were they thinking?

On a personal note, my son was placed in a hospital for three days in some god forsaken Brazilian jungle...and we did not receive one fucking phone call alerting us to the fact that he was near death. Three weeks after he was released we received a letter from our son notifying us of what he had gone through. I was so fucking pissed at his mission president that I called Brazil and told him that in the future he better let me know exactly what was going on with my son...and told him that he had the responsibility to inform parents of serious health issues their sons might be experiencing. I was TBM at the time...so I held back some.

I hope you are able to fully recover from the neglect of those involved...but honestly someone needs to pay...other wise they just continue to neglect their responsibilities...and others will suffer in the future...

THEY NEED TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO YOU....

Subject: The same thing happened to my husband. . .
Date: Apr 21 23:54
Author: anonymom for this one

He served his mission in a nondescript little place in a nondescript little country somewhere south of the Mexican border. Within a short time, he had a world-class case of intestinal parasites. He lived on candy bars and sodas because the sugar could get into his bloodstream fast enough that the greedy little bastards couldn't get to it first. That's the only way he had enough energy to keep going. Somebody gave him some native brew that was supposed to kill the parasites but they seemed to like it.

Not until his mother, a cigarette-smokin,' coffee-drinkin' Jack-Mormon saw a picture of him, some 60 pounds thinner than when he left, did the s**t hit the fan. She called SLC, who didn't do anything. Somehow, she got hold of the MP, and ripped him a new one.

My hubby got sent to a real hospital in a real city and was given some medicine that was so toxic it almost killed him (but he managed to outlive the parasites.) He was able to finish his mission, but it took him years to regain his strength.

Nobody should have to go through that. What if his mother had been a docile little Molly who just said "Yes, sir, yes, sir, three bags full" to whatever the MP told her?

Pisses me off all over again, just thinking about it.

Subject: Horrific Mission is an understatement
Date: Apr 21 15:05
Author: dragon777

I no longer fear hell for I have been on a LDS mission. There is a conspiracy of silence on the truth of missions.

Subject: I agree wholeheartedly
Date: Apr 21 18:25
Author: ThanksLucy

The horror is not confined to medical-emergency stories. A range of problems arise from things like I) the culture clash between UT/IDAHO missionaries and others, ii) bullying by AP/ZL etc. iii) damage to self-image for those who do not fit the mold etc.

When I was on my mission in J'ville Fla. I once had tobacco juice spat on me. I took photos of it and thought it was really funny to be 'persecuted' in that way. What really hurt me was the treatment I received from those within the mission structure.

Subject: Re: I agree wholeheartedly
Date: Apr 23 21:30
Author: SLR

The common blinded members or even complete strangers were far kinder than anyone I encountered in the mission bureaucracy. I had only a couple of companions that I would consider honest and decent people.

nt, I am not going to mention the mission because I trust the Mormon Church as far as I can throw it.

The only cause of my illnesses was the complete purposeful negligence on the behalf of church leaders in order to con more people out of a buck. My health was destroyed for the greed of Mormon Founding Families. That's what makes me angry. It is worse than a cult, it is organized crime, one the earliest mafias in America. Joseph Smith and the Mormons were persecuted and killed everywhere they went because decent people don't tolerate terrorism, murder and lawlessness in their neighborhoods. Mormons were not nice people as we were told in Church mythology. Joseph Smith was a criminal, a child molester and a pathological liar. And the church leaders were criminals out for money and power. After Joe Smith got his just desserts, they moved to Utah, a gateway to the west, to try and take advantage through murder and extortion of the settlers moving west. They continue their extortion and fraud throughout the world. It is undoubtedly one of the most harmful religions one can join because of the message designed to sucker entire families.

Subject: I arrived in mid Illinois. My companion came down with
Date: Apr 23 21:56
Author: Fred

walking pneumonia. Except he wasn't walking. He stayed in his bed for two weeks. We kept in touch with the DL's. They were clueless. They should have told the MP that my companion was seriously ill. I was clueless. I had never seen anything like this before. The man could have died.

He literally filled a HALF GALLON jar with snot. Cough up. He kept the jar at the side of his bed and would cough like he was going to die, then spit a teaspoon or so into the jar.

And this was in Illinois! I can't imagine what you went through.

Subject: True Believing Mormons will laugh these stories off as wimp whinings. (swearing in message)..
Date: Apr 23 23:03
Author: Charles, Buddhist Punk

They will hold up the "first missionaries" (Samuel Smith and P.P. Pratt are deemed gods in this respect) as standards to be emulated. They will simply shrug these off as "you-couldn't-hack-it" stories. Mormons turn a blind eye to glaringly immoral church practices such as polygamy, and they will turn a blind eye to mission abuse.

The Mormon church sucks like a 1000W vacuum cleaner. Fuck the leadership, double fuck to the ultimate prime numero uno leader, Joe "Treasure Sniffing" Smith. I wish he had never been born.

Subject: Re: True Believing Mormons will laugh these stories off as wimp whinings. (swearing in message)..
Date: Apr 23 23:25
Author: Lost family to the morg

I remember quite a few years back PBS had a program that exposed problems with missions. I also remember comments later, that these young men were just spoiled-- whimps.

You need to get together and write a book- expose the problems. You might just save a life.

Subject: Re: True Believing Mormons will laugh these stories off as wimp whinings. (swearing in message)..
Date: Apr 24 03:10

Thank you for all your support. Believe me, I've kept quiet for too long. Like many of you, my family is held hostage so whatever I do will be carefully disguised so that lying bastard Hinckley won't be able to try and disgrace me like he did Benson. I am aiming for something a bit more effective than some stories of abuse, although that might help some of the poor Mormon saps in the meantime. Most of the TBMs as you say are just people that want to believe in something great and they have been conned by some truly evil people. People who have and continue to benefit richly at the hands of the members they keep in submission like dogs. I am after those people past and present. And no amount of moronic FAIR press releases will help.

Subject: The Mormon church considers mishies as disposable as tissue.
Date: Apr 24 04:15
Author: Cheryl

They get away with this because the members and the missionaries' parents let them.

It's sad for the missionaries serving in middle class neighborhoods in the US. It's a tragic for those who go to places like you did. Doubly so when the MP is even more abusive than most.

I'm so sad for what happened to you!

It's bad enough that they turn young people into liars. Then when the church owns the young person's honesty and integrity, the church expects them to willingly physically suffer and sometimes die.

The mormon church does all of this purely because the members and the missionary parents allow it and shouldn't! What an intolerable and degrading situation!

I hope you're home and can eventually heal from all of this. I'm sending warmest healing thoughts and good wishes. Do take care.

Subject: SLR, what did your parents do when they saw...
Date: Apr 24 10:32
Author: dimmesdale

you had lost so much weight? Did you tell them your story?

Subject: Re: SLR, what did your parents do when they saw...
Date: Apr 24 18:54
Author: SLR

No. I didn't tell them what happened. The church made this into a real internal hell for me. But my whole family was shocked by how I looked.

One other incident that I even forgot to mention was I got a horrible insect bite on my ankle which eventually got so bad it infected my entire foot, put me in severe pain and prevented me from walking for about 4 weeks. Again from the entire lack of any medical supervision from the mission.

Subject: SOMEBODY SHOULD WRITE A BOOK USING THESE AND OTHER STORIES!!! n/t
Date: Apr 24 10:34
Author: dimmesdale

Subject: I only heard one honest account of a mission
Date: Apr 24 10:43
Author: anon

ever, in a sacrament meeting in CA years ago. And the guy who talked mentioned how the bishopric had instructed him to be more positive in his talk! Poor guy.

Subject: Multiple Sclerosis
Date: Apr 24 11:13
Author: anon

This hits a little close to home for me, since I've been losing feeling in my right leg for the last few weeks due to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) that I developed on my mission. I have little medical evidence for it (nobody really knows exactly what triggers MS), but I am convinced that either the immunizations or broad exposure to a large diversity of people from Europe and Africa infected me with an MS-triggering agent. In other words, I may very well not have MS today had it not been for my Mormon mission.

I recall walking down one of the cobblestone streets, but something was wrong. My eye hurt, and everything in the lower half of my vision was heavily distorted. After a painful examination by an ophthalmologist, he concluded that I did not have a detached retina, but he also was too clueless to suggest Optic Neuritis (a cardinal initial symptom of MS) as the cause. He told me to take intramuscular steroid injections (the WRONG thing to do, by the way), which my clueless companion was more than happy to do for me, in about the least sanitary way imaginable (no hands washing, no alcohol cleaning of the injection site; he didn't even bother getting the huge air bubble out of the syringe before he gave me the injection).

Everything subsided with time, and several missionaries suspected that I was lying in order to get out of having to proselyte while I went to the doctor to figure out why I was apparently losing my vision. The Optic Neuritis subsided for the next year; all I had was some numbness in my leg later on in my mission.

Fast forward five years. I finally get diagnosed properly. I have several blind spots in both eyes by now, and I get to give myself several painful injections every week to try to keep MS at bay. As my legs gradually turn numb, I get to wonder at what point I'm going to be in a wheelchair or how long I'm going to be able to see. I may very well have developed MS anyway, regardless of the exposures I had during my mission, but a part of me can't help but wonder whether I would have to be dealing with all this had I instead stayed in the U.S. and went to school.

Subject: This helped a friend of mine out of the morg
Date: Apr 24 19:04
Author: NMUgrad

One of my dearest friends was a mishie in South America and got sick, very sick. Her MP didn't want her to come home. She lost 30 pounds, not a big deal for some girls, but she was an aerobics instructor before her mission and didn't have five pounds to spare. Still, she couldn't come home. Finally, she went into kidney failure. Her MP told her that if she went home, she would never succeed in anything in her life. She went home any way, got better, and is now an enormously successful exmo businesswoman.

Subject: OMGosh!! You poor thing! Dimmesdale is right...
Date: Apr 24 19:10
Author: Stephanie

All you poor RMs (including those who quit) should collaborate and write a book to tell you horrific missionary stories. How dare those mother f***ers tell you to lie about your bad experiences, including almost dying. I would love to expose TSCC again. Do you remember exactly what the SP said to you?

Subject: Picture this: Tahiti, 1980
Date: Apr 24 22:27
Author: EnochIpsen

I came down with a particularly nasty case of Dengue Fever. We were told that "everybody gets it, you'll fee awful for a while and then get over it." I later found out that people regularly die from the dengue!!

Anyway, I got transferred to a new area with a greenie while I had the dengue. So, I did what any other good missionary would do when his fever broke to 100°....I got on the bicycle and went out tracting.

Following the grand mal seizure I woke up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I spent a few days in a private clinic during which time the church never told my parents a damn thing. Just said I was sick and might be coming home. No more information even though my mother called repeatedly to SLC for information.

Prior to the mission my parents asked the bishop and stake president if they needed to keep me covered on their insurance during the mission. They were told it wasn't necessary which my parents took as meaning the church covered the missionaries. WRONG!!

A few months after getting home my mother received a bill for $500,000. Yes...half a million dollars! She wrote a letter to Pres. Kimball explaining what she was told and that she could not pay this bill. I'm relieved to say that the church did the right thing and paid the medical expenses.

Anyway, I was on medication for several years and couldn't even get a driver's license until my mid 20s.

In 1997 out of nowhere I had another seizure. This thing had followed me. I spent 6 months on meds and not being allowed to drive. Then another year with restrictions on driving (speed, daylight hours) until I was finally allowed to drive unrestricted again and not be on meds.

As some may recall from a previous post, last week I suffered another seizure. I was going 75 mph outside of Laramie, Wyoming when it happened. Fortunately, I didn't hurt anyone but myself.

Of course, I've now lost my license again, I may never get it back (which, ultimately, I can understand).

However, if the church bothered to be honest about the dangers of local diseases perhaps I would not be in this predicament now. Yes, I'm a bitter ex-mo and I do blame the church for this.

Hugz

Enoch

Subject: Another missionary treated heartlessly story
Date: Jul 24 03:44
Author: Alee

All these recent posts about the churches wealth and frivolous spending had me thinking about how horrible it is that the missionaries and those in true need are ignored basically by the head guys in SLC. I just had this memory pop into my head while brushing my teeth (lol), so here it is:

I was working for a call center. Bro. Danny worked there too. He and I would often sit near each other and talk between answering calls (late night was slow). He was so proud of his son serving a mission here in the states. I had went to seminary with his son, but didn't personally know him. He was shy and quiet, and didn't talk much in seminary. Now, Bro. Danny was a faithful TBM, but not at all one of the elite. His family live extremely modestly, very low income, but still paid that 10% and served the Lord in every possible calling he receieved.

One day I arrived at work to horrible news...Bro. Danny and his wife were tragically killed in a car wreck. It was horrible news to me....he was such a very likable fellow, and very smart, nice, and....an all around good fellow. Everyone who knew Danny knew about his son on a mission for God's church.

Now, here's what really pissed me and my mom off. Because they were so low in income, and Danny had almost absolutely no insurance or benefits, except maybe through work (which I was not entitled to know, even though I got his daughter in contact with HR to find out), his son had no funds to come home with. Since he and the family insisted that he come to the funeral, the ward had to shoulder the burden. When I found this out, I told some people at work, and we got together a little bit of money for his son (I think $60 in all). When my mom called the bishop's house (different ward, so she really didn't know them as well), the wife answered. When mom wanted to know how to get in touch with the daughter to get her the money, the wife was all insistent that the money go to the ward since they were "burdened" with Danny's son returning home for his parent's funeral. My mom got pissed and said, never mind, we can give it to them at the funeral.

I still remember thinking, what of all that money wards make in tithing? What of all the money the church makes in tithing? Why can't they help him out? He just lost BOTH parents! My mom had a few other encounters with this woman, who seriously came off as a self-righteous you know what.

I was still TBM at the time, and knew absolutely nothing about the way things "really" worked in the church. I don't have any contact with the family, but now I kinda wonder how their testimony was affected by the careless attitude of the church they served.

Anyways, just thought I'd throw this one out there.

Subject: There are multiple similar stories like that, some are my own...
Date: Jul 24 07:41
Author: Charles, Buddhist Punk
Mail Address: 
That is one heartbreaking story there. The sad part is it happens over and over in many ways to many people.

You have a valid Q. TBMs are so caught up in their own little worlds of make believe and self righteousness, they ignore true charity.

Church big wigs are so caught up in their money grubbing activities, they become insensitive to members' needs. I think this attitude goes way back to Old Joe Smith, you know, the sexual predator-treasure seeking-money hungry maniac.

If Jesus were even half real, the LDS church makes a mockery of their icon.

Subject: I don't know if it happened in this instance...
Date: Jul 24 08:44
Author: Stray Mutt

...but we know there are many cases of MPs talking missionaries into staying in the field rather than going home for family funerals. To be fair, there is also the occasional MP who will do the right thing. But the disgrace is that there's no standard, automatic policy in place for tragic times like these, that sends a missionary home with compassion, honor and dignity, that backs up the church's claim of being family-centered. It's a disgrace that anyone in the church would ever concoct such bullshit arguments as, "You can honor your dead family member best by sucking it up and staying here."

Subject: "You can honor your dead family member best by sucking it up and staying here." translates as, "we're too cheap to send you home for the funeral, sucker!" nt

Subject: Re: Another missionary treated heartlessly story
Date: Jul 24 10:27
Author: Leah

Funerals in the normal world are designed to give the grieving relatives some closure and start the healing process.

It must be very difficult to be kept out on a mission instead. Heartless bastards.

Subject: My "personal" experience with family death for a missionary (language)
Date: Jul 24 12:55
Author: EnochIpsen

My nephew was in Salt Lake City on his mission when his "grandfather" died. This man was my mother's ex-husband, not my father, who is best known as the drunk who beat my mother and locked her in closets so she couldn't leave the house. To escape, she actually crawled out a window and begged a ride from Price to Manti (in 1951, no less) to get away from the man that would, no doubt, one day kill her or one or both of their children (my half-brothers).

That was just a side note to let everyone know that I had no relationship or affinity with this man to make me want my nephew to go to his funeral.

Anyway, the nephew was in a ward in the Salt Lake City South Mission, the grandfather lived less than five miles away AND within mission boundaries. As one of the few family members here in SLC, it fell on me to get this arranged.

Now, knowing that as a nice little mormon missionary, Nephew would want to follow the rules and I knew that rules would say he couldn't go to the funeral. I felt it was his option to do one or the other but he need to be given that option and I was the one who could best make that happen (other family members in SLC, such as his sister, would just bow to "church policy.)

So, I called the mission office and spoke to this lady who told me that missionaries couldn't go t family things like that. I asked for, and got, a fax number as President Carpenter wasn't in the office. I wrote and explained the whole thing.

A couple of hours later the he called me and explained that they couldn't let missionaries go to family things like that which could distract him.

I was furious, of course. I was making the call from work at Zions Bank and all my co-worker's heads popped up as I loudly stated in the phone before hanging up on the asshole:

"Families are Forever? MY ASS. You've got a hell of a lot of character!"

I called my nephew, he had been good enough to keep me up on his phone number through letters although, per mission rules, we never spoke. He was out being a missionary so I left a message telling him "that guy" had died and he should decide for himself if he wanted to go to the funeral or not.

I later found out that the mission president must have felt put in his place because he called my nephew and told him that he could go to the funeral.

How can they be so afraid that these, by and large, committed missionaries will run home the minute they see a family member?

Hugz

Enoch

Subject: This just adds fuel to my "righteous anger". Families are Forever my @#$ is what I say too! 

Subject: Starving missionaries (literally)
Date: Jul 24 13:07
Author: Bryan

I'm sure there are many RM's who went to areas with a lot of church members, who were treated regularly to dinners, and who actually gained weight on their missions. This, however, was far from my experience. As I neared the end of my mission in South Korea about 11 years ago, I was serving as a branch president in a small fishing town.

My job required me to travel all over the area to visit with members. As such, my companion and I were spending loads of money on transportation, and we never had enough money for food each month. There were few members, and they were uniformly poor, so we didn't get many meals outside of our apartment.

I had totally bought into the "suffering missionary" mindset, and I felt like it was my duty to starve for the Lord, as it were. I felt that I was earning some brownie points, I suppose. My companion, however, was not thrilled. He and I asked the mission president on many occasions for extra money to cover my branch president expenses so that we could eat something other than noodles. He would never budge.

When I look back at pictures from that time, I am frighteningly thin. One day, near the very end of my mission, my Dad called to make some travel arrangements (he and my Mom were coming to pick me up and see Korea, etc.). We chatted for a bit, and he even talked with my companion for a while. I never complained about our dire straits, but my companion gave my Dad an earful, telling him we were nearly starving other here.

This was one of only two times in my life that I have heard my Dad cry. Although he was relatively active in church, he encouraged me not to go on a mission, since he knew that my distaste for authority would be a problem. I think it made him feel terrible that he couldn't do anything to help me from halfway around the world--especially because I was too brainwashed to let him.

Neither the mission president nor the general authorities that visited regularly ever had any REAL regard for the young men and women who had dedicated their time and energy to that God damned church.

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