What is the real purpose of sending out missionaries if they only get a handful of new converts to join the church? Is it meant to separate the faithful from the unfaithful? Is the rejection that missionaries face in the field suppose to mimic the rejection and persecution faced by early members of the church? The costs of missions far exceed the amount of present and future tithing of such a small number of new members.

The LDS mission is meant to cement in those LDS missionaries so that they will be life time members. Its to solidify your faith in Mormonism....... thus the reason why as soon as you have completed your mission the Mission President gives you the talk about getting married in the temple as soon as possible when you get home. Once you are sealed in marriage in the temple "for time and all eternity" it is even more difficult to escape Mormonism once you have discovered the truth.

Just my opinion.

Exactly. The mission is one of the most powerful forms of social entanglement, which makes later detangling so emotionally painful and traumatic that for most people it's not worth it to leave, even if they know they should.

I remember my freshman academic advisor's comment when I told him I was going on a mission (he was an atheist, biologist, at a prestigious university). He said...

"the mormon church encourages missionary service to keep you in the faith"

Of course, I thought he was inspired of the devil. Man, do I feel stupid now.

I was planning on going inactive when I got back. But then I kept going to the church for social reasons. And they kept giving me jobs-young men's teacher, sunday school president, etc. Very difficult to leave when they keep you busy. It took me 25 years to get out, after my mission. and I kept trying to believe the whole time. A mission binds one psychologically to the church. When a person invests that much time and energy into something, it just has to be true.

Cognitive Dissonance is a psychological thing that basically makes it so that the more a person invest (time, thought, energy, etc.) in a certain belief or way of being, the more difficult seeing reality becomes.

Missions make it so that so much is invested, that psychologically a person has too hard of a time going against the belief that persuaded them to invest so much.

If you watched 20/20 last night, you saw how cognitive dissonance worked on the prosecutors. Judges and everyone else could see it (an innocent guy was put in prison), but the prosecutors had a much more difficult time. They had more invested in putting him in prison.

Missions are all about bringing new people into the fold, and making the missionaries so invested that they won't be able to see their way out.

I served a mission, and even in the field it was said that the one convert you are trying to get is yourself. That is the most important convert to have.

So yes, it is to keep you in the faith (more so than other reasons like finding converts). Young adults by nature go off on their own and start living their own lives how they see fit, so by serving a mission, your mindset is pretty much stuck in the church.

I did love my mission though! But its purpose was very obvious....