I've traveled to New Zealand but not Australia. I loved it in New Zealand. Only wish there were less Mormons there. Is membership dropping? I'd like to think so. I'd also like to travel to Aussie land.

Im from Oz and also an ex church office manager.

The story is exactly the same down here as there and membership is going down the toilet. Only the old and insane still think its true.

Think about it from our perspective.

A Hillbilly from Trump land named Joe Blow uses a Peepstone to find treasure, fails so starts a church to make lots of money and to bang women instead.

What can go wrong?

Bwahahahahahahah...I love Aussie's man. Ya'll rock. Yeah perspective is everything. Good points!

I love it when you talk dirty.

They are building another temple in Auckland. There were quite a few Mormons there. Especially in Glenfield. The church has been in New Zealand a long time. I think it would be difficult to be a member there though.

I grew up close to the Sydney temple, which attracted a lot of local interest when it was going up, on a prominent ex-Protestant church site, but I've never met a local Mormon or heard any talk of them in the media or in general conversations. Ever.

I had a pleasant visit here in Perth from a Utah missionary and his Tongan companion. They gave me a BOM and I asked them if they believed in the magic stuff. They implied that they managed to, via cog dis processes.

I imagine there might be some life in the NZ Mormon church, since there would be a lot more Polynesians there to push it along. Here we have some famous Polynesian/Australian ex-Mormon fundy Protestant Rugby players at the centre of a major freedom of religion fight which has got a lot of attention, but nothing directly Mormon going on.

I think it would be very hard to sustain Mormon faith in what is a pretty faithless country, particularly when so much of the original story is becoming clearly laughable.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2019 05:32AM by oldpobot.

Hi oldpobot from another Perthite.

Hi Lindy

How was your Mormon experience in Perth? I guess you would have felt pretty marginal, given the physical and cultural distance from Utah.

I'm a nevermo. I found this site when looking for info as we have an LDS convert family member. She was forever trying to get us to go with her to her church or get our children to go to LDS activities.

She eventually gave up :)

I'm from Perth as well.
My dad joined the cult in Perth in 1966.

Hi Darren

You post from the UK, don't you? Did you spend much time in Perth, Oz, as a Mormon?

I'm actually in the US now. Left Perth when I was 3 years old, so I have no recollection of Oz, or being a Mormon there. My youth was spent in Scotland, where I was a good little Mormon.

I'm the other way round Darren...born and raised in Scotland..now call Perth home.

How is membership going in the "Down Under" regions?

Depends on how well endowed they are.

I knew someone would stoop to that!

I didn't have to stoop. I was never one for the taking the height road.

:-)

I have a good friend who is Maori, his ex-wife was Mormon. When he realized I was a Mormon he was very careful not to offend me and apologized for offering me beer all the time. When I told him I was not active he started to let me in on how the Maori members are viewing the Church. It seems that when the Church discovered that native polynesians don't have any recent connection to DNA from Jewish ancestors, the effort spent on keeping native branches and church schools dried up. He drove me through one town that he claimed used to be majority LDS Maori, "now they are all gang bangers". I said do you think the church losing influence turned them into gang bangers and he said "no they were always gang bangers, now they are just not Mormon gang bangers." He said there are still lots of believing Maori in the LDS Church, but it is really not something the youth buy into, same story as everywhere I guess.

I think the loss of the church school in New Zealand turned a lot of locals off. IIRC church members built that school, and families made big financial sacrifices to make it happen.

What's a gang banger?

Good question! The only meaning I know of is the practice of 5-6 men having sex with one woman (more or less with her 'consent').

Some football clubs indulge in the practice when on their end of season trips.

Lets hope there is another meaning...

It's slang for young American street gangsters or thugs.

Thank God for that.

Argentina is getting an extra temple, as is Chile. I don't know how their numbers stack up down under.