I have been a long time lurker here and am fascinated by the whole Mormon story. Never been one though, and never will. However I did finally get the chance to talk to the missionaries when they came by today, and I got to hear their story first hand for the first time.

Both about 19, one was a farm boy type from St George, Utah, the other was a monosyllabic Polynesian. I treated them well, gave them a drink and we had a nice chat in the autumn sunshine.

They gave me a Book of Mormon and took me through the whole ridiculous story by showing me the pictures at the front of the book. I asked them to confirm that they believed the magical stuff about the American civilisation, the visit by Jesus, the plates etc, which Elder N. did, but he did admit that he had had to pray a lot about it before he was convinced of its truth. He said that the plates were taken away by Moroni because otherwise everybody would see the evidence of the truth and there would be no reason to have faith. I didn't try to argue with this irrational position, but I was looking to see from his expression if he really believed it, or was just going through the motions. He was pretty flat, rather than enthusiastic, and I suspect he was having his life-force sucked from him by his whole experience.

They were a bit bemused by the fact that I was pretty well informed about their religion but that I had no spiritual needs or any belief in God. They asked me to pray to get some confirmation of the story, but I said that I could not see myself praying to a God I didn't believe in.

They seem to have it reasonably comfortable here in Perth, living in a flat in a pleasant inner suburb, driving a car, but also using bicycles often, which is pretty easy in this flat city with its cycle paths and dry weather. Their beat is the affluent western suburbs along the beaches, but of course no time for swimming. They said there were 140 missionaries in Western Australia (a giant state, but most of the state's population is in Perth), which seemed quite a lot to me.

In conversation I asked Elder N for his first name, as I'd missed it on his introduction. Turned out his name was Elder N. I got him to tell me his first name (Josh) and suggested that he use his first name when introducing himself to people, especially here in Australia, where we tend to avoid formalities as much as possible. He said they use the term Elder as a mark of respect to the Church. As if other people should have respect for his self-proclaimed religious status. Not so different to a Catholic priest or protestant Bishop or even a university professor using an honorific title, except that this is a 19 year old kid.

Anyway, I figured there was no point in being argumentative, but I did make my scepticism clear when asking him to tell the magic story. He told me how to reach him if I wanted to talk about it more, and suggested another meeting next week if I was interested but I said I was only interested in a sociological sense and not in spiritual guidance.

I felt sorry for them both, not least because they were such different types that I could not imagine how they could stand spending so much time together. But, at least they are in a safe city and unlikely to get into any serious trouble. Josh is going to go home in 12 months and do business studies at something called Dixie University (I think), the other chap was nearly done with his 2 years and already had a frangipani flower behind his ear, no doubt keen to get home too.

Josh said that he was making a twice-yearly Skype call home tomorrow, and that they are not allowed much contact with home. We agreed that they would probably get too homesick if they had more contact. I asked about the passport confiscation, and he said that they willingly handed them over to avoid the risk of losing them (really?). He agreed with me when I suggested that he would be allowed to go home if there was an emergency, but didn't respond when I mentioned that imagined it was hard for them to go home early for any reason, and that people expected them to put in a solid two year shift.

Anyway, now that I have done that, I probably don't need to do it again, but it was a reasonably interesting way to spend a half hour on a Saturday morning...

75 missionary pairs for the whole of WA

That is so bad it's hilarious.

Nobody gives a flying f**k about the morgbots in the land down under

A 19 year old kid, with no formal education, zero life experince from the hick town of St. George, Utah believes he should be called elder. From this worldly 62 year old, I'd say, No!

These poor kids having their youth stolen from them, should be a crime.

You should have asked them to tell you some mormon doctrine.

That would have been embarrassing for them, and excruciating for me!

Nice to meet another Sandgroper, oldpobot. I'm in a suburb along Leach highway from Freo and we haven't had any missionaries knock on our door for several years.

I wonder if we'll get tomorrow's threatened storm.

Those clouds are still slowly coming in over Freo Lindy, but not much of a storm, I'd say.

I reckon it must be a very hard slog for the Mormon misshies here. Its a long time since I heard any one express any interest in religious ideas of any kind, other than criticisms of the churches involved in the child abuse Inquiry.

Thanks for treating them kindly. They're kids. Hopefully as they mature, they'll see the folly in trying to change Australia's culture to be like St. George's.

Now if we could get you and several of your mates to come over to Utah and make us be more like Australians, Utah might become more bearable. The Roo's Boner.

Boner, If a few Aussies came over and tried to make Utah "Aussiefied" you'd be driving on the left hand side of the road ;)

Being an EXMO in Utah feels like I'm driving on the left side of the road. :)

I'd actually love to come to Utah to see for myself how the Mormon culture plays out in reality. Honestly, it is a unique situation in the western world to have a whole state so virtually theocratic (and in such a weird way). I'd like to see the Temple and some of the key Mormon sites as a tourist.

Also from all the descriptions on this site, it sounds like there is plenty of great mountain scenery and outdoors activity.

Well, I want to see Australia! Mostly because every Aussie I've meet was warm, funny, and took the right speed while going through life. Where else is calling someone a bastard a compliment? :)

When you do get to Utah, get away from the SLC/Wasatch Front. About 80% of Utah's population is within about 75 km from SLC. The best place is Utah, IMO, is the Southeastern "Four Corners" where Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico meet. There are wonderful modern Native American cultures--Ute and Dine; and the ancient Anasazi dwellings. You'll go through the biking and rafting capital of Moab, UT (right n the Colorado River) and can hit Canyonlands, Mesa Verde, and Monument Valley.

I hope all your dreams close and future come true! The Boner.

Thanks Boner for the travel tips. One of these days, when the kids are older...

But don't be too starry-eyed about Australians. We have our faults, like anyone else. We like to think we are laid-back and egalitarian, but we are probably just as stressed and Trump-scarred as everyone else in the world...

"monosyllabic Polynesian"

There's a RfM screen name if I ever saw one.

Perth sounds lovely. Wish I could visit.

That poor missionary is fully indoctrinated and incapable of using his own brain for original thought.

Yes Cheryl, the poor kid was trying to toe the company line, but was pretty joyless. At least he honest enough to admit that he had had some trouble with believing "the magic stuff" as I called it. And he looked a bit glum trying to convince me that a massive civilisation with huge grand buildings had come and gone somewhere in 'America' without leaving a trace.

I visited Perth for two weeks in September, 1984. It is a wonderful and magnificent city.

Perth would have changed a bit in that time, what with mining booms and busts and population increase. We moved here about 4 years ago from Melbourne, largely to slow down a little and see some sunshine. Honestly the climate is the best thing - sunshine for 8 months straight, then a short damp mild winter. Great for young families and keeping kids outside and active.

All ex-mos welcome to visit when northern hemisphere life wears thin!

I served a 2-year mission in the Philippines in 1986. Some of my companions were from Australia. I remember one was from Sydney and one from Brisbane. I have never met anyone from Perth.

I've been out of the cult for 14 years now and I do look back at my mission as a big waste of time. Still, in some small way it did make me who I am today. I'm certainly not as gullible as I used to be. I haven't seen missionaries in years. (i live in the north-bay-area of San Francisco).

I wonder if those kids ever realize while they are out there that they are living in a controlling cult? It took me years to figure that one out. What choice do they have? If they leave their mission early they will come home in disgrace. They will be disowned. No mormon woman will want to marry them. They can never live that down if they continue in the cult.

I wish some missionaries would visit me. I would love to show them kindness. I know they are under the thrall of the cult but they are in a really tough spot. I would just want to be a friend to them. Allow them to be themselves. It sounds like that is what you did. I'm glad you talked to them and hopefully got them to think a little bit.

What's the bit about passport confiscation? Is that common in Australia for missionaries, or Americans, or both?

Krepta Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What's the bit about passport confiscation? Is
> that common in Australia for missionaries, or
> Americans, or both?

Krepta, Yes the mishies passports are confiscated on arrival or at least they were 10 years ago when I was a tbm

A recent article about mishies in Australia


http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-04/mormons-in-katherine/8217694

How ridiculous is that? Katherine is a tiny town hundreds of kilometres from anywhere. Those lads are the only people within 1000km wearing ties and long pants.

How long would the boys be deployed there, and how would they retain any converts? Cant imagine they would have any Mormons at all to make up a ward or a stake or whatever, let alone access to a temple!

Nearest population centre likely to have any wards, or indeed Mormons, would be Darwin, over 300km to the north. Any converted Mormon aborigines of Katherine would fall away pretty rapidly.

Couldn't agree more with your post above oldpobot

My father joined the church in 1966 in Perth.

I asked him about his conversion story, but he wont tell me now that I left the fold. Told me it would be like "pearls before swine".

I suspect he was just bored and lonely, and back in the 60's the church was a much more social and fun place to be.