Context: My friend is on a mission in Africa. They're one of very few Americans in their mission and they are currently having a really rough time. The overall situation in their mission is also lowkey crazy and in my opinion unacceptable. Their living situations are pretty bad (unhygenic /unsafe), they struggle to afford sufficient food with the funds their mission gives them (really bad thing because most of the elders in the mission are African and don't have much outside financial support if they have any at all), and my friend and others in the mission have been targets violence for being Mormon / American. The missionary behavior is also crazy bad for an active mission. I think it would lowkey be best for the church to shut this mission down and start from scratch it is actually ridiculous. I've told him that coming home is totally chill (I came home from a similar but not quite as bad mission early) and that they shouldn't put up with the poor treatment/judgement coming from their mission leaders. They are still pretty into the church despite all of this, and really feel like they need to stay out on the mission. I think their and their family's faith is strained because of the situation though.
How I need help: My friend, like most normal people, likes listening to music and watching youtube videos and movies. I am a pretty tech savvy person and when they went out I gave him some USB-C thumb drives they could plug into their phone with all of their spotify playlists on them. I have also been sending them music, youtube videos from their favorite channels, shows, documentaries, and other semi mission appropriate stuff. Unfortunately, the mission recently had google drive blocked on their phones which was how I was getting stuff to him. The phones are also pretty locked down with IBM maas 360 and other solutions that I've tried, (sending him a custom website in an html file that they could open in their browser, and setting up a DNS spoofing server so he could access my website) have failed. They still have their music and a couple shows/videos but I would like to be able to get stuff to him still. Are there any smart people out there who have a good idea of how I could get around maas 360 or efficiently send them stuff through a different commonly available app to missionaries?
Also: I am working on an app that missionaries could email to automatically search and request music / other media to a shared google drive (or a better workaround if I can figure one out). If you are a missionary and want access to this or know a missionary that is sad and could really use this, send me a pm and I'll get back to you when it's finished. It's too late for my friend to use it as it currently stands but I hope I can bring some light into the lives of others who are having rough missions.
I am just a guy who had a terrible mission experience and am trying to make other people's lives less miserable than mine was. I would appreciate any help I can get with this stuff! Sorry I kept this post kinda vague to protect my friend's identity and mine as well as we are both in delicate family situations when it comes to the church and I am really not trying to cause any problems right now.
Thanks for taking the time to read my long ass post.
Source: r/exmormon · by /u/AvailableTop4205