I was just visited by the Jehovah's Witnesses!

[Mind UR own uteress]

I like how they occasionally drop off kindling. Not as good as wax and sawdust firestarters, but superior to newspaper, imo

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I've known quite a few Mormons who did their mission work in places where a lot of adolescents/young women wanted out of said country. It was amazing the amount of women that would pay so much attention and look to go through baptism because of the young North American men. The women were out of there as soon as they found out the nice missionaries couldn't date. My heart broke when one of the guys was telling me that he had this little way of flirting with this one woman all the time without being caught.

That's weird, I've heard many accounts of marriages between a missionary and his/her convert. If they can't date on mission, they must at least be allowed to exchange letters, etc., no?

[Maul the Koala]

I think it depends on how lax the mission president (I can't remember the term offhand) is. They were really strict on the no dating thing with every Mormon I talked to because 'it was about representing your faith, not your interests' or something like that. I imagine it does happen that some of the converts keep in touch afterwards but dating was and is supposed to be a huge no-no during missions.

[kunoichi66]

How often do JW's usually show up in more populated areas? I live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, and we've only been visited by JW's once in 20+ years. My mom said they were very polite and left when she told them "We already have a church." As far as Mormon missionaries go, I've never seen one, ever. However, I did attend a Mormon worship service about one month ago-and I had never felt more unwelcome or uncomfortable in my life. It was awful.

I'm curious. If you are okay with telling me, would you mind elaborating on this?

[NjoyingNsanity]

Years ago I had the misfortune of living just up the street from one of their Kingdom Halls they must have been kind of lazy because they came witnessing to out nieghborhood at least once a month. I was always polite since southern girl here and I was taught not to be rude. My ex-husband's best friend however had no problem scaring them off for us he answers the door huge creepy smile on his face and asks the lady if she has "the stuff" when she says no he asks if they're cops again no and as she's trying to beat a hasty retreat he leers at her asks if she's the dancer he ordered then offers to have Bible study with her and her teenage daughterover some beer and the special brownies he's got baking since he has some time to kill before the strippers arrive. They NEVER came back to our house in fact the would even walk on the other side of the street while passing by our house.

The Mormon missionaries faired a little better mostly because it was the dog days of summer and I live in a very mountainous area and they showed up peddling two ten speed bikes wearing their usual white dress shirt and black dress pants. They looked to be just one more block of peddling away from a sunstroke so I insisted they drink something and rest awhile even if I had no interest in Joseph Smith's work of Biblical fanfiction. How their church elders ever thought two ten speed bikes was a good idea here in the Blue Ridge Mountains is beyond me.

[redcurls]

I'm curious. If you are okay with telling me, would you mind elaborating on this?

Sure, I don't mind. But would that be considered threadjacking?

[kunoichi66]

Sure, I don't mind. But would that be considered threadjacking?

I'm not sure....

[DifferentGurl]

You should have done what my father did...tell them you're a devil worshiper. My dad told them that when they came to our doorstep and they haven't showed up ever since. :twisted: Just hope they don't use it as an excuse to try to convert you.

[rezski44]

Yesterday they came to my door and my sweet harmless chihuahua did his best vicious dog immitation. Good boy Ernie! I don't think I will be seeing them for a while.

[LaydNimue]

JW's are very persistent and annoying and only a flat out, sternly issued, "Do not ever come to my door again" request will work. I don't mind visits from the Mormon boys, they're polite and naive kids. I always invite them in for a meal or give them cookies and most accept since they are rarely given enough to eat. When I was much younger the boys would do things like ask me to sign magazine cut out pictures of models so they could have a fake girlfriend picture in their wallet. And they like for me to turn the TV on so they can sit sideways and sneak watch it. We talk about everything but the Mormonism cult and they seem to like to relax that way.

[QAF_Rocks]

Just tell them you're a former JW who was disfellowshipped. They'll get out of there quick and never bother you again! :lol:

[Inky]

My best friend asked them to leave and take her off their list, but they kept coming back every 2 or 3 months, so she told them that if they set foot on her property again, she would have them charged with tresspassing. They haven't been back since.

Apparently they have some screwy ideas about catholics, and she's catholic.

[QAF_Rocks]

I'm not sure....

I'm curious, too! I went to a Mormon service once, but it was at summer camp. Probably not the typical situation. My brother went to one of their baby blessing ceremonies for a co-worker's child and reported back that it seemed fairly normal.

[redcurls]

Well since two people have asked I don't think it could count as threadjacking anymore.

A friend and I attended a service for our World Religions class. One of the reasons we decided to attend a Mormon service was because we heard that Mormons were pretty friendly, so we wouldn't feel awkward or out of place. It was the exact opposite. We walked in and people stared-and just kept staring. At first I thought it was just me being self-conscious, but my friend noticed it too. It was a rather large congregation, so two visitors shouldn't have stood out or attracted attention. We were quiet, attentive, and respectful. We were bothered by many aspects of the service, because the sexism was just so obvious. The combination of being gawked at and then having to quietly listening to religiously-justified sexism made for a very uncomfortable experience. Honestly, I cannot figure out why they reacted to us like that.

[B5SnowDog]

I felt uncomfortable when I went to my sister's baptism into the Mormon church. The people there were so smiley and fake, it was a little unsettling; I felt like I was in Stepford.

[Maul the Koala]

I've known people who have gone to Mormon services high. Yep yep. Apparently it was quite the experience.

[kunoichi66]

Well since two people have asked I don't think it could count as threadjacking anymore.

A friend and I attended a service for our World Religions class. One of the reasons we decided to attend a Mormon service was because we heard that Mormons were pretty friendly, so we wouldn't feel awkward or out of place. It was the exact opposite. We walked in and people stared-and just kept staring. At first I thought it was just me being self-conscious, but my friend noticed it too. It was a rather large congregation, so two visitors shouldn't have stood out or attracted attention. We were quiet, attentive, and respectful. We were bothered by many aspects of the service, because the sexism was just so obvious. The combination of being gawked at and then having to quietly listening to religiously-justified sexism made for a very uncomfortable experience. Honestly, I cannot figure out why they reacted to us like that.

That does sound really odd. I wonder what they were thinking... :think:

[kayray]

Well since two people have asked I don't think it could count as threadjacking anymore.

A friend and I attended a service for our World Religions class. One of the reasons we decided to attend a Mormon service was because we heard that Mormons were pretty friendly, so we wouldn't feel awkward or out of place. It was the exact opposite. We walked in and people stared-and just kept staring. At first I thought it was just me being self-conscious, but my friend noticed it too. It was a rather large congregation, so two visitors shouldn't have stood out or attracted attention. We were quiet, attentive, and respectful. We were bothered by many aspects of the service, because the sexism was just so obvious. The combination of being gawked at and then having to quietly listening to religiously-justified sexism made for a very uncomfortable experience. Honestly, I cannot figure out why they reacted to us like that.

Yeah, I know that all their buildings say "everyone welcome" but that has not been my experience where I am now anyway. I live in a Mormon hotbed these days and know a few Mormon-lites, disgruntled Mormons, and ex-Mormons (including a few from polygamist families of Bountiful fame) and they admit they are not as open to outsiders as they would seem; especially I guess ones that do not seem to "fit in". Though, at the same time they seem rather big on converting (we know a couple converted Mormons, too), and they try and put on an air of inclusiveness (see: Mormon mommy bloggers)? I feel out of place just living and working here at times as the Mormon roots run so deep and I definitely do not "fit" in, never mind if I actually showed up at their services!

My only experience going into an LDS building was when I went with my childhood best friend a few times as a young child to her LDS church. However, that was in my old home city (which is a lot more liberal than here) and I just remember running around playing with the other kids. I don't recall it being quite as "exclusive" as I find it around here. It's a lifestyle that I never saw before moving here.

I don't have JW's knocking on my door or spreading their "word" on the streets here though like I did in my old city (I used to just ignore them when I was at home, though sometimes they insistently shoved a Watchtower at me as I walked by). However, my ex once told them to come back when *I* was home (and gave them my name!) and they hassled me for weeks after (these two older ladies) though I kept insisting I was not interested. Ugh!

My husband once invited them in and had a chat with them, but they left and never came back...ha ha, I guess he was too honest with them about his opinions and asked them too many questions, and they realized he was not a good conversion target.

[MamaJunebug]

I was fascinated by the LDS earlier on and noticed that unlike almost every other religious organization in town, they never posted their service times on their streetside signs. Eventually an LDS acquaintance said, "Well, we love for missionaries and members to bring in friends, so that we can welcome them fully, as opposed to having people just drop in who haven't been prepared to attend."

IOW - my snarky brain thought - you want control over who is there. (To be fair to me, I didn't say it out loud!)

That might explain why redcurls got the excessive side-eyeing when she attended.

Another explanation - related to the first - is that the congregation is so static, they notice immediately when there are people who haven't appeared at the side of a member.

I don't disdain LDS people. I feel bad for them. Smith, Young, et.al. turned a religion of salvation and grace into a fear-based membership business, basically.

[Bellatrix]

I have never had the Jehova's Witnesses or Mormons or either religion afficionados knock on my door although I know my neighbourhood houses one of the very rare Jehova's Witnesses communities. There is some sort of tiny temple somewhere. And on the other side of the same neighbourhood we actually have the city's Scientology Church.

I've only seen some elder JW ladies stand outside the metro station with their little flyers/tiny magazines. But they don't push their papers onto you, they just stand holding it. A bit odd.

I did have some Asian people on their mission over here to serve some sort of Christian Church I'd never heard of (they went on about how God was a Mother, not a Father). And the Mormons, the American guys with their clean white shirts and clean dark ties. The Mormons most own a few apartments where I live because I see a new batch of these stereotype male faces coming home after office hours by metro or bus on regular-ish basis. They ALWAYS, ALWAYS try this trick question on me "Excuse me, Miss, are you happy with your life right now?" (in French, of course). I always reply I am with a huge smile and walk on by. Mind you, I haven't had any of them interrogate me about the state of my happiness for perhaps a year now. They seem to have been instructed to only live in my proletarian and very multi-cultural neighbourhood not try to recruit (wasted time, I presume).

I wonder how they return from Europe and specifically from this part of France. This is the South, where we are immediately connected to North Africa thanks to the Mediterranean Sea. The specific experience of this city must shock them. They were expecting some sort of Paris Bis city but get a very different reality with so many Arabs... I sometimes wonder how this impacts them, how they view the old continent afterwards, like some sort of strange place that is "lost". A place where they have to live in small apartments without elevator, probably having to go up three or four or even five flights of stairs everyday, where Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Atheists live very peacefully together, where people complain but don't think God can change whatever you're complaining about (this is the part where the Mormons get lost when trying to convert/attract the Southern Frenchies: we then immediately jump to politics, of course, politics!), where wine, bread and cheese are sacred.

I've seen very bewildered Mormon eyes around my neighbourhood. It's both fun and a tad sad...

[MamaJunebug]

Bellatrix? Totally OT - what means "Paris Bis"??

Thank you very much / merci beaucoup in advance!!!!

[Bloo]

My (at the time future) husband and I were visited by Mormon missionaries several years ago. We were on our way out the door for one reason or another, but because he's interested in religious debate and I had just read a lot about the FLDS, we scheduled another time to meet up with them and talk. Boy did we surprise them when they showed up- we took them out to our apartment's picnic tables and set up candles and had plates of sandwiches for all of us! They said that was the nicest response that they'd ever gotten. We talked a bit about the book of Mormon and the Bible, and the differences between the FLDS and the modern LDS, and things went well. We met up at the same time the next week, and they brought homemade cheese wontons. However, then they got more into the conversion aspect, and ultimately asked us to come to church with them. We were disappointed. We didn't want to be converted; we just wanted to talk. Ah well.

Anyway, years later we'd moved into a different apartment complex in the same city, and I was visited by two other missionaries. I chatted with them briefly and they were SUPER impressed with how much I knew about the beginnings of their religion. I didn't tell them that I learned of their history through books dedicated to exposing the fraudulent aspects of Mormonism and from the Broadway musical "The Book of Mormon." Teehee.

I haven't been visited by JWs at my door, though they occasionally leave Watchtower issues in the laundry room. A few co-workers at my school are JWs, and one in particular would have Bible discussions with me on occasions. I don't know if she was explicitly trying to convert me or not; I hope not, as I'd like to think that she just wanted to be my friend.

[MamaJunebug]

Bloo, it was my (limited) experience that observant JWs didn't have a lot to talk about other than their religion.

I enjoyed your story about your visits with the LDS guys, sadly soon though they had to end.

I've thought that the next time a pair come to my door, I will offer them refreshments and a rest on the front porch *IF* they will listen to me describe my religion. :) I won't even try to convert them - I will tell them that it isn't up to me, it's between themselves and the Holy Spirit. ;)

All this will happen, of course, *IF* they visit when I'm in day clothes (i.e., after 11 a.m.) and not on my way somewhere.

[Bellatrix]

Bellatrix? Totally OT - what means "Paris Bis"??

Thank you very much / merci beaucoup in advance!!!!

It's just my own slang term for "a city like Paris". I assume what they know of the place where I live is that it's France's oldest city and second largest one. There is a high chance they associate it with the romantic touristy clichés of our capital city.

Boy, reality must come down hard on them when they get here...

[MamaJunebug]

Merci, bellatrix.

Marseille? I've heard it's got its rough patches.

Still, my happiness for the day is the thought of what you wrote above:

A place where ... Muslims, Jews, Catholics and Atheists live very peacefully together, ...

I do like that concept/reality!