Get the Fire
Encyclopedia
Get the Fire: Young Mormon Missionaries Abroad is a United States
PBS
-sponsored documentary
, by the independent filmmaker Nancy du Plessis. It examines the experiences of some Mormon missionaries
who questioned their religious beliefs after serving their missions. It premiered in December 2003 and was 60 minutes long..
Some Mormon missionaries, including those serving missions in a foreign culture, may begin to question their religious upbringing and belief system. Get the Fire follows three LDS missionaries during their two year missions in Germany
. The documentary opens with the three future missionaries at their respective homes prior to knowing where they will serve. Surrounded by their family, each boy opens a mission call informing them they will serve in the Munich, Germany mission
. The documentary follows them along the full two years of their mission from the Missionary Training Center
until they leave the mission and return home. The film shows missionaries proselyting
in public squares, knocking door to door, struggling with a foreign language, congregating in zone and district meetings, and meeting with the mission president
. Topics covered include missionary slang, leaving a girlfriend at home, missionary morale, and relationships with family at home. The three missionaries appear to remain dedicated and faithful to their mission in the film.
The documentary juxtaposes the sanguine views of the missionaries in Germany with interviews of former missionaries who have left the church. These interviews present a look at the experience of both young American and foreign-born Mormon missionaries and explore issues they have with the church. As these changed Mormon missionaries struggle to reconcile their intense, religious experience with a new outlook on life, they realize their perceptions about black and white, dogmatic thinking have changed.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
-sponsored documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
, by the independent filmmaker Nancy du Plessis. It examines the experiences of some Mormon missionaries
Mormon missionary
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...
who questioned their religious beliefs after serving their missions. It premiered in December 2003 and was 60 minutes long..
Some Mormon missionaries, including those serving missions in a foreign culture, may begin to question their religious upbringing and belief system. Get the Fire follows three LDS missionaries during their two year missions in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. The documentary opens with the three future missionaries at their respective homes prior to knowing where they will serve. Surrounded by their family, each boy opens a mission call informing them they will serve in the Munich, Germany mission
Mission (LDS Church)
A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...
. The documentary follows them along the full two years of their mission from the Missionary Training Center
Missionary Training Center
Missionary Training Centers are centers devoted to training missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The flagship MTC is located in Provo, Utah, USA, adjacent to the campus of Brigham Young University....
until they leave the mission and return home. The film shows missionaries proselyting
Proselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
in public squares, knocking door to door, struggling with a foreign language, congregating in zone and district meetings, and meeting with the mission president
Mission president
Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . A mission president presides over a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission...
. Topics covered include missionary slang, leaving a girlfriend at home, missionary morale, and relationships with family at home. The three missionaries appear to remain dedicated and faithful to their mission in the film.
The documentary juxtaposes the sanguine views of the missionaries in Germany with interviews of former missionaries who have left the church. These interviews present a look at the experience of both young American and foreign-born Mormon missionaries and explore issues they have with the church. As these changed Mormon missionaries struggle to reconcile their intense, religious experience with a new outlook on life, they realize their perceptions about black and white, dogmatic thinking have changed.