Op-Ed

Sheila Olson
English 102, Section 13
Christy Vance
11/11/09
Op-Ed: Rules
When a young man in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon) reaches the age of nineteen, he is eligible to serve a Mormon proselytizing mission. The expectation for a young man to serve a mission is taught by the church and is reinforced at home. One mother interviewed in a documentary about Mormon missionaries went as far as to say “if you are a good mother, all of your children would grow up to be missionaries”. This statement goes to show the pressure that young men (and their families) of the LDS church feel to serve a mission. In an email interview I had with a recently returned missionary he revealed “the real reason why I went on my mission was to bring people to Christ”. So, regardless of the reason a missionary chooses to serve a mission, whether out of pressure or a true wish to do so, the time has finally come for him to leave home, venture out in the world and serve his mission. The LDS church is entrusting the expansion and advancement of their religion to missionaries and based on the preparation and expectation the church places on the need for young men to serve a mission, one would assume that the church feels that a missionary is old enough and responsible enough to follow the teachings of the church, and represent the church in a positive way. So why then are missionaries subjected to so many rules? If so many rules are needed to keep the missionary focused, perhaps the missionary is not really mature enough to be on a mission. These so called young men are trying to get people they are talking with to change their lives and beliefs, but at the same time the church feels it necessary to control almost every moment of a missionaries life.
One of the very first rules a missionary faces is the fact that once they enter the Missionary Training Center they are immediately cut off from their previous life. Contact with their family and friends is now only allowed via email or handwritten letter once a week. Research done by Schultheiss and Blustein on beginning college students that are in similar situations, such as being away from home for the first time shows that parental support is integral to their success. Therefore it could be assumed that missionaries would also be more likely to succeed with a supportive network.
Missionaries are warned that if they do not become “immediately obedient” to the rules they could “lose their place in the kingdom, or lose their life”. However, some rules blatantly contradict each other, forcing the missionary to break some rules in order to follow others.
Because of the number and extent of the rules many missionaries become disillusioned with their mission, and often begin to question the church. In a study done by Adams and Clopton, surveying current or former missionaries, research found that: 1) Women as a whole had less satisfying missions. 2) Missionaries that were not predisposed to being neat and orderly were more inclined to question the rules. 3) Missionaries that were unable to ignore stress factors in their lives also tended to question the rules more frequently. Once again this shows a parallel between the number of rules imposed on missionaries and the missionaries negative response to those rules.
The morale to my story is that if the LDS church does not trust their own missionaries to be able to focus and get their job done, how can you, a potential convert to the religion, trust these same missionaries?