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Missionary Fiasco Today.


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I'll briefly set the stage of events.

A couple months back Mrs. Mudcat and I bumped into the new missionaries. It was getting dark and they were walking afoot. I pulled over, introduced us (though Mrs. Mudcat had met them prior) and asked if they needed a lift. Though they declined as their apartment was just up the road, they declined the lift but they set up a tentative visit.

I get a call about three weeks back and they wanted to come by for a visit. We set up tonight as that time.

Somewhere in the midst of that one of the two gets transferred out and new guy gets put in. Apparently the new guy, a young fellow, has irritated both my LDS MIL for a few reasons and also my FIL for some other stuff.. I won't go into the details unless your interested.

Anyway, I get a call to confirm the meeting last week and everything was cool. Meal at my place then discussion.

Saturday I get another call from the Elder I knew, who said they had run out of miles they could use on the car. It's about 24 miles roundtrip btw. So I offered to pick them up and it was cool. However we had a conversation about topics, objectives and that sort of thing.

Monday of this week he called saying reiterating they were out of miles but also that their schedule was a bit challenged and asked if I could meet them at their apartment or at the local church. I was good with that.

This morning Mrs. Mudcat asks if the missionaries were coming. I told her the story.

She thought it was a bad thing for them not to do what they had agreed to.

I told, defensively on there part, that we had a talk earlier and that they had some other things lined up. She questioned the importance of "other things" and I speculatively offered that based on our past conversation, they were now aware I had read Standard Works more than once, prayed and so forth and was more interested in some secondary issues. I suggested to her that perhaps a more likely candidate needed to be addressed.

She didn't have much in they way of positive things to say, at that.

It gets juicy here.

This afternoon I get a call from the missionaries. It was the Elder I hadn't met on the line, the one that rubbed the IL's the wrong way, that called. Immediately, I said everything was cool for our meeting. The Elder responded, I just wanted you to know that we aren't to busy to meet you at your home and didn't mean to leave that impression.

It doesn't take me long to add 2 + 2. So I asked how they drew the conclusion I thought they were to busy.

He answered that my FIL had called him and offered his services and the services of another member to split and team with them if they were so busy they couldn't cover all the ground they had. He assured me they had a schedule clear enough to allow them to meet.

I was a bit angry at hearing all this so, I told him I would call him back shortly.

It was evident to me what happened. My wife was irritated by what I speculated and called my MIL and told her what I said in a poor light. My MIL being particularly disaffected with this particular missionary, called my FIL and exploded the situation to him. My FIL is normally even keeled about stuff, but he had an unfavorable view of this fellow, the exploded info via my MIL confirmed his view and he decided to take liberty with it.

The end result being a bit of snafu.

I called the missionaries back after confirming all my hunches as fact. We had a bit of a talk about the situation and I decided to meet them despite the friction of the moment.

It wasn't a bad meeting, but I don't know that I will ever have another one. Somewhere in the process of me choosing to be engaging with LDS missionaries, my family injected themselves as people trying to control the situation.

I suppose I am sick of that part and don't feel like it's worth pursuing much, if that is the consequence.

Edited by Mudcat
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Mudcat, my friend, family that cares sometimes can get a bit... tense, wouldn't you say?

They love you so much that it gets a bit exuberant sometimes, and yah... this sorta thing happens.

I am bad at it too.

I would just forgive and forget, that I would... and hopefully... hopefully... the MIL and FIL won't get quite so... tense next time.

So I would just relax and give it another go. Talking to the missionaries about your religion is a pretty cool thing and all.

But yah, that's just my opinion.

Best Wishes,

TAO

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You may want to try this:

The Lesser Banishing Ritual of

The Mother-in-law

[The Greater Ritual being too terrible even for the worst of in-laws]

by James Lin

In the double current of Maat/Horus, the disbanding of Nirvana and the age of the new Goddess, Alanis Morrissett, do I type these words, 'tis true, without a word of lie, 'tis very true. That which is on the z-list is online, and that which is online, is on the z-list, to work boredom from. And just as all things have been, and are come from, Shub internet, so are all e-mails born of this one thing. And so it goes.....

As I lay in my chamber, exausted from another day, my Ladywife and child beside me, I did hear a stirring coming from yonder.

"Hark!", I said, I usually don't say "Hark," but it makes for a better story, "Hark!", I said, "What is that noise from kitchen yonder?"

I crawled from the safety of my warm nest and reached for my weapon. I spoke the secret words as taught to me by my mentor, Mr. Rogers.

"Oh mighty Mjollnir, basher of burglars, at any other time thy name be golfclub, defend me now in your grandest "hole in one" style. I invoke thee Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicholas, and Lee Trevino. Lee, you're not that great of a golfer, but you were struck by lightning."

I felt the powerglow of Mjollnir creep through my body, or it might have just been heartburn from too much pizza before bed, I'm not sure. Feeling bold, I took four antacid tablets with extra calcium and crept down the stairs to the cavern we call the kitchen.

There before me hunched over a pot of some incongruent mass, was, to my horror, the Mother-in-law!

I quickly said my silent invocation to the God "Nike Adidas" and the silent incantation "Feets don't fail me now" but she turned and saw me before I could run away.

The stench of too much Opium and Morning Dew perfume assaulted my senses, I almost passed out from the smell. I shook my head to clear my throbbing brain, and saw her moving toward me, a spoon in one hand and the pot in the other.

Thinking as quickly as I could I shouted "Get thee behind me Mother-in-law. Oh yea, forcer of unwanted food, pincher of my young son's cheeks. Take your pots of alcohol chicken and your silly folk superstitions and begone."

And she that moved spake, "We are the Mother-in-laws and we are many, we move into your home in the well-meaning guise of nutritional needs, but in reality we come to cause strife. Our famous curse Support the baby's head! will ring in your ears till the day you die."

The odor of garlic and Polident was almost too much to bear. I was frozen in place, forced to listen to her complaining diatribe.

She continued "I hurl upon ye, parents that love your children and would keep them. We the Mother-in-laws manifest in many forms, one of those forms being 'The well meaning friend'."

I had had enough, I knew if I didn't stop this horror now, it would be too late. I rose up and spoke the revered names of Gods and Goddesses most hated by the Mother-in-law.

"I invoke thee Led Zeppelin, fall upon this Legion and take it from my site. In through the out door, if you will. And also the curse called 'The well-meaning friend'. Those vile childless beings that somehow know everything about how to rear my child. Jimi Hendricks wail upon your guitar with extra feedback and distortion, Janis Joplin rip one out and sonically banish this blot on human kind."

Then I spoke my best and most sacred barbarous name incantation, that of Cheech and Chong "Oh Feely me bony belly e probiscus e Billy selly all of his dominoes."

And with that the Mother-in-law packed her bags and left my dwelling, vowing never to return.

Somehow, I doubted it.

This is an original work by James Lin and may be freely stolen, plagiarized and transmitted openly on any and all systems.

(not really, this is a humor piece, but reading it may make you feel better. Laughter is one of the most beneficial forms of magic.)

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Aaahhh Mudcat... don't give it up. Maybe the mishes could simply come over for dinner and a light discussion of sorts until everyone can settle down a bit, unless everyone feels comfortable with the proposed topics. Actually I think it would be helpful if your ILs didn't get involved. This appears more complicated than necessary.

GG

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My heart went out to the missionaries as i heard that story. I had a ward on my mission that became convinced that my comp. and i were not working, even though it was actually my best area and we had two baptisms in 3 months that both stayed active. It was a horrible experience. Our mission pres. had to get invovled.

It was an eye opener of members can just take an idea and run wild with it and how lack of communication with the missionaries is usually the problem. We never once met with the bishop in this ward. We weren't allowed in PEC meetings and had to fill out a form stating what we had been doing that week (a break down of our hours, who we talked to, that kind of thing) for our mission leader to give to him. I was ther 5 months and the bishop never had us over to his home to eat dinner and never spoke to us directly.

One of his counselors had served a mission with very strict rules. When he found out we were listening to books on tape after hours and on P Day (church books) he assumed we were breaking the rules of our mission (which we weren't). He also found out we were meeting with a young male nonmember at the church (because that was protocol in our mission for situations where we could not be alone with someone) and thought again that we were breaking the rules (had to get 'proof' for him that we weren't). Then we were late for sacrament meeting one sunday and, though no one said a word to us at church about it, we got a call from the president saying the bishop had complained. If he had bothered to speak with us he would have found out that we were late because we had gotten up at 5 in the morning to drive an hour to go see an inactive sister in the ward who's husband had been murdered and who was taking part in a native american sunrise ceremony and wanted us there with her. We tried to get back in time but ended up being 15 minutes late.

The final straw for the ward seemed to be when the Church introduced a pilot program in our mission where missionaries were supposed to focus completely on member families and teach them how to get their non-member friends interested in genealogy. We had strict 'orders' to meet with every single member of the ward (active or not) and teach them this lesson. You can imagine what our schedule was like just trying to get in contact with everyone-for a month it literally was about all we did. We had to make the calls at the church building to set up the schedules because we actually lived 30 miles outside of our area (had to drive to it every day) and of course we didn't have cell phones back then so the church was our 'headquarters' during the day since we couldn't drive back and forth. The ward became convinced that we were just hanging out at the church all day doing nothing.

At this point, i got transfered and my companion was going to train a new missionary there in the ward. She didn't last three days before she had a breakdown because of all the crap the members were giving her and she actually went home under a dr.'s care! I had to be emergency transfered back in and my greenie and i just gritted our teeth and waiting for the whole experience with that ward to be over.

I certainly don't know what the missionary did to get on your family's bad side-they could have legitimate complaints. It just makes me shudder to hear the story because there is nothing worse than sacrificing and doing your best and having the people who are supposed to help you actually be out to get you. My mission president called me personally more than once to tell me how proud he was of me and that he knew how hard we were working, so that helped, but it was still really hard to leave that area and know that the leadership (we actually never had problems with the regular members) did not like me.

Now, on to the bigger issue (sorry for the personal rant mudcat).

I would probably respond the exact way that you did. It's natural that when we feel we are being controlled in some way that our instinct is to rebel.

Just make sure that your reasons for not meeting with the missionaries come from you and are not just a reaction to your family. Otherwise, your still letting them manipulate your choices, it's just not in as obvious of a way.

:)

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In-laws, man...

:rolleyes:

You have EVERY stinking right to be upset with the meddling, for all guilty parties.

You didn't have a problem with what the Elders were saying. They didn't hear from you that there was a problem.

You are the investigator. They are the missionaries. Everyone else is just the supportive crowd. The importance and pace at which you meet and discuss with the missionaries is up to you and them and anyone else YOU choose to counsel with. The interference is them pushing their priorities on you without your say so. They're essentially taking the decision making away from you and doing it themselves. No wonder you're irked. I don't care how well intentioned it all is, it's not their decision to make. When I served in France, there were several long-term investigators who were in very similar situations to yours and I want to assure you that we didn't consider your situation one of lesser importance. I hope those missionaries are doing the same. I trust they are, at least. However, if one appointment is way open to when and how we meet and another appointment can't or won't budge, then we call the easy-going guy and ask him to reschedule.

Do you not take care of their daughter? Are your children not loved, cared for, provided for, and raised to believe in God and Christ?! Where's the trust?!?! Boo! BOOOO!!!!!

In-laws, man...

Edited to remove all the swearing.

Edited by Mars
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Mudcat, my friend, family that cares sometimes can get a bit... tense, wouldn't you say?

They love you so much that it gets a bit exuberant sometimes, and yah... this sorta thing happens.

I am bad at it too.

I would just forgive and forget, that I would... and hopefully... hopefully... the MIL and FIL won't get quite so... tense next time.

They certainly haven't done anything unforgivable towards me or anything that really needs forgiving in that regard. I was more frustrated with the situation than anything and needed to vent on it for a bit.

I don't blame them hoping for a conversion on my part, but there is a bit more to subplot yesterday than that. IMO, it has more to do with the IL's negative feelings about one particular missionary than you might think.

I probably should have spelled this out a little better in the OP, but was tired of typing.

It was the younger one of the two that rubbed her the wrong way.

I met him last night and he seems a nice fellow, intelligent and articulated but he is a bit assumptive.. the sort of fellow that tells what you the ending of the movie will likely be before it ends. A bit impetuous I suppose, he would cut into the other Elders statements and mine trying to steer the conversation a bit. He is brand new and the other Elder is wrapping up his hitch in a few weeks.

Anyways, I think he has likely taken a little to much authority upon himself towards my MIL. When he first came to the area, he directly questioned my MIL's activity because she wasn't at the 1st service he attended but my FIL was present.

She's got fibromialgia and sometimes cant make it. She is anything but inactive though. She even takes the time, despite her ailments to make a 100 mile drive to do Temple work as often as she is able.

I can see the possibility of this fellow have issues with using the correct tone on such things... Anyways this didn't sit well with her, she defended her activity.

After which he immediately asked her take charge of a SS class for new people for some reason. However they don't have any new people at present. So I didn't understand that part, but I suppose it just added fuel to the fire.

I won't go into how he has rubbed my FIL raw but there has been some similar toned chaffing there and my FIL has recieved a few complaints to boot. From what I can gather he is trying to "fix" things that he doesn't have a grasp on and may also be stepping outside his role.

To take it a bit further, my wife though not offended directly was angry that my MIL's feelings had been hurt. All this happened about two weeks back. My wife relayed to me that she had told my MIL, "That she hoped he tried to have the same attitude with me, because I knew the Bible better than anybody she knew and that I would get him."

Though there was quite a bit of cognitive dissonance in that statement, but I knew she was angry at the time so I didn't think much of it. The thought of it made me chuckle a bit.

Given the fact everyone knows that I am an invariable engine of holy evangelical wrath and judgement upon all unbelievers whose only purpose in life is trounce on the unsuspecting of other faiths and eviscerate them with my talons of holiness while pounding them with the Gospel according to Mudcat, I can see where she could think that.

But honestly, I think there was some mixed emotions on their part. Sure they want me to convert. But I think they might have been hoping that if I didn't convert, I would at least get a good opportunity to "school" the young fellow. Yep... that is so my style.

So I would just relax and give it another go. Talking to the missionaries about your religion is a pretty cool thing and all.

We did have a pretty good meeting last night. I dunno that I will pursue much with these guys though. If I do, likely I will do it one on one rather than making it a family thing, given current dispositions.

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All I can say is remember these are kids and this is an all volunteer organization. Also MIL and FIL want them to make a good impression, thus the disenchantment (I did a spell check and this word came up “disinterment” it was too funny to leave it out). Also there is the marriage thing, the most wonderful and impossible intuition on earth.

Now a question as a point of interest, did you pray about the Bible being true, or like me did you just grow up a Christian and take it for granted? I ask based on a statement you made.

Your friend,

Bill

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Just make sure that your reasons for not meeting with the missionaries come from you and are not just a reaction to your family. Otherwise, your still letting them manipulate your choices, it's just not in as obvious of a way.

:)

This is spot on. Meeting with the missionaries is something that has to be done on its own merits and not on the expectations of anyone else. Manipulation by well-meaning (and other) people of the situation in either direction is typically not appropriate.

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You may want to try this:

That would only work on the physical manifestation, though I may try it if in desperation.

My current incantation of, "Man this place is a wreck, I know your busy but do you think have the time to help us with it?" Seems to be like Advil. It takes about 20 minutes to work.

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Aaahhh Mudcat... don't give it up. Maybe the mishes could simply come over for dinner and a light discussion of sorts until everyone can settle down a bit, unless everyone feels comfortable with the proposed topics. Actually I think it would be helpful if your ILs didn't get involved. This appears more complicated than necessary.

GG

Bold mine. I agree.

They were just kids themselves when shortly after marriage, very early 20's, they met an LDS couple of similar age and through discourse converted. Seems in light of that they ought to lay off a bit.

I don't have it near as rough as my 3 BILs. All are 30+ years old now and single. They are all decent looking fellows, athletic and so forth. They would have all possibly found a mate if not for the impetus from my MIL and FIL to push them towards that direction.

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Now, on to the bigger issue (sorry for the personal rant mudcat).

Not at all. It was good story. Not being LDS I feel a bit on shaky ground saying this. But IMO, the ward shouldn't consider themselves Missionary Police and vice versa. But people are people.

I would probably respond the exact way that you did. It's natural that when we feel we are being controlled in some way that our instinct is to rebel.

Just make sure that your reasons for not meeting with the missionaries come from you and are not just a reaction to your family. Otherwise, your still letting them manipulate your choices, it's just not in as obvious of a way.

:)

It's a good point.

For the record though, I don't typically have reasons for meeting with LDS missionaries, other than happenstance. If I am engaged by missionaries and they want to meet with me, I don't decline, try to be a good host and am open to discussion. But I don't seek after missionary engagement either.

There have only been a couple of times when there has been an exception to that.

One was a senior missionary couple who were in town. They were older than my in-laws. My FIL was complementary of the husband and looked up to him a bit.

They asked to meet with me and I did. It was quite enjoyable. We had them over at my invitation at least once or twice a month. I still converse with them, though they are have been back in Utah for a few years now. Great people.

The other situation was a one time only thing. There was a pair of missionaries in a bad section of a town I work in. It wasn't the right time of day for anyone with good sense to be where they were. I pulled over, introduced myself and gave them an offer for supper at Subway on me. They accepted and tossed the bikes in the back of the truck.

We chatted for about an hour after sandwiches. I gave them some friendly advice on the best timing for more risky areas of the town and went on my way.

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In-laws, man...

:rolleyes:

You have EVERY stinking right to be upset with the meddling, for all guilty parties.

<snip>

In-laws, man...

Edited to remove all the swearing.

I agree.

In-laws, man...

I do have to give them credit for conceiving and raising the best thing that has ever happened to me though.. that being Mrs. Mudcat.

Since Mrs. Mudcat is absolutely priceless, I suppose that gives them a virtual Gold Card with no limit of rubbing me raw.

Despite that. They really are good folks though. I love them.

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I'll briefly set the stage of events.

A couple months back Mrs. Mudcat and I bumped into the new missionaries. It was getting dark and they were walking afoot. I pulled over, introduced us (though Mrs. Mudcat had met them prior) and asked if they needed a lift. Though they declined as their apartment was just up the road, they declined the lift but they set up a tentative visit.

I get a call about three weeks back and they wanted to come by for a visit. We set up tonight as that time.

Somewhere in the midst of that one of the two gets transferred out and new guy gets put in. Apparently the new guy, a young fellow, has irritated both my LDS MIL for a few reasons and also my FIL for some other stuff.. I won't go into the details unless your interested.

Anyway, I get a call to confirm the meeting last week and everything was cool. Meal at my place then discussion.

Saturday I get another call from the Elder I knew, who said they had run out of miles they could use on the car. It's about 24 miles roundtrip btw. So I offered to pick them up and it was cool. However we had a conversation about topics, objectives and that sort of thing.

Monday of this week he called saying reiterating they were out of miles but also that their schedule was a bit challenged and asked if I could meet them at their apartment or at the local church. I was good with that.

This morning Mrs. Mudcat asks if the missionaries were coming. I told her the story.

She thought it was a bad thing for them not to do what they had agreed to.

I told, defensively on there part, that we had a talk earlier and that they had some other things lined up. She questioned the importance of "other things" and I speculatively offered that based on our past conversation, they were now aware I had read Standard Works more than once, prayed and so forth and was more interested in some secondary issues. I suggested to her that perhaps a more likely candidate needed to be addressed.

She didn't have much in they way of positive things to say, at that.

It gets juicy here.

This afternoon I get a call from the missionaries. It was the Elder I hadn't met on the line, the one that rubbed the IL's the wrong way, that called. Immediately, I said everything was cool for our meeting. The Elder responded, I just wanted you to know that we aren't to busy to meet you at your home and didn't mean to leave that impression.

It doesn't take me long to add 2 + 2. So I asked how they drew the conclusion I thought they were to busy.

He answered that my FIL had called him and offered his services and the services of another member to split and team with them if they were so busy they couldn't cover all the ground they had. He assured me they had a schedule clear enough to allow them to meet.

I was a bit angry at hearing all this so, I told him I would call him back shortly.

It was evident to me what happened. My wife was irritated by what I speculated and called my MIL and told her what I said in a poor light. My MIL being particularly disaffected with this particular missionary, called my FIL and exploded the situation to him. My FIL is normally even keeled about stuff, but he had an unfavorable view of this fellow, the exploded info via my MIL confirmed his view and he decided to take liberty with it.

The end result being a bit of snafu.

I called the missionaries back after confirming all my hunches as fact. We had a bit of a talk about the situation and I decided to meet them despite the friction of the moment.

It wasn't a bad meeting, but I don't know that I will ever have another one. Somewhere in the process of me choosing to be engaging with LDS missionaries, my family injected themselves as people trying to control the situation.

I suppose I am sick of that part and don't feel like it's worth pursuing much, if that is the consequence.

mud; we must always keep in mind ..... the gospel is not the members.. the gospel is the gospel....:)

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I'll briefly set the stage of events.

A couple months back Mrs. Mudcat and I bumped into the new missionaries. It was getting dark and they were walking afoot. I pulled over, introduced us (though Mrs. Mudcat had met them prior) and asked if they needed a lift. Though they declined as their apartment was just up the road, they declined the lift but they set up a tentative visit.

I get a call about three weeks back and they wanted to come by for a visit. We set up tonight as that time.

Somewhere in the midst of that one of the two gets transferred out and new guy gets put in. Apparently the new guy, a young fellow, has irritated both my LDS MIL for a few reasons and also my FIL for some other stuff.. I won't go into the details unless your interested.

Anyway, I get a call to confirm the meeting last week and everything was cool. Meal at my place then discussion.

Saturday I get another call from the Elder I knew, who said they had run out of miles they could use on the car. It's about 24 miles roundtrip btw. So I offered to pick them up and it was cool. However we had a conversation about topics, objectives and that sort of thing.

Monday of this week he called saying reiterating they were out of miles but also that their schedule was a bit challenged and asked if I could meet them at their apartment or at the local church. I was good with that.

This morning Mrs. Mudcat asks if the missionaries were coming. I told her the story.

She thought it was a bad thing for them not to do what they had agreed to.

I told, defensively on there part, that we had a talk earlier and that they had some other things lined up. She questioned the importance of "other things" and I speculatively offered that based on our past conversation, they were now aware I had read Standard Works more than once, prayed and so forth and was more interested in some secondary issues. I suggested to her that perhaps a more likely candidate needed to be addressed.

She didn't have much in they way of positive things to say, at that.

It gets juicy here.

This afternoon I get a call from the missionaries. It was the Elder I hadn't met on the line, the one that rubbed the IL's the wrong way, that called. Immediately, I said everything was cool for our meeting. The Elder responded, I just wanted you to know that we aren't to busy to meet you at your home and didn't mean to leave that impression.

It doesn't take me long to add 2 + 2. So I asked how they drew the conclusion I thought they were to busy.

He answered that my FIL had called him and offered his services and the services of another member to split and team with them if they were so busy they couldn't cover all the ground they had. He assured me they had a schedule clear enough to allow them to meet.

I was a bit angry at hearing all this so, I told him I would call him back shortly.

It was evident to me what happened. My wife was irritated by what I speculated and called my MIL and told her what I said in a poor light. My MIL being particularly disaffected with this particular missionary, called my FIL and exploded the situation to him. My FIL is normally even keeled about stuff, but he had an unfavorable view of this fellow, the exploded info via my MIL confirmed his view and he decided to take liberty with it.

The end result being a bit of snafu.

I called the missionaries back after confirming all my hunches as fact. We had a bit of a talk about the situation and I decided to meet them despite the friction of the moment.

It wasn't a bad meeting, but I don't know that I will ever have another one. Somewhere in the process of me choosing to be engaging with LDS missionaries, my family injected themselves as people trying to control the situation.

I suppose I am sick of that part and don't feel like it's worth pursuing much, if that is the consequence.

Edited by jadams_4242
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I'll briefly set the stage of events.

A couple months back Mrs. Mudcat and I bumped into the new missionaries. It was getting dark and they were walking afoot. I pulled over, introduced us (though Mrs. Mudcat had met them prior) and asked if they needed a lift. Though they declined as their apartment was just up the road, they declined the lift but they set up a tentative visit.

I get a call about three weeks back and they wanted to come by for a visit. We set up tonight as that time.

Somewhere in the midst of that one of the two gets transferred out and new guy gets put in. Apparently the new guy, a young fellow, has irritated both my LDS MIL for a few reasons and also my FIL for some other stuff.. I won't go into the details unless your interested.

Anyway, I get a call to confirm the meeting last week and everything was cool. Meal at my place then discussion.

Saturday I get another call from the Elder I knew, who said they had run out of miles they could use on the car. It's about 24 miles roundtrip btw. So I offered to pick them up and it was cool. However we had a conversation about topics, objectives and that sort of thing.

Monday of this week he called saying reiterating they were out of miles but also that their schedule was a bit challenged and asked if I could meet them at their apartment or at the local church. I was good with that.

This morning Mrs. Mudcat asks if the missionaries were coming. I told her the story.

She thought it was a bad thing for them not to do what they had agreed to.

I told, defensively on there part, that we had a talk earlier and that they had some other things lined up. She questioned the importance of "other things" and I speculatively offered that based on our past conversation, they were now aware I had read Standard Works more than once, prayed and so forth and was more interested in some secondary issues. I suggested to her that perhaps a more likely candidate needed to be addressed.

She didn't have much in they way of positive things to say, at that.

It gets juicy here.

This afternoon I get a call from the missionaries. It was the Elder I hadn't met on the line, the one that rubbed the IL's the wrong way, that called. Immediately, I said everything was cool for our meeting. The Elder responded, I just wanted you to know that we aren't to busy to meet you at your home and didn't mean to leave that impression.

It doesn't take me long to add 2 + 2. So I asked how they drew the conclusion I thought they were to busy.

He answered that my FIL had called him and offered his services and the services of another member to split and team with them if they were so busy they couldn't cover all the ground they had. He assured me they had a schedule clear enough to allow them to meet.

I was a bit angry at hearing all this so, I told him I would call him back shortly.

It was evident to me what happened. My wife was irritated by what I speculated and called my MIL and told her what I said in a poor light. My MIL being particularly disaffected with this particular missionary, called my FIL and exploded the situation to him. My FIL is normally even keeled about stuff, but he had an unfavorable view of this fellow, the exploded info via my MIL confirmed his view and he decided to take liberty with it.

The end result being a bit of snafu.

I called the missionaries back after confirming all my hunches as fact. We had a bit of a talk about the situation and I decided to meet them despite the friction of the moment.

It wasn't a bad meeting, but I don't know that I will ever have another one. Somewhere in the process of me choosing to be engaging with LDS missionaries, my family injected themselves as people trying to control the situation.

I suppose I am sick of that part and don't feel like it's worth pursuing much, if that is the consequence.

Mud.. we must always remember. that truths of the gospel are not found in the members; the truths of the gospel are found in the spiritual confirmations of the lord...And when contention arises {as the advesary makes sure it does.}. we canott experiance spirituality as the lord would have.. trust the gospel.. not everything individual members do....:)

Edited by jadams_4242
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Ahhh...the missionaries.

Ya know what they say... "the Church must be true or the missionaries would have plateaued the growth rate and caused huge problems with convert retention by now".

Edited by cinepro
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Heh .... I had a chuckle when I read that story. Oh man! In my opinion, focus on your immediate family and the missionaries. In other words, the IL's shouldn’t be involved in your spirituality and the what, when, where and who of your discussions with the missionaries. Further, Missionaries are just boys, and aren’t really going to be tip toeing around your family politics. But rather instead they are faced with their stats (number of investigators, lessons taught that week, how many baptismal challenges, and yes, the number of miles on their car).

I now remember a part member family in Australia that I went to visit for the first time with my companion. When we knocked on the door to visit the family, the daughter of the family greeted me with a single thumbs up - which I thought was peculiar since she had a rather mean look on her face - I promptly reciprocated with my own single thumbs up. She stormed off, ran into her room, and slammed the door. LOL - A single thumbs up in Australia means she was giving me the bird, which I gave back to her! My companion just laughed and laughed. The father came to the door and let us in. My companion later explained all the family politics between the totally inactive daughter, and the pressure she was feeling with her father, and how he wanted the missionaries to get her more active. Wow.... 'As the sands through the hour glass so are the days of our lives’!

My advice, insulate the missionaries from your family politics as much as possible. I promise you they won’t understand it, nor is it their purpose to do so. Further, these boys make mistakes. They are trying to be responsible as adults for the first time in their lives. I can promise you, they are making so many mistakes, every day, its amazing they can still teach lessons and inspire people and change lives. But they do it often!

I support the missionaries anyway I can. If they need a lift, no problem. On their P-Day, if they need to play some foos ball on my table, they can. Its not much, and I wish I could do more. Perhaps I feel that way because when I was investigating the church, and wanted to be baptized for the wrong reason, a missionary told me, "you cant be baptized until you have a testimony". It was a challenge for me to hear that, but it set the stage on how the Lord's church and its members interact. We have to do our part, and the Lord will take us the rest of the way.

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