I had lunch with a pair of missionaries on Saturday and at one point during the meal asked them how much of the city they had tracted. They replied that they do very little tracting and that it is actually now being discouraged in their mission. They said the reason is that many missionaries dislike doing it and that there is very little return from the effort involved.

They also said that the titles of Senior Companion and Junior Companion are no longer being used, and that the Elders in a companionship are considered to be equals. I don't know if this is now true for all missions or not.

I have been hearing that tracting is going out. They now do only a little--eventually none at all? Now most door-knocking religious are JWs. Indeed, in my area people are forgetting that Mormons used to knock doors. When they hear a knock, they automatically groan: "Jehovah's Witnesses again!"

I live about 2 blocks from a chapel. I see missionaries on the street all the time. Getting them to talk to me is nearly impossible. That would have been unthinkable when I was an elder back in the stone age.

that seems like a waste of resources

Most often they 'tract' in public
On the beaten (eight) track

It's called "detracting".
It is not attractive.

Walking around like billboards
With nothing important to say

Waiting for someone to talk to
Praying for an 'investigator'

Hunting for dummies on the street
Seeking random misfit strangers

Trying to look busy
While not looking busy

Mind going in circles
Same with the wheels

Going there
Going there

Not really going anywhere
Hoping someone comes along

Doing little useful all day
Not going anywhere anyway

Not really teaching anyone
Everyone know it all anyway

Instead of door-to-door
Now it's window-to-window

If it weren't for their callings
They could do some calling themselves

Travel, learn, speak, do, and grow-
Freely, and by the spirit, of not

M@t

Why waste time tracting when they can be popping wheelies and making skidmarks in the street.

If they are not talking to people then what the hell do they do all day besides wasting time?

Do they volunteer at the family history center to help patrons order microfiche from SLC?

On my mission around the turn of the century knocking doors was supposed to be our last resort. Getting referrals from members was supposed to be the main focus. Many missionaries used that as an excuse to visit members and just hang out all day every day. Idiots like me still spent a lot of time knocking doors because members rarely gave referrals.

We thought that might be a fun treat for them.

We bought different types of sodas and a couple of ready-made snack platters (veggies with dip, cut-up fruit with dip, different bits of sausage and cheese with toothpicks) and settled in for the game.

The junior mish looked like he had suddenly found himself in Disneyland. They both dove into the goodies.

Before the end of the first quarter, the senior mish announced that they needed to get going. He didn't even thank us for the refreshments. The younger one looked like he wanted to cry.

No more Super Bowl offers.

that whatever the senior mish thought was so important that they had to leave early...turned into a big nothing.

They're so brainwashed that they actually think that they're getting brownie points in some ledger book in heaven whenever they walk away from "worldly temptations". And for missionaries, everything normal is a a "worldy temptation".

Don't spend any time getting to know the nice people who generously invited you to their home and treated you to food and entertainment. Can't do that. Gotta run somewhere to try to find an "investigator" or get on their knees to pray for an investigator...and end up with nothing but dirty knees for the effort.

The senior mish was probably afraid that seeing the cheerleaders would turn him and his companion into out-of-control sex fiends and playthings of Satan.

That was very nice of you, catnip, to offer them a neat experience. Too bad that they felt the need to leave.

I had a similar experience of preparing a meal for them even though I had left the church with zero intention of returning. They were late, ate very little and skipped dessert. Yes, we had asked them ahead of time if there were any food allergies or concerns with "picky eaters."

Back in the, I was served goat in its own blood. It was truly awful, but that's what the member served and I somehow got it down.

Legend has it that when Thomas Monson was the Mission President in eastern Canada he was a regular visitor to the home of my TBM wife's relations. When the Sunday football game broadcast came on the television, the Mission President stayed to enjoy the game - on a Sunday. I wonder what the mission rules were for ordinary elders?

My nephew is currently on a mission and still does some tracting, but, I think the emphasis is going towards social media. TSCC has been testing it out by letting some missions be active on FB and other social media sites, his happens to be one of them. They even created a video (idiotic IMO) that they share. They are supposed to be relying on the members to set them up with contacts, but, we know how that goes. I've had missionaries recently knock on my door too.

Back in my prehistoric mission days we were required - REQUIRED - to tract a minimum of 40 hours a week. If I were in an area more than 3 months i'd be knocking on the same doors again recognizing the same people opening the doors. Of course there were some sucesses, but for the amount of time and energy spent on tracting and the amount of times we were told to F-OFF it wasn't worth it.

I didn't then and still today do not understand why the church continues to pursue the least effective methods of trying to contact people. Want the missionaries to be high profile and seen in public? DO FRIGGIN SERVICE PROJECTS CONTINUALLY IN THE AREA THEY ARE IN! Team up with other churches doing stuff in the community that needs to be done. Team up with schools and local governments. MY GOD its not that hard. Missionaries may be prohibited from proselytizing during while doing these things but they are still being seen and watched by curious people who may just ask them about what they believe opening the door to them that way.

But no, that would make too much sense.

Nephew is in Australia and his companion clued him in to what bugger off means. lol

It's not about doing good things, it's about controlling the missonaries and getting them to be life long tithe payers.

I have taken the Missionaries to lunch at restaurants, because I am a single female they would not be allowed to my house for a meal.

They are very, very busy, they open their schedules when I offer lunch and their days are booked.

Prospects aren't called 'investigators' anymore.

They are limited to a one-hour meal and 15 minutes has to be spent on a lesson per Mission rules.

In my experience:

The Missionaries have been the nicest people I have met in the ward;

I usually take them once a month out to eat and they sometimes stay longer than an hour if we are having fun;

They like to talk about all sorts of things, the ones I have known are very smart and educated, after they know you a little they relax more.

One time they only spent around 3 minutes on the obligatory lesson.

I always also invite a ward member to join us but they usually won't come;

A lot of their time is spent doing errands for the ward such as driving people here or there or helping members move or doing yard work for them. I think they are worked very hard, and they also seem to have a lot of meetings required.

I don't know if they tract but I will ask, that will only be representative of my area and those missionaries, though.

The ones I have met have been wonderful and always ask if I need help with anything (I never have but it is nice of them to ask).

It is always nice to give them something to take home such as a couple of frozen pizzas (that is what one guy here does)



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 12/12/2018 11:55AM by mel.

Ever since moving a bit closer to the temple, the encounters have been more frequent:

1) Knocked on the door around 8:30 pm after putting baby to sleep--not cool--but how many Germans did I disturb in a similar way and wonder why they were so pissed!

2) Knocked on the door on the 4th of July when my Mormon parents were visiting. Can you say awkward!

3) Knocked on the door while I was home sick from work--oh wait that was the JW's!

4) Met us outside our house and wanted to talk eternal families. It was getting to schmaltzy so I let them have it and unloaded on the LDS Church's treatment of LGBT people and the Book of Abraham!

5) The missionaries stop to talk to me in a rainstorm while I'm walking the dog. I tell them that I "served" my mission in Germany--by the way--Hans Matson was in the area presidency at the time he's out too don't you know. There are so many of us apostates!

You can easily and anecdotally gauge this by recalling how many Electrolux salesmen have been to your door in the past 5 years.

Yes. They knocked on a friend's door last night, and asked for them by name, but sidestepped the question of how they got it... but when they told them they WEREN'T INTERESTED, the young women said, "we'll take you off our list" [that moments before they knew nothing about or where it came from or how they got it in the first place].

They had also called in years past, and left a message, that they were going to come by and my friend thought: hell no/ you aren't. This was the first time they knocked though. They knew it wasn't random, but a planned visit. So it might not be called tracting, because they were off the beaten track, but anyway...

I clued them in on the insanity of Mormonism, though they were already quite aware. My friend though it was crazy these girls were out late, past eight, knocking on stranger's doors, and I said it wasn't abnormal [for the LDS]; anyone else would keep decent [safe?] hours. They called to tell me and I said I'd mention it.

M@t

On my mission in the early 1980s, we were told to not tract. I never tracted, not even once during my whole mission. We visited members most of the time in efforts to get referrals and teaching opportunities through them, of their non-member friends and work associates. But maybe that was because my fulltime mission was in Utah (not joking, that was where I was sent to). The mission saying was 'every member a mission president'. You get real tired of hearing the phrase 'well, on my mission....' as everyone watches to make sure you're not breaking any mission rules. There was no shortage of dinner appointments. About half of the time when we ate lunch in a restaurant, some anonymous person would pay our tab before we finished eating. So I gained weight and had lots of baptisms. Everything kind of happens around you. It's not like you did anything to cause it. Most of the baptisms were of the eight year old children of active Mormon families. I only had one baptism that seemed to be from a real adult convert from a non-mormon family. A few years after I got home, I went back to Utah to visit. He wasn't home when I stopped-by. But the trash can outside of his front door was full of beer cans.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/14/2018 08:37AM by azsteve.

Steve,

Hilarious! Thanks!!!