Mormon Missionaries

I don't know many people who have not seen either the two young guy missionaries or two girl missionaries going from house to house or riding bikes or driving a car around your town.

Some people start the vacuum cleaner up when they knock on their door. Some people just don't come when they knock. Some open the door and yell at the missionaries. Some even threaten them. Some missionaries have been beaten up.

So, what are they doing, these threatening young missionaries.

They, at age 19 for the young men, age 21 for young women, decide to spend from 18 months to 2 years sharing a message about the gospel of Jesus Christ having been restored after being lost when Christ and the apostles died.

They save up their own money and pay their own expenses to do this.

They give up their time to do something they believe in.

Do they force people to listen?
Nope.

Do they get angry when people say they aren't interested?
Nope.

Do they intimidate people into listening?
Nope. Well, I have heard of young guy missionaries who are 6 foot 10 inches and about 300 pounds that knock on the door and invite people to listen to their message. I think anyone looking up at that mass of missionary would be intimidated. They are big, but gentle.

How many of these missionaries are there?
About 55,000 around the world.

The guys go out for 2 years, the girls for 18 months. Why the difference? My guess is that they have the girls wait until they are 21 to see if they want to get married before going on a mission. In my mind and thoughts, being a mother is the best thing a woman can do. Sharing the gospel is important, but being a mother comes first. Just my thought.

Again, why do they all do that, year after year, new sets of missionaries learn the language of the country they go to. They learn Tongan, Chinese, French, German, Finnish, Swedish, Danish and on and on and on. They learn to love the people they teach.

They do it because there isn't another church on the earth that has the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, with the restored priesthood authority from God to do his work on earth and the ordinances required by God to return to him. The missionaries know they are bringing the truth to the people of the world. That's why they do it.

How much success do they have? Some missionaries are very successful and baptize dozens. Others baptize one or two. Some baptize none.

So, do the ones that don't baptize anyone feel like they wasted their time?
Some do. Others feel like they planted seeds of truth with the people.

In my mind, one thing that happens to most of them is that they learn what they believe, how to teach, how to deal with people, how to deal with rejection, how to be an adult.

Missionaries are just like everyone else. Some are happy, some sad, some enthusiastic, some amazing, some lazy, many just the kid next door trying to do what's right and share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They have the truth and can share it with you. If you are searching for truth, call them and listen.

It can change your life.

If you want to find out about it yourself, go to mormon.org

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