If a high-profile individual has shown interest in ChurchCo, will they send a couple of 18 year-olds (1 greenie) to teach them / present the 'lessons'?

say for instance a medium-sized city mayor or legislator, or judge...


just wondering!

So, it's been a long time and I don't remember any detail nor was I directly involved, but while I was a missionary a certain Chinese doctor was in town. I believe he had a child attending university. I don't recall how the connection was made but I believe that his friend, none other than Ol' Rusty hisself, contacted the MP and asked him to make sure he provided any help, if needed. So, the MP, being uber focused on his missionary responsibilities, obliged by sending over his best APs.

The doctor ultimately agreed to be baptized, and Rusty came to town to participate.

So, maybe this is only indirectly related to your question, but as expected, certain people will surely get treatment different than the rest of us.

https://archive.storycorps.org/interviews/president-nelson-and-dr-zhang-in-the-canada-toronto-mission/

This is the actual story, told by the MP...If any are interested, which I doubt.

Yes, at least in the past this was the case, Hinkley was a big shmoozer and would get on the telephone with certain well connected investigators and they'd chat, about life, problems, ilnesses etc. The GAS do a lot of pressuring behind the scenes with important special people

My mom wasn't high profile when she investigated the Mormon church, but she was intelligent, lived in a big, beautiful house in one of the best neighborhoods and had lots of children. I guess to LDS Inc that made her high profile.

Along with the missionaries, a senior, seasoned male member would tag along to make sure the missionaries didn't screw up. I'm sure that is what usually happens when the missionaries are teaching someone "important."

After we were baptized we were very nurtured by the Mormon church. Just about every weekend we were invited to an activity by a TBM family. LDS Inc. wasn't going to let us get away.

The mayor of a town of about 30,000 and his family took the lessons from one of my mission companions. Though he didn't convert, the mayor went on to become a senator and maintained amicable relations with the LDS church.

If I remember correctly, this was an excellent move on the church's part, because it gave them leverage later when the French parliament created a commission about cults (sectes) operating in France.

The original list of cultish groups to investigate included Mormons, but they along with Christian Scientists, and The Christian Community (Die Christengemeinschaft) were dropped from the final list.

I have little doubt that ties like this are what got the LDS church off the French government's list.

Tyson



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2021 02:28PM by Tyson Dunn.

Not that anyone in mormonism is obliged to follow mormon rules, but technically only the fulltime missionaries are authorized to teach non-members.

My mission president used to say that the local members do not have authority to teach non-members and that like a bishop, the missionaries geographic area is assigned to them by the proper priesthood authorities. He claimed that when the local members teach non-members, they do not have the spirit. The only exception is when the missionaries go on splits with another priesthood holder and at least one fulltime missionary is present in the discussion.

I went to Utah on my mission. Everyone there referred to anywhere outside of Utah as "the mission field". I would scratch my head and think "then what am I doing here?". A big proportion of the young male population there could quote the "Discussions" (teaching scripts) word for word, just as well as I could. And they all wanted to do it again one more time after being home from their missions. My mission president said "They don't have that authority to teach non-members and bring the right spirit in to the room. You do". I had a Stake President ask me to leave his home once after I politely pointed out where the church priesthood manual (the secret one that only priesthood leaders have access to), said as much. He wanted the priesthood quarums in his stake to teach the lessons to non-members without involving the fulltime missionaries and he was an arrogant prick.

So to answer your question, the answer depends on who you ask. My interpretation is that if the President of the United States wants to investigate the church, that only the missionaries assigned to the geographic ward or stake where the White House is, has the authority to teach those discussions. At least that is what the church was teaching when I was a missionary.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2021 03:05PM by azsteve.