This is pr*datory, if you ask me 🚫 #mormon #lds #exmo #mormonmissionaries

[astridastrid]

I was an exchange student (17 years old) in a Mormon family. The family was great overall and not pushing their religion on me (an inactive protestant). I was welcome to join church on Sundays as well as other church meetings like young women's or also lessons at my host family's place, but didn't have to (and very often did not, especially Sunday services). Missionaries would be over on a regular basis for dinner and lessons and we had plenty of neutral, "non-religious" interactions. Until one of them deciding to come into my room (I think I was studying or something?), give me a book of Mormon and wouldn't leave until I had promised to read it and pray over it. My hostmum was furious that he did that because she felt strongly about not pushing their religion on a guest staying at their house who basically had no way of backing out of the situation. Love her to bits <3

[phillisob]

My kids know that if missionaries come to the door, we will offer a meal and a chance to use the uncensored internet or the phone to call home, but that we don't take the lessons.

[Shepz]

And they think it’s ok for a grown man to interview a child starting at age 8 alone behind closed doors. It is so bizarre the things that were “normal” and “ok” to me growing up I now realize are now 🚩

[nalanysegura]

I lived in Utah my whole life but was in a catholic household, I remember when I was about 13/14 we had missionaries coming to our door right after school when our parents where not home and they did this for a couple weeks. I remember telling them that we where catholic and that I wasn’t interested in converting. I was wayyyy to kind and never told them to leave us alone just that it wasn’t my interest, My dad knew they kept coming by when he wasn’t home so he decided to catch them off guard and stay home from work. That day he had a long conversation with them about consent and how it is wrong to approach children without the knowledge of their parents. The two girls had looks in their faces and it almost seemed like they had a moment of realization about how weird it is to do what they where doing. I never saw them again after that.

[moestein]

Taught my daughters early to firmly say "No thank you." If their polite request was denied, then they said one last sentence. "If you will not respect me, I am not required to respect you."
If it went beyond that they came to me, and I politely but firmly sent them away.

[sorandombethany]

Happened to me!!! I was a kid in the 90’s and the missionaries came to my door and asked me if I believed in Jesus Christ? As a good Catholic girl of course I said yes. I didn’t know what a Mormon was! They gave me the Book of Mormon and went on their way!! When they came back my mom read them the riot act!! How dare they prey on children!!

[DetestingMonday]

This happened to me when I was in high school. I went with a friend to a church youth activity. My friend’s brother was a missionary and got the school directory from her (which used to be a common thing in our area at the public schools), and got my address. Missionaries would show up at my house between the hours of 3pm and 5pm, conveniently after I got home from school and before my parents arrived home from work…at least once a week. Literally, they would be waiting for me when I got home. So creepy!

[catherinerichard]

That happened to me at a dance…. I was like mom pick me up I think my friends in a cult. I was very very spiritual and did deep dives on like my born faith (Christianity), Paganism, Buddhism, Taoism, etc. and was heavily agnostic at that point… they did NOT like the questions I asked.

[bigsky]

shit is so creepy. Still remember the exact year in eighth grade when I'm suddenly invited by multiple lds friends to a "halloween house" at their church. starts out with ten minutes of totally normal bobbing for apples and candy and shit and then 30 minutes in somehow I haven't seen a window since the lobby, my friends are nowhere around, I'm completely lost in a maze of identical light brown hallways, and two guys I don't know are putting a book of mormon in my hands and trying to get me into an empty cave room with them. I don't remember how I got out of there, but obviously I survived lol.

those same "friends" then gave me books of mormon for any gift exchange the next few years, even after I made it clear i was not interested. (my family was already a different denomination anyway)

[hyakushiki_]

I lived in the Marshall Islands for 12 years, my whole childhood, and oh my GOD the Mormon missionaries would do this to the indigenous children there. We also saw it as extremely predatory. They were also grossly racist in a condescending way. Most people back home held a very low opinion of the Mormons and JWs due to their terrible predatory behavior.

[AtomsAreEverything]

They did this to me in high school, I thought getting invited to a party at a church was cool until they corralled us into a tiny room and my ‘friends’ started preaching. They gave us booklets and expected me to join them for service. They could have told me it was apart of the party, but lying to me made me feel used.

[sianmilne]

Not sure if it was the Mormons or the JWs but they baptized my severely intellectually disabled (intelligence of about an 8yo) aunt without any of our consent 😤 my family is Catholic so she is already baptized and we definitely would have explained that to her, she just thought they were nice people who did Bible lessons at her group home. So messed up, maybe they should add intellectually disabled people to the list of people not to baptize without caregiver consent!

[feelingReckless]

I once had a mormon missionary follow me into my grandpa's backyard. I'm an adult, I live around the corner from my grandpa and I walked over there one afternoon last summer to help him with some yard work and one of them followed me into the backyard. I stayed behind the shed while my grandpa told him off. He put up a huge fence after that but it was so weird that he thought it was okay to just follow a woman into a private backyard!

[jamestrek]

When I was a TBM. Flirt to convert was always a cringy phrase that was always casually thrown around in regular mormon vocabulary like it was nothing.
And yes Elders flirt to convert all the time.

[lace__w]

This happened to me at age 14. I was a volunteer at a charity shop and two missionaries also volunteered there, sometimes our shifts coincided but not always. One claimed to love White Zombie after finding out what I was listening too (at the time there was some Xtian groups threatening to bomb WZ concerts so not 'suitable' music for a mormon!).
One day I was walking home from the shop and was about 1 mile from it, on a quiet residential street. Out of a parked car ahead of me, got out the two missionaries and they started talking to me (they were not surprised to see me at all - they were waiting for me). They then took me to a local park to pray for me.... two 20-something men taking a 14yo girl to a park after somehow finding out which way I walked home from work (& when i would be finishing as we hadn't worked together that day) so they could intercept me. Not at all creepy

[emmaleenawood]

I used to bring my non member friend to the young women's church camps and she did trec with me. I hated the religion and was forced to go and she would come with me to make it less miserable. Neither of us believed in the church. So we would mess around the entire time and have so much fun. I remember my bishop came and brought a book of mormon and tried to ask me to give it to her and I looked at him and said "she's not here for that. She don't want that. She's here for me" and gave it back. Like no I don't want you to convert my friend I hate it here and she makes this barable. She is truly an amazing friend, because no non-member would ever want to go to those things 😂😂. I had other teens in my church group who hated it there and one mom was so consistent putting the book of mormon in her bag everytime. We ended being near a creek and floated it down the creek gleefully saying "bye bye 🎉❤"

[zhmw]

That's what happened to me and my then, teenage daughter. It was a couple of young Mormon adult men, they were over 18 years old, from their local Mormon church and they knocked on our door. My teenage daughter answered the door and immediately they started talking to her about the wonderful young activities at their church, when I got to the door and heard this, I was so pissed off. I support Religious Freedom, but I support the rights of parents to raise their own children in their own faith. And those young adult men had crossed the line by talking directly to my teenage daughter. I really scolded these young men and told them, as adults, then have NO business persuading and luring a teenage girl to their church. Luckily, my daughter, who's now in her 30s, is still free-spirited and isn't a member of any organized religion.

[mermaidnurse]

My mom used to buy BOM with my friends names engraved for me to give out as birthday presents with CTR rings. Then when I stopped getting invited to parties she told me it was because they werent real friends.

[elibeetle-owo]

When I was younger these two Mormon’s would come to the door, around the same time every day for about a week. I was watching the house and my younger siblings at the time and so I’d let them carry on until they felt accomplished because I was easily cowed at that age and didn’t want to make anyone upset for fear of repercussions. Well my dad heard about them visiting daily from a neighbor, asked me about it, and the next day he swung home for a “late lunch” and met them at the door instead. He told me to take my sisters downstairs so I don’t know what he said to them, but I never saw either of them again save for one time in the store and the one who noticed me promptly turned around and walked away.

[kelseyroy]

Two teenage girl missionaries stopped by my house twice a month for every month in the summer of 2014. They were so kind and so pretty, I was 11 and thought they were so cool. At the first visit my Mom politely shooed them away, the second visit they realized my mom worked during the week all day long, and that my dad would leave me in the house all day while he worked outside and got drunk. They started stopping over more frequently and only speaking to me, because I was their best bet, they’d seen me in the church before, before my grandma died, my absolute best friend in the world who passed that previous November. I was told how proud i’d make my grandparents, that my grandpa would have someone to attend church with him, how I come from a strong line of Mormon women. I was always so alone and always looking for validation, if it weren’t for my moms refusal, they would have gotten me entirely. I can’t even be upset with the girls either, they seen a child in pain and most likely thought they were genuinely offering the best solution.