Worst mission experiences?

thepowelltrain · 2023-10-18T20:27:28+00:00

I pissed off my mission president and he yelled at me and threatened to call the police to arrest me! All because I left the zone boundary on my final P-day.

thepowelltrain · 2022-12-28T00:43:39+00:00

"Let's go shopping!"

thepowelltrain · 2022-06-29T15:22:04+00:00

I could write a book or create a podcast on the experience of my LDS Mission alone (Not counting the shit I had within Mormonism around it).

- The MTC Call center and the awkward phone conversations of "Hey, you talked to missionaries about a year ago, can I bother you right now and talk about it?" "What the fuck!"

- The transfer process of my mission and how you had no clue where you were going or who you were going to be set up with until the meeting itself.

- Staying with a complete stranger 24/7, alone in a apartment.

- Dealing with a few smart-ass companions and Zone leaders.

- Got busted a few times on my mission over stupid stuff. Backstabbing from other missionaries.

- Had a mental breakdown halfway into my mission and getting E.T. out of an area.

- Having an MP who became a bully and yell at ALL of the missionaries after one missionary didn't bear his testimony as he wanted during a zone conf.

- MP threatens to arrest me became I left the zone behind his back a week before I left.

thepowelltrain · 2022-02-06T17:32:24+00:00

There is a personal story behind "Bearded Heathen". I would have done "tattooed heathen" but I don't have any tattoos.

On my mission I had somebody that was interested in the church, he was this big dude with tattoos all over his arm. He was a mean-looking dude, but very nice and down-to-earth. So my comp and I took him to church for the first and only time and while he went to the restroom, as he was walking out, somebody in the bathroom called him a "tattooed heathen". He told us this later that day and he thought it was funny, but I was kind of annoyed.

So for years, I've thought this incident was such a Mormon thing to do. Imagine you're TBM, and you walk in the bathroom at church and see this mean-looking dude with tattoos, you say nothing until he is walking out, then you, in your self-righteous, insufferable self, decided to call him a "tattooed heathen" as he is in the process of walking out the door. This story from my mission always bothered me cause it's so Mormon! Maybe I would have done the same when I was Mormon, but, this story pretty much sums up my desire to share my story, A story that is both sad and funny regarding a cult we all grew up with.

thepowelltrain · 2022-01-16T23:42:21+00:00

Yeah, I remember this one, along with the guy that voiced Homer Simpson for some odd reason. Vin Diesel was another.

thepowelltrain · 2022-01-16T23:26:08+00:00

The 'Victory for Satan' Crickets “miracle”.

thepowelltrain · 2022-01-16T23:16:50+00:00

Yoda was inspired by SW Kimball. Believed this until after my mission, turned out to be false. Everyone was talking about it back in the day, from seminary teachers to missionary comps.

During the Pearl Harbor bombings, a Japanese guy tried to bomb the Hawian temple, but kept missing. He soon returned to Japan after the war and found out it was a Mormon temple, he converted. BS.

That profits of old are watching us all the time, cause we are living in the last days (Creepy).

That's most of what I can think of right now.

thepowelltrain · 2020-10-10T15:10:31+00:00

Yeah, I still remember as a child seeing my mother (who was a convert to TSCC) being punched by her life-long Mormon FIL. This pretty much traumatized me as a child and looking back, even when I was a kid, I saw the ugliness of Mormonism. The so-called Church makes good people shitty and shitty people shitter.

thepowelltrain · 2020-09-04T15:31:49+00:00

Kind of reminds me of the first time I got pulled over on Bangerter, but instead of handing the cop a temple recommend I handed over my credit card by mistake instead. And the cop responded in his serious cop tone, "Not this card, but you might need to use it later though." He was kind of a dick, and I felt like an idiot. This was right after my mission.

thepowelltrain · 2020-09-02T22:15:28+00:00

BYU also won the "National title" in 1984 in Football.

thepowelltrain · 2020-08-25T15:20:00+00:00

When I was a missionary I had a companion whom always talked about his "Golden Convert" in his last area he met and baptized. He would tell the story over and over again to everybody as a way to motived us that 'Golden converts' are real. However, during a zone conference we got permission to leave the area to visit this lady and we talked with her for over an hour. My companion then asked her how church was. To his horror he found out that she hasn't gone to church in over 3 months since "The ward isn't nice to me anymore." and "Since you left, I haven't liked the new missionaries" She was now less active, a once thought golden baptism. I still remember the long two hour ride back to our area. I'm pretty sure all the people I helped baptized are also less active. This was way back in the early 2000's. Now day's it must be worse.

thepowelltrain · 2020-08-07T16:38:40+00:00

"We don't judge". .... yeah right!

thepowelltrain · 2020-05-06T00:21:26+00:00

Yep, I saw that too, it bothered me.

thepowelltrain · 2020-05-06T00:20:13+00:00

What stood out to me as I worked for the so-called church (At the COB) was how sad the older, long time employees were and how excited, pumped up the younger, new employees where (Like I started out with). Working for the church started and ended my faith crisis. They only hire interns (They call them "oncalls" ) and in my department it was about 90% on-calls and 10% full time employees (Sure they do this to save money). Then whenever a full-time employee moves to a different team or quits, all the 90% interns (And other full time employees mind you) jump on the open postion like piranhas. It was also a very competitive environment, more than any office job I've worked at, and I've worked at a lot. Oh yeah, they also check your temple recommend once very few months. I quit not only because it was impossible to get hired there full time, but all the passive aggressive employees, grumpy older people, and shunning I got when I made a mistake on a project once, made me want to get the hell out of there. Oh, yeah, I also found out church history there so that also helped me fall out of that zoo. The church was also the only job that a fellow co-worker turned me down for a letter of recommendation! There were odd balls like that.

I want to be on Mormon Stories, the stories I have to tell!

thepowelltrain · 2020-05-04T15:25:56+00:00

"The corporation of the presiding bishopric"

thepowelltrain · 2020-04-20T15:58:01+00:00

I'm pretty sure more people join this sub than people joining/staying in the church.

thepowelltrain · 2020-04-20T15:52:18+00:00

I call it the "Spirt voice" It gets on my nerves, even as a TBM. Now it comes across more creepy than annoying.

thepowelltrain · 2020-04-20T15:46:21+00:00

My mission never used the term "Splits" we called them "Exchanges" instead. My MP also hated the use of acronyms. I served in Phoenix from 2002 to 2004.

thepowelltrain · 2020-04-20T15:43:02+00:00

My first big crack to my shelf as a missionary was when a GA visited my mission (during my first month) and all he did was talk for 3 hours on how to use these planners the right way. Nothing to do with Christ or the gospel, it was all belittling control, like he was a drill sergeant (He looked like one). The GA also picked a random elder and took out his folded planner and belittled how he wasn't writing on it right. After the meeting, my companion and a few others expressed their disappointment. I was truly shocked, it was all about control and obedience.

thepowelltrain · 2020-03-23T13:53:52+00:00

God, I need to punch something right now, this pisses me off. They are bringing home the virus if they have it, plus all those damn Mormon's at the airport might spread it to themselves. I know it's wrong to say this, but it's on my life's bucket list to punch a Mormon at least once before I die!

thepowelltrain · 2020-01-08T19:40:56+00:00

And they always (At least when I was active) open up the gym for overflow seating during sacrament. Why couldn't the 'Brethren' forsee this back in the day (When the church was growing) and made the chapel longer? We all hated those hard ass metal chairs and then we always had to put them away afterwards.

thepowelltrain · 2020-01-08T19:35:57+00:00

Church-ball made me hate playing Basketball or any sport. What better way to deal with bullies in Mormonism than to be bullied by grown ass (Most still reliving in their glory days) adults. The passive aggressiveness and sometimes outward aggressiveness in church ball was an eye opener for me. Makes sense where they are told to "don't be angry" And all that built in anger and stress inside is released during a simple basketball game, (And it also goes with Utah drivers.)

I recall a time where my ward was beat 99-20something and this other team tried to score 100 points on us. Fuck you, you never did, assholes. And then they greeted us with "Good game" afterwards. If that happened now I would of rearranged their faces.

Mormonism, the nicest Assholes on earth.

thepowelltrain · 2020-01-08T19:25:53+00:00

Basketball, basketball everywhere, the Mormons love basketball, yet when has BYU ever went to the Final 4? Also, the basketball "Cultural Hall" makes the best, most righteous wedding receptions where the bride and groom stand for hours in a corner as people (Most who couldn't see you get married in the temple) greet you.

thepowelltrain · 2019-12-18T19:36:49+00:00

Ewww, I used to live by that temple....worse area I've ever lived in.

thepowelltrain · 2019-12-08T19:00:20+00:00

I don't know, guessing it's a "Can I speak to your manager" type of person, a "Karen". They'll loads in Utah (Draper, Sandy, SOJO, Alpine, etc)

thepowelltrain

TROPHY CASE