Missionary romances

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yayfulness
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Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 8:41 pm

Missionary romances

Post by yayfulness »

Ze link.

I actually had two bishops in a row in my home ward who married someone they served with as a missionary. In the first case, by my understanding, they never really got to know each other while they were still in the field. In the second case, if I remember the story right, they were serving together and both had the strong impression that they'd get married someday, so they (separately) went to the mission president, who either had the same impression or was like "this is weird but I'll roll with it." He made sure they never served in the same zone but let them keep in touch, and they got married a while after they both went home. (I'm not 100% sure about the accuracy of any specific detail, but the overall thrust of the story should be correct.)

My MTC companion fell for a girl about 3/4 of the way through his mission. (I was acquainted with her, since I'd served in the area previously.) The feeling was mutual but they both kept it under wraps until about a week before transfers when they confessed their love for each other. My ex-companion immediately realized he had screwed up and went straight to the mission president, who immediately had him transferred to an outlying area of the mission. Since our mission was so small geographically, there was apparently talk of having him transferred to another mission to finish his last couple months, but that didn't happen. We were in the same district later on and he was even my district leader for a transfer, although I don't think he ever fully regained the mission president's trust. A couple years later he ended up marrying the girl, and they're still together and happy as far as I can tell.

My mom moved back to her mission a few years after coming home and while she was there she was engaged to one of her converts before breaking it off. He had flirted with her while she was a missionary but it had never been anything serious or mutual from what she told me.

I personally think the bigger issue here is that it's easy for missionary mindset + hormones + mutual attraction to lead to a drive to get married RIGHT NOW when in fact getting married right now to someone you've only known for a month is almost always a dangerous decision. You can't experience a normal relationship as a missionary, and getting married to someone without having experienced a normal relationship with them is just asking for trouble.
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TheAnswerIs42
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Re: Missionary romances

Post by TheAnswerIs42 »

I know two stories where they noticed each other during the mission, and then later got together. One friend married a guy who was her district leader at one point, but they were very careful about not starting the relationship until after they were both home, and another guy (a friend's parent) went back to his mission area after he was released to court his wife.

HOWEVER.

I know a guy who was married, not a member, and in the Navy. Gone on the ship for month or so, back for a week or two, etc. His wife said that he met missionaries and wanted to convert, and he told her that was fine. He knew a guy on the boat that was a Mormon and really liked the guy. He would rent bikes with the guy and wander the cities when they were in port while everyone else went drinking and hiring girls for the night. So he went away for another month or so, and came home to a house in boxes and divorce papers. She was running away with the missionary, because they were in love.

In an even more bizarre twist, this was the guy's conversion story. He was so impressed with how his friend and the mission president FLIPPED OUT that he didn't hold it against the church and converted soon after. But yeah, I think at the time, this guy would have appreciated it if the companion had knocked sense into him before it came to stealing another guy's wife.
Emiliana
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Re: Missionary romances

Post by Emiliana »

I was introduced to the Board through a girl I met online when I was in high school. We talked all the time for a year or two...mostly about boys...

Anyway, we didn't talk as much by the time we were in college, but we became facebook friends and six months or so after she got back from her mission, I saw that she was engaged! Turns out they met on their mission but didn't ever really talk much until they ran into each other at BYU afterwards. I think it was probably actually all totally kosher, the way she describes it, but part of me always enjoys imagining that there was a scandal involved. *shrug* It's the Jane Austen fan in me, I guess.
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