A little over a year ago a friend and I established a relationship with some sister missionaries (in hopes of shairing truth with them) we would meet with them regularly and
Discuss the Bible and were pretty effective in distracting them from their planned lessons. We went through several sets of missionaries inviting to to our church and built up a fairly positive rapport with them. However, as time went by we lost contact with missionaries for several months and went on with our lives. Recently the missionaries have found me again despite having moved out of the original area. My friend is no longer interested in meeting with them and I am becoming exhausted emotionally and spiritually from the constant pressure to listen to lessons, provide dinner appointments, and meet.i have told them numerous times that while I believe they are well meaning young ladies I do not have intentions of being baptized and I do not believe Joseph Smith is a prophet or that the Book of Mormon is true. I have pretty much given up on reaching them and I just want them to leave me alone but I am having a very difficult time ridding myself of them. Probably because I care very much for the sisters and part of me still wants to help them. I feel very conflicted. Help!

I think that as long as you remain polite, they will take advantage of that and pester you. Or rather, try to save your soul...

You made it clear in your missive to us that you've politely explained the facts of life to them, but they are so emboldened by the sanctity of their goal (your salvation) that they will continue to take advantage of your civility.

TIME TO GET THE HOSE OUT!!!

Quit answering the door when they knock or ring. Quit taking the phone call and actively block it if you are able. IGNORE them. They will keep pestering you for as long as you keep responding to them.

Unfortunately all you can do is block their number. Ignore their calls. Don't let them in your house.

Their only concern is getting you into the church. They don't give a damn about you as a person, nor do they care about your opinions or ideology.

They are not trained to debate politely nor to understand boundries or the word no.

If you think of them as spoiled, ill mannered brats, it helps and you'd not be far off.

Once you realize they have deceived you. Are willing to eat your food and take advantage of your hospitality you'll see your way to send them packing.

Good luck.

Are you a guy living alone? I don't think the sisters are allowed to meet with you on their own in that case.

Yup, it's all about what they can extract from you: time, attention, and food. They have nothing to offer in turn.

They can't be "helped." They don't want to be "helped" except through exploiting you. If you're looking for a way to make them go away w/out offending them or hurting their feelings, it's probably not going to happen.

Tell them that this is their last chance to leave you alone w/out you becoming hostile or rude; that the next time, you will swear at them and call their church and prophet all sorts of hurtful names. *Maybe* they will get the message, but if not, be prepared to follow through, and then remind them that they were warned and it's all on them.

I’m not a guy haha that would be a big Nono for the sisters I can imagine I’m a married woman my friend and I are both girls. We started out trying to help them she got pregnant and dipped and now I’m just stuck.

Ok now everyone...don't be mean. Be kind but be firm and clear with them. Establish solid boundaries with them. Be very clear that you are not interested in the church but rather you are hoping to help them see that they are trapped in a cult.

There is no need to hose them down or sick the dog on them. Don't be passive either by not answering the door or the phone. Passivity and passive/aggressiveness are mormon traits and you will help them by showing how normal adults should treat each other.

I was in their shoes too. I know how it felt to be treated poorly by the non-mormons. Just being honest and kind goes a long way to help. If you are truly tired of trying to "help" them then just let them know they are not welcome and you don't want to talk to them anymore and leave it at that.

befriending missionaries is like taking in a stray cat. They will bug you for life.

can you get ringworm?

or worse

Decide if you want to keep meeting with them. If so, don't expect to help them.

If you don't want to see them, be blunt and firm. Tell them to stop bothering you and mean it. It will probably take saying this several times over time and you might also have to contact the bishop or mission president to make these visits cease.

Stop letting them come inside. Don't give long explanations about why you don't want them visiting. They'll never understand or give their permission to stop teaching you.

Ignoring them won't likely work. You must speak out or take some kind of action or they won't leave you alone. Once you've established a relationship, the missionaries count on spending their time chatting with you and they think the Lord will eventually touch your heart and they'll be able to convert you.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/03/2018 07:32AM by Cheryl.

I can't help but notice the irony -- you contacted them in an attempt to convert them, to beat them at their own game. Now they've turned the tables on you, pestering you to convert.

If there's "karma," you're getting what you merited :)

Do what Cheryl said.

And then perhaps in the future, recognize the problem with religious "truth" -- everybody thinks they are the only ones who have it, but nobody can demonstrate they do. So maybe wait for people to ask YOU about your religion, rather than trying to push your "truth" on them like the mormons do, and like you did.

To be fair, I didn’t seek them out. They approached me at target and we agreed to meet with them with the intent of sharing our truth: which consists of being kind but still drinking coffee haha we really just wanted to be kind to them because we know what they mostly encounter is slammed doors and damnations to hell (we’ll at lest from what the first two girls told us)

I do find the situational irony/karma of it to be quite humorous, as you’ve pointed out ;) we opened the door and now we are stuck

I'm glad you can see the humor in it :)

I like your statement, btw -- kind but still drinking coffee!

Having been a missionary (a long time ago), I did appreciate kind people who didn't slam their doors. But I also did what my MP told me, and tried to convert them, even if they said they had no interest. These girls are, I'm sure, in the same boat...and don't know how to simply accept your kindness without obeying their leaders and trying to bring you on board.

So, like I said...do what Cheryl said. Start out declining nicely, and if you must, be firm. It'll work...it did on me :)

Remember, missionaries are salespeople. They are not your friends. Do not mistake their friendly demeanor for personal affection for you. They are trying to sell you something.

You've decided you don't want their product. Tell them to hit the road. Be polite, but if they don't leave you alone make sure they understand that you are done with them.

You don't owe them anything, but they owe you respect. If they cannot respect you, then be more forceful and even rude if you have to be.