I had dinner at an older sisters house the other night. She had the missionaries over for dinner and needed a male to be in the house. Great dinner but what an eye openner.

Missionaries seemed nice but typical high school and college behavior and thinking. I know as I just finished teaching this age bracket.

I mentioned I saw 3 missionaries on subway or the Light Rail Transit the other day. I said I say these three guys were getting off at a train station. They acted like idiots. I passed them and saw their missionaries tags. Not great examples.

At dinner they produced pictures of these 3 guys on their Ipads. "Oh these are train missionaries. They ride the train all day and talk to people. That is there assignment to do missionary work." They can dress down a little." I again wanted to make sure I had this correct. "You mean they ride the train all day in the city and try to talk to people." Yes.

Anyone see anything wrong with this besides it against the law to sell stuff on public property owned by the tax payers without a permit? 1. What a waste of time. 2. They get to act like school kids all day long.3. Who in there right mind wants to be hounded by 3 teenagers? 4. Is this what their parents think they are paying for?

So I talked about their dress. They told me they could dress down a bit as long as they had a white shirt and tie. The way they were dressed you would hardly notice they were LDS missionaries on the train. He said they were to fit in with the people.

The missionary at dinner then said that lots of missionaries now take there white shirts, make them like a tank top, so when they wear them, they wear a tie and a sweater over the shirt. No one knows they do not have sleeves in the shirt and its only has the length of the first three buttons. It looks like they are wearing a shirt and tie. They said laughing that it is comfortable. I then said what about "having the spirit with you when you do stuff like this." They just laughed like it was not important.

The mission president shuffles the missionaries around every 3 to 4 weeks. No one stays in the same ward or branch longer than that. I found that odd.These guys were concerned that by tomorrow morning they would be broken up as a missionary pair and they liked being a missionary pair. Is this just some sort of external control that the mission president has?

Can we say the Church is dumbing down on everything but paying your tithing? What a waste of 2 years for these young people.

Although it is, sort of, selling, they are not soliciting something for money, just talking (proseltyzing). Talking to people may be annoying on public transit, but it is legal. Hopefully they have the sense to break off when they encounter rejection or lack of interest. (For one thing, that's rude and counterproductive.) Get too pushy, and it becomes harassment. Then the law can get involved, at least theoretically.

The MP's policy of rapid rotation strikes me as ill-advised. Missionary work is, after all, a sales pitch, and salesmen should stay in their territory long enough to get to know it, and their support group (partners, ward, etc.)

On the train they have a captive audience, people can't just brush them off with "no thanks, I've gotta go" as they are just sitting there for the length of their commute. That is until the transit authority gets enough complaints that they are bothering people working the trains.

A lot of policy things seem a bit superficial, meh. What is more concerning is their maturity level -- that is one of the downsides of the missionary age change. Who is going to take advice on spirtual matters from clowns? Good to see that backfiring.

The constant moving and rotating will keep the kid missionaries feeling off balance 24/7. They won't ever be feeling secure. They will be constantly needy for security. The leaders may like it this way because it makes them easier to control and less likely that they will establish any bonds with members, investigators, companions. They will have only the MP and AP's to look to for support. But.......


This is also a recipe for stress and breakdowns. This could result in even more missionaries going home early. Is that what they want? It could also throw these kids into the arms of any woman available to give them sex as a substitute for comfort.

The best part of my mission was not the success in conversions because I didn't convert anyone. But the bonds with other missionaries and people I met in France and Switzerland were priceless. It's why I, to this day, am glad I served my mission.

When I was in h.school, the fish's used the YMCA as one of their locations for contacting people-

Until YMCA managers got wind of it, that is...

I'm guessing they didn't wear name tags in the locker-shower area, but hey...