Missions

Hypocrisy is something that has always bugged me.  While I recognize that sometimes I fall into the hypocrite category, I promise that I try very, very hard not to.  I know that my true friends feel the same way.  However, it seems that recently several of my acquaintances (or not-as-close friends) have been posting on Facebook about attending "The Book of Mormon Musical," and then they go on to rave about it.  These are the same friends who teach tolerance and acceptance of others.  Shouldn't this tolerance extend to Mormon missionaries?

One reason why this hurts me so much is because I served a mission.  My father served a mission.  My brothers served missions.  My youngest brother is serving a mission now in Brazil, and words cannot express how deeply I miss him everyday.  Missions are a lot harder than you'd think.  My mission is the most difficult endeavor in which I've participated.  Yet, I guess it's OK to mock my efforts and those of my family, because the creators of South Park say it's OK.

Here's where I may sound the part of the hypocrite.  I've never seen the play, nor do I intend to.  I can't say, first-hand, that I know what it's about or what's said.  However, based on what little I have heard, here's what I do know:  The play is about Mormon missionaries in Africa who are oblivious to the circumstances of the world around them.  They skip around stage preaching about the "obviously crack-pot" Book of Mormon and its "equally crack-pot author" Joseph Smith.  The missionaries are portrayed as mindless drones who haven't ever had an original thought.  Nothing gets solved, insert vulgarity, and the play ends.

Let me tell you why that's not an accurate representation of a Mormon mission:

• Missionaries are not oblivious to the world around them.
• I served in New York City-- Spanish speaking.  My father served in the Sacramento, California area.  My brothers served in Brazil (Belo Horizonte East), Chile (Osorno), and Puerto Rico (San Juan East).  The youngest has been in Brazil (Joao Pessoa) for almost a year now.  Sit down with any one of us, and ask us what the hardest thing about our mission was.  We'll probably tell you that the hardest thing was watching others suffer.  During my time in NYC, I became more acquainted with poverty and sorrow than I thought existed, let alone in the States.  I comforted parents who lost a child.  I visited a man who had lost all mobility of his body and hadn't been out of his apartment in 8 years.  I knew a family who owned nothing more than the clothes on their backs and a mattress on the floor.  I met people who had even less than that.  I saw children without parents, and parents who had lost their children to drugs and gang violence.  I saw the abused, rejected, and lonely state of people who had given up on themselves.  I was not oblivious to this.  It was my everyday.  Those were the streets we walked-- those were the faces we met-- and those were the challenges we confronted.
• Missionaries are not mindless.  Missionaries are people who intentionally sacrifice their time and personal comforts for the benefits of others.  The choice to serve is very personally thought out and very painstakingly performed.
• To illustrate my point, let me make a list of some of the mission rules that one has to follow while serving a Mormon mission:  wake up at 6:30 every morning, study scriptures for 2 to 3 hours everyday, proselyte and serve the community from 11 or 12 until 9 at night, be home by 9:30 and in bed by 10:30, no T.V., no radio, no internet except e-mailing family once a week and Church websites, no calling home except Christmas and Mother's Day, no dating, no hugging members of the opposite sex, no music that is not Church related, one must wear missionary clothes (dress or skirt in my case) at all times unless exercising or participating in a physically strenuous service project, always be within sight and sound of your assigned mission companion unless using the restroom, you'll have 6 hours a week to do laundry and get groceries-- all other mission rules must still be followed during this time......  The list goes on.  We had a whole book dedicated to the rules we were required to follow.
• Missionaries pay to serve.  It's standard for a missionary to pay $400 every month in order to meet the needs of housing and other expenses.  All missionaries, regardless of where they are sent, pay this amount.  The Church, then, pools that money and divides the funds accordingly.  In my mission, we were given, in addition to rent money, $100 to $200 every month-- I don't remember the exact amount.  That money was to be used on everything else we'd need that month.  The missionaries in my mission actually had it pretty good-- we got more than most missionaries do.  NYC is an expensive place.
• Missionaries don't get to choose where or when they serve.  We're told what language we'll be expected to teach in.  When I was called to teach in Spanish, I could maybe ask where the bathroom was.  Nine weeks into my mission, I was expected to hold my own in a Spanish conversation.  I can only imagine how much more difficult it could have been had I needed to learn Chinese or Finnish or Russian.  New language.  New culture.  And we don't have a say in any of it.  If that's not faith, I don't know what is.
• Missionaries leave behind their lives-- they leave behind themselves-- in order to preach what they believe.  This part was so hard for me, even though I had a supportive family cheering me on.  My little brother is working with another missionary right now, a native Brazilian, who is the only Mormon in his family.  Sometimes families even go so far as to disown their Mormon children who decide to go on missions.  Quite literally, missionaries have sacrificed their families to serve.  I gave up jobs, boyfriends, the opportunity to watch my niece grow up, the chance to attend my college graduation ceremony, and so many other things to serve.  Yet, these sacrifices pale in comparison to what some give.  What about the missionary who leaves a terminally ill mother, knowing that she'll probably be dead before he gets home?...  It's happened.  The next time you come across the missionaries, maybe you could ask them what they gave up to be missionaries.  Their answers might surprise you.
• A mission is, very literally, full time.  No days off.  No holidays.  For 18 months to 2 years, a missionary's life is not their own.  And they're better off for it.
•  The teachings found in The Book of Mormon do change lives and improve circumstances.
• Whether one is religious or not, the principles taught within The Book of Mormon make lives better for those who adhere to them.  It teaches men to be good, responsible husbands and fathers.  It teaches them to treat their wives as equals, and it teaches women to demand that they be treated equally.  It teaches women to be noble and to not be afraid to stick up for themselves or their families.  It teaches children to respect their parents.  It teaches people to respect each other.  It teaches that all should work hard, do their best, take what they need, and give whatever they can to help others.  It teaches that there is injustice in the world, yet that injustice need not cripple a person's resolve to live a good and happy life.  Aren't these the kinds of things you would want people to believe?  Because in believing and following such things, people change.  They become better.
• Some circumstances can't be changed.  No amount of scripture study was going to make my friend, the one who couldn't leave his apartment, walk again.  However, something the Book of Mormon so clearly teaches is that good can come out of hard things.  It gives clarity and perspective of what's really important in life.  The Book of Mormon may not be able to literally solve all of the world's issues, but it certainly makes those issues bearable.

So, friends, if you want to see The Book of Mormon Musical, I'm not going to stop you.  You have the right to do that.  But, please, remember as you watch that there are real missionaries living in the real world who sacrifice and work so hard to help others.  This "show" is insulting to them, to those of us who have served, and to the families who miss their missionaries terribly.

Also, if you must see the musical, don't forget to read the Book too.  It's better anyway.