March 3, 2026
I was leaving a conference and sat next to someone wearing a suit on my flight. He was a Mormon on his way for his mission trip to Peru for two years. There are many Mormon founders, so I was excited to hear more about their routine and what might have caused this trend.
Here are my learnings:
Rejection. Mormons get rejected, a lot. They stand in the street approaching others and get constantly told no. The 19 year old I was sitting with said he gets one baptism a month. That's a lot of rejection! You have to learn how to be good at talking to others. Their job depends on it.
Routine. Mormons have strict routines. They go to bed at 10:30 and wake up at 6:30 every day. They only get one day off, his was a Monday. Even their days off are controlled, they can't watch movies for the entire two years.
Sacrifice. They aren't allowed to drink coffee, black tea, alcohol, use nicotine products, etc. They have to leave their phones back home and are provided phones by the church that are closely monitored. They aren't allowed to use social media and the closest they get to it are shared Google Photo links that they send to their friends to interact with each other's photos. They are only allowed to talk to their family on certain days unless it's their birthday.
Support. They have medics and trained people that support them while abroad, but the man I spoke to will not be going to the dentist for two years. They are provided some goods, mostly through donations, but they expect to spend roughly $10,000 for the two years. Most of their food and housing is provided.
Appearance. They are constantly dressed to impress. They make it look like what they are doing is important.
Purpose. When you speak to them, they sound like they know their purpose in life. Unlike many people in their 20s. What they are doing takes tremendous sacrifice, leaving everyone they know to go somewhere to be rejected constantly.
Overall Learnings Talking to someone so different from me was a great learning experience. Our purposes felt very different but our actual structure for our lives were strangely similar. I yearn to move to SF to meet people similar to me, but on this flight I did find someone. He had a wildly different purpose, but our conviction to our calling was the same.