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Real Life Fundie Encountersâ„¢ Part 2


happy atheist

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To be fair, the missionaries are taught the common language of the area they are sent to. How well they can actually communicate in that language is definitely a different story. 

Apparently BYU has a good language school, and a lot of Mormon missionaries do learn to speak the language well. Jon Huntman served as a missionary in Taiwan, and ended up later becoming ambassador to Singapore and then China, I'm sure partially because his Mandarin was really good. I remember that he used some Mandarin in one of the early debates for the 2012 election, and I was very impressed with his skill. I'm sure that there are also plenty of LDS missionaries who aren't so skilled, but I was under the impression that they train you in the local language pretty thoroughly.

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Apparently BYU has a good language school, and a lot of Mormon missionaries do learn to speak the language well. Jon Huntman served as a missionary in Taiwan, and ended up later becoming ambassador to Singapore and then China, I'm sure partially because his Mandarin was really good. I remember that he used some Mandarin in one of the early debates for the 2012 election, and I was very impressed with his skill. I'm sure that there are also plenty of LDS missionaries who aren't so skilled, but I was under the impression that they train you in the local language pretty thoroughly.

It really depends. I know a girl who is going to a Mandarin-speaking part of China, and she got her mission call about a year before she is to report to the MTC. This huge gap is so she can spend the next year studying the language, and then she'll spend several months of her actual mission (missions for females are 18 months) still learning the language, not actually out on the field. This is, of course, because Mandarin is a super challenging language. However, my boyfriend was called to Argentina and only had 6 weeks to learn Spanish at the MTC (and he's not exactly a fast learner when it comes to language stuff). I think it all comes down to the aptitude for languages you have. Some people certainly learn their languages well enough to do translating work when they return home. Others, not so much. 

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It really depends. I know a girl who is going to a Mandarin-speaking part of China, and she got her mission call about a year before she is to report to the MTC. This huge gap is so she can spend the next year studying the language, and then she'll spend several months of her actual mission (missions for females are 18 months) still learning the language, not actually out on the field. This is, of course, because Mandarin is a super challenging language. However, my boyfriend was called to Argentina and only had 6 weeks to learn Spanish at the MTC (and he's not exactly a fast learner when it comes to language stuff). I think it all comes down to the aptitude for languages you have. Some people certainly learn their languages well enough to do translating work when they return home. Others, not so much. 

Not to be pedantic, but are you sure she's going to mainland, People's Republic of China? They're pretty strict about religious activities and as far as I know, proselytizing is a massive no-no. There are LDS facilities in mainland China, but you can only go if you hold a foreign passport, since LDS is only kinda-sorta-not-really recognized by the Chinese government. I know there's a big LDS center in Hong Kong because I went in there to ask for directions one time, but Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese-speaking.

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When I was a kid living in Germany, we used to get LDS missionaries to the door all the time. Mostly they were young men. We'd let them know we weren't interested, but they'd often make up some pretext to stay and talk to us because we speak English fluently and without an accent (I'm German-Canadian, and grew up speaking both languages without accent). My parents always let them-- they felt bad for these young kids, away from home for the first time without their language around them.

ETA: having some trouble keeping my signature thingy turned off.

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Not to be pedantic, but are you sure she's going to mainland, People's Republic of China? They're pretty strict about religious activities and as far as I know, proselytizing is a massive no-no. There are LDS facilities in mainland China, but you can only go if you hold a foreign passport, since LDS is only kinda-sorta-not-really recognized by the Chinese government. I know there's a big LDS center in Hong Kong because I went in there to ask for directions one time, but Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese-speaking.

That's a great question! I'm not sure where exactly she's going, because you're right. There aren't any missions in the PRC, but I do know she has to learn Mandarin. What I think will end up happening is she will serve in various "Chinatown" type places in the US and Canada for the majority of her mission. She may also work as an online missionary because so few people learn to speak Mandarin. I think the Church is just constantly holding out hope that more countries will allow missionaries in to convert the masses, so they better prepare the army just in case! Haha. 

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That's a great question! I'm not sure where exactly she's going, because you're right. There aren't any missions in the PRC, but I do know she has to learn Mandarin. What I think will end up happening is she will serve in various "Chinatown" type places in the US and Canada for the majority of her mission. She may also work as an online missionary because so few people learn to speak Mandarin. I think the Church is just constantly holding out hope that more countries will allow missionaries in to convert the masses, so they better prepare the army just in case! Haha. 

Might she be going to Taiwan?

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From the National Bible Bee telecasts today

 

Have you ever seen a sadder set of SAHDs? I just wanna grab them and cut their hair. 

 

 

Biblebeesemifinals.JPG

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About a month after we bought our home, two "gentlemen" came to our door, addressed my husband by the previous homeowner's name and explained that they were from the LDS church and had come to collect our back tithes. I wish I'd been home, so I could've given them the wrinkly potato the previous homeowners left in the garage when they took out the big food storage cabinet.  Sad that they didn't even know the man they wee trying to fleece, he was in his 70's, my hubby was in his 30's at the time.

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From the National Bible Bee telecasts today

 

Have you ever seen a sadder set of SAHDs? I just wanna grab them and cut their hair. 

 

 

Biblebeesemifinals.JPG

That girl in the headband looks like she's about to cut a bitch.

How competitive do these Bible Bees get? I'd kind of love it if they were full of passive-aggressive trash talking ("oh, I'll pray that God helps you to do well") and subterfuge.

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This is the kind of shit I do not miss. I once remember being scolded because I told someone "good luck". We were not to believe in luck. Everything good that happened (or bad) was a willful act of God.

Ha you got scolded for it in my homeschool christian speech and debate league there were always at least two 10 minute long speeches on it and since I always signed up to time I always sat through them. Those were the kids I made a mental note not to go around

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 I have, more than once in my life, had a fundie say to me about this or that Bible passage, "well, that's not meant to be taken literally". Then my eyes roll out of my head. 

Today, the widow posted on Facebook about what a "blessing" it was that there was a good crowd at the funeral that the pastor was "able to preach God's word to". In the comments, someone noted that during the service he was looking around and thinking about how many of the people there were obviously "unsaved" or "going to churches that aren't Bible-believing". 

I think that if you sit at a funeral and decide how many other people there are going to hell...something is not quite right with your own faith. 

 

This brought to mind how at my great-uncle's funeral the priest there made sure to tell us that only Catholics who agreed 150% with the Vatican were welcome to take communion since it was a sign of unity with Rome.  My mom later said she didn't think that much of that particular priest (and she's about the last person on Earth to say anything negative about any Catholic priest.  Fortunately that was a one off, we had another guy who did the funerals for my Grandpa, Uncle, and then my Grandma who was much, much nicer).

Contrast that with the priest at the Episcopal Church I go to - she said that she's been to Catholic funerals where the priests made sure that the non-Catholics knew they were welcome to take communion.  At one funeral (cue fundie Catholic head explosions) the priest even invited her to help him officiate and helped find her vestments to wear since she hadn't brought her own along.

Along with the Episcopal church I'm a member of there's another Episcopal church I go to on a semi-regular basis and one of the readers there was a convert from a fundie church.  She said the one thing she found about the Episcopal Church is that we're not as focused on being able to spit out bible verses on command, but instead trying to do right by others.

 

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