Run Into LDS Missionaries? Totally Not Interested? Don’t Panic, Here Are 3 Things You Can Do
Knowledge conquers fear and uncertainty, so let’s dive right into this.
We’ve all seen them before: 2 well-groomed young men dressed in white shirts and ties, walking or riding bicycles side-by-side.
Whether you’ve seen them in real life or have seen a meme or BuzzFeed video on the internet, perhaps I can shed some further light on who these young individuals are, and 3 things you can do if you ever cross paths with them, which is likely to happen at some point (or even multiple times) in your life.
I too was once a missionary, and have a thing or two to say that can help you avoid having to awkwardly reject your local friendly “Mormon” missionaries. Knowing a little bit more about them is key in knowing how you might act or what you might say to them if you ever get approached.
**A note before we begin, the word “Mormon” is an outdated and incorrect term describing members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In this article I will simply be referring to the missionaries as “LDS” or “Latter-Day Saint” rather than “Mormon”.**
Who the?
Maybe you’ll spot them before they spot you. The name tag they never take off is perhaps the biggest giveaway. On that shiny piece of black plastic — I’m explaining because I know it’s pretty daring to get close enough to read what’s on there — you will find a missionary’s name followed by “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints”. Male missionaries, despite their very young age, are titled “Elder” followed by their last name, for example “Elder Lin”. Also, keep in mind that the nametag may not be in English. In the United States, it is common to see Spanish nametags, along with Chinese, French, American Sign-Language, and several other languages.
To the surprise of many, there are also female missionaries.
What?!
Yup, I said it. The LDS Church has been calling women to serve missions since 1898, however, there have always been far fewer female missionaries than male. That changed beginning in the year 2012, when there was an announcement that lowered the age qualification from 21 to 19. Immediately there was a tremendous surge in the number of young women serving full-time missions (woohoo! You go girls!). On a female missionary’s nametag, you will see “Sister” followed by the missionary’s last name, for example, “Sister Reynolds”, followed by the name of the Church. Sisters can be dressed in skirts, dresses, and pants.
Okay, so Latter-Day Saint missionaries are not as intimidating as you might think. They are mostly 18-year boys fresh out of high school, many of whom have never lived away from home before. Not only are they trying to share the good news with strangers (believe me they are a lot more intimidated by you), they’re just trying to figure out how to wash their clothes, keep themselves smelling decent, and manage to make sure they’re fed every meal of the day.
So what do you do when you see a couple of young LDS boys walking down the street? May I suggest offering them a bottle of water, or even paying for their next meal if they’re in line in front of you at Chick-Fil-A? Being a missionary certainly doesn’t always bring the easiest of days. There is a lot of rejection and unkind words (Elders get it a lot worse than the Sisters). A small act of kindness could change the course of their entire week, and you can certainly count on them to pay it forward and to write it down in their journals that night so that they can remember to include it in their weekly e-mails back home to their families. Yes, communication with family is limited to once a week, and believe me that a stranger paying for a meal would make the headlines of their e-mails that week.
So that is the first thing that you could consider doing. You may not want to hear their message, but you could always offer them a little pick-me-up in their week.
What the?
So what exactly do missionaries do? I guess the obvious is that they want to share messages about the Lord. But getting from the street and into someone’s home isn’t always a simple process.
Every morning, missionaries try their best to fill up their day with productive things to do. Some missionaries have lessons with people who are interested in their message, but many missionaries aren’t quite so fortunate. This means that there is a lot of door-knocking or trying to contact individuals in the streets.
Really, you could meet a missionary anywhere. You could meet them in any public place. It’s common to run into them on airplanes when they are en route to their mission, or perhaps on the way back home after completing their 18-months or 2-years of service. Many missionaries like to take public transportation in hopes of meeting somebody who might accept a brief message. You could walk onto a public bus and sit next to a missionary… or I guess they would be the ones walking up to sit next to you. That seems more realistic. Let’s be real, sometimes they’re avoided at all costs.
Which leads me to the second thing you could perhaps do if you ran into missionaries and are not interested in their message. Any missionary would be elated to be able to serve you and your family. When I say serve, I mean that they would love to do something for you. It seems a bit embarassing to some to ask for help from a stranger, but that’s why they’re there. I wouldn’t be exaggerating by saying that you would be making their entire day by asking them to help you haul boxes or mow the lawn.
Think about it. A pair of missionaries could continue facing rejection and slammed doors, or they could change into a pair of shorts and take a break and help you rake your leaves, clean out your garage, or paint your house. Believe me, it’s a fun change in the schedule, and after having my Chick-Fil-A sandwich paid for, that would be the next thing I write about in my weekly e-mail.
Why the?
According to the most recent report that the LDS Church has given, there are approximately 67,021 full-time missionaries currently serving around the world¹. It is often asked how the Church is able to “recruit” so many individuals to spread the gospel message. It is to the surprise of many that these missions are 100% voluntary. It is not a requirement of the young people in the Church, so the missionaries you meet are there of their own free-will, randomly assigned a geographical region somewhere in the world where they will share messages of Jesus.
It is not fully guaranteed, but practically certain that the missionaries you encounter will probably seem over-enthusiastic, extra bubbly, really smiley, and like they are the happiest people in the world.
Well.
That’s because they are. Genuinely so. They are so happy to be serving. They love God and they love you. I promise. Just ask them.
Which leads me to the last thing that you could do if you bumped into the missionaries. Get to know them. Where are they from? What are their hobbies and talents? Why did they give up those hobbies to go on a mission? Do they miss their home country or town? Get inspired. There is so much we can learn from one another. You may not be religious, you may not be interested in the Book of Mormon, or you simply may disagree with everything they have to say about God. But we can still learn so much from one another as individuals and respect one another an human beings. I can bet that you will walk away from a good heart-to-heart conversation with the LDS missionaries with a little more courage, a little more motivation to do good or be better, a little more inspired.
So you run into the missionaries, let’s recap 3 things that you can do if you don’t necessarily want to hear their message:
- Offer them a kind hand and see if they could use a drinks (non-alcoholic of course) or a quick bite to eat. You could even take a selfie with them and send it to one of their family members just to let them know that their missionary is doing alright. You would knock their socks off I promise.
- Ask them for a favor. Give them a break from their usual missionary work and make their day by letting them make yours.
- Get to know them! Who doesn’t love talking about themselves?
You might find yourself unsure of how to decline their message, or you might have no problem at all turning them away, but no matter the case, all of these simple things would be incredibly meaningful and so easy to do if you ever ran into a missionary companionship.
[1]: 2019 Statistical Report for April 2020 Conference. https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/2019-statistical-report
