Can anyone tell me....

[mutleydog]

....what MTC's are like?

I have had many friends go on missions, but no-one really talked or mentioned the MTC. I have heard on the 'grape-vine' that they are quite scary places. Please tell of your experiences or experiences you have heard about.

[silverfox]

Yeah, I'd like to know, too. Do they read your mail? My teen daughter's friend is there now. I want to send him some silly stuff in the mail but know it won't be appreciated by some of the stiff suits.

[free thinker]

I actually went into the mission field in 1978, and we were still going through the old mission home in downtown SLC back then. Ya, I know, that was quite some time ago!! :p At any rate, I can tell you it was like military training. At the time I felt it was a bit tough, but I was serving the Lord, so it was all as it was meant to be.

I can still remember the day when the mission home president gives a talk that is designed to scare the hell out of you. The purpose of this talk was to weed out all those who actually were not WORTHY to be there! At the end of the talk any one who felt they needed to speak with a priesthood leader to clear things up, that had not been cleared up, ws invited to do so. Man talk about FEAR!!! I had only been a member for a couple of years and I was quite afraid. I look back on it now and realize what crock of crap it was!

This is the kinda stuff that just makes me mad as hell. Especially when I realize now what a sexually libertine man Joseph Smith was. He most certainly would have been sent home! :Crazy:

Free Thinker

[Born Free]

I actually went into the mission field in 1978, and we were still going through the old mission home in downtown SLC back then. Ya, I know, that was quite some time ago!! :p At any rate, I can tell you it was like military training. At the time I felt it was a bit tough, but I was serving the Lord, so it was all as it was meant to be.

I can still remember the day when the mission home president gives a talk that is designed to scare the hell out of you. The purpose of this talk was to weed out all those who actually were not WORTHY to be there! At the end of the talk any one who felt they needed to speak with a priesthood leader to clear things up, that had not been cleared up, ws invited to do so. Man talk about FEAR!!! I had only been a member for a couple of years and I was quite afraid. I look back on it now and realize what crock of crap it was!

This is the kinda stuff that just makes me mad as hell. Especially when I realize now what a sexually libertine man Joseph Smith was. He most certainly would have been sent home! :Crazy:

Free Thinker

Wouldn't it be interesting to go into a worthiness interview, and use the JS exemption? (What was good enough for JS is good enough for me!)

I am a former National Serviceman, getting selected for Officer Training after 2 weeks in recruit training.

We had a shakedown day, that was called Home on the Range, in which we were taken to the range and shown the full destructive power of a whole range of weaponry. Apparently it was common to have a few frailer souls present to the padre after Home on the Range.

I never did a mission (ah, what a loss!), but would imagine that a lot of the same brain-washing techiques are used as in the Army. God forbid, you had someone who had their brain engaged in the mission field.

Daryl

[noodle]

Yeah, I'd like to know, too. Do they read your mail? My teen daughter's friend is there now. I want to send him some silly stuff in the mail but know it won't be appreciated by some of the stiff suits.

Silverfox - my son went into the MTC with a sense of humor. He wore his "Baptize Your Tastebuds" t-shirt (Wasatch Brewery) during their daily exercise time. Anyway, you can imagine that some folks didn't find it too humorous. However, some found it entertaining, so go figure.

mamajama

[trustno1]

I went through the LTM in Provo before the consolidation (1977) so this may not be relevant. Nice because it was brand new and squeaky clean. We were 4 to a room with a bath down the hall. I had only been a member for 18 months; I'd heard a few stories about it being challenging, etc. but really didn't care as my love for the lord and the church would surely help to overcome everything and everything, right?

I guess what I wasn't expecting was the underlying sense of control. The phrase "church approved" began to take on a whole new meaning. The sense of the church as a giant corporation began to develop. Especially disturbing was the sense of underlying competition between missionaries and the idea that degrees of spirituality and faithfulness were now going to be determined by numbers and the achievement of business oriented goals and objectives. The stripping away of a sense of identity...you are now Elder Xyz and this is what you will say and this is how you will say it and no your own ideas are not welcome here just memorize and recite. Are you having trouble memorizing over a hundred pages of a foreign language word for word...?...then you must pray even harder and ask for forgiveness because surely you must be doing somelthing wrong....a them that continued on for the next two years.

But, as far as I know, they weren't reading our mail. The four of us actually had some lighthearted moments together in our room that helped relieve the stress. I'd say that silly stuff is probably okay. After all, they are still kids....

Jeff De

[silverfox]

Silverfox - my son went into the MTC with a sense of humor. He wore his "Baptize Your Tastebuds" t-shirt (Wasatch Brewery) during their daily exercise time. Anyway, you can imagine that some folks didn't find it too humorous. However, some found it entertaining, so go figure.

mamajama

I love it! Was this recent? Do you think they would allow a shirt like that to be worn today?

I am still amazed they control what your shirt can say in the Main Street Plaza near the SLC Temple. There are church guards there monitoring what clothing is worn, what Tshirts say, etc and will escort any "questionably" dressed folks off the premises. Freakin' amazing. Right in the middle of downtown Salt Lake. You can't even use the sidewalk to get to the other side of the block - you have to go around the block if you are "offensive" in any manner. Including halter tops, etc.

I will have to find some links to share regarding this.

[noodle]

I love it! Was this recent? Do you think they would allow a shirt like that to be worn today?

.
He was in the MTC in 2002. I'm not sure if he was ever told NOT to wear it. I'll have to ask him specifically.

[david]

in Provo to train for a german language mission. It was a psychological boot camp, in other words: quite hellish. I'm a guy who loves life and loves freedom. This place was the diametric opposite and a shock to my system. (I'm not whining; people go thru worse all the time in the military.) Every minute of the day for eight weeks was prescribed and there was the constant mind-control that put me over the edge a few times. Like the time I walked out of class, sequestered myself in the stairwell/fire escape, and bawled like a baby. The instructor, who I actually thought was quite cool, eventually found me there and helped me get back on my feet.

Anybody who is forced to go to the temple at 5:30 am and can still keep the smiley face is a lunatic IMO.

It didn't help that I had come directly from BYU and could see the campus from the compound. I liken my entire mission to having served time in prison. But let me tell you, the MTC was the worst part by far. NO down time, ever.

Now, amidst all this seriousness was some pretty subversive activity. One roommate would listen half the night to punk rock on his headphones. There was the "toga party" one evening where everyone stripped down naked and draped themselves in their bedsheets (for all of 15 min). And best of all was the fart lighting contest which was won hands down by the punk-rock fan. This was the first, and I hope last, time I ever looked straight at a guy's anus.

My biggest transgression occurred when I left the campus, without my companion, to rendevous with an old high school buddy who had come to Provo to attend BYU. I didn't negotiate this. I simply told my companion that I wasn't going to go to a certain workshop/talk/whatever and then walked right out the gate. No guards, ID's, or nothin. This was the crazy thing--the whole hell was voluntary! Met my buddy outside the Marriot Center and we hung out for a couple of hours. Then I walked back thru the gate and resumed serving my prison term. Noone seemed to care that I was missing.

[come2terms]

I entered the MTC in 1979 after serving three years active duty in the military, so, the MTC experience wasn't a problem for me. :p I was about five years older than the normal 19 year old missionary, and had some church experience and service under my belt, so to speak. I converted to the church at 18. Anyway, while in the dormitories, where we lived, I'd have fun making my bed in military fashion, where one could bounce a quarter off it--the other missionaries loved it! :cool: My companions and me, however, did win the cleanest apartment awards in the mission many times! :)

The thing I had to get used to was having a companion around at all times. This took some getting used to since I was on my own many years before my mission. But I was obedient nonetheless.

By the way, the MTC authorities don't read the missionarys' mail... whew! :D