A description of the activities of the ideal Mormon missionary before he enters the mission field:

-- Has lived righteously (followed the Word of Wisdom, Law of Chastity, etc.) all through high school.

-- Has read from cover to cover and studied thoroughly all of the "Standard Works" (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price).

-- Has a deep knowledge and understanding of Mormon doctrine and its evolution.

-- Is thoroughly familiar with the history of the Mormon Church and with Christian history in general.

-- Has studied all the works and arguments of those who are critical of the Mormon Church, and developed effective answers to those arguments.

-- Is able to defend the superiority of Mormon theology when talking with committed Christians of other denominations.

-- Has experienced an overwhelming witness of the Holy Spirit, leading to an absolutely unshakable testimony that the Mormon Church is true.

So, if all missionaries could somehow be held to these "standards" before they enter the mission field, how many missionaries would actually be in the field?

minus 8

Here's mine:

*A good liar- has learned how to be deceptive to move the church's agenda forward.

*Doesn't care- and can not be bothered to google the church or read one word of "anti-Mormon" criticism.

*Good debater- who looks forward to ramming his/her testimony down one's throat at the moment pesky facts and inconvenient truth hedges his/her way.

*Loves TSM- so long as weekly missionary games of basketball don't get stymied by actual missionary drudgery (finding people, teaching and performing service.)

*MP is cool- and he/she truly enjoys every minute of the MP's personal attacks against fellow missionaries' standards of grooving, lack of baptismal success, and lack of faith.

*LDS policies- don't matter because it is a simple question of faith. Either follow or get out.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And mine was simple. I truly believed it was all about following Christ. I soon found out otherwise.

6 months into a the mission: A weekly DL meeting about how to get more people to "follow Christ."

I as Elder Goop suggested that we offer to place copies of the bible if they [investigators] mentioned that they had zero religious books in their house.

"Are you nuts? We are Mormons. We hand out copies of the Book of Mormon. Duh!!!"

Another elder attacked me, "So you're the idiot that has been calling the mission office asking for bibles to hand out. Gosh Goop, you just don't get it."

And what they didn't know was that my companion and I had discreetly ordered about 10 copies from deseret catalog. We split the cost and had them shipped free to our apartment.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2017 07:36PM by messygoop.

messygoop Wrote:
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> I as Elder Goop suggested that we offer to place
> copies of the bible if they mentioned that they
> had zero religious books in their house.
>
> "Are you nuts? We are Mormons. We hand out copies
> of the Book of Mormon. Duh!!!"
>
> Another elder attacked me, "So you're the idiot
> that has been calling the mission office asking
> for bibles to hand out. Gosh Goop, you just don't
> get it."
>
> And what they didn't know was that my companion
> and I had discreetly ordered about 10 copies from
> deseret catalog. We split the cost and had them
> shipped free to our apartment.

Apparently in recent times the Mormon Church has instituted a program that when people sign guest books at various Mormon visitors centers, they can provide their addresses and indicate that they would like to receive a free copy of the Bible. Some missionaries I've known have told me they were on their way to the home of someone who requested a free Bible. Of course, the hope is that when the missionaries give the person the Bible, this will also provide them with a "foot in the door" and enable them to deliver their message about the Book of Mormon and the One True Church.

Pretty sure they wanted to document visitors at this somewhat remote museum to request Utah state dollars.

However, no way I would sign the book and I hate to be forced to lie.

They practically cried when I refused.

Hmm, well...
I matched one of those "ideals" before going on my mission.

Oh, wait...I had read the book of mormon "cover to cover," but honestly I fell asleep during parts of it, skipped a few others (mostly the repetitions of Isaiah), and didn't really "study" any of it.

So, never mind. I didn't match any.
And I kept getting told what a great missionary I was.
How about that. :)

Oh couldn't never have gone if those were the requirements. But I was an ideal candidate for my time--the late sixties.

Fooled myself into believing I had an overwhelming witness. In actuality I had a few goosebumps after praying non-stop for an hour.

Wasn't able to stay awake while reading the Standard Works. Still knew they were true. My parents told me they were, and hey, they wouldn't lie.

I knew all about the half truths in other churches and was sure I could correct all of them and they would be grateful to me forever for saving them.

Again, it was the sixties, so how the hell was I supposed to know about all the versions of the vision, all Joseph's wives, the glass looking and the bed hopping? We were all still in awe of the "pure" young man who Heavenly Father chose to restore his church--the only person in two thousand years good enough to do it! It brought tears to our eyes. Gag.

One thing is the same today as back then. A missionary must know how to parrot everything he has heard from the pulpit, from the Gerontocracy, from the apologists. That is the one requirement and all that is necessary. I was excellent at that.

Brother Kolob and Done & Done have spoken in this thread about the difficulties they experienced in reading the Book of Mormon -- problems such as having a hard time staying awake, skipping over parts, etc. As a non-member, I've often felt I should read the Book of Mormon from cover to cover as part of my education in the history of religion in America and because Mormonism is one of my hobbies. But so far my efforts to read it from beginning to end have been unsuccessful. I got further than ever before in my last effort, but got bogged down in the middle of Alma. But I did jump ahead and read Third Nephi, since I was curious about the story of Jesus visiting the Americas. Not only have I not made it all the way through yet, but I also have found it difficult to remember many of the details of the stories I read in the book.

I would say that a primary trait of most of the Mormon missionaries I've met is that they fervently push the Book of Mormon and believe it is crucial for people to read it and sincerely pray to know if it is true. And that it is book that changes lives, etc. But on the other hand, some of the missionaries and former missionaries will admit to having some of the same problems in reading the Book of Mormon that I and Brother Kolob and Done & Done have experienced. So there seems to be disparity between how the Book of Mormon is presented and some people's actual experience with it.

I might add that from time to time missionaries will ask me if I've read the Book of Mormon and if I've prayed about it. I reply that I've not read it all the way through and I've not prayed about it. They ask why I've not prayed about it, and I reply that it seems that the Book of Mormon indicates that such prayer must be sincere, and that I would not be sincere if I tried to pray about it. So far they've had no answer for that except to bear their testimonies.

Just in case you haven't heard about the missionary who was saved by the Book of Mormon.

Two missionaries were proselyting in a bad part of town and one was the victim of gunfire. The trajectory of the bullet went right for his heart but because it hit a Book of Mormon he happened to be holding to his chest, he did not die. Apparently, the bullet couldn't get past Second Nephi.

Done & Done Wrote:
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> Just in case you haven't heard about the
> missionary who was saved by the Book of Mormon.
>
> Two missionaries were proselyting in a bad part of
> town and one was the victim of gunfire. The
> trajectory of the bullet went right for his heart
> but because it hit a Book of Mormon he happened to
> be holding to his chest, he did not die.
> Apparently, the bullet couldn't get past Second
> Nephi.

:-) Yes, I've heard this, and it has been told to me more than once by Mormon missionaries! Sometimes it has been part of their response to my confessing the difficulty I've had in getting through the Book of Mormon. Certainly if the missionaries want their investigators to read the book, Joseph including Second Nephi near the beginning of it doesn't help!

Does such a person exist like that!???

Anonymous 2 Wrote:
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> Does such a person exist like that!???

I doubt that there has ever been a Mormon missionary who, before going into the mission field, has completely attained all of the "ideals" I listed. And I wonder if it would even be possible to, in any practical way, attain them all. But my thought was that to the extent that there is a lack in any of these areas in a missionary, his or her effectiveness will be more or less diminished. I doubt, however, that even if such ideal missionaries actually appeared on the scene that they'd have total success in converting people.

I also think that if someone preparing for a mission actually was striving to live up to these ideals, it could lead to a loss of the potential missionary's testimony rather than strengthening it.

If anyone has thoughts of what effect on the mission field such "ideal missionaries" might have, I'd be interested in hearing.