As a Member Missionary, be Yourself.

[Third Hour]

To be or not to be . . . yourself. “The sister missionaries asked me to go on splits with them tomorrow.” I’d just waltzed into my little brother’s house for leftovers, when I met him and Jennie in the kitchen with my bit of random news. I think they knew I was coming; about once a week I’d come over after the kids were in bed to eat their food and grace them with my presence, so if they didn’t expect me, they at least weren’t surprised. “I don’t think they call it splits anymore.” Jennie didn’t skip a beat as she started bringing out tupper-ware from the fridge filled with that evening’s dinner. “What else would they call it?” I was a bit disappointed that the lingo had changed. I liked saying the word ‘splits.’ It sounded nostalgic. “I don’t know, but it’s cool that you’re going.” Seth said, as he dished out his portion for next days’ lunch to keep me from eating it: I may or may not be...

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[Guest MormonGator]

10 hours ago, ldsnet said:

To be or not to be . . . yourself. “The sister missionaries asked me to go on splits with them tomorrow.” I’d just waltzed into my little brother’s house for leftovers, when I met him and Jennie in the kitchen with my bit of random news. I think they knew I was coming; about once a week I’d come over after the kids were in bed to eat their food and grace them with my presence, so if they didn’t expect me, they at least weren’t surprised. “I don’t think they call it splits anymore.” Jennie didn’t skip a beat as she started bringing out tupper-ware from the fridge filled with that evening’s dinner. “What else would they call it?” I was a bit disappointed that the lingo had changed. I liked saying the word ‘splits.’ It sounded nostalgic. “I don’t know, but it’s cool that you’re going.” Seth said, as he dished out his portion for next days’ lunch to keep me from eating it: I may or may not be...

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I want out with the missionaries on Saturday night and as @mirkwood or @pam could tell you, I was myself. 

(they are both on my FB and saw the picture I am referring too) 

[mirkwood]

@MormonGator Yea, really questioning your taste in some areas...

[Guest]

I always found this "be yourself" to be bad advice for me personally.  I have had a fairly adverse effect on people when I'm "being me".  Does anyone else have that problem?

11 hours ago, MormonGator said:

I want out with the missionaries on Saturday night and as @mirkwood or @pam could tell you, I was myself. 

(they are both on my FB and saw the picture I am referring too) 

Oh, I guess so.

Edited October 17, 2016 by Guest

[kapikui]

The problem is that "myself" generally hates people (at least in person), and particularly associating with people.  

[Sunday21]

I can be a bit aggressive by Mormon lady standards! My poor bishop is a bit afraid of me. I try to tone things down for church...and smile a lot!

[mirkwood]

My humor can be off putting at times.

[Guest MormonGator]

4 hours ago, Sunday21 said:

I can be a bit aggressive by Mormon lady standards! My poor bishop is a bit afraid of me. I try to tone things down for church...and smile a lot!

 

17 minutes ago, mirkwood said:

My humor can be off putting at times.

Speaking as a convert, the church needs more people like you both. Look, I don't mean to offend anyone but sometimes the straight arrow square guys and girls will only appeal to: other active LDS and not us converts. As someone who has sat down with many investigators I can tell you that their biggest complaint is that LDS seem too uptight and not able to joke around or worse, some lifelong members take themselves way too seriously and are extremely defensive. 

 You are both exactly what the church needs. 

Edited October 18, 2016 by MormonGator

[anatess2]

14 hours ago, MormonGator said:

 

Speaking as a convert, the church needs more people like you both. Look, I don't mean to offend anyone but sometimes the straight arrow square guys and girls will only appeal to: other active LDS and not us converts. As someone who has sat down with many investigators I can tell you that their biggest complaint is that LDS seem too uptight and not able to joke around or worse, some lifelong members take themselves way too seriously and are extremely defensive. 

 You are both exactly what the church needs. 

What comes to my mind when I read "straight arrow square guys and girls" are those people where everything is about spirituality that it becomes separated from temporally.

For example... my mother-in-law.  We had this conversation once, "We found a house!  I think we're going to buy it!" to which my mother-in-law replied, "Why do want to buy another house?  You already have one!" to which I replied, "Now that we have another kid, I want a 4 bedroom house." and my mother-in-law said.... "You can't bring that house to heaven".  We also had this conversation where I said, "I'm gonna invest in this property..." and my mother-in-law said, "There's no need to make more money.  Jesus is coming soon."

Now, my mother-in-law was completely just being herself.  There are other people too who, when trying to talk to investigators, change themselves to become like my mother-in-law... as in, they think they should not talk about normal temporal stuff.

 

[Sunday21]

21 hours ago, MormonGator said:

 

Speaking as a convert, the church needs more people like you both. Look, I don't mean to offend anyone but sometimes the straight arrow square guys and girls will only appeal to: other active LDS and not us converts. As someone who has sat down with many investigators I can tell you that their biggest complaint is that LDS seem too uptight and not able to joke around or worse, some lifelong members take themselves way too seriously and are extremely defensive. 

 You are both exactly what the church needs. 

Thank you! Hearing this really helps!