Mitt's Missionary Work: Living In A French Palace

[Visionoyahweh]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ioned.html

Although he spent time in other French cities, for most of 1968, Mr Romney lived in the Mission Home, a 19th century neoclassical building in the French capital’s chic 16th arrondissement. “It was a house built by and for rich people,†said Richard Anderson, the son of the mission president at the time of Mr Romney’s stay. “I would describe it as a palaceâ€.

In his remarks this week, Mr Romney said of his French lodgings: “I don’t recall any of them having a refrigerator. We shopped before every mealâ€. Mr Anderson said that as well as a refrigerator, the mansion had “a Spanish chef called Pardo and a house boy, who prepared lunch and supper five days a weekâ€.

It was “well equipped†with all modern conveniences, including a combination washer-dryer machine, Mr Anderson said. “I never saw anything like it in another private home at that time.â€

[debrand]

I've heard this before also but I hadn't heard that he denied having a refridgerator.

[YPestis]

Well, I'm sure a lot of wealthy mormon kids choose to treat their mission trip as a vacation trip. My understanding is most mormons have to raise their own money for the trip. It stands to reason some would have more monetary resources than others and can choose to live in luxurious surrounding in a lovely city. Others probably choose more modest surrounding and target poverty stricken areas. I remember Elizabeth Smart was in Paris for her mission trip which probably wasn't cheap either. I don't know where the church stands on this issue. Do they care if the area is particularly needy? Or is it more important people target sites where mormonism is non-existent? Hard to say. Romney came from a wealthy family. It's pretty hard for him to hide it, as much as he tries. He's probably right to focus on his business experience rather than on his Horatio Alger story.

[NerdyHil]

Well, I'm sure a lot of wealthy mormon kids choose to treat their mission trip as a vacation trip. My understanding is most mormons have to raise their own money for the trip. It stands to reason some would have more monetary resources than others and can choose to live in luxurious surrounding in a lovely city. Others probably choose more modest surrounding and target poverty stricken areas. I remember Elizabeth Smart was in Paris for her mission trip which probably wasn't cheap either. I don't know where the church stands on this issue. Do they care if the area is particularly needy? Or is it more important people target sites where mormonism is non-existent? Hard to say. Romney came from a wealthy family. It's pretty hard for him to hide it, as much as he tries. He's probably right to focus on his business experience rather than on his Horatio Alger story.

Romney's alleged experience is not the norm. The majority of those young people who do serve a mission don't live like that. My husband served a mission in Germany and lived in a series of apartments, and in a "mother-in-law" apartment in another LDS families home. Some of the financial responsibility of the mission cost is on the shoulders of the person serving a mission and their family, but that does depend on the families monetary situation. My In-laws didn't help my husband at all while he was on his mission, but they have no ability to manage money. I believe(don't quote me) that Elizabeth Smart studied French and that was part of the reason she was sent to Paris. My husband studied German in High School and then at college(no, not BYU *shudder*) and that seems to be why he was sent where he was. The young person doesn't get to choose where they are sent, it's done by "divine guidance". So, take that how you will. I have seen children from very well off families sent to the middle of the ghetto in third world countries. I've also seen people sent to places where there is no concept of Mormonism, and the missionaries just teach English. Now, that was Mongolia in the early to mid nineties, so things may be different. There are some people who do go on missions that just dick around and waste others time and money, but some actually work hard for the two years they are out there. My husband calls it his two years of being a monk. But he's not a jack ass, like some missionaries can be.

And Romney makes me stabby.