I've had several people tell me that they heard of someone or even knew someone who had received a "secret" mission call from the Church to go on a mission in mainland China. The main version of this rumor has the missionary receiving a mission call letter that doesn't say what the mission is, but just gives a phone number to call. The missionary calls it and soon is speaking with President Monson himself. Wow! President Monson then asks the missionary if he or she is willing to serve for three years, with one year in Taiwan and then the last two years in Mainland China. It's all very TOP SECRET, the faithful missionary is told, which is why it's quickly shared with numerous acquaintances and strangers around the world.

I've heard this from a few people myself. For those who "know" someone who had this secret call, when I press for details, they don't exactly know the person, but maybe "know of" it from a second-hand source. They don't even have a photoshopped mission call letter to substantiate the claim. Not a very sophisticated hoax. How do these things get started? A malicious lie, or was someone confused about a nephew's call to Hong Kong and conflated that with a some other story? Is a stupid mistake coupled with unintentional exaggeration by other parties the cause, or is there some malicious soul out there with nothing better to do?

The China missionary rumor has become annoying enough that Elder Russell M. Nelson asked missionaries to help stomp it out. He also explained very clearly why it is ridiculous. See "Elder Russell M. Nelson Urges Missionaries to Refute Rumors" at LDS.org. Also see a related blog post, "Debunking Mormon Myths: Mainland China Opening for Missionary Work" at LDS Church Growth.

This silly rumor resonates with the arguably excessive interest that a lot of Mormons place on China (OK, it's OK for me to be interested because I live here and love China). China is important, yes, but when it comes to getting excited about the future of missionary work, why not be excited about the billions of untaught people all over the world that we can legally teach but aren't reaching? India has a billion people--why doesn't India get its fair share of interest and wild rumors? Why aren't we hearing about, say, the secret Mormon temple deep inside the Taj Mahal--oops, that was TOP SECRET. Please don't put this on the Internet.
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