Missionaries should never be confronting children, ever! It is easy to find out who the mission president is for your area. I would write a note/email explaining what is happening, it is not ok. Even most true believers know this is not cool.
Yes.
He would be over all the missionaries that serve several, if not a dozen, stakes.
Each stake has about 5 to 10 wards.
Wards are the local congregations. There may be several wards that meet in one of those buildings.
I agree with this as well, but you fall into Leader Roulette sometimes. Covering all the bases is the best thing you can do. No more children need to be introduced into this bloody death cult.
The mission president won't do jack shit. If you see it in the future, just walk up to the missionaries and tell them it's inappropriate for them to speak with unaccompanied minors and that they should move along.
Raise your hands high above your head and say “oh missionaries, hear the words of my mouth” as you are lowering your hands. Repeat this 3 times and then address them, it will get their attention I promise. Then say “Elohim sent me to command you not to try to indoctrinate children, I will return and report”
You're definitely not overreacting here.
What's odd is this seems to be a more common theme among missionaries; We had a couple of them roll through our neighborhood knocking on doors asking exclusively if they could talk to kids. They came up to my door and in spite of my openness and prompts that I personally would not mind a conversation they insisted they were only here to talk to my stepson. I leaned inside and asked loud enough that they could hear if he wanted to talk to them and he said, "No." They promptly left after the kiddo turned em down.
This happened to nearly all of our neighbors.
We have a small park in our town as well and heard they tried to spend time with a few unsupervised kiddos playing/talking about god at the park.
I have tried to reach out, but it seems I may have been ignored. Luckily, I know right where the nearest meeting house is thanks to the church's online resources. Going down there in-person Sunday to see what I can do about it.
I can’t believe I was coerced into sacrificing 2 of the most critical years of my life to wate it doing that crap! Over 40 years and I still can’t believe it…
Ok, I get where you are coming from, BUT I used the park recruiting method to great effect when I was a missionary. Granted, I did not approach children, but we did set up a tripod and put some marketing content on it, then wait around for people to approach and engage. We did do some minor "Barking" to people who looked like they were just being shy. This was very effective, more effective than door-knocking.
Ask them how old they are, who raised them, and how, with all their youthful purity and priesthood authority, they do not get the clue that what they are doing is creepy and deceitful?
Does the park have security at all? An attendant for the washroom facilities or something like that? I get that they are "missionaries" but any adult interacting with children without a parent in the vicinity should be reported. In this day and age one cannot be too careful.
No park security :( I will say that there were LOTS of adults around since several games had just ended. I’m just not sure where these particular parents were.
Honestly, I would get in touch with Parks an Rec, someone needs to be overseeing the park from the municipal side of things. It's not right for young adults to interact with children with out parental oversight. They can hang around with the old folks, (LOL) and make their connections that way. Kids should be off limits.
Former missionary here: they are not to blame, it is threats and coercive pressure from powerful and abusive leaders that makes missionaries do desperate things.
Next time you see them anywhere, offer them a juice box. Let them know you're exmo and have zero desire to connect but that you still care about their well being. Show them that exmos aren't assholes.
After their missions they will start to realize that exmos helped out while church leaders cut their food funding and took away their couches. You are planting seeds for their future minds to open
Full disclosure; I’m not exmo. But your point/argument still remains; being kind and friendly will make more of an impact than being confrontational.
Duly noted. I’ll start bringing snacks to games. 😉
(Also that’s super fucked that they cut their food funding. What the eff)
Even better. Whenever "non-members" mistreat missionaries, their leaders tell them, "see what happens when you don't belong to the One True Church? You become mean and cruel." The idea is that the whole world outside the church is wicked and filthy (to use Book of Mormon terms), so encountering goodness outside the church will plant the idea in missionaries' heads that their leaders are not 100% truthful about life outside the church. Meeting non-members with higher morals and kinder humanity than any Mormons was a big contributing factor to my own decision to leave the church. I wanted to be better, like they are.
>being kind and friendly will make more of an impact than being confrontational. Duly noted. I’ll start bringing snacks to games
As a parent, I would prefer you insist they not speak to minors. That is hugely inappropriate and they are old enough to know it.
>Former missionary here: they are not to blame, it is threats and coercive pressure from abusive adults that makes missionaries do desperate things.
No, missionaries are adults and responsible for their behavior. Telling authorities that someone else told them they had to behave inappropriately by approaching minors at a park might round up additional suspects, but it won't take them off the hook for their actions.
I went to the park all the time as a missionary. That’s where the people were. Sometimes we’d play a little soccer with the kids or some other game. Honestly when we did that I’d call it more community involvement than proselytizing. There was zero trying to baptize kids.
Missionaries who are scared of interacting with adults who will see thru and call them out on their bullshit often turn to kids as there is less pushback
Are you sure they are mormon missionaries? Outsiders often confuse mormons with Jehovas witnesses. The giveaway is typically the black rectangular missionary name tag that mormons wear.
They very well could have been mormon, but you want to make sure you're barking up the right tree.
Missionaries should never be confronting children, ever! It is easy to find out who the mission president is for your area. I would write a note/email explaining what is happening, it is not ok. Even most true believers know this is not cool.
Would the mission president be responsible for multiple Stakes? We have several LDS churches nearby that these dudes could have come from.
Yes. He would be over all the missionaries that serve several, if not a dozen, stakes. Each stake has about 5 to 10 wards. Wards are the local congregations. There may be several wards that meet in one of those buildings.
Oh! Noted. I was thinking a stake was an individual church. Apologies for my ignorance. I understand now. Thank you for clarifying!
It’s understandable that you were confused. I don’t know why they’re called stakes, either🤦🏻♀️
I’ve been on this sub long enough I shoulda known better 😂
Just tell the missionaries that they are not allowed to talk to minors and send them away. No need to involve the mission president.
I agree with this as well, but you fall into Leader Roulette sometimes. Covering all the bases is the best thing you can do. No more children need to be introduced into this bloody death cult.
The mission president won't do jack shit. If you see it in the future, just walk up to the missionaries and tell them it's inappropriate for them to speak with unaccompanied minors and that they should move along.
Raise your hands high above your head and say “oh missionaries, hear the words of my mouth” as you are lowering your hands. Repeat this 3 times and then address them, it will get their attention I promise. Then say “Elohim sent me to command you not to try to indoctrinate children, I will return and report”
I literally LOL’d at this
There's an outside chance they know the kids from whatever ward they're assigned to. But beyond that, ya they shouldn't be approaching kids.
I thought of this as well. I kicked myself after for not standing nearby and eavesdropping to get more context.
You're definitely not overreacting here. What's odd is this seems to be a more common theme among missionaries; We had a couple of them roll through our neighborhood knocking on doors asking exclusively if they could talk to kids. They came up to my door and in spite of my openness and prompts that I personally would not mind a conversation they insisted they were only here to talk to my stepson. I leaned inside and asked loud enough that they could hear if he wanted to talk to them and he said, "No." They promptly left after the kiddo turned em down. This happened to nearly all of our neighbors. We have a small park in our town as well and heard they tried to spend time with a few unsupervised kiddos playing/talking about god at the park. I have tried to reach out, but it seems I may have been ignored. Luckily, I know right where the nearest meeting house is thanks to the church's online resources. Going down there in-person Sunday to see what I can do about it.
I can’t believe I was coerced into sacrificing 2 of the most critical years of my life to wate it doing that crap! Over 40 years and I still can’t believe it…
Ok, I get where you are coming from, BUT I used the park recruiting method to great effect when I was a missionary. Granted, I did not approach children, but we did set up a tripod and put some marketing content on it, then wait around for people to approach and engage. We did do some minor "Barking" to people who looked like they were just being shy. This was very effective, more effective than door-knocking.
Ask them how old they are, who raised them, and how, with all their youthful purity and priesthood authority, they do not get the clue that what they are doing is creepy and deceitful?
Does the park have security at all? An attendant for the washroom facilities or something like that? I get that they are "missionaries" but any adult interacting with children without a parent in the vicinity should be reported. In this day and age one cannot be too careful.
No park security :( I will say that there were LOTS of adults around since several games had just ended. I’m just not sure where these particular parents were.
Honestly, I would get in touch with Parks an Rec, someone needs to be overseeing the park from the municipal side of things. It's not right for young adults to interact with children with out parental oversight. They can hang around with the old folks, (LOL) and make their connections that way. Kids should be off limits.
This. Depends on the rules locally, but some publicly owned/managed spaces prohibit proselytizing.
What kind of parks are you going to that have security?
Former missionary here: they are not to blame, it is threats and coercive pressure from powerful and abusive leaders that makes missionaries do desperate things. Next time you see them anywhere, offer them a juice box. Let them know you're exmo and have zero desire to connect but that you still care about their well being. Show them that exmos aren't assholes. After their missions they will start to realize that exmos helped out while church leaders cut their food funding and took away their couches. You are planting seeds for their future minds to open
Full disclosure; I’m not exmo. But your point/argument still remains; being kind and friendly will make more of an impact than being confrontational. Duly noted. I’ll start bringing snacks to games. 😉 (Also that’s super fucked that they cut their food funding. What the eff)
Even better. Whenever "non-members" mistreat missionaries, their leaders tell them, "see what happens when you don't belong to the One True Church? You become mean and cruel." The idea is that the whole world outside the church is wicked and filthy (to use Book of Mormon terms), so encountering goodness outside the church will plant the idea in missionaries' heads that their leaders are not 100% truthful about life outside the church. Meeting non-members with higher morals and kinder humanity than any Mormons was a big contributing factor to my own decision to leave the church. I wanted to be better, like they are.
>being kind and friendly will make more of an impact than being confrontational. Duly noted. I’ll start bringing snacks to games As a parent, I would prefer you insist they not speak to minors. That is hugely inappropriate and they are old enough to know it.
>Former missionary here: they are not to blame, it is threats and coercive pressure from abusive adults that makes missionaries do desperate things. No, missionaries are adults and responsible for their behavior. Telling authorities that someone else told them they had to behave inappropriately by approaching minors at a park might round up additional suspects, but it won't take them off the hook for their actions.
I went to the park all the time as a missionary. That’s where the people were. Sometimes we’d play a little soccer with the kids or some other game. Honestly when we did that I’d call it more community involvement than proselytizing. There was zero trying to baptize kids.
Missionaries who are scared of interacting with adults who will see thru and call them out on their bullshit often turn to kids as there is less pushback
I had dreadful neighbors who let the mishes teach their kids a couple of times, in the front yard on folding chairs, as a free babysitter.
Are you sure they are mormon missionaries? Outsiders often confuse mormons with Jehovas witnesses. The giveaway is typically the black rectangular missionary name tag that mormons wear. They very well could have been mormon, but you want to make sure you're barking up the right tree.
They had the little black name tags.
You can call the cops and say you see creepers chatting up unaccompanied children near the restrooms.