I recently read an interesting and very cynical take on the LDS Church's proselyting missions, which actually implies the opposite of assimilation into the larg

I recently read an interesting and very cynical take on the LDS Church's proselyting missions, which actually implies the opposite of assimilation into the larger society. The goal is for these young people, naive and hopeful, to go out into the world and be rejected by it. The elders want these kids to repeatedly face rudeness and rejection. They want to instill the belief in the kids on mission the idea that the LDS Church alone is the moral beacon, the guiding light of the world. The only true and holy path. The elders don't actually expect that the kids on mission are going to get a statistically significant number of converts just going door-to-door in some other part of the country. They see that the key to increasing their power, and increasing membership in the LDS Church is to retain within the religion as many kids as possible. Sure, they'll lose some kids, but maybe those would have been disruptive anyway. If the church has done a good job of indoctrination on these kids since birth, then most of the kids will stay. And if the greater world rejects them, then the kids may think that the church is their only true home.