I am wondering if it is common to send the missionaries over to a members home to "practice". That is the word my mother used when she told me the RS pres wants to have them come and visit us.

My mom is LDS and I'm not. Is it possible they would be coming to practice on ME?

I've never heard of this - sounds like a ruse to me.

Sounds like the vacuum salesman that says he gets paid just for showing you the vacuum, no pressure to buy. Then he won't leave unless you either purchase a vacuum or call the police. Don't do it.

I had also never heard of this before. Now I'm wondering what I should do. I don't need a new vacuum cleaner!

If it's true that they would be coming to practice on me, they pretty much would not know what bit them when I got through with them! But at the same time, I would never say anything that would embarrass my mom. Is there any middle ground in this situation?

The only times I've ever heard of this was when it was being used as a sneaky way to teach an investigator without them knowing it. I knew of several mishies in my mission who did this. None with any success, mind you!

Those sneaky little TBMs. Now I feel like actually preparing for this meeting and really being ready for them! They're having dinner with us that night also.

May as well give them the practice they are after :)

Maybe you could even explain to your mom that you are just going to throw stuff at them to help the practice...

You know, I think you're right! If they want practice, I should give them practice. And I'm beginning to think my mom might not be as innocent as I thought, in this whole fiasco.

She's not as innocent as you thought. She's trying to convert you. Sending missionaries to "practice" on you is a common ruse.

My family has been trying to convert me for 35 years now, but I must say this is pretty tricky and sneaky!

I've heard of this. When I served a mission it was a very common technique used to get into the homes of active and less active members. Practicing on an active member was supposed to inspire the member with the spirit of missionary work and gain their trust so they would hopefully refer their friends to you. Basically, you are "greasing" the member into handing over their friends because you understand they might be reluctant to talk about the church to their friends unless they knew a missionary they trusted could take over at some point. You wanted them to know you were nice and trustworthy enough to teach the lessons to their friends. Practicing on an inactive was supposed to get them to feel the spirit and return to church. We thought this was especially effective on inactive RM's, although I don't know why since it never worked on a single RM. It must have been a faith-building rumor.

Either way, it's a totally manipulative ploy to get someone to feel the spirit and add to the numbers of members on the church rolls, in the pews, paying their 10 percent. These missionaries do NOT need practice. That's all they do in the MTC and they could and do practice with their companions daily. They are just schmoozing you because they want something of you and think asking for help instead of a favor will get it for them. We did it all the time. It's a scam.

We were also told that one of the missionaries just came to our area fresh from the MTC.

I'm really going to have to put a lot of thought into this and try not to miss out on a perfect opportunity to share some knowledge.

Yes, they are coming to convert you under the guise of your house being a rehearsal of sorts.

I think the idea is to make listeners think they're "helping" the mishies and everyone else is hoping to build testimonies in those helpers.

I had missionaries come by the house on a really hot summer day. I felt sorry for them and offered them some cold lemonade which they gratefully accepted. While chatting, I admitted that I was an RM who had left TSCC. Next thing I knew, I was "helping them practice". Because don'cha know the jr companion hardly ever got to give a discussion is this area of hard-hearted people. It was probably true enough they didn't get into many houses in our area. For one thing nobody's ever home in the day time. My daughter was still a pre-schooler back then, so this was about 15 years ago.

It became a miserable nightmare of them repeatedly returning, trying to bring ward members who would inspire me, and ultimately a call from the local bishop. I was never active in this area so I didn't know any of these people. It became clear that I had to get tough with them and tell them to quit. They finally gave up sort of. But they still send a pair to our house every 6 months or so. It may have been longer since the last visit where I told them I'd had a revelation that it would be missionaries at my door - because who else would be ill-mannered enough to show up on Sunday evening at dinner time without an invitation or an appointment?

I there is any way you can get out of this, it would save you a LOT of hassle and annoyance to stop it now. As Barney Fife would say, "Nip it! Nip it in the bud!"

I can't add any more to what's been posted. They tried pulling that shit on me. Just say no.

Thank you everyone for all of your experience and insight and advice. You've been very helpful. I have a lot to think about, but now I can make an informed decision.