Becoming The First Mormon Nun
I wished I was Catholic because I wanted to become a nun.
I used to say that only half-jokingly back when I was about 18. I was seriously heartbroken over a guy I was totally in love with and it took me years to get over him. About four, to be exact. He was Baptist and I was Mormon. I thought he was great, he thought I was great, but I was the “forbidden fruit.” He could never get involved romantically with a Mormon, he said, and so the door was shut before it was even opened. Years later, we still remain great friends and I now see that things never would have worked between us anyways, despite the problem of religion. But at the time, it hurt a lot and since he was the only one I was remotely interested in at the time, I was through with men and pretty sure that I would become an old maid. Life in a convent almost seemed appealing. As it turned out, once I met my future husband I decided that I wasn’t quite through with men. Still, though, I am sometimes reminded of why I wanted to become a nun in the first place. And it didn’t really have anything to do with men.
There are tons of people in this world whom I admire and would like to emulate, but if you ask me who my hero is, there is only one that immediately comes to mind: Mother Teresa.
A few months ago, I read “Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light” by Brian Koloddiejchuk. It’s a collection of her private letters, including her long and intense struggle against spiritual darkness and emptiness, which the world never could have imagined. If you’re not familiar with it, I encourage you to check it out. Her story humbled me to the point that I could barely look at myself in the mirror, as I knew it would. I have my days where I feel like I’m living in a spiritual desert, but I’m not sweating away my life in poverty, tending to the sick and dying in a place like the slums of Calcutta. She sacrificed her life for Christ, not by dying, but by living as He did. It definitely puts things into perspective. One of the reasons that I found a nun’s life so appealing (and in a way still do) was that I felt that a person who takes that route and is able to dedicate their life completely (Mother Teresa being the best example I can think of) to a cause that Christ would undoubtedly approve of, would be guaranteed a one-way first class ticket to Heaven. Mother Teresa gave up a happy and comfortable life with a family that she loved in order to travel abroad by boat at age 18 to become a missionary, and then a nun, to places that she probably knew very little about, all the well knowing that she would probably never see her family again. Indeed, she never saw her mother or sister again. Those were the days before plane travel, web cams, and Skype, which makes it all the more mind-blowing to me.
When you read about someone like Mother Teresa, you start to question the value of your own life — or at least what you do with it. Sure, we can do good deeds on a daily basis. But is it enough? Is the Lord satisfied with our input into making this world a better place? Mother Teresa obeyed the call that she felt she was given, to literally sacrifice her life for the absolute bottom of society’s pit and all the while feeling like God had abandoned or rejected her, which shows the strength of her faith on an even deeper level. Why doesn’t God call us to make that kind of sacrifice? Or maybe he does and we’re just ignoring it? That’s something that I’ve always wondered and it’s perhaps the main reason for my wanting to become a nun. After all, who has done more to help the hungry, thirsty, sick, and lonely than Mother Teresa? She was not a “special” person in regards to talent or ability, but she did something that any of us could do if we chose to. She set the ultimate example of Christlike love, compassion, charity and all at the same time enduring to the end while feeling she had so little to go on. For that reason, I think she will always be the person that I admire most.
Looking at the role that nuns play in this world, such as the “Missionaries of Charity” that Mother Teresa founded, I’ve sometimes questioned whether we, as Mormons, are doing enough. As a church, we have over 50,000 proselytizing missionaries spread across the globe, which is no small feat. Missionaries perform a few hours of service each week and some older married couples serve full-time humanitarian missions. All this is wonderful! But could we do more?
When I was around age 18, I had a real desire to serve. But I knew that a proselytizing mission was not for me. Any doubts I had about that were quelled after I went knocking on doors with the sister missionaries a couple of times. I admire those who have the strength to endure rudeness and rejection on a full-time basis, but I think I would have cracked. On the other hand, though, I wasn’t afraid of poverty, foreign culture, or learning a new language. I was very shy and scared to be on my own, but I think that if there had been an organized effort by the Church to send out young humanitarian missionaries, so that I could have travelled together with fellow Mormons, I may just have jumped at the opportunity.
As important as missionary work is, isn’t humanitarian work just as important – if not more? Certain basic temporal needs have to come before spiritual needs. People need food, water, and shelter to live. If they don’t have what they need to live, then they won’t be around to hear the Gospel. So I ask myself:
- What if there was a humanitarian mission option for members of the Church, besides the older, married couples? They would have to abide by the same sort of rules as proselytizing missionaries, but their sole focus would be on humanitarian work.
- What if they were sent not only to third world countries, but even to areas of the United States where poverty is prevalent: inner cities, native reservations, natural disaster areas, etc?
- What if we joined forces, where available, with organizations and charities that could use a hand?
- Since we’ve suddenly taken a liking to being in a coalition with other churches, why not work with them to stamp out things other than gay marriage?
I’m trying to think of reasons for why this would be a bad idea, but I can’t come up with any that I can’t dismiss after a bit of brainstorming. The Church’s main concern would perhaps be that there would be fewer proselytizing missionaries. Although this is a concern, I don’t think it’s a big enough one to not consider this option because:
- Just as not everyone is cut out for a proselytizing mission, not everyone is cut out for a humanitarian mission, which would often require living in poverty along with the people they are serving. Proselytizing missionaries would not cease to exist.
- Humanitarian work in itself is missionary work. Once people see who we really are and our desire to serve, they may be more open to proselytizing missionaries.
- From even just a PR standpoint, we have nothing to lose by simply serving our fellow human beings.
Unfortunately, now that I’m grown up, married, and tied down by family and work commitments, it’s not as easy to just pack up and leave for a third world country as it was when I was 18. I look at the youth of today and I think that many of them will seize the opportunity to serve if it’s there.
So why not provide it for them?
My DH served most of his mission in a country where proselytizing wasn’t allowed. He spent most of his time teaching English, working in hospitals and shoveling lots and lots and lots of snow (all winter one year). I think that it suited his personality much better than a mission would have where he would have been knocking on doors all day long. They still had people to teach through contact with members (and the church was new in the country where he was, so there were lots of curious people who came up to them on the streets) but he didn’t have to fulfill the quotas that it seems the missionaries around here are often really focused on.
Comment by Shelah — November 13, 2008 @ 2:39 pm
My mission call was exactly that:Proselyting and welfare work. When I got into the MTC we got an extra week of training learning how to teach people to read, wash themselves, clean their water, clean their food, look for jobs, etc. My mission president told us that we should use at least 50% of our proselyting time doing welfare. We were told that someone with an empty stomach would never listen to the missionaries. Their basic needs needed to be met first before they would ever want to listen to the gospel.
I was called to Ecuador, Quito. I can tell you that the best missionary experiences I ever had, the experiences that still bring tears to my eyes as I think about them are those experiences where I served the people and used my humanitarian welfare training. It is true, the scripture that says, “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world.” (James 1:27)
As of 5 years ago, they were still doing this, but only to certain missions. And the mission presidents had to ask that their missionaries be trained in this.
I just wanted you to know that I agree with everything you said, and I’m glad that I had a chance to serve a very different kind of mission. If more missionaries had this training, the mission work our church does would be different and have a much more effective result.
Comment by Ali — November 13, 2008 @ 3:16 pm
I’m one of those young, unmarried, and frivolous people (am I still allowed to be here if I’m not a housewife?), and I would love to have the chance to do a humanitarian mission while I’m still naive and idealistic enough to want to live in a third-world country. I’m sure there are plenty of private charities that offer this chance, but it’s a shame that the Church doesn’t have some sort of program as well.
Comment by Lindsay — November 13, 2008 @ 3:17 pm
First can I just say this is the best thing I’ve read on FMH in a long while.
Second, just so ya know, the church is involved with a lot of coalitions throughout the world, from providing wheel chairs in Africa, to eye surgeries in the philippines, to measle shots and wells, and food. One that pops in my mind is a few years back when many questions our affiliation with an islamic group taking food to under priviledged areas. They accused us of being affiliated with terrorists. It was disheartening.
Anyway, that’s about all I have time to say, other than thanks for the thought provoking post.
Comment by Matt W. — November 13, 2008 @ 3:43 pm
I love, love, love this idea! I felt the same way. I was no way going on a proselytizing mission, but I can’t wait until my husband and I are retired and empty-nesters so we can do humanitarian work. If I had the chance to do it as a 21-year-old (or 19-year-old), I would have jumped at the chance. Peace Corps for Mormons? MormoCorps?
I just took some 8th grade students to the Catholic Community Center (other groups went to Welfare Square, etc.) in Salt Lake to see what our school could to do help out. I was filled with the desire to make a difference, to do something that would help. Then I immediately got back to my real life, and charity took a back seat. I, too, feel that I might be called to do some real humanitarian work, and that I’m not listening.
Thanks for a great post. It really meshes with other stuff going on in my life,
Comment by Molly — November 13, 2008 @ 4:18 pm
The church already does all of your hypotheticals–with the exception that you don’t choose your call, so you don’t choose a humanitarian or a pros. mission.
Also, a bunch of 18 year olds doing that would be about as effective as the peace corp using 18 year olds–You have to be older for a reason.
Comment by mami — November 13, 2008 @ 4:25 pm
I have the same thoughts as mami. It appears that humanitarian work is being done by missionaries. Perhaps the challenge is just committing to do whatever the Lord asks of you for 18 months-2 years.
Comment by Stephanie — November 13, 2008 @ 4:40 pm
I studied development, and I’ve been too paralyzed with fear to actually work in the field ever since. There are so many issues at play that it’s a bit naive to send an 18 year old out there without the proper tools and understanding of the history of development and the history of the role of the Western world in underdevelopment.
Comment by Quimby — November 13, 2008 @ 5:12 pm
A family in my ward (mom, dad and five kids) recently returned from a humanitarian mission for the church in Tonga. He’s a dentist and did dental work for the people there. Anyway, that is one example of a family with young kids serving through the church in a humanitarian capacity. I would love to do something like that with my family - what an experience and education!
Comment by patti — November 13, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Could we do more? Certainly. I think the Lord wants and expects us to do more, even if the Church doesn’t make a point of calling us to humanitarian missions. After all, “it is not meet that I should command in all things.” We should be finding ways to give more, particularly when we have been given much. While most of us probably aren’t ready to leave for a third-world country, I think there are plenty of the hungry, the lame, the sick, the mourning, the widowed, and the orphaned hidden in the corners of our own communities. Why not spend more time seeking them out, giving time to organizations serving those?
Comment by Derek — November 13, 2008 @ 5:50 pm
I know a woman from the ward I grew up in did a service mission, and I’m pretty sure she chose it. This could be an out-of-date policy; I think this was about 20 years ago. (Geez, I still can’t get used to being able to say “20 years ago” about something I remember!)
Comment by Minerva — November 13, 2008 @ 5:55 pm
Quimby,
I studied development too, and it is terrifying. I was so depressed all through my master’s program because it just seems like every well-intentioned action has a negative consequence that possibly outweighs it.
I think at some point you just have to plow ahead…I don’t know. What have you done? Are you working in development at this point? I’m still trying to figure things out myself and have been out of school for almost 2 years!
Comment by Minerva — November 13, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
Minerva,
19-25 don’t choose. Older women and men do choose.
Comment by mami — November 13, 2008 @ 6:13 pm
I would LOVE the opportunity to serve with my family in a place where we could truly make a difference in people’s lives. Part of me says, “You don’t have to travel to Africa to do it….start right here in Utah Valley.” The other part of me says, “The experience your children would have immersed in a foreign culture, serving those around them, would be invaluable, and not possible in Utah.”
I hope the opportunity will arise when me and my family can serve in the latter capacity. I don’t think the time is now, with a 5, 2, and 9 month old. I think that later on down the road, that opportunity will come, though. I have many friends who have “served” in other countries through individual commitments, mission trips (other churches), and even school trips (there is a local charter school that goes on a service trip every year).
Whether or not the church has a program to involve us in meaningful, outside-the-church service, it is something we can do with our families, no matter what our situation.
Comment by TV Free — November 13, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
The methodists have a missionary program much like this. They go for two years and work as a staff person in a non-profit partnership. The methodist missionaries I have known are in their early twenties, just graduated from college, and wanting to help alleviate poverty and suffering.
I definitely think the church should look into more of these full time humanitarian missions for younger people. Sure, you can be called on a proselytizing mission and then shovel peoples snow and help out at the bingo parlor once a week at the old folks home (my bro in the South does that on his mish currently.,, bingo not the snow!) Anyways, love this idea.
Comment by lemon drop — November 13, 2008 @ 7:05 pm
I thought that Mother Teresa was a Mormon? I hope that someone has done her temple work.
Love,
Sister Molly
Comment by Sister Molly — November 13, 2008 @ 10:33 pm
#13 While older men and women may get to put a preference, they don’t always get to choose. Just got that from a surprised missionary couple serving in our area. The Sister wanted to be sure and dispel that myth.
Comment by wistfulblue — November 14, 2008 @ 12:11 am
Minerva, I’ve totally wussed out. Technically I’m working in community development, but it’s in a wealthy industrialised country instead. I still dream of chucking it in and working with women’s movements in Africa but, those darned social and political minefields . . .
It’s a tough call though: A part of me can see the attraction in just doing it. But another part of me is so paralysed by the thought of doing it wrong - and I would do it wrong, because there’s no perfectly right way of doing it - that I’m just too scared to try.
Comment by Quimby — November 14, 2008 @ 12:22 am
I would love to see more humanitarian work done by members and by the Church. However, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done far, far more for the poor than a thousand Mother Theresas. This does not dimiinish her heroic, selffless charity, but the billions donated by those two individuals will result in far more actual good being accomplished. Most of us would also do far more good by working at well paying jobs, living modestly and then donating our surplus to the poor than we could ever do by actually performing humanitarian service among the poor.
Comment by Gary — November 14, 2008 @ 12:37 am
Excellent post, FD! Woohoo! I wanted to be a nun as well–it seemed incredibly romantic to become a bride of Christ and spend my entire life trying to be His hands in the lives of others. Then I realized I’d already promised to be just that when I was baptized, yet the route was less exotic than MT’s. I still yearn for the singleness of purpose which would come from spending all my efforts working on, say, housing for the poor or taking care of orphans. Since I love my own little family, though, and feel that God led me to them, I think I’m where I am supposed to be despite the attractions of a more single-minded life.
That said, I would LEAP at the opportunity to serve a humanitarian mission. I would LOVE to raise my children in West Africa, learning about culture and helping deal with medical issues and literacy (husband = doctor; I = teacher). If my health improves and hubby ever decides he doesn’t need a salary, we are soooooo on a plane. We have a friend who used to be the minister of health in Ghana; I keep thinking he could help us.
Until then, I plod along doing teeny itsy bitsy things now and then, hoping I occasionally lift someone’s burden a fraction of an inch. Looking forward to doing the sorts of things you describe excites me immesurably.
Comment by Janet — November 14, 2008 @ 12:45 am
I’ve got a friend from high school who lives with her hubby and four girls in some remote corner of Mexico, bringing the gospel (non-Mormon derivation thereof) to some native tribes. I admit to some envy. I feel like her life somehow matters more than my own and that her children will learn better things somehow, but I suppose that romanticism is a little silly. Nonetheless, it remains
.
Comment by Janet — November 14, 2008 @ 12:47 am
Many missions are humanitarian missions. And preaching the gospel is doing humanitarian work, isn’t it?
Comment by Michelle Glauser — November 14, 2008 @ 2:31 am
#6 Mami said: Also, a bunch of 18 year olds doing that would be about as effective as the peace corp using 18 year olds–You have to be older for a reason.
I don’t know, I think I have to disagree. I’m not saying that 18-19 year-olds can be sent just anywhere to do anything. And there are certainly immature young people, many of whom already go on proselytizing missions, that will inevitably make mistakes. But I think we give young people too little credit. What they are lacking in maturity, they often make up for in optimism, enthusiasm, and potential. Also, I think they are even more globally-conscious than I was at that age, simply because of the Internet. I was finishing up college before the Internet really took off, but a lot of today’s kids have friends all around the world that they’ve met online and I think that this inspires many of them to explore and serve. I tend to think that a full-time humanitarian mission (perhaps 1-2 years) would especially appeal to sisters around that 19 year-old mark.
#19 Gary said: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have done far, far more for the poor than a thousand Mother Theresas. This does not dimiinish her heroic, selffless charity, but the billions donated by those two individuals will result in far more actual good being accomplished. Most of us would also do far more good by working at well paying jobs, living modestly and then donating our surplus to the poor than we could ever do by actually performing humanitarian service among the poor.
It’s true that money talks in this world and the contributions of people like Gates and Buffett are desperately needed. And it’s true that not many of us are in a position to do what Mother Teresa did for a lifetime, as she did. However, I think that many people are in a position to do it for a few months or a year or two and in fact desire to do it, as some have expressed in their comments. The thing that makes Mother Teresa so special is that she is one of the very few who literally did what Christ asked when he said to the rich man, “sell all your possessions, give to the poor and follow me.” And I think that some people are prepared to do that, perhaps not for a lifetime, but for a shorter period of time. Yes, living modestly and donating our surplus to the poor is a wonderful thing that we can all do. But someone needs to be there to distribute it to the poor and to oversee the work. Perhaps some of us will actually be able to do more at that end of the ladder.
#22 Michelle asked: preaching the gospel is doing humanitarian work, isn’t it?
I would call it spiritual humanitarian work. The main goal of a proselytizing missionary is to bring souls unto Christ. Yes, part of their mission incuded service work, and as some commenters have already pointed out, some missions involve a lot more humanitarian work than others. But a humanitarian missionary’s main priority should be on service, with conversion to Christ as a possible fruit of that service. Mother Teresa’s goal was also “to save souls” (and to her, it was perhaps an even more pressing issue than it is to Mormons, since Catholics do not believe in baptism for the dead). How she went about “saving souls,” however, was by focusing completely on their physical needs. By living in the slums, teaching the basics of hygiene and care to poor families, organizing schools for children who would never be able to attend school otherwise, and tending to the sick and the dying, many then became receptive to the message of Christ and received the saving ordinances of Catholicism. And interestingly enough, if I remember correctly, it seems that many of the sisters who enter her order of “The Missionaries of Charity” are around that tender age of 18 or so. And it’s a lifetime commitment, not just a year or two.
Comment by TheFaithfulDissident — November 14, 2008 @ 4:48 am
We do humanitarian missions through our hospital. Tanzania four times a year- and our staff has donated enough money, supplies and medical equipment to build a small clinic and a school. When our staff goes there, the people stand in line for hours, often having walked days to get there. It’s amazing to be a part of that. We also have a team that does 2 weeks in Jamaica for simple surgeries and immunizations. Humanitarian missions don’t have to take up years of time to make very real differences. If you can’t go on one, send money towards it. It takes people willing to do both to get the job done.
Janet- hubby would be gobbled up in the Doctors without Borders program. No need to give up a salary! If you live near a city, there are literacy programs that would cut off their arm to have you for whatever blocks of time you could manage.
I agree that sending money is very worthwhile and does a world of good- keep doing it, whenever you are able. But monetary donations don’t come close to the work in the trenches that Mother Theresa and her convent sisters did and continue to do today. I’m not talking about the results for the poor, although, I know that the poor appreciated Theresa’s complete immersion in their lives and suffering. I mean the very real transformation that happened to Mother Theresa personally. Something tells me she’s on a completely different level spiritually than Warren Buffet or Bill Gates and I think they’d say so too. I think it’s wonderful that the supremely wealthy have put their financial muscle into eradicating poverty-it’s a grand and worthy thing to do. But Theresa gave her soul to it. That’s the difference.
Comment by Kimberly — November 14, 2008 @ 9:09 am
TheFaithfulDissident: I agree with what you say about Mother Teresa. However, if your goal is to help the poor, the large majority of Americans can provide more help by staying home and acquiring the capital needed to help and then finding ways to deploy that capital in effective ways by contrributing to well run organizations who know what they are doing. They will have a strong local presence, can hire local people to perform the labour you would perform, and accomplish much more than you ever could.
If your goal is personal development, then that is a different matter. But satisfying our personal desires to provide humanitarian service is usually not the best way to actually help the poor.
Comment by Gary — November 14, 2008 @ 10:09 am
One of my sisters and I wanted to be nuns so badly when we were teenagers! Mother Teresa is a hero of mine —and I love that she worked in orphanages tending abandoned babies who needed someone desperately. I’ve always been heartbroken my the fact that someone could abandon a baby–for whatever reason.
I did know at least one person in college who served a humanitarian mission. She didn’t knock on doors at all. She helped plant gardens, etc…, and wasn’t old, either.
..and I disagree with Gary. No one knows how much help a single person can really give, and all of the ramifications of that service.
Comment by CW — November 14, 2008 @ 10:59 am
I was friends with a local missionary. He wished he could switch to a humanitarian mission or focus because he didn’t like trying to share a message with people who didn’t want to hear it, which was most of the people he met. I love the concept of a humanitarian mission. Are you listening, God?!!!!
Comment by venus — November 14, 2008 @ 12:11 pm
I think it takes both Mother Teresas and Warren Buffets to do some good in the world. Mother Teresa did amazing things by working directly with the poor, but you need some sort of funding to support your efforts. Warren Buffet and Bill Gates can throw all the cash they want at a problem, but unless there’s someone on the ground who can devise solutions and administer aid programs, that billion dollar donation is going to go to waste or not be used effectively.
And to mami, #6, of course it would be fruitless to just grab random 18-year-olds and plunk them down in a third-world country. There would have to be some sort of screening process like what’s already in place for proselytizing missionaries, with health screenings and interviews with authorities to determine whether applicants are mature enough. And of course there would have to be an MTC where they could learn the language, take classes in the history and demographics of the area they’re going to, and learn how to do humanitarian work, and a mission president-like situation so that humanitarian missionaries could be supervised. If the Church trusts 19-year-olds to be the most visible representatives of its missionary program, why shouldn’t it trust them to do humanitarian work too? I would jump at the chance to spend a year or so doing work like this.
Comment by Lindsay — November 14, 2008 @ 12:35 pm
“I thought that Mother Theresa was a Mormon”.
Sister Molly, this is how I imagined it played out: Mother Theresa died and Jesus was waiting personally to greet her in the Spirit World. After a few moments of weeping, the two adjourned to a quiet room where Jesus explained those elements of the fullness of the gospel that she needed to know and accept; which, of course she did readily and with full purpose of heart. From that point on, she is on the A-Train to the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom.
Comment by larryco_ — November 14, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
How funny, because I, too, have fantasized about being a nun in my younger days!
I know that if Humanitarian missions, a lá peace corps, were an option when I was 19, I can almost guarantee I woulda been a contender.
As is, I’ve lived almost the past 20 years (3 years back in the US after year 1) in foreign countries, many of the “developing” variety. It’s a humbling experience in many ways, and you can usually find some way to help out locally.
That said, you can also do things for short periods of time. My husband will be taking the training, and then going on a week long trip with Habitat for Humanity in April. He’ll be in a rural area in India and living “modestly.” I did a day build a couple of years ago in Malaysia and it was so meaningful. I’m thrilled he has the chance to go for a full week.
So, sisters! Let’s do it!
Comment by meems — November 14, 2008 @ 2:02 pm
I will never do a proselyting mission. I will do humanitarian missions — but I suspect they will have to be outside of the Church. I don’t necessarily want to HAVE to be in a specific place for a set period of time (for instance, I want to be able to leave if my daughter has a baby) and I don’t want my service to have to conform to a certain religious and/or political agenda. I suspect such would be the case in a Mormon mission.
I already run a charity locally and once my finances are more set, I plan to take that charity “on the road”.
I think it is through service that we really come to know Christ.
Comment by StillConfused — November 14, 2008 @ 2:06 pm
re: 19
Gary, you raise some valid points about developing capital so that we have the means by which to help the less fortunate. But even better is to make sure that the work we do is meaningful to the world. The idea promoted in conventional economic theory that the only consideration in economic activity is the financial return is bogus. What we actually do is as important as what we do with our increase. All too much economic activity around the world, including much of the activity which has enabled the Gateses and Buffets to do their charitable work, helps impoverish the world and the environment in the first place. The real key is social entrepreneurship: finding ways to provide for your needs by meeting important needs of the community, both home and abroad. We should be making moral judgments about our industries and professions, ensuring that their results line up with our goals to serve our fellow man.
Comment by Derek — November 14, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
I love this post.
When I was 20 me and my roommate went to India to do humanitarian service. She knew someone who knew someone who used to be a mission prez and met an indian couple…and then somehow it turned into a childrens home. I spent almost 4 months there and it was extremely difficult. The mormon aspect of it sucked, so those of you who have said doing something without the religious agenda, I recommend it. Nothing like baptizing 40 kids who are all hindu and who don’t speak english and don’t know why they are being baptized. It was frustrating at times forcing the church into the middle of it and it caused a lot of drama. I think the home would have been more successful if they (and we while we were there) didn’t try to make it all about religion.
It was though, the most rewarding and amazing experience of my life. Changed me forever. While we were there we met an LDS woman from Atlanta who read about Mother Theresa and it totally changed her life. She was quite wealthy, and quite stereotypically so. After she read that book she got rid of most of her clothes/material possessions etc, adopted special needs kids, started funding a leprosy village and a home for disabled kids in India and basically just lived it. She didn’t move to India, but I think she did everything she could do in her situation, I was very inspired by her actions.
Comment by julie — November 14, 2008 @ 4:35 pm
I realy like this post in that it shows that there are others out there that would like to do true humanitarian work. I know that the most important thing to do in this world is to do Missionary work. BUt the problem we often have in the church is that we do Humanitarian work, but it seems like we do it for the long term goal of softening people’s hearts to hear the gospel someday.
I am not stating that this is a bad thing or that it is some how not true humanitarian work, but I would like to act in a humanitarian role for no other purpose than to rid the world of AIDS, Measles, Hunger, etc.
I do not want to make it a situation where I felt obligated to discuss even my religion with them or be in that role. I would like to represent the church solely in a humanitarian role, and if later down the road it can be of some good for their spirituality then great, but the purpose would be to actual extend a hand of help ithot any strings attached. And I think that is where this poster was getting at.
It is not as if Mother Teresa was down in Calcutta with the purpose of converting the people, she was just trying to help people die with dignity and recover if possible.
That to me will be ever more important that the money that comes. It is the personal time, something that all humanity has in common. 24 hours in a day.
Comment by Sam Sneed — November 14, 2008 @ 4:39 pm
Sam, that hits the nail on the head for me. I love donating anonymously. I like to get involved with projects that do not require anything of the people receiving service. Otherwise, it can seem like a manipulative way of opening doors and I don’t want any part of it. I never want anyone who receives my help to feel that reciprocation is required- even in the form of feeling like they have to listen to a Gospel pitch. It just feels dishonest to me.
Comment by Kimberly — November 14, 2008 @ 5:02 pm
Sam and Kimberly, I understand what you mean about service that looks like prostelyting. I struggled with that problem, too. I asked around among people I thought might be able to answer me, and the sum of what I have learned is: the church has a hard line to walk on this. If they do things without letting anybody else know, they are accused of doing nothing, but if they let people know, it is only PR. The truth is, the church does a lot of stuff without plastering their name all over it. That is partly because people won’t accept our help if we offer it. Some charities we have offered nothing more than money to have refused even that. I know of instances where help was needed in an area after flooding, and the church leaders there were given cash and told to walk around and find people who needed it without telling who they were because nobody would take our help othewise. No service projects with matching t-shirts or vests, just money so they could afford to have things repaired themselves. And, if a group of people show up and start helping somewhere, they will often be asked who they are. What should the church members say? Did the world not know that Mother Teresa was catholic?
The church, generally speaking, tends to work through organizations that are already established. It saves time and money for them if they don’t have to start from scratch. So much of what the church does, as far as charitable work, is done under somebody else’s name.
And for those who wish they could serve a service mission, the church prefers to work with people who are already there locally. If they do bring in people to serve full time missions, they usually (although there are exceptions) want highly qualified people who can fill specific needs. For just plain manpower, they prefer to train people who are already there and who will stay there. It makes sense. Anyway, that’s why there aren’t as many service missions out there to be had.
Comment by emily dawn — November 14, 2008 @ 6:02 pm
Mother Theresa really was amazing. She’s not at the top of my list, but she’s certainly on it.
My problem with all of this (and this will really give me away as a radical, I’m afraid), is that I don’t think humanitarian aid is the best solution to society’s problems. I used to think it was my life calling. In high school, I started a non-profit club to raise money for girls in Tanzania to go to school. I volunteered with a ton of different NPO’s. In college, I began to study for my Masters of Social Work. But I got tired of all this because I realized that most of it was only addressing the symptoms of disadvantaged people.
The biggest problem for a homeless family isn’t that they are hungry…. it’s that they cannot provide themselves with food. I am not at all accusing Mother Theresa or anyone else on here of this attitude, but I sometimes feel that aid and “service” are condescending. Most people can take care of themselves, if given the opportunity.
I think the change that will ultimately solve the problems of the disadvantaged in our society (I’ll just stick with America for now… the world is far more complicated) is for the distribution of power in this society to be changed drastically. The best way I see for this to happen is the organization of the working class. In this light, while I deeply admire people like Mother Theresa, I stand in awe of people like Saul Alinsky. It’s about empowering people, not “helping” them per se.
It’s just like the feminist movement. Men could have helped and uplifted us all they wanted, but things didn’t change until we took power for ourselves and demanded a fair place in society.
I think that’s the only way meaningful change can happen.
Comment by Natalie — November 14, 2008 @ 6:25 pm
Natalie, I agree with you completely.
How long now before someone accuses us of being socialists?
Comment by TheFaithfulDissident — November 14, 2008 @ 6:40 pm
Haha. Seriously.
I hope we have a slightly more informed/friendly audience here.
And I LOVE that you have expanded your intellectual brilliance onto here!
SO JEALOUS!
Comment by Natalie — November 14, 2008 @ 7:46 pm
I think that it can be done now. Why not do it where you are? What do you think the General RS conference was about. Being a relief society to others and expanding our talents outside of the Enrichment Meeting. Here in Detroit, another member and I have been talking about offering tutoring to people living in the inner city at the ward house. There are so many educated people in our Stake, we could easily donate some time to help out our fellow brother’s and sisters who may not be able to afford tutors or other services. The problem is getting the organization behind it, but the need is there. What is it…”If you build it, they will come.” You don’t need to wait. You can grow where you are planted.
Comment by Katie — November 14, 2008 @ 11:29 pm
That’s a wonderful idea, Katie. I wish we had more opportunities like that here. We all live so spread out and we’re only around 10 active sisters, mostly seniors, anything we do usually has to be done independently. There’s talk of a home for refugees being re-established in my home town sometime next year, so perhaps there will be something for me to do there.
Comment by TheFaithfulDissident — November 15, 2008 @ 4:42 am
My sister served a 2-month mission at an orphanage in Ecuador after she graduated through a nonprofit called OSSO (the founders of OSSO are LDS), so there are humanitarian opportunities out there, even though not through the church. Look into other organizations like Heifer International for volunteer opportunities until the church gets on board with your fabulous idea.
Linda and Richard Eyre took their children on many humanitarian missions during the summer. So instead of going on family vacation, they would go to Mexico and help build houses, etc.
And I agree with the sentiments of Natalie. If I understand her correctly, she is advocating teaching a man to fish versus simply giving him a fish. This is the motto of Heifer International. I’m all about helping the unfortunate, and I’m REALLY about helping them help themselves. People are (usually) strong and capable and can take care of themselves. Sometimes they just need shown how (educated).
Comment by MollyMo No mo — November 17, 2008 @ 4:56 pm
I love this post!! I’ve always wanted to be a nun, myself, for the reason of humanitarian. To leave myself behind, and join in the cause of bettering others. I would love it if the church had humanatarian things like you described above.
You know, we are here in Houston, and right after hurricane Ike hit us, my DH and I were shocked that the LDS churches didn’t organize and do some sort of effort. Of course, the “good” church members rushed to assure us that there is so much being done and what not, and that if we’d go to church more often and read the Ensign and what not we’d see just how we give more aid than any other orginization out there, but those words felt so hollow as for over a week we had no power, in increadibly hot conditions, and my 10 month old baby was throwing up from the heat and we had no way to keep him cool, or hydrated because he got so sick and we had very few resources available. I guess it’s just our area here, but the wards don’t help anyone it seems, but for the food drive at christmas, and I really think that needs to chage. We could do so much more and yet, when I try to give or donate to places other than the church, I’m told that I need to just give to the church, and let them take care of the distribution. I want to feel like we are doing things to help others. We might not have a lot, but I know we have more than most, and I want to share that, but I’m at a loss, I don’t know how to go about it.
Comment by Sarah — November 20, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
I also meant to add, what better way for a church to grow in members than to lead my example, and show how concernd they are not only about the spiritual care of people, but the physical as well.
Comment by Sarah — November 20, 2008 @ 3:29 pm
Sarah, here in Dallas we were doing stuff to help with Hurricane Ike. The stakes all sent down men every weekend to help with clean-up. We put together kits. We helped at the shelters for refugees. I have to imagine that if we had organized efforts way up here that there were organized efforts down there.
Comment by Stephanie — November 20, 2008 @ 3:31 pm
I have family and friends near Houston and their stakes were heavily involved with Ike-like work. In fact, TXCN had newscasts showing the missionaries and various Church members in their yellow “Helping Hands” shirts doing work all over the area. It was actually quite favorable PR for the Church…
I know that in North Texas, many stakes were heavily involved in various projects during Ike and Katrina, etc.
Comment by queuno — November 20, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
http://www.feministmormonhousewives.org/
Comment by sgdg — November 30, 2008 @ 3:36 pm