Kirby on missionary shooting

[helemon]

http://www.sltrib.com/faith/ci_3379310
The LDS Church keeps meticulous track of its missionaries, and according to solid church sources, the exact number of missionaries who have been killed is none of my big fat business. So, be advised that the following threat analysis is based on personal memory.
My LDS mission was more than 30 years ago. Not only is it amazing that I went, almost equally surprising is that I came home alive. I didn't know that at the time, of course. I was too busy being a missionary.
The South American country I served in was not a happy place. In addition to the usual crime associated with abject poverty, the military and communist guerillas bickered constantly.
Tracting in the worst neighborhoods, my companion and I ducked invective from leftists, ignored grim army patrols, and harkened like heck unto the Spirit whenever gunfire erupted nearby.
One day, there was a massive political demonstration in the middle of our area. The military moved in and restored order by shooting protestors like rabbits. In the bloody aftermath, military vehicles roamed dark streets. Offices and homes of communists were bullet-pocked, blood-spattered and burned out.
Through all of this, we went about our business as if it didn't involve us, even when it did. Two of us got shot, though neither died.
I don't know why fear didn't occur to me more often or even at all. We blithely went places then I wouldn't go today for a million bucks and the loan of a flamethrower.
Elder Young's death is a tragedy. But with 50,000 LDS missionaries sent to some of the most screwed up places in the world, the real head scratcher is why more of them aren't killed.

[bobcat]

I look back at my mission and wonder the same thing sometimes. Granted, I didn't find myself in a major political conflict, but some of the neighborhoods I and my fellow missionaries went into on a daily basis were amongst the most dangerous in that part of brazil. One place, Sem Teto, a small neighborhood of only a few miles square, had at least 2-3 homicides DAILY. I saw many people hit by crazy drivers. We taught drug dealers. Right after 9/11, there were countless threats of violence against the church (the "American Church"), which even resulted in a 3-week closing of an entire city and the reassignment of its 20 missionaries to other areas. In retrospect, I'm surprised that I came out of it OK...

[helemon]

I look back at my mission and wonder the same thing sometimes. Granted, I didn't find myself in a major political conflict, but some of the neighborhoods I and my fellow missionaries went into on a daily basis were amongst the most dangerous in that part of brazil. One place, Sem Teto, a small neighborhood of only a few miles square, had at least 2-3 homicides DAILY. I saw many people hit by crazy drivers. We taught drug dealers. Right after 9/11, there were countless threats of violence against the church (the "American Church"), which even resulted in a 3-week closing of an entire city and the reassignment of its 20 missionaries to other areas. In retrospect, I'm surprised that I came out of it OK...

Elder Ballard provided the news with a list of things the church does to keep the missionaries safe.
http://www.lds.org/newsroom/0,15239,3879-1,00.html#FlashPluginDetected
He reviewed several key elements of missionary organization and training that help keep missionaries safe:
• Training in personal safety and good health practices that begins in the Church’s 16 Missionary Training Centers and continues in zone conferences and district meetings throughout the time of missionary service.

I don't know about you but I don't recall any personal safety training at the MTC or during Zone Conferences.

• Missionaries always work in pairs and are required to stay with their companions.

And are required to track late into the night, rain or shine, no matter whether it is safe to be out at night in the neighborhood.

• Qualified, mature, inspired mission presidents and their wives who shepherd the young people in their missions “like they were their very own children.”

More like absenty parents who live miles away in a safe upper middle class neighborhood and who are trying to sheperd a family of 200+ kids. The Mission President has very little hands on monitoring of the missionaries unless there is a problem that needs disciplinary action.

• An organization of assistants to the mission president, zone leaders and district leaders “that is structured to watch over and be very careful where we place missionaries.”

Making sure that the apartments are not too expensive was the main concern I was aware of.

• Ongoing consultation with local Church leaders and members about the safety of specific areas and neighborhoods. Missionaries are instructed to avoid unsafe areas.

I never received information about what areas were considered unsafe from my mission leaders.

• Careful instruction in automobile safety for those using cars.

The only instructions I remember was to be sure and get the oil changed and to stay under the alotted monthly miles so that the cars didn't devalue too much from high mileage when the church resold them.

• Ongoing safety training for missionaries who ride bicycles.

Don't recall any of those either.

• When walking, missionaries are encouraged to walk swiftly and with purpose. They are instructed to minimize the objects they have with them and only carry cash sufficient for that day’s needs. If accosted by thieves, missionaries are trained not to resist, to avoid confrontation and to give up whatever money they have.

Just be sure to carry A LOT of BoMs, Pamphlets, AoF cards, the handbook and of course your Franklin Planner!

• A network of 80 physicians serve as full-time volunteer missionaries around the world “so mission presidents have access to the best medical advice they can possibly get right within the boundaries of their own areas.” Also, an additional 200 volunteer nurses and others with medical and health care backgrounds “are out there shepherding this missionary force.”

However missionaries are not encouraged to seek medical assistance unless there is a serious problem.

• Missionary apartments are periodically inspected for safety and cleanliness. Missionaries are moved to different apartments whenever needed.
These inspections are very infrequent.

Is there more the church should do? Is there more they can do?

[Born Free]

Elder Ballard provided the news with a list of things the church does to keep the missionaries safe.
http://www.lds.org/newsroom/0,15239,3879-1,00.html#FlashPluginDetected

I don't know about you but I don't recall any personal safety training at the MTC or during Zone Conferences.

And are required to track late into the night, rain or shine, no matter whether it is safe to be out at night in the neighborhood.

More like absenty parents who live miles away in a safe upper middle class neighborhood and who are trying to sheperd a family of 200+ kids. The Mission President has very little hands on monitoring of the missionaries unless there is a problem that needs disciplinary action.

Making sure that the apartments are not too expensive was the main concern I was aware of.

I never received information about what areas were considered unsafe from my mission leaders.

The only instructions I remember was to be sure and get the oil changed and to stay under the alotted monthly miles so that the cars didn't devalue too much from high mileage when the church resold them.

Don't recall any of those either.

Just be sure to carry A LOT of BoMs, Pamphlets, AoF cards, the handbook and of course your Franklin Planner!

However missionaries are not encouraged to seek medical assistance unless there is a serious problem.

These inspections are very infrequent.

Is there more the church should do? Is there more they can do?

All sounds so familiar - the fantasy one has when addicted to the notion that all is well is Zion.

Work so well, until your child comes home in a coffin!

Daryl

[helemon]

However missionaries are not encouraged to seek medical assistance unless there is a serious problem.

From Runtu on RfM:

In my mission (Bolivia), there were approximately 200 missionaries. When I was in the mission office, we did a survey over several months that showed that at any given time, approximately 60-70 missionaries were too ill to work. Common missionary illnesses included amoebic dysentery, intestinal worms (I once had 4 different kinds plus amoebas), typhoid, strep, staph, tuberculosis, and other assorted fun things. My wife got chagas disease there and ended up in the hospital when she got home.

At the start of my mission, I weighed 145 lbs. (I'm 5'8"). After 4 months, I weighed 114 lbs, and my 6-foot companion weighed 130. We were responsible for our own health care, and no one would ever have thought to call the mission president's wife. Some zones had a book called "Where There Is No Doctor" where you could look up symptoms in an attempt to treat yourself.

When I got to Bolivia, there was a female missionary in our zone who was semiconscious and bedridden. I saw here 3 times in almost a month (we went over there to take our weekly shower), but I never spoke to her. She was far too ill.

An American family in La Paz used $800 of their own money to bribe the airlines to bump someone so that a female missionary could go home. She had mononucleosis and systemic strep. She was met by an ambulance in Utah and immediately taken to the hospital.

I know many missionaries who spent weeks in bed with serious illnesses. One of my companions became quite ill with salmonella, but he didn't have enough money to go to the hospital. We ended up moving in with the welfare missionaries, who put an IV in him and nursed him back to health.

We did not have access to good health care, and the church did not pay for any of our medical expenses. I injured my knee while there and paid several hundred dollars in doctor bills.

Yes, 19-21 year old men should be very healthy. Not in our mission.

[Born Free]

From Runtu on RfM:

Sounds like all care and no responsibility! :Crazy:

(Now that sounds vaguely familiar, like their training of bishopric to delve into people's personal issues! :eek: )

Daryl

[bobcat]

I'm with that guy that went to Bolivia. Even where I was in Brazil, probably the per-capita richest big city (and region) in the country, health conditions were pretty bad. I got a parasite and lost 50 pounds. We had people ill from heatstroke and dirty apartments and all that good stuff. There was a kid in the mission down the road that was baptizing someone in a natural spring, and got attacked by a parasite that killed him within a week. But my favorite? Once during a particularly racous P-day outing, I broke a finger and badly damaged the ligaments. I went to the emergency room and the doctor just looked at it and said "yeah, that looks bad." He didn't put in a metal split or otherwise immobilize it. He wrapped it in athletic tape and said he hoped it would heal. It never did, although my "trick finger" is something I use at parties to impress people, preferably when we're all drunk :D

Is there more the church should do? Is there more they can do?

Yes, and yes. Training on personal hygene and nutrition was pretty adequate in my mission (because Mrs. President was a dietician in her former life), but I understand that was an anomoly in Brazil. A lot of us drank tap water because we weren't given the monthly funds to buy jugs bottled water. And eating? In my mission, we were expected to eat with members at least once a day. If we didn't like the food or felt that we weren't getting nourished well, it was either "tough luck" or "buy food with your own cash." And these deplorable conditions were only about 3 years ago. Time to fix them, I say.