Hi! Thanks to all who responded to my thread about "How The Mishies Think You Are All Hateful!" Thanks for the interest in my cute puppy, who is 1/2 St.Bernard 1/2 Great Pyrenees and has beautiful markings and loves to get into mischief. As I suspected from the data collected about my previous question, everyone has a plethora of opinions and feelings about the mormon church....so they lied when they said everyone on this site hates the mormon church. :) Another thing I hated about my interactions with these mishies is how they tried to pretend they were sad my sister-in-law was verbally harrassed by the fellow BYU male accounting students and professors. They said, "I feel so very sad your sister-in-law had to go through that, but we have never seen anything like that." I guess the Missionary Training Center is trying to teach them empathy. If they had true empathy, they would understand the church is not for everybody! Also, once when I was in church, the mishes came to our service, prowling around for converts. I walked over to their pew and handed them a notes that said, "Please check out www.exmormon.org" I have not seen mishes at our church since! I guess this website is like aiming a wooden cross at a vampire to them. Does anybody have any further advice on how to deal with mishes? I am not proud of this but I have given them the finger when they were riding their bikes around town.

I'm from your neck of the woods. which church do you go to?

Once upon a time I was a Jesus Peddler for the mormon church. First off I would say telling them to "Fuck off" with your hand is rude and offensive. Most of the guys and gals out there are already fucking depressed and angry.

Tell them that you have absolutely no interest in the church and if they continue to harass you that you will contact your attorney. Most will listen, it is only the hardcore assbags that continue to push.

Later,
DTNR

Here I thought flipping someone off was meant as a gesture of brotherly love and friendship. ;)

So excited to see this thread! My husband and I (as well as our 18 yo son and 21 yo daughter) left the mormon church in 2009 and live in the Huntsville, AL area. We've been searching for other exmormons to talk to and would LOVE to meet anyone who is willing! We do not attend any church now, and do not consider it a necessity to do so. We come with absolutely no judgment though, and look forward to meeting some like-minded people! :)

Anyone who has dealings with mormons is likely to have recovery issues.

When dealing with mishies there's no need to try to imagine how the interaction is impressing them unless it helps *your* recovery in some way.

You can be cordial, plant seeds, try to deconvert them, be stanoffish, flip them off, be irate, or avoid them like death itself, whatever works.

I went through all of the love-bombing, empathy, "I/we care for you" " Is there anything you need me to do for you" All sounded so kind, nice, etc. until the last one kept getting repeated, then I thought it was probably scripted. I'm from MS. here! I don't know if I'd call it arrogance in my case, but they were very aggressive. They always seemed somewhat humble @ the door,did appear very confidant, but I've since heard stories about how in the church they are very arrogant.(not just confidant) My husband is deceased and "eternal marriage" almost got me. I had to let it be known, w/that said, always being cordial, but had to let it be know SEVERAL times that I wasn't interested in joining the LDS faith. I ALMOST joined and did back out. They almost wouldn't take No for an answer & finally they did. I learned my lesson that to show NO INTEREST whatsoever from the beginning. Kon't know, but if that would have been the case, they may not have kept having to hear me state "not interested" so when i relocate if/when I'm faced w/this, I'll know to be cordial but let it be known, no verses, prayers, etc.

Dear Major Bidamon: I do not want to mention the exact church I attend on this Board.....but, I will say this much, it is a big church on Whitesburg. A few years back, a Black mormon missionary and his companion were always riding by the Exxon station on Whitesburg. I had to laugh to myself because I was in my kitchen circa 1978 and I heard the radio announce the mormon church was finally letting Blacks in the church. If it had been 30 years earlier, he could not have had the priveledge of being a Jesus peddler for the mormon church...love that new term for a mishie by DTheNonReligious.

I think I know the church. fyi, there's a growing population of exmos in this area. good to see a fellow huntsvillian!

Major Bidamon, I didn't know you resided in AL. Right next to you in MS here.

Hi deb ... been following your story the last few weeks. nice "meeting" you ;)

you, as well

I know for a fact that there is a good population of exmos there also. We really should have our own meetup/mini exmo conf. in Huntsville sometime. It would be easy for anyone who wanted to come from Nashville, Birmingham, or MS. I'd even drive over from Memphis.

trying to sell their product............

If you run across pushy, aggressive missionaries, it is appropriate to be very firm in your lack of interest in their sales pitch.

However, most Mormon missionaries are on a mission because the pressure to serve a mission is severe and the choice not to serve a mission is social suicide in the church. Many Mormon missionaries are lonely and hate what they have to do, yet they know that they have to fake looking happy and spiritual in order to make the Mormon church look good. Mormon youth are between a rock and a hard place! Such missionaries are grateful for anyone who shows them kindness.

For more information on this topic, read the real-life experiences of Mormon missionaries on this link:

http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon395.htm

Any suggestions on why Baptists can't quit talking about church nonstop (in a workplace and everywhere else) as if everyone is interested in:

a) their weekly choir practice, complete with rehearsals while working
b) summary of every insane sermon their pastor gave last week
c) their upcoming church bus trip to (random activity) Praise Him!
d) interpretations of Bible babble, completely taken out of context (Thank you Jesus! Glory!)
e) the crazy antics of the Youth Pastor
f) how they cried watching Passion of the Christ, the Jesus snuff film (one said, "I wanted to say I'm sorry for causing him such pain!") ....
I could go through the entire alphabet.

I think they are only doing what they know, as are Mormons. Here in Birmingham (I've only been here a few months), I can honestly say Baptists are way more in your face than Mormons ever were in SE Idaho.

Neither has any idea that someone wouldn't want to hear about their church. They are sharing what they do. Unfortunately, they don't all get that just maybe their audience isn't all that fond of their religion.

Living here has given me a lot more tolerance for Mormons who are just as nice as the Born Again folks here who are just living and sharing what they know and do. I don't think it occurs to them that they come across as one dimensional.

One thing I have learned is that I can usually find something I admire about everyone once I get to know them. I'm developing the ability to tune out the religious noise instead of letting it grate on me. In Alabama it's not like I have a choice to breathe religion free air.

Speaking of Huntsville, my favorite resident there, Antoine Dodson got busted for possession? Hide your stash, hide your bong!

I luvs me some Antoine,

glad to see he's got some disposable.

yes, you are basically in the bible belt, now.

I love the other new term I learned on this thread...along with "Jesus Peddler", I learned "Religion Free Air"! Love the creativity of y'all!

I love those. The Jesus Peddler is perfect... I never had understood so very much aggressiveness w/the missionaries, b/c i had to wonder they are not on commission or anything. From what I gather you get ALL of this Love-bombing,kind words, etc. from members, bishop, miss., etc & then wahla, you are dunked. All of the members, etc. quit love-bombing.

Joseph Peddler is also appropriate.

Even though I was w/in a hair of being "sold" it wasn't maybe that i did or didn't believe but for some reason even though i was literally euphoric for some time, I could just never get interested in Joseph Smith and his miraculous events in life. Got interested in BOM @ first, but, that didn't last.