A former Mormon has spelled out a few of the “craziest” rules the missionaries of her past religion are forced to follow.
While not completely dissimilar to Christianity, Mormonism is a separate religion that describes the beliefs held by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are known to be one of the stricter religions, with members and missionaries following strict rules that range from the logical to seemingly crazy.
What rules do missionaries have to follow?
Alyssa Grenfell (@alyssadgrenfell), a former Mormon with nearly 150k followers on TikTok, usually posts content about religion and the inner workings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In a recent video, which has since accumulated almost 180k likes, Alyssa pulled back the curtain on Mormon missionaries and the rules they have to follow.
“I served a Mormon mission for a year and a half before I left the church,” she revealed. “Today I have my old white handbook, which is the rulebook all Mormon missionaries must read. You’re supposed to read three pages a day, and I marked each time I read this handbook.”
Alyssa started by saying she found it “most difficult” to never be alone. As each Mormon missionary is assigned a “companion”, they are expected to remain within “sight and sound” of them at all times. The only exceptions to the rule are showing and going to the toilet.
The second rule, and one that most people would struggle with, is the ban on consuming media from the cinema, watching TV, listening to the radio, using headphones, or using the internet also earlier approved by the church. Alyssa said that “pre-approved” media is often just content produced by the Church itself.
The third and final crazy rule was that Mormon missionaries were forbidden from going swimming, like ever. The rule even applies to those missionaries who are stationed near particularly inviting beachfronts.
‘The mission is definitely the most culty part’
While most TikTok users had some idea of what a Mormon mission entailed, most were shocked at how specific the rules are.
One person: “As a Mormon kid I remember a family having a pool asking to swim on Sunday and she told me the devil lives in the water on Sundays. Lol. It was in the 100s.”
“My toxic trait is I might fall in love with my companion,” another person said, while a third added, “I’d never be able to. I went to Mormon youth group, once- I asked too many questions and was asked to never come back.”
“My brother is on his mission rn and he can FaceTime family every Monday and he is able to use headphones for that. I am so grateful for that,” another person wrote.
