Potential Members

[Marduk]

Question 62251, for reference.

I'm slightly disappointed with the answers to this question, as the asker stated it was MEMBERS at large who asked these questions, not the mission leaders. It also asked about the demographics of those who ask this question, not whether or not someone SHOULD care about this. Anyone have any thoughts as to the actual question this person asked?

[Tim the Monkey]

As someone who hasn’t served her mission yet (but is reporting…WEDNESDAY!!...though I don’t want this thread to get sidetracked from the get-go…) I can’t really speak to the “common experience” side of this question, but I do have some thoughts on why these opinions might be shared by members of the Church (who, imo, obviously haven’t studied Christ’s ministries very closely /judgment face).

The first thing that crossed my mind when I read this question is that it might have something to do with the political leanings of this missionary’s area. It might just be that there’s a trend towards anti-welfare/immigration/etc. political leanings—which are typically indicative of the sort of stereotypes that this missionary mentions—in the area. If such is the case, it would make sense that if certain members didn’t think certain people should be around PERIOD, that those members wouldn’t want those people in their Zion (where I might tentatively, tongue-in-cheek guess that they think all is well…jus’ sayin'). But we don’t know where this missionary served, other than it’s in the US, and had urban, suburban and rural areas…Doesn’t really narrow it down.

Another thing I thought might explain it would be something that isn’t really said in our culture (so some might disagree with my wording…)…but might apply. Simply put…there are some better functioning, more efficient, more loving etc. wards than others. Perhaps this missionary just happened to serve in these “others,” and in these wards, people saw how little got done, and so those people either wanted help (if they felt like they’re “the only ones doing the work around the ward”) or they want to be taken care of (if they felt like their “leadership is failing them”). I think that’s still pretty obviously the member’s issue to work out…(/sooooo much judgment in this post...sorry!!!)

Of course, I would personally like to doubt that the missionary heard this a lot. It kind of sounds like something they might hear over dinner at a few members’ houses sometime shortly after those members got together on their own, had a few too many Mountain Dews and decided that that was why the missionaries were failures. As in, it’s something they heard said as something they should do, but never as something they must, had, or needed to do.

But I also grew up in a pretty dysfunctional* ward, so I have no qualms in saying that I can picture this being said over the pulpit by…someone with authority…too.


*So I’ve been told by objective third parties.

[Katya]

As someone who hasn’t served her mission yet (but is reporting…WEDNESDAY!!...

Where are you going?

[wired]

I served a mission in a place that has both urban, suburban, and rural areas. I only saw it in rural areas. I only heard it a few times and I think it was from members who were aggravated with recent converts who seemingly (and probably) were only in the Church for welfare purposes. It never aggravated me personally, but I found it in poor taste. I didn't think it was stimulated by racism. I heard it from white members about white people, and from black members about black people.

Really, it's something where I see the members are coming from, but unless you're the Bishop, you really shouldn't be saying anything about it. It seemed like backbiting more than anything else.

[TheAnswerIs42]

The only time I have seen this sort of thing come from mission leaders is the story of my friend's father's mission. He was in the first group that served in the Phillipines. And they were not taught another language, on purpose. He was told that they wanted to establish the church in the area from nothing, and the best way to do that was to get converts that would be strong members. And the stronger, more wealthy people in the Phillipines speak English. Obviously that policy isn't one that lasts very long. It's really sad that this person saw this backbiting so much.

[Tim the Monkey]

As someone who hasn’t served her mission yet (but is reporting…WEDNESDAY!!...

Where are you going?

Everett, Washington

[Katya]

As someone who hasn’t served her mission yet (but is reporting…WEDNESDAY!!...

Where are you going?

Everett, Washington

Oooh, it's on the coast. Sounds lovely! (Do they let missionaries harvest geoducks? Probably not. But you could still eat them.)

[Whistler]

didn't Tangerine serve in that mission?

[Dr. Smeed]

I did. I served in the Washington, Everett mission. Tim the Monkey, if you want some info, e-mail me.

My mission president was all about "farming the ghetto" as he put it. He said it's the missionaries' job to baptize people, it's the members' job to teach them the gospel and keep them active. I baptized a few welfare cases, but didn't baptize even more.

[Dragon Lady]

I read:

didn't Tangerine serve in that mission?

I did.

And my first thought was, "Why is Tangerine using Dr. Smeed's account?"

[Tao]

and the plot thickens...

[Tim the Monkey]

Tim the Monkey, if you want some info, e-mail me.

Thanks for the offer! If anything comes to mind between now and then, I definitely will.

[Dead Cat]

I did. I served in the Washington, Everett mission. Tim the Monkey, if you want some info, e-mail me.

My mission president was all about "farming the ghetto" as he put it. He said it's the missionaries' job to baptize people, it's the members' job to teach them the gospel and keep them active. I baptized a few welfare cases, but didn't baptize even more.

I thought you served in Alaska...
EDIT: oh, just searched the archives. Never mind...

[Dr. Smeed]

Easy misunderstanding. I just worked in Alaska for a summer and played hockey up there.

[Digit]

Easy misunderstanding. I just worked in Alaska for a summer and played hockey up there.

Was the work in a cannery? I did that in Alaska for two summers, fortunately getting assigned to the side that handled the fish after they had been gutted and frozen.

[Marduk]

Is there a big market for canned fish?!

[Digit]

It's actually one of those times when the name everybody just uses isn't actually descriptive, but that's what everybody calls it. At the "cannery" where I worked, the fish came in off the boat into the fresh half of the building, where a machine could quickly behead the fishes en masse and the human workers grabbed the bodies and slit the bellies and ripped out the guts, throwing them onto the floor (some workers used large squeegees to sweep it into a drain in the floor leading to a chopper). Then those headless, gutless fish bodies went into a blast freezer about the size of a room, which froze them solid in about 45 minutes.
On the side where I (as I said, thankfully) worked, we took the trays of frozen fish bodies out, threw them onto a conveyor which dipped them in some brine (which I guess was for defrosting/disinfecting purposes) and then humans would take each fish body, stick it into an individual plastic bag not unlike what you see at Subway, and drop it onto a table, where another worker, called a scaler, had to quickly grab bagged fish bodies and stick them into a box on a scale. The box had to weigh between 49.7 and 50.3 pounds, so when the box was almost full, they had to be good at holding a fish in each hand and being able to feel which one was slightly lighter or heavier. They tried letting me be a scaler for about 5 minutes as I recall. I spent most of the summer being one of the guys taking frozen fish of the trays from the blast freezer and putting them on the conveyor.
Yet another division at the "cannery" was the egg house, almost entirely run by Japanese people. The female salmon got their bellies slit and the egg sacs went into big vats of brine. I was one of the Americans that got to work in there for a few days before I ended up on the frozen fish side.
All in all, it was a fun time for a college-aged kid, but I'm sure glad it's not my career.

[Dead Cat]

Is there a big market for canned fish?!

Maybe in other places, but not so much in Alaska. If you know anyone who fishes, you are very likely to get some in your freezer at one point or another. I'm personally not a fish fan, but most people I've known prefer fresh fish to canned.

[thebigcheese]

Canned tuna has its merits, though.

[Digit]

Canned tuna has its merits, though.

It's funny to me how the tuna in water costs more (at least in my area) than the tuna in oil. You'd think the oil cost more than the water. It probably does, and they know that the stuff not soaked in oil tastes better, so they make even more profit by charging more for the stuff that costs less to make.