So, last night, my wife and I were enjoying a quiet night at home, when the doorbell rang. We weren't expecting anyone and thought our days of unexpected Mormon visitors was over, so I went to check the door. In fact, our front lights were off and the lights in the lower level in our house were all off. But there was a persistent knocking so I was a little worried about who it might have been.

Low and behold, it was 3 missionaries.

I answered the door, they said they were missionaries, I said, "We're not interested"... The "leader" asked if he could leave his card, I said, "Nope" and closed the door and turned off the lights and walked away.

They had obviously come to our house, they parked in front and left the neighborhood immediately. I watched from the window and they kept looking back. I'm sure I looked evil as I watched out the window as they left.

We resigned a year ago and hoped that we would not be contacted again... So, I'm wondering if there is a new push to contact even people who have resigned? Why would you do that? Wouldn't resigning be a pretty firm "leave me alone?" statement.

Well, I sent the following to the local Bishop, haven't heard back yet, may not, if I do, I'll post the response...

Email to Bishop:
----------------------------
According to the LDS church website, I believe you are still Bishop of the local ward. If not, let me know to whom I should forward this, and I'll take care of it.

I don't know if you remember, but just over a year ago, my wife and I resigned our membership in the LDS church (I attached the emails). Everything was handled quickly and we received our final paperwork in a timely fashion. We thought the matter closed.

So, we were surprised late last night when three missionaries showed up on our doorstep. They had obviously come to see us specifically, they had parked in front of our house and immediately left the neighborhood when I expressed that we were not interested.

Please inform the missionaries and the other leaders in your ward that such visits are not welcome and this should not happen again. We wish no further contact from your church. I thought I was clear in the original e-mail, but just in case, let me state it again... We will not be returning to the LDS church in any way shape or form. We will not be changing our minds.

Thank you for your help in resolving this matter.
----------------------------

Has anyone else been contacted so long after resigning?

I can't give you a good answer on this since I resigned about 3 months ago and haven't had any contact.

Curious though, are you in Utah? I'm not, so the church here is quite sparse.

I know on my mission, we would regularly visit less actives by knocking on their doors. We would use current branch/ward member lists. So unless they were using an old list, I'm not sure how they would have found you unless they were specifically directed to you by some member that "cares" about you.

I'm out in the "mission field" as it were as well... In a small mainly Lutheran community. So, it's not a matter of being surrounded by the LDS by any stretch of the imagination. I'm actually surprised that the city I'm in supports a full ward.

As for the ward/member lists, I would like to think that in this day and age, that even the church could keep accurate membership records. I've never even attended the local ward, never met anyone here at all.

I have to wonder if my parents or some other well meaning old family friend sent them over.

That drops the tracting excuse as well. Had you lived in Utah it wouldn't have been uncommon for the missionaries to just drive to every non member house while tracting simply because in some areas members are few and far between. But for you, there is now no question they were driving out specifically to see you. I know that had I been notified by some senior missionary or member of the ward to do that I would have refused to go. If there was three and only one talked I wonder how the other two were feeling.

Do you have LDS family who might have sent them?

That's the only thing I can think of. My parents have been known to make sure that the church has accurate addresses for all their children, even though none of their kids are active (I believe I'm the only one who officially resigned though).

I have to wonder if they did it when they realized that we are listed differently on their tithing settlement slips... It might be an interesting conversation the next time I call...

That could be. We don't have family trying to bring us back, even though some are TBM. The members of our ward aren't really sure what to think. They are starting to realize that we are not struggling or misguided. It's more serious than that. I think they're expecting to feel an evil spirit in our home instead of the peace and happiness that exists.

They showed up last weekend. Almost a year to the day.

Now that I think about it, it's probably exactly a year from when I got the response letters back (they are about a month off from when we sent in the paperwork).

So, now I'm wondering if they have started a program to contact people who resign a year later to see if they really meant it.

I know we're still counted when they release their numbers, because heaven forbid they show a decline in numbers, but are "resigned members" flagged for a follow up visit a year later? If so, that's not a good idea.

Good use of correct language. It's no longer our church -- it's their church.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/05/2012 11:57AM by Makurosu.

I actually didn't have it in there on my first writing of the e-mail. It was so ingrained to say "THE" church. Thankfully, I always proofread these things before I send them and caught my mistake. I wanted to be absolutely clear that I do not consider myself a member of their church at all.

To quote the Eagles "You can check out anytime you want but you can never leave"

They came to see whether you regretted condemning yourself to a lesser kingdom but were too proud to take the first step back into the loving embrace of the One True Gospel.

Or maybe they were looking for a sympathetic ear for their doubts, and maybe be offered beers.

"Everyone who leaves the church is weeping with regret." ...

You know I think that they actually believe that. It wouldn't surprise me if that's why they would institute a policy of a one year later contact, just to see how many people want to "return to the fold".

I would say its probably not a very effective policy, but they have to give the Missionaries something to do. And having them knock on the doors of people they know will give them a negative response is probably a lesson similar to "See how the evil apostate responds to our message of love? YOu don't want to be like that! Do you?"

You can always pull a "Cheryl"...or is it a "CA Girl"...either way...use the hose on them next time

There ya go....problem solved...:)

They often send mishies around periodically in hopes you're in some kind of crisis and would like to return for moral support.

Silly assumption, isn't it?

It is a silly assumption. It's preying on potential weakness.

BTW, your story has been a big help to me as I left the church. I know what you went through wasn't easy and I appreciate you sharing here. I love that you never forget who the real victims are and are willing to stand up for them.

We had missionaries that came 5 years after I resigned and asked for me by name. They said they wanted to know if I still wanted to be out of the church.

Unbelievable.

That's crazy! 5 years? At some point they can no longer use the "it was an old ward list" excuse.

I don't know... I had some pretty old ward lists on my mission! The worst was stopping by a "less-active" member's house and being met with, "The person you're looking for died __ years ago... good to know your church cares, though..."

Now that I think about it, I vaguely remember a zone leader telling us to look through old ward lists to see if there were any "inactives" that might still be around to try and reactivate. I hope I wasn't so stupid as to try that... I've block out most of my mission, I really can't remember the majority of those two years.

This was in a ward, stake, and state where I had never set foot in any mormon building.