Other churches will have a sunday school bus and pick up the elderly and people without cars who have young children. I guess they believe in meeting people half way.

TSCC will push, pull, and drag your teenagers out of bed to get them to church behind your back, but if your car is in the shop for a month or two as you're getting it fixed your HT and VT will disappear!

Anyone else have trouble getting to church when you really wanted to go and find the members unwilling to help you if you needed more than one ride a year???? Even when you let them know you'll help with gas, be willing to go early and wait in the foyer an hour before or after the meetings?

Oh, and I lived in a town that had no bus and NO Taxis I could hire, ( or I would have)

I found it ironic.

LOL that's the same church that tells young couples to have more kids than they can afford.

But if the couple needs help, they get scorn instead from the one true church.

What's wrong with that picture?

My mother didn't drive, and was disabled. She was told certain people would pick her up for church, so she would get dressed and wait...and wait....and wait. They never showed up.
Very strange.

If you're a single woman and ask to ride with me alone, it's forbidden.

If you're a single man and ask to ride with her alone, it's forbidden.

...because in either case we might be tempted to have sex on the way to church.

Welcome to the Morg.

Ron

When I was a stake missionary, I was often assigned to pick investigators, or take them home. I blew out one VW van with this taxi service.

And once, I was told to take a lady investigator home from town, a long drive. I think she was just looking for rides or a free car, as she had no way to get around. The problem was, when we got to her place, she invited me in for a "minute", and then propositioned me, claiming that she was "no angel".

I passed. But driving folks around a big district in my old beat up cars got old pretty quick.

OMG!

As a counterpoint, my family of four with a six seat chevy, were always being assigned to pick.up investigator couples or single mothers with one child.
None of them ever came out when we knocked on their doors.

We were even polite about it and called early in the week to confirm the ride, and again Sat night. Invariably the investigators were agreeable to taking a ride from us, but Sun morning all of them would pick one of these options: not answer the door or the phone, answer in curlers and pajamas clearly not prepared, or pretend not to have spoken to us at all.

Our family did this off and on for a few years, a few months at a time, but eventually my dad started to refuse.
I was glad. Getting up even earlier for church? Having to be sandwiched next to some child I didn't know or lady wearing too much makeup and perfume... Never my idea of a good time.

No, they will not help. I was in a serious traffic accident and lost my car to the damage, while taking some major injuries myself. I called my home teacher and tried to take him up on his offer of "Let me know if you need anything." Suddenly, giving me a ride was too much. It was, according to him "Too far out of the way" on a Sunday morning. Too far? He drove right by my place on the way to church! How was that too far out of the way? How was that out of the way at all? In my experience, most LDS offers of assistance are made purely to appear as a caring person, no substance to the offer at all.

I used to give a ride to an older lady to the mormons. She was not able to drive. On some days her daughter would no be there or other reasons. After a few months(3-4 rides) she called me and told me she could not accept any more rides from me. The bishop told her it didn't look "proper" to be riding to "church" with a single,,male,,non-member. Unreal!!

When I was a teenage convert in Florida, there were a couple converts who'd pack their car with investigators and new members who needed rides. They were so glad to have "found the gospel" that they were willing to make sacrifices to ensure others could get to church too. It's the kind of zeal you see in pioneers and new members, not those who've settled comfortably into the gospel of prosperity.

I have to say I usually saw the opposite - mormons were usually very willing to help give rides to people who needed them (IF they were able). Sure, the church didn't have a sunday school bus or whatever but individual members always seemed willing to help. I drove people myself on many occasions although I wasn't able to help large families because I only ever had small cars - it was more of a logistics thing than not being willing.

I was usually totally happy to do it too (unlike many callings/assignments)- I felt like I was helping someone get to church. Only on very rare occasions did I feel like I was being taken for granted and resent it. I've also known people who'd been giving a ride to the same person/family nearly every sunday for years and didn't seem to mind one bit.

From what I've observed, the only people who get rides to church are the missionaries. In a way, it was a good thing that my former MIL lived about a block away from the local ward building, since she had such severe rheumatoid arthritis that she needed a wheelchair when she was outside the home. My ex-husband helped her get to and from church by pushing her wheelchair regardless of the weather.

Interesting topic. It seems if someone already has a relationship with an elderly person, they are happy to give them a ride. Sometimes every Sunday for years. There are other people who ask for rides and never get them. It came up at a church meeting tonight.

In England, A LOT of people don't drive, because public transport is relatively good. I know this proves to be problematic with the missionaries because a hell of a lot of the investigators don't drive. This means that they have to 'hassle' the members for rides for them.
I have been in this position. When I was 16 and wasn't legal to drive I used to get a taxi to church which I HATED. Members always made me and other investigators feel like we were troubling them or putting them out, I don't know.
I'd have thought if the church wanted to keep people coming to church they would be all for giving people rides.

In my old ward, in the early eighties, one of the American members bought an old red double decker bus. He had a large family but not *that* large.

They would give everyone who needed it a ride, it must have involved a circuitous route to the chapel, picking people up. It was much appreciated because out here lots of the poorer members didn't have cars and the public transport, in such a rural place was nearly non-existant.

When he returned to the States he shipped the bus back with him - can't imagine the USAF paid for that. Wonder if there is an old red routemaster bus somewhere in Utah still?