I need help in understanding missionary work. This may seem silly, but hear me out: I am planning on becoming a member of the church soon. Spirituality has always been a sensitive issue for me- I was raised non-denominational christian and growing up, I always felt bothered by my unanswered questions in the faith and turned away from God for some time. When I met my friend, a member, one of the first things I noticed about him was how nonjudgemental he is. And how much compassion he has for people. So naturally, I wanted to know about his spiritual beliefs. When I found out he was a mormon, I didn't know what to think. I'm from the south so I had never met a mormon before, and for some reason I thought they only lived in Utah But he never preached or boasted about his beliefs, he just answered my questions that I had about his life and his relationship with the Father. Pretty soon I started going to church with him, reading scriptures and praying with him, and now here I am, ready to be baptized. My problem? Missionary work. Now, while I was attending church I was very put off by the missionaries. They would follow me around after sacrament meeting and kind of corner me and make me feel uncomfortable. I tried to express in the nicest way that I was learning about the gospel on my own, with my friend and his family, and that yes I was happy coming to church, but they didn't seem to get the picture. They kept calling me and they even came to my friends house to see if I was there and they could talk to me. It felt like .... stalking almost! Also, when I told my boss that I was joining the church, he expressed extreme displeasure. When I inquired as to why, he said that the only time he had ever met anyone mormon was when two missionaries knocked on his door and pretty much let themselves in. The experience he said he had with them was very unpleasant and his only impression of the church now is a bad one, and I found that really unfortunate. Now, I love spreading the gospel. I know that it is a wonderful thing to see someone hear the gospel and accept it. I just wish that- instead of spending all of that money on sending out a 19-21 year old who may or may not be emotionally or spiritually mature enough- we could do HUGE service projects TOGETHER. That way, people in our communities would associate our church with these good works and would want to know more us, instead of being so put off by the door to door knocking. The more I told people about my decision to join the church, the more bad experiences I heard with the missionaries. I just think that so many people that I've talked to, who have never been exposed to the church, have found the missionary work to be extremely business-like. Personally, I felt like the missionaries were only talking to me because they could get another number on their baptism counter (I don't mean that in an unkind way! I just really felt like I was being used.) I didn't feel like I was being listened to at all and I felt sick to my stomach every time I saw them. When I did give them a chance I felt like all they could talk about was, "Well, since you come to church so much, when are you going to be baptized? Let's set a date!" I didn't like it at all. And I guess I'm just wondering how you all feel about missionary work and how I should be understanding it. Is everyone happy with the way missionary work is done? Or is there room for change? I'm just curious and I really hope I don't offend anyone. I think it would be interesting to hear from people who have served to see the other point of view. Thank you!