I served in the Utah Provo mission as a 3 month trial missionary. I put my papers in like everyone else, waited for the call, and it said Utah Provo for 3 months. I was living in Orem at the time. I was actually quite happy to be called to Utah, unlike many who would have been disappointed. I was especially happy when I found out about "freebies," as in restaurants that feed missionaries for free.

Overall, my mission experience was a pretty good one. I served in Roosevelt and Midway Utah. We taught a lot of people and I saw 7 baptisms in my short time out. We hardly ever tracted, biked, or walked, the majority of my mission was I got in the car and my companion drove me to appointments.

The main thing I didn't like about the mission however, was not being able to do what I wanted. Like how I couldn't walk into all the banks and buy coins to search for Silver, or how I couldn't fire up a Wii.

I also missed the people in my home ward in Orem quite a lot. I'm originally from Maryland and did not set foot in Utah until October 2008. In addition to that, I lost my mom in 2002, so I've attached myself quite heavily to some "substitute moms" in that Orem ward. I cried very hard saying goodbye to one of them, even though I knew I would see her again in 3 months. Seeing Mount Timpanogos in Midway made me super trunky and it drove my companions(I served in a trio in Midway) crazy.

Throughout most of it, I thought I would be called to a standard 2 year mission at the end. Eventually I met with the Mission President and he told me that would not be the case. The Missionary Department thought a 2 year mission would be too long and hard for me. I was actually relieved to hear that, given how I was counting down the days in Midway.

I'm still heavily TBM, but I just wanted to bounce my mission experience off everyone here. Given some of the horror stories I've read about missions, it looks like I got extremely lucky. Has anyone here heard of trial missionaries before reading this post? I had never heard about them until I got my call and I'm BIC.

I've never heard of them. Here in Hawaii there are "mini-missions" for pre-mission age teens, but they are typically only a couple weeks.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2011 06:41PM by hello.

Never heard of a trial mission. Who gets accepted seems to be changing. My wifes nephew got the "your too fat to serve" message recently. This kid can out work any 19 year old around, but because he's big (300lb Polynesian)they have decided he doesn't fit the image. Hopefully he will see the light and just leave the white corporate American church behind.

That's odd, because I served around a big Polynesian Elder. The other Elders said he weighed like 350 lbs.

The funny thing about that is, as I mentioned in my OP, many missionaries would be disappointed to see Utah on their mission call. I don't really get why so many want "adventure" when all that really seems to mean is a lot of doors slammed on you, and a lot of ramen noodles/mac and cheese.

I have read reports on this board of missionaries that had good experiences in Utah. They tend to get a lot of referrals, so as you noted, tracting is kept to a minimum.

I've heard of "service missionaries", usually people whose health does not not allow them to serve a typical two year mission in Lord knows where. Or who aren't healthy enough to go door to door. They may be assigned office work or some other project, for a period of time tailored to their needs. But I never heard of a three month trial missionary.

I had heard of them too, but they're not nearly as talked about. For example, mission.net only lists the world's proselyting missions. My best guess is they sent me trial because I am a high functioning autistic, but still an autistic so they anted to test me out first. My loosing my mom in 2002 might have also played a part in this whole thing.

OK, I get it, they sort of tailor-made a program to fit your needs. That's pretty close to what they call service missionaries. Another reason one might be called to service missionary might be someone needed at home to care for an infirm relative, say mom is a paraplegic and the missionary cannot leave home 24/7 without causing hardship at home.

welcome mleblanc138.


I've never actually heard of trial missions either. I had a friend who had a learning disability and difficulty communicating and they considered sending him on a "service" mission but they finally decided he was capable of a regular 2 year mission. Is the 3 month trial mission a new thing? I wonder if my friend would have done one those had he went now?

Good luck staying TBM if you have any integrity and ethics. One thing you are going to find aplenty here at exmormon.org and many other places online is honest, accurate information on LDS church history/doctrines that will basically give you plenty to think about in reconsidering your view of the world. The only people who accept the dishonest cliches and garbage spewed out by the defenders of the church online are those who are extremely invested emotionally into Mormonism. It must have been horribly tough to lose your mom in 2002 and you definitely have my sympathies on this and any other difficulty you may face in life. Best wishes to you :) I hope those who you deal with will encourage you to study and learn all you can about the true nature of the LDS church. IMO that's the #1 flaw in the church right now where there really isn't a strong culture of encouraging the youth to study/learn everything they can about church history/doctrines in order that the youth will be truly prepared to understand what they're being asked to make commitments on. The church's reputation has taken a huge hit because how the youth are regularly manipulated into making commitments without having any fair opportunity to be taught the truth and to consider/ask questions and to have these answered straightforwardly.

I've lurked these boards and this site on and off for years. A while back, I made some posts under the moniker Oremtbmlurker, but later realized that that probably sounded very trollish, so I chose a more neutral moniker this time.

Anyway, over the years I've found out about things like the Nephite/Lamanite DNA, Joseph Smith's polygamy, the Book of Abraham, the Kinderhook Plates, the City Creek Center in SLC(I've actually seen it under construction), and the temple endowment pre 1990(pretty much pre my time).

In light of all of that and more, I still choose to be TBM. I figure that any problems will be sorted out in due time, even if said due time is after I enter the Spirit World.

And I really don't know how new the trial missionary thing is, but I do know that there were about 5 or 6 other trial missionaries called to Utah Provo at the same time I was.

So JS's polygamy doesn't bother you....just like WJ. Don't you get that?? Do you know JS married the wives of other men??? Do you know he married a 14 yr old? I worry about people like you who know things that should shed light on TRUTH but you ignore it. How can you? So you think the temple endowment pre 1990 had a reason that can be acceptable? And the Book of Abraham? My gosh.....I think you are in for social reasons, and that is no reason to be part of a faith community that is a fraud. Perhaps as you get older you will see this more clearly. I say keep studying. It is nice you stopped by here.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/14/2011 11:57PM by honestone.

"I figure that any problems will be sorted out in due time, even if said due time is after I enter the Spirit World."

Gah! Please tell me you didn't just say that. You know that's a cop-out, right? If you already know all the dirty skeletons in the church's closet, then you're ignoring reality - which is fine if that makes you comfortable, but it does mean you're sticking around for other reasons than the accuracy of church historical portrayals.

OK You know all the dirty secrets of the mormon church right. You still chose to beleve which is fine. But the credability of that version of things is tainted so you dont know what is really going to be asked of you in the spririt world. Your just as clueless as anyone else and you dont know if when you die you find out you did all the wrong things.

I know I couldnt stay knowing that I had the fate of a sinner due to being desabled. Who in the church meat market wants a blind woman? I'd die to be handed over to someone else or be a servant because they might make me out to be to desabled for the magic house of handshakes.

If I married i'd be a blind babymakeing mashine which isnt much better plus the only guy they ever tried to set me up with is now in jail I wont descuss what for but if I have to ever stand in the same room as him it'll be to soon.

Maybe you might want to look into if you really want this kind of thing out of the afterlife.

I was an AP in the Utah Provo mission about 10 years ago and we were sent plenty of trial missionaries during the time I was out there. The three month trial period was standard at that time; it allowed for 2 - 6 week transfer periods for the missionary to get a feel for it. We usually placed the missionary in a threesome, but sometimes they were put with one other missionary. Very few went on to serve missions after their "trial" period. I believe that the church leaders had probably already determined that most of these young guys were not suited for a two year mission but created this experience to help them avoid the stigma that is attached to young men who do not serve. In many cases, the trial missions were also the result of the endless petitions of desperate mothers whose fragile self esteems would take a major blow if their son was unable to serve.

I met with quite a few of these elders and I was in two threesomes that had trial elders for 6 week periods. For the most part these elders were fine young men, albeit most had physical, mental, or social issues that required them to be kept under the watchful eye of their leaders. As Utah was full of church leaders, it was a great place to send them.

By the way, I agree with the original poster when he says that Utah was a great place to serve. The people treated us very well and I have fond memories of the place. I no longer believe the church is true, but the church is full of fantastic people.

Another factor in the mix is liability. It's one thing for the church to send out someone who cracks in the mission field. It's quite another to subject a person with an actual diagnosis to the tremendous pressure and horrific possible living conditions in a third world country.

With a diagnosis of autism, a recent significant loss and the crying when you left and when you saw Timpanogos, I think they were wise to cut you some slack.

You should count yourself lucky you had a positive experience and move on to your next stage in life.

Best,

Anagrammy

Agree. I am an [NeverMo] MD who has completed perhaps half a dozen missionary medical evaluations. I found this board eleven years ago when a patient---desperate to avoid missionary service---asked for my help in getting him turned down for medical reasons. I was sort of stunned, because in my naïvité, I assumed that anyone coming to his doctor's office to have the form filled out must be gung-ho to serve. It was this patient who clued me in to the fact that many prospective missionaries are pressured (parents, would-be future spouses, etc.) to serve, and that financial and/or social pressures await those who do not serve.

Because this particular patient was playing college football (non-LDS school) on scholarship, using physical disability wasn't going to be credible, though he did have serious asthma (that would keep him out of rural or third world areas but not out of serving in a US metropolitan area).

I researched the issue online and found an article about the medical committee at the MTC that reviews the candidates' medical reports. Not surprisingly, the committee is composed of retired LDS physicians. What WAS surprising was the revelation that 50% of the physician reports are completed by non-LDS physicians (because many candidates come from areas where LDS are a small minority), and that the committee concurs with the hometown MD's recommendation 97% of the time. This DesNews article stated that medical evaluations were one of the very few cases where non-LDS persons' input is more or less rubber stamped by TSCC.

The evaluation form had (last time I did one) a release section where the applicant signs to release his medical information to the medical review committee---but not to the church at large. That means specific medical reasons why so and so is not called to serve cannot be released to, say, local leaders. If such info did leak out, it would be a HIPAA (health privacy law) violation (same as hospital employees hacking into records of celebrities, etc.).

I used the mental health section to state frankly that the applicant told me he did NOT want to serve and was being pressured by local leaders to go (with the parents standing by passively, they were not the instigators). I stated that this was a major impediment toward completion of a mission and that it was doomed to failure. The ruse worked, he was not called. Ward speculation was divided between his asthma and suspected unworthiness.

The point here is that a copy of the applicant's health evaluation (eight page form) remains in his/her medical records in his/her physician's office. If a physician were to recommend no service, or modified service, and such advice was not followed, TSCC could be liable, and they can't hide the evidence because the doctor has a copy---and 50% of the doctors who submit reports are not LDS.

The other possibility would be if the doctor IS LDS/TBM and recommends service for an applicant with significant disabilities, because the physician is following church mentality ("every member a missionary") rather than using best medical judgement---or the MD might be subconsciously influenced by knowledge of the social consequences for someone who does not serve (i.e "if I fail him on his evaluation, he won't be able to serve and will have trouble finding anyone to marry him, won't serve as a church leader, etc."). An intellectually honest LDS MD, on the other hand, might have a greater appreciation for the rigors of a mission and might---just might---recommend "no mission" or "restricted service" if he is able to separate medicine and the LDS Church in his brain.

Either way (LDS or non-LDS MD), for an MD to recommend an activity that he/she knows is potentially dangerous for a patient is unprofessional, but a non-LDS MD most likely would be oblivious to much of the social pressure within the church and would prepare a frank evaluation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2011 10:45AM by PtLoma.

Thanks for this info about medical evaluations. That is quite enlightening. I had no idea that a non LDS medical opinion held that much sway, but you explained it clearly. I am now thinking about 16 yrs. from now when my poor grandson (born into this madness) needs to get an eval. I am a nevermo and my daughter converted for love. Hope my daughter wises up before then and is OUT once he gets of the age. Again, thanks for the info.

You're welcome. This article was in the DesNews, and went out of its way to explain that the medical committee basically treats reports from LDS vs. non-LDS doctors the same, and concurs 97% of the time with the doctor's recommendation. How they would KNOW that a doctor is LDS or not, I don't know, there was no section to list my religious affiliation, so unless I had a "Mormon royalty" name or used "Mormon speak" in my report, I don't know for certain how someone in Utah would know. The form was mailed directly to Utah by me and bypassed local church leaders because of the confidential medical information involved. I would have to complement the retired doctors on the committee for being professional and not letting the doctor's religious status color their decisions.

But think about the liability: if a non-Mo MD recommended "no service" and they counteracted that and there was a bad outcome, there would be a smoking gun in the doctor's office records.

Wow, I never knew they sent out trial missionaries as early as 10 years ago. I was told that my 3 month trial was to determine if I could serve a 2 year mission. My papers were in Salt Lake for 4 weeks, which was a bit longer than the 2-3 I heard most missionaries spend waiting for their call. In Roosevelt it was just me and my trainer, but as I mentioned they put me in a threesome in Midway.

And I believe it was a wise decision on their part. Sending me out for 2 years probably would have meant me just spending 8.5 times as much time counting it down(17 transfers instead of 2).

"Sending me out for 2 years probably would have meant me just spending 8.5 times as much time counting it down(17 transfers instead of 2)."

Yep, I think you're autistic. ;-)

Your comment about being TBM rings odd. So, just why are you here?

My dad introduced me to this site years ago. Both my parents got excommunicated. That was the start of my years of on and off lurking. Part of that lurking was to learn the arguments against the church in preparation for my mission. And yet, I was still pretty much in silence as my trainer was talking with someone who talked to us about how the Book of Abraham says the Gods created the world, but the Bible says there's only one God. Afterward I found out that it said in the footnotes that Gods is talking about God and Jesus.

I'm in here now to talk about the good and bad of the mission experience, how I feel slightly lucky to not be sent to a third world country for 2 years, and to see who's heard about trial missionaries. I'm very glad the former AP from the UPM posted here, as it shed some light on the whole trial thing.

I'm very glad you stopped by and relieved that you had a safe and friendly place to go on your mission. Just please, please be very careful about your life in the church.

I served my mission in Paris, France, but I had to wait for a visa for a month in Mesa, Arizona. We called it "Little Provo" because it was nearly 50% Mormon. It was weird being a missionary in a town that had a lot more Mormons than my hometown.

We served 3 wards, so you hardly went to the same ward twice for services. We mostly went from appointment to appointment, and had dinners every night. The only time we tracted was on zone projects to help out missionaries with fewer contacts.

The worst part about the area, other than the heat, was having members always telling you what you were doing wrong. Strangers would come up to you and say things like, "Missionaries shouldn't eat fast food", "Missionaries shouldn't walk with their hands in their pockets", etc. You always felt someone was watching your every move in public. The regular missionaries called it "Every member a Mission President".

Before my mission I got a lot of really bad advice, and it was almost always from people who never served missions. RMs usually knew what missions were like, so unless they were LDS leaders, they usually cut us some slack. The worst were always mothers trying to convince their boys to go on missions, and they knew nothing about missionary work except for what they heard in church or read about in the Ensign.

We had three different elders who had things like high-functioning autism and Asperger's who all got sent to the Provo Mission. A couple of people in the ward suggested that the church preferred to send people who anticipated some sort of difficulty to the Provo Mission because it was "close to home," meaning close to church HQ, and that there was plenty of infrastructure for them. Plus in Provo, the mood is very welcoming and sympathetic to the missionaries. You can imagine how it would be for a for a painfully shy kid or with some sort of marginal emotional issue to be thrust onto a mission in a very challenging and hostile environment, as many missions are.

Was your home ward in Utah County? I thought that for trials, the missionary is sent to his home mission. Like if I had lived in Midvale, I think I would have been trialed in Salt Lake South. Or if I lived in Maryland, trialed in Maryland Baltimore.

you mean being put in the mission office isnt enough of an on Mission vacation for the terminal slackers already?
Thats what they did for Cry baby Gordon Hinckley because he wanted to go home / couldnt hack real missionary work.

Hey mleblanc, if being in the mormon tribe makes you happy, that's fine. I would just caution you to not give the church any of your money. The LDS Church is very wealthy. They take in somewhere in the neighborhood of $5 Billion dollars a year in tithing, and most of it goes into real estate investments and other business ventures. They really don't need your money.

I think it's a healthy item that ChurchCo can ('does') alter One of its programs to fit those with special needs/abilities... Even tho I don't expect that to be adapted to other areas.

Stupid Cult.