I told them I recognized them from half a block away, just from the way they matched and walked together, across the front lawn of our State Capitol.
I told them I was a missionary once, a long time ago in Australia. They adked me how I liked the mission. I said I loved Oz, but trying to convince Australians that they needed to go to church at the Mormon church was a tough sell.
They laughed and asked if I was still Mormon. I told them I wasn't. They asked why. I said, "Long story short, because I couldn't honestly answers the serious questions facing the 19th Century church in the 21st Century."
They asked, "Like what?"
"Do you really want to know?"
They said they did.
I said, "Well the thing I can't figure out is why Mormons don't care about people insulting them, their Holy book, their prophet, and blaspheming their God on Broadway. If you staged "The Koran on Broadway" you could guarantee it wouldnt be a smash hit, the theater would get bombed on opening night and every night it tried to stage the production. Why is there such a huge difference between Mormons non-reaction to being insulted on the worlds biggest stage and Muslim reactions to being slighted in thevleast?"
They just shrugged their shoulders like, gee, we are just nice people and Muslims are violent.
Right then their bus pulled up and I wrapped it up by saying, "Well, hey guys, I just hope its like the 80's when everybody thought Reagan was about to start WWIII but he ended up ending the cold war and ushering in a decade of peace and prosperity instead."
They agreed, said it was good chatting and got on their bus.

They should have pointed out that Mormons are Christian( turn the other cheek, etc). Muslims are not... they're Old School.( eye for eye guys). Better answer than " we're just nicer guys".

As for Regan in the 80's, they had no idea what or who you were talking about....they're 20, born in 97-98. You may as well talk to them about FDR. Sounds like you missed a good opportunity.

I suppose, but it felt good just to have a rwal conversation with them and leaving on good, hopeful terms. Not feeling any need to hit the record button on my phone, but knowing Id write about this moment, using a different approach.

Yeah, I agree. They would probably rather be somewhere else. We don't need to get into it if they're good guys not looking for a fight..good on ya.

I thought you'd have mentioned the stoners in the cat in the hat on the rack sack attack in the back of the book of mormon tea pot - the fact that you sold Joseph as a profit that used his gold plates story as taught by tscc and now they say it was all a hoax-lie, but they still teach the mishies the bs (book story).

moremany Wrote:
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> I thought you'd have mentioned the stoners in the
> cat in the hat on the rack sack attack in the back
> of the book of mormon tea pot - the fact that you
> sold Joseph as a profit that used his gold plates
> story as taught by tscc and now they say it was
> all a hoax-lie, but they still teach the mishies
> the bs (book story).

Dr Suess of ExMoism?

Thanks, but nah, probably just similaritie - good stuff anyway (as a writer- no longer a wronger) - I always have a ball... of course cats like to play with balls. That would likely be, 'The cock of the walk with a rock that could talk in the flat back hat on the hood of the car not far from the dock with a tick tock time bomb that could go off - and on and on - at any time, with or without a rhyme' type of booklet.

It's rather telling that the mishies first question always seems to be "are you still a member?" Falling away is so common that it's nearly expected. Why would someone who is so apparently committed to TSCC that they're on a mission nearly assume (or reasonably fear) that another former mishie wouldn't still be committed?

Anyway, always a good idea to plant seeds with mishies, but I think the question about the Broadway show isn't likely to make a big impact. After all, it IS true that the cast and crew of the Broadway show have nothing to fear, whereas they might if other religions were singled out this way. That, naturally, is no proof that TSCC is twoo. Of course, if it were earlier in the cult's history, the opposite might be true. For example, Joseph Smith probably would have ordered the theatre destroyed, and Brigham Young probably would have ordered the cast and crew to be murdered.

I don't mean this to sound like an attack, koriwhore, but given all your posted chats with the online mishies, I'm surprised that this is the question you posed to them. At the same time, I understand what it's like to be caught off guard by a chance meeting.

I've made it a point to be armed with some thought provoking questions, and have the essays "favorited" on my iPhone so I can pull stuff up directly on LDS.org. Of course, since I've prepped myself in this way, I haven't encountered any mishies... :(

Im interested in what you'd ask in a 5min. Chance encounter on the street. I'm interested in the contrast between Mormon reaction to ridicule, vs. Muslim reaction, given the state of current affairs.
I wanted to gain some insight into that ironic juxtaposition.
As a Zen Dudeist, I'm a big fan of irony.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/17/2017 03:37PM by koriwhore.

They could ask me any (ONE) question an then I would have the floor, all the way to the end, asking them question after question; all they could do is answer (not question, except themselves/ their 'church').

Each question would lead to the next. For example, "what do you..."; how do you..."; why do you..."; what if you/ it..."? They would have so many questions after this (chance-blessed) encounter that they may not know where to turn, but themselves/ God/ the internet... wherever truth may be found.

Joseph's Myth would only get a cameo in this encounter, and tscc, as a hole, would be like a rabbit, only causing more questions.

Nobody really knows how it would go. Every encounter with the (over the counter cultURE) 'suits' would be different. I would plant so many seeds they would quickly have to learn to garden, chop down the weeds, grow to appreciate healthy, honest, organic soil, etc...

I would say, I'M STILL A MISSIONARY... now I just know - and tell - the truth, the whole truth, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.

M@t

Cool, yeah, I was just on my way to a Football game and knew they had a bus on the way. I hoped for a longer conversation about how they deal with all the disturbing 'revelations' out of the Ivory Tower in SLC these days. There's no way I could be a missionary now, trying to compete with the Information Age, Google and the likes.
I actually had a Bishop who was 'inspired' to call me and my wife to be "Stake Missionaries" when I was NOM and my testimony was on the rocks. He was a Communications Professor at a local university.

I said to him, "Yeah, I'd hate being a missionary these days, with the internet and everything. How in the world would they keep up with Google?"
His response was interesting, "Yeah, there's a lot of garbage out there. You've got to be able to filter it out. But man, who could help but be impressed with these missionaries huh?"
I felt like I was at an Amway sales meeting, he's diagraming how the Stake President had a vision of how we could double the size of the Stake in 5 years, just by having one baptism a week, in each ward.
I wasn't nearly as exuberant about the Stake President's goals as him and turned down his 'calling'.

I think you behaved very decently and potentially made an impression. Not to imply that there is one "right" or "best" way to talk with missionaries, but in my opinion, being friendly and not being unnecessarily confrontational seems like a pretty good approach.

Thanks, yeah, it really depends on the situation.
I normally get all geared up and hit the record button on my video camera on my phone if I know I'm about to have an encounter with a couple of Doomsday Cult recruiters.
But they got the drop on me this time.
What I was hoping to get to with that line of questioning was why is the world's biggest army of Doomsday Cult recruiters wasting their time every day, trying to convince strangers to sing the praises of a pedophile conman, Joseph's Myth, when they could be fighting the biggest existential threat to civilization instead?

Last time I was stopped by missionaries, I told them my name was Lemuel. :)

Brazilian Luke Wrote:
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> Last time I was stopped by missionaries, I told
> them my name was Lemuel. :)

As opposed to lame-man. Aha!

Where they are going, actually...

When I say mishie, I mean 'anti-moron-missionaries', or, against the 'mission of the moron church, as it has apostasised', or, for the mission of truth and light.

Tell the missionaries you are on an eternal (no beginning and no end) mission. Life mission. Beautiful mission!

I like my mormonthink.com (and soon cesletter.com & exmormon.org) stamp(s) - honest education, 24/7, no deviation. Party time job. Full time living. That's my mission: telling the world the truth. Being myself. Being happy!