Mormon Elder Punished For Buying $300 Burger
This is part of a series of posts on Mormonism
A few days after I watched the Mormons gorging themselves on a giant cheeseburger, Elder Cooper told me that he was being split up from his companion Elder Glover, and being moved to a different area. He was pretty annoyed about it, and told us that he would break protocol by not telling the new missionaries moving in to the area about us, and keeping contact himself.
After this, I had no contact with any Mormons for a few weeks before I finally received a call and then a visit from the new missionaries to the area. I had called the mission office a number of times trying to get in contact with Elder Cooper to no avail.
Today I made another call to the mission office, demanding that the Sister help me get in contact with Elder Cooper, she promised that she would get the “situation resolved”. A few minutes later I got a call from Elder Cooper.
Elder Cooper apologised for not being in contact with me, and told me that he had been “punished” for calling people outside his area and forced to pay the phone bill himself, rather than the mission paying for it. Elder Cooper said that he had been told specifically not to contact me, and it was only because I had been so adamant that I would only speak to Elder Cooper that they had given him permission to call me.
Elder Cooper then told me that he had been fired as district leader and moved to a different area as a direct result of the giant burger. Apparently President Maurer had decided that the meeting which went until about 8pm on a Tuesday evening was a breach of the rules, and spending their precious mission money on a tower of meat was inappropriate. In fact, the entire mission was disbanded as a result of the burger, and new missionaries were brought in from other areas.
I had known for a while that Elder Cooper was a little bit crazy. A few months ago he told me the story of what happened when he got a little fed up with being stuck in a remote mission area out in Port Hedland. I can’t imagine it being the nicest place to go out preaching, and it clearly got to Elder Cooper; he took his mission car and drove six-hundred kilometers to Broome to go sight-seeing and visit some other missionaries.
LOLOLOLOL!
Your blog has resulted directly in getting an entire team of missionaries dissolved and their leader fired. Epic win.
Actually wouldn’t that be their ACTIONS that caused all this?
Or is something only wrong when you get caught and then you can blame those who exposed your transgression?
What he did was very dumdumdumdum.
Cheeseburgers are the DEVIL!
Ok first of all, yes they are paid members of the church who have failed to keep their spending antics with in protocal………………… ( because they got caught.)There should not be any hard feelings. Its thier money they can spend it all on the 700 Club or save the Whales. Forgive and forget and move on.
Really? A guy that is devoting his life to spread the word is fired over a giant cheeseburger and having fun building morale? Next mormon that knocks on my door is getting an earful – you hypocrites.
you’re forgetting that these are idiots who believe a compulsive liar read from magic stones out of a hat, and when tested, couldn’t repeat it.
sux2bcooper
Christopher….They are not paid by the church to be on their mission. They pay to be there. The money is sent to headquarters in Salt Lake City (by the parents usually), divided up and sent out to the missionaries. The church pays for rent and transportation and the missionaries receive a set amount for food and personal items..clothes, etc. They don’t get much money, so I wonder how they came up with enough to buy that burger. Most of them have a hard time just buying food. It’s all very cult-like. Go to exmormon.org to learn more.
As a Convert to the Church of jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and a formerMormon MissionaryI know personally that making private phone calls and calling to areas outside their boundaries is against the rules unless they have strict permission… if they are found out to be doing this and have made an exceptional amount of personal calls yes they DO have to pay for the bill themselves.
Also gorging themselves is not recomended either, they do not go out into the mission field to play about that is NOT what they are there for. Also most missionaries pay there own way, however, there is a mission fund for supported by regular members of the church for those who want to go on a mission but do not have family inside the church who can help support them whilst on their mission.
A lot of converted members also go on missions. I was a convert who went on a mission and so I know the rules… they are there for our safety which is why they also travel in pairs. Also these funds to the Missionary fund are by donations it is up to the individual how much they put into the fund and if they want to they can. They are not forced into anything. Also Some families do have the money to send extra per month to their children in the mission field.
I am no longer a practicing mormon and it is nothing to do with the church itself it was my decision to stop going because I felt I just didn’t want to have self control over certain things from my pre church days however I will go into bat for them when it is appropriate as they have NEVER done anything wrong by me and I stand by their values I just don’t practice them, more fool me I say.
It is NOT a cult and I get sick of people saying that!!! I was not a Morman until I was 19 so I know what it is like to be on both sides of the fence….. Also as for the buying of the burger gee let me see there are at least 7 people in that photo if they pooled their money then it would be possible, plus some of these guys work there butts off to save up and have enough money for a splurge now and again.. however the mission does not recomend or accomodate the wasting of money on such frivolities (especially if it has come from the mission funding) and the missionaries are informed before they leavehome about what is expected of them….. but it is not like they are tied to a chair whipped and told NO you can’t do that… it is entirely their choice, then depending on the choice they make is as to how the consequences follow….. let me see $300 burger or three weeks worth of groceries… which would you choose….
He was not fired, they do not get fired, they get relocated if it is felt that they are breeching their responsibilites, getting too close to a member of the opposite sex or are in danger they are removed and relocated to another area for their own good. It is hard for some people to be out in isolated areas and as a result boredom can get out of hand for those who are not disiplined with in themselves…
Mind you if you are doing things by the rules you wouldn’t get that bored…
The consequences or punishment would NOT just have been for buying the burger it would have been more to the fact of the uneeded and unwanted negative attention this breaching of the rules has caused and the fact that he broke more than one rule is not a great thing. .. also if you are of the oposite sex and the mission feels that the elder or sister is getting too closely involved they will remove that missionary from any kind of temptation that may have been placed in that missionary’s way.
Also the reason why the mission was not allowing Elder Cooper to call the owner of this is that because HE IS NOT SUPPOSED TO MAKE PERSONAL CALLS to individuals on his mission… it is MISSION RULES.
They would have allowed him to call you in order to stop your insistant harping on.
As for the good Rev at the top of the page… you have no right to comment on what you have no idea about…. because quite often isolated areas will be discontinued because of the lack of gospel growth (for lack of a better word) when conversions and baptisms are few and far between, however in this case it was because they failed to follow the rules and if one goes they all have to go they will not play favorites in fact, yes the others might get an earful and be held responsible too because they joined in instead of attemtping to put a stop to what was not the right thing to do… that makes them just as guilty. The missionaries get moved around all the time… every month there is what is called a transfer meeting where in Missionaries are called into the main office area from allover and then swapped around in their areas & also change companions. it is common practice, it is supposed to be a way of teaching you to be disiplined and humble to live in a similar way that christ did.. and like I said before….. Missionaries know exactly what are expected of them before they leave for the mission field they know exactly why they are there..
I have to laugh at comments like this…
“The Word of Wisdom is a huge bore, and it turns coffee drinkers into sinners, and tea drinkers into evil people with no hope in the afterlife. None of it had anything to do with spirituality, goodness, Christianity, or common sense. ”
Hmm lemme see they say these drinks are not good for you and advise not to partake of them.. Tea hmm gee that contains the leather hardner…. tanning Coffee caffiene it is addictive and not good for your body… Smoking cigarettes contain rat poison, rocket fuels, arsnic and a lot of other chemical mixes & can cause cancer.. I personally think people who smoke and know this are the ones without common sense and my friend who is a smoker agrees!!
The word of wisdom also mentions gluttony…
The same person who whines about this whines about other things .. the church tries to teach people to stay away from things that can harm l you a bishop lost 2 out of his three children… 1 went to that night club in claremont and got murdered, the other died of drug overdose, because they chose to live the ways of the world.
It shys away from fancy affairs and flashy things that are not neccesities in our lives and urges us to live within our financial limits so that we can avoid great debt… to buy useful things that can help us in our lives and be wise in our choices in life… but they let you choose.
He whines about an excomunication…. I came close to it but was disfellowshipped not excomunicated but I was lucky I had been through the temple and that usually meant excomunication… when I joined the church i agreed to live by the word of wisdom I agreed with the belief not to have sex before marriage but yet I did I broke that promise I made during my baptism and I was very I was aware of the consequences and accepted the disfellowship. I had no one to blame but myself and a lack of self discipline and this is what it is all about self discipline…
I know that there are people out there that go over board and so does the church and they try to put a stop to those who go way overboard with their authority but do you know there is a part of the church that branched off because they believed that only Joseph Smith’s lineage should have the right to be of the prophetic line… they are called “The Reformed church of Jesus christ of latterday saints” and this is the group that practices bigamy still.
“http://exmormon.org/ ” this site is pathetic and it sounds to me like people with sour grapes whinging because they screwed up and didn’t like the consequences.. for every action there is a reaction… whether it’s bad or good that causes the reaction.. it will affect your life…
So they were admonished for wasting $300 I think that’s fair enough b ut some of you here need to goand ask active mormons more abotu the church rather than listening to NON members, Missionaries that are feeling sorry for themselves or ex members who are peed off because they couldn’t cut the mustard..
I couldn’t but I certainly don’t go bagging the heck out of them. I have no delusions about myself whatsoever, but I willtell you this much when I was active in the church my life was going rather well then I stopped and went back to my old ways and now my life is pretty much in the doghouse because I have made choices I know I never would have had I remained an active member and they have pretty much screwed my life up… so take rant this any way you want, because I have been there done that and I hold no one accountable for anything but myself… I don’t look any more for someone to blame because it lies only with me.
The other day I saw an old woman who’d run out of petrol in the middle of the road- these two guys in white shirts and badges helped her off the road.
I SWEAR ON MY LIFE it was Cooper and Glover. Weirdest thing I’ve ever seen.
Under the current system missionaries pay equal amounts into the mission system and then it is redistributed to different areas based on the amount of money needed in that area.
Missionaries are called to be representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are to act with “quiet dignity”. This is a term I know because I served a mission.
Driving 600 kilometres outside of your area or buying a burger that costs hundreds of dollars show both a lack of commitment to the work and a lack of seriousness in the endevor.