I am a former missionary of the CDSM mission and have been home for a while now. For those of you who aren't aware, since Blake Murdock of was called to take the place of President Maynes in the CDSM mission the general state of the mission appears to have decayed.

Despite a slight improvement in baptismal numbers, the CDSM mission has seen an unusual number of missionaries returning home early due to depression, anxiety, or other mental illness developed on the field.

There have been several posts on this website about CDSM

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1261429,1261429
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1261629,1261629

Having read what has been written on these forums I can verify that what you have seen from firsthand information (public blogs, etc) is correct, however I find that much of the speculation made on behalf of some of the posters of exmormon.org is absolutely incorrect.

Having first hand experience of CDSM, disagreeing highly with the CDSM leadership, and having seen many of my fellow brothers-in-arms be crippled by mental health issues developed on the field I believe I am a desirable source of information.

If any lingering curiousity remains regarding the CDSM mission, I will try to apply my knowledge and experiences to paint a more accurate picture of what went on during my service, and help you better understand the environment that cultured the horrific illnesses developed by many of my friends.

If you have any questions regarding CDSM, please ask and I will start by answering those.

Regards,

[]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2014 08:33PM by Susan I/S.

bump.

My nephew is there. Wish he would come home early.


So what "speculation" did you observe here that was "absolutely incorrect"?

Sister Murdock for one isn't as rotten a lady as they make her out to be. She is generally well liked within the mission even amongst those who are struggling.

Wow, the missionaries liked the wife of the mission president?!


Earth-shattering revelation.


For many of us here, we resented how she freely gossiped on public forums about the medical conditions of the missionaries. If that wasn't criminal, it was stupid, pig headed, evil and obnoxious.

She should have been "released" on that fact alone.

Your sarcasm is annoying. Yes. The missionaries actually loved Sister Murdock. She was fairly simple minded in releasing sensitive information, but understand that she did make some effort as to protect the privacy of her missionaries by not disclosing the names of the missionaries to which those illnesses pertained (even though disclosure of ANY form is highly discouraged in the mission president's handbook).

I feel like Sister Murdock is harped on too much, and the President is not harped on enough. He is the real issue, not her.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2014 08:50PM by Susan I/S.

You seem to be under the misapprehension that your opinion of things (mission president's wives, my sarcasm, the perception of your mission) is the objective truth.

I had companions like you...

Time for some companionship inventory, I guess... Too bad it's not monday :/

The family does not "publicly degrade" their own special-needs daughter. The family always refer to her with love and respect.

Small nuances like these that make the leadership of the mission seem evil in a way that it likely isn't just paint an incorrect picture of what CDSM is.

You're not the final word on what is the correct picture of CDSM.

sonoma Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You're not the final word on what is the correct
> picture of CDSM.


It would be fairly long-winded. Is something like that appropriate on exmormon.org?

Knock yourself out.

Haha I have some free time so I'll write something up... My writings can get fairly long-winded though (fair warning)...

I'm done for the day but if anyone has more requests or good questions like generationsofvipers please ask!

Thanks :)

For those of us scattered around the world could you tell us what mission you are talking about? Just a series of letters is confusing.

The entire post is a mass of confusion. What's the point of posting that there's a lot of misinformation and not state what that misinformation is?

CDSM? If you are going to use acronyms, use the whole name or title first, then use the acronym.

I think it's a kind of frequency algorithm for mobile telephones.

I apologize for the confusion.

CDSM stands for Colorado Denver South Mission. A simple google search would have provided the answer to that.

As for "misinformations", I think misunderstanding would be a more suitable word. Through reading up on the CDSM-related form posts it seems like CDSM is to some degree correctly understood, but bits of information here and there have been exaggerated; usually by exmormon user speculation.

Or are you just trying to stir up sh!t?

What do you guys want to know?

Could somebody refer me to a list of inappropriate words that would prevent a posting. I tried to create a post but I was unable to do so because my post apparently contained "inappropriate words" (failed to say which word(s) were inapproprate)

Have a question for admin, MAIL IT to ExmoLight@gmail.com

Thank you.

You sound more like a momo apologetics to me!
But not really good though!

Here is one: what in your opinion was the biggest change between Maynes and Murdock that led to the deterioration of the mental health of the missionaries?

generationofvipers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Here is one: what in your opinion was the biggest
> change between Maynes and Murdock that led to the
> deterioration of the mental health of the
> missionaries?


Great question.

-Murdock's focus on salesmanship and things of unspiritual nature kind of shat on a lot of what Maynes taught. For example instead of receiving trainings on uplifting your companions through struggles, etc, we receive trainings on how to dress. One of the first major trainings Murdock gave was on how to impress investigators, where we learned and practiced table manners. Totally opposite to Maynes' style.

-He is fairly quick to put down missionaries who voice opinions that oppose his own (even constructive ideas are looked down upon)

-Fails to communicate with missionaries, doesn't hold regular interviews, does not respond to missionary emails (even those with serious concerns), I have seen a correlation between missionary depression and lack of contact/ communication on his behalf personally

-Has created a social hierarchy by choosing obvious favourites amongst missionaries which has resulted in social disaccord (a source told me that he took one of his assistants GOLFING with him during which time he could have phoned up some of the missionaries contemplating suicide...)

There are honestly many more I could fill you in on

Sounds like boiler-plate "I hate my second mission president because he's not a god like the first one" whining.

Here's some info that might make this whole thing a lot more comprehensible to you.

The Mormon Cult is a fraud.

You were an ill informed salesman pushing the worlds sh!ttiest product.

The mission presidents were there to keep you in the cult.

Neither were extraordinary.

They've spent their entire lives blindly following the stupidest religion ever pulled out of someone's ass.

They have had no real training for dealing with the clueless adult-aged-children under their care.

I'm sorry that you wasted two of your best years bugging the good people of Colorado.

I'm sure it's hard when you realize that in a year or so, the rest of those few baptisms you had will be inactive too.

It must really suck to not even have a second language from the deal.

I'm sorry that no one in your life that you trusted and loved was able to warn you off from this colossal waste of time and effort.

Welcome to this board. We've all learned a lot here.

Is this how you are with everybody? I wasn't trying to get anybody riled up... I really was just trying to provide your community with information, even if it is muddled with my biases, those biases were first hand...

Was wrong to think that the exmormon community would care about such information? If so sorry for wasting your time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/20/2014 09:44PM by Susan I/S.

Blank, I simple google search your (CDSM) this is what I found...
Cement Deep Soil Mixing.

Something is wrong with you. Why didn't you just say "Colorado Denver South Mission"? Ayyyy gago!

Why are we OCD about the acronym? It was pretty obvious from the original post.

Thank you!!

>Why are we OCD about the acronym?
>It was pretty obvious from the original post.

His/her original post titled "Recovery From CDSM", and later was changed. That's why!

Certified Demand Side Management
Chronic Disease Self-management

"Mormonism is the center of the world" disease which causes one to think that all revolves around the cult and that anyone who is anyone, of course knows what is meant by these insular peculiarities.

What in your opinion is causing the depression and anxiety? I understand that Murdock's management style seems to be exacerbating it, but what is causing it?

An uptick in mental health issues for missionaries seems to be across the board from what we've been hearing, not just in the CDSM.