LDS Missionaries

A point of curiosity that came up in a recent conversation: is there an easy way to distinguish LDS missionaries from Witnesses by appearance? I'd like to be able to ignore JWs without inadvertently being rude to Mormons.

LDS missionaries will be wearing white shirts and ties, and will have a black nametag that says Elder or Sister SO and SO, along with the church logo.

I'm unaware of JWs having any dresscode
 
My experience with Jehovah's Witnesses is that the initial visits tend to be done by ladies. Perhaps a young girl (early teen or so) and her mother or some other matronly type person. They are very pleasant to talk to and actually quite knowledgable. Yeah, they have gotten a few key passages wrong, leading to differences in doctrine (which is I am sure they think about me as well :) ), but they're real friendly.

Truth be told, I've only met one Mormon missionary in my life. I don't know if it is because the RLDS church is so large here and maybe the Mormons just don't have much of a presence, or if Mormons still hold a grudge over the Mormon war and just don't muck about with Missouri.
 
"Don't Muck with Missouri!"

Seriously, though, I would recommend politeness and honesty at all stages. That is the best way to deal with them. It is a good idea in general, of course, but especially with them. And at the very least, you could end up in an interesting conversation.
 
Truth be told, I've only met one Mormon missionary in my life. I don't know if it is because the RLDS church is so large here and maybe the Mormons just don't have much of a presence, or if Mormons still hold a grudge over the Mormon war and just don't muck about with Missouri.

There are two *missions* that operate in Missouri...one is based in St.Louis, and covers the eastern half of the state, and one in Independence, which covers the rest, and I think a few parts of other states. There is prolly' around 150 missionaries in each mission. 300 guys covering the whole state = maybe why you haven't seen them.

I can assure though you, there isn't much of a grudge. We're still in Ohio after all, and we kicked them out too! :)
 
Apparently the day my family moved into our house, some Mormon missionaries were walking around; we told them we were just moving in and couldn't talk... but they were friendly. It's been 19 years since we've seen any Mormons...
 
After a bit more talking they asked if they could come back to talk to the whole family. I said I didn't mind. (Really, I didn't want to be mean...)

The way I see these things, if you say you don't mind something that you do mind, you're not doing anyone a favor. It's not mean to be honest. If you really don't mind, good for you for being so open-minded.

isn't dyslexia terrible? the correct term is 'LSD missionaries'. :eek:

Those guys, I'd talk to! :lol:
 
I don't mind listening, I'm not converting or anything though. Also, they didn't give me thier phone numbers.

It could prove to be an interesting conversation, and at the least it's harmless.

Just be honest, don't be afraid to ask questions, be nice, and see what happens.
 
When they come over tell them you dont need their talks and then show them why by pulling up Erans all-new ask a mormon thread!


Heh thinking about it makes me realize this door-to-door missioning is a glorified pyramid scheme...
 
Prince_Imrahil said:
Heh thinking about it makes me realize this door-to-door missioning is a glorified pyramid scheme...

Nah, more like a spreading contagion.

I just pretend there's no one home.

You'd be surprised, we can often tell.
 
That isn't slightly disturbing/creepy at all...

Why should it be? We don't peek into windows or snoop around, but being at home generates noise. After a couple hundred doors one notices these things.
 
We get weird people who drive and say that they want to talk about the bible with us all the time:crazyeye: My Mom, always makes them leave before they even make it to the door anymore, and then complains about the a**holes stepping on her garden or coming to the side door instead of the front or something for days...
 
A point of curiosity that came up in a recent conversation: is there an easy way to distinguish LDS missionaries from Witnesses by appearance? I'd like to be able to ignore JWs without inadvertently being rude to Mormons.

The Mormon missionaries are nearly always young and male. Witnesses are usually mixed gender groups when proselytizing and often older.
 
Last xmas when waiting for work to open, I was standing on the sidewalk when two missionaries stopped and asked me 'who's the greatest man to have lived?' Not knowing they were missionaries I replied, 'well besides me there's my dad, you know because great is personal and objectively no man has been the greatest in an all encompassing sense of the word.' Then they said, 'well Jesus was.' and then my store opened.
 
At college there were frequently Mormons about, usually really friendly people. My standard canned response was always "I'm an atheist, but I appreciate that you're trying to help me, thank you." they always were polite and left me alone, which is good.
 
You should have said, "why good sirs do you want to save my eternal soul if I myself don't give a damn about such ideas? You only show me that you have absolutely no respect for me as an individual person with personal autonomy regarding how I choose to live my life so long as it doesn't negatively affect others, in which others might be allowed respectable concern about my actions and choices. Remember, Freedom! Do you really hate freedom? Ok, thanks and have a nice day."
 
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