What did you miss out on during your mission?

I love hearing stories about what missionaries--especially those who served overseas in poor places--missed out on during their time away.



In my case there were 2 things. Cell phones were pretty much non-existent when I left in 2000, and I only saw a couple where I served in Eastern Europe. But when I got home and on campus at BYU, the first thing I noticed was that everyone jumped on their cell phone the second they left class and stayed on it until they reached their next destination. I couldn't help but think wtf is so important that everyone is now incapable of smiling and saying hi to the people who, y'know, are right there in front of you? Anyway, I missed the cell phone craze I guess and on some level DVD's and CD's. I remember coming home and really hoping that I could get a car with a CD player in it!



I also missed 9/11. Some lady we were teaching mentioned something about someone blowing up some buildings in America. We had no clue what that meant until we got a call from the mission president about it that evening. I couldn't believe what I was hearing--even though I had no idea what the Trade Towers were to be honest. But it wasn't even until the next morning that we got to see what actually happened. Sometimes I feel like I was the last person to know that 9/11 took place. :)

From the BYU football side, being a missionary from 2002-2004 was interesting. I left aft er the 14-1 season adn came home to watch BYU knock off Notre Dame. As for changes around me, I think wifi being available on campus was the biggest thing. I used my first DVD in a church library after they sent us the movie Joy to the World to hand out. I got home and got married to a girl with a huge dvd collection so I guess I must have been hiding under a rock before my mission!

I went into the MTC the Wednesday before the BYU Texas A&M game. Missed all of the 14-1 football season. But also missed the 1-25 basketball season. I missed the re-release of the star wars movies, so I've still never them on the big screen.

SpiffCoug wrote:
I went into the MTC the Wednesday before the BYU Texas A&M game. Missed all of the 14-1 football season. But also missed the 1-25 basketball season. I missed the re-release of the star wars movies, so I've still never them on the big screen.

LOL. You didn't miss anything. That actually reminds me. When I got home Attack of the Clones had just come out and I really wanted to see it. My dad said "You might give Fellowship of the Ring a look too." "Ok, whatever." I said. Wow were my priorities screwed up at the time. AOC was crap and Fellowship absolutely blew me away as it still does today.

I served April 2000-2002, so I missed the same events. Watched the towers fall in the electronics department of a corner market. Came home to find out my 100's of dollars of investments in minidisc equipment was worthless thanks to Steve Jobs.



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Ahh, I remember selling minidiscs at Media Play. What great little contraptions that never caught on.

hawkwing wrote:
Ahh, I remember selling minidiscs at Media Play. What great little contraptions that never caught on.

They were awesome compared to CDs (anyone remember trying to make an mp3 CD that actually worked???).....but dinosaurs next to an MP3 player.

I was out '03-'05. I was in the MTC in Provo for the ice-bowl shutout rivalry game, and I guess I missed a couple seasons of bad football and mediocre basketball. Not a whole lot.

Both the rise and fall of Milli Vanilli occurred while I was on my mission.



:bug:



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95-97 means I missed 14-1.

1991-1993



I missed the original dream team. Was totally jealous of my freshmand dorm mates who served in Barcelona and were around the Olympics in '92.



As for Mini-disc players, you obviously missed my senior thesis on path dependence (a prior choice will influence future choices and may compromise choice optimization). I predicted in 1995 that mini disc technology would ultimately not catch on becasue people were committed to the equipment and technology for CDs and weren't going to invest in something that wouldn't let them continue to use their CDs.



Enter mp3/iPods and I was justified.

Nice call Hoosier. My brother in law served from I think 94-96 and when he got home he saw all these ads and signs that said " ".com. He went nuts trying to figure out what it meant.



Poor dude missed the internet, lol.

97-99



When I left I was one of the only people I knew who was using the internet. When I came back everybody was using it. DVDs and cell phones were the hot new things. I don't think I missed much else.

Oh, wow! What a topic. I served from 68-70. I missed Richard Nixon getting elected President. But I was in Mexico City and I did get to go to the Olympics and saw the "black power" incident where our athletes gave the black power sign instead of saluting the flag during the national anthem. Also got to see Dick Fosbury do his Fosbury Flop thing. I should be able to say that I missed Neil Armstrong first walking on the moon. Instead, my companion and I were walking home that night and we saw a large gathering just outside the house of one of the very few TV sets in the great city of Iguala, Gro., Mexico. We got closer and everyone said, "Americans. Americans," and they all stepped aside so we could go into this small living room and sit front and center and watch Neil take his first step. I was not only proud to be an American, but proud to be serving the wonderfully humble and respectful Lamanite descendants, who I still greatly love to this day!

HoosierCougar wrote:
1991-1993



I missed the original dream team. Was totally jealous of my freshmand dorm mates who served in Barcelona and were around the Olympics in '92.



As for Mini-disc players, you obviously missed my senior thesis on path dependence (a prior choice will influence future choices and may compromise choice optimization). I predicted in 1995 that mini disc technology would ultimately not catch on becasue people were committed to the equipment and technology for CDs and weren't going to invest in something that wouldn't let them continue to use their CDs.



Enter mp3/iPods and I was justified.

Here's something else:

When I left the US, Hair Metal was all the rage, there was a lot of alternative (but you had to know where to look) and country/country dancing was making a push for relevance.



When I came back, Hair Metal was all but relegated to the State Fair tour, Country music was mainstream, and there was this thing called Grunge, which I didn't understand at all... until I saw Nirvana perform "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on MTV Unplugged. Then I got it.

Viet Nam.

Metal Bubba wrote:
Both the rise and fall of Milli Vanilli occurred while I was on my mission.



:bug:



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Perhaps we served around the same time (I was September 88 through 90). I returned home the week of (but missed Miami)



Missed Batman, Indianna Jones and the Last Crusade, Back to the Future 2 and 3, and the first "Monsters of Rock" tour

Sammich wrote:
97-99



When I left I was one of the only people I knew who was using the internet. When I came back everybody was using it. DVDs and cell phones were the hot new things. I don't think I missed much else.

I was out the same time. The internet was huge when I got home. I got a hotmail account so I could do this thing called email with my girlfriend when she went home for Christmas vacation. I later married her. Thank you internet. Wait. That sounds wrong. :blush:



Anyway, I also missed the two Bronco's Super Bowl wins. But really, I didn't miss out on anything because I wouldn't trade those two years.

Well I just got back under 2 months ago. Things that happened while I was gone that made me go :skeptic: :skeptic: "What does the fox say" "gangnam style" Obama go reelected...



Things that I did not expect, everyone is using twitter, all the new missionaries talking about using twitter in HS shocked me, as it was not that big before I left.



Movies I missed. Hunger Games, Hobbit, Avengers, Batman, Frozen.



And now I've fallen in love with Imagine Dragons.



All and all I missed some, but not much, the world is still going to hell in a hand-basket.