The cost of serving a senior mission

[Hagoth]

https://www.lds.org/bc/content/ldsorg/c ... nities.pdf

Scroll down to page 6. If you serve in NYC you'll be paying the church $3200/mo for the privilege. If you add the additional $518/mo for insurance a 2-year mission will cost you $89,232 (or do seniors only do 18 months?) in addition to whatever it costs you to keep your home and family going while you're away.

The jobs listed here are office work and filling local leadership & YSA callings.

Hmm. Send my kid to an ivy league, or send him to community college so I can operate a copy machine for the Lord?

[RubinHighlander]

Ridiculous! I've got relatives out serving right now and they are basically uber drivers for all the poor members and for transfers. They are logging a ton of miles on their own car! One day they were delivering groceries to some poor African American family and the neighbors joked about how rare a site it was to see white folks serving it up in the hood!

[JustHangingOn@57]

Member and Leader Support (MLS)
Member and leader support (MLS) is the most common
type of assignment for senior missionary couples called
to serve under the direction of the mission president.
Responsibilities
•This assignment encourages couples to share the
gospel, reactivate and rescue less-active members,
retain new converts, strengthen young single adults,
and support local leaders in struggling wards,
branches, and districts.
•Couples also provide a great and lasting influence on
younger missionaries serving within a mission.
Only couples may serve as member and leadership
support missionaries. We have needs for member and
leader support couples to serve in the USA and around
the world.

"..rescue less-active members..."

Rescue. Ugh.

[Thoughtful]

Polynesian cultural center: a Polynesian looking sister is needed....


What the....

[Corsair]

One of the firm changes after my faith transition is that there is no way I am serving a senior mission. I suspect this realization was one of the biggest for my wife. She wants to spend her retirement years attending the temple and serving a mission. I can support her if she wants to spend her days at the temple while I do literally any other appealing activity. But she will have to outlive me if she plans to serve a mission.

This will also save an appalling amount of money and give me two more years with friends and family. The restriction on senior missionaries is much smaller than young elders and sisters, but the church assumes that you are already "church broke". Unfortunately, the "broke" part seems more applicable than they realize.

[Silver Girl]

One of the firm changes after my faith transition is that there is no way I am serving a senior mission. I suspect this realization was one of the biggest for my wife. She wants to spend her retirement years attending the temple and serving a mission. I can support her if she wants to spend her days at the temple while I do literally any other appealing activity. But she will have to outlive me if she plans to serve a mission.

This will also save an appalling amount of money and give me two more years with friends and family. The restriction on senior missionaries is much smaller than young elders and sisters, but the church assumes that you are already "church broke". Unfortunately, the "broke" part seems more applicable than they realize.

Well, I'd suggest swapping wives with some of the guys who want to serve missions but their DWs don't want to leave the grandkids, but that might sound like the way things ran in the early church.

Yes, you are right about the "broke" part.

[JustHangingOn@57]

One of the firm changes after my faith transition is that there is no way I am serving a senior mission. I suspect this realization was one of the biggest for my wife. She wants to spend her retirement years attending the temple and serving a mission. I can support her if she wants to spend her days at the temple while I do literally any other appealing activity. But she will have to outlive me if she plans to serve a mission.

This will also save an appalling amount of money and give me two more years with friends and family. The restriction on senior missionaries is much smaller than young elders and sisters, but the church assumes that you are already "church broke". Unfortunately, the "broke" part seems more applicable than they realize.

My very active and very believing wife has already expressed to me that she DOES NOT want to serve a mission when we (theoretically) retire in 10 or so years. But a lot could change between now and then. And my stake lays the guilt on pretty thick. Literally every stake conference there is at least one talk on how retired people need to put their mission papers in ASAP.

[nibbler]

Scroll down to page 6. If you serve in NYC you'll be paying the church $3200/mo for the privilege.

I've often wondered whether the church owns the properties that the senior missionaries end up occupying.

Granted if they bought a million dollar apartment up front, some portion of that $3,200/mo is going towards recouping the expense but you'd think that after a while the apartment will be bought and paid for and then the high monthly cost seniors are paying almost becomes a revenue stream.

One thought is that the more expensive senior missions subsidize some of the cheaper ones but man oh man, some of those senior missions in countries and areas where the cost of living isn't so high are expensive enough to set you up like a king.

Decades ago the church moved from the model where mission costs were variable for kids going on missions. I wonder why they don't do that for seniors as well. Moreover, why wouldn't a common cost for seniors serving a mission be closer to $800.00/mo? $800 being twice the per month cost of kids going on missions because there are two people. But there is a key difference, kids don't choose where they end up going and apparently senior couples can, allowing the seniors to select a mission that fits their budget.

Still, if church leaders are so concerned about seniors getting out on missions then you'd think that they'd heavily subsidize missions in some way to make them more affordable. Make them closer to the average for kids, $400 per person per month... and maybe buy up a little less of Florida if that ins't enough to cover the full costs.

[Corsair]

Well, I'd suggest swapping wives with some of the guys who want to serve missions but their DWs don't want to leave the grandkids, but that might sound like the way things ran in the early church.

Yes, you are right about the "broke" part.

I wonder if the church would let the devout wife in a mixed-faith marriage go on a mission by herself and be assigned another senior sister missionary. While this sounds like a colossally poor idea overall, I could see this being a possibility in a future dominated by mixed-faith marriages. This would have the additional advantage that I could remain working and support her if I so chose to go down this ridiculous road.

One obvious problem for her (among many) is that I would still be a part of the lives of my grandchildren and would make a point to get lots of photographs of me with our children and grandchildren while she was off doing missionary things. Is this arrangement any different than the 19th century when the men were sent on missions leaving wives and children at home?

[Spicy McHaggis]

Polynesian cultural center: a Polynesian looking sister is needed....


What the....

At least it didn't say lamanite. It's a start, I suppose.

[Mormorrisey]

One of the firm changes after my faith transition is that there is no way I am serving a senior mission. I suspect this realization was one of the biggest for my wife. She wants to spend her retirement years attending the temple and serving a mission. I can support her if she wants to spend her days at the temple while I do literally any other appealing activity. But she will have to outlive me if she plans to serve a mission.

This will also save an appalling amount of money and give me two more years with friends and family. The restriction on senior missionaries is much smaller than young elders and sisters, but the church assumes that you are already "church broke". Unfortunately, the "broke" part seems more applicable than they realize.

Yep, this realization weighs quite heavily on Sis. M. too. But I have told her, that as a prior educator, I will be very glad to be a volunteer teacher one day, and help out the less fortunate with my particular skillset. I might even shell out a few shekels for the endeavour. But to shell out thousands of dollars to be a tourist guide at Nauvoo? A CES missionary in Bulgaria? To look after a for-profit ranch in Nevada? To do data entry at the COB? Go far away to be a temple worker? All on my own dime? Not a chance. I'll hang out with family when I'm retired instead, thank you very much, and do my volunteering on the side for my local community. I'll help out just as many people, for a lot cheaper. And I'm sure a local agency will be willing to let me have some vacation time and chat with my family over the phone, too!

No more free labour for a multibillion dollar corporation, that's my mantra.

[Hagoth]

I wonder if the church would let the devout wife in a mixed-faith marriage go on a mission by herself and be assigned another senior sister missionary.

Ugh. I hate to think what she might be like when she came back.

[Silver Girl]

Well, I'd suggest swapping wives with some of the guys who want to serve missions but their DWs don't want to leave the grandkids, but that might sound like the way things ran in the early church.

Yes, you are right about the "broke" part.

I wonder if the church would let the devout wife in a mixed-faith marriage go on a mission by herself and be assigned another senior sister missionary. While this sounds like a colossally poor idea overall, I could see this being a possibility in a future dominated by mixed-faith marriages. This would have the additional advantage that I could remain working and support her if I so chose to go down this ridiculous road.

One obvious problem for her (among many) is that I would still be a part of the lives of my grandchildren and would make a point to get lots of photographs of me with our children and grandchildren while she was off doing missionary things. Is this arrangement any different than the 19th century when the men were sent on missions leaving wives and children at home?

That would actually be a good solution - but of course the church doesn't often deal with "Good" in its actions. I believe she would not even be able to serve a local (allegedly part-time, but I can attest that is not the case) mission, because they either assign couples to those, or single sisters.

Here's an idea (maybe) - find an organization where you can volunteer for humanitarian service opportunities in Third World countries. Many of those are through churches, and that might be a barrier, but there are also some medical or others types of missions that are through other organizations. I served one of those through another church (in a galaxy I was in long long ago), and it was an incredibly wonderful experience. We paid our own ways, and that was fine with me, and we served a remote village in Central America. The church I now attend supports mission services (services, not revenue centers or sales forces) in three countries. You could go with her on one of those trips, and you could do it as a "vacation" week while still working. My brother and his wife go on missions to the Dominican Republic and they tack on one week for the mission and one for a beach vacation.

I know she wants to think she served the church, but doing clerical work in a visitor center would suck scissors for me. Real service is helping people, not bringing in money for a cult (or doing free labor so it can save money).

[alas]

My sister in law and her hubby recently put money down on a house in a nice retirement community. Then after applying for another mission, canceled the contract. This will be their third mission. But they helped with treck in Wyoming for the first two and are helping with treck somewhere else this time. It is just summers, and she can take the summer off work, and return to work in the fall. They really enjoy it as it is following the treck kids on an ATV, so, sorta like the vacations we take spending all day on an ATV. But, I suspect the change in plans on the house was because they can't afford to own a home and do treck every year. They pay a gawd awful amount to park an RV on church property. Why they cannot park free on church property baffles me.

[Not Buying It]

No success as a senior missionary can compensate for the years of your grandchildren's lives you will miss.

Senior missions are nothing more than evidence than the Church will take everything it can get from you right up until the end of your life.

[Silver Girl]

No success as a senior missionary can compensate for the years of your grandchildren's lives you will miss.

Senior missions are nothing more than evidence than the Church will take everything it can get from you right up until the end of your life.

I agree with this - I know people who are (even as we speak) missing their grandchildren's births, their youngest years, all sorts of things. The cult doesn't care a bit for families. Some assignments (such as the heftier ones that give you stock with the Q-15) don't even allow you to leave the mission or assignment area without permission from SLC. No matter what is happening - deaths in the family, marriages, births of grandchildren, serious illnesses. The cult comes first. But, it's all about the family, right?

[slk]

I know of a senior couple that was living on the east bench in a good size home before their mission. Immediately after they got back, they had to downsize and now they're living in innercity in a rundown neighborhood. Pretty sad.

[lostinmiddlemormonism]

Polynesian cultural center: a Polynesian looking sister is needed....


What the....

Honest in Mormonism...it is ALL about appearances.

[Thoughtful]

My aunt who is going on her third mission soon says you pay max $1400 to the church per couple for housing and utilities. You pay your own food, clothing, internet, insurance and transportation. The $1400 is tax deductible if you itemize.

[Thoughtful]

Polynesian cultural center: a Polynesian looking sister is needed....


What the....

Honest in Mormonism...it is ALL about appearances.

But nevertheless, we wouldn't be honest about our cultural racism.