| Subject: | Any of you RMs who had companions that, in violation of mission rules, led you down the road of temptation? |
| Date: | Apr 23 18:42 |
| Author: | steve benson |
| In Japan, I had a senior companion (who was also the district
leader) who literally led me down the road, so to speak. At night, he would purposely pedal his bicycle through the streets of the local red light district, where he would smile, wave and exchange greetings with the prostitutes hanging out on the street corners. He never stopped, but always had a warm salutation for them. He was a Japanese native and knew his way around town better than I did, so like a devoted junior companion, I dutifully followed behind him, never doubting that whatever was going on, he would not lead me astray. Maybe it was his version of ministering to the publicans and sinners, kind of like how Jesus used to hang out with the riffraff at the bars in Jerusalem. Your tantalizing tales of temptation, brought to you by cavorting, corrupted companions? |
| Subject: | Filipino women and night clubs |
| Date: | Apr 23 18:51 |
| Author: | Mateo |
| While on my mission my companion was attempting to get hired on a
local basketball team. He was tongan, but looked filipino enough to pass as a native
filipino (being part filipino is a requirement for playing on any of the three filipino
basketball leagues). He managed to get accepted by a team while still on his mission, and returned after his mission to play. So, while he was busy trying out for teams, he would often "scratch my back" by doing things like going to malls, watching movies, etc. One night, with our local non-member (who took us everywhere), we stopped by a "dance club." Women dancing in bikinis on stage caught my eye. Three women attacked us and were busy rubbing our thighs. Me, being totally naive, asked, "so, what do you do for a living?" Her reply, with an odd look in her eyes, "I work here." It suddently hit me that we were talking to prostitutes. That was an experience that I'll never forget (in a good way). mateo |
| Subject: | I was the temptor |
| Date: | Apr 23 19:09 |
| Author: | Kim |
| Five months into my mission in France, I realized that the morg
wasn't all it was cracked up to be, so I would have been easily tempted by any more wayward
companion than myself. Unfortunately or fortunately, I didn't have many temptor
companions. Consequently, I had to be the temptor myself. I was fearful though of getting
in trouble, so I mostly kept my nose clean. I was once all in favor of taking a little train trip to an illegal city for a day of sightseeing, but my companion was a little more fearful of the consequences of being caught than I, so we never did it. Later, in my last city, I discovered that several of the missionaries I was with had gone to a number of very illegal spots, so in comparison, I was an angel of a missionary. That just left me envious of them...doing the things I always wanted to do but never had the guts to do. |
| Subject: | Re: Any of you RMs who had companions that, in violation of mission rules, led you down the road of temptation? |
| Date: | Apr 23 19:10 |
| Author: | bella |
| Not quite the same sort of story, but... I was a convert to the church. When I moved to Idaho to live with my brother for awhile, his wife had the missionaries come around a lot. They were nice young men, and seemed happy to answer all my questions. I'd grown up in a fundamentalist christian home, so I had lots of misconceptions (hm, were they really?) about the church. One of the missionaries became very friendly with me. Being naive I didn't know that what he was doing was wrong. It eventually got way out of hand. We spent time alone in the basement of the home, and in my car, and went to a play together (pretty much a date). I do recall that sometimes his companion was with us, but I also recall being alone. Things got pretty physical. I left for California for awhile, and when I got back he'd been reassigned. I never really heard a reason, I just assumed that that sort of thing happened. We still spoke by telephone and wrote letters. I even drove to this other town to be with him once and we went for a "drive" alone. Eventually his replacement and companion convicnced me to be baptised, and they allowed him to come back and baptize me. Later, of course, I learned that all of this was not allowed, but it happened, anyway. |
| Subject: | Wish I had. Maybe they would have sent me home early so that ... |
| Date: | Apr 23 19:37 |
| Author: | No Mo |
| I could get on with my life. |
| Subject: | Re: Any of you RMs who had companions that, in violation of mission rules, led you down the road of temptation? |
| Date: | Apr 23 19:54 |
| Author: | rulebreaker |
| Australia late 1970s with Elder O - I'll never forget it... Swimming parties with investigators Trips out of the mission on P days Tracting separate streets alone to say we got the work done, and then we'd play (giving door approaches alone was interesting) R-rated movies One of our flats had "girlie" magazines in a closet owned by the landlord. Neither of us would acknowledge it was there, but we visited the closet often... |
| Subject: | Got naked and hung out with naked Sister missionaries ( who were on the other side of the wall) |
| Date: | Apr 23 20:39 |
| Author: | Mr X |
| Fukuoka Japan 77 to 79 We loved to go to the local bathhouse, especially on Friday or Saturday night. I believe the place was called "O-furo" You'd go in and pay admission. Men and women went to separate sides, except the cleaning women (usually little old ladies) cleaned both sides. When the gaijins (foreigners) like us went, the cleaning ladies used to position themselves so they could get a good look at American "private parts." Anyway, it was a cool place. At first you went in and get lathered up and then poured buckets of warm/hot water all over to make sure you were really clean. Then you got to enter the soaking area with lots of other naked men. The pools were nice, some warm, some really hot, and maybe extra pools like cold plunge, a pool with mild electricity running through the water, and a sea water pool and so on. We used to even get some "dendo hours" there. (dendo=missionary work) While naked, we'd ask other naked Japanese men if they wanted to hear about the Book of Mormon. They were usually willing to talk since being naked removes inhibitions, and the hot pools soak away tensions. My favorite time was when we'd be there at the same time as the "shimais" (lady missionaries). At this one place, there was an 8 foot stone wall separating the men from the women, with open space above the wall. No chance of peeking over the wall, unless you were Shawn Bradley on tiptoes. So we hear the sisters speaking English on the other side, and then started up a conversation back and forth in English. The Japanese people around us probably couldn't understand, and might have thought we were talking dirty or something. That would have probably been against the mission rules. Actually going to these bathhouses, especially to converse with naked lady missionaries would probably not be an approved activity or dendo method. Of course we never asked for permission, knowing what the response would be. One elder was hot and heavy infatuated with one of the shimais (American sister missionary) and called the mission president to confess that Sister Miller made him "horny". The Japanese MP (Goro Yamada) didn't know what "horny" meant so he went and asked the APs. The horny elder was transferred away from Miller Shimai (Sister Miller) soon after that. Soaking at those bathhouses remains a fond memory of my 22 months in Japan. Mr X |
| Subject: | Breaking mission rules remain my favorite memories |
| Date: | Apr 23 22:27 |
| Author: | Maori man |
| I was 2l when I went on mission and I'll always believe those two
extra years of college allowed the more liberal approach I took to mission rules. Hunting wild boar with the Maoris in the bush was an exhilarating experience especially when the pig would start squealing loudly when the dogs would latch onto their back legs as they were fleeing. The frightening noise would drive me climbing up the nearest tree which amused the Maoris. A mild infraction was taking my morning bath in the ocean while my companion sat on the beach upbraiding me, warning that the devil controlled the water and I'd either drown or be eaten by a shark, but hell, we were living on an offshore island in a little shack on the beach that had no running water. It was hot in a New Zealand summer and he could perspire and stink if he wanted but me, the water lapping on the beach just outside my bedroom window was not going to be allowed to be wasted. The water was wonderful and the devil seemed nowhere near. |
| Subject: | Oh, yeah, the "fuds," or Japanese bathhouses . . . |
| Date: | Apr 24 01:10 |
| Author: | steve benson |
| As part of our mission conferences (also in the Fukuoka mission), we used to go en masse to the local Japanese bathhouses, but only after the mission honchos had checked them beforehand to make sure that the wall between the male and female sections was high enough to meet Church standards. |
| Subject: | Mission visits to Japanese bathhouses . . . |
| Date: | Apr 24 12:31 |
| Author: | KJA |
| Lucky you! We were expressly forbidden from going to the bathhouse, and it was never presented as a mission field trip. Wish I'd have broken that rule! |
| Subject: | My Trainor |
| Date: | Apr 23 21:55 |
| Author: | Tyler |
| I arrived in Argentina with sleeves rolled up ready to do the Lard's
work. My companion Elder Pocock was a seasoned veteran and wasn't as gung ho. I experienced bad allergies upon entering the country and had cold like symptoms. My comp would get really mad at me when I would awake at 6:30 for scripture study. "get some rest...for chrissakes" he would mutter! He was adamant that we both sleep till 11:00 or so each morning to avoid getting sick. We had a five hour siesta in Buenos Aires that started at 12:00. So essentially we got started on our day at 5:30 P.M. or so. To top it off we would stay out till 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning (very common in our mission) visiting members, hanging out, etc... I was very angry at this slothful servant of the lord and felt like I was being punished and not able to find those souls whom I had contracted with in the pre-existance to find. I was depressed and dissilusioned. Since this was the lard's annointed I did not complain. Well four months into my mission I was a sleep in, stay out late SLAVE! The rest of the mission I rarely tracted, rarely arose before 9:00 or so and killed 3-5 hours every day honoring the god given daily siesta. In retrospect I look back with tears in my eyes for that spay-shul elder...Elder Pocock! I have a tiny shrine in my home to pay homage to the young servant of the lord who saved me a whole mission of mindless work. Tyler |
| Subject: | My experiences in Barcelona Spain (77-79). |
| Date: | Apr 23 22:47 |
| Author: | Gunshy |
| Spain was a beautiful country with wonderful people who wanted
nothing whatsoever to do with the Mormons. We could literally go weeks at a time without
teaching anyone. The largest branch at the time was in Barcelona, a city of several million. The branch had maybe 40 or 50 active members. I had one meal at a member's house in two years. (and yes I did have to walk to church in the snow, uphill, both ways dammit!) Most of us measured success by how closely we followed the rules, and how many hours we worked. I never seriously broke or even bent any of the mission rules. There was this one time however. (cue nostalgic music) When I moved in with my second companion we were subletting a bedroom in a young couple's apartment. The wife was in her early 20's and pretty cute. I wasn't sure that we weren't breaking mission rules living in an apartment with a female so close to our own age. We lived several floors up and the building had no elevator. She had been under the weather for a few days and came home one evening carrying a bunch of bags. I helped her carry them to the kitchen and she told me that she out of breath and that her heart was racing. She grabbed my hand and put it on her left breast to show me. I snatched my hand away and mumbled something and quickly left the room (my heart was now racing). I avoided her whenever her husband wasn't around after that, and was transferred without further incident. That was my first feel of a breast, and I must confess that I liked it! |
| Subject: | There was this one time... |
| Date: | Apr 23 23:19 |
| Author: | Jonny the Smoke |
| ..actually, I started training 2 months out so I was senior from
then on. AP, and everything! Kept the rules but was real relaxed about it. The Caribbean
is a beautiful place and I heard about guys that went jet skiing or broke the rules in the
water. All I ever did was make out with a young Jamaican beauty a couple times just before going home. I tried being hard on myself after each brief encounter, but inside I knew it was no big deal. I was a good missionary, 3 years older than most of the others and had full experience of the real world and its pleasures, so in the big picture...I felt this wasn't worth bringing up to anyone in church authority, so I never did. 20/20 hindsight? Should a nailed her! Jonny the Smoke |
| Subject: | Re: Any of you RMs who had companions that, in violation of mission rules, led you down the road of temptation? |
| Date: | Apr 24 00:06 |
| Author: | RR |
| Oh yea-- was often tempted, but I remember one of the best things I
ever did was talking my companion into going to the Beach Boys concert at the Anaheim
Stadium in May 23, 1975 (added attraction "Honk"); cost $10 (expensive). They
were touring with Chicago and the concert started at about 6 pm-- with Chicago's set. As
far as I recall all the Wilson brothers were there -- definitely Carl and Dennis were
there -- and I think Brian was as well. The BB had been "uncool" for so long --
and now everyone was rediscovering them. It was an important concert for the band. The
concert just rocked! We had to travel from our area (Glendora) to Anaheim -- which was WAY
WAY WAY out of our area, out of our District, and way out of our Zone. It was major
trippin'! I'll never forget that concert -- one of the best I have ever seen (by anyone). The place was rocking! We were down on the lawn, and during the set of "Catch a Wave" I noticed many of the crown were locking back behind us toward the stadium and away from the band. Then I saw what everyone was amazed by: the 2nd tier of the stadium was bouncing up and down anywhere from 18" to 2 feet -- to the rhythym of the song. The Beach Boys definitely set the tone for the rest of my mission! |
| Subject: | No radios in the mission car.... |
| Date: | Apr 24 00:56 |
| Author: | Tom |
| no problem. One of my first companions had a contraban portable
AM/FM battery operated cassette tape player and we took it everywhere in the car. It was such a relief to hear some music! And not Church stuff either. It was the camel's nose in the tent. I eventually hooked up with a crazy Kanuk who to this day makes me smile when I think back on his loosey goosey style. He is now also an exmo! We swam, we went to drive-in movies, we stayed up all night, we left the mission, went to the mall undercover (in p-day clothes on work days), played jokes on the more strict elders, slept late and got an early nap. Stats (those pesky reports) we turned in would make an Enron executive proud. Women were always at arm's length though. We figured anything but that was excusable. |
| Subject: | Me too...got naked and hung out with sister missionaries... |
| Date: | Apr 24 01:13 |
| Author: | Mr B |
| see Mr. X's post above. Hey, I was also in the Japan, Fukuoka mission (86-88). Mr X--we also loved the bath houses and the sisters would join us to take in a relaxing steam and bath while conversing over the 8 foot wall. I had one companion who insisted we go to the bath house pretty much 4-5 times a week. This was often after a nice leisurely dinner or some basketball. I can honestly say that all the "rulebreaking" I did on the mission that included blowing off work days, traveling to sites around the mission to shop or see historic landmarks, spending time in restaurants, ice cream stores, bath houses, or visiting friends (members and nonmembers), playing basketball etc. were worth it! I was happiest on my mission when I wasn't obeying the rules. I got enough sleep and had a pretty good time. I wasn't a total "screw up" but didn't work the way the church demands missionaries to. Hey, once I figured out that I could stay out late, sleep in and have some fun in a foreign country--well, why not! Shedding the mission guilt was not a huge hurdle for me. What were they going to do? Send me home? I didn't chase women or drink or do anything that would result in them wanting to boot me out. And, I did realize at some level I was the one doing them a favor. Christ...2 YEARS! I still look back and can't believe that we fell for that...even at age 19...but they got me for the full 24 months...just glad to be out now! I still have some fond memories of Japan though! |
| Subject: | As a ZL, I went on an exchange in a small coastal city... |
| Date: | Apr 24 05:42 |
| Author: | piloti |
| and the Sr Comp took me to visit an investigator group he was
working with. Turned out he was coaching a rock band three evenings a week. Despite mission rules prohibiting playing any instrument other than piano, I strapped on an electric guitar and jammed with the boys 'till the wee hours. (I specifically remember teaching them a mean version of Rock and Roll Hootchie Koo.) My straight laced ZL companion never found out, and in fact I had forgotten about it intil this morning. Thanks, Steve, for bringing back this nice memory. |
| Subject: | Nude Frisbee |
| Date: | Apr 24 09:11 |
| Author: | Garcon |
| Oh yes, I remember it well. Of course this takes place in France.
Most mission threads are eventually hijacked by us Frenchies--must be the water, or the
fact that we spent two years trying to convert people who couldn't care less about
mormons. It was the summer of '82. I was in the Burgundy region of France. The days were very hot, and any self-respecting Frenchman was en vacance. There just wasn't a lot of work to do. My companion and I decided to go play some frisbee. This was kind of an unspoken code between the two of us that it was time to take off the garmies and put on a pair of gym shorts and go sit in the shade of a tree. There was a man made lake in the area, and it was only a short bus ride away from the apartment. The lake was on the far side of the park from the bus stop. We had to walk for about 10 minutes to get to the lake. To our pleasent suprize (only a suprize the first trip--all others were made with real intent and purpose) the park was used by topless sunbathers. OMG. The breasts, the breasts. We both tried to pretend we didn't see anything. That lasted about 30 seconds. After that, we were two kids in a candy factory. I could still get worked up about it if I wanted to... For some strange reason, it took us almost all afternoon to find a place to play frisbee. The funniest part about it all was the questions we had to field the day after at the weekly district meeting. We were so uncomfortable wearing full missionary gear with the sunburns we were sporting. Everyone was interested in why our faces and arms were so red (man, if they only knew). The ZL was the acting DL, and he was a good guy. After the meeting we told him about our day, and, well, there were soon 4 sunburned guys playing frisbee by the lake! Did I mention the breasts? Steve, thanks for asking. |
| Subject: | That's funny. Smiling and waving at prostitutes. |
| Date: | Apr 24 10:39 |
| Author: | Metatron |
| I can't top that, but here's my best: My senior companion in my
first area was staying in touch with some female friends from one of his previous areas.
One night they came over to our missionary apartment and gave my comp a haircut, then took
us out, in their car, to a Major League baseball game, which was waaay out of our area.
That's about as tempting as it got. It was on my mission that I was introduced to Near Beer--by another missionary. |
| Subject: | I still feel guilty |
| Date: | Apr 24 11:18 |
| Author: | tbm eavesdropper |
| for the two major sins I commited in Argentina. We were supposed to
rise at 6:00 A.M. Once I didn't get up until 6:10 A.M. Also, one Fast Sunday I broke my
fast after only 23 hours. No wonder we didn't baptize thousands. |
| Subject: | Unfortunately a jerky California companion of my brother |
| Date: | Apr 24 11:29 |
| Author: | researcher |
| who served a mission in North America (for his sake, I won't say
where), got him into taking drugs -- over the counter variety -- for kicks, among other
things. My brother was raised by a very totalitarian father and was easily swayed. He has had an addiction problem with it as a result, mixed in with horrible guilt and shame over how he could do such a thing and still be a stalwart RM. It's so sad, I could punch that companion of his in the nose. |
| Subject: | Hell no - I was the one leading them into temptation. |
| Date: | Apr 24 13:07 |
| Author: | TLC |
| Very few would follow but I blazed a trail anyway. Oh the stories I could tell. (and probably will) But right now I'm just going to sit here and revel in the memories of one highly self-pleasuring district I was in. Lights out, poles up, socks ready, GO!! :-) |
| Subject: | Re: Hell no - I was the one leading them into temptation. |
| Date: | Apr 24 15:38 |
| Author: | garcon |
| Boy, that should be a whole thread in and of itself! I had many companions that fought a one-eyed-monster at night. We pretty much kept to ourselves about it though. It may have had something to do with the breasts, the breasts. |
| Subject: | Got drunk with my companion |
| Date: | Apr 24 13:21 |
| Author: | mikemgc |
| I went out one night in Japan and bought some beer from a vending machine (yes they sell beer in vending machines there). A few days later, I told my radical companion what I had done. He laughed and said, I did that too a few nights ago. So we both said what the hell and went out and got drunk together. A while later we split up and he went missing for about a few weeks. Mish Pres asked my help to find him so I made a few calls to friends and got his number. Called him up and a sweet sounding Japanese girl answered the phone. He'd been living with her the whole time. He got sent home with another guy and they boarded the plane with martinis in their hands and gave the mish pres the finger as they boarded. Cool! |
| Subject: | down the road |
| Date: | Apr 24 13:36 |
| Author: | Laser |
| Well, it wasn't exactly my comp...We stopped by Tower Records and bought "The Chronic" album by Dr Dre..Then of course we put the intro music to "nothing but a g tthing" on our answering machine.. It lasted a few days before the APs called.. |
| Subject: | We hung out at the beach... |
| Date: | Apr 24 23:08 |
| Author: | Magik |
| My very first companion in Argentina loved going to the beach, so I
would don some borrowed swim trunks and hang out looking at the girls in bikinis... ;-)
(This was in Necochea near Mar del Plata.) Since I was new and he was the Sr. Companion I
figured I'd better do what he said. I felt guilty, but did it anyway! I got terribly sunburned one time and then had to go to a Stake Conference where Boyd KKK Packer was presiding. We got to meet him afterward, and I was SURE that he would know the reason for my sunburn! His powers of discernment must have been lax that day since he didn't seem to notice anything amiss! Another time, another companion and I actually got drunk (unintentionally I swear!) It was Christmas and we didn't realize that the "cider" that our new converts were serving was alcoholic! I was so naive back then I didn't know the taste of alcohol. Anyway, we ended up "partying" all night and had a great time. We realized later why we'd been having so much fun! :-) |
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