Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped

CA girl Jam. 2013

This took place back in the 1990s. I arrived in the mission field with 5 other sisters. One of them, who I'll call Sister Smith, was assigned a trainer who was just amazingly beautiful. I found out she paid for her mission by modeling professionally. The two were assigned to a small, coastal town.

The assignment was a difficult one for Sister Smith, who was new. Her beautiful companion was very trunky and not much interested in working, in spite of having some months left in her mission. After a couple of months, the area they served in was mysteriously closed and all the missionaries (elders included) were assigned to different areas. Oddly enough, Sister Smith was put back with her MTC [missionary training center] companion, who was one of the five sisters on the plane with me. Two newbies serving right in the town the mission president lived in. Everyone thought this was strange but we knew the MTC companion was having problems so we figured that was the reason for it.

Several months later, there was an area conference and the beautiful missionary had gained a LOT of weight. Everyone was commenting on how she'd "let herself go." Some of the elders were being particularly snippy. She was going home next transfer - why wasn't she trying harder to look good? A few months after that, I was assigned to be with MTC companion. She had been with Sister Smith right after the mysterious closure of her area and told me what happened.

Sister Smith and her model comp had been out late at a member's house and were caught by some guys as they walked back to their apartment. They called the mission president, who came right down, brought them back to the mission home and promptly closed the area. I'm not sure if the elders knew exactly what happened, but the MP did. He encouraged the sisters to not tell anyone what happened and to finish their missions, so that they wouldn't have to go home and have everyone know they had been raped and that is why they were sent home. The sisters, as I recall, were allowed to call home. From what I remember, they probably could have gone home if they insisted but were discouraged from leaving. Both decided to stay. Like I said, the one only had a couple of months left but Sister Smith still had a year to stay in a foreign country, far from family and help. They were also told not to tell the other missionaries. By the time I found out what happened, it had been about 6 months. No safety guidelines were given to the other sisters. No warnings. I don't know if the two sisters received any counseling, other than from the MP, a former attorney. MTC comp did tell me that a few other missionaries heard about what happened and blamed the sisters for staying out after curfew - God won't protect the rule-breakers, don't you know. Typing that still makes me want to punch something.

Two post scripts. I lost touch with the model but Sister Smith is a FB friend of mine and is still a faithful LDS woman, married in the temple, with several children. Right before I left the mission field, we got a new MP. He probably wasn't told about the incident, because one of the first things he did was reopen the area. Or maybe he "prayed about it" and thought missionaries would be safe there. I honestly can't remember if it was open to sisters at that time or not, but I'm sure eventually, sisters were sent back there by some MP who didn't know what happened. Twenty years later, the whole incident still makes me sick to recall, as you can probably tell by the flat tone of my writing. Women so naively go on a mission, feeling sure of the protection of heaven, unaware of the dangers they face, unwarned by those who they serve.

buddyjoe
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
Why do I feel so much anger now?

guynoirprivateeye
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
Agree.
the church/mission/m.president could have made their safety a Higher Priority, but NO.

Bury - cover things up? Why isn't that a surprise for TSCC [this so called church]?

brook
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
CA Girl, you're one of my favorites here on this board, just thought I'd mention that. What a sad story. I feel it though, I feel as if stories like these are rife. How are is this girl doing today?

Tupperwhere
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
my mom and her sister both served missions back East. My mom was in a better place but her sister served straight up in the middle of NYC and had to ride the subway a lot. She had some scary experiences and stories to tell, but thankfully nothing like this! This makes me so mad. HOW DARE THEY Sweep this under the rug. The fact that Sister Smith is still "faithful" is simply disgusting to me. I'm not putting the blame on her because she's been conditioned to put herself in that position but I'm guessing she blames herself. Guilt, guilt and more guilt. That is what TSCC does best. And it's the faithful members that pay for it. BEYOND repulsive.
gentlestrength
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
The rapists are the worst guys, without saying
Aren't we glad that we have weighed in on Mormonism, many of us good and moral people that have lost or stressed family, social, and professional relationships.

The Mormon culture is so horribly flawed that it cannot protect and nurture young men and women who pay them to market their cult. That do so at personal sacrifice and risk, and in this case great violence. The least a patriarchal culture can offer is safety, they didn't even provide the least they could do.

CA girl
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
After you asked, I got on her FB page. She seems like the typical Mormon mom - pictures of their Disney vacation, her husband baptizing their youngest child, their whole family in front of the temple, fan of Mormon.org ... you know the type. I hope things have turned out well for her and she's been able to work through what she endured. She looks happy now and I truly hope that it's more than a FB image.

Carol Y.
With younger, more vulnerable 19 year old girls going now, there may be a lot more rapes.

Tupperwhere
Re: With younger, more vulnerable 19 year old girls going now, there may be a lot more rapes.
you're completely right. I'm thinking of my niece right now who is EXTREMELY immature for her age but has already expressed interest in going on her mission the second she turns 18. She knows NOTHING about the real world as she's been unnaturally sheltered from anything and everything outside of TSCC. I honestly fear for her safety just imagining it.

luvcake
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
Wow-that is just sick! Why anyone, especially a spiritual leader, would sweep something like this under a rug is just beyond me.

And what you said about the blame possibly being put on them, by others because they broke curfew. Maybe sister smith is so faithful now because that awful experience told her that she should never break a rule or there is consequences.?

How would you even be able to stay out on your mission?

And then to have to come home and not be able to tell anyone because you have already been shamed into keeping quiet.

Unbelievable!!

buddyjoe
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
Sometimes I really think Americans are really naive.
But the LDS leadership is the cream on top of it. Or do they just don’t care?
The economy crashes worldwide, civilian wars and wars everywhere in the entire world. Religious fanatics on the streets where ever you go.
Violence in buses, subways even in trains. No go areas in all major cities, doesn’t matter on which continent.
Young missionaries are not protected by their badge.

I’ll think they will not continue this on a long run because I expect especially 19 year olds, who come in contact with the youth out there in the US and Europe, become ex-Mormons very quick.

Bud sadly, I expect a lot of pain and suffering in many TBM families.

traveller
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
So sad...

But not a huge surprise. That's about how things have been handled with the kidnapping of the sisters in Guatemala...

Whether or not it's true, the girls have been blamed for being somewhere they shouldn't have been or at a time they shouldn't have been, and instead of the fault being placed on the guys who have previously kidnapped and attempted murder, it's being placed on the girls - even by sisters in the same mission:

Oh, I guess you all heard about the kidnapping this last week.. I'm not actually sure how close it was to my mission.. I just know it wasn't in my mission. And the Hermanas were in a place they were told they should NEVER go, let alone at 9:30 at night when they were there. But as a consequence we now have new rules.
1) We CANNOT go into investigators/contacts homes without a member with us. 2) We cannot go very far from our homes past 6 o'clock at night and 3) We have to be in our house at 8 on the dot. And when we get home we have to call our Zone Leaders. But don't worry about me, we're doing what we're supposed to be and we'll be fine.

http://hermanaanaleece.blogspot.com/

ambivalent exmo
Re: With younger, more vulnerable 19 year old girls going now, there may be a lot more rapes.
Unfortunately, I totally agree. My niece just put in her mission papers. I am so afraid for her.
The secrecy of the
church+male ultimate authority+unsafe conditions= recipe for disaster.

smith
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
For some strange reason I feel this might happen more than we know about. When I was on my mission in Brazil, there were people who broke into the house of the sisters to do bad things to them. I was under the impression that nothing happened, but after reading your story I may have been wrong. The sisters I mention were also moved to another area, and the area they were in was closed temporarily.

This is really saddening :(

twojedis
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
Nice of her to blame the victims. Maybe they got lost?
twojedis
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
What about a police report, counseling, having loving family around, and a million other things they needed? No, the church wants you to finish your damn mission, that's what's important.
Been There
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
The leadership of the Mormon Church has perfected the art of denial. They spend the best part of their lives suppressing an ugly reality. They have to. The church is a lie.

This Mission President typified that state of mind, even at the cost of the missionaries in his charge.

Leah
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
I wonder whatever happened to those two sisters who were raped in Africa????

One of them was from California, as I recall.

rhgc
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
On a far lesser matter, a missionary got mugged and instead of TSCC trying to protect him, transferred him to Harlem. BTW, his father was in the US Senate. I think they figured the mishie was going to be more careful who he spoke to after getting mugged once. TSCC was more concerned that the original incident would make the papers. Being an attorney the mishie told me in the two days before being transferred.
Naomi
That mission president should be prosecuted.

thederz
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
It's so stupid because any rational person would not make any bad assumptions about the church just because two sister missionaries got raped. If anything that would just spark an interest in learning more about the gospel...... oh wait. People actually don't like that @#$%&.

frogdogs
I smell a class action lawsuit...
...against TSCC. Those who were raped while on an LDS mission but were 'counseled' to remain silent discovering there are other people like themselves out there who were robbed of their voice, banding together to fight back against this offensive, institutionalized abuse of basic human rights.

Yeah, I know. Probably futile in the absence of filed police reports. But a girl can dream...

Ahhh...I am having such a hard time after reading this. I was raped in 1989 around the same age (just turned 20). Though the man who raped me was my boyfriend of a few months at the time, it was still rape. I chose not to report it as the legal burden of proof would have been insurmountable. I had to settle for getting away from him, getting myself some counseling and having friends rally around me since the rape resulted in pregnancy and abortion, and getting on with my life.

But reading about a rape that might have had a decent chance of being successfully prosecuted, but is instead covered and hushed up?! I am practically in tears, so angry for those two missionaries.

Legally punishing rape won't restore wholeness or guarantee healing but by god, at the very least official efforts to legitimately punish while ensuring they cannot rape again anytime soon -- even if those efforts fail -- can be extremely important to the recovery process.

This just hurts my heart to read. F**k the mormon church for all the times it so callously pours salt into open wounds and enables insult after throwing the door wide open to injury.

gentlestrength
Re: I smell a class action lawsuit...
I a thinking these stories are most important for prospective missionaries. For obvious reasons they are private and of course the Mormon church has no transparency and obviscate on on such matters.

Let's face it, this site and its' like is where such truth is going to revealed. Missions can be unsafe physically in such cases as violence, but also disease. Almost all of us either experienced or know of people who experienced inappropriate dominion by a Mission President acting against our interests in favor of Church before family and self. Stay on mission don't go to your day's funeral, how evil is that?

Please share your stories, hopefully they will be archived and these cult crimes against missionaries can become well documented. Maybe there is an ebook here.

Duh
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
Maybe they thought they were at McDonalds. Maybe a giant sea creature led them there.... Maybe they were beamed there by aliens - Maybe they were taken there by Spys from the kidnappers -- wow we could what if this all day....

ducky333
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
They never filed a POLICE REPORT for rape? God almighty, the church is a frickin nightmare. So they've been raped and traumatized. But leave them in the mission field, where the only people they see are

1) the mp and other leaders who are doing nothing to help them emotionally

2) the elders whom they probably don't want to be near just because they're male and

3) complete strangers. Would you wanna knock on doors after having been sexually assaulted?

Sick sick sick sick sick.

smorg
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
That's just the thing with how this church got its' misshies thinking, tho. If they obey all the rules to the t's and bad things happen, they wonder if they should have 'listened to the spirit' more when they wanted to bend the rule but decided not to. If they go with their instinct and bend the rule and bad things happen, they blame themselves for not being 'exactly obedient'. It's catch-22 with anything they do... just to make sure the church comes out on top. :P Sucks that the sisters got raped and still have to find a way to blame themselves for it.

It doesn't matter what they did or didn't do, they'd still get the blame (and the church will always be right) no matter what. That's how the Mormon (and just about any other fundamental religious/cult) mindset works. The church always gets to have its cake and eats it, too, just because its followers refuse to recognize how it's abusing them.

stbleaving
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
CA Girl, I think I remember when you posted about this a few months ago. It's haunted me ever since. One of my young cousins just put in her mission papers (she's a very sheltered 19 year old) and she's terrified of getting sick or assaulted while on her mission due to some of the stories she's heard. And I'm terrified on her behalf...I hope your former co-mishies have had some therapy, plus all the love and support they deserve after having been through such a horrific experience.

Tall Man, Short Hair
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
I wonder what it would take to get Peggy Fletcher Stack over at the Salt Lake Tribune interested in writing an article asking mission leaders about their specific plans for the safety of the huge new influx of sister missionaries. It's a concern that should be addressed.

Interesting, I visited the blog linked above ( http://hermanaanaleece.blogspot.com/ ) and couldn't find the reference you cite to the kidnapping. But I did a word search on the page, and it's still there. The girl has changed the color of the font for that section to white so it disappears unless you drag your cursor over it. Here are a couple of screenshots:

http://s2.postimage.org/786avdygp/Mormon_Blog_Hidden_Text.png
http://s9.postimage.org/u61arsgrz/Mormon_Blog_Revealed_Text.png

This is so sad and outrageous. I can't imagine the horror of these poor girls first violated by these criminals, and then denied the comfort and caring of their friends and loved ones by being coerced to just keep quiet. These leaders should be publicly identified and called out for this despicable behavior.

There's good reason to believe that MP's around the world have handled similar crimes in the same way. Who knows exactly how many young women have been violated and then pressured into silence? Would anyone here be surprised to learn that such actions by MP's was dictated by the GA's? I'd love to get my hands on whoever wrote that memo.

nealster
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
I didn't think it would be possible to hate the church more, but after reading about this, omg, the church leaders are as bad as the Nazis were AND they always think they are right.

Rapists make me ashamed of my sex, but on the other hand; the man who violates or raises his hand against a woman isn't a man at all: he is a beast, and as such, he should be treat like one.

Those poor girls :(

battlebruise
Re: Two sister missionaries in my mission were raped
I don't post here much, but this one hits a nerve.

Rape must happen in the mission field more often than we know. When I served in Australia in 1976, I remember being in the mission home one morning when one of the assistants who was a close friend, asked me to go with him to drive a young sister missionary to the airport. I drove the ten miles and watched this girl sit silent in the back seat of the car, clutching a stuffed koala tighly, never letting go. She had a blank stare in her eyes. I can still remember the look. We dropped her off at the airport terminal gate, the AP gave her the ticket and said goodbye and good luck Sister (Whatever) and told me to drive off. I then asked the AP what was the deal with her? After a long pause and a promise that I would not tell anyone else, he told me that she had been raped in a train station a few nights before and the Mission President had called Salt Lake and her parents and all had agreed the best thing to do was to just send her home...quietly. Even at 20 years old, I was shocked that the police were not called and no type of consuling was offered to the girl who was obviously traumatised. That event still sticks with me after 36 years. The church just sweeped it out of the way along with that poor young girl. I felted so sorry for her. I still do. I never told another missionary about it back then, nor when I got home and I am ashamed of myself for not doing so.

I hope if some of you that are reading this that are comtemplating going on a mission or are sending your kids (especially your daughters) on a mission... think twice my friends. The mission field is full of nasty things that the LDS does not want to see the light of day. The thought of now sending naive 18 year old girls into foriegn countries should scare every parent. The real world says that God will not always protect your kids. (The young girl I knew who was raped in a train station was simply using the restroom when she was cornered by a rapist. It was not her fault at all. He was never caught nor charged to my knowledge.) If your kids get raped, hurt or killed, the LDS Church will tell you either it was God's will, or God has a plan for them in heaven or they were not following the rules and it was their fault. Fact is, the Church will NEVER take the blame so be proactive and protect your kids. The Church wants them for two years to be an unpaid saleman for them under the guise as being "on a mission to bring other unto Christ". Hardly. Hardsales techniques are not very Christlike, nor are robot presentations. If you love your kids, keep them at home and in school. Just my opinion.

BB

Mormon Observer
Then there's this wonderful Aussie....
Grandma took care of it

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1117376/posts

I attended the funeral of a missionary who was mugged and killed on his mission. I feel it was more cheerful than what the hundreds of women who have been raped on their missions and it was covered up.

"Recovery from Mormonism - www.exmormon.org"