My mission was early 60's. Never heard of a magic peepstone and a hat.
Flannel board characters were Gold Plates, urim & thummin(? -maybe - it has been awhile) and Book of mormon.

I know we had not magic peepstones and no hat.

When did this new story become part of the missionary discussions/lessons?

Is that what they teach now?

Gold Plates from God are way different than magic rocks and hats - aren't they?

It's not what they have tried in their door approach, or meeting you on the street.

I've told the last few missionaries I came across some of the reasons that I left. I haven't seen any in awhile--knock on wood. I guess that's what I get for living 2 miles from a temple.

Yeah, but like you I never learned about the peep stones until I was starting to make the journey out of the LDS Church.

It's been a few years since I've "taken" any of the lessons, so I don't know what they teach, but I do talk about this sometimes with the missionaries who come by for dinner.

I would say that a large percentage of the missionaries are not aware of the stone in the hat. Once, a more informed missionary told his confused companion after I mentioned it, "Yeah, it's true. I'll tell you about it later."

I don't think that they have been specifically instructed to discuss the alleged translation process of the BoM. I think they are taught to sidestep the issue by testifying that the BoM came forth by the power of god through JS.

I can understand that today's missionaries (and members), would rather not bring this ridiculous doctrine up for a matter of discussion.

And there's the problem. A church that prides itself about prophecy and revelation invites these types of concerns. The coming forth of the BoM was the benchmark of the discussion. If people were truly paying attention, then they would ask or demand to know. If they were asleep then they would just be head bobbing.

We had some fun discussions. At one point, I asked them if they knew about the holy hat & sacred stone deal (aka, the peepstone translation device).

These guys seemed sharper than average and had read the essays and knew that it wasn't just an anti-Mormon rumor.

But it was obvious that it wasn't something they would bring up on their own in any discussions with an investigator. When talking about the origin of the Book of Mormon, their canned presentation does not mention it. They still like to talk about the translation process in a way that makes it sound like Joseph Smith was studiously examining the inscriptions on the golden plates, page by page, and relying on pure inspiration to guide his mind to the correct translation.

Deep down, I'm pretty sure they feel pretty embarrassed about the true story of the translation process. But when I asked them about it, they put on a brave face and pretended like it was a great thing... "Sure! Why could God not make the translation known through a process that made sense to Joseph Smith? Wouldn't we all feel more comfortable sticking a rock in a hat and then stuffing our face into the hat to block out the external light so that we could concentrate on the glowing words appearing in the rock? Nothing strange about it at all!
It's not ridiculous at all! That's how I use my cell phone. Much easier to use when I stick it in a hat."