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Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 2:07 pm
by Ado
My sister (lives in Utah) said she has been seeing missionaries out by themselves a lot lately. I thought I saw an elder walking alone the other day as well as I was driving (in SE Idaho). We mentioned it to my uncle and asked him if he knew about rule changes because his son just left for a mission. He said that once my cousin landed in Brazil, he met his mission president who gave him money to take a 3 hour uber ride by himself to get to his first area. This area also happens to be a place where a few sister missionaries were recently assaulted. Needless to say, my teenage cousin was terrified.
Anybody else notice this or hear anything about it? Did the rules change? Why the sudden obvious lack of concern? It's almost like they're asking for something to happen.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 2:25 pm
by Mamabear
Ado wrote: ↑October 2nd, 2023, 2:07 pm
My sister (lives in Utah) said she has been seeing missionaries out by themselves a lot lately. I thought I saw an elder walking alone the other day as well as I was driving (in SE Idaho). We mentioned it to my uncle and asked him if he knew about rule changes because his son just left for a mission. He said that once my cousin landed in Brazil, he met his mission president who gave him money to take a 3 hour uber ride by himself to get to his first area. This area also happens to be a place where a few sister missionaries were recently assaulted. Needless to say, my teenage cousin was terrified.
Anybody else notice this or hear anything about it? Did the rules change? Why the sudden obvious lack of concern? It's almost like they're asking for something to happen.
I don’t know. Some may just do their own thing. I think missionaries are ok to be by themselves and have some solitude. They are adults.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 2:27 pm
by Subcomandante
Ado wrote: ↑October 2nd, 2023, 2:07 pm
My sister (lives in Utah) said she has been seeing missionaries out by themselves a lot lately. I thought I saw an elder walking alone the other day as well as I was driving (in SE Idaho). We mentioned it to my uncle and asked him if he knew about rule changes because his son just left for a mission. He said that once my cousin landed in Brazil, he met his mission president who gave him money to take a 3 hour uber ride by himself to get to his first area. This area also happens to be a place where a few sister missionaries were recently assaulted. Needless to say, my teenage cousin was terrified.
Anybody else notice this or hear anything about it? Did the rules change? Why the sudden obvious lack of concern? It's almost like they're asking for something to happen.
In my area of Mexico, the missionaries are always in pairs unless on splits with another Priesthood holder. There could be areas where this is not the case, however.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 2:27 pm
by Telavian
As a general rule missionaries have been by themselves for quite a while in specific cases. However I don't know of anything specifically which changed to allow them to proselyte alone.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 3:48 pm
by Down_the_rabbithole
As a missionary back in 1999, I was on my own for two and a half days. My companion got sent home and there were no missionaries close to my area. It was a small branch. My mission pres. just told me to not do missionary work on my own, but I could go out to get food, go for walks or stay inside and study. It was really weird; both having my comp. sent home for doing stuff with a member and the member being ex'd because of my companion and then also being alone. I hated that area. It honestly felt cursed. There were also a few times I was on my own when moving to a new area, but that was only hours, not days alone. It might just depend on the mission or weird circumstances (my mission was neverending weird circumstances).
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 4:02 pm
by latterdayloco
Down_the_rabbithole wrote: ↑October 2nd, 2023, 3:48 pm
As a missionary back in 1999, I was on my own for two and a half days. My companion got sent home and there were no missionaries close to my area. It was a small branch. My mission pres. just told me to not do missionary work on my own, but I could go out to get food, go for walks or stay inside and study. It was really weird; both having my comp. sent home for doing stuff with a member and the member being ex'd because of my companion and then also being alone. I hated that area. It honestly felt cursed. There were also a few times I was on my own when moving to a new area, but that was only hours, not days alone. It might just depend on the mission or weird circumstances (my mission was neverending weird circumstances).
I’m curious as to where you served. If you don’t feel comfortable posting it, please send me a private message. I had an area just like what you are describing.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 4:26 pm
by Peeps
I lived in a small city called Winnfield, LA in the 2009-2012-ish range, which was in the Jackson, MS mission, and the missionaries serving there were pretty miserable. The town itself, felt "heavy," as soon as you approached the city limits sign, it was almost palpable (at least to me).
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 5:11 pm
by LDS Physician
I was a states missionary back in the day and when transferred we took Greyhound buses to our new areas alone all the time. Seeing one walking alone on a street is unusual.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 5:56 pm
by Ado
I think it shows a lack of concern for a brand new American missionary to be left to travel alone in a foreign country. I say that as an American who served in the Philippines and was emergency transferred from two unsafe areas. Nearly every other American sister I spoke to had a similar stalker/emergency transfer experience in that mission. Mission president stopped pairing foreigners together eventually. Anyways, I'm mostly curious if there was a change recently that allows missionaries to be out proselytizing alone.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 7:46 pm
by JuneBug12000
When my son came home he was alone on the two flights. There was a sister alone going home as well in one of the planes.
But when he left, they had an elder he flew out with in both flights.
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 8:06 pm
by Cruiserdude
Down_the_rabbithole wrote: ↑October 2nd, 2023, 3:48 pm
As a missionary back in 1999, I was on my own for two and a half days. My companion got sent home and there were no missionaries close to my area. It was a small branch. My mission pres. just told me to not do missionary work on my own, but I could go out to get food, go for walks or stay inside and study. It was really weird; both having my comp. sent home for doing stuff with a member and the member being ex'd because of my companion and then also being alone. I hated that area. It honestly felt cursed. There were also a few times I was on my own when moving to a new area, but that was only hours, not days alone. It might just depend on the mission or weird circumstances (my mission was neverending weird circumstances).
I had a similar experience in Buenos Aires on my mission, same year even lol
Re: Missionaries allowed to be out alone
Posted: October 2nd, 2023, 8:31 pm
by Wolfwoman
Haven’t heard of anything.