The posts about the insane fanfare regarding the openings of the missionary calls neglect to mention one important thing - Mission calls can and do CHANGE - more often than people realize. Whether it be due to visa delays, illness in a foreign country or something as simple as a mission realignment.

This seemed to happen A LOT during the early 90s, and it happened to myself and a few others during my 2-month MTC stay and it was a total and complete surprise to me. Six weeks into my MCT stay, I was called into our Branch President's office. I had left home thinking I was going to the Florida Fort Lauderdale-Spanish speaking mission. I researched the area, I got the mission plaque and everything. Little did I know that it was going to change. My MTC Branch President told me I was now going to the Illinois Chicago-Spanish speaking mission. That was it! End of discussion, no explanation. About a week later, I got a one-paragraph letter supposedly from Ezra Taft Benson himself confirming my mission call change.

So all you mission call openers-heed my alert. Don't get too attached to your mission destination because the Prophet can pull the rug out from you and change his mind seemingly anytime he wants!

It happened to my brother in the 80's. He started out in Columbia and ended up in AZ.

I don't think he was too upset. He saw a lot of people getting shot at. He didn't want to be one of them.

I've never heard of that before. I would understand if it were a life threatening thing, but to move someone from one place to a whole far different place sounds crazy to me.

In my experience, mission call changes initiated by the Church were far more likely to happen while the missionary is at the MTC since he/she hasn't gone anywhere yet.

Once in the field, the more likely scenario to mission call changes have to do with problems with the missionary - i.e, illnesses. There were about a dozen cases of missionaries being sent to my stateside mission to finish their time due to illnesses in foreign countries - mainly in Central and South America.

sharapata Wrote:
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> So all you mission call openers-heed my alert.
> Don't get too attached to your mission destination
> because the Prophet can pull the rug out from you
> and change his mind seemingly anytime he wants!

You mean the prophet's Autopen.

baura Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> sharapata Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > So all you mission call openers-heed my alert.
> > Don't get too attached to your mission
> destination
> > because the Prophet can pull the rug out from
> you
> > and change his mind seemingly anytime he wants!
>
> You mean the prophet's Autopen.


Foolishness that Mormons believe that inspiration/revelation come thru the point of 'the prophet's' pen!

autopens? haven't those been obsolete for decades?

It's just the people who run it who are human and therefore err on occasion..

You all know the drill.

P.S. It had to be someone other than the Prophet who screwed up, because he, too, is perfect. It was one of the underlings who screwed up. (They all know how to work the autopen thingy.)

You forgot one important detail. Mission calls are prophecy. All mission calls are the result of General Authorities making assignments, as prophets, so any time a mission call is changed, it is a failed prophecy, and thus disproves the church.

As a side note, it is disgusting that they would change you from going to south Florida to Chicago. Those are two completely different climates. You had most likely purchased, at great expense, a whole lot of warm weather clothing that was suitable for your mission, only to now be going to some place that gets very very cold. That level of disregard for you and your families finances is another proof that the call was coming from an uncaring, unloving identity, which is more proof that Mormonism is a false religion, since their God is supposed to be a loving kind person.

...a test of someone's faith and obedience yadda yadda yadda...

I indeed had to go coat, glove and scarf shopping once I arrived in Chicago. Fortunately I arrived in August so I did have some time to prepare for winter. But yes, my clothing expenses obviously went way up!

Because of a mental health issue, a sister in our district in the MTC was required to stay state-side for psychiatric support rather than head to Europe for her mission.

Also in the MTC, we were told that a few elders would be called to La Reunion, which was an island in the boundaries of our mission. It was seen as an honor to be sent there since only a choice few were selected.

toto Wrote:
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> Also in the MTC, we were told that a few elders
> would be called to La Reunion, which was an
> island in the boundaries of our mission. It was
> seen as an honor to be sent there since only a
> choice few were selected.


Interesting. In MY mission (France Paris, '89-'91) only BAD misbehaving missionaries went to La Reunion (was told nobody got called directly there, ever, so to get missionaries they had to take them from other missions), so getting sent there was a form of punishment. Rumors always flew if someone went there. Rumor was that you we stuck with a companion for an average of 6 months, so you had to learn to love....

Hahaha... I wonder if the excellent missionaries from our mission (Switzerland, Geneva) were sent there to deal with the bad missionaries from your mission? Yeah, the male missionaries they sent from our mission, at the time I was there, were good guys.

My sister got her call changed from Japan to Illinois while in the MTC.

One of the biggest evidences of lack of inspiration came in my sister's mission call. She failed Spanish in HS, so they sent her to Japan. Sure, because Japanese is so much easier for Americans than Spanish!

She got to the MTC and got very depressed because the language was so hard. She left after 3 weeks, having lost 15 lbs, and then got reassigned to Peoria, Il, English speaking. They gave her a couple of weeks to get ready.

About a week before she was supposed to go back, she said, "I don't want to do this." She rejected the call and never served a mission. It was probably one of her better decisions in life.

I got called to Nagoya Japan and then got my mission call switched to Hiroshima because.....not sure why, but I was just reassigned.

Happened to my sister. Originally called to San Diego and redirected to OH within the span of a week. Happened to some of her associates called to the same San Diego mission, who were also redirected to OH. It was hard for her. You would think with revelation being what it is, that wouldn't happen. But every now and again I suppose the computer makes errors (more likely, the data entry volunteers make errors and the computer makes assignments based on bad data). Stupid, stupid, stupid. Or was it dumb, dumb, dumb? In any case, it is all lunacy. Revelation theater.

Yup, someone I know got a calling to Russia first and then it was changed to Greece after some time, before even entering the MTC. It must've been a pleasant surprise. It was due to some sort of visa problem the Church was having over there. Luckily, God can change His opinion and keep us guessing. That way He doesn't have to be accountable for anything.

I was called to Japan Sendai mission. About 10 days before entering MTC it was changed to Japan Fukuoka.

Hmmmm.... never could quite understand the way god worked through his profits.

Are you actually nihonjin? I served in Sendai. It was a bitch. How was Fukuoka?

No I'm gaijin.

Fukuoka was a nice place to serve, very hot at times...I got to spend a few months in Okinawa too.

I'm glad the mormon god changed his mind. I don't like the cold.

Fellow gaijin me too! Was live Okinawa 5 year, cat run fast love noodle!!

There was a senior couple who served in the Toronto Mission. Apparently they had been called to Mexico but didn't get a visa so they ended up in Toronto. And prior to that it had been suggested to them they were going to serve in a brand new area somewhere in Western Europe.

The Lord does work in mysterious ways. Too mysterious to understand.

Languages too - my friend got his call to Seattle and after he arrived in the field, he got put in the Sign Language program. Same with a sister missionary I knew who went to Los Angeles years ago - no MTC training in Sign Language, just a last minute change and having to learn it in the field. My SIL went to Texas and had it changed to Spanish speaking once she got there. She can speak the language now but she's never had a class in it, not even what the MTC teaches, so she massacres it. You think they'd at least get the language right when they call, if it's so inspired.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2013 10:40AM by CA girl.

CA girl Wrote:
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> Languages too - my friend got his call to Seattle
> and after he arrived in the field, he got put in
> the Sign Language program. Same with a sister
> missionary I knew who went to Los Angeles years
> ago - no MTC training in Sign Language, just a
> last minute change and having to learn it in the
> field. My SIL went to Texas and had it changed to
> Spanish speaking once she got there. She can
> speak the language now but she's never had a class
> in it, not even what the MTC teaches, so she
> massacres it. You think they'd at least get the
> language right when they call, if it's so
> inspired.

I got changed to Spanish-speaking the day I arrived in the field (Denver 1995).

Why do missionaries need to study foreign languages? Can't they just bless them with the "gift of tongues" and save the expense of having to teach them?

As mentioned, a change can be a temporary one. For example due to a visa problem. A friend of mine who went to Paris, France actually did 4 months of his mission in NYC because of problems to get his visa.
Then there is also because some people end up not going on a 'mission' (for any number of reasons) at the last minute and then some plans need to be changed. One of my sis was 'called' in an English mish state-side and halfway through the MP asked her to switch to Spanish. Just like that. She didn't have any knowledge of Spanish but he thought that because of her French she would be able to do it easily.

Oh ya. No surprise there.

Lots of changes -- everything changes, constantly in the mission fields for dozens of reasons: health, visa problems, and so on. Seen it dozens of times as a member.

So, once a missionary, you can go anywhere the missions need you.

It's just part of the system - changes. And dozens of changes while on a mission. It's sorta like "real life" - in a way. Life is always changing and it requires that we adjust.
Welcome to the real world.

I know someone who got called to Ireland, but had his mission call changed to Iowa while in the MTC (this was in the mid-90s). He was super depressed about it but fulfilled his entire mission. Now he jokes that his original mission call was a typo.

About 13 years ago, a family in Alaska had their son called to the mission adjoining ours. After he got his call, his family decided they wanted to move back to this area (the dad had grown up here and had his mom and some siblings moving back to the area). The church said that him being in the adjoining mission would put him too close and could cause accidental run-ins, so they reassigned him to a mission in another state. It wasn't really a secret, the parents said that over the pulpit, but yeah.

My son had ADD and required Dexedrine in order to stay on task and be fully functional. This was, of course, duly noted in his application.

Well, the Powers That Be, in SLC, with all their magic perceptions, assigned him to some country in Central America WHERE POSSESSION OF DEXEDRINE - EVEN IF PRESCRIBED BY A PHYSICIAN - is a crime. After I learned that, I called the mission people in SLC and asked how we were supposed to keep our son supplied with a forbidden substance.

Suddenly he was re-assigned to a Stateside mission. Isn't it a wonder? Isn't it a miracle??? DUH.

I was in Alabama with a few missies who were origionally called to Iran...

There were some little political problems with hostages that caused them to be moved from Iran in the early 80's. (Would have thought the "profit" could have seen that comming...)

Interesting meeting an Arabic speaking misshie in Arab Alabama.