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Was in Cleveland at a friends house and two nice looking young men in ties came to the door. They introduced themselves as being LDS and asked if they could speak with us for a minute. Unfortunately we were getting ready to leave for the Browns vs. Lions game so we couldn't. But I did ask them how long they had been on their mission and where they were from. One was from San Fran and I forget the other. When they said they were one year in I made the comment "then you're half way done." They both were a bit surprised by the fact that I knew that and we talked for a minute about Hatrack and all the cool mormons here that very cleverly teach all us other people bits and peices.
When they left my friend looked at me like I was a complete nut case. He was like "what the hell was all that about. What kind of mission are they on and why did they have name tags that said something about elders?" (I told him I assumed they were the names of the elder form their church and explained that the elders where like a priest or something... how far off was I on that explanation? I assume rather far based on my limited knowledge of the LDS church system)
Anyways... I was bummed I couldn't talk to them longer and take them to lunch or something but oh well, I had browns tickets and couldn't let them go to waste. By the way is it correct that on your mission you pretty much are living off the generousity of others as far as money and transportation goes? I know my dad likes to take misionaries to lunch and make donations when he can and he explained the above to me. He has sold insurance to churches and church related organizations for the past 18 years and has a fairly wide knowledge of the many different faiths. So is his explanation close to the truth?
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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Howdy, Beatnix. I have been seeing so many LDS missionaries lately just walking along the road as I drive. Cool that you bumped into a couple.
An elder is an office in the Melchezidek Priesthood (the full or higher priesthood) that all worthy male members of the LDS church may recieve either before their mission or when they are over 18 years of age and prepared.
Missionaries or their families are expected to pay for the needs of the missionary as much as they are able. Other members make up for any lack. But depending on the mission and the area, some missionaries depend some of their meals from those who are willing to provide them. Different missions deal with transportation in different ways.
For instance, I served a mission in the Philippines and always had enough to eat on the money I had. In fact, at the end of my mission, I had some unused money left over that I returned to the mission. I also had some money for the public transportation there. My husband who served in Brazil, on the other hand, says that his belly was never truly full his entire mission. He seemed to be in a continual state of slightly-hungry all the time. The funds just weren't quite enough to buy all the food he normally required. They also did nearly all of their traveling on foot.
I'm sure that the act would have been greatly appreciated, because it may free up funds to be used for other things.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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hmm... well yea, i was a bit off wan't I? Thanks for clearing up a few of those points. But my friend will never know I was wrong so I'll let him continue to assume that I am wiser than he is in the ways of the mormon.
The guys were really nice and I would have been happy to help them out with a meal even if they didn't need the help.
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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You didn't sound off to me at all. I wouldn't be surprised if you had another chance to bump into LDS missionaries. They are fairly ubiquitous. Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I've seen several missionaries. I saw some at the library and pointed out that the guy had CAMBODIAN on his name tag. I thought that was cool. And I was walking down the street one time thinking interesting thoughts and these 2 guys walked past me and asked me questions. One had very, very pretty blue eyes. But I didn't get to meet with them though... I wanted to ask them if they had read OSC.
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One of the two I met had read OSC. It made me laugh after asking him. I was like the stupid guy who assumed... "hey OSC is Mormon, you must know him then."
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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beatnix: Eh, asking if someone has read an author of their faith is pretty different than asking them if they have met another individual of their faith. Especially if said author is both popular and talented (the two don't *always* go together, )
Synesthesia: A lot of LDS missionaries are called to serve in areas of the U.S. but for non-english-speaking groups. Kinda like my brother who served in New Mexico specifically for those who spoke Spanish. He was trained in the Spanish language. The missionary you saw was probably trained in the Cambodian language to speak with Cambodians living in the states. That sort of thing is actually fairly common.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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quote: Eh, asking if someone has read an author of their faith is pretty different than asking them if they have met another individual of their faith.
The LDS world is a small one, however; my MIL had OSC's father as a Seminary teacher, and the other day when we had the elders over for dinner, one of them was my college friends' cousin. I've had some really funny 'small world' moments. It's almost frightening how closely intertwined we all are.
Syn, as bev said, lots of missionaries train for other languages in the US. I even had a friend who served an Italian-speaking mission to Australia. But Asian languages and Spanish are far more common. Posts: 335 | Registered: Feb 2001
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I have never seen them come door to door in my town. It is a college campus, so they generally just go to the main plaza and try to talk to people there. Though a lot of times they end of debating with the fire and brimstone preachers who like to tell everyone that they will be going to hell.
The strangest campus 'preacher' we ever had was a guy who stood on a chair and yelled "fornicator" to people walking by.
It leads to some interesting three way debates...non believers vs nut case preachers vs mormon missionaries
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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Lupus, that is hilarious. I found as a missionary in the Philippines that we ran into an unusually high number of absolute nut-cases. I wondered, why are there so many crazies in the Philippines? Then I heard of it happening to others too. Then I realized the connection. Sometimes nutcases are the only ones willing to talk to an LDS missionary!
There's a guy in my ward that grew up in Greensboro with Geoff Card. Last Friday I got to hear the story of a bratty eight-year-old Rich heckling a ten-year-old Geoff during a Primary talk, and Geoff smacking him down at the end of it. Funny stuff.
quote: just walking along the road as I drive. Cool that you bumped into a couple.
Not really cool. I mean, bumping into a couple of plump missionaries while driving can really damage your cars suspension.
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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ya...being on a college campus provides lots of amusement. The funniest response I heard to that preacher was when he yelled "you are a fornicator" to some frat guy walking through the plaza, the frat guy put both his hands in the air and said "YES I AM!"
The preacher was not as amused as the audience though...he told the guy that he would be burning in hell for it.
ah, the fun of campus preachers. Then there was the Athiest 'preacher' who would tell everyone about how great athiesm is. Though it was mostly his way of plugging a book he wrote called "At least in hell, the Christians won't bother me"
Posts: 1901 | Registered: May 2004
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I don't recall seeing any campus preachers on BYU. But it might be because it was a private school. Is this a common occurrance? Sounds *very* entertaining.
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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I went to a private college and at least once a year a preacher would stand outside the freshman dorms and scream at people. Funny, but I don't think he won very many converts that way.
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We had a hostile preacher camp by the LDS institute building at Utah State every spring and yell at us. The students would come to class upset and the teachers would tell them to be kind and get the guy some water. Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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The Google ads are offering ways to bring your Mormon friends into the light of true Christianity. Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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At KU you would occasionally see preachers railing against this and that. It wasn't very common though. There was a homeless guy, though, that would write long, rambling diatribes against divorce, along with pithy little catch phrases like "1 wife = family, 2 wife = brothel" in chalk on the sidewalks all over campus. He was actually a very intelligent, highly educated guy who kind of went nuts (or went publicly nuts) when his wife left him. Finally died of exposure, I think.
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I've always been fond of street people. There was a lady who used to walk up and down Southside muttering imprecations and talking aloud in a strident voice to seemingly nobody. I thought she was cool. I used to greet her with gladness and give her money. It seems like there is a lot about life that one would never learn until one was homeless and living on the street, you know? I'm a little in awe of them for that. I respect them and look up to them because of their suffering. Suffering always exalts people, doesn't it? I mean I've spent maybe 2 cold nights outside with no blanket in my life. And they were endless and extremely unpleasant. Imagine that being your life. Alone. Forever. I just have to bow in awe before that.
One time when I was driving to a vendor site, I saw a young homeless woman in the sward beneath the interstate crying her eyes out with loud sobbing. I didn't stop or help her or do anything. I had stuff I had to do for work. But I've always felt awful about not stopping. Work? Pffft! The purpose of work is so we can be in a position to help people when we want to. Work only exists to enhance our humanity. I had my priorities all messed up. The memory of that girl will never leave me, though. I went back after 5 PM and she was gone. I wonder what it was about, how she is now, and if she's even still alive. I wish her well.
[ August 23, 2004, 03:53 PM: Message edited by: ak ]
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I know what it is supposed to say, but for the life of me it looks like "pet smoking little devils".
Posts: 7050 | Registered: Feb 2004
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Yeah, the e's are hard to distinguish from the o's. That sign also references Money Levers and Dikos on Bikos.
Posts: 6367 | Registered: Aug 2003
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At the University of Utah we had campus preachers. But the U is a strange place. In one part of campus, we got the "You will burn in hell, sinners!" version, and by the LDS Institute we got the "You will burn in hell, mormons!" version.
I was even privilaged enough to have been personally handed a Jack Chick tract.
Posts: 438 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:The LDS world is a small one, however; my MIL had OSC's father as a Seminary teacher, and the other day when we had the elders over for dinner, one of them was my college friends' cousin. I've had some really funny 'small world' moments. It's almost frightening how closely intertwined we all are.
Yeah. Anybody familiar with the big apologetics site FAIR? The son of the guy who runs it (Scott Gordon I think his name is) was a missionary serving in our ward. He and his companion helped load the U-Haul when we moved to NJ.
What's also weird is that I grew up in a town in PA that has a semi-important place in Mormon history, and I never knew it.
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