One missionary serving in my Ward, told me his testimony of the church and strength therein has grown exponentially during his mission. This isn't the first time I've heard such a statement.

Are the missions used for Converts or exactly what this young man (OK, he is rather close in at to.me.) said? Why also for the no contact with females? A tactic used so when they get off the 2 yrs, they will jump into marriage with a young woman? Any in depth answer would be amazing.

You have it figured out exactly, no need for in depth answers.

1. Convert the missionary themselves
2. Get hormones raging for return home
3. Get them married to a TBM in temple.

Next generation locked in church.

Any converts during mission is a bonus

And I am a convert. Nice.

There is a missionary serving here (yes, same one.) He and myself have developed a sort of crush/relationship. We like each other, it's pretty evident. Here is the thing, I recently became active after a long period of inactivity. I fear the worst, they he is only "flirt to convert" or in this case, flirt to reactivate. I am reading everyday, in both the BoM and Bible. (Even if I were to leave the church, I still would be Christian. Just how I was raised)

Is there anyway that his intentions are pure? I like him..and I *think* he likes me as well.

I must admit..I have been a member 10 years, and have been reading this board ever since. Anyone remember Jack Mormons Wife? I believe her name was Shannon. And I miss Deanie, like we all do.

Even though I am a convert (late teens) I fear that the brainwashing has got a hold of me. I defer to the Priesthood, I will not step into their apartment. Even when he is playing his guitar and singing to me, I am standing in the doorway. He has done this, a few times.

doubtingLDS/ex in champaign

I think Scotslander put it well.

Hard to know. I have seen many examples of the missionary flirting like crazy and then forgetting about the person as soon as they are transferred. I have also seen examples of missionary flirting with somebody and then getting married to them right after their mission.

I think there are two primary reasons for the current missionary program: increase the total membership and increase the active membership.

If you study the missionary materials, Preach My Gospel and the missionary handbook, you'll see that there is a lot of emphasis on introducing the church to people, improving attendance, and gaining new members. There is very little focus on the actual spiritual development of these people. The goal is simply to get them to join the church.

Then, there are sections about retention. If the missionary program actually focused on serving others and leading them to conversion, this would be unnecessary. However, I think this is done on purpose, because very few people are truly converted. The current method at least allows for large membership gains, even if most of them will stop attending shortly after.

I don't think it's specifically about converting the missionary, but I'll say that's part of increasing the active membership. I would think the handbooks would be different if it were all about the missionary. There would be less about numbers, for example.

All of the rules are there so that essentially any young man can go without causing the church a ton of problems. Eighteen and nineteen year olds aren't always known for making the best decisions; thus the need for overly strict rules.

The phrase "cognitive dissonance" is used a lot on this board.
This is the a good time to mention what cognitive dissonance
theory says.

The basic idea is that if your actions and your beliefs
contradict each other then you have "dissonance" in your mind.
Cognitive dissonance theory says that you tend to change your
belief to fit your behavior rather than change your behavior to
fit your belief.

Now consider a missionary. If he doesn't have a fervent
testimony then his behavior (being on a mission under the thumb
of mission leaders and absurd mission rules) does not fit his
thoughts. Their are two ways to resolve that dissonance--to
quit the mission and go home, or to tell yourself that what
you're doing is the right thing--i.e. tell yourself that the
Church is true. Cognitive dissonance theory says that the
expected thing to do is to align your thinking with your
behavior (rather than your behavior with your thinking).

It's very insidious. EXTREME parental and social pressure is
put on you to go on a mission. Then when you get there it's
HORRIBLE. Going home would make you a pariah to everyone close
to you so the simplest thing to do, psychologically, is "gain a
testimony."

One other way to change your thinking is to tell yourself that
you are on the mission because of the tremendous parental and
social pressure and not because you buy into the claims of
Mormonism. Many missionaries do this and quit going to Church
as soon as they get home. But that takes a lot of "strength of
mind" to overcome the constant social conditioning.

A common theme often adopted by mishies who weren't high on their social totem poles in HS, is that becoming an RM entitles them to easy pickings after the mission. The fact that this is often very true is simply a bonus.

From what you've seen and heard of Elder Crush, is it likely that he would or would not have been a Social Lion in HS? Is he so suave and good looking that it is simply good sense to suppose that someone is waiting for him? Or the opposite?

Lots of marriages have taken place after the mission (and a unique and very interesting few DURING the mission) between an elder and someone he met in the field. If it makes the time pass easier, why the heck not?

By the way, the church simply isn't true. Not the church that I grew up in and certainly not the church it has morphed into. They are quite distinct, and both entirely man-made.

You were crushing on a missionary back in March under your "ex in champaign" username. You received lots of good advice back then.

http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1532277
http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1543511

Is this the same elder, two months later? Or is it a different one this time?

Same missionary. Different name, sticking with this one.