Met with the LDS missionaries!

[_Ceeboo]

Good day MDB people,

Short version: I have recently had the opportunity (First time for me) to have had 2 LDS missionaries knock on my door. They came twice so far and stayed about an hour each time.

I should note, for clarity, I was happy to open my home to these young men and I did indeed enjoy the time we spent together. (Lots of smiles, mutual laughs and was happy to put something in their bellies)

If you are willing to share them with me/us, I am looking for some of your thoughts/opinions on a few things.

To set the table (if I may), amongst the 2 visits that lasted about 2 hours or so, I did a lot of listening and very little talking other than telling them that I am a Christian and that I am pretty familiar with the things of Mormonism due to some reading as well as these religious forums (MADB/MDB/CAF).

Having said that, I would suggest that much of what these young LDS men were "teaching" me about the many topics we discussed (First Viion, Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon translation, etc) seemed to be at odds with the historical events and origins of the LDS Church.

To be honest, I was very surprised that the young men that the LDS Church sends out on missions to tell folks about Joseph Smith and Mormonism seemed to not know very much about Joseph Smith and or Mormonism. (This was really bizarre to me)

My questions are:

Was my experience, in your opinion, the exception or the rule?

If you served a LDS mission, did you have any "meetings" that caused "problems" for you? If so, care to share?

Did you have any "meetings" that struck you as memorable? If so, care to share?

Doesn't the LDS Church have some kind of preperation classes for these folks before they hit the streets?

For several reasons, I CHOSE not to confront/question anything they shared with me regarding Joseph Smith or the LDS Church. What would you have done?

Anyhooo, as they left the last time I told them that I had no interest in converting (so I am not sure if I will see them again) but if they ever needed the use of a computer to communicate with home or ever wanted a burger that they were always welcome.

Thanks and peace,
Ceeboo

[_Fence Sitter]

What purpose would be served for you or them to tell them more than what they know?
I have the missionaries over to my house for dinner frequently. I would never dream of bringing up anything that might cause them to question their testimonies.

[_sock puppet]

Good day MDB people,

Short version: I have recently had the opportunity (First time for me) to have had 2 LDS missionaries knock on my door. They came twice so far and stayed about an hour each time.

I should note, for clarity, I was happy to open my home to these young men and I did indeed enjoy the time we spent together. (Lots of smiles, mutual laughs and was happy to put something in their bellies)

If you are willing to share them with me/us, I am looking for some of your thoughts/opinions on a few things.

To set the table (if I may), amongst the 2 visits that lasted about 2 hours or so, I did a lot of listening and very little talking other than telling them that I am a Christian and that I am pretty familiar with the things of Mormonism due to some reading as well as these religious forums (MADB/MDB/CAF).

Having said that, I would suggest that much of what these young LDS men were "teaching" me about the many topics we discussed (First Viion, Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon translation, etc) seemed to be at odds with the historical events and origins of the LDS Church.

To be honest, I was very surprised that the young men that the LDS Church sends out on missions to tell folks about Joseph Smith and Mormonism seemed to not know very much about Joseph Smith and or Mormonism. (This was really bizarre to me)

My questions are:

Was my experience, in your opinion, the exception or the rule?

The rule.

If you served a LDS mission, did you have any "meetings" that caused "problems" for you? If so, care to share?

Yes, but the only problematic meetings I had were only with disaffected and ex-Mormons.

Doesn't the LDS Church have some kind of preperation classes for these folks before they hit the streets?

Yes, COJCOLDS trains them to stay on the talking points. In my day, we had to memorize ver batim very lenghty lessons to give.

For several reasons, I CHOSE not to confront/question anything they shared with me regarding Joseph Smith or the LDS Church. What would you have done?

Taken them to an all-you-can-eat feed at a buffet somewhere, given them a ride, and then waited a couple of years until they are done with their mission and begin searching online for the real Mormon history and help them learn the real truth.

[_honorentheos]

Ceeboo -

I'd suggest reading some of our board member's blogs on their missionary experiences. Runtu and Dr Shadesboth have very good ones. There are others as well.

To answer your question about preparation, I don't know for sure what modern elders and sisters learn at the MTC. When I was there in the mid-90's, we had 8 weeks to learn a foreign language while practicing the use of six standardized missionary discussions. Most of the practice for us was centered around the first two with the second being the lead in to asking the investigator to commit to baptism.

I never, personally, knew that the stories we were teaching were only part of the history. I speak honestly here on the boards when I say that things like Joseph Smith's polygamy (as opposed to Brigham Young's and later saints), the multiple first vision accounts, limited geography for the Book of Mormon, the existence of the Book of Abraham papyri and the issues of Egyptian translation, etc., etc., were all post-mission discoveries for me.

I'd like to think I was a typical missionary in Europe at that time as well. I never had a companion who was well versed on apologetic issues. But I also never had an investigator who was either. All of my confrontational meetings involved other Christians over who's interpretation of scripture was more correct. I was not one to bash, though, so I usually ended such discussions fairly quickly.

A number of discussions really stand out to me. I'd like to share one because I think it is more likely to apply to your situation. It occurred very late in my mission. I had just been transfered that week to a new area after being in my old one for 11 months. Yes, 11 months. It was a fairly sudden transfer involving my need to leave Switzerland as my visa was about to expire and another Elder needing to return home. My new companion was a month from going home, and the mission president and I had an interview right before I left to go to this new area. As part of this interview, he told me that this companion had never taught a person who had been baptized, and then he asked me if I could help this Elder have one baptism before he left.

The second night in the area, we decided to go door-to-door. My new companion was a very nice guy, but socially awkward. I liked him but could see why he had trouble teaching. As we were knocking on doors, we had a man open up who turned out to be a minister for another church. He let us in, and as we talked he began to go into how and why the LDS church was not the true church of Christ, how Mormon's had everything all wrong, but stopped short of saying we were going to hell. My comp began to get into a doctrinal discussion with him, but I asked him to stop for a moment. I then told the man, in very simple language, that I knew that Christ lived, that I was a disciple of Christ sent to him with a message for this day. He stopped, sat back, and said, "I know you are. I can tell you are just by looking at you." We sat quietly for a moment, then I asked if we could pray together. He agreed, and after we were done, we started to teach him the discussion. It was a great discussion, with a very good spirit there, to use the missionary terms. When we finished and he had accepted a Book of Mormon to read, we asked if we could come back to continue the discussions. He thought for a moment then said, "No. I'd prefer that you not come back again." Which we respected. I always figured we were planting seeds with people like that, and to push too hard would turn them off, while being respectful may open the door wider for a later missionary in the future. I don't know what happened with him.

We also didn't get our baptism before he left. We had a commitment from a young lady, but she fell through. At the time, I wondered if I caused if by being prideful and thinking I could somehow make it work out for this guy. Stupid missionary thinking.

I share that because I think you are someone who this might move in a way discussions on the history would not. I don't think most missionaries you encounter will be well versed in LDS history or apologetic issues. But - they will be very well versed in talking to you in a manner that is going to go past this and aim for your emotions and heart. Whether that means anything to you is probably up to you to decide. But I can tell you from experience that just because they don't know the history doesn't mean they don't have a well-refined skill set and ability to speak to other, less objective matters.

You need to know for yourself whether the history matters to you or not. If it does, talking with the missionaries isn't going to be very fruitful. If it doesn't really matter to you, then I hope it works out as you wish in the end.

Peace be with you.

[Guest]

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply.

Interesting perspectives.

So that I am clear (perhaps the OP fell short), I was very happy how things went as well as how they ended. I am not certain what the 2 fine young LDS missionaries would offer concerning our time together but I am fairly confident that (Short of a Ceeboo Baptism) they would echo my report of an enjoyable few hours shared between fellow human beings.

by the way I should add that I did not mislead them at all. I was very clear, from the beginning, that I was a very very poor candidate for potential LDS conversion but if they would like to come in and chat, they were more than welcome to come in and do so. They did.

Thanks again for the responses.

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_zeezrom]

Ceeboo,

You were a welcome sight for these young men, Ceeboo. Your kindness and willingness to listen had some impact on them I'm sure.

Missionaries are taught under very strict guidelines to sell a very faith promoting story. What you see online is a far cry from what we teach at the MTC.

I would have enjoyed Ceeboo's house as a missionary!

[_TAO]

Ceeboo, I doubt missionaries in general are exposed to much of the criticism that goes online.

But in my eyes, that is a good thing; missionaries should be focusing on testimony alone.

[Guest]

Just so you know where I'm coming from: From my current vantage-point (43 years old) I *deeply* regret my missionary service. I firmly believe that I *wasted* the best two years of my life working as an unpaid pamphleteer for a quasi-corporate, multi-national business. How's that for being clear? My "job" was to accost German people in the streets and marketplaces and hassle them with pointed, deeply personal religious questions. I am truly embarrassed and sad when I think about my missionary "service."

I really wish that someone had cared enough about me to confront me with the TRUTH (namely, that the COJCOLDS is a false MLM scam). Nobody ever helped me see (what must have been painfully obvious to the thousands of people I hassled in Germany)...that I was stuck in bondage to a mind-crushing cult. I wish I had a time-machine!! I wish that I could have those years back!!

If you ever have the opportunity again, I would encourage you to gently peel back the onion for these poor boys. Help them see that there is another option than to blindly serve the beast. You don't have to be mean, or unkind. Just gently point them to something like "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins," "Suddenly Strangers," or, perhaps, "By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus." It is my opinion that the current state of the LDS missionary program is proof positive that the COJCOLDS is a morally bankrupt org.

[_Ceeboo]

Just so you know where I'm coming from: From my current vantage-point (43 years old) I *deeply* regret my missionary service. I firmly believe that I *wasted* the best two years of my life working as an unpaid pamphleteer for a quasi-corporate, multi-national corporation. How's that for being clear? My "job" was to accost German people in the streets and marketplaces and hassle them with pointed, deeply personal religious questions. I am truly embarrassed and sad when I think about my missionary "service."

I really wish that someone had cared enough about me to confront me with the TRUTH (namely, that the COJCOLDS is a false MLM scam). Nobody ever helped me see (what must have been painfully obvious to the thousands of people I hassled in Germany)...that I was stuck in bondage to a mind-crushing cult. I wish I had a time-machine!! I wish that I could have those years back!!

If you ever have the opportunity again, I would encourage you to gently peel back the onion for these poor boys. Help them see that there is another option than to blindly serve the beast. You don't have to be mean, or unkind. Just gently point them to something like "An Insider's View of Mormon Origins," "Suddenly Strangers," or, perhaps, "By His Own Hand Upon Papyrus." It is my opinion that the current state of the LDS missionary program is proof positive that the COJCOLDS is a morally bankrupt org.

Hi Eyepatch,

Thanks

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Your response (in part) is why I posted the OP and why I posted it at the board I did.

This is and continues to be a HUGE struggle for me on many many levels.

I don't know what else to type so I will stop.

Thanks again for sharing.

Peace,
Ceeboo

[_madeleine]

ceeboo being in a Mormon family, every once in a while I get a missionary letter home forwarded to me. The latest one, the missionary (my relative) was saying how they were teaching someone and it was going well (meaning they could see baptism in the person's future) when the person put the brakes on. A friend had given them information, of the kind you are ringing your hands over. This missionary relative said it was anti-Mormon information and now this person was anti-Mormon. Then not five sentences later he said they hoped to get a "miracle" where this anti-Mormon (what he was calling her) would commit to being baptized on Christmas day (2010). Mainly, they were trying to reach an end of year quota, and really wanted this baptism to reach their year end goal.

So, my point, no matter how well meaning you are, or even if you see it as just asking honest questions, Mormons are trained to view anything that contradicts the party line as anti-Mormon. You can, really, only be a good Christian and treat them with the dignity that all people are deserving of.

Other than that, it is God who will search their hearts and if it is His will, will bring them to Himself. It isn't done by anyone else.

Peace.