I have a friend who served his mission in Mongolia. It was a no contact mission where he could only teach people who came to him. That was 7 years ago though.

Matt W.,

I should probably spread more rumors by saying this was for a total of four missionaries for mainland China, the calls were for 3 years, and were extended via personal phone calls with President Hinckley.

One of the founding rumors that created the “Cynic” part of me was that one. It’s a constant, it’s not true. I have a feeling that this would be trumpeted with a lot more fanfare if it really happened. Trust me…we need an LDS version of Snopes.com. It would save me from spending 3 days in the Chicago Tribune’s archives trying (and succeeding) at disproving the “Jaredite Barges found at the Bottom of Lake Superior” myth. (The ‘barges’ were experimental fuel tanks from WWII)

Wow, if this is a rumor, it sure travels fast. I heard the same thing last Sunday in my ward in Las Vegas about missionaries being called to 3 years missions in China.

I figure anything I hear at church as a rumor is garbage unless I see it in the Church News or some other credible source. Then I don’t waste anytime thinking or worrying about it. Thanks for the clarification President Hinckley – boy MM has come a long ways…

Matt W.,

I should probably add that I was in the MTC when the first missionaries were called to Mongolia. They went around the Russian districts and pulled out the Elders that were learning the language the best and gave them a new calling. Then a bunch of the other missionaries getting sent to Russia got reassigned to Spain and Chile.

We had a missionary from Mongolia here a few years ago. She was from the capital city and was converted there. Her parents were also LDS.

There are many devout LDS people who are teaching English in China. Many older couples who have already been on missions. I think that’s part of it, as well.

The country of Mongolia is not a part of China. It used to be called “Outer Mongolia.”

There is a region or province called “Inner Mongolia” which is in the country of China proper. The languages spoken in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia are similar, but not the same.

(Outer) Mongolia, the country, used to be part of the Russian/Soviet sphere of influence, and all the professional/technical people used to be Russians, and Russian was the secondary language of the country, after Mongolian.

The Russians actually forced the Mongolians to change their alphabet for the Mongolian language from the Mongolian alphabet to the cyrillic alphabet. And the Mongolian Book of Mormon today is in the cyrillic script or alphabet. That’s probably why the first missionaries going to Mongolia were pulled from those previously called to Russia.

Today, there is still more Russian influence there than Chinese.

The above was explained to me by an Mongolian investigator.

I heard an identical rumor back in 1999. It’s been around for a while. In February 2005, a BYU professor of folklore mentioned the China rumor in a Daily Herald story concerning rumors about a missing Utah girl:

“‘What’s idle speculation becomes gospel truth,’ [Eric] Eliason said. ‘Most of the time rumors like this are harmless, sometimes they can damage, and sometimes they can pass on information that’s actually accurate.’

For example, he said a story recently spread through LDS Church circles that a missionary had been called to serve a three-year mission to China. As the rumor snowballed, the Chinese government contacted church officials in Salt Lake City about the information. Church officials then had to set the record straight about the inaccuracy of the information.

‘It didn’t actually help the church’s chances of getting into China,’ Eliason said.”

augh! our bishop’s wife shared this story in relief society the sunday after thanksgiving. she stated that they were at her friend’s house, where her friend opened his mission call in front of all of the family. the letter listed a phone number instead of the mission and when he called, he was placed on hold before being connected with the prophet and being asked to serve a “special” three-year mission in mainland china.

it didn’t click for me until after church and i wasn’t sure how to let her know that *i* knew. she didn’t present it as hearsay, but as though she were there when it all happened.

I was just going to repeat what Sue said, but I remember the rumor 9-10 years ago….in fact the same person who swore that Steve Martin was LDS also claimed that her cousin’s friend was called to a 3 year mission in China.

At least we can take comfort and solace in knowing the Ricky Schroder is a mormon…..

I was actaully talking to my father-in-law about this very rumor just this weekend. A visitor in my Ward stood up in Priesthood and said the call cam to someone in his family’s Ward. My father-in-law smiled at the story because 2 years ago, he was in the Stake Presidency in Prescott, AZ. Elder Holland came to their Stake and was talking in a meeting about false rumors, and gave this exact story.

My best friend served his mission in Singapore, Mandarin Chinese speaking… someone in his stake high council or something knew this, and knew how much he loved the language and the culture… I guess the man had a nephew that received a mission call that was to mainland china for 3 years. 3 months in the mtc, then 9 months in the field learning the different dialects of mandarin(there are many, such as shanghainese)and doing service and what not… and then 2 years proselyting. And he was so excited to tell my friend… I guess this isn’t a very good source considering, I heard from my friend that this person in his stake has a nephew that received this “call” to mainland china… but my friend seems to believe it, and I just can’t let myself think that this man would lie about such things… maybe I am just hoping… but it really is believable… we have members in mainland china… I’ve heard of members in Tianjin, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, & Shanghai… I have a friend that served his mission in Hong Kong China (not mainland china) and said that they would teach and convert people and they would go home to mainland china and teach their family and bring them to Hong Kong to get baptized. The church is growing in China even without missionaries… we’ve even had many missionaries come from mainland china and serve through out the world… and one thing that really makes it believable to me is certain events that are about to take place in China… 2008… Summer Olympics… LDS missionaries are known to take time from their proselyting and volunteer for the Olympics, I’ve heard of it since the summer Olympics in Sydney… I’m not sure exactly if it is true… but i’m also not sure it’s not… I plan on trying to come in contact with this man, and maybe even his nephew… I’ll let you all know if I find anything out…

Dear Sir,
Can you forward me the contact info of LDS church in Shenzhen?
Ed
kimochee@aol.com

I live in Guangzhou, just ran across this thread and there are no missionaries in my part of town, nor were there any in Beijing when I lived there a few years ago. Its hard enough to get any Chinese church materials into this country let alone enough to preach with. The church here is very interested in following the governments rules and regulations so one day when China does open there will not be any pre-existing issues. I really doubt there is any under the table “official” missionary work going on over here. Its just too risky for the church’s future status here, patients is a virtue. Anyhow, the church will one day be huge in China. People who find out I go to church and teach and learn about God are very interested. My favorite response is to tell them sorry your government will not let you learn (since they always say bad stuff about the US government its a nice change). These people are hungry for the truth! Their time will come soon, I’m sure of it. This country is changing at such a rapid pace it will only be a matter of a few years before it is open.

Hi,
I`m from Japan and i was looking for a site that tell more about church and i see this site. here in Japan The church here is very inter­ested in fol­low­ing the gov­ern­ments rules and reg­u­la­tions. It is necessary for a church to follow the rules? I think the church it self have there rules right?

Hello fellow lds:

We (3 of us) are planning to explore Guangzhou end of August 2011. Can anyone suggest where to stay right in the city of Guangzhou where it is safe and reasonable?

Where are the LDS meet in city of Guangzhou? Thank you.!

Ann F. B.