Word: mormon
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...application process for would-be missionaries is complex. When they return home for Christmas vacation, students are interviewed by their bishop (the Mormon counterpart of the Catholic priest or the Jewish rabbi) and then by their state president, who presides over roughly ten congregations. Approximately one-third of all such students reach the second stage: sending written applications--along with the results of a general language exam--to the Missionary Committee, based in Salt Lake City, Utah...
...Harvard Mormons agree on more than just the issue of shorter missions. Their experiences as missionaries appear remarkably similar. In part, their community of experience reflects the fact that Mormon missionaries throughout the world adhere to identical schedules and perform nearly identical activities. Six days a week they awaken at 4:30 a.m. and then spend three hours studying the Bible, proselytizing skills and the language of their mission country. From 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. they engage in teaching the gospel to anyone who is interested. Teaching continues until 9:00 p.m., when the missionaries eat dinner...
Teaching takes place in missionaries' apartments, in Mormon churches, and--most frequently--in "students" homes. Missionaries find students by using the-old-fashioned door-to-door method, although Parrish says "it's going out of style," by setting up informational bulletin boards in public places, by approaching people in parks and universities, and by relying upon a snowball effect through which each student interests a few of his friends in attending teaching sessions. Students in Oriental countries are primarily the young: older people are too bound to traditional morals and religions to embrace a new faith...
...course that was one of the reasons I started thinking about it." Beck says. "It's hard to say, but I think even if I hadn't gotten more deeply involved I would have done a mission." Peer and parental presure in favor of missions are great among Mormon communities...
DIFFERENCES AMONG the returned missionaries' sentiments surfaced primarily in their attitudes toward Harvard. Finlayson, who grew up in a California town in which his was the only Mormon family, reports little difficulty in adjusting to Harvard life as a freshman. Beck, on the other hand, was shocked and disconcerted by his introduction to the college: on his first night in Cambridge he saw man lying in the street "with blood spurting from both arms," and on his second night he chanced upon two male students kissing on the first floor of Weld. Carson, who grew up in Boise, Idaho...