Very carefully specified instructions for sending missionary letters (nothing to fear)

[LSOF]

Many of my friends are on missions at the moment, and I am subscribed to several of their mailing lists. One of them sent her subscribers these very specific instructions on how to send her letters; I found them shady in the extreme:

Letters only can be sent through the Church Pouch, using a U.S. first-class stamp.

Please follow these instructions…
Use blank computer paper or post cards (no notebook paper or envelopes). Write letter on one side only. Lay the letter blank side down. Fold the bottom of the letter about one-third of the way up the page and crease. Fold the top of the letter to the bottom of the first fold and crease. Secure the long side with two pieces of tape about one inch in from each end, but do not seal the ends. Write your name and complete return address in the top left corner. Affix first class postage in the top right corner. In the middle, write the missionary address:
Sister [redacted]
PB [redacted]
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-[redacted]

Is this normal? not only for Mormon missionaries, but for missionaries of other religions? for travelling salespersons generally? I had expected that I could write directly to members of all three categories. These instructions seem tailor-made to enable and enforce surreptitious interception. Is this just perfectly normal, and am I just paranoid? If I am, please assuage my paranoia. If I'm not, how could I possibly minimise the impact of interception?

I am not necessarily looking to destroy her faith (I am certain that would ruin her), but I just don't feel safe being authentic when the organisation through which I am to send letters is the exact same one that tyrannises BYU and its students and teachers.

EDIT: I wrote this melodramatic prose in a mood of embarrassing panic. If I had read the email more carefully, I would have found an address to which I could mail directly. What an ass I've been.

[Korihor]

This seems peculiar

[Corsair]

I have heard of similar policies for missionaries in parts of world where mail is less reliable. It's not that mail was at all forbidden, it was simply that regular stamped mail often did not make it. Mail from the U.S. might be opened by corrupt mail carriers hoping for money from a stateside address. Packages would simply not make it through. I had friends in certain South American countries who would go to the local post office to get mail and see postal workers wearing clothing of obvious American origin that had been stolen from packages intended for the American missionaries.

With only one piece of paper it becomes obvious that no money or other valuables might be in this letter if it ever is in the hands of less scrupulous postal workers. Mail would often be hand carried in a pouch into a country and often hand delivered to the missionaries directly in smaller missions or at zone and district meetings. Email is still allowed, but sending paper mail has these specific restrictions that have nothing to do with church policy and everything to do with an unreliable postal system in less stable countries.

[Zadok]

My son had very similar instructions when he was serving in Russia. Something about political inspection of the 'pouch'.

[nibbler]

I'm sure it has something to do with whatever government regulations exist in the country that the missionary is serving in.

I served in a pouch mission. People were free to send to the missionary directly... and the vast majority of the time that stuff was stolen. The folded computer paper without an envelope stuff sounds like the government wants to inspect church deliveries as they enter the country. I'd only raise an eyebrow if this were the Billings, MT mission or something.

What about e-mail? We didn't have that on my mission (it's hard to have e-mail when you don't even have the "e"). Do missionaries have church provided e-mail accounts? I only mention that should the concern be the church snooping in on communications. Depending on the missionary you could suggest having another e-mail account on the side.

[LSOF]

I'm sure it has something to do with whatever government regulations exist in the country that the missionary is serving in.

I served in a pouch mission. People were free to send to the missionary directly... and the vast majority of the time that stuff was stolen. The folded computer paper without an envelope stuff sounds like the government wants to inspect church deliveries as they enter the country. I'd only raise an eyebrow if this were the Billings, MT mission or something.

What about e-mail? We didn't have that on my mission (it's hard to have e-mail when you don't even have the "e"). Do missionaries have church provided e-mail accounts? I only mention that should the concern be the church snooping in on communications. Depending on the missionary you could suggest having another e-mail account on the side.

The mission is in Cape Verde, a country of islands off the west coast of Africa. It seems fairly stable as African countries go, but it's no Germany or Sweden. There is a lot of petty crime there. This might be a governmental measure; the USPS site lists a lot of restrictions on what can be sent thither. It seems I was just paranoid. BYU and r/exmormon have perhaps slandered the Mormon church to me more than it deserves (which is very much, to be sure).

I have a further question: How do I get one of these "Church pouches"?

[LSOF]

I really must read things more carefully before I make a complete and total ass of myself. An address was given to which I can directly send mail. The "embarrassed" emoticon cannot adequately express the extreme degree of panicked foolishness in which I now realise I posted this thread. Let this be a lesson: READ EVERYTHING CAREFULLY lest you descend to that level of conspiracy theorising to which I have descended, to which Alex Jones himself would hardly dare to descend.

In the spirit of recognising that we all can be grievously stupid from time to time, I award myself a picture of Capt. Jean-Luc Picard facepalming:

Hh4Wk.jpg (15.08 KiB) Viewed 6940 times

[nibbler]

I have a further question: How do I get one of these "Church pouches"?

Its been a few decades but I doubt much has changed. The way the pouch system worked for my mission:

Family to missionary:
1) Family wrote letters and mailed them to an address in SLC (they should provide you with a "pouch" address). The address on the letter includes the word "pouch," the missionary name, and the mission they are serving in along with whatever P.O. Box it is for SLC.
2) The "pouch" service bundles all the letters going to the same mission together and sends them along as one larger shipment.
3) The bundled letters arrive in the mission field and the mission then distributes the letters out to the missionaries, usually via the zone leaders.

Missionary to family:
1) The missionary writes letters and addresses them in the normal fashion. IIRC the missionary is going to have to supply the appropriate postage. I can't remember how I got U.S. stamps in my foreign mission. Maybe family mailed them to me? It's been forever and my memory on that much has faded.
2) When the zone leader shows up to drop letters off they pick the outgoing letters up.
3) The mission bundles all the letters up and sends them to the pouch service in SLC.
4) The pouch service in SLC drops the incoming letters in the mail (USPS).

Only letters were allowed. No packages. Packages could be sent directly to the mission... and they were always pillaged.

The pouch was a slow form of communication. You couldn't really hold a back and forth conversation. If I wrote a letter it would be 3 or 4 weeks before it got to the recipient and if they wrote back it was another 3 or 4 weeks. If I wrote "How was the new Star Wars movie?" it could be anywhere from 6 to 8 weeks before I got back a response.

E-mail is a game changer in that regard.

[Zadok]

I have a further question: How do I get one of these "Church pouches"?

You start out by wearing the 100% cotton one piece garments. When you put them on in the morning after a shower they feel good and fit you well. But by lunch time they have stretched out and the 'boys' are knocking around like a couple of hand-balls in an Olympic class tournament. When it's time to head home, you have to be very careful how you slide into your car seat, or you'll really hurt yourself.

Do this for....um....40 or 50 years and you'll be the proud owner of a "Church Pouch". By the time you're 60 it will reach your knees, and be the subject of much laughing and pointing when you have your physical exam at the Doctor's office.

[LSOF]

I don't think I'll bother then.