Thursday, April 30, 2009

Burned Objects: Why Ties, Suits, Pants and Other Items Can't Be Ignited in the South Carolina Columbia Mission (Not for the Squemish)


Last year in June 2008 newly called mission president Stephen Lowell McConkie of the South Carolina Columbia Mission was greeted by a minor missionary catastrophe. A few elders were having a bit of fun burning stuff. Missionaries as you know are pyromaniacs, one threw a can in to a fiery trash can and he received a jet propelled surprise as the hot dense air in the heat-filled can literally shot out the metal lid in to the his arm. He experienced a burning as well as a bloody reward. Needless to say the metal part of the can left a noticeable imprint in the mish's arm. He is lucky he didn't catch the lid in his face.

The mission president set a very hard rule that from that point on missionaries couldn't burn any objects for any reason whatsoever not even a matchbook.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like the "Destroyer" left some souveniers....and fruit of His mission....when destroying the things that helped portray an Elder as a representative of the Lord, ie., modest business clothing, etc., you are casting aside in a degrading way those things which should be respected.
Worn out and tired of missionary items need to be honored, NOT destroyed. I am so so glad the mission Pres. recognized this folly and placed emphasis on the most important things.....feeling in the heart of missionary accomplishments, NOT...acts of violence..which produced physical harm.
The Adversary has many titles...and one of the main ones is "THE DESTROYER".
Nuff said.
How should we act, EVERY minute of our lives? Why, like the SAVIOR of course..with dignity and respect for all good things, even when they are past usage.

Anonymous said...

I would like to say that I personally know this missionary and this story is missing many of the facts. They were in an area where no garbage trucks came to pick up the garbage. The only way to dispose of the trash was to burn it, or drive about 15 or 20 minutes to dispose of it, wasting valuable time. Most people in the community burned their trash. Nobody threw a pringles can in the fire. They do not know what exploded. He served an honorable mission and is still a very active member of the church today. How dare you judge him. You don't even know him! Shame on all of you.