Recently I decided to bring two close friends to a meeting with my missionaries.
They were really nice, easy to befriend, and enjoyed teaching them(only about two quick lessons)
They finally left, but were replaced by new, eager boys who invited them to be baptized.. on the first lesson.
I was so embarrassed. I usually love my missionaries, but lately i've been getting the worst, and it really is hurting my faith in the people of my church. I still love the church itself, sacrament, and reading the bible and the book of Mormon, but ever since these missionaries came, i've been finding flaws i don't like about the people in the church.
Ive come close to telling the new missionaries that confronting people about baptism within the first lesson isn't something to be done! But I never have the nerve to do it.
Then one day in seminary the teacher mentioned how we need to treat the missionaries with respect. She said it is very disrespectful how some church members treat them like kids, as they are the closest to God right now. I agree that we treat them with respect, but only because they are people, and I treat everyone with respect. But I disagree that we need to treat them with respect because they are missionaries.. Not all the missionaries are true to God. I've found some are just probably just there to satisfy there parents. Some just preach what the training center(?) told them, and not from their hearts. And i get the impression that some just want to baptize as many people as they can.
I've also said to myself that i want to be a missionary myself. i am a girl. I've never told anyone outside of my family that. I thought most other girls wanted too to. Why not? It's a wonderful experience. Again, my seminary teacher offended me. When she addressed the boys about being a missionary, she never once mentioned if one of the girls wanted too. And when the topic has been brought up before, none of the girls want to. They shove it off as a guy thing. I feel like it is looked down on in the church. Like a girl going on a mission would be considered a manly. Which i know isn't true, as i've seen extremely pretty girls on missions before.
I know not all people in the church are like this, some are actually amazing people that I have love for. But the majority are. Some members that i have met are just down right creepy. The gospel, sacrament, and feeling i've got from the church is amazing. And please don't angry at me when I say.. but some of the time I actually do get the bad feeling of a cult from some of the people.
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edit: I'm not sure if continuing a thread after so long is allowed at this site. Please let me know if so! If not, I'm going to try my best to get back to everybody with an honest reply.
Also, here's a general update. I still feel the same about the church. I went to seminary for about the first semester of school, but was getting too behind in my AP class, wasn't actually learning much in the class, and my mom had noticed a significant amount of money being used on the gas.
My parents are divorced, but strangely found the church at about the same time after the separation. My mom left the church after a year.
The reasons were/are:
1. She didn't get along or have anything in common with the Relief Society women. Apparently, her words, the women were very nosy and the majority of the meetings after sacrament were just talking about other people's problems. The meetings were never about actually helping the family/person, just talking. My mom said their "it's okay" reason was that at the end they always asked every woman to pray for this family/person. In my opinion, tossing out someone's personal information like that just isn't right. If their reasoning was for prays, they should just be general and say, "The _____ are going through hardships. Please keep them in your prayers."
2. My mom is a hardworking lady with a poor job. She had faith in the church, she really did. But she knew off the bat that she wouldn't be able to pay tithing. I could tell she felt guilty about this, but it just couldn't be done.That being said, the bishop asked her later why she wasn't paying tithing. My mom explained our situation. He still talked her in to paying. She did. For about six months. Though I didn't know why, I could absolutely tell that we were tight on money. If she would had continued the house would had most definitely been lost. We're still paying off the house, btw. She had told the bishop this, he just insisted she kept paying. I've heard of multiple miracle stories on tithing, but my mom has multiple kids. That'd be incredibly irresponsible to just go with it and risk our house. For a bit more background information, our bishop is very well off. I'm not sure he actually understands the position a single mother with no higher education is.
3. You know how strong the church is with multiple church activities/meetings in one week? Well, if you didn't read this in the paragraph above, here you go again.
My mom has a tight work schedule. She has 4 coworkers that always depend on her for doing their work or taking their shifts. Though it is stressful, she has learned to deal with it, has great health care, and can easily get hours to work(money$$). The Relief Society women were always picking at her if she wasn't able to get to a meeting. btw, they had about three meetings a week... In defense, my mom told them about her tight job. Then they proceeded to tell her what an awful job and tried to convince her to quit. Again, this coming from multiple house wives and ones with well off jobs.
I apologize for the detailed stories, but I think that to really understand the details are important.
Now here's where I was going with all this!
Therefore, my mom left the church. Like mother like daughter, I was beginning to lean from the church. My dad is still active, and has strong faith.
Whenever we visit(about once a week at least), I can tell how the church is improving his life. Because of this, I always try to give the church another chance.
then it just all blows. I try my best not to have negative thoughts. I go in thinking positive. But things tend to go downhill not long after.
