Voluntary Control

One of the most interesting things I have noticed on my mission, is the amount of control that the Mission President has. There are numerous rules and preventative measures. One such measure is Maas360. If you recognize this app you know what kind of pain it can be. This is the app the Church uses to control what you can do on your tablet and what you can't do. Essentially with the tablet I am using I cannot download any app that is not part of the church's special catalog, I cannot access any website besides lds.org. I also cannot connect this tablet to a computer and pull pictures from it, nor can I put pictures on it. However, as with any app there are work arounds. Often I will use an authorized app and communicate daily with my friends. Often I have gained access to music, videos and music thru my friends 'sharing' it on another app that uses a cloud. Really, on the surface it looks fool proof. But if you have some connections with 'Exmo' friends, or 'nevermo' friends things are easy to obtain.

The other thing about this control is that, the mission president actually has little actual power when it comes to day to day tasks. Sure the mission president can set rules and guidelines for how the day goes. But unless he knows about your actions he can't or won't do anything.  Let me explain: The only way the mission president will actually catch wind of anything you do is if he in informed. It's like living away from home, secrets are easily kept. The mission president might surprise visit you, or perhaps he will send someone else. But, If I were to smoke 5 packs a day and my companion didn't care, he would never ever know. If you had grown up in the culture I did. You would have believed that the mission president had super telekinetic powers of sort (being 'inspired') to know if you were disobedient or not. The reality is, many missionaries believe that, and once you recognize he doesn't know what you do all the time, it's a huge burden off of your shoulders.

There are plenty of stories out there where missionaries will break rules left and right, visit the red light districts, smoke and drink and the president will have no idea. Very little control, but the control he does have is incredible and hard to loosen.

On one hand, the mission president can revoke your 'privilege' to use your assigned car, your tablet, your assigned phone and your comfortable apartment. On the other, it's very easy to deceive him and it's incredibly easy to lie. It's a risk based game with an opponent who can make things difficult. As of yet the mission president I have is less concerned about numbers than the missionaries themselves. I really really hope that the president I have in the latter part of my mission will be the same.